Miscellaneous Forum

Not ever having been a fan of Country-Music, I have ignored that genre for as long as I can remember.

I have been learning off a friend who plays nothing else and found some great lyrics among this malinconic music.

I suspect that by dismissing it as soapy non-sense I have missed on some great music.

Like it or hate it?

Contemporary Nashville idiom is unbearable overproduced twanging noise, hate it absolutely, but old school Appalachian music is quite wonderful.
Check out anything by the Carter Family. They sang the real thing straight from the heart.

Wait for them to cross over from country to pop charts. Top 100 or so all time favorite compositions are as good as it gets. Most are think pieces. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" can not be beat.

Pass on the rest.

He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones

Written by R. V. Braddock and C. Putman, Jr.

He said I'll love you 'til I die
She told him you'll forget in time
As the years went slowly by
She still preyed upon his mind

He kept her picture on his wall
Went half crazy now and then
He still loved her through it all
Hoping she'd come back again

Kept some letters by his bed
Dated 1962
He had underlined in red
Every single I love you

I went to see him just today
Oh but I didn't see no tears
All dressed up to go away
First time I'd seen him smile in years

(Chorus)
He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they'll carry him away
He stopped loving her today

(Spoken)
You know she came to see him one last time
Oh and we all wondered if she would
And it kept running through my mind
This time he's over her for good

(Repeat Chorus)

Ray-check out 'Progressive' country it's some new spin on country music that I really enjoy these days. I listen to it on satelite radio.

Not a fan. Once on a long road trip (before satellite radio and even CDs) we did get kind of hooked on "I've got friends in low places". I think I just liked the sentiment. :-)

Yes, the Carter family, I agree but I prefer Johnny Cash, married to June Carter, BTW. Some of his songs have unforgettable lyrics.

25 Minutes To Go and The Ballad Of Ira Hayes are my best choice but there are many others.

I was going to say that the trouble with Johnny Cash for me is that the man couldn't actually sing, but then I thought for a moment and remembered how much I revere Marelene Dietrich, who also couldn't sing.
Sometimes Kunst overrules Stimm.

Australia has got quite a lot of good country music. I brought a big pile of CDs home, haven't yet made it to listen to all of them.

I was with you Country just passed me by. Then I got married to a Musician who loves the stuff! OK so I went to Nashville and while not a total convert I have a total respect for the musicianship involved. You have to respect these guys who play instruments with no synth!

Lets here it for live Music by real people!

"The Carter Family" Douglas.

I must admit never to have heard the name but I will look them up.
Thank you.

That is what I mean Richard! Excellent Lyrics.

Can you name me some in that genre Gail?

I know that sentiment as well Katherine :o)

Mr. Cash is a personal favorite as well Jean-Louis

I have heard that as well Kathrin.
I lived in Australia for 30 years and never even noticed!

For me it is more the words than the music Cathy.

You have a point Ray, the lyrics are very clever -

Well she ain't into cars or pickup trucks
But if it runs like a Deere man her eyes light up

Call someone who'll listen, and might give a damn
Maybe one of your sordid affairs
But, don't you come 'round here handin' me none of your lines
Here's a quarter, call someone who cares

I've got everything I need to drive me crazy
I've got everything it takes to lose my mind
And in here the atmosphere's just right for heartaches
And thanks to you I'm always here till closing time

I could go on but I will spare you - all human life is here!!!

:o)

I'm not a long-term country fan, but there is much to appreciate there.
dnwitte's comments are interesting. It's quite true - Johnny Cash could not sing, but he was not alone there. Frank Sinatra was invariably flat. I still can't measure how far off key Bob Dylan is. They are non-singers with their own distictive style of incompetence, which is partly why they succeeded.

Much of the "new country" is appalling and I agree the mountain-style stuff is far superior. I have a strong dislike of Shania Twain's output, but I have heard her performing with Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss and found she was capable of far more subtlety than I had realised.

I find country an interesting music form because of where it comes from. It's a development of various styles with roots in north west Europe, so if you can appreciate Scottish, Irish, German, and French traditional music, country may appeal to you.

And of course musicians famously 'alter' song titles-

Massage in a Brothel

Funny How Slime Tips Away

Flying Thighs

Love Position No 9

But it ain't country!!!!

I think the difference is Bluegrass is derived from Scots, Irish 'Roots' music. whereas 'Country' is the Nashville music of today. 'Put a fiddle in it and maybe a pedal steel and its Country'

Same roots, just another couple of generations evolved.

I listen to XM-Radio channel 12 sometimes and the artists they play are Steeldrivers; drive-by truckers; lucinda williams (love her!); James McMurtry; Bellville Outfit; the waybacks; ryan adams; steve earle; john hiatt; shooter jennings; dwight yoakam...most of these guys have a myspace page or you can listen to samples on amazon.
Let me know what you think-either way-makes no diff. ;-)

I literally hated country music when I was in my teens and twenties. By my late thirties I started to listen to it and became a big fan. I love singers like George Jones, Conway Twitty, Dwight Yoakim, Randy Travis, Patty Loveless, Dolly Parton. I have found that my taste in music are not as narrow as when I was a kid. Then nothing but good old fashioned rock and roll would do. Now my IPOD has everything on it from The Beatles, to George Jones, to Tom Jones, to Celine Dion.

larry

i have rencently started to listen to country after avoiding it like the plague my whole life.
i started to listen to it mainly cause i wanted to get a better understanding of rural america and i have come to like it quite a bit.

i don't really consider johnny cash country, but he had a voice that was very unique even if it was odd.
i totally love his music.

Avoiding it like the plague is what i did too. And that is a very easy thing to do in NL because country is virtually non existent in NL.
A few years ago i got stuck on the bbc who showed the CMA awards. There i saw Alisson Krauss and the Union Station sing and play. I loved it. So since then i downloaded a lot of her songs. I don't like it all. But i love to hear her voice.
As i understand she originates in the blue grass music.

I've liked country music all my life but can't take a steady diet of it - I have to mix it up with other types of music. But I defy anyone to listen to Patsy Cline and not get goosebumps! ;-)

Alison Krauss does have somewhat the same effect.

In principle I hate the stuff, but that's how I feel about Dolly Parton. Some artists are good enough to transcend their own genre.

I love Alison Krauss. For some more great fiddle, Greene of Seatrain's Sally Goodin and Orange Blossom Special is a step back in time.
Almost a bit "Old and in the Grey" David Grishman, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice

For some comedic relief country/bluegrass Hot Rize's Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers are good fun.

For a totally different approach to the genre, political singer/songwriter Steve Galway is worth a listen.
"John Walker's Blues."
I'm just an American boy--raised on MTV/ And I've seen all those kids in the soda pop ads/ But none of 'em looked like me/ So I started lookin' around for a light out of the dim/ And the first thing I heard that made sense was the word/ Of Mohammed, peace be upon him

A shadu la ilaha illa Allah/ There is no God but God

If my daddy could see me now--chains around my feet/ He don't understand that sometimes a man/ Just has to fight for what he believes/ And I believe God is great/ All praise due to him/ And if I should die I'll rise up to the sky/ Just like Jesus, peace be upon him

We came to fight the Jihad/ And our hearts were pure and strong/ As death filled the air we all offered up prayers/ And prepared for our martyrdom/ But Allah had some other plan/ Some secret not revealed/ Now they're draggin' me back with my head in a sack/ To the land of the infidel.

from time to time - just now and then - something that is c&w or indeed country or western slips under my radar

then i need a damn good dose of something stringent to put me right again