When I was playing in a Country band I never really liked playing Country Clubs as they were either run by die hard Jim Reeves fans or they were younger and had no idea what country music was.
Now playing rock or regular pub venues was much better as they didn’t have that mind set.
however the most common phrase we heard was “I don’t like Country, but”. they would then go on to say how much they enjoyed the gig.
Now I would never think to say to a rock band , “I don’t like rock music but I like your band”.
But it’s quite a common thing to say to Country bands as it seems to me they don’t want to admit they have an open mind and like some Country but not others. I like Pop music, not all of it but I think some is great, same with Blues, Soul, Jazz even some Classical. There still seems to be a stigma about Country Music. Why is that?
It’s as broad as any genre, I know there’s stuff that I hate which is mainly what they play on Country mainstream radio, but looking at bands like Reckless Kelly, Micky and the Motorcars, Cody Canada, William Clark Green, The Steel Wheels etc, it’s probably better now than it ever has been.
so many great festivals and the one I would love to go to is Mile O Fest in Key West Florida.
Where the cream of Texas and Oklahoma bands are playing. And what’s great about that festival is a lot of the bands will do different sets and invite other members from other bands to play so you see great combinations of musicians, some times two lead singers from different bands will get a small PA and put on a show next to a swimming pool. It’s brilliant. If you get a chance just google some of the social media being played from there.
Age range is teenagers to pensioners all enjoying great original bands.
Comments
Hiss Golden Messenger, Ryan Adams, Sarah Jarosz, Calexico, Justin Townes Earle, Jason Isbell, Sara Watkins etc etc
When I hear "Country" I think of the US categorisation: either old time 60's & 50's stuff or modern bland pop like Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Reba Mcintyre etc
I'm a Willie Nelson, John Prine, Iris DeMent and Jesse Winchester fan.( Country, Americana, Folk?) I don't care what you call it, just great songwriting.
And of course everybody loves Dolly.
It is a grave mistake to typecast any genre of music. All forms have a good deal to recommend them.
(Except rap, of course.)
(1) Music you like;
(2) Music you don’t like.
I listen to a lot of country music but I don’t like all of it by any means. My tastes range from ancient (Ernest Tubb) to modern (Chris Stapleton) so it’s not a matter of ‘I just like the older stuff’, simply personal preference.
I also enjoy music from many other genres.
If someone claims not to like country music, get them to name 3 country songs that they dislike. Many people can’t because they have just picked up the idea that country is somehow uncool to like.