Where Did The Country Music Go?

Question

I was thrilled to just discover that there's at least one other person on Planet Earth that thinks todays' country & western music sucks out loud. I'm referring to the junk called Pop Country. If some of you artists want to sing country music, then why don't you do it? Are you too embarrassed to yodel, wail and whine like God intended for REAL Country & Western to sound? Ya'll sound just alike with that PC stuff and some of us are now raiding our parents' attics in search of old records by Lefty, Merle, Hank Thompson, Tex Ritter, Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Johnny Cash, Hank Snow, Hank, SR., etc. You all know good & well what I'm talking about. If anyone out there agrees with me, then don't buy that "new noise", as I call that pathetic cr*p. BTW, why don't you ppl from Hollyweird get outta Nashville?

rizinout was the one who agreed with me on that Rascal Flatts question & I 'bout fell outta my chair! I figured I was in for some big fast-typing trouble with that bunch, but I had 2 say that they suck. LOL Tommy Collins, yer the man! Loved the fiddle & steel question & remarks :) Gene Watson is fabulous! I think the only chance we'll ever have of seeing the likes of our old music heroes is if the producers & sich in Nashville discover that they can't make any $$$ unless they "produce" some good music. Surely, they realize there's a huge market 4 it. I also grew up with this great music, Jimmie Rogers, Patsy Montana, the Carter Family & Bill Monroe were staples in our household. My gg-grandfather won the World's Fiddling Championship in 1911 in Logan, WV. He had long black hair that went to his waist & he flipped over in his rocking chair at the time & didn't miss a note! His name was Obediah Workman, a proud Confederate veteran by the Grace of God.

I don't know if any of you guys have DISH cable TV, but if you turn it up to the channels in the 9000 range or so, you can access all sorts of music, including Classic Country!!! Will miracles never cease? 24/7, too. Heck, I didn't even know I could get that on my TV until today. There it was, in all it's unadulterated glory. Ahhhh... Plus, there's a 24/7 Elvis channel for those of you who are Elvis fans.

Yep, sgoldperson, I have noticed that Ronnie Dunn seems to be trying to disguise his natural whine & I wonder who is behind it? Those guys ought to start their own record label like the "Outlaws" did back when & produce what they please. I also bought the Confederate RR CD when it came out. I suppose the name offended some ppl, but so be it. I took that CD with me to NYC then & all my friends loved it & also bought it. I liked their homey sound & it was enjoyable to listen to. I hear ya, Spike. Maybe if enough of us made enough noise on here & everywhere else, Trashville (thx rizin) would change their ways. I know they're thinking of the 20-somethings, but not thinkin' hard enough. My daughters are 29 & 21 and they prefer classic over pop country anyday. Thx for everybody's comments. I do have a tendency to preach when I've had enuff. LOL My Daddy's a Baptist preacher, BTW.

Answer 1

Wow I hear you loud and clear and couldn't agree with you more. I cut my teeth on the real stuff like Hank Williams,Lefty Frizzell, Hank Thompson, Bob Wills,Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Ernest Tubb, Ray Price and a whole heap of a lot more and had the pleasure to be associated with some of these great legends. I don't think todays so-called country will ever measure up to yesterdays great country music. There are still some out there but the major labels won't have them because they aren't pretty enough or their hat isn't big enough and their jeans aren't tight enough. You can find some of them still grinding out good music and I am speaking of Tony Booth, Gene Watson,Homer Joy and some others who haven't abandoned their roots. Thanks for your comment and question.

Answer 2

It was taken off the radio, it is still done though. Try listening to Dale Watson, he really reminds me of Johnny Cash. I'm sure you can find others out there that you will only hear on their CDs. Basically if you weren't already established Nashville isn't going to let you in if you are Country. Listen to Brooks and Dunn, listen to how much the whine left and how you can hear he is covering it up basically. Then they did Getting Better all the time and radio wouldn't play it, because the whine was back. Heck look at when Confederate Railroad released a new CD years back, yeah they are Southern Rock not country but fit my point, I know where I am their new song barely got airtime. I bought the CD because I am a fan, but people who didn't know their music weren't going to LEARN what Southern Rock is. Oh yeah because Montgomery Gentry started doing it again and do good so now Nashville wants to force Big and Rich down our throat as Southern Rock. Big and Rich AREN'T Southern Rock for the record, to anyone who doesn't have a clue. Southern Rock is a SOUND, and they don't have it.

Answer 3

I know what you mean. Some of the newer stuff is okay and some it is "rocked" up. I mainly like the country from 1950 to the mid 1980's. I don't care for this "country-rock" (as I call it), myself. But we do have a choice in the stations we listen to and the music we buy.I like those artists you mentioned like: Lefty, Merle, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash. Also the Statler Bros. and of course there are others. I guess that's what our cd's are for, huh?

Answer 4

boy am I glad that theirs still a lot of humans out there . I am 73 yrs old play lead guitar and I know just what you
are talking about . when their up on stage jumping all around playing hard rock music that they call country they
think that their really doing something like ole brad paisley and keith Erwin who ever all their doing isplaying riffs and bending strings . look at ole taylor swift they think shes something so does she know what ive seen better and heard better in the woods than all that crap . want to know the truth theirs 10 yr olders on this computer that can play better than ole paisley and them . they slaughter ed country music , the 50,s and 60,s classic rock is closer to country music than that crap that they try to play today

Answer 5

preach it! mom and dad used to throw a stack of albums (remember them?) about 2 inches thick on the 'console hi-fi' and play them straight thru...then they'd flip the stack over and play the other side! there was a time i walked away and discovered rock...then i found out i could have both! a lot of that old stuff really sticks to you...even years later, i'll find myself singing 'the wabash cannonball', 'tombstone every mile', or 'i walk the line'...one day i was goofing around on my guitar and was thinking back on the stuff i used to listen to, and next thing i know i'm playing 'sing me back home' as if i had the sheet music in front of me-i have a hard time with a lot of the newer stuff...even some of the 70's 'd-i-v-o-r-c-e' era stuff sounds like gossip at the local trailer park...take me back to country & western...but don't make me give up toby...he's a throwback

Answer 6

You read my mind! I don't even listen to the radio anymore, I don't know if it's on rock or country. So I turn it off and listen to my cd's and ipod. Ever hear a song called murder on music row, by george straight and alan jackson...it says it all. I don't care about pretty I care about good, hell the folks on the radio now all sound the same, but you can sure tell when George ,waylon,willy, merle or johnny came on . So sad a murder was commited down on music row.

Answer 7

Amen, sister! Today's popular country is some SERIOUSLY overproduced bull-honkey. The "artists" are more of performers (a la Britney Spears) and rarely write their own stuff. It's all watered down! Even the more promising new artists are getting sucked into the record label monster. I honestly don't know of any new country singers who have any real music cred...at least, none they flex on the radio.

Answer 8

they are ; McGraw and Hill tried to conquer Hollyweird, neither has starred in a true blockbuster.
The real traditionalist are out there, they are hidden under the cloak of independent music labels. There are a few and I do mean few who fit your description : right now all I can think of Brad Paisley.
the road is paved in green stuff $$$

Answer 9

Agreed. Trashville has killed country. Thank God for the underground groups that nashville is scared of. Like Hank III says "pop country really sucks" They taken the d*ck out of dixie and the c*nt out of country.

Answer 10

You hit the nail on the head today's country music for most part does suck. I admit I listen to some today's country music but only Toby and Garth. I much prefer Waylon, Merle, Bocephus, CDB, Jerry Reed, etc.