James Hand, Junior Brown, the Spurs, Dale Watson, the Derailers, I've heard them all live and they are the real deal. #There are many other great country musicians with integrity. #They don't all try to sound "old" however,if that's what you're looking for. #Another good example is Buddy Miller who is a tremendous musician putting out good CD's.
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Your problem is, you think you have enough time.
Some great suggestions for "who to restore country music", if at all possible. Hans had the great idea of suggesting his bride; perhaps the answer is in all of the day-to-day, unheard-of folks who are more than capable to carry on the type of music we grew up with.
I like Josh Turner, that Long Black Train song reminds me of the little black train by the Carter Family.
Go Long, Mule
We also mustn't forget BR549.
"The problem with quotes on the internet, is everybody has one, and most of them are wrong."
~ Mark Twain
Mandolin shirts, hats, case stickers, & more at my Zazzle storefront
<Comment removed. Violates board posting guidelines>
WE could sure use Gram Parsons about now.
"Just because we wear sequined suits doesn't mean we think we're great, it means we think sequins are great." GRAM PARSONS
If you haven't heard Sean Camp and Verlon Thompson, either together or separately you haven't heard really good contemporary country music. Camp is the real deal as writer, musician, and performer. So's Thompson.
Ted Lehmann
http://www.tedlehmann.blogspot.com
I hear a lot of people saying that all these people who exist on the fringes of country music could save it.
A:They've all been around for a while and haven't done t.
B:Have always beenn the fringes and would ahve always been there because their music doens't speak to the broader audience. Steve Earl, like amny of the alt country stars, is too overtly political. Gillian Welch, and similar artists, has an aesthetic that is too unique.
C: The bands playing "traditional country" are imitations at best and don't represent the contemporary needs of the mainstream market. Only the listening tastes of the audience could restore country-whatever that means anyways. I can't wait for Garth to unretire.
Country music for the past 65 years has been pop music. It follows our culture. Do you tthink that if Steve Earl and Gillian Welch became uber famous that they's make better music? Probably the opposite. We all know where to find music we like so why not leave it there.
The correct answer without any question, however, is the Wilders from Kansas City. There ARE country music.
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<Inappropriate quote from another user removed. Original quote violates board posting guidelines>.
This is awful by the way and more people should post that homophobia or ignorant bigoty has no place on a mandolin message board.
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What lgc said, on all accounts!
Now The Wilders.....that girl can flat out play a fiddle. And they so some of those old cryin' in yer beer songs. I saw them about a month ago. Mighty fine!
Shaun Garrity
http://www.youtube.com/user/spgokc78
KINKY FRIEDMAN !!!!!!!
Seriously, country music (and all forms of popular music) is an industry, not an art form. I have a good friend who is in charge of a big annual country music festival in Oregon. A few years ago, when Oh Brother was boosting sales and awarness of "traditional" country music, I tried to get him to book my band, which was playing 40's and 50's-style country. This wasn't really a retro band, but more of an original band in that style. I said "C'mon, the old style country is popular enough now to put a few acts like us in with thw "hat" acts. He responded by showing me a country music industry magazine. In it was an article showing the all-time best money makers in country. They were ALL the Shania Twains and Toby Keiths. Even at it's most popular, Oh Brother and the music it promoted wasn't even a blip on the screen to the country music industry.
So who can restore good country music? The record buying public, and no one else.
Don't hold your breath...
"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny" - john waters
LGC, quit speaking the truth!
Go Long, Mule
Big and Rich...
seriously though, I was talking to an old school claw-hammer banjo picker yesterday and he made the comment to me, "music is powerful, if its got emotion, soul, spirit, you know the kind that makes you feel something; then it's good music. I like this kind, but if it didnt make me happy, i'd play something else..." I'd say that sums it up right there, I'm with many of you in that a lot of this new stuff is uninspiring at best, however there still are beautifully written songs, especially lyrically, produced everyday. I say appreciate what you enjoy, but why hate on what brings these emotions to other people; if someone cries when they hear a Rascal Flatts song, or laughs with a Chesney, to me that's what it's all about...
"consider it all joy..." James 1: 2
Yeah mandobrando! Speak it!
Go Long, Mule
Originally Posted by
Willie Nelson had the answer back in the '60. He gave up working in Nashville and went home to play music with his sister again.
These days ... maybe Rick Rubin "gets it". We'll see.
Everyone I quoted above "gets it" for sure, and that's probably enough.
I agree with lgc too on everything but Garth Brooks unretiring. IMO Garth Brooks did more to ruin country music than anyone else. I'm not saying the man couldn't play some good music because he clearly could. Unfortunately he generated so much income that the suits in the record industry decided that everyone had to be the next Garth Brooks. Traditional sounding bands haven't had a chance since.
GVD
GVD
[QUOTE= (Benignus @ Nov. 12 2007, 14:00)]So, the rest of us that added to this don't?Everyone I quoted above "gets it" for sure, and that's probably enough.
"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny" - john waters
Actually you as consumers are the ones to "save" country music. Keep buying that record company slop you are being fed (by some crooner backed up by studio musicians) and they will just feed you more. Michael is right, C & W is alive and well. Look for it at your small local venues, and support your local musicians no matter what the genre. That's where you will find the real music.
You mean we as consumers and players.
"The problem with quotes on the internet, is everybody has one, and most of them are wrong."
~ Mark Twain
Mandolin shirts, hats, case stickers, & more at my Zazzle storefront
The original poster asked "who could restore country music to what it once was". Obviously this is rhetorical. No one is going to "restore" commercial country music to anything. It's an industry not an art form, as someone said, and is going to do whatever it needs to do to generate profit. Most people don't really listen to music. It's just background, and so the smooth, slick stuff works for them. The biggest question for country radio in the last 10 years or so is how to capture the aging baby boomers (some of whom are finally tiring of classic rock). It's all pretty calculated.
Nashville-style country music doesn't want restoring. It's not profitable. There are alternatives to the Nashville sound - many have been mentioned here. So exactly what is it that needs restoring? Is the point that Nashville should get back to doing what it used to? Should country radio start playing George Jones again? Would you expect pop radio to start playing The Beatles? Radio may be a wasteland but the good stuff is out there and it's not that hard to find. So what's the problem again?
Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Cox Family.
Gerry Douglas.
The problem is the junk is thrown in our faces all the time while the good stuff requires searching through the weeds to find it. I dont' mind hunting for the good stuff. But it's a shame it doesn't reach a broader audience
Shaun Garrity
http://www.youtube.com/user/spgokc78
Listen to bootliquor radio.com
...as well as to XM Radio channel 12/X-Country, which features many of the artists referenced elsewhere in this thread, as well as many others not getting much, if any, mainstream airtime.
"The problem with quotes on the internet, is everybody has one, and most of them are wrong."
~ Mark Twain
Mandolin shirts, hats, case stickers, & more at my Zazzle storefront
I didn't mean to imply that at all.
I just think the amateur and semi-pro players must "carry the torch" because those were the folk playing this music in the first place. I saw a bunch of comments I liked, all in roughly the same spirit. So, I quoted 'em.
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