Curing My Music Snobbery with "AM Country Radio Immersion Therapy"

[henwrench]

Hey, hey, groovers, ain't nothing wrong with a bit of country!! Early Dolly Parton albums are superb, does Hank Williams come under the country banner? Dunno, but it's great. Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, fantastic, so much of the old country too, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, Country and Western on the other hand, is where it can go a bit shit...

                                             henwrench

[Hilary]

Hey, hey, groovers, ain't nothing wrong with a bit of country!! Early Dolly Parton albums are superb, does Hank Williams come under the country banner? Dunno, but it's great. Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, fantastic, so much of the old country too, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, Country and Western on the other hand, is where it can go a bit shit...

                                             henwrench

If you read the blog, that's the same point Ted makes. I like Country music too - there's good and bad in every genre. The point I trying to make is the sometimes the bad is good

I really liked the Subway/Maths blog Ted, not least because my daughter is a maths whizz and had a Saturday job at Subway waiting tables and washing up . . .

[thetworegs]

The rule of listening to music I have .....is if it sounds good it must be good!

[Geir]

I love country music as much as any other type of music.  Its like any other genre. 5% is great.  The rest is crap.

Exactly......

Agree

And thanks for reminding me about your blog.... been a while since I read it ...I do remember the math problem tho ... I found the formula excessively complicated

[64Guitars]

I love country music as much as any other type of music.  Its like any other genre. 5% is great.  The rest is crap.

I like Country music too - there's good and bad in every genre.

I disagree. I don't think that any music is bad. It's all good. It's just that we all have different tastes, so what one person likes, another person will hate. I can't stand most of the new country music. But I don't think it's "bad" music. Millions of people love it so it must be good. It's just not for me. I do like a lot of the older country music though (Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Glen Campbell, Roy Clark, Skeeter Davis, Johnny Horton, etc.). When I was growing up in the sixties, the local pop and rock radio stations would include a fair bit of country as well as other genres in their playlists, and I liked a lot of the country music that they played. Not to the point that I'd buy any of their records perhaps, but I enjoyed listening when it came on the radio.

It's the same with any kind of art. Are there "bad" paintings? No, because no matter how awful a painting looks to me or you, there's always going to be a large number of people who think it's wonderful. There are countless paintings hanging in museums and galleries, worth ridiculous amounts of money, that I wouldn't pay two cents for. They just don't appeal to me. But that doesn't make them bad paintings. I've also seen some amateur paintings that I really liked a lot. It's the same with sculpture, films, literature, theatre, and any other form of art. It's all good, whether I happen to like it or not.


I think I'll add Classic Country to the list of festival suggestions for future consideration.

[cuthbert]

Here's a Carter Family classic from 1928, updated by the Haden Triplets:

They sing like angels. And the original ain't half-bad either...

[Hilary]

I love country music as much as any other type of music.  Its like any other genre. 5% is great.  The rest is crap.

I like Country music too - there's good and bad in every genre.

I disagree. I don't think that any music is bad. It's all good. It's just that we all have different tastes, so what one person likes, another person will hate. I can't stand most of the new country music. But I don't think it's "bad" music. Millions of people love it so it must be good. It's just not for me. I do like a lot of the older country music though (Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Glen Campbell, Roy Clark, Skeeter Davis, Johnny Horton, etc.). When I was growing up in the sixties, the local pop and rock radio stations would include a fair bit of country as well as other genres in their playlists, and I liked a lot of the country music that they played. Not to the point that I'd buy any of their records perhaps, but I enjoyed listening when it came on the radio.

It's the same with any kind of art. Are there "bad" paintings? No, because no matter how awful a painting looks to me or you, there's always going to be a large number of people who think it's wonderful. There are countless paintings hanging in museums and galleries, worth ridiculous amounts of money, that I wouldn't pay two cents for. They just don't appeal to me. But that doesn't make them bad paintings. I've also seen some amateur paintings that I really liked a lot. It's the same with sculpture, films, literature, theatre, and any other form of art. It's all good, whether I happen to like it or not.


I think I'll add Classic Country to the list of festival suggestions for future consideration.

I stand corrected, it's all shades of green . . .

[Burtog]

Isn't the term Country music almost a little outdated now, since the 'Cookie-cutter corporation Country' has grown in popularity any credible music that was Country, Folk, Bluegrass etc now seems to be labelled as Americana.

I like First Aid Kit, they are swedish girl group influenced by Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris etc and they have been labelled as Americana, seems wrong somehow.

I now wrongly associate Country with the crap sugar coated toss that you hear everywhere when in reality there is a lot of good stuff out there from young artists who no longer seem to be labelled Country when traditionally they should be.

Music is fashion...............

[Hook]

I must say I totally agree with 64's comment. I happen to like most styles of music (even some rap, The Roots & Dey La Soul come to mind) but there are many examples from all styles that I don't care for, it's all a matter of taste in my opinion..I have a great respect for the creative process and I think that's evident in all forms of art, even if I think it's crap! I think we should add current pop/country as a fest choice or maybe a songs you hate fest. I think it would be a fun challenge to take a Tune you dislike and turn it into something different. It might just open some minds a little.
Judge On!

[cuthbert]

Isn't the term Country music almost a little outdated now, since the 'Cookie-cutter corporation Country' has grown in popularity any credible music that was Country, Folk, Bluegrass etc now seems to be labelled as Americana.

I like First Aid Kit, they are swedish girl group influenced by Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris etc and they have been labelled as Americana, seems wrong somehow.

I now wrongly associate Country with the crap sugar coated toss that you hear everywhere when in reality there is a lot of good stuff out there from young artists who no longer seem to be labelled Country when traditionally they should be.

Music is fashion...............

You've outlined the exact problem there - country music as a genre has gotten a bad name over time because of what their industry has pushed. And they've earned that "shit" label - if you listen to country music on the radio here in the US, it's a weak tea of rock, pop, and even rap with a "country" vocal twang. It's really garbage.

So because they've trashed their brand, I guess a new genre term like 'Americana' or 'alt-country' is going to be used by artists who don't want their music ignored because it's labeled "country" or especially the vile "contemporary country", that I described previously.