The Steel Guitar Forum

Many usually a majority are also gray or is that grayish blue

That would be the women..

In a previous post I wrote about one of the bands I play with. I also do this gig on Thursday night at a local VFW. I've been playing with these guys about 18 years, and the bass and guitar players were there when I started!!! We play for largely a senior audience. My Mom was a patron when she was alive and would get mad at me when I would call it (jokingly) God's little waiting room. Now I'm close to the age of our patrons!!! I love the gig, the audience, but most of all the material we play...Classic Country!!!

I gotta say Bob is right. We went to the Canandaigua (NY) Moose last night for Eddie Lee and Closing Time, doing their monthly Old Country night. My wife and I are both 65 and it's not often we're in the youngest quarter of the audience, but that was the case here. Guess I never paid much attention before but with this thread in my mind it was noticeable.

Regardless, where else these days can you hear Paycheck, Merle, Waylon....and Kitty Wells, Hank, and even the Carter Family songs still performed? It was an appreciative audience, the dance floor was well used, and 11PM came too soon. It may be hard to find, and the demographic may be 95% seniors, but good old country music is still out there.

(Yes, they did have a steel - Sandy Watson did his usual fine job.)

I have an "audition" this week-end with a "somewhat" modern country band. Let's see if I can sneak in some of the oldies. They already have a somewhat traditional sound. We'll see what the Fun-o-meter reads.

Bud Angelotti wrote:I have an "audition" this week-end with a "somewhat" modern country band. Let's see if I can sneak in some of the oldies. They already have a somewhat traditional sound. We'll see what the Fun-o-meter reads.

Good luck Bud,, btw,, YOU are auditioning them!!. Never forget, for the most part the steel player is always the best musician in the band... bob

btw,, YOU are auditioning them!!.

How right you are Bob!
Now I vent:
This was the quickest band I was ever in, possibly setting a new world record for steel players coming & going.
The sordid tale:
Spoke with "the guy" on the phone, very pleasant, saw their web-site and song-list. A pretty female singer, a fiddle player, (few & far between here in NJ) and a very promising songlist. They had 4 hrs booked in the rehearsal space and an hour drive to get there. Beautiful!
I show up a bit early this beautiful sunday morning.
They are setting up to shoot a music video.
So I ask, "how much time do you think we will have to play music?" Answer - Duh...
So I ask, "how much are you paying me to put me and my pedal steel in your marketing video?" Answer - Duh....
So without having to even unload from my car, this is definitely the fastest band I was ever in, & OUT!
So the question I have to ask myself is,
When I was a kid, was I as %*@!ed-up as these people are?
I believe the scientific word is sociopath.

Thanks for letting me vent - you may send me flowers if you feel so inclined.

Bud Angelotti wrote:

btw,, YOU are auditioning them!!.

I believe the scientific word is sociopath.

Maybe not sociopathic but certainly reprehensible. How about instead of sending you flowers we send your "bandmates" one of those corpse flowers for their rehearsal space.

Playing whats called today's country is a COMPLETE waste of time. Suck rock players who can't play. If it aint' real country I'm not there.

Kevin Hatton wrote:Playing whats called today's country is a COMPLETE waste of time. Suck rock players who can't play. If it aint' real country I'm not there.

Agreed.. I will say this however Kevin.. Personally, I would be perfectly happy playing in a "non traditional" setting where the music was real, I guess today its called "alt country".. Lots of good stuff out there, mostly by younger performers.. I get a small taste of it here and there, now and then.. Only problem is, there's no real market and the performers play free...

The problem is this-
shit sells. The garbage played by the todays "hot new country" radio is thought of as real country music, because thats all thats played on the radio anymore for the most part.. It bears no resemblance to any traditional/country/folk form.. Its really crappy, sappy pop rock sung by guys in stupid hats and muscle T's using overly exaggerated and fake thick southern drawls when singing... bob

I once remarked to a woman I know that I didn't like a certain song which was then popular on the radio because it was not country. She was puzzled, and replied, "But that's sung by _____, of course it's country." I don't recall the song or performer, but to her, once the "country" label was hung on a singer, anything that came out by that artist was "country".

I said "So if ______ gets up there and starts singing "Fi-ga-ro, Fi-ga-ro" that's country, not opera, because he's singing it?" She didn't have much of an answer to that.

People have every right to listen to that stuff if they want. It just irritates me that it's pitched as "country" to a generation which does not know any better.

Only problem is, there's no real market and the performers play free...

That's a problem…!

Hey Bob - "southern drawl" - That was actually the name of yesterdays band! No kidding! Boo Hoo
I'm getting over it though.