The Steel Guitar Forum

Kevin Hatton wrote:Absolutely Garth Brooks.

Steve Earl called Garth Brooks the "Anti-Hank".

HAH....Dave said what I woulda said, if I coulda said it...like it needed to be said!!!

I like smart folks...wish I coulda been one!!

I feel a dividing line could be the big rush of new country fans around the time "The Urban Cowboy" movie came out.

I'm sure a lot of club pickers will relate to this ....Late 70's/Early 80's... Country was King!

Hank Jr., Willy, Waylon, Merle, Ray Price and even George Jones were still getting songs on the charts.

The "new country" headliners were Eddie Rabbit, Alabama and a lot more new guys (and girls)

After that, it seemed to me, it was always George Strait and Alabama winning at the awards shows.

Don't forget the great "Kenny Rogers Scare" of the 80's

The change started when "bubble gum" rock and rollers grew up and had to go to work. The "bubble gum" group could not afford to go to the concerts so the artist(?) had to find another venue. Conway was actually the fist that I remember. Anyone know the name of the song with the lines: "he ain't country.....he didn't eat them beans and wear them jean.......he didn't pick and grin with us"? I think that was written about Conway.

Ernest, there was lots and lots of bluesy notes and 7th/9th chords inHank's tunes..

That's why I'd just as soon see the entire popular music production and distribution system collapse and start over from scratch with nothing but independent producers on the net. And, if the economy continues like it has been lately, we may yet see that.

Dave, I would love that.

Roual Ranes wrote:The change started when "bubble gum" rock and rollers grew up and had to go to work. The "bubble gum" group could not afford to go to the concerts so the artist(?) had to find another venue. Conway was actually the fist that I remember. Anyone know the name of the song with the lines: "he ain't country.....he didn't eat them beans and wear them jean.......he didn't pick and grin with us"? I think that was written about Conway.

Conway continues to have the reputation of a bubble-gum "rock & roller" who went to country, when in fact he was a real corn-ball classic country singer long before his handlers tried to make him into a rock&roll star. He cancelled his R&R recording contract in 1965 and returned to his country roots, and in 1968 hired his high-school friend, John Hughey, to join him.

Check this from 1956. http://www.genejones.com/conway.htm

Gene, I was writing it when you posted it.


phred


Happy New Year brother.

Old/Real/Classic Country is the music we like. New Country is the music we hate.

bob...must you be so concise??
How 'bout some vitriol!!

Video was the change in Country IMHO. I haven't read all the other post but that's how I see it or should I say I don't see it. It's a sad thing that's happening to Country Music as we all remember it. I feel like it will roll around one more time maybe in my lifetime. There's still a crowd that wants it (the old kind) but the crowd that wants the new is way bigger. What pays the bills is whats on the air. When rap stars and rock stars get in it it's pretty much over for me. I'm out of here!

The new Jason Aldean song "She's Country" rocks!
Sounds like the rock group AC/DC playing back up.
I love the Real/Old/Classic Country and I love the new Country music being produced today including Josh Turner, Randy Houser, Brad Paisley, Brooks and Dunn, George Strait, Montgomery/Gentry, Blake Shelton, Trace Atkins, Lee Ann Womack, Justin Moore and many others...

My attempted witty response to b0b's post came out as sarcasm, so out it goes!

b0b wrote:Old/Real/Classic Country is the music we like. New Country is the music we hate.

Define "we".

And as far as old country music goes, it don't need to have pedal steel to be country. Some of my favourite old country tunes to listen to have no steel guitar in them.

I think all this ranting is really about the diminishing role of steel guitar in country music.

Or let me elaborate on that a bit further - the diminishing role of steel in the styles of the classic country steel pickers many of us grew up listening to.

Theresa Galbraith wrote:Jack....Thanks!
I grew up with listening to Wynn Steward, Warner Mack, ET, Carl Smith, Connie Smith and so on.
As I grew I listened to who I heard on the radio and the few album we had.
I guess my point is, I'd actually like to hear todays artist doing more traditional material. I know they are capable!

It's like what Justin Tubb said in song about 30 years ago, when he said in song, "What's Wrong With The Way That We're Doing It Now"!

Donny Hinson wrote:Here's an eye opener...

In the decade when pedal steel was king (IMHO, ~1958-1968), you had many chart songs (hundreds, literally) with pedal steel intros. But in the past 20 years, I can't think of even a dozen chart songs that had pedal steel intros! Now that's a mind-boggling change. Pedal steel, once the main lead instrument, was relegated to a "background/supportive position" in the '70s. Of course, this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened in music. In the '50s, sax and piano were the main lead instruments in R&R. But the sax was largely replaced by the electric guitar in the early '60s, and the piano was moved into the background.

Donny, you are so right. I think the fact that television usurped radio and records as the primary "media outlet" for music in general had a lot to do with this. It got even worse with the birth of MTV, CMT, etc., which are specifically "music" oriented (supposedly!). Think about it. How "sexy" is it to watch someone play pedal steel vs. watching a guitar player jump all over stage, often singing as well? It's all about what sells and "visually", pianos and steels are "boring" instruments (not to us maybe, but most people!). I am sure without TV, Country music would still have undergone changes, as it had for decades...but the relegation into the background of some instruments, particularly those where you have to sit down to play, was IMHO due mainly to the boob tube.

b0b wrote:Old/Real/Classic Country is the music we like. New Country is the music we hate.

Donny Hinson wrote:Define "we".

Me and everyone who agrees with me.

Hello Bobby,What happen to myself and I? Leo

Me myself and I doesn't include you, LJ, and I know that you agree with me.

LJ, don't do semantics with b0b Lee, he'll beat you to death with your own tongue.

phred

Hey Fred,your right! I forgot he's (Bobby) the sheriff. I better walk softly on my own tongue. Leo