He needed something to rhyme with “answer”.
Do you have any idea how …
And that’s why they never sing about oranges.
What is this i don’t even
My mother bitches about how horrible CMT is now and how they never show the Grand Ol’ Opry. Now her favorite show is the Gaither Gospel Hour. However, she also grew up in a household where Elvis was scandalous. shrug
Apparently Johnny Reid is Edward Cullen for 45-70 year old women now. They just went fucking nuts when he came on tour through here.
I’ve been living in the south for decades, and I’ve got kinfolk up in them hills. I’m here to tell you that it depends on who you talk to. But it doesn’t depend all that much.
I saw some old episodes of Hee Haw recently. I was surprised at how much of the music on there was really just the pop tunes of the day redone with steel guitars and twang.
Who says?
(That’s actually a reference that I’m too young to get, but we had the LP when I was little).
Maybe it’s because they haven’t done anything in a while, but the Dixie Chicks have gotten all but two mentions in this thread. (I sure hope they’re not done yet.) Weren’t they once the most successful female group in the world?
Please, school an ignorant German who only knows their songs (loves them, too) and thinks they’re country - are they, at least musically, at all representative of what is going on in Country Music in the US today? Except maybe for Travelling Soldier I see none of those “Country” tropes mentioned in their songs, and even there it’s done tastefully.
Achtung, Pitchmeister! Emmylou Harris. 'Nuff sed.
Country has the same tripod as Rap:
- Points to its mass popularity as the measure of its credibility
- Belligerentl dismisses any analysis/criticism from “outsiders”
- Bestows upon itself the sole arbitration rights of who is an “outsider”
Everybody: trendy alt rockers, Milanese opera buffs, collectors of milk bottle caps, etc. practice #2 and 3. But pulling of #1 as well is the neat trick: elitism and populism at the same time.
The funny thing about 3, though: if anyone can be exiled so easily with “They’re all hat and no cattle: we’re the real cowboy minstrels!” or “He’s no gangster, he’s just a wankster,” then maybe the art form itself lacks authenticity.
Here’s more info on the Dixie Chicks from AllMusic.
The Dixie Chicks were one of the rare acts that were popular in both alt country and mainstream country circles. However, their mainstream country popularity took a hit
in 2003 when they made some anti-Bush cracks during a concert in London just before the Iraqi War started. That led to many mainstream country radio stations dropping them from their playlists and boycotts from their more conservative fans. The Dixie Chicks remain popular with alt country audiences mainly because they’re music is considered more authentic than the slicked up product produced by the Nashville machine.
Merneith, please don’t post the lyrics to entire songs on the SDMB.
No warning issued.
SteveG1, please do not alter other people’s quotes inside the quote tags.
No warning issued.
I heard this one yesterday for the first time. The man should be ashamed for referring to Amarillo by Morning and He Stopped Loving Her Today. The song is everything that’s wrong with today’s “country” music – self-referential, “insider” crap. But somebody must like it, because it sells.
The person I work with four nights a week listens to WWJO (St. Cloud, Minnesota) over his computer and they seem to play that damn song twice during every shift. And then I can’t get it out of my head.
And I’d like to be the first to point out that not only do the lyrics suck, but the lame attempt at a guitar solo raises the bar on suckitude. It sounds like a twelve-year-old noodling around with his big brother’s guitar.
IMO, country music started sucking around the time that Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell started hitting the charts. It’s been downhill since then.
Thank you for that link, NDP, I saw Shut Up and Sing, though, so I’m familiar with that part of their history. I was just wondering why they barely got mentioned in this thread despite being the biggest female group of all time.
Also, thanks elucidator, I’ve heard of her and even given a CD to a friend who’s into country, but haven’t really checked her out myself. It’s never too late, I guess…
*Achtung *Pitchmeister!
Has anyone mentioned the Johnny Cash cover of Nine Inch Nail’s Hurt? 'Cause that’s the good stuff.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned “Okie from Muskogee.” It’s an interesting case, because Merle Haggard is definitely one of the greats of real country music, and “Okie…” is a pretty good song if you ignore the lyrics. But it has to be one of the first songs to embrace the reactionary, country-folks-are-good-decent-people-and-fuck-you-if-you-ain’t-one-of-us attitude that has ruined country music since.
I’ve always thought of country music as a kind of ethnic music. It’s for pioneer-Protestant-Scottish-Americans first and foremost. (All country singers have Scottish last names or at least try to copy that pioneer image.)