Which was the best decade?

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 1 May 2006 7:07 am

I heard my first country song in the forties and in the fifties I loved rock and roll but still the country sounds were right in there,from then on country has always been number one.
I am hard pushed to name "one" decade but if I must I would say the sixties were the best for (my ears).
What are your views.
Best regards.
Billy

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 1 May 2006 7:52 am

I always thought the 50's were the Golden years of country and also rock and roll.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 1 May 2006 8:06 am

To me, it's a toss between the 50s and 60s, but my personal tastes probably run to the 60s - probably because the pedal steel was more highly developed and pronounced by then. Rock and roll - 50s all the way.[This message was edited by Dave Mudgett on 01 May 2006 at 09:07 AM.]

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 1 May 2006 8:12 am

P.S. Today country is almost 98% dead,the way it's going with this moronic crap they call country today,Real country is rapidly fading away.It's sad most young people today REALLY THINK Big and Rich,Kenny Chesney,Cowboy Troy,and the rest of the so-called artist of today are country artist,because the [MU-SICK]industry tells them they are.The industry will sing the praises of this trash,but turn their backs on real artists such as Dale Watson.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 1 May 2006 8:13 am

Would it be OK to split the decades and say from about 1955-1965.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 1 May 2006 9:50 am

The 1950s for rock'n'roll, and the 1960s for country.

R'n'r had turned into something else by the '60s, and got badly tarnished by the influx of British 'beat groups' - give me Elvis, the Everly's, Jerry Lee, Fats, Little Richard and, of course, Ricky Nelson's amazing studio band!!!

I can't say I was attracted to country music until I heard Buck Owens and Merle Haggard - maybe those hot Telecasters provided a gentle bridge for me from James Burton to those great Bakersfield guys. The older country still does very little for me, and I agree with the point made earlier that the steel guitar was more highly-developed in the next decade.

RR

Robert Bayles · Post by **Robert Bayles** » 1 May 2006 10:06 am

What Bill Hatcher said!

Bob

Larry Strawn · Post by **Larry Strawn** » 1 May 2006 10:26 am

I guess I'd have to go with the 70's for country,,well most of it!!
Larry

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"Fessy" S/D 12, 8/6 Hilton Pedal, Sessions 400 Ltd. Home Grown E/F Rack
"ROCKIN COUNTRY"

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 1 May 2006 11:36 am

I don't care when ya start or end it, but 1963's gotta be in it!

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 1 May 2006 1:04 pm

Around 1960 through 1970 would be my pick.

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Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night.[This message was edited by Dick Wood on 01 May 2006 at 02:06 PM.]

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 1 May 2006 1:53 pm

[The steel guitar more highly developed in the 70's?]What about guys such as Noel Boggs,Joaquin Murphey,Herb Remington,Bob White,Mooney,Jerry Byrd,Billy Robinson,Leon,Little Roy,Brumley,Curly,Jimmy Day,Bobby Garrett,Alvino Rey,Speedy West,Pee-Wee Whitewing,Bobby Black,Don Helms,these are the guys that raised the bar and set the pace that most of us will never reach.It's not how many machine gun notes you can play in one bar of music,but playing with finesse,style,and soul.That what these guys had.To this day pickers are still trying to imitate these great innovative players.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 1 May 2006 3:02 pm

Country: 1950s and 1960s
Rock: about 1967 to 1974

Sonny Priddy · Post by **Sonny Priddy** » 1 May 2006 3:33 pm

The 50's And Then The 60's. SONNY.

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Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 1 May 2006 5:55 pm

The steel guitar more highly developed in the 70's?

That's not what I said. I said pedal steel was more highly developed in the 60s, not steel guitar was more highly developed in the 70s.

Don't get me wrong, I love straight steel also, but my heart is with pedal steel, and I think the classic style we know now didn't really fully develop until the 60s. Of the primarily-pedal steel players you mention - Chalker, Day, Mooney, Garrett, Brumley, and Black - it seems to me that their really big exposure was more in the 60s than 50s. Overall, I think pedal steel was featured more prominently in 60s country than 50s country. Add to that what I think was the biggest influence - the 60s playing of Buddy Emmons - and I stand by my statement, without any disparagement of earlier styles. I also said it was kind of a tossup - I like both. But the question asks "which do you prefer". YMMV.

Paul King · Post by **Paul King** » 1 May 2006 6:38 pm

Well, it definitely is not the decade we are in right now. I believe the late 60's and 70's were the best. The John Hughey and Hal Rugg sounds were some of the best recording for steel guitar I have heard. Now our local radio station plays country from that era and I now hear Buddy Emmons on Ray Price records and it is great. I sure wish those days were back. This new stuff they play today is awful IMHO.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 1 May 2006 9:20 pm

I'll give two versions.

I really find the 50's country better to my ears
than most that came after.
The 60's was a pit of maudlin pap, after Patsey passed on.
Hank Snow wasn't quite enough to overcome
the preponderance of style at the time.
(please, no offence to those who love this period, but I don't in a big way)

For country rock / hippie country / whatever,
late 60's to late 70's does it for me.

Different lyric content, but more a
rockabilly meets classic country / bluegrass thing.
For me they picked up the ball Nashville dropped at the time.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 06 May 2006 at 02:16 AM.]

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 1 May 2006 9:50 pm

As for older country with steel, I prefer the sound of non-pedal guitar. It's got that lonesome 'train whistle' sound.

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 1 May 2006 10:36 pm

Well. if everybody will stop living in the past and get down to playing some music, maybe the best decade will be 2010-2020!
Cheers
Dave

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 2 May 2006 2:19 am

Well it's my opinion that country music started dying in the late 70's that doesn't mean that there wasn't great country music recorded after the 70 it just means I believe that was the beginning of the end.

My favorite 10 yrs would havew been 69 to 79.

Bob

Sonny Priddy · Post by **Sonny Priddy** » 2 May 2006 3:30 am

69 to 79 Was Great Years Bob. SONNY.

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Pat Kelly · Post by **Pat Kelly** » 2 May 2006 11:54 am

[This message was edited by Pat Kelly on 02 May 2006 at 12:56 PM.]

Jesse Pearson · Post by **Jesse Pearson** » 2 May 2006 12:43 pm

I love 30' 40' music, all kinds, mostly jazz and Hawaiian. The abstract art is also great from that era. Late 40' 50' country I find to be real special. 60' early 70' rock
is what I cut my teeth on, lots of blues rock.

Terry Edwards · Post by **Terry Edwards** » 2 May 2006 3:16 pm

Wow! You mean the music that the steel guitar is mostly associated with and I am spending time learning is already dead!?

- Or is the best yet to come.

Terry

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 2 May 2006 3:39 pm

The 60's was a pit of maudlin pap, after Patsey passed on.

I don't consider the prime period work of people like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, George Jones, Ray Price, and Faron Young to be maudlin pap. I believe Patsy Cline's most and biggest hits were in the early 60s - she died in '63 and her music continued to be a force afterwards. Of course, you point out the pushover into country rock at the end of the decade also. There's bad music - any period, any style - and that's certainly true of 60s country. That was the "Countrypolitan" period also, something I have fairly mixed emotions about. But I tend to judge a period by the high-water marks. I think the 60s had a whole lot of them.

I agree that there's lots of great music from the 70s and onward, but the infiltration of disco and urban cowboy stuff left a real sour taste in my mouth.

Wow! You mean the music that the steel guitar is mostly associated with and I am spending time learning is already dead!?

I don't think it's dead at all. Commercially in hibernation, maybe, but far from dead. They said rock and roll was dead in the early 60s. Not. They said disco was dead by the late 70s - I wish it was, but it wasn't and came back in the 90s with a vengeance. It's only dead if none of us plays it anymore, and that ain't gonna happen, I hope.

J W Hock · Post by **J W Hock** » 5 May 2006 9:45 am

From around 70 on commercial country started sounding different . Digital recording, less reverb, all those trite "chicken pickin" runs , just made the music lose something . My favorite years actually straddle the two decades, 1955-1965 .