It's Always Something

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 1 Aug 2000 8:48 pm

This is the hook line (and title?) of a song sung by Joe Diffie. Great hook idea; too bad the good lyrics are rendered so inaccessible by the un-country groove and chaotic production. (Who produced this? Ronny James Dio?)

Anyone else heard it? Is it just me, or is this thing nearly all cymbals? I imagine this is about what it might sound like if you were locked into a small tin barn and half the residents of Ontario rushed up and began hammering on the roof and sides with mallets.

Yes, the faintest wisps of pedal steel somehow manage to drift up through the sonic cyclone...but...barely and briefly.
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Jeff

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 1 Aug 2000 9:28 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>
like if you were locked into a small tin barn and half the residents of Ontario rushed up and began hammering on the roof and sides with mallets.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hate when that happens...

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 2 Aug 2000 7:53 am

That's the New Country Sound!!!

Isn't it niiiiiice!?

If you don't care for it, you're branded as an...

"old narrow-minded traditionalist who's stuck in the past and constantly gripes about changing forms of country music that are selling like snowballs in the summer to just about everyone but you".

Yep!

P.S. I never really cared for drums as a "lead instrument".

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 2 Aug 2000 9:24 am

Ahhh, Donny, that's the dreaded bandwagon argument often deployed by zealous YoungCountrymen. Their unassailable premise is: mass-market success = artistic value.

We have a hot-selling product around here called black tar heroin. Lots of people are buying it, so it must be a good thing... .

John Steele: Perhaps I've understated the horror in my Ontario scenario. After all, half the residents there would be, what, a good half-dozen mallet-wielding Canadians?

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 2 Aug 2000 11:25 am

Bill Ferguson · Post by **Bill Ferguson** » 2 Aug 2000 3:55 pm

"old narrow-minded traditionalist who's stuck in the past and constantly gripes about changing forms of country music that are selling like snowballs in the summer to just about everyone but you".

Amen brother, I'm with you on this one

Bill

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"Stop worrying about what makes a steel work and concentrate on how YOU make it sound"

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 3 Aug 2000 9:56 am

Well, I asked around, but everybody's nervous to take on the job.

We get "Walker, Texas Ranger" up here, y'know.
-John

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 3 Aug 2000 1:33 pm

To address the topic in a more serious vein..
Some years ago Dizzy Gillespie was asked where he thought modern music was heading. His response:

"It's going to go back where it came from; to a man beating on a drum"

Look around. Diz was no dummy.
-John

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 3 Aug 2000 3:58 pm

David Biagini · Post by **David Biagini** » 3 Aug 2000 6:40 pm

Just heard that song on the way home and you're right. A good song literally beaten to death.

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 3 Aug 2000 8:35 pm

"Uncle Zeke now tunes his fiddle in the proper way
Uncle Bud now plays the banjo with a beat
Grandpaw plays the old wash tub with a great big hickory club
If that's music then my brains are in my feet."

Johnnie Wright, "Country Music's Gone to Town", circa 1960.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess. 95% of the stuff coming out of Music Row these days turns me off by the second note of the "opening vamp" (we don't even get a conventional intro these days) due to too much drums, too much keyboards, and too much rock-n-roll guitar. I'm trying not to be narrow-minded here. It's not all bad music, but it's just the idea that they use a non-country groove and then market it as "country" music. What country are they from, I wonder sometimes. But the weird thing is that my teenagers can hear one line of the "new country" (which to me is more like pop-rock) and immediately identify it as "country music". Then they generally change the station! Tim R.[This message was edited by Tim Rowley on 04 August 2000 at 06:49 PM.]

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 4 Aug 2000 5:00 am

Well, I guess I'm "old and narrow minded" at the ripe old age of 27!

Terry in H-town · Post by **Terry in H-town** » 4 Aug 2000 7:27 pm

I like a lot of the new material, but there are some new songs that I can't stand and how they wound up on Country radio remains a mystery to me. There is no logic to this industry anymore. It's all hype and $$$$$$$$$$$! Being a great player means very little. Having a ton of luck and the right connections is the key. Once you get your foot in the door and a few hits under your belt you can crank out all kinds of trash.
My favorite Joe Diffie song: Ships that don't come in.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 5 Aug 2000 5:09 am

It's Always Something

GORDY NICHOL · Post by **GORDY NICHOL** » 10 Aug 2000 6:36 am

What we need is someone like Ricky Skaggs to come on the scene,like in the early 80's.The "Urban Cowboy" stuff nearly killed trad. country then,as the "Looker Image" is today. My wish would be for some diversity in country radio. Hopefully there will be a widely recognized music catagory called "Traditional Country",where new artists and old can share the same frequency and not have to share it with pop wanna be's. But how many times has this wish been mentioned?????????????

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 10 Aug 2000 7:01 am

Gordy,
Ricky was a looker when he started out. He still is

Diversity is happening in country radio. Artist like Kenny Rogers, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Collin Raye, Eric Heatherly & Darrell Worley the list goes on and on

Music like time is forever changing!
Theresa[This message was edited by Theresa Galbraith on 10 August 2000 at 08:19 AM.]

GORDY NICHOL · Post by **GORDY NICHOL** » 10 Aug 2000 9:44 am

Theresa, I do agree with you that music cannot "stand still" and expect to retain listeners as well as gather new ones. New musical ideas must be tried ! For example when Skaggs redid the bluegrass tunes. I guess I'm just wishing to here more country today that is utilizing the psg & fiddle more and letting the players "stretch their legs" a little bit. Brad Paisley's "Me Neither" is a good example of what I'd like to see happen.I don't think this should be the case on all new material. ( Again, Skaggs had a few "jam" songs that got plenty of air play) I guess I'm looking for stuff that is not of the masses .After thinking about it more,I agree with you that there is diversity,just not enough of traditional (or what I call traditional)country. But you are correct , all things change ,just like marrage,for better or worse, whatever your vision of it!
GORDY.

bill ramsey · Post by **bill ramsey** » 10 Aug 2000 10:38 am

im, pure traditional country and i like it that way. no new???? country for me. bill ramsey

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Jimmy T. Vaughn · Post by **Jimmy T. Vaughn** » 10 Aug 2000 11:59 am

GORDY, Back in the 70's I heard Johnny Gimble say " When Hank Williams came along it set music back 60 years,but it was fresh again" I guess we need another Hank Williams today huh!!

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GORDY NICHOL · Post by **GORDY NICHOL** » 10 Aug 2000 12:08 pm

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 10 Aug 2000 3:48 pm

GORDY,
I know it's upsetting to alot of you traditional country lovers that you're not hearing what you want.
It seems the traditional country just isn't selling like the new country is. So I guess when you hear traditional that you like, go buy it! I personally listen to country radio every single day and I hear diversity

Theresa
[This message was edited by Theresa Galbraith on 10 August 2000 at 04:51 PM.]

erik · Post by **erik** » 10 Aug 2000 6:34 pm

As far as Country's concerned, i too prefer the traditional style, but i hear some gems now and then of the new stuff.

Just the other day i switched on the country station (i'm a habitual dial surfer) and heard a new song that grabbed me. I was getting out of my vehicle but had to listen to the complete song to hear the artist. It was Vince Gill doing Feels Like Love. This is the freshest song and sound i've heard on Country radio in a while. No steel, but great tune. Reminded me of 70s Country Rock.

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I also heard Erik Heatherby's remake of Flowers On The Wall (title?. Well, actually, i only heard the last 30 seconds. But i got the impression that recording was heavily influenced by toady's DJ/Remix style of music making. Sounded choppy, like triggering samples. Didn't hear enough to say whether i liked it or not.

But i tell you, i'd like to hear some fresh neo-traditional Country.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 10 Aug 2000 7:14 pm

Erik,
I think Eric Heatherly is like neo-traditional the song "Flowers on the Wall" although a remake is smoking with 3 guitars! The rest of the cd is fresh and inviting.
Theresa[This message was edited by Theresa Galbraith on 10 August 2000 at 08:15 PM.]

David Pennybaker · Post by **David Pennybaker** » 11 Aug 2000 4:14 pm

I can handle Joe Diffie. And a lot of other stuff, too (even lots of the "new country").

My wife ONLY likes the new country. I finally figured out why she doesn't like traditional country: she doesn't like fiddles and pedal steel guitar! (How she ever let me buy a dobro and a lapsteel, I'll never know -- once they get here, and I start playing, she may change her mind

)

Fortunately, we've both "met in the middle", and both like The Wilkinsons. They aren't traditional country, but they're a breath of fresh air (at least to me).

One artist that I just can't figure out, though: Alecia Elliot. I won't say her music's bad, but I can't for the life of me figure out how she got on a country label. I've only heard the 2 singles, but I've been told that the rest of the album is just like those 2 songs. With almost all other country artists, I can at least hear SOME country in there, and understand why they considered country music as their home.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://members.xoom.com/dpennybaker/index.htm