Is there any hope at all for music?

[Joe Casey]

Dayna exactly. I have never been against progress or music changing it always happens every few years. But to have those that use their no nothing about the subject voices strongly about something they certainly are not experts on, is sad. Randy Owen in my opinion and many many others also has or had one of the best voices in the Country or Southern Rock Business. However he is stuck on an Image of what a good Country song is to what is commercial and the suits will want. But he does know the business dealings one has to do to get ahead. I refuse to believe that all the tradiional Country lovers should be denied what they love and supported and still will. Good Music of all kinds last forever and is often brought back recycled to repeat it's success. Some say Country Music is dead and buried. In a sense they are right, only it isn't dead it just got buried alive. (a song I have written) Great lyrics have gone by the wayside for repeated noise and meaningless stories. Most of the hot artist of the past ten years have faded after one two three semi hits. And can the badonka donk or like crap resurface 30 years from now as a classic? What will Garth Brooks,Tim Ma Craw, Kenny Cheeseney sound like when they are eighty like Price or 70 like Haggard? They are so rich like Brooks and his fat a$$ probably will never care. Being from Sacramento luckily I grew up with the best of all worlds of music. The State Fair use to bring in the best ,biggest acts in the business. Good music draws all types of audiences including Country,Jazz,Pop,Blues lovers mixed. All I ask is let the idiots choose music instead of noise,and vocal enhanced singers. Like I have always said there is only two kinds of music. Good or Bad. A little more good nowadays would bring me back to collecting. However as I get older the collecting is for my heirs.

[Charles Davidson]

Speaking of Randy Owens,Alabama was no doubt on of the most succesful groups EVER,They used to play local clubs here many years ago,They were Wild Country then,Played a lot of their music in different bands,Great music,but I did'nt then nor do I today EVER considered them country.Hard to pin it down,maybe a little 70's rock,with a little southern rock mixed in,whatever it was it WORKED,but country? Don't thing so.

[Eric Jaeger]

I'm with Mark. Act locally. Patronize any gig that has music you like. Evangelise and spread the word. The headbanger in the office next door about the Hag (right attitude for a headbanger). Grab the local music snob and expose them to some Eldon Shamblin. I'm still working on my girlfriend's "twang acceptenace factor".

-eric

Mark, were we separated at birth?

[Joe Miraglia]

Is there any hope at all for music? When was the last time you heard a opera on the radio( not the Grand ole opry ) Now some people would say "thats music,a opera by Joe Verdi".First of all, what is MUSIC ,what is real MUSIC? I like County music,but is the music in a opera the real thing. No steel guitar playing in a opera, without a pedal steel there is no hope Joe

[Donny Hinson]

Unfortunately, no. Not until the big labels and big money get out of it entirely will it ever be musically based again. Now, it's all an "image thing", replete with talentless prima donnas and a bevy of merchandisers who want to get rich at any cost. Payola is bigger and more prevalent than ever, and the majority of major-label productions are pablum for the airheads who can't put together a coherent sentence.

[David Mason]

In an interesting interview in "Vintage Guitar" magazine, Pete Anderson had this to say:

Major corporations bought into the entertainment business in the ’60s. If you think back, record companies were owned by musicians – producers, songwriters, whatever. There were basically no corporate guys running record companies in ’59, ’60 to ’65, ’66. Babyboomers came in with disposable funds, and when I was a teenager I could buy beer, go to a movie, or buy a record; there weren’t a lot of other options. So my disposable money went to entertainment.

And that’s when bottom-line people, corporations that buy “things” bought into entertainment. And it’s taken 30 years for them to destroy it.

The first guy to blink was Seagram’s buying MCA and then buying Polygram. One day, they looked at their ledger sheet and said, “Our stock has fallen; what are we doing here? Why are we in entertainment? Sell it.” They sold Polygram for $10 billion.

That was Day One – and it’s not going to stop. It will continue until every record company is probably music-person-owned. Epitath and Sugar Hill/Vanguard will be considered large record companies in the future, because they’re privately owned.

Obviously he sees this as a good thing - once the 800-percent-a-year profit from converting old catalog to CD's burnt out, the MBA's started getting very strange in an effort to squeeze another drop of blood out of musicians.

[Carroll Hale]

As a lot of you who have posted comments on this particular topic, I am older and from another generation. I am a fan of hank sr, merle, willie, strait...etc and I truly like to listen and play those songs. I do believe a lot of the newer artists are very talented...as talent goes...singing..playing..but, they just don't deliver the style, tempo, lyrics that are what I prefer...I dont watch many tv shows such as CMT, GAC, and other of this genre.....just dont like it...each and every song sounds exactly alike...I play along and it seems I could play the same chord progressions and solos for each song....hopefully, these folks will someday incorporate some/more of the old stuff into their new songs....just my honest opinion....I am sure they dont care and are laughing all the way to the bank....

[Leslie Ehrlich]

Unfortunately, no. Not until the big labels and big money get out of it entirely will it ever be musically based again. Now, it's all an "image thing", replete with talentless prima donnas and a bevy of merchandisers who want to get rich at any cost. Payola is bigger and more prevalent than ever, and the majority of major-label productions are pablum for the airheads who can't put together a coherent sentence.

You've got that right, Donny. And in the rock world it is no longer image, but attitude that makes a 'star'. Today's rock 'n' roll is more about acting 'cool' than music or showmanship.

[Stephen Gambrell]

I heard a couple of tunes today, on Sirius' "Outlaw Country" channel. One by Robbie Fulks, an excellent writer. It was called "F___ This Town." Heard another tune, by the Laney Strickland Band, out of South Georgia. It was called "F___ Nashville." Dale Watson cusses in several of his tunes, too.
So y'all think Clear Channel is gonna play this stuff instead of Carrie Underwood?