New Country act to appear on Opry Sat. nite.The Doobie Bros

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 22 Feb 2011 4:10 pm

What next ? The Rolling Stones ? Not that I don't like the Doobies but isn't that a stretch to the Oprys supposed theme?...They are sending out a new album to all Country stations...I guess it's not easy to get jobs in the Rock world anymore as what they call country now is very hot..Wonder if they are using a Steel Guitar?

Bill Bailey · Post by **Bill Bailey** » 22 Feb 2011 11:29 pm

Well the do have a train song, it's about a Long one, Train that is.

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 23 Feb 2011 12:04 am

John McFee is a great steel player and a Doobie! He also wrote all the pretty big hits for Southern Pacific in the 1980's, a fact I didn't know till just now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McFee

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 23 Feb 2011 8:16 am

John replaced Jeff Baxter in the Doobies a long time ago, and he was born a NorCal boy who is a long-time "staple" around these parts and has plenty of country in his blood along with the rock 'n roll gene.

What do you get as one of the bands in a typical Opry appearance, about three songs? If the Doobies played South City Midnight Lady, with the instrumental parts of John trading licks on steel with Tommy Johnston and Pat Simmons, it would be more country than the majority of bands one sees at the Opry these days!

Jack Francis · Post by **Jack Francis** » 23 Feb 2011 8:41 am

John was born in Santa Cruz, CA in 1953...the strange thing to me when i learned that was that I lived there then...and I was 13 years old!!! $:\$

Scott Shipley · Post by **Scott Shipley** » 5 Mar 2011 3:27 pm

John Cowan of New Grass Revival fame, is also playing bass with the Brothers these days. This thread is exactly why I don't bother reading the forum much anymore. Here are a few more disturbing Opry firsts (in their time):
James Brown
Bill Monroe (without his brothers)
Flatt & Scruggs (without Bill)
Flatt & Scruggs (with a Hawaiian guitar)
Bob Wills (with drum)
and on and on and on.
C'mon guys.
$:\$

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 5 Mar 2011 3:38 pm

The Grand Ole Opry as we knew it is dead. It's a new ball game now. Actually, I was in Nashville in '89, went to Opryland and a free afternoon show with T. Graham Brown at the new Opry House. Not much real (by us old timers definition) country there, but good none the less. More power to the Doobies for their appearance. The audience will either like them or not. Shouldn't matter a lot to us.

James Brown, huh? Would have loved to see that and how the crowd reacted. Would have loved to be there. James be da man, dude.

Scott Shipley · Post by **Scott Shipley** » 5 Mar 2011 4:06 pm

Actually, the crowd reacted as rabidly to James Brown as they did to Bill Monroe his first time on without his brothers. Btw, no offense Richard, but do ya think maybe they were sayin "The Grand Ole Opry as we knew it is dead" back then too?

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 5 Mar 2011 5:01 pm

My daughter & friend were backstage. Alison, Vince and the Doobie Brothers sang to a full house. The Doobie's can do no wrong!

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 5 Mar 2011 10:06 pm

They are more country than most of the hollyweird crowd that's come along in the last few years.

YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 5 Mar 2011 10:50 pm

Scott Shipley wrote:John Cowan of New Grass Revival fame, is also playing bass with the Brothers these days. This thread is exactly why I don't bother reading the forum much anymore. Here are a few more disturbing Opry firsts (in their time):
James Brown
Bill Monroe (without his brothers)
Flatt & Scruggs (without Bill)
Flatt & Scruggs (with a Hawaiian guitar)
Bob Wills (with drum)
and on and on and on.
C'mon guys.
$:\$

I would also add Elvis, when he played the Opry in '54, and the Byrds, with Gram Parsons, when they played the Opry in '68.

It's just a shame that the Opry couldn't stay the same as it used to be, with just a bunch of Fiddles & Banjos and guys dressed in overhauls with bare feet and blacked out teeth. Acts like the Gully Jumpers, Fruit Jar Drinkers, Possum Hunters, The Dixie Clodhoppers, and Deford Bailey. Man those were the days!

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 6 Mar 2011 12:37 am

In their early days the Doobie Brothers experimented with acoustic folk and country stuff. Pat Simmons is a great fingerpicker on acoustic guitar. And if you listen closely to the studio recording of 'Listen To The Music' there is some bluegrass style banjo picking in the background.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 6 Mar 2011 2:13 am

Btw, no offense Richard, but do ya think maybe they were sayin "The Grand Ole Opry as we knew it is dead" back then too?

Scott... No offense taken. I'm sure they did. And they (we) will continue to as long as anything that is not old classic country, bluegrass or "hillbilly" (damn I hate that term) continues to find a place on the opry. I wish we could turn back the clock on country music maybe 20 years and re-live the glory days. Don't get me wrong, I actually like maybe a third of the current country music. But, that will never happen.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 6 Mar 2011 12:31 pm

Alvin,seems you are putting down those acts you listed at the bottom of your post. But think about it,all those old hayseed acts like Minnie and Rod could keep a crowd laughing for hours with out using the F word one time.Of course that's the difference in the world we live in today and the so-called good ole days when at least a few people had some morals and self respect,I'm old enough to remember when the opry was a family show,Today it's a 90 percent hollyweird rock and roll,burlesque show,where any beautiful bimbo that looks good in a designer dress or a young dude with a tanktop on to show off his health club biceps can be an opry star right away.[They don't have to have any musical talent] Remember when some of the REAL guys and gals had to pay their dues for YEARS before they were asked to become a member ? YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 6 Mar 2011 1:12 pm

When did someone use the word on the GOO?
Paying dues, becoming a member according to how many #1 records you've had?

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 6 Mar 2011 3:34 pm

Charles Davidson wrote:Alvin,seems you are putting down those acts you listed at the bottom of your post. But think about it,all those old hayseed acts like Minnie and Rod could keep a crowd laughing for hours with out using the F word one time.Of course that's the difference in the world we live in today and the so-called good ole days when at least a few people had some morals and self respect,I'm old enough to remember when the opry was a family show,Today it's a 90 percent hollyweird rock and roll,burlesque show,where any beautiful bimbo that looks good in a designer dress or a young dude with a tanktop on to show off his health club biceps can be an opry star right away.[They don't have to have any musical talent] Remember when some of the REAL guys and gals had to pay their dues for YEARS before they were asked to become a member ? YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Nope, I'm not putting them down one bit. Those bands are my passion and I'm very into collecting anything with '20s & '30s Hillbilly String Bands (BTW I LOVE the term Hillbilly).

As for paying dues I could give you a list of Grand Ole Opry members who were unknown before the Opry, including guys like Little Jimmy Dickens, who didn't even record his first record till the year after he was a member. If fact most GOO members in the '30s & '40s were just folks off the street that auditioned and were good enough to make it on.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 6 Mar 2011 11:46 pm

Alvin Blaine wrote:It's just a shame that the Opry couldn't stay the same as it used to be, with just a bunch of Fiddles & Banjos and guys dressed in overhauls with bare feet and blacked out teeth. Acts like the Gully Jumpers, Fruit Jar Drinkers, Possum Hunters, The Dixie Clodhoppers, and Deford Bailey. Man those were the days!

Yep, the Grand Ole Opry was in its heyday before there were pedal steelers mashing away on the E9th A&B pedals and making their guitars whine and cry.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 7 Mar 2011 1:51 pm

Leslie Ehrlich wrote:
Alvin Blaine wrote:It's just a shame that the Opry couldn't stay the same as it used to be, with just a bunch of Fiddles & Banjos and guys dressed in overhauls with bare feet and blacked out teeth. Acts like the Gully Jumpers, Fruit Jar Drinkers, Possum Hunters, The Dixie Clodhoppers, and Deford Bailey. Man those were the days!
Yep, the Grand Ole Opry was in its heyday before there were pedal steelers mashing away on the E9th A&B pedals and making their guitars whine and cry.

Some people forget that the Grand Ole Opry had been going on, and successfully, for over 30 years before anyone ever played a pedal steel on it's stage.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 7 Mar 2011 4:01 pm

BTW I LOVE the term Hillbilly

You and me both Alvin. I could use a little more hillbilly flavor (Maddox Bros, Sid King, Farmer Boys, Louvins, Delmore Bros, et al) and a lot less Aerosmith in my country music.

But hey if Brett Michaels and Gwinneth Paltrow can be country singers, why not the Doobies?

Not sure I understand what "country music" even means anymore. What makes it so?

Scott Shipley · Post by **Scott Shipley** » 7 Mar 2011 8:23 pm

Hillbilly fever's goin round!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 8 Mar 2011 3:55 am

I have no problem with the DB's on the Opry performing 3 songs that have some sort of finger picking, the problem I have is this...

There are countless excellent acts trying hard to get any recognition or TV time with new releases, and there is only so much TV time and they get over shadowed by a big time rock band, make no mistake, the DB's are a great R+R band...but now they are somehow a country draw because John Cowan( excellent singer) is in the band , so I would ask, when JC was not with the DB's how many times did he get a TV slot on the OPRY ?

Of course if the DB's sing with Vince it's gonna be good...if Vince sang with ME it would be good ! And that's the point...

I seriously doubt the planet much cares about Patrick Simmons being a finger picker on guitar, I think the planet wants to hear "China Grove"...I know I do...

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 8 Mar 2011 6:16 am

Off topic I know, but "South City Midnight Lady" will always be on of my favorite songs.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 8 Mar 2011 10:47 am

When I was younger, the term "hillbilly" was used a lot as a derogatory term for country folk, or anyone that liked country music. That's where I learned not to like it.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 8 Mar 2011 10:29 pm

Richard,Don't let that bother you. I've been called a clod hopper all my life. Don't bother me when they are telling the truth.

YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 9 Mar 2011 12:07 am

Yo Bama, you always bring a smile to my face.