whats country any more

[Jerry L Miller]

this morning at 3:00 a. m. i left Sublette ks on my new part time job driving a truck. it dosnt have a c.d.or cassett player in it so i turned on the radio. all night country music it said ???????? the first song distortion on guitar and steel, the words were a wondering about his truck and horse ?????. the next song was about the same. Where in H#*@ did REAL country music go?????..i didnt know it was this bad.
next time i'll take my portable c.d. player......
jerry

[Jerry Scoope]

If I was still driving truck I wouldn't be w/o sat. radio. The unit I have has a FM transmitter so I can take it in any Veh. I'm driving

Jerry

[Mike Archer]

yep
I call this new crapp punk junk
its that bad I dont listen to the radio much anymore use to I could listen to some new country
but not anymore
at least thats IMHO
if you have one of those new radios/SAT
where you can get tunes from space you can tune in
some good country

[Jim Hoke]

I got that Sirius Radio in my car and channel 62 is alot of classic country. Of course to some people, "classic country" means "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On" and other 80's items. Today, though, they played "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know About Him" by The Davis Sisters - it was great and had great proto-steel (no pedals I think).

[Kevin Hatton]

Sirius or XM Satellite radio. Willie's Place. Top 40 Pop Country sucks big time. Its not real country music.

[Ken Mizell]

I'm on the road a lot with my job. Every now and then, when my favorite talk shows go off the air and I'm heading home, I'll punch up the local FM (so-called) country station to see if there's anything there I can put up with. I try, but it's just not happening with me. Every now and then I'll luck out and get an Alan Jackson tune.

It seems to me that a lot of the "country" tunes I find have this driving beat with a little instrumentation thrown in here an there, while the "singer" kind of talks the lyrics. The beat is kind of like this:

Boom Boom Splat and a Boom Boom Splat,
Boom Boom Splat and a Boom Boom Splat,
Boom Boom Splat and a Boom Boom Splat. (etc, etc)

Is it just me, or is this a dominant thing in what bOb once affectionately called "NCS"?

Ever tried whistling along with these tunes? Doesn't work so well does it?

Ken

[Charles Davidson]

Guys, I have been b#$%$ing about this for two and a half years,Have gotten a little flack about it,that's OK.I'm alright with that,EVERY ONE has a right to their opinion,What gets me it has gotten to point that this top forty [whatever it is]is called country music,It's NOT!There are FEW exceptions,but 99 percent of what is called country is nothing but a very poor attempt at 70's rock and roll.Believe it or not there are millions out there that actually think that artist like Chesney,Big and Rich,Cowboy Troy,etc,are country artist.Most of the songs have no melody and sang in almost a monotone[the next step would be rap]The best thing in country going today is Dale Watson,will you hear him on FM radio or see him on TV,not likely.The award shows have turned into nothing but Hollyweird rock productions with lots of beautiful bimbos singing flat,and a stage full of screaming distorted Les Pauls,what is sad they call this country music.I have said this before and still mean it,I bet if Paris Hilton did a recording of cold,cold,heart with in a week Mr Fisher would book her on the opry.DYKBC.

[Ken Mizell]

What Charlie said.

If Britney gets seen somewhere wearing a cowboy hat, she'll be booked on the next CMA awards show. God forbid!

It seems the genre of country music still exists, and is still recorded (Lloyd Green is doing sessions, Dale Watson, and no doubt many others), but there isn't a public (radio) outlet for it. XM Radio and CD's from some of these artist who are still country and proud of it (if you can find them) is the only way to get good stuff on the radio.

For me, it's my MP3 player and CD's when I want music. The most recent country CD I've bought is the one with Martina McBride doing an album full of country standards with lots of Paul Franklin. Other than that, the string of CD's that Vince Gill put out with Mr. Hughey, and Ricky Scagg's country albums is about it.

Ken

[David Doggett]

If it is any consolation, here in the 5th largest listener market in the country there is no full-time jazz or classical music station. There is one station that plays classical music during the day, and switches to jazz at night. Can you imagine that in the home of John Coltrane and the Philadelphia Orchestra?! Like these other genres of older music, traditional country has become a classic, conservatory phenomenon. It's no longer on mainstream stations.

[chris ivey]

cold, cold heart....that's hot!

[Dom Franco]

It's not just Country Music that has gone out of fashion! Remember these things:
1. Drive in movies
2. Movies without the "F" word
3. TV shows where the husband and wife loved each other, and the kids pretended to respect(obey)them.
4. Cars that seated 6 adults comfortably, with clasic body styles, mostly made of steel not plastic!
5. Learning to read "English" in school, the United States were still the good guys, and doing math homework without a calculator.
6. Cheap stuff was made in Japan, mostly junk was made in China, Quality products were "made in the USA" and affordable.
7. Gas under $1.00 a gallon.
8. Families went to Church together.
9. People got married before living together, getting pregnant, or even having sex.
10. Marriage vows meant something, and divorce was not as common or desirable.

I miss the good old country music, but at least we have recordings.
I just barely scratched the surface of all the things I miss that we will probably never see or hear again.

Dom (I am still optimistic I think)

[Jerry L Miller]

Dom you just listed all the things that are missing in this country, will we get them back? i dont think we will. its sad, i think heather myles song " nashvilles gone hollywood " explaines it. except for a few, pure country music is gone........
jerry

[David Doggett]

Okay, just to lend some balance, lest some innocent young people actually buy into this nostalgia binge, here are some other things I DON’T miss from the old days:
1. Racial discrimination backed by the full might of the courts, police, legislatures, and the press
2. Lots of people killed in car wrecks without seat belts
3. Women unable to get a job except as a maid, waitress, secretary, nurse, or lower school teacher
4. Lynch mobs
5. World Wars
6. The Great Depression
7. Polio
8. Women dying in illegal back-alley abortions
9. Lots of people in miserable marriages with no escape
10. Having sex with only one person your whole stinkin’ life
11. Low-fi sound equipment
12. Having to do math without a calculator

I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

[David Doggett]

Oops. Duplicate deleted. We didn't need this bad stuff deja vue all over again.

[Brian LeBlanc]

Yeah!

...and whats wrong with blonde bimboes ?

[Ray Minich]

And to think, that, sometime in the future, these days are gonna be somebody's "good old days"...

[Brint Hannay]

Boom Boom Splat and a Boom Boom Splat,
Boom Boom Splat and a Boom Boom Splat,
Boom Boom Splat and a Boom Boom Splat. (etc, etc)

Well rendered, Ken!

[Mark Treepaz]

...there is no full-time jazz or classical music station....Can you imagine that in the home of John Coltrane and the Philadelphia Orchestra?!

David, that's incredible, but not all that surprising these days. Go figure.

[Leo Belval]

george streaight and allan jackson said it right with the song murder on music row.
There is no more real country

[Fred Glave]

The "music" that is being broadcast for the masses is a reflection of the musical sophistication of the audience. They don't teach music in school anymore, and kids are only exposed to the commercial junk. It's only going to get worse. I can't imagine what music the kids of today are going to be subjected to by their kids in the future. Maybe it will all turn around and they'll be complaining about what happened to the good old days of hip hop, while they tell their kids to turn down the classical, jazz, country and swing.

[Mark Lind-Hanson]

What makes it country? I tell ya man, it's the hats, it's the hats!
They make up for any musical ability or sense of historical continuity, they do!
it's the hats, it's the hats!

[Charles Davidson]

Cowboy Troy,Chesney,Big and Rich,Montgomery Gentry,PROVES it's NOT the hats,DYKBC.

[Leslie Ehrlich]

...distortion on guitar and steel

I can't play steel without distortion. The ol' Sho-Bud sounds best when overdriven. But I play rock, not country...

[Kent Thompson]

I've been in radio for 18 years and have worked several different music formats,with country holding dearest to my heart.

I used to work for Great Empirer Broadcasting in Omaha Nebraska. I had a call in Oldies show,and it covered a 6 state area.WOW 59 Country. when I was away for a week my co-workers could never understand why I had such a success rate with it.It was a simple recipe.Nothing newer than 1970. That's what the listeners wanted.

Radio is a buisiness.However there was a time when it was about the music,now it's about wal street unfortunatly.Radio consultants give the programmers quote research that tells the age demo the station is looking for for their advertisers.Usually women 18-34. They bring in a very tight playlist of about 600 songs that are pre-programmed in the computer.Very few stations or Jocks have freedom to choose what gets played,and there is no cueing CD's anymore.

You're right there is not much country music commercially anymore,it's primerily pop sounding stuff.It's been watered down so long that none of the younger generation has a clue what you're talking about.It's sad. I have a co-worker who tells me I am in a minority with the sound I want to hear and that I need to understand that music revolutionizes,and to move with it or get left behind. I don't buy into this theory,but much of the programmers today would try to sell you on that same theory.

[David Mason]

We're doomed.