Am I going a bit too country?

pintspiller

When I was strumming away and trying to be the next big thing in my twenties half a lifetime back, Neil Young covered any country and folk hankerings I had.

The wife's dragged me to Country2Country for a couple of years in Dublin and we've been to see Ashley McBryde within the past week with Brad Paisley a week away and Charles Eston a week later.

Do I need help? I haven't written angsty angry originals for twenty years or bought a rock album since Adore by Smashing Pumpkins.

The band's I've been playing in since I've done originals are therun of the mill covers bands playing Brown Eyed Girl.

sweepy

Some amazing musicians in the Country music genre, always good to expand musical vocabulary 

LastMantra

Someone give him a big muff quick!

phil_b

I recently discovered this cover of a Glen Campbell song

this got me listening to some classic country songs again and there are some fantastic  songs from the country music corner.

drofluf

@phil_b can't play the video...

phil_b

drofluf said:

@phil_b can't play the video...

now fixed. the song start about 01:14

munckee

Got into some decent country stuff via country 2 country. Maddir and Tae, David nail etc. 

Jimbro66

Country music covers a lot of ground from the truly excellent to the sickeningly cheesy but some of the very best musicians in popular music can be found in country. However, there's not much gigging opportunity in the UK that doesn't involve playing to pensioners who favour the cheesy variety.

drofluf

phil_b said:

drofluf said:

@phil_b can't play the video...

now fixed. the song start about 01:14

Thanks, enjoyed that.

Matt_McG

I like a fair bit of country-ish music, although it tends to be on the Western swing or more jazzy/rockabilly end of country. I'm a huge fan of the Tiffany Transcriptions.

I can't stand most of the slicker modern country music, even though the musicians are often extraordinary, and I can see the craft that has gone into the writing and production.

Here's a bit of Eilen Jewell, with her fantastic guitar player Jerry Miller:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTuBoqon4JA

koneguitarist

rlw

Nothing wrong with Country.  Rodney Crowell, Joe Ely, Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, Dwight Yoakam, Emmy-Lou Harris, Asleep at the Wheel, Vince Gill.  What's not to like?

koneguitarist

The quality of this guy is amazing. 

pintspiller

A lot of country stars are more rocknroll than most rocknroll stars!

koneguitarist

There is a difference between what is country and what country stations play!!!

CountryDave

Nowt wrong with Country Music.
Some great musicians and the genre covers a large spread of music.
Had a great time at C2C the other year.
Off to that there London to see Brad Paisley next week.

robinbowes

CountryDave said:

Nowt wrong with Country Music..

Well, you *would* say that, wouldn't you?

R.

RandallFlagg

I want to like country music but the songs tend to fall back to themes of good ole boys, pick up trucks, beers in the bar and ditties about either getting or losing good ole gals.

phil_b

RandallFlagg said:

I want to like country music but the songs tend to fall back to themes of good ole boys, pick up trucks, beers in the bar and ditties about either getting or losing good ole gals.

Philly_Q

If you are going at all country them yes, you're going a bit too country.  But that's just my opinion.  Go for it, fill your (cowboy) boots.

EricTheWeary

RandallFlagg said:

I want to like country music but the songs tend to fall back to themes of good ole boys, pick up trucks, beers in the bar and ditties about either getting or losing good ole gals.

The Adrian Legg thing always stuck in my mind, I’m going to have to massively paraphrase but he started on guitar in a band playing country music and one day he looked up and realised the guy at the front of the band was wearing a ten gallon hat and singing about trucks. And left the band to start a career in instrumental music. 

Country music has a long history and it’s a reasonably wide church these days so that’s probably not entirely fair but the tendency toward schmaltz does make me struggle with it a bit. MrsTheWeary was a fan of the new country era with artists like Garth Brooks so it’s that kind of era I’m more familiar with which was very much the revival of the hat and boots. 
However, it’s one of the roots of rock’n’roll and to some extent reggae so I guess my world would have been worse off without it. 
There’s quite a good BBC Radio 4 documentary on country music in Kenya. They sent troops to the Korean War and those that survived came back with a love of country music ( from fighting alongside Americans, I’m not sure the Koreans were into it) and there’s a healthy country scene there to this day...


https://youtu.be/YcxhytgOX-s