Country songs anyone?

[purplefeet]

Im not sure if there has been a country thread recently, if there has, feel free to put the kapoots on this one.

I don't really know how many people are into the genre, I'm not heavily into either. But I cannot stop listening to

Garth Brooks - Friends In Low Places

I find country songs to be catchy. My point of the thread, Are there any country songs/artists that you like and can't stop listening to :)

[Dave de Sylvia]

Not really. Country is one of those genres I feel free to ignore, though I do enjoy many of the early 20th Century country artists, before the genre became the twangy mess it is today. Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, all that semi-bluesy muck. Brad Paisley is also a guilty pleasure.

[Jacaranda]

I like Brooks and Dune and I've been listening to Leann Rime's first CD alot latley, Blue which has the song "Blue" which is amazing.

[JonM]

Country comes out of cultures so far removed from my own that I find absolutely nothing of value to me in the music. I can't identify with anything about it.

[LegionsofMarduk]

I grew up with a lot of country. My wife still listens to it. As a whole, I don't like the genre very much. But there are a few artists that I do like.

[Kayetan]

I like George Strait a lot. And Alabama. Stuff like that is good, but most of the new stuff isn't even country. Like the Rascal Flats, awful.

[OrbDragon]

George Strait - We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This

...reminds me of my trip to Italy a year ago. I was a percussionist there as part of a circus there consisting of different nationalities.

That song was the warm-up song during coffee breaks. I can still do that silly dance we did on that song. I heard it so much I grew irritating hearing it. But now I love it for sentimental reasons. That was one of the best times of my life.

*big sigh*

[PepsiMetal]

I listen to Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard.

As far as newer country goes, I can stand garth brooks' thunder rolls, but newer country isn't as great as older. Johnny's still number 1 for me.

[mr_jackalope]

Steve Earle and Uncle Tupelo are extremely essential modern country artists. Calling Brooks or Tritt country is like calling Good Charlotte rock.

[cosmic mule]

Steve Earle sometimes sounds like an old country musician. This is what I most like of his music.

I would say people like Merle Haggard are the latest country musicians that grab my interest. That kind of music is played so well, with such a good feeling, that I can't help but fall in love with it, even if it's not my favourite style when it comes to fulfill my musical interests (is it correct to express it this way?). Maybe some kind of fundamentalism (these things happen even with music) has hurt so much this music style's credibilty for other listeners. That sort of fundamentalism, however, was created by the music industry, beginning with Nashville itself.

I've always enjoyed country music when it was called hillbilly, and of course the bluegrass. The old honky tonk (Hank Williams) was the most modern approach to that tradicional music that I like. Gram Parsons wasn't so different. He was more pop (or hippie), but his main influence was Merle Haggard.

And don't forget this style's laaarge influence in rock music, especially during the 70's (Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Hot Tuna and many others... I just named some of my favourites).

Oh, and there's another problem: racial prejudices. There was a time when there was not that great difference between what we call now "blues" and "country". Even blues has gone into a "ghetto" for many people. I just hate that kind of "cliche".

Check out Alvin Youngblood Hart or Taj Mahal, supposedly blues musicians (because they're black) and you'll know what I mean. Or the oldest stuff, of course.

[EightMilesHigh]

I loooooove the older stuff, specifically Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. I grew up on that stuff.

However, the new poppy stuff does absolutely nothing for me.

But if Ryan Adams is considered country, I like him.

[JonM]

Oh, and there's another problem: racial prejudices. There was a time when there was not that great difference between what we call now "blues" and "country". Even blues has gone into a "ghetto" for many people. I just hate that kind of "cliche".

Check out Alvin Youngblood Hart or Taj Mahal, supposedly blues musicians (because they're black) and you'll know what I mean. Or the oldest stuff, of course. I have no idea what you're talking about. Please God, elaborate.

[Bartender]

I too consider Brad Paisley a guilty pleasure. One of my lecturers (an American, quite a cool guy) last year was in the habit of playing whatever CD he was currently listening to over the theatre's sound system for a song or two before the lecture.

[Dave de Sylvia]

I like the Honky Tonk Badonka Donk

[joshmay]

taj mahal are a good band, but theyre definitely rocknroll



uh, the pop country stuff that alot of you all are citing is a disgrace to the genre, i think. george strait is about the last decent country singer to come out that i know of.



of course i'm excepting groups like nickel creek, union station and whatever else new bands that have their merits. pop country today has very much lost sight on a whole of its roots.

[cosmic mule]

One song that I like a lot and I'm gonna make a cover with my band to play here in Spain:

"Hey Good-Looking" - Hank Williams

I love the covers made by Roy Buchanan and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Linda Ronstadt.

[superjoe]

i think older country is cool...though i like folk more than country. New country is absoluty disgusting.

[cosmic mule]

taj mahal are a good band, but theyre definitely rocknroll

Well, Taj Mahal is a guy. Ry Cooder played with him a long time ago.

Of course, I wouldn't say Taj Mahal is a country musician. What I'm trying to say is that there is no such big difference between Jimmy Rodgers (supposedly country pioneer cause he is white) and Blind Willie McTell (supposedly blues pioneer cause he is black). For example: have you ever heard "They're red hot", by Robert Johnson? That's not even a blues tune.

If you go back to the 30's, there is a melting of blues, spiritual, tradicional folk and early jazz in many artists of that time, no matter if it was played by white or black musicians.

Taj Mahal, apart from being known as a blues musician, plays also with a band called "The Hula Blues Band", and they play American tradicional songs in a hawaiian fashion, which has a lot in common with Mexican music and country music.

I don't believe in labels, it's just music. That's just how I understand music.

[joshmay]

well my bad, i have a dvd and when taj mahal comes on its a whole band that are very awesome, i guess thats just in reference to the frontman though and his backing bad, i dont know.


yeah yeah. labels can get nitpicky quick and ultimately amount to nothing. the blending definitely occured. like, when i listen to louis armstrong's recordings you can hear the influence of folk rhythms, and blues phrasings, and then the vocals kind of borrow from pop music at the time.


when i make distinctions, its really just for the purpose of helping someone that hasnt heard an artist get a more accurate idea of their sound. they mean nothing ultimately. i agree, music is music.

[cosmic mule]

I agree. Labels are useful, in a certain way. Honestly, it is good to open a thread that says "country songs", because we all know what it's about.

Another classic by Hank Williams that I like:

Wedding bells

Has anyone heard the album of Hank William's covers by George Jones. He is, maybe, my favourite country voice (talking about straight country).