I think it’s important to recognize that we absolutely did.We can all forever believe that we lived in the golden age,
Popular music evolved right alongside the evolution of the recording studio (and consumer playback equipment) from the 1920’s to the 1990’s. The resultant explosion in creativity was a gift to the generations that lived through it, like nothing ever before in history. Not much has changed in the quality of recording in 30 years since then, other than digital having nearly completely replaced analog. People can record decent sounding albums in their bedrooms now, and you can make it sound like 1920 or 1995 if you want.
What about the evolution of music itself? I hear good new bands playing, singing, and writing as well if not better than the average 60’s-70’s-80’s pop bands I grew up with, and they have the luxury of experimenting with their material and with affordable recording equipment in the comfort of their own garage. But honestly, I’m not hearing anything “newâ€. All these sub-genres that developed out of Folk, R&B, Country, Rock - it was all marketing, and I learned a long time ago that I am long passed the age of the target audience. The marketeers are smart enough to know that my musical taste is most likely stabilized by now. “New†music, being Not New to me, is meant for the much younger others to discover. All I do mostly is compare it to my personal standards.
I think it is important for musicians to be aware of what has gone before them. I believe the best and most creative ones do, and you can hear it in their stuff. These are the “New†artists that I am drawn to, across all genres that appeal to me. And incidentally, if it’s Country I’m listening to, there darn well better be some very prominent steel guitar in it. Other genres appear to be opening up to Steel. I know what I want to hear from a steel guitar. The genre has to be open to that, not the other way around, for me to listen and enjoy.
We don’t do anyone any favors by despairing for the future of music and the steel guitar here. Dustin Rhodes comment on the paradigm shift, and Mike Neer’s on the “gold standardâ€, are nails being hit square on the heads. Our job is to keep playing the music we love the best we can, and understand that we don’t live in a musical vacuum stuck on beat 3 of 4/4 time.