Classic Country Music Hasn't Died, Just Went Underground !

Dustin Rigsby · Post by **Dustin Rigsby** » 3 Aug 2009 11:35 am

Some of you may know that I am in a band that plays a lot of classic country. While at these gigs it never seems to suprise me the number of folks,mostly twenty-somethings,that come to us and say "I hate country music,but I like your band" . They really marvel when I tell them that it's because they have never listened to anything other than whats on today's radio. We play a lot of Hank Sr. and Bakersfield stuff. Mostly anything that is pre-urban cowboy. I would say that fans are primed for a new traditionalist movement in country music. They are fed up with the slick productions that are force fed to them by the powers that be in Nashvegas. Just my 2 cents.

Ellis Miller · Post by **Ellis Miller** » 3 Aug 2009 12:05 pm

I play in a similar band - we play some Western Swing as well. One of the venues has a younger clientele. Everything we do is new to them and they love it.

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 3 Aug 2009 12:19 pm

And in Colorado and Ohio . . . neither exactly the Heart of Dixie. Sounds very encouraging.

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 3 Aug 2009 12:36 pm

I echo these comments. I'm playing more traditional
country than I ever have. Just got an e mail from
a client we played a wedding reception for this past weekend, raving about all the positive feedback she
got from her guests. They were all twenty somethings. To be sure, we played some dance rock, "Hurt So Godd", "Pink Cadillac", etc., but her main commentary was on how much they liked the honky tonk stuff.

Steve Broatch · Post by **Steve Broatch** » 3 Aug 2009 12:46 pm

Yeah same here. In this part of England most people think country music = Billy Ray Cyrus's Achy Breaky Heart with some pensioners line-dancing in cowboy hats and lumberjack shirts.

We play a little classic country, a little bluegrass/old time and some swingy numbers. Younger people don't really know what to make of it. But they get up and dance!

Ellis Miller · Post by **Ellis Miller** » 3 Aug 2009 1:17 pm

Jeff Evans wrote:And in Colorado and Ohio . . . neither exactly the Heart of Dixie. Sounds very encouraging.

I don't know much about Ohio, but I perform mostly in Western Colorado which is cowboy country. Not too hard to find a dually and a cowboy hat around here.

Funny... the venue I referenced is in Durango which is about 1/2 too-cool-hip-groovy and 1/2 real deal cowboy types. Amazingly, they seem to get along pretty well

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 3 Aug 2009 1:52 pm

What a breath of fresh air this is. I sincerely hope you guys are right and real country comes back and drives the rock and rollers back to their own place. I wish them all the success in the world, but don't try to ride country music's coat tail to get there.

There's a lot of threads asking if "so and so' has a steel player on the road with them. If they are promoting themselves as a country act, it should be a given that they have a steel player. I'm a fiddler, but I think steel is most important. I like both. When people call me about a country fiddle gig, I ask who the steel player is. If they say they don't have one, I simply tell them that I don't want to play fiddle in a country band that doesn't have a steel player. That may piss them off, but I don't care...........unless they've got a lot of money, then I'll agree to do it and suffer through just for the payday.

Bob Mueller · Post by **Bob Mueller** » 3 Aug 2009 2:39 pm

35 years or so ago my Daughter said she didn't like "Sick Country" but still wanted to be my Bass player. I told her then, Some day you will fall in Love, Get your Hart broke and Learn how to Dance and Grow up, Then you'll understand. SHE DID and writes some neat Sick Country tunes now and Is a great Bass player, even a little Jazz along with some rock I had to learn.
The younger ones will grow up some day, Country is here to stay.
Bobby

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 3 Aug 2009 3:15 pm

I still listen to some classic country, but that's about it.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 3 Aug 2009 3:15 pm

XM/Sirius Outlaw Country. Ch63.

NEW. REAL. COUNTRY.

There's "Roadhouse" on 62, and "Willies Place" on 64, but mostly it's 30-60 year old music.

There's a TON of REAL,NEW, GREAT COUNTRY out there, from Dale Watson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robbie Fulks, Cowboy Jack, Wayne Hancock, Jamie Johnson, Bobbe Flores, to some of the REAL OLD GUYS like Billy Joe Shaver that have NOT quit grinding out the REAL THING. HankIII, SHooter Jennings, Lucinda Williams, Bobby Bare's Son, and a BUNCH of others.

It's sure saved my outlook on the "state of music".

EJL

Ellis Miller · Post by **Ellis Miller** » 3 Aug 2009 4:56 pm

Bob Mueller wrote:35 years or so ago my Daughter said she didn't like "Sick Country" but still wanted to be my Bass player. I told her then, Some day you will fall in Love, Get your Hart broke and Learn how to Dance and Grow up, Then you'll understand. SHE DID and writes some neat Sick Country tunes now and Is a great Bass player, even a little Jazz along with some rock I had to learn.
The younger ones will grow up some day, Country is here to stay.
Bobby

She is indeed a great bass player and you left out great singer. You did good, Bobby! Tell everybody hello down that way.

Roual Ranes · Post by **Roual Ranes** » 4 Aug 2009 1:42 am

I recently met and hired an at the time 17 year old fiddle player. I couldn't believe how good he was and he has a nice voice quality and does a good job. His favorite is Hank Williams SR. He is self taught gets a great tone out of a cheap fiddle, never squeeks, on time and perfect pitch. I did find out he plays the 1870's music at Civil War Re-Enactments. Maybe he is carrying his love for classic country to younger ones.

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 4 Aug 2009 2:03 am

I act as part of a judging panel for one of the online music awards, and I was judging the nominees for the Country award yesterday. These are nearly all new artists.
Out of the fourteen tracks, two were "Singer/Songwriter" songs with a country flavour to the backing, a couple more were the sort of Seventies Rock that the CMA awards seem to concentrate on these days, three were Bluegrass in various states of concentration or dilution, one was a sort of pastiche of classic country, in that it mentioned GJ and Hag etc, but the other five can only be described as Classic Country, or in one case, pure Honky Tonk.
The vocal style, male or female, the PSG lines, the mix, the tele fills etc.. they were all there.
Lumping Bluegrass with Classic, that makes a majority by my count.
I don't really count myself a great fan of the Classic country thing, I prefer to hear new songs, but if people are recording good new songs in a classic style, everyone should be happy.
Cheers
Dave

Tommy Gibbons · Post by **Tommy Gibbons** » 4 Aug 2009 2:07 am

IMO, the country music fans are here, its the recording industry causin' the problem!

Big name labels may soon pass, with single song internet downloads and you tube, who pays $18 for a CD with 2 decent songs?

Another bail out?

BTW, where's the longivity in country music? One STAR at a time!

Tommy

Paul Wade · Post by **Paul Wade** » 4 Aug 2009 2:48 am

yep, me too classic country band from new lisbon wisconsin

www.countyoutlaws.com

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 4 Aug 2009 3:42 am

On a recent trip to the States I saw a singer in Austin Tx, by the name of Bo Porter. Sounded a little like Faron Young, but was doing some wonderful shuffles. Great band with him too. Real country.

Dustin Rigsby · Post by **Dustin Rigsby** » 4 Aug 2009 5:11 am

What amazes me most is that we really don't play "country" venues. The most country venue so far will be this Saturday,at the Ohio State Fair ! In another thread on the forum, Herby says that he can't even get a steady gig in Eastern Tennesee,the Heart of Dixie ! That's sad. Herby is a great talent.

Edited to add... Hey Eric West, I do listen to outlaw 63 sometimes. Actually,we play a Robbie Fulks tune called "The Buck Starts Here" .

Mike Sigler · Post by **Mike Sigler** » 4 Aug 2009 7:12 am

Dustin
Classic Country Music Is alive And Well in Bremen Ohio, About an hour southeast of Columbus in a Resturant called the Liberty Bell.... It is always packed with 150+ people all the time, and more then half of them are 25 to 30 year range...we have lots of pickers stop in and even a branson or nashville act or two every so often...No Smoking or drinking, and the foods great. Stop in sometime..
Mike

PS. we do tons of Ray Price,Loretta, Conway, Merle, and so on...

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 4 Aug 2009 8:10 am

Classic Country Music Hasn't Died, Just Went Underground!

I completely agree. The main demographic for classic country music is pretty old these days, and it seems that the main advertising demographic for mainstream media is much younger. Ergo, it disappeared from the mainstream media radar quite a while ago.

Out here in the hills of Central Pennsylvania, there is still interest in country music catering to these older crowds. But the thing that may surprise some of you is that many younger people love the 'real' stuff - Hank, Lefty, Merle, Buck, George, Waylon, and others that have some old-school honkytonk attitude - and revile at the thought of Garth, Shania, Toby, and so on. But I don't think it's at a critical mass yet.

I also worry that there could be culture clash between the classic country music culture and the culture some of these new listeners represent. Many of these younger people I know are urban and more outwardly aggressive than the typically older classical country music fans I know. They typically came in through the door of the Burrito Bros, Townes van Zandt, Steve Earle, and others in the more alt-country vein. I hope the cultures can be bridged - there's power in numbers.

Bobby Burns · Post by **Bobby Burns** » 4 Aug 2009 10:15 am

Dave B. made a comment about lumping bluegrass with classic country. I have always wondered just why it is that bluegrass festivals don't turn into festivals that have a mixture of "old timey" music styles. I know that a lot of us are bluegrass pickers too. Lots of bluegrass bands so songs by Hank Sr., Merle, George, Vern, and Vince. Heck, Bill Monroe even recorded a lot of current for the time country songs such as Johnny Cash's Big River. A lot of country stars started out playing bluegrass, and probably still would if the money was there. So It is pretty much true that a lot of the same folks like classic country and Bluegrass. A lot of steel players also pick the banjo. Why are they so afraid to let a clssic country act complete with amplified steel and bass on the festival bill?
If classic country guys can't get on the bluegrass festivals, then why isn't someone doing a series of classic country festivals, featuring the old guard of surviving stars, and new acts of the appropriate style, along with local bands? I think the whole bluegrass festival format with real country acts would draw at least as well as bluegrass festivals if someone with the promotional skills was motivated to do it.
I think that something of this nature is going to have to be the future of real music of any sort that isn't considered commercial enough for the masses. Like bluegrass, I think being labeled non-commercial (underground) is the thing a lot of young folks consider very cool.

Shorty Smith · Post by **Shorty Smith** » 4 Aug 2009 11:02 am

Traditional, classic country music is well alive here, I play in the only real country band here in Columbus, Ga and we have a great crowd of mixed age people and all they want to hear is the old calssic traditional country music. We very seldon have a request for one on the new (what they country) songs, Shorty

Kenny Martin · Post by **Kenny Martin** » 4 Aug 2009 11:23 am

Well, i just had to jump in this one a little and my first comment coming back on the forum!

Daryl Singletary has a new "Real Country" cd out! Gene Watson has a new "Real Country" cd out along with a few others! No dis-respect but "Real Country" is still being produced and it bothers me to hear it called "Traditional and Classic" all the time!

It's like the punk rock producers in Nashville want to make it seem as though its old and in the past!
I was with Daryl Worley sunday before last and we were talking about his struggle going all the way with the new sound! I guess ya have to make a living!!

I'm just thankful that CMT and shows like the CMA play Sugarland, Kieth Urban Taylor Swift and Gloriana early in the mornings because it works better than ex-lax!
It gets me to the toilet faster than anything!

Well, thank guys for the thread so i could make a comment!

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 4 Aug 2009 11:26 am

Dave B. made a comment about lumping bluegrass with classic country. I have always wondered just why it is that bluegrass festivals don't turn into festivals that have a mixture of "old timey" music styles.

I think a lot of bluegrassers are pretty hard-nosed. Country music let in a lot of outside influences way back when - bluegrassers stuck to their guns.

But at another level - why should they open up the tent to a style that has obviously been taken over by influences they abhor? They've been able to make a go of it with just bluegrass. Why change?

If classic country guys can't get on the bluegrass festivals, then why isn't someone doing a series of classic country festivals, featuring the old guard of surviving stars, and new acts of the appropriate style, along with local bands? I think the whole bluegrass festival format with real country acts would draw at least as well as bluegrass festivals if someone with the promotional skills was motivated to do it.

I and others have been suggesting just that for a a while now - this thread is an example of that type of discussion about a year ago - http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=129994

Like bluegrass, I think being labeled non-commercial (underground) is the thing a lot of young folks consider very cool.

Yup, I agree again. Just damn the torpedoes, no compromises.

Joe Smith · Post by **Joe Smith** » 4 Aug 2009 11:49 am

I am very lucky. We play mostly old country, some line dance tunes, and classic Rock and Roll. We have bass, drums, guitar, and pedal steel. The dance hall is packed every time we play. I get to play lots of instrumentals too.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 4 Aug 2009 3:01 pm

I'm just thankful that CMT and shows like the CMA play Sugarland, Kieth Urban Taylor Swift and Gloriana early in the mornings because it works better than ex-lax!
It gets me to the toilet faster than anything!

More information than I needed to know, Kenny!

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