Rocky_Stallone

Is there any country music fans in this board? I'm personally really starting to get back into it, seriously. I've been listening to a lot of country music radio and it's been growing back on me.

When I was a young teenager, I used to listen to a lot of country but then I gave up country for a while to listen to classic rock and today's rock music. But ever since I've been listening to country radio, I've been liking country again ever since. There are some really great songs and really talented country singers out there.

I know, as for the people who love to bash country music, I know they are going to start coming in here saying bullcrap, like country singers have no talent, they don't write their own songs, they can't play instruments, country singers are manufactured, and only know a few chords on a song, country music are for women only, blah blah blah blah blah blah. What people say when they bash country music is all bullcrap and they know "absolutely" nothing about the genre when they think they do.

Taste of music changes as you grow older, and I think that has happened to me. I haven't been listening to any rock hardly at all. Mostly country. The country music genre is what I preffer to listen to mostly these days.

Country music is the same exact way when rock/metal fans bash rap music. Rock/metal fans think they know so much about a genre they don't like. Just because there's a genre you don't like, doesn't mean they have no talent. They all do have serious talent, it's just that people don't like the music. That's fine if people don't like the music but it's wrong when people say they have no talent whether it will be the country genre or rap music or whatever rock/metal fans music like to bash.

Many country singers do write their own songs, and they do play their own instruments. Country music is very difficult to play on the guitar. I've tried to play country music on the guitar, and it's really not that easy. It's takes years and years in experience to play country music on the guitar. Sure, you may start off with simple easy basic chords but learning how to play country music on an instrument is very difficult.

My former guitar teacher in the past is a country musician. He wrote a lot of country songs on his own. He knows a lot about the country music genre more than anyone. He actually wrote country songs for the famous country singers today. But this man here, my former guitar teacher, Jimmy Cris , moved down to Nashville, Tennessee to further his country music career. This man here taught me a lot about the country music genre. He taught me how country songs were written in the country music business. Many of the country music haters, think that country music songs are easy and simple to write, but really folks, it is not an easy task. It takes a lot of work and experience. It takes a lot of music theory and improvisation to write good country songs. It takes a lot of practice and range to have a great country singing voice.

Look where guys like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson are today, they are legendary singers and both are amazing guitarists. Both men play fast lead guitar and their strumming on the instrument looks very difficultry with the leads thrown in between the chords. It has to be very difficult to sing and play country music at the same time.

Two days ago, I watched a documentary about Toby Keith's life on CMT channell on TV. That documentary actually showed Toby Keith writing songs on a tour bus with other musicians which I thought was very impressive. Toby Keith is a very talented musician and songwriter. He had written all songs by himself. The man actually knows how to sing and he's very good. When they were writing songs on the tour bus, Toby Keith was demonstrating and giving instructions on guitar chords and the tones to the songs that he wrote, as the other musicians began to experiment with the song, Toby Keith began to sing along with the written lyrics in front of him on the tour bus. That just shows that country music is not fake and they really have loads of talent.

But there are two country singers who I know who don't really sing, they are Shania Twain and Faith Hill. Both women lip synch at live shows, yes, I'll admit that there are some lip synchers in country music but not all of them lip synch when they perform live. A lot of them really sing great.

And country music is not just for the women. There are lots of men who enjoy listening to the genre very much. Many people in my family are all country fans, maybe that was the reason that I'm starting to get back into it.

I've been getting a lot of country albums lately. The Dixie Chicks "Home" is one of them and that is a really incredible album. The next country album I will probably get it is Montgomery Gentry's latest album, I'm sure you're all probably familiar with their hit song "Speed" which is an amazing song in my book.

Some of my favorite country artists is in the list below:

Johnny Cash
Willie Nelson
Garth Brooks
Hal Ketchum
Hank Williams Sr.
Hank Williams III
Clint Black
Toby Keith
Montgomery Gentry
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Charlie Daniels Band
The Dixie Chicks
Brooks and Dunn
Alan Jackson
Alabama
Randy Travis
Dwight Yoakam


And so much more.

Yes, I hate both Faith Hill and Shania Twain, not only because they lip synch and don't really know how to sing it's just that their music terrible.

Let's talk about the country music genre. List your favorite artist or join in on the discussion or whatever. Discuss.

Michael T Hudson

No.

Gdrlv

I'm a pretty huge fan of classic country and alt-country, but commercial country doesn't do anything for me. Some of my favorites...

Willie Nelson
Johnny Cash
Hank Williams Sr.
Gram Parsons/The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Gourds (I absolutely love this band)
Old 97's
Whiskeytown
Uncle Tupelo
Robbie Fulks
The Be Good Tanyas

Mopower

Big fan of.....

Alan Jackson
George Strait
Toby Keith
Kenny Chesney
Brooks and Dunn
Montgomery Gentry
Alabama

Kenny Chesney is probably my favorite country singer.

I like others but just one or two songs.

Rocky_Stallone

Was there really a need to post that? If you didn't like the genre then stay out of this thread. That post of yours would be considered nothing but spam, PC+1.

I'm glad to see another Montgomery Gentry fan in this board, thanks Mopower.

das Monkey

• Quoth Rocky_Stallone •<HR SIZE=1>I know, as for the people who love to bash country music, I know they are going to start coming in here saying bullcrap, like country singers have no talent, they don't write their own songs, they can't play instruments, country singers are manufactured, and only know a few chords on a song, country music are for women only, blah blah blah blah blah blah. What people say when they bash country music is all bullcrap and they know "absolutely" nothing about the genre when they think they do.<HR SIZE=1>

Well, gee ... how does one survive in a world where he is the definitive expert on everything? It must be a horrible burden to carry.

Anyway, to the question at hand, I'm probably a lot like Gdrlv. I enjoy a lot of the old school Country and even some of what could be classified as Country & Western, but the more commercialized form it's adopted during its popularity growth really doesn't do much for me. While there are many solid Country performers today, there's just too much "image" Country for my tastes, and the sound I like seems squeezed out by the industry's push to cross genres. This certainly isn't a problem limited to Country, though, as much of the music I like from all genres gets pushed aside for their more commercial and repetitive counterparts.

When it comes to Country, I get much more satisfaction digging deeper into the classic library than 99% of what's being promoted today. You can never have too much of the man in black. To mention a new name, I have a soft spot for Roy Clark. Although he's a bit of a ham, and Hee Haw's not the kind of thing you'd want on your tombstone, I can remember the first time I saw him picking on The Flip Wilson Show, and it was quite impressive. That's a style of music you just don't hear anymore.

das

Norm de Plume

Your thread title asked a question. He answered it.

mljones99

Looks to me like he was just answering your question.

And to answer your question in the first post, no I am not into country music. Some of it is ok and I can listen to it if its on but would never put it on myself. though i will admit some old school country like johnny cash, hank williams, etc.. is pretty good.

briank

Well my music tastes range GREATLY.

I've been finding myself listening to a lot more country than usual lately. (my wife has CMT on constantly).

I've seen everyone from Pearl Jam/Tool/Rage to Neil Diamond to Garth Brooks in concert.

My favorite type of music, or favorite band is Pearl Jam.
And I'd say rock or alternative rock is still my favorite.
Radiohead is probably my 2nd favorite.

With that said in terms of country lately I've been to the
Brooks and Dunn/Rascall Flatts/Brad Paisely concert.
Going to Dixie Chicks
Also won tickets for Lonestar, Sarah Evans, Mark Willis, show
Most of this is for my wife but I do find it "catchy".
And in the cd player she/we have been playing:
Toby Keith
Alison Kraus and Union Station
Rascall Flatts
among others.

evenflow

The only band that I like whose music can be considered a type of country is Wilco (well at least their first album). Besides Wilco, I also enjoy watching Faith Hill's videos with the sound turn off and with NIN's "Closer" playing in the background.

SAShepherd

Add me to the Gdrlv/das contingent, who would agree with you that we like country, but wouldn't be able to find a single artist that the three of us and you both like with the exception of Johnny Cash.

I can't stand commercial country radio, with the exception of the Dixie Chicks, and I generally prefer their stuff that doesn't get played on the radio.

I'm not a huge old school country fan, either, though if you offered me the choice of, say, George Jones/Tammy Wynette/Merle Haggard or Alan Jackson/Faith Hill/Toby McGraw, I'd take the former in a heartbeat.

There are country music artists/bands that I like, mostly alt-country, but some more traditional:

The Jayhawks
Neko Case
Whiskeytown
Old '97s
Uncle Tupelo
Kelly Willis
Kim Richey
Lyle Lovett
Alison Krauss

And as for your comments in general, I think what you said can be applied to any musical genre -- it's harder than it appears and most of the musicians have talent of some sort (singing, playing, whatever). By no means do I think country is somehow unfairly singled out for abuse -- I think every musical genre has its detractors.

Rocky_Stallone

Thanks for your great replies guys.

Evenflow, yeah, I like Wilco too, even though he isn't really country, he is very alt-country, but I love his music as well. The Jayhawks are great. I have one of their albums.

I do realize that today's country music doesn't sound like the old stuff but hey, this is 2003. Every genre is looking for something new.

But if you're looking for nothing but new country music that sounds like the old classic style, buy the Dixie Chicks new album "Home". On the album "Home", there's a lot of original classic bluegrass music on there, and it's amazing.

evenflow

Wilco is a band not a guy.

Gdrlv

Actually, that's pretty debatable...I'd have agreed with you before Bennett was canned, but I'm not so sure anymore.

Matt

I like Pink Floyd's music. He's a really good guitar player.

But, moving on. . .

I'll also join the Gdrlv country club. I love alt.country, and the only traditional country artist I have any albums of is Johnny Cash (although I have liked the occasional Willie Nelson or George Jones song).

Any of you guys checked out Kathleen Edwards? I've only heard two of her songs from her album Failer, but I liked them quite a bit. She sounds a lot like Lucinda Williams to me (who's also very good).

Tscott

I love:

Lucinda Williams
Allison Moorer
Neko Case
Kasey Chambers
Tiff Merritt
Kathleen Edwards
Emmylou Harris
Suzy Bogguss
Dixie Chicks
and even Shania Twain.

There are some other female country artists (mostly pop/country) that I like a song or two, but I'm usually dissappointed when I hear a whole album by them.

As for male country singers... Men singing with a twang is almost as unlistenable to me as Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" (almost). Just.... yuck.

There are a few exceptions:

Johnny Cash (of course)
Lonesome Bob (because Allison Moorer sings with him, and he's a great songwriter)
some Clint Black
Steve Earl
and Wilco (if we're really calling them country in this thread).

Brain Stew

I like kind of old timey country music, like what The Rolling Stones sounded like when they tried doing some countrified songs.

I really like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Sr., while they usually sing about the same thing heartbreak, Hank would take a decidedly melancholy stance while Johnny would make ironic jokes to mask the pain.

As for modern country, I will admit that it is a guilty pleasure. If I am flipping the channels and catch Alan Jackson's "Drive" or "That'd Be Alright" I usually watch it.

einTier

I like old country and particular, outlaw country.

Rocky, not everyone has to agree with you.

slymer

What's with all the Johny Reznic Hair-do's in country these days?

Giantrobo

anyone like Junior Brown?

CapRockBrewingCo.

Junior Brown is cool. Love the Guit-Steel. Add me to the alt-country list. I like classic country also, but not this pop country crap on the radio today. Artists like Rascall Flatts usually don't write their own stuff and many of them don't play instruments or read music. These are some of my favorite artists (and many are mentioned above):
Terry Allen
Blue Mountain
Blue Rodeo
BottleRockets
Richard Buckner
Kasey Chambers
Calexico
Jayhawks
Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown
Damnations, TX (The Damnations)
Steve Earle
Jack Ingram
Pat Green
Robert Earl Keen
Allison Moorer
Old 97's
Kelly Willis