Expect a Country Music Come-back?

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 28 Sep 2001 11:24 pm

I can't speak for RI, but here in LA, at 2am, the statistics are every 5th car on the freeway has a drunk behind the wheel, I can't honestly say that makes me feel safe and it's part of the reason I drive old Cads and Lincolns.

FIONA TOMANY · Post by **FIONA TOMANY** » 29 Sep 2001 4:23 am

Could it be the pop market use Nasville as a dumping ground for acts they don't know what ot with s they don't fit into any format. I think this applies to the Mavericks and Shania Twain. The most annoying thing about this on this side of the pond fols think there Country and Western becasue the likes of the BBC won't play anything else the average person is very ignorant as to what is real country or for that matter even know what a pedal steel guitar is. thank Goodness for the internet there are stations that paly real country with lots of pedal steel. Real Country Music is still being recorded
mostly on samll labesl who don't have the big budget's to promote an artist. It always amazes me the minute a big name gets dropped from a big label ans sign for a small label the new album is very country just recetnly I have heard cuts from Patty Lovlace the real thing on a small label another one is Ricky Skaggs making great Bluegrass. Dale Watson who by the way has cult status in Scotland was a little dissopointed he only sold about 5-10,000 copies of one of his CD's Ray Price in his hay day in the 60's oly sold that many copies of Night Life (think it was that one)
The bottom line is the record companies are only intrested in profits and not the art form.
Its interesting what Line Dancing has done to live music as it has had the same effect here in the UK. I suspect folk who line dance don't know what real Country music is either.

FIONA TOMANY · Post by **FIONA TOMANY** » 29 Sep 2001 6:50 am

Forgot to mentioned if you want to hear good tradtional country music sung by modern singers I sugeest to tune into www.wdvffm.org
I just heard Gene Watson new CD guess who is playing Steel none other than Buddy Emmons worth buying for that alone.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 29 Sep 2001 9:48 pm

Well, our country is certainly in a time of duress at the moment. Just today, I took my 8 year old daughter to our local Great America amusement park. WOW! It was a "country music festival" day. Headlining in the amphitheater was John Michael Montgomery, Billy Gilman, Jessica Andrews. Would of liked to see Jessica, but wouldn't walk across the street to see the other two if they were playing for free. Oh, but I didn't have tickets to see them (no great loss), so I had to settle for the other "entertainment" the local "country" (har har) radio station had playing for free in the park. One local band that was OK (Silver Creek). No steel, but listenable. the other bands appeared to be "name" bands from somewhere else. These bands SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!! The only one I remembered the name of was, Jameson Clark (Capitol recording artist). Counting him, 4 guitar players, a bass player, drummer, and good looking babe trying to sing backup ( but looking real sexual, if you know what I mean). Let's get real! 4 Freaking guitar players! What a waste. If this is what country music is coming to, then it deserves to die. I just hope that the Darrell McCall's, Alan Jackson's, Merle Haggard's, etc can survive and turn this catastrophe called "Country Music" around to where it should be.

Sorry to rant. I've forgotten to take my "looney" drugs for a couple of days, and reality is starting to set in. This crap I heard today labelled as "country music" d@mn near made me puke.

God bless America and d@mn-it GOD BLESS THE STEEL GUITAR![This message was edited by Richard Sinkler on 29 September 2001 at 10:49 PM.]

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 30 Sep 2001 11:54 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Its interesting what Line Dancing has done to live music as it has had the same effect here in the UK. I suspect folk
who line dance don't know what real Country music is either.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Line dancing came from the gay discos of the '70s.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 30 Sep 2001 11:07 pm

I remember kids linedancing to Tommy James and the Shondels in the 60's. It was part of bubblegum culture when I was growing up in Western Pennsylvania.

------------------
<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (E7, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 30 Sep 2001 11:44 pm

Now that I think about it, wasn't 'The Madison' a line dance?

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 1 Oct 2001 4:00 pm

Chas I have a 45 with choriogrophy called Madison Time.
what about the Bunny Hop ?

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 1 Oct 2001 6:27 pm

I always thought the bunny hop was the white folks answer to the 'mating' dance.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 2 Oct 2001 5:25 am

I remember telling Leon McAuliffe, back in the mid-70's during the first Western Swing
revival, that I thought it was great that WS was making a comeback. He said "yeah, it's great. Too bad I'm too old to enjoy it!"

He did manage to eek out another 15 or so years of picking, though. And other Playboys are still doing what they do best. But the years on the bus are long over.

Hag really wants to hang it up, according to Redd, who's no longer a Stranger. I don't know if Jones has any thoughts about slowing down, but Johnny Bush don't. And I worked with Hank Thompson about a month ago and he's still humping it... he's got more stuff on his product table than Wal-Mart!

------------------
Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Woody Woodell · Post by **Woody Woodell** » 2 Oct 2001 8:07 am

It's funny that this subject should come up. I generally agree with most of the comments made on this subject. An interesting thing happened to me over the past weekend.
Some friends were visiting from Macon, GA and we happened to be in the Opryland Hotel area about 11:30 PM and noticed that Stonewall Jackson was doing the ET Midnight Jamboree. Since my guests were at least a generation younger than me I mentioned that I wasn't sure that they would like it but to my surprise, they insisted on going to the show. I was Stonewall's steel player in the mid '70s and had seen his popularity dim. But the record shop auditorium had one of the best crowds I've ever seen and the crowd was extremely enthusiastic! Stonewall was going over big and people were emailing the show with requests from all over the country.
This may be some kind of sign. I hope so.
Woody Woodell

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 2 Oct 2001 8:35 am

But Woody, you didn't say what Stonewall said to you. I'm sure folks from Macon would be impressed if he had said: Hey Woody ! How the Heck are you ??

Regards, Paul

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 2 Oct 2001 3:23 pm

Dream on! Theresa

Buddy Carter · Post by **Buddy Carter** » 12 Oct 2001 9:45 pm

I think I actually have good news for the trad. country players. I live between Chicago and Milwaukee; you know, the CM capitals of the world.

We currently have two country music "jamborees" in happening in Chicago, one with a very hot house band who really kick out the western swing, honky-tonk, and, would you believe, bluegrass. The other, well, I play steel w/the house band, so don't get yer hopes up; but its lotsa fun, and its all-ages. The difficulty is getting the word out to people who would likely be interested in these functions. We need help growing these things so they don't die on the vine(any sugestions?).

Also, I've been working an alternating Tuesday gig (okay, its a live practice; so sue me

with a trad. country band, and we've received a lot of positive response from the hip, progressive twenty-somethings; its a trip to see them sing along with "Mama Tried".

Go figure.

Besides this, I've learned from talking to folks in this scene that there is activity beginning to happen in other areas of the country, such as Minneapolis. Nobody is making a living off any of this, but at least its something.

My whole point is that there still is interest in trad. country, and it is amongst the 18-34 crowd, as well as the older folks, so I gotta believe it will eventually make a market for itself. It may be small, but its something.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 16 Oct 2001 1:14 pm

Alan Jackson's "Where I Come From" is #1
I personally don't care for it, but others do. That's country! Theresa

erik · Post by **erik** » 16 Oct 2001 2:34 pm

I don't worry about what is being played on the radio anymore, whether it's Country or POP, whatever. I like some songs, others i don't. There are plenty of options out there. I just dug out my old Holly Dunn albums and am enjoying those.

Derek Duplessie · Post by **Derek Duplessie** » 16 Oct 2001 2:59 pm

There was a time from about '86 to '90 when
people like Steve Earle,The Desert Rose band,
Foster and Lloyd,Dwight Yoakam etc.were comming out. There just as many if not more of these cool people out there today(Whiskey
town,Son Volt,Chris Hillman,Wilco,Kim Richy
etc.). But not many of them get airplay.Have
You noticed the worse artists we get out there the worse steel players we get.Like
Dan Dougmore!!! O.k. so maby he's not that bad but comare him to Paul Franklin!!!!!!!!!

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Oct 2001 9:45 am

I've heard some of Dan Dugmores recent session work and it is excellent.

Is this Derek posting above or someone else using his account. According to his bio he was about 1 year old in 1990.

Derek Duplessie · Post by **Derek Duplessie** » 18 Oct 2001 3:06 pm

Yeah, that's me. But come on now, I was 2 years old! No really, I grew up around all that music. And like I said, Dan Dugmore is not bad, but I just don't particularly care for that style, like Pete Drake.Other people
may hate my style and I wouldn't blame them.