Which was the best decade?

Ben Lawson · Post by **Ben Lawson** » 5 May 2006 9:56 am

If its country in the Ray Price, Tony Booth Bobby Flores style its all good. I agree that most of the newer stuff is lacking the heart that I like but some of it's OK. I think '60-'80 would be the best overall.

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 5 May 2006 2:28 pm

My range in country would go from 1946 to 1969.

Fred Jack · Post by **Fred Jack** » 5 May 2006 2:32 pm

Well, the late 50's give us a lot of Mooney with Buck, Skeets, Winifred, maybe even Wanda and the Mosbey's. I'm not sure about the last two.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 6 May 2006 1:14 am

Dave M.
Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, George Jones :
Were exceptions, but they were mostly overridden by
a preponderance of OTHER style at the time... for me.

Ray Price,
Sadly Ray was one of the worst from that time,
I like his voice, but the arranging and content just knocks me for six
I love his work before that,
and Time is a super album.

I got 2 Best Of Ray CD's
and no matter how I try I can't listen to a whole song,
after a certain point in chronology..
I just MUST exit.

Jake Hooker and Bobby Flores brought me back to Ray,
in his original incarnation, and I bless them for that.

Faron Young was on my fathers record lable at the end of the 60's.

As well as Blanchard and Morgan (Tennesse Birdwalk)
and Tootsie, herself (Saturday Night At Tootsie's, Ride In My Little Red Wagon).

And Lloyd worked on all the Nashville sessions for dad.
So it's not like I am unfarmilier with this.

But I have much enjoyed a lot of Faron's earlier stuff.

My take on this is that,
Country in Nashville was desperatly trying
to differentiate itself from Rock in anyway,
as rock had a country renaisance to it's roots.

An aging country demographic that wanted ANYTHING not even
SLIGHTLY reflecting, say, The Dead or Byrds country, was the market.

Just like the kids rejecting their parents music, but inverted.
Chet and others plummed that market to a fair thee well.

So the over lush productions and 'Strings" were unleashed.
And many classic old time country themes were buried deeply.

Oh yeah and grindingly slow...formulac.
Chet's great picking was back burnered to our great loss,
except on instrumental albums.

Vaughn Monroe meets Bill Monroe and knocks him out cold.

But the Texas and Calf. guys kept truer to the roots.
I wish Ray had stayed in Texas then.
Nuff said.
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 06 May 2006 at 02:40 AM.]</p></FONT>

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 6 May 2006 10:24 am

D.D. - different takes, that's fine.

But to me, the harder country of Buck, Merle, George, Faron, Ray, and others like this were the main course of the 60s, which really lead to the later 60s country rock. I guess we had pretty much the same vantage point, both growing up in Boston in the late 50s and 60s, but maybe reached different conclusions. I used to listen to WCOP a lot back then when it went country - heavy on Johnny Cash, Buck, Merle, and so on. There was surely some more sappy and countrypolitan stuff, especially as the 60s wore on, I agree. I also agree that Nashville tried to distance itself from its roots during that period - yep, it seems to come up again and again.

On Ray Price, I don't believe he really started switching formats until '65 with the Burning Memories LP, and really moved completely by '67 with Danny Boy. I love the 50s stuff, but my absolute favorites are the Night Life and Love Life LPs, from '63 and '64 respectively, with Buddy Emmons showing the world what a pedal steel was really capable of, IMO. Again, no disrespect to any other approaches, but that just did it for me, like for many others. I own all those LPs and listen to them all the time. I think this website discography timeline and commentary is pretty accurate:
http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countryartists/ray_price_01.html

I guess, to me, country is not all about Nashville. It's one piece of the picture, and a very important one. But the center of the later 60s country sound to me was always Bakersfield, seguing into country rock.

As always, this is just my take.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 6 May 2006 4:45 pm

I like the now decade!

Jim Harper · Post by **Jim Harper** » 6 May 2006 5:47 pm

I have played thru late 40,s all of the 50,s-60,s-70,s-80,s-90 and still playing but to me the 60,s were the best. I got my first pedal steel MSA double-12 in 69 and we were drawing between 300-400 folk,s ever sat night at Marlow Ok.I had the best time of all time,s==Jim Harper

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 6 May 2006 9:08 pm

Yep Dave,'65 is about where I can't finish a Ray Price hits cd.
Night life is great.

Countrypolution... might fit for me. (sorry folks who LOVE this)

I agree there were many great acts doing some of their best work then...
but they got drowned out.

IN the 70's I started picking up country gigs as a hired gun,
and while some parts of the sets were really fun,
others just made me set my jaw and wait for the paycheck.

Like the Eddie Arnold imitator I worked with...
Eddie, great voice, but I can't stand most of the stuff.

What always got to me was the nabobs with
big hats overflowing with feathered roachclips,
and they had no clue what they really were made for...

The 80's seemed to be rockabilly and early rock became country.

Then 90's country rock became country.

In the last 10 years, there thankfully has been a return to roots country/ bluegrass/ olde timey, and celtic
in several country acts.
That goes side by side with the rockier acts.

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 10 May 2006 9:37 pm

50's and 60's, with the 90's as a comeback for country. (But the 21st century as a go-away.)

------------------
"Drinking up the future, and living down the past"--unknown singer in Phoenix

John Kavanagh · Post by **John Kavanagh** » 12 May 2006 9:04 am

The 1740s. In England, maybe the 1610s. Oh.. that century? Definitely the 1920s. And the 00's aren't shaping up too bad, if you know where to look...

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 12 May 2006 9:41 pm

I still play Morgan Meagan from 1732 on a regular basis.
And that was country crossed with classical for it's time.