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What about Country?


Scarlett

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There are lots of great country artists. I've purchased many great records with artists like:

Hank Williams

Merle Haggard

Faron Young

Harlan Howard

Waylon Jennings

Loretta Lynn

Tammy Wynette

Gram Parsons

Buck Owens

Patsy Cline

Emmylou Harris

Doug Sahm

Dolly Parton

Porter Wagoner

BTW, it's only in a country song that you can make cheating sound like a beautiful thing..

We know it's wrong to let this fire burn between us

We've got to stop this wild desire in you and in me

So we'll let the flame burn once again until the thrill is gone

Then we'll sweep out the ashes in the morning

We're two people caught up in the flame that has to die out soon

I didn't mean to start this fire and neither did you

So tonight when you hold me tight we'll let the fire burn on

And we'll sweep out the ashes in the morning

Each time when we meet we both agree that it's for the last time

But out of your arms I'm out of my mind

So we'll taste the thrill of stolen love tonight until the dawning

And we'll sweep out the ashes in the morning

We're two people caught up in the flame that has to die out soon

I didn't mean to start this fire and neither did you

So tonight when you hold me tight we'll let the fire burn on

And we'll sweep out the ashes in the morning

Yes we'll taste the thrill of stolen love tonight until the dawning

And we'll sweep out the ashes

We'll sweep out the ashes

We'll sweep out the ashes in the morning

By Joyce Ann Alsup

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Can't say I'd ever call Rascal Flatts "country". It's part of what passes for country music these days but it has very little in common with what I'd call country.

Coming from a large family and being the youngest of six I was exposed to all kinds of music early on including country, bluegrass, rock, soul, r & b, folk, calypso, big band, reggae, etc. Back in the early 70s when I was just getting into Zep, Skynyrd, Sabbath, etc. I had an older brother turn me onto Waylon Jennings. I've been a fan ever since. Some other country, country/rock, alt.country, folk and bluegrass artists I'm a fan of:

Willie Nelson

David Allan Coe

Emmylou Harris

Merle Haggard

Johnny Cash

Loretta Lynn

John Prine

Bill Monroe

Guy Clark

Townes Van Zandt

Steve Goodman

Jimmy Buffett

Flatt & Scruggs

Gram Parsons

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Poco

Jerry Jeff Walker

Steve Earle

Yonder Mountain String Band

The Grateful Dead

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen

The Earl Scruggs Revue

Asleep at the Wheel

The New Riders of the Purple Sage

Goose Creek Symphony

The Beat Farmers

Lone Justice

The Long Ryders

Uncle Tupelo

The Gourds

The Bottle Rockets

Drive-By Truckers

The Old 97s

Wilco

The Backsliders

Slobberbone

Six String Drag

Tim Easton

Ryan Adams

Trailer Bride

Whiskeytown

Tres Chicas

Tift Merritt

Kelly Willis

Blue Mountain

Junior Brown

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  • 3 weeks later...

I can't believe so many people are willing to dismiss an entire genre of music just because of a lot of the shitty mainstream stuff that stinks up the airwaves. It's the same for all genres really. It's like saying I don't like rock because I hate Nickelback or Fallout Boy or something.

Anyway...

I've pretty much realized that Hank Williams is perhaps one of the coolest artists of the 20th century. Not only do country and folk artists today owe a lot to him, but many rockers do aswell. One of the first signifigant artists to write about heartache, depression and addiction while most others' songs were sugar-coated.

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Heads up for Merle Haggard..

Last couple of years I have explored Merles catalog of records and purchased some really good stuff. His backing band, The Strangers, is an excellent bunch of pickers, and many times they flat out ROCKS! I believe his mid 60's to early 70's stuff includes some of his best work.

Check out these three albums to begin with:

Mama Tried - The title song is one of my Merle favorites and is worth the purchase alone. Album includes excellent songs like Little Ole Wine Drinker Me, In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad), Run 'Em Off and Too Many Bridges to Cross Over.

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Sing Me Back Home - Again, the title song is a gem. Other great songs are The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp, Good Times, and Wine Take Me Away.

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I'm A Lonesome Fugitive - Includes the haunting House of Memories, and two great rockers, Skid Row and My Rough And Rowdy Ways.

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Kenny Rogers once recorded a GREAT single (Just Dropped In), then decided to SUCK MAJORLY afterwards. Damn, what the hell went wrong with that guy? :unsure:

I'd say the song you mentioned that he cut with the First Edition was actually rock n' roll. As for his "country" stuff, the majority of that was referred to as "cosmopolitian" country back in the day. In other words it was stripped of most of what made it country to start with then drenched with strings to make it acceptable to big city folk.

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I can't believe so many people are willing to dismiss an entire genre of music just because of a lot of the shitty mainstream stuff that stinks up the airwaves. It's the same for all genres really. It's like saying I don't like rock because I hate Nickelback or Fallout Boy or something.

Anyway...

I've pretty much realized that Hank Williams is perhaps one of the coolest artists of the 20th century. Not only do country and folk artists today owe a lot to him, but many rockers do aswell. One of the first signifigant artists to write about heartache, depression and addiction while most others' songs were sugar-coated.

Just about everybody does. How many bazillions times have we heard Rap, Punk, etc dissed? It's personal taste and preference for what you are forced to listen to. Just because some people have rather strong reactions to country ie. nausea, anger, screaming (that's just me), doesn't mean I don't think anyone should listen to it. Just please not around me.

Gallow's Pole is almost taken word for word from a very old English traditional song, and Bron-Yr-Aur totally reminds me of traditional Celtic music. Most American bluegrass/folk can be traced directly back to Scottish and Irish traditional music. Makes sense when you think of where most of the hillbillys came from (Thank you discovery channel and NPR/Inland Folk). I guess contemporary Country started from those influences and just went in a totally different direction, kind of like the progression of rock from blues.

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I know a lot of people that say they don't like "country" but their idea of it may be completely different than mine. For instance, a fan once walked up to Jerry Jeff Walker (most famous for writing Mr. BoJangles, a hit for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others) and said, "I don't like country music but I like your country music".

That's the thing with me, I've never cared much for the slick and polished version of country (past or present) but I do like Waylon, Willie, David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Gram Parsons, Pure Praire League, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody, Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, the Gourds, the Old 97s and other artists that usually don't stand a chance at commercial radio airplay. Way back when the more progressive side of country was called "country rock", in the 80s it was called "cowpunk", from the 90s to the present it's gone under a variety of names from "alt.country" to "Y'allternative". Some strongly resembles the stone cold variety of old school country that also doesn't stand a chance on today's commercial country radio (just ask Loretta Lynn, George Jones or Merle Haggard), some draws from punk rock, bluegrass, folk, old timey, zydeco, and rock n' roll. One of my favorite alt.country bands is the Drive-By Truckers but live they don't always sound very country (despite the presence of a pedal steel), in concert they come closer to sounding like an in your face rock n' roll band.

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You know what happens when you listen to a country song backwards?

You get your wife back,your job back,your dog back,your house back,your truck back....

.....and you're sober.

*Thanks to Richard Belzer

OMG!! :hysterical::hysterical: That is so funny!

I despise Country, but I do love Willie. I think he & Robert should hook up.... :lol:

I relate country to alcoholic behavior.

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I am going through a little bit of a country music phase, actually watching more CMT (Country Music Television) as of late and alot of it has to do with trying to catch Plant and Krauss. I do like artists like: Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Barbara Mandrell, The Judds, Taylor Swift, Alison Krauss, LeeAnn Rimes, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, some Reba McEntire, the Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain. I also like a little Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker, Randy Travis, George Jones. I know some of those artists are more pop oriented, but I will say they have opened me up to listening to more country.

I also forgot to add Patsy Cline, Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton---looks like I am a bigger country fan than I thought, LOL!!

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I don't know about "best" but I have favorites. Of those Chet Atkins would have to be right up there.

yes and I would have to add Roy Clark, I'm not that big on country but growing up with country listening parents couldn't help but watch hee-haw. That SOB can pick! :o

Did you ever hear that Waylon collaboration "White Mansions" a tale of the american civil war? That albumn kicked ass!

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  • 5 months later...

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but having just seen Hank Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday, I'm kinda in a country groove. My dad's a HUGE country fan, so I basically grew up on it. My first concert was Alan Jackson in...1994? 95? Something like that. I never listened to country when I was a teenager, but lately I've been kind of getting into it (this is all U2's fault - I swore I'd never like U2, but then I went crazy and changed my mind, and things have been down hill ever since, and I've been listening to all kinds of stuff I swore I'd never like, haha).

I like a variety of artists - old, new, and in-between. I love all the good old boys like Hank Jr., Merle Haggard, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, etc. As a child of the late '80s/early '90s, I grew up hearing George Strait (who doesn't love this guy?), Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Clint Black, and that kind of stuff. Newer artists I like would include Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Miranda Lambert, and Shooter Jennings (and Alan Jackson, obviously). I'm sort of in the process of looking for some less commercial stuff, but obviously I haven't gotten very far with that yet. I don't know much about older stuff, either, other than the random Hank Williams or Patsy Cline song.

I absolutely refuse to listen to Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Shania Twain, Rascal Flatts, or Big & Rich. Bleargh.

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I'm sort of in the process of looking for some less commercial stuff, but obviously I haven't gotten very far with that yet.

There's lots of less commercial stuff out there in the "alt.country" field. Rarely, if ever, does any of it even garner any type of radio airplay except on more progressive stations (such as Austin's KGSR) or on places like XM's X Country channel. I'm a fan of the older artists that first blazed an uncommercial trail such as Hank Williams, Sr., Cash, Waylon, Willie, David Allan Coe, etc. and the "country rock" of the 70s which included Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Goodman, Jimmy Buffett, John Prine, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Gram Parsons/Flying Burrito Brothers, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Pure Prairie League, Poco, etc. These days there's just as much music of note in alt.country that's much more worth seeking out than what you'll ever find on the commercial country music airwaves.

Here's a sampling of artists:

Whiskeytown

Backsliders

The Bottle Rockets

They Yayhoos

Chris Knight

Wilco

Tift Merritt

The Old 97s

Jayhawks

Golden Smog

Uncle Tupelo

Slobberbone

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Drive-By Truckers

Tres Chicas

Two Dollar Pistols

Six String Drag

Son Volt

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  • 11 months later...

I used to think country would be a genre of music I would never get into. I think most of it has to do with the stuff I heard that was commercial which I still do not like for the most part and it being un cool, well that view has changed. Artists that opened the doors for me to appreciate the genre more would have to be Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt. Now I know there is country out there that awaits me to discover which is cool.

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Sorry to drag up an old thread, but having just seen Hank Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday, I'm kinda in a country groove. My dad's a HUGE country fan, so I basically grew up on it. My first concert was Alan Jackson in...1994? 95? Something like that. I never listened to country when I was a teenager, but lately I've been kind of getting into it (this is all U2's fault - I swore I'd never like U2, but then I went crazy and changed my mind, and things have been down hill ever since, and I've been listening to all kinds of stuff I swore I'd never like, haha).

I like a variety of artists - old, new, and in-between. I love all the good old boys like Hank Jr., Merle Haggard, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, etc. As a child of the late '80s/early '90s, I grew up hearing George Strait (who doesn't love this guy?), Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Clint Black, and that kind of stuff. Newer artists I like would include Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Miranda Lambert, and Shooter Jennings (and Alan Jackson, obviously). I'm sort of in the process of looking for some less commercial stuff, but obviously I haven't gotten very far with that yet. I don't know much about older stuff, either, other than the random Hank Williams or Patsy Cline song.

I absolutely refuse to listen to Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Shania Twain, Rascal Flatts, or Big & Rich. Bleargh.

Love Country music. I was 4 years old and we were at a state fair and Conway Twitty kissed me:-) I think my Mom beamed for days... I love a lot of the older ones, especially George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Pardon, Merle Haggard and of course George Strait..I love Kenny Chesney. Saw him in concert and he puts on a fantastic show...full of energy. So much great music to be heard.

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