Country Music (not a slam or complaint)

Ulrich Sinn · Post by **Ulrich Sinn** » 30 Mar 2014 7:49 am

When it comes to steel guitar, the pedal player need only to place the bar on the current chord fret and mash the "A" and "B" pedals furiously.

That's me!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 30 Mar 2014 10:29 am

I never said there was anything wrong with it... I made an observation that it would be difficult at best to recognize the songs in instrumental version. Not a slam, or complaint.

I think most of us would conclude that something is wrong when songs are not recognizable from each other when the lyrics are omitted. Great melodies and chord changes make great instrumentals. But those things are not important in today's formula country music. Today it's pounding drums and bass, rhythm instruments, clichÃ© lyrics about pickup trucks and hot chicks with cowboys hats... etc, etc. The melodies are very weak, almost non-existent. That's why the songs can not stand on their own as instrumentals IMO.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 30 Mar 2014 7:10 pm

I had to check the date on this thread, because I swear it's the same exact thing my dad was complaining about in 1974.

Darrell Criswell · Post by **Darrell Criswell** » 31 Mar 2014 11:16 am

I don't care for the new country at all and agree with most of the comments.

However occasionally I will hear a song that I somewhat like and it is usually by the band Perry, occasionally Lady Antebellum or sometimes Zak Brown.

I wonder back when Faron Young, George Jones, the young Paycheck, and Ray Price were on the airwaves how much of the stuff played was junk? I remember there was a lot of lousy music back then too.

Bill Duncan · Post by **Bill Duncan** » 31 Mar 2014 2:32 pm

The point I think I was trying to make is that there are not many memorable melodies. The music is played well, and the musicians I feel are very good. It's just that I get the feeling that the songs were written by a computer program.

The melodies just can't grab hold of the listener to make a lasting impression, and I believe it would be very hard for them to stand alone as an instrumental.

I don't know the words to, A Way To Survive, but I still love to hear it played, and like to play it. It can stand on the melody alone, and it is instantly recognizable.

I get the same feeling about contemporary gospel music as I do about country music. I sit and listen to the songs, and when they're over, I can't for the life of me hum or whistle the tune. Many times the words don't rhyme either.

So it ain't just country.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 31 Mar 2014 3:23 pm

Ever notice that most of the instrumentals we play were written in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Sometimes I look through song lists on line, popular songs, to play as instrumentals. There are very few songs in recent years that translate to good instrumentals IMO. I always end up choosing tunes from the 30s through the 60s. And for Hawaiian stuff... most of the best tunes are about 80 to 100 years old! Go figure. The downslide in great melodies started happening when The Rock era began IMO. Band members started writing their own songs and professional songwriters became fewer and fewer.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 6 Apr 2014 10:57 am

I view a fellow on youtube that is very opinionated and is a very good country guitar player, chicken picken style. He mentions that this style of country guitar playing, except for Brad Paisley as he is his own front man and lead player does not exist in new country music today. It's a 70's rock rythm and the tele, strat and Fender tube amps that were the basis of standard country music are being replaced withLes Pauls and Paul Reed Smith guitars and Marshall halfstacks with a bit of fiddle and steel guitar to project the image that it's a country song.

Also, what about showmanship and originality? You don't have to wear a Porter Wagner suit but you don't have to look like you crawled out from working on an 18 wheeler. Just venting hear for what it's worth

Lenny

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 6 Apr 2014 12:31 pm

I was listening to an instrumental the other day. I said, that sounds like "Thrills that I can't Forget" by Welby Toomey. Someone else said, naw, that is "I'm thinking tonight of my Blue Eyes" by the Carter Family. Someone else said, no, no, no, that's "Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff. My other friend said, what are you smoking crack? That's "The Wild Side of Life", to which my wife said, you are all crazy, that's "It wasn't God who made Honky Tonk Angels."

It is easy to recognize the old tunes when everyone used the same one.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 6 Apr 2014 2:35 pm

NPR featured www.carlenecarter.net/ http://www.npr.org/2014/04/04/299060528 ... ry-lightly this morning and out with a new CD, damn fine REAL country. Plus a killer cameo by Willie.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Apr 2014 5:21 pm

Ed Heins wrote:While I agree with the sentiment here. I think it's interesting that I heard the same complaint in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, etc.

While that may be true, it is nonetheless a fact that the music of the '50s, '60s, and '70s is still around, and still being played. Now...I could be wrong, but somehow I doubt that any song that's on the charts today will be heard at all in 25-50 years. Not only is the stuff purveyed today ultimately forgettable fluff, but the generation that's that's buying and listening to it has the attention span of a goldfish.

Memory drills and and paying attention are skills that simply aren't being taught anymore. The biggest detriment of all the computer technology and everything that has come along with it is that it makes remembering anything unnecessary and obsolete.

No doubt this is why so many people today don't know their own phone number, and can't give it to you unless they have a I-phone in their hand.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 7 Apr 2014 4:27 am

"but somehow I doubt that any song that's on the charts today will be heard at all in 25-50 years. "

People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs.

As it always has been.

Graham · Post by **Graham** » 7 Apr 2014 4:55 am

"People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs. "

You should really qualify that answer by saying "some people!"

When I was young, I listened to the Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, CCR etc. I haven't listened to any of them since I left those days behind. Now, I listen only to "real" country music, not the garbage Nashville is putting out today. The only "real" country today is coming from Texas![/quote]

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 7 Apr 2014 8:13 am

If I was going to qualify it, I'd say "most people". Why else would we still be forced to listen to Bachman Turner Overdrive and witness the popularity of "classic rock".

When I studied guitar with Dave Van Ronk he had the theory that most people really didn't like music. His point was, they listened to the music that reminded them of important moments in their life, but if actually sat them down and asked them to listen to something new, forget it.

Not that you'd ever see that on THIS forum.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 7 Apr 2014 8:34 am

Bill McCloskey wrote:People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs.

Only true to some extent. It can also remind you of good times turning into bad times, but if the musical content is good, I still listen and try to forget memories that are attached.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 7 Apr 2014 8:38 am

Yes, but we are speaking in general terms here. The question is will today's country music be played in 20 years. The answer is yes and it will be remembered fondly and with nostalgia. And the same people will be complaining, when they are older, that the current music scene is no good, not like the old days and they will predict the music won't be heard in 20 years. Just like they said with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and Elvis for that matter.

The thing that never changes is that people will continue to not recognize that in themselves.

If you ask anyone when was the greatest period in music, they will inevitably point to the music of their youth, regardless of what age they are.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 7 Apr 2014 8:48 am

If you ask anyone ...

Bill I wouldn't ask anyone, I would ask someone if the old stuff still holds up. And that would be somebody who thinks about music all the time, like most of us here on the Forum do.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 7 Apr 2014 8:52 am

But you are not typical. The question is will today's country music be listened to in 20 years. Not, will today's country music be listened to in 20 years by folks who played country music twenty years before.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 7 Apr 2014 8:58 am

So I would say it's mostly right, if we want to generalise.

Jerome Hawkes · Post by **Jerome Hawkes** » 7 Apr 2014 6:07 pm

i recently got some old reel to reel recordings of live opry shows from the late 50's - 60's a friends uncle had recorded live....let me say, time is an excellent filter because there was just as much BAD stuff back then as today. what was exciting was to hear a young and fresh Loretta Lynn get up there and nail some amazing early stuff (i had never heard before - i.e. not her greatest hits), you could tell she was going to be a huge star - i don't hear that kind of talent today (on the radio). the music industry has always thrown out a bunch of dung to the masses & see what sticks.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 8 Apr 2014 1:30 am

Bill McCloskey wrote:Why else would we still be forced to listen to Bachman Turner Overdrive and witness the popularity of "classic rock".

It's funny that you should mention BTO. They were the group that inspired me to play guitar.

I was about 13 turning 14 at the time.

When I was younger (about 5-10 years of age) I listened to what my parents exposed me to, which was basically the 'traditional' country music that some SGF members lament the passing.

I liked it (and still do), but it didn't inspire me to become a musician.

Graham · Post by **Graham** » 8 Apr 2014 5:05 am

"Why else would we still be forced to listen to Bachman Turner Overdrive "

I surely didn't realize things were so draconian in the U.S. today!!

Up here in Canada, I am not forced to listen to any music I don't want to listen to!

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 8 Apr 2014 9:11 am

The thing that never changes is that people will continue to not recognize that in themselves.