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24 May 00 - 12:51 PM (#233160) Subject: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Lonesome EJ No Depression in Heaven is a Carter Family song from the 30's, when the dreary economic environment forced people to dream of and to seek better days. The Carter Family, along with folks like Merle Travis and Jimmie Rodgers, were seminal forces in the creation of what we know as Country Music. But the dreary and commercial Country Music scene that has gradually evolved, typified by packaged acts like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, has spawned another movement which rejects the Nashville/Hollywood Country Scene. Taking their name from the Carter Family song, and a mid-nineties album release by an alternative country band called Uncle Tupelo, the movement of young country rebels calls itself No Depression. The movement looks to the Carters, Travis, Hank Williams Sr, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard as its pioneers, and to Gram Parsons, John Fogerty and Neil Young as the first to blend Country Roots music with Rock and Roll, thus giving No Depression music its distinctive sound. The movement has its own periodical (likewise named No Depression), with a web page here click. Sid Griffin, a songwriter and lead singer for The Long Ryders and Western Electric who has also penned a bio of Gram Parsons, is a principle figure. Other bands which exemplify the sound are Son Volt, The Jayhawks and Whiskey Town. The "New Insurgent Country" web page gives more info on the No Depression scene. I find this exciting first of all, because I have always been a fan of Parsons, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam and others who have now been embraced by the No Depressioners. It is great to see a movement of artists, most in their teens or twenties, who recognize the significance of roots in Country music, and are willing and able to shake things up. A thread once asked, in relation to the perceived absence of young people in traditional music, "Where are the Kids?" It appears that at least some of them are alive and well in the No Depression movement. |
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24 May 00 - 12:55 PM (#233164) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Lonesome EJ New Country Insurgent page here click |
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24 May 00 - 12:58 PM (#233168) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Whistle Stop I agree, EJ. I'm a real admirer of Gram Parsons and Steve Earle, and various others who have similar roots and influences (Emmylou Harris, for instance). I actually haven't heard a lot that really appeals to me from the No Depression "movement" -- some of the Wilco/Son Volt stuff seems kind of poorly crafted, in my opinion -- but I can relate to their influences, and I'm glad there's somebody out there who is going in that direction. To my way of thinking Steve Earle is one of the greatest songwriters working today; his new CD is due out on June 6th, and I'm eagerly awaiting the day. |
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24 May 00 - 01:00 PM (#233172) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: GUEST,Steve Latimer How encouraging. Sounds like a modern equivalent of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" Man, it's awful what's happened to Country music since the big marketing machines have taken over. Give me Willie, Haggard, Hank Sr., Johnny Cash any day over the schlock that they're pushing on people today. |
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24 May 00 - 01:14 PM (#233185) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: catspaw49 Thanks Leej.....great thread, and Steve, I agree. Some of the reworkng of the more trad styles with more modern has been kind of exciting to watch.....like Newgrass and this. Emmylou has been crossing those lines a lot in the past few years. And it beats the hell out of the current country or pop scene hands down. I'd like to see some of the purists listen to this stuff and hear the roots and see it as a normal progression of things. Spaw |
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24 May 00 - 01:50 PM (#233211) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Jim Krause Well, I'm skeptical. Sounds like rock 'n' roll sour grapes to me. Neil Young, Gram Parsons, and John Fogerty seem to be about as far away from Merle Travis and the Carter Family as the Moon is from Topeka, Kansas Got any old time string bands on the roster, artists like Raef Steffininni, or Steffen Senders, or Carol Elizabeth Jones? Or do you gotta play with your instruments all plugged in and spread out on a stage big as a city block? |
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24 May 00 - 02:35 PM (#233228) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Lonesome EJ Soddy,consider the work of Gram Parsons, including Sweetheart of the Rodeo (as a Byrds member), Safe at Home with the International Submarine Band, and numerous solo and Flying Burrito Bros albums. In addition to self-penned songs, artists covered included Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the Louvin Brothers, Merle Travis, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Playing in his bands were people like John Hartford, Byron Berline, Emmy Lou Harris, Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn. His interest was not a purist in presenting roots and traditional country as such, but was interested in integrating it with other musical forms, including Folk, Soul and Rock. Sweetheart of the Rodeo laid down the blueprint for this unique combination of styles which Parsons referred to by the rather dated term Cosmic American Music. It still stands head and shoulders over most "country rock" that followed |
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24 May 00 - 05:07 PM (#233313) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: catspaw49 Yet another reason I like ya' Leej.......... Spaw |
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25 May 00 - 09:29 AM (#233670) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Stewie What about the older artists who have been playing roots country for decades with very little recognition - Steve Young, Tom Russell, James Talley, Mark Germino, David Lynn Jones, Richard Dobson, Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, Hugh Moffatt, Alvin Crow, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, Jann Browne and dozens of others? There has always been great stuff around, but you have to look for it. --Stewie. |
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25 May 00 - 03:11 PM (#233829) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Lonesome EJ Stewie, I think that the part of this No Depression music style that many roots country fans will have a hard time accepting is the integration of roots "spirit" with rock and roll. If you listen to any of the sound bites on the New Country Insurgent page, some of them sound a lot closer to the Sex Pistols than the Carter Family. You have to remember that most of the musicians in Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Son Volt etc are no older than 27. To them, the music of the Byrds, Parsons,Young and others ARE roots music, just as Travis, Williams, and the Carters are and were roots music to us. If Son Volt performs Pretty Boy Floyd, their reference is not the original version by Woody Guthrie, but the Parsons/Byrds version on Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The "Folk Process" in action.... |
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25 May 00 - 06:31 PM (#233913) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Stewie Thanks EJ, I wasn't getting the distinction - forgetting how old I am. I must say that, from the little I've heard, Son Volt et alia don't do much for me. I do like Todd Snider and Wayne 'The Train' Hancock who, although young, probably don't fit in with the bands you are talking about. If you listen to Hancock's 'Thunderstorms and Neon Signs', you'd almost swear at times that it was Hank singing. Are you aware of the recent Burritos anthology? It's a 2CD set with all tracks from 'Gilded Palace', 'Burrito Deluxe' and 'Flying Burrito Brothers' plus 8 non-album tracks and a couple from 'Last of the Red Hot Burritos'. Great music and great value: The Flying Burrito Brothers 'Anthology 1969-72' A&M. I don't think I can start thinking of it as 'roots' music though. Cheers, Stewie. |
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25 May 00 - 07:00 PM (#233932) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Lonesome EJ Thanks for the Burritos tip. I also need to get the recent Byrds Sony Boxed Set, if only because it contains the original master of Sweetheart with the Parsons lead vocals in place on Christian Life, You Don't Miss Your Water and One Hundred Years from Now. Yeah, not roots for us. Hell, I'm so outdated I still think of the stuff as ground-breaking. And so far, I'm not knocked out by a lot of the ND stuff either, although I've just started to look into it. I do like the concept of a solid foundation based on the greats from long ago, and the revolutionaries from my youth, though. |
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25 May 00 - 07:31 PM (#233950) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Stewie EJ, A few days ago (22/5), an Ed Coleman was seeking to trade a Byrds box set on the rec.music.folk newsgroup. His email address is: ecoleman@whidbey.net It might be worth a try. --Stewie. |
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26 May 00 - 12:45 PM (#234317) Subject: RE: No Depression/ Roots Based Country From: Jim Krause EJ, Sweetheart of the Rodeo has always been one of my favorites. I grew up out west with the kids of some of the Dustbowl Refugees, so I heard guys like Goerge Jones & Tammy Wynette, Marty Robbins, Chet Atkins,and Patsy Cline. Heck, my Dad I guess could be classified as a Dustbowl Refugee, since he was raised in the mid-west, and born in the panhandle of Oklahoma. So when the Byrds came out with Sweetheart it sounded new and refreshing to me. That record was what turned me onto country music in the first place. From there, I just went backwards, discovering first the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, then Doc Watson, then the Highwoods Stringband, then the New Lost City Ramblers, then Uncle Dave Macon, the Skillet Lickers, the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, oh the list goes on. So you can easily see why Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, et al sound like rock 'n' roll to me. |