Get off my tractor! Get out of my barn and fields! Get off my porch!

[Are_grits_groceries]

Last edited Sun Sep 21, 2014, 07:48 AM - Edit history (1)

I like country music. I realize some of you don't. There are genres of music I don't care for. However to dismiss all of it is short-sighted and trashes a culture that deserves better.

Not all of country music screams about 'Merica' and love it or leave it. Looking at you Lee Greenwood, Hank Williams Jr and Toby Keith. Beyond the jingoism, there is a long history of people and songs worth keeping.

That said, popular country music these days is populated by cute boys singing about beer, trucks, farms, screwing, and not necessarily in that order. I have nothing against any of those things. However, the songs are lacking in creativity and sound the same. Looking at you Luke Bryan.

The distaff side is better with such performers as Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert and others. However after watching one truly noxious song called 'God Made Girls' I was ready to shoot my teevee. It was singularly the worst thing I have ever seen or heard. That's saying a lot considering I'm a boomer and have witnessed a lot whether I remember it or not.

There are other people worth watching but you have to wade through a lot of dreck to find them. I have no doubt that people don't like country as it's presented on country channels or in the award shows.

There are several good acts off the beaten path, but I am waiting for this horrible wave of Palmetto Bug Boys to subside. I would like to see the better side of country music being presented again.

So get off my land! Leave the beer!

PS Take Taylor Swift with you. She has never really gotten past songs about breaking up with whoever.

[Unknown Beatle]

1. I like older country.

Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, Linda Ronstadt (Blue Bayou), Patsy Cline, Charlie Rich and a few others. Country music now is too twangy.

[joshdawg]

5. If you like older country,

try listening to Hank Williams SR., Ernest Tubb, Ferlin Husky, Webb Pierce, etc. Was brought up listening to those fine gentlemen and don't regret it at all. Prefer them to what is being put forth as "country" music today. Just MHO.

[thucythucy]

27. Don't forget Lefty Frizzell. nt.

[pipi_k]

34. Plus

The Everly Brothers did some country, like "Silver Haired Daddy", "I'm Just Here to Get My Baby Out Of Jail", "Maybe Tomorrow", and a bunch of others.

Conway Twitty

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. A lot of older country music was twangier than hell.

My Daddy used to watch the Porter Waggoner show with a very young Dolly Parton. I got so tired of hearing the steel guitar, I stopped listening for a while.

Now most of it doesn't bother me. It sounds so subdued compared to what I had heard. There were and are artists who used very little if any steel guitar.

[kelliekat44]

14. I love country music but not all of it. Clint Black, Darius Rucker, Yearwood, etc. but Taylor Swift

you can have. I think she is one of the most untalented kid idols out there...but just one.

[yeoman6987]

32. Taylor Swift is not an idiot

She may not be your cup of tea. But she writes her own music and has made more money then she could spend in 5 lifetimes. If only I could be an idiot like her.

[Are_grits_groceries]

40. No she's not an idiot.

I have never said and thought that. She is talented and does write, play and sing.
That said, her choice of material has grown little. I had defended her because I expected her music to broaden. It hasn't.
Her failure to expand her topics and sound will keep her from being a great artist no matter how much money she makes.

[yeoman6987]

41. You know what? I went back to read your original post

And read it completely wrong. Put idol for idiot. I don't know why I am reading words incorrectly lately. I aplogize a million times over. I feel horrible!

[Are_grits_groceries]

48. No problem.

That's what I thought. I misread words all the time with interesting results.

[pipi_k]

30. Same here, and

Some of the same artists.

Charlie Rich is actually my favorite. He had an awesome voice, IMO.

Have you ever heard him do "Nothing In The World"?

His voice in that reminds me of a musical instrument. Maybe a clarinet.

anyway, here it is for anyone who has never heard it

[Takket]

2. I thought this was going to be a thread about John McCain lol

Country music has never been my thing. But I agree that it us not just the ultra right wingers are there at the forefront anymore.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. There are a few country artists that I can listen to,

but I can't drink enough beer to listen to country music. I do have my alarm set to a country station, however. That way, I won't lay in bed in the morning listening to the tunes. I'll get up and turn that shit off.

[joshdawg]

4. That's the same way I feel about

rap crap and hip-hop.

[7962]

17. Thank you.

[safeinOhio]

16. "can't drink enough beer to listen to country music"

Great title for a blue grass song.

[davidthegnome]

6. Got some friends in low places...

Where the whiskey drowns and...

No Garth Brooks? He's always been one of my favorites. I remember dancing around my living room to his music when I was like six years old.

[eridani]

7. Molly Ivins on country music

http://www.correntewire.com/channelling_molly_pt_1_an_unbowed_feminist_confronts_popular_idiocy_camille_who

Well, by George, as a First Amendment absolutist, you'll find me willing to spring to the defense of Camille Paglia's right to be a feminist Rolling Stones fan any hour, day or night. Come to think of it, who the hell was the Stalin who wouldn't let her do that? I went back and researched the '69 politburo, and all I could find was Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, and Gloria Steinem, none of whom ever seems to have come out against rock music.

I have myself quite cheerfully been both a country-music fan and a feminist for years --- if Camille Paglia is the cosmos, so am I. When some fellow feminist doesn't like my music (How could you not like "You are just another sticky wheel on the grocery cart of life?&quot , I have always felt free to say, in my politically correct feminist fashion, "Fuck off."

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. Lol! Thanks! nt

[TexasProgresive]

8. I find the best music no matter the genre

is off the beaten path, although I would avoid the joints with chicken wire around the stage. My cousin owns a little rural store and twice a week they have local musicians play which bring good crowds. Since they don't serve alcohol- just steaks, burgers and salads the crowds, even those who bring their own booze, are respectful. All in all it is a plus, even if everyone around here is red.

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. You need to google the 'Chitlin' Circuit.'

That was a real off the beaten path group of places. Some of it still exists. It's mostly associated with R&B.
White musicians have played it too, but they better have some chops.

BTW the best food is off the beaten path too. You just better know where it is and not go to some really nasty places. Ask the locals. The buildings may not look like much, but boy the food can be sublime.

[sendero]

9. I'm a huge music fan.

.... I listen to a lot of different stuff, electronica, progressive rock, cool jazz, and even some country. I am now at the age where it is hard to find new stuff I like in any genre.

When I was a kid my dad listened to nothing but that country stuff and I grew to hate it. Who knew that as an adult I would eventually grow to love a lot of the stuff I heard in the early 60s, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson (folks he's been around a LONG time) Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and even some of the lesser known artists that are not cool now like Ray Price or Faron Young.

That said, today's country music is pretty much a joke. Sure, Ms. Musgraves' album is better than crap and there are tons of country artists on the fringe making great stuff. But if you turned on the country radio in 1962 you would hear some crap and a lot of great music. Now, you are going to hear crap, crap and more crap. In particular the soulless, cookie cutter guys singing heartfelt songs about nothing to music a 5 year old could compose because it's been done 100,000 times before. Really, it's hard to tell one from the other because they all sing the same, sound the same and basically are the same.

Taylor Swift is a beautiful lady but she's really not much better.

Just felt like venting

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. We generally agree.

There are songs worth the time, but as I said, you have to wade through the dreck. I listen just to find the gems and to mark those artists. They tend to get lost in the backwash of all that beer.

A very good artist who is real country is David Ball. Dwight Yoakum is also good and he represents what is known as the California sound. It's still country, but with a distinctive touch.

[DawgHouse]

29. It's the Bakersfield sound, brought to you by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

Dwight Yoakum is one of my favorites!

[Are_grits_groceries]

39. Thanks.

I knew California didn't sound right.

[malaise]

15. There are a few C & W classics that were part of my

musical experience but I am not a C & W fan. That said, I am more the exception than the norm in these parts. Country music is as popular as Fundie religions with large sections of the Jamaican population.

[Are_grits_groceries]

19. Well you can see how I feel about the new performers. lol

Patsy Cline and Alison Krauss are gods to me.

[Shrike47]

52. Alison Krauss singing Graceland curls your hair it's so good.

[shanti]

37. Yes

I was flabbergasted when, on a visit to Jamaica, I noticed that large numbers of Jamaicans enjoyed country. I brought my own music which consisted of old ska, rocksteady and reggae - I prefer the oldies. My hotel was in the stages of some construction at that time, and there were a lot of work men around. When I played my cds on my hotel veranda, many stopped to listen. Kind of made me wonder if maybe oldies weren't played so much there. All I heard was friggin dancehall!

[safeinOhio]

18. About 15 years ago I stumbled into the Ark

in Ann Arbor and discovered Dieselbilly and got hooked.

[pipoman]

20. "That's what girls are for"

You do realize Steel Panther isn't country music, no?..

[Are_grits_groceries]

21. My bad. It's actually called "God Made Girls."

I must have subconsciously blocked the title.
Here's the video.
Remember:WHAT'S SEEN CANNOT BE UNSEEN

[HereSince1628]

22. Freedom loving country yeoman chained to ClearChannel programming decisions...

That could explain some of the variance producing melodic dissatisfaction.

One of the benefits of being misaligned with the market models of commercial radio is it motivated me to turn to my own choices.

I found out Mp3 players and ear-buds are actually sold to people with gray hair and you don't -have- to get them at Wal-Mart. You can buy them in the tax-free store at the V.A.!

Great for a person that prefers listening to a different drummer (oh, I do like Irish Rock) or music with no drummer at all (Leo Kottke), or music with the whole sheebang (Orff's as in Carmina burana).

[IDemo]

23. "Red Solo Cup"? Meh. Red Dirt country for me -

[panader0]

33. Steve Earle is cool.

I play in a band, mostly blues, rock and originals, but I convinced my mates to play some Steve Earle. We also cover 'Folsom'
by Cash and 'Fast as You' by Dwight Yoakum. Several others too, now that I think of it. Earle does an Irish tune too: 'Galway Girl'.

[IDemo]

36. Galway Girl

Love it, have listened to it many times.

[Hotler]

24. This........

The song starts at about 7-minutes in. Worth the watch. You may need a tissue.

[ileus]

25. TS went pop...

[Are_grits_groceries]

46. If only.

I'd pay to watch the explosion.

[ileus]

49. she shakes off your comment.

[tularetom]

26. Here's one that actually makes a point

And another one:

[janlyn]

28. It's all Billy ray Cyrus' fault!

I consider him and his achy breaky heart as the father of the disaster I call bubble gum country!

[LWolf]

31. Sorry, but I must.

I like old country. Partly because I heard it growing up, partly because of it's relationship to folk music, which is a genre that I love. I'm not that fond of commercial country music. To put it lightly. I'm surrounded by it, living rurally as I do. This song is a favorite of some of my students. I haven't pointed out the innuendo. In middle school, some probably get that part and some don't. But they'll all listen and love it because it's country.

We play music in the classroom sometimes. When they request country, sometimes I play country that I can stand to listen to. Sometimes my sarcastic nature takes over and I play these:

[Are_grits_groceries]

47. Jason Aldean is one I do like in general.

He has his moments, but he has written some good country songs. Blake Shelton and Brad Paisley are two more with many good country songs.
Hey. If your students want country, give them a history lesson and play some great oldies. Widen their view of it.

[panader0]

35. Highwayman

[Sunlei]

38. good topic, yes, most of todays country music is dreklike. lol@ "Palmetto Bug Boys"

&list=PL3F3049BF7087377B&index=14

[DirkGently]

42. Don't get to hear contemporary country much --

... but I was in a chain joint for lunch the other day (not my day to pick) that styles itself as a "Texas Roadhouse," and they were playing an endless stream of generic awfulness, which only identified as "country" by a uniform, kinda fakey "twang" in the singing. It was horrific crap.

When a certain song came on, all the servers stopped what they were doing and performed a "line dance" in the aisles.

I don't think it's even fair for people to base not liking "country music" on this stuff. It's a cowboy hat and an accent on soft pop blechh that has nothing to do with any of the traditional stuff in my opinion.

[johnp3907]

43. A lot of times it's the lyrics that win me over.

And then of course a lot of great Rock songs are actually Country songs. The Weight, Up On Cripple Creek, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band spring to mind.
And I once had an argument with a friend over whether Don't Go Back To Rockville by R.E.M. was a Country song. In her mind it couldn't be because she hated Country but liked R.E.M.

[Are_grits_groceries]

45. Oh that's true for me too.

If you hear a country song and automatically shut it out, you may miss a great story or message.
Kacey Musgraves is an example. 'Follow Your Arrow' may sound like a light country jaunt. Who knew she was rocking 'same love' and weed? It gave and still gives the more conservative singers complete agita.

[eridani]

44. So, what happens when you play country music backwards?

You get your truck back, you get your dog back, you get your wife back, and you quit drinking.

[JCMach1]

50. 'popular' country music is yesterday's light rock... just with a Southern drawl

I hate that stuff with a passion...

However, there is also alternative country and roots country.

One of my particular favorites..., Jim White

[alarimer]

51. Radio-friendly country these days is crap.

But also there is a whole world of other music out there that no one should really have to bother with what is played on the radio.

From the top of my head, here are some good ones that you will NEVER hear on Hot Country 103 or whatever.

Drive-by Truckers
Jason Isbell (formerly of the Drive-by Truckers)- check out his song Dress Blues. It kills me every time.
Lydia Loveless
Guy Clark
Old 97s.

Etc, etc.