The Steel Guitar Forum

It seems to me that traditional country Is slowly starting to make It's way back into the overall picture. With the popularity of bluegrass music, old, and new, It's opened the door for traditional. The radio people are being stubborn, and sticking to the same pop oriented formats. We have a new station here in Jacksonville thats playing down home country, bluegrass, and gospel!! And there Is a NC Opry in the works In Richlands NC, which should kick off In May I think. And they will feature traditional country, bluegrass etc.So IMHO I think It's starting to look more promising for us traditional country diehards!!! Leigh

For those of us that live around the Austin area, 98.1 KVET plays a slue of greats from the past between 5am to 10am on Sat. mornings I've heard some really great steel playing on there, even though I have to getup xtry early to hear it, it's worth it.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dan Najvar on 16 March 2002 at 11:56 AM.]</p></FONT>

For those interested - try AOL's "web radio" - click on Country Music - then "classical country" - far superior to anything I've heard elsewhere "web radio-wise". . .

Did and anyone hear Andy Griggs do Good hearted woman on the Opry last night. Damn he sounded good too bad he didn't takre time to learn the words,true professionalism at it's best.

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CJC

Damn Joe
You want to slop the hawgs and get to kiss em too.

Quit picking on the boy, Words are unimportant, come to think of it, singers are too.

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John

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by John Floyd on 17 March 2002 at 09:02 AM.]</p></FONT>

Very interesting comments about traditional country music. I had the good fortune of being a radio disc jockey from 1970 through 1990. I did my best on country shows to feature the best in traditional country. I recall the Ricky Skaggs hay day...gosh I think the music he recorded prior to bowing out and returning to blue grass was so nice to listen to and well produced. Of course George Strait has not varied from his fine choice of country along with Alan Jackson. I fear what may happen to this brand of music when the current traditionalists hang up their guitars. I'm hopeful others will fall into their footsteps. Traditional country is the very best, I suppose if they stop recording and playing it, we can always dig out the oldies.

Alan Hunt

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Alan
IMHO I think there are a lot of traditional country singers coming up, but the radio stations wont play their records! Some folks say that Brad Paisley is a traditional country singer. He's had a few good country records, but even he leans toward the Pop Country sound. I dont know maybe I'm just getting old (Getting?)and want to keep things the way I remember them,
but there used to be a country field, a pop field, a rock field etc. Now there all jumbled together. You used to be able to tell who a singer was as soon as they sang one word. Not anymore! OK I/ve vented enough for now! Getting off my soap box. Leigh<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Leigh Howell on 17 March 2002 at 05:07 PM.]</p></FONT>

Leigh, speaking of traditional, are you in any way related to (or are you) the Leigh Howell who recorded "I Saw You Standing"(Mellotone 1001) back in the late 1950s?

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jason Odd on 18 March 2002 at 03:20 AM.]</p></FONT>

<SMALL>...Ricky Skaggs...the music he recorded prior to bowing out and returning to bluegrass was so nice to listen to and well produced.</SMALL>

Absolutely. His 1982 and '84 albums feature some of the finest of the fine Lloyd Green playing.

Here in Boston we have a number of long-term college radio shows featuring traditional country and bluegrass. I don't exactly know why, except that people who really want to maintain the traditions have gotten access to the airwaves. ("Hillbilly at Harvard", Ed the Detective,George Hauenstein etc.) I shared a Bluegrass show called "Panhandle Country" with a Harvard student in 1986 and 87. There is a small bluegrass scene here, & almost no traditional country at all, except some "alt-country" groups and an occasional band like John Lincoln Wright, Stumbleweeds, Spurs or Dave Foley who play it traditional. We had a country music scene based around a few clubs, incl. Sacco's and the Blue Star. It was at its late peak during the great Urban Cowboy scare ;^) Since then its disappeared or moved further away from the city. You can still find trad. country at the French Club in Waltham where Frank Caruso holds his steel shows. --Joel

Jason.
Yes I did that recording. It was'nt one of my best efforts. I was in La. at the time, and was'nt really sure of what I wanted. But I know I was having fun!!!

Leigh

Retcop88
Those were good times!! I played Riverside Park with a band called "Peewee Gokey, and the country Squires"Every Sun. in the summer,and played the Ranch House Motor Inn, 7 nites a week for about 13 years! Jim Smith was at Riverside Park with us for awhile. Had no trouble working in those days!!: ) Leigh<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Leigh Howell on 18 March 2002 at 04:43 PM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks Leigh, Joe Casey emailed me and said that you recorded on Lil' Darlin' as well!

Jason,you have amazed me again with your knowledge of country music and musicians,Is there anything you don't know?
Ray

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Steeling is still legal in Arizona

What comes to my mind when I think of "traditional" country music, I think more of bluegrass, hillbilly or mountain music--handed down from generations, such as in the movie "Brother Where Art Thou". But as time went on, singers and musicians broke away from traditional country music--the big culprit was the invention of electric instruments. When did we start to break away from traditional country? 1950--Hank Williams, 1960--Ray Price, or did we just break away now. If there hadn't been a change, you wouldn't have heard any pedal steel guitar. And then country music started to expand by bringing in new talent to make for more changes--the Bakersfield Bunch for example. Is it that we like to play and enjoy music of the past. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned my band played "Don't Rock the Jukebox" and one of the fellow forum members stated "What a golden classic"--stick around another twenty years, it will then be a classic. So many of us steel players are mentioning our favorites that are forty and fifty years old and I love them and wish I could play them on every gig but the younger generation doesn't want to hear them. They want to hear music that relates to their own lives--weren't we the same? Joe

Joe,
Nice words!
Theresa

Joe's statement about electronic instruments made me think of a question, but it was more appropriate to the Steel Guitar area of the forum.
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/003749.html

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

Some one above said that Gearge Strait is staying traditional country. I'm sorry, I like Strait, but latley his choice is everything but traditional country. Listen to the radio that's playing top 40 music, Strait is beginning to sound like all the rest. I guess the true question is, what we call or how do we define tradional country music.
We play weekly here in Cen TX and believe me there is very little of the new Strait stuff being played by our band. His music is going just like the rest of it, strait to the pop or whatever you call this stuff they are calling country. Jones, Haggard, Price, Bush. McCall, that's traditional country IMHO.

Jeff "PLUMB COUNTRY" Coffell

here near Wash D.C., we have pretty much a vast wastland. I guess the new stuff has its own place and it's own merit, but I don't care for it too much. I feel I'm turning into my parents, they thought what I listened to was horrible when I was a teenager. I now think what I'm hearing on radio today is horrible. Oy vey!! I'm a geezer at only 34? Phooey!! well, I guess I can live with that, I'm gonna go listen to my old Lloyd Green albums and geez now, see ya later!!!

Down here in Fla I have to admit the stations are sprinkling a little more traditial. Now not a whole hell of a lot but enough to get me to listen to the other stuff. George Strait is strictly commercial to todays releases.When he cowered out with his statement on his duo with Alan Jackson on " Murder on Music row" I instantly lost respect for the man. It's ok to go along with the flow but don't be above your raising.I haven't bought any of the newer stuff but I do like a lot of it. It just doesn't last long enough to become collectable. Maybe they will hit a strong lasting classic one of these days. Recently I like the Cowboy in me by "Tugs" kid and I hope you dance was catchy.There are a few out there..........I just cant keep track of the revolving door of soon to be has beens. JMHO

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CJC

Traditional Country or whatever you consider country has always been determinded by record sales. Buy what you like, I do!
Traditional sales determines country comin on strong!!
MHO, Theresa

Myron,
Maybe you are smoking to much...LOL I just stated sales means Traditional Country comin on strong only if consumers buy it, it will come back. Theresa