What the fuck has happened to country music?

[Big Green]

I find the lack of blue collar grittiness in today's entertainment for tween girls kind of appalling. That's my biggest gripe with Hannah Montana; it just doesn't represent the Other America well enough.

My point on Taylor Swift is that her style of music is best classified as pop. There's nothing wrong with HER, it's just that she doesn't sing country (as it has historically been).

This is an example of what a female country artist should be:

Reba McEntire - Is There Life Out There

Reba McEntire - Whoever's In New England

 

[snuffbox]

Or maybe Gillian Welch.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

"This is an example of what a female country artist should be" is a fucking obtuse thing to say.

 

[Czech]

My objection is that it's Reba McEntire.

 

[Big Green]

"This is an example of what a female country artist should be" is a fucking obtuse thing to say.

I was giving an example of someone who could appeal to women without going into the world of pop. Probably phrased that poorly.

Probably not a direct competitor to Taylor Swift so the comparison is probably off.

 

[snuffbox]

My objection is that it's Reba McEntire.

Suggesting Gillian Welch was my nice way of saying that.

 

[bps21]

I like some country. I saw the George Strait music festival one year with Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and others. I really like Strait. I also really love the Tim McGraw Everywhere album. I also like me some Dwight Yoakam and yeah...Taylor Swift. Also Johnny Cash is in my top 3 favorite artists all time across the board.

That is nearly all of the country that I know.

Oh...and I like "should've been a cowboy" by Toby Keith...and like no other Toby Keith songs.

 

[Big Green]

My objection is that it's Reba McEntire.

Suggesting Gillian Welch was my nice way of saying that.

She was the first name to come to mind and I wanted to keep it relatively recent (as in the last 20 years or so).

And the subject of the first song I posted in relatable by people from all walks of life. The notion of settling down too early and wondering if you made a mistake is pretty universal and not specific to the hickest of hicks.

 

[KOAB]

I remember working one night and some country song began on the radio and it sounded like the usual horrible shit that's on... and then it smacks me emotionally when it's some guy singing about his wife dying of cancer and trying to keep the family together and growing into a man... good shit.

 

[Kinetic]

Here's an example of radio country that everyone (even the Germans) can enjoy:

Friends in low places

Here's another:

Tracy Byrd - Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo

 

[Byron The Bulb]

"This is an example of what a female country artist should be" is a fucking obtuse thing to say.

I was giving an example of someone who could appeal to women without going into the world of pop. Probably phrased that poorly.

Probably not a direct competitor to Taylor Swift so the comparison is probably off.

A better comparison would have been Miranda Lambert. She's working within the mainstream/Nashville system (unlike Gillian Welch) and she doesn't make boring music for moms (unlike Reba McEntire). Miranda Lambert owns! I offer these YouTubes as proof

Miranda Lambert -Easy From Now On With Lyrics

Miranda Lambert-Down W/ lyrics slide show

Guilty In Here by: Miranda Lambert

miranda lambert - Love Letters

 

[Byron The Bulb]

I remember working one night and some country song began on the radio and it sounded like the usual horrible shit that's on... and then it smacks me emotionally when it's some guy singing about his wife dying of cancer and trying to keep the family together and growing into a man... good shit.

When I was driving home from college for the last time ever this song came on the radio and I almost started crying. I am an easily manipulated baby.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

For fucks sake, I heard a song called "She's Rockin' the Beer Gut". Now you're trying too hard to "hick it up".

 

[BruiserBrody]

I actually was going to make this thread days ago. I'm in Green Bay - heart of Dairy land - so country music is 2 of our top 5 local rated stations

I love me some Hank jr and Toby Keith and most of the modern play lists make me vomit - I have enjoyed "The Boondocks" and 'Chicken Fried" but not much else recently. Way too much Swift and Pickler....

 

[bps21]

Chicken Fried is the fucking summer white trash anthem. I hate that fucking song.

Edit: Misnamed the horrible horrible horrible fucking song.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Here's an example of radio country that everyone (even the Germans) can enjoy:

Friends in low places

Here's another:

Tracy Byrd - Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo

If you don't sing along with these songs when they come on the jukebox at your favorite bar while you're hanging out with all your favorite bros you should probably just kill yourself imho.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I've been getting a bit into '60s and '70s Country over the past year or two. Merle Haggard, George Jones, the ubiquitous Johnny Cash, and a bit of Willie Nelson (mostly Stardust, which ironically is his standards cover album). I'm not sure what TSM's consensus is on that stuff (I can imagine y'all like it more than the current stuff but not by a whole lot) but whenever I'm on Slacker, I either listen to my old country channel or my baroque pop channel. What a contrast.

And I unironically love "Friends in Low Places". I don't care what anybody says Garth Brooks is fine by me. Chris Gaines...not so much.

 

[Big Green]

For fucks sake, I heard a song called "She's Rockin' the Beer Gut". Now you're trying too hard to "hick it up".

For anyone curious, here's the aforementioned "Big Green Tractor"

Jason Aldean - Big Green Tractor

Fucking awful.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

lol @ how fast this thread has grown. TSM was just hankerin' for a country music discussion, I guess.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It's still the best selling genre of music in the U.S., correct?

I blame the softening of my stance on country music on living in rural Maine and Vermont for the majority of the past two years. Damn salt of the earth!

 

[mellow]

My objection is that it's Arriba McEntire.

 

[Czech]

http://www.mediafire.com/?gjdqyoz5itn

Here. First two Townes Van Zandt albums.

 

[Red Baron]

I remember working one night and some country song began on the radio and it sounded like the usual horrible shit that's on... and then it smacks me emotionally when it's some guy singing about his wife dying of cancer and trying to keep the family together and growing into a man... good shit.

When I was driving home from college for the last time ever this song came on the radio and I almost started crying. I am an easily manipulated baby.

What was the song, btw since the video has been removed.

I can deal with the music, but excessive playing of it can irritate me. I do find the music catchy, whether it was Big and Rich, Toby Keith, Brooks and Dunn, Kenny Chesney or Keith Urban to name a few, but for the life of me I can not stand Rascal Flatts or Sugarland.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Jr. Brown live - Broke Down South of Dallas

Junior Brown is legit one of my five favorite guitarists. Great chops, pleasantly flashy, and western-corny.

 

[Incandenza]

Goddamnit I'm about to

Here's an example of radio country that everyone (even the Germans) can enjoy:

Friends in low places

Here's another:

Tracy Byrd - Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo

If you don't sing along with these songs when they come on the jukebox at your favorite bar while you're hanging out with all your favorite bros you should probably just kill yourself imho.

Even if I'd never seen a picture of you, I'd know you were a bro based on this single post.

Anyway, these are both terrible songs.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Whooops I just realized that I left part of the first sentence of an aborted post in there before the Kinetic quote. Thanks for quoting it and preserving my embarrassing slip-up for all time, Inc.

 

[AA484]

Emmylou Harris "One of these Days" with Hot Band live

 

[BruiserBrody]

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL1MCqZQ5dU[/flash]

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoOEEQPiUxE[/flash]

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_uM87NTFW4[/flash]

 

[Mattdotcom]

Sorry to bring it up late in the thread, but I've got to recommend Drive-By Truckers. Not my favorite band, but they have got some dark stuff, especially before Jason Isbell went solo.

 

[bigolsmitty]

The funny thing is that Toby's down-home put-a-boot-in-an-Arab's-BUTT act was pretty much a work. He's a Democrat and he never supported the Iraq War.

I seriously doubt the latter is true, given this:

Keith has played concerts since Maines' anti-Bush comments with a backdrop showing a doctored photo of Maines with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2958450.stm