The Steel Guitar Forum

P.S. If you want to hear some REAL COUNTRY ,listen to a Mel Street,Faron Young, Moe Bandy,Charley Pride,Merle Haggard,Buck Owens,Dale Watson,Loretta Lynn,Connie Smith or GENE WATSON<<< LP sometime.Then you can hear GOOD PLAYING and GOOD SINGING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Red, I could not disagree with you more, Sweetheart is basically the first alterna-country album although there are other contenders with the Band, Dylan, The Everly Brothers and the Beau Brummels producing some fine country-ish releases in 1968.

It ain't Haggard, Jones, Dave Dudley or Buck Owens, but that's really not the point. ...it's something altogether wonderfully different. To me it's another case of ever evolving and mutation musical genres.
I suppose one man's musical pioneer is another's sick cat.
Long live the Mutated States of America I say.

I'll bypass the personal saga and say this:
Re: Gram Parsons - He's a good part of the reason that alot of us under-40 steel players are here.
-John

Yes....I'm serious. I also love Buck, Charlie, George, Dale....ad finitum.

I just turned fifty. Ilike Led Zep, ZZ Top,Beatles,Mountain,Third Eye Blind, Three Doors Down,James Taylor,Nat King Cole, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Moody Blues,Cole Porter,Swing Bands, Tom Morrell, Byrds, Eagles, Frank Zappa, Yellowjackets, George Benson, Greatfull Dead,Bach, Three Tenors.......

I don't understand folks who limit their musical palate to a narrow diet constantly. All music is a joyous noise....

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

1st off I don't limit myself , my absolute favorite music of all time is, late 50's early 60's Doo-Wop harmony singing. And I like the rock bands of the 70's,like Styx,and Boston. But I was just stating my opinion on their singing ability. And while I am stating my opinion,I would not consider The Byrds or Gram Parsons "Alternative Country" they are FOLK plain pure and Simple.

P.S. Thats what I love about America, You can have an OPINION and state it<<<<<.

Hey, I like Styx and Boston too....LOL


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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

I play in a band that sounds similar to Rayman's. We have Fiddle, Steel & Dobro, Bass and a Rhythm guitar player. We do everything from Old Country, to Bluegrass, a gospel tune, some Big Sandy, a Dylan song, a little Gershwin and quite a bit of Greatful Dead (Our band's name is 'Cumberland Blues', a title of a GD song). We play a lot in the Kalamazoo Mich area, which is a fun little college town, and the response we get from these kids is tremendous. The minute we kick off ET's "Thanks a Lot" these kids are going wild. I am the youngest member of the band at 50, but no one seems to mind. The last time we played downtown I went looking for our bass player who happened to be hanging out with a cute little co-ed in her early 20's. When she saw me she complimented me on my steel playing, mentioned that she has an alt-country band and would I like to sit in with her band sometime. I looked at her, looked over at my wife and decided that maybe that was one project I should probably not take on.
When people ask us what kind of music our band plays we really don't know what to say, but maybe alt-country would fit the bill. At least it sounds cool.

When they ask me what kind of music I play, I say "both kinds, Country AND Western!"

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Jim Smith jimsmith94@home.com
-=Dekley D-12 10&12=-
-=Fessenden Ext. E9/U-13 8&8=-

I'm playing with a band called S.T.A.R.R. Still Ticking After Rock and Roll.We play Do- Wop,Rightious Bros.,Latino and Country ect..
What I like about this band, they do not call themselves country or even try to prostalize the great country name.We just play a lot of different "MUSIC".I have really got into the Latino stuff,real fun to play, a lot to experiment with on the steel,very similar too cajun,lots of fast single string stuff.
Again they don't ride the coatails of the word "Country".Believe me guys,I'm country to the bone,love it and always will.
Ray

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Steeling is still legal in Arizona<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ray Jenkins on 16 November 2001 at 11:55 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ray Jenkins on 16 November 2001 at 12:02 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ray Jenkins on 16 November 2001 at 12:03 PM.]</p></FONT>

<SMALL>they are FOLK plain pure and Simple.</SMALL>

That would be simply no... I'm not really interested in arguing the point, but I don't think that Gram's two albums with the FBBs or his solo albums are folk by any stretch, I'd say the Byrd's Sweetheart album has folkish leanings, and I admit that Gram's stint with the Byrds still had some folkie overtones; especially when compared his work with the Flying Burrito Brothers the following year.

But if we want to talk the roots of alterna-country.. I was actually intentionally avoiding mentioning Gram at first, but his contemporaries include:
Great Speckled Bird, Bob Dylan, the Band, Linda Ronstadt, The Corvettes, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, New Riders of The Purple Sage, Poco, Neil Young, Michael Nesmith & the First National Band, Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band, The Everly Brothers, etc.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jason Odd on 17 November 2001 at 08:43 AM.]</p></FONT>

Red, sorry man,I'm not trying to dis you... I respect what you're saying, but I guess G.P. loyalty is kinda on the strong side.

On an interesting side note, I was just listening to the CD reissue of the Woody Guthrie 'Dust Bowl Ballads' set from 1940, then I listened to the Byrds' version of Guthrie's song "Pretty Boy Floyd" which was originally cut by Guthrie on the Ballads series, then... I listened to the two Guthrie 'Mermaid Avenue' tribute series where Alt-country group Wilco and singer/songwriter Billy Bragg interpret a series of songs ol' Woody never got to record.

The Byrds, in all of their manifestations, and off-shoot groups as well, demonstrated beyond a doubt, what real creativity is;
something sorely lacking in MOST of today's
"music". Every album, one after the other, that the Byrds came out with, was as different as Raid and Right Guard. They
took chances and stuck their necks out, musically.
It's music, man, and excellent music at that.
No need to compare or analyze it. Like it, or
don't like it. Let it stand on it's OWN merits.

The Byrds & Dylan probably were/are the most
influential aspects of my approach to music.

I just had to jump in here. FWIW.

ChipsAhoy

I looked up the www.alternativecountry.com link and found a lot of CDs listed but no song samples I could listen to online. Where do I go to get a taste of what y'all are talking about?

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<font size=-1>Bill (steel player impersonator) | MSA Classic U12 | Email | My music | Steeler birthdays | Over 50?</font>

Bill,
I could email you some great examples, and later point you in the direction for some of this tremendous stuff. I am just getting my PC system, with the great help of Graham, "REBEL", creating & cleaning up old
and worn vinyl LPs, into great MP3 files.

Email me Bill...let's not tie up the Forum.
As we used to say in the 60's..."Let Me Turn You On".

ChipsAhoy

seatug@mediaone.net

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 17 November 2001 at 09:18 PM.]</p></FONT>

Hi Forumites,
When I did the 1973 six week cross country tour with Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels, our music was referred to in the trades as "Progressive" country. At an interview on KOKE radio in Austin, Rusty Bell, the D.J. who was interviewing Gram, asked him what he thought of "Progressive" country. EmmyLou Harris quickly jumped in and with a laugh said that we do "Regressive" country which was in a way quite true. The lyrics to the songs were "hip" but the chord changes and the sound of the music that we played was in reality much closer to traditional country than anything one hears on mainstream country radio today. On that tour to promote his first solo album "G.P." for Warner/Reprise, Gram was trying to introduce the sound of traditional country music (which he loved dearly) to a young long haired audience and they loved it. I can remember the reception that we got at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin (now defunct) where 2000 long haired fans literally charged forward toward the bandstand and tried to touch us. We had to do three encores and ran out of material and had to repeat some of the songs we had done earlier. It was an event that repeated itself at Liberty Hall in Houston and our music was very well received even in smaller venues throughout the tour which I'll never forget.

To get current, our new c.d. "Still Safe At Home" by the Porch Pickers with Neil Flanz, is probably best labeled using the term "Alternative" country as it contains several Gram Parsons covers and is basically a raw country sound which is built around my steel playing and is definitely not the kind of music that the majority of country radio stations are playing today. It's ironic that the word "Country" in describing traditional country music has now been changed to "Alternative" country in order to describe this kind of music.
http://www.ambrec.com/Homepages/neil/neil.htm <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Neil Flanz on 17 November 2001 at 09:27 PM.]</p></FONT>

No Depression semms to be the bible of alt. country. Their homepage is www.nodepression.net

I think it's a great magazine with some great writers. They often have an "old-style" kind of writing where they describe music more that judging it.

Neil,

did you notice that someone in "mojo magazine" (UK) asked the readers where you are today and what you're doing? I can't remember the issue and I haven't found it yet, it must have been at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately I also can't remember if someone answered the question.
But your playing on "live 1973" was also one of the reasons I started playing!



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martin abend Pedal-Steel in Germany
s-10 sierra crown gearless 3 x4 - Regal RD45 - fender hotrod deluxe

Hello rayman. Thanks for the nice kind words. Martin, referring to the British lady that sent a letter into Mojo magazine asking what I was up to these days, Steve Shellum in China sent me an e-mail telling me about it. I sent a reply to Fred Dellar at Mojo and there was a short article in a later issue that answered her question. By the way,speaking of Mojo, they did a full page article on Gram's Place in Tampa which is my friend Mark Holland's Bed & Breakfast Inn named after Gram, and who did most of the vocals on our new Porch Picker C.D. "Still Safe At Home" which was reviewed in the Alternative Country section in the November issue. Thanks for mentioning it. By the way it always pleases me to hear that my instructional material or my playing on the Gram Parsons live '73 album was an inspiration to another player. It sure makes me feel good! <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Neil Flanz on 18 November 2001 at 01:20 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Neil Flanz on 18 November 2001 at 01:23 PM.]</p></FONT>

Alt Country: How about 'HEAVY LEATHER MUSIC.'