# It's the 1970s, semi-obscure country music appreciation thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035 "2014-02-11T05:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/61 "2014-07-12T16:05:18Z")
[Lion In The Winter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya2dSRcqLBE) A lovely duet by Hoyt Axton and Linda Ronstat Love this song. ---
**Author:** ![Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absinthe_Anecdote)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/62 "2014-07-13T15:38:58Z")
This is a little off topic, but I figure that the people following this thread could answer a quick question about the Hee Haw universe. Can anyone explain to me the popularity of the Hagar Brothers? I was a small kid during the 1970s and remember watching Hew Haw with my grandparents and being completely baffled by them. I remember thinking that they looked like cocker spaniels with those ridiculous haircuts, and I couldn’t understand why they were on TV. Were they ever respected outside of Hew Haw, or considered “sexy country hunks” as they were purported to be in the ridiculous fake corn fields of Hew Haw? I remember being outraged that Barbie Benton pretended to swoon over them. Just look at them. [http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/hI2iqr8E4dk/hqdefault.jpg](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/hI2iqr8E4dk/hqdefault.jpg) How was that hairstyle popular, even in the midst of all the other insane fashions of the 1970s. Was I ahead of my time to scoff at them in the 1970s, or did I have plenty of company? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/63 "2016-06-03T01:04:38Z")
Jody Miller is a lovely country singer who covered a wide range of (racy!) material before it was accepted. (The first time I remember hearing Paul Simon’s “Homeward Bound”, it was by Jody). Here is my favorite song she’s ever sung: [“Good News”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFC9E0Ij2YY) ## Before Shania Twain, there was Jody Miller. Everyone remembers “Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando and Dawn. I first heard the [country cover by Johnny Carver.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUZxxEAIBys) ## But IMO neither one of those holds up like Carver’s sequel [“You Really Haven’t Changed”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYVuScgv_A8) which continued the story of a guy getting out of prison and coming home. Re: Hagers: I don’t know either - I guess you had to be there. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/64 "2016-06-03T01:48:29Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > I > [Set 'em Up Joe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNhL9EfTYsU) I _love_ that song. And also, Linda Ronstadt could sing the ingredients from a granola bar, and I’d buy that. Country rock at its very, very finest. I’m willin’, yes, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/65 "2016-06-03T01:49:09Z")
To me, [KOKE-FM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KOKE-FM) represented a good slice of 70’s Country… > [@](#): > > In the summer of 1972, Willie Nelson moved into Austin, just 6 months after KOKE-FM switched to its new format called Country Rock or the more politically correct term at the time “progressive country”. Country Radio would never be the same. From the Carter Family to the Rolling Stones, to Waylon and Willie, you could hear the music that Austinites were listening to on I-35 and on South Congress. In 1974 Billboard named KOKE-FM the most innovative station in the country. > > KOKE-FM played a role in the careers of all the “outlaws”. Waylon, Willie and the boys lead the way with KOKE-FM to help promote some of the most iconic singer/songwriters of the time thanks to program director Joe Gracey. When Jerry Jeff Walker needed an audience to record “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother”, he called KOKE-FM to get the crowd he needed. > > One of the characteristics of a regional music business was that the players, operating out of the glare of the big media centers, often made their own rules. “Redneck Rock” was created by KOKE-FM where the “outlaws” played by their own rules. No one realized that what had started in that little studio on North Lamar would have such a profound effect on country music all across the world Many of us down here in Houston knew that stuff but KOKE packaged it so well. (Houston folkies remembered Jerry Jeff, Guy & Townes before they went Nashvile.) Then there was the KPFT benefit “[Tribute to the Cosmic Cowboys](http://rockinhouston.com/performers/tribute-to-cosmic-cowboy/564/)”. Those picture are misleading–all those ex-folkies did well enough, but there were real ex-Bob Wills Playboys jamming with Asleep at the Wheel. All that hippie shit aside, Moe Bandy was pretty fine… Ray Wiley Hubbard wrote ["Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother](http://bigbendnow.com/2011/08/fort-davis-house-party-recalls-vintage-austin-vibes/)" > [@](#): > > When we lived in Washington, D.C. we always attended the Texas State Society’s Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball, held every four years. It was the best of all the inaugural balls, strictly non-partisan, with superb entertainment direct from Texas. > > The 1989 ball honored George H.W. Bush, and we arrived to find about 3,000 people crammed into one of four adjoining ballrooms at the Washington Hilton, awaiting the arrival of the new president and his wife. > > The first person we saw was Molly Ivins, who said, “Let’s get out of here. Jerry Jeff Walker is playing his heart out to about 20 people in the next room.” > > We followed Molly into the next room, and sure enough there was Jerry Jeff, surrounded by a very small group of Texans, including a sextet of bejeweled and beautifully coifed Midland matrons in evening gowns. They had Petroleum Club Republican written all over them, but when Jerry Jeff broke into “Up Against the Wall” they joined right in. > > My wife, who had never lived in Texas, was open-mouth astonished. > > “They know all the words,” she said. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/66 "2016-06-03T01:49:55Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > [Lion In The Winter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya2dSRcqLBE) > > A lovely duet by Hoyt Axton and Linda Ronstat > > Love this song. Dang. You are my people. (Sniffs.) I believe I’ll be wallowing in some nostalgia tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/67 "2016-06-03T01:54:51Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Jody Miller is a lovely country singer who covered a wide range of (racy!) material before it was accepted. I have a couple of her albums! Like, the big black vinyl things. Underappreciated, man. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/68 "2016-06-05T02:29:35Z")
Too early for the 1970’s, but Roger Miller’s [Engine Engine Number Nine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ3dcJZ_J3g) was one of the most haunting country songs from that era. But don’t take my word: hear a real guitar player: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOzvAxQlG94) ---
**Author:** ![Lightlystarched](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Lightlystarched](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightlystarched)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/69 "2016-06-06T03:07:38Z")
I know the Eagles aren’t “country”, but lots of the songs kinda swung that way, maybe “Heartache Tonight”? Ooops, still trying to figure out the song for Delphia. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/70 "2016-06-06T09:07:40Z")
[Pardon me, I’ve got someone to kill.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqWTwTj1d0U) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/71 "2016-06-06T09:16:16Z")
I don’t remember who sang it but I remember a song called wolfcreek pass from a old 70s “truckers greatest hits” tape ,and my fav of tom t was sneaky snake … ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/72 "2016-06-06T09:21:45Z")
[Wolf Creek Pass was sung by C. W. McCall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6LzWZYWpOU&list=RDX6LzWZYWpOU) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/73 "2016-06-06T09:28:12Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > [Wolf Creek Pass was sung by C. W. McCall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6LzWZYWpOU&list=RDX6LzWZYWpOU) wow I thought it sounded a bit similar to convoy …even trippier is who he really was … ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/74 "2016-06-06T12:59:53Z")
Long Hard Road by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band I’m surprised how few people remember it. It was the Dirt Bands first number 1 hit. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035/75 "2016-06-06T13:59:37Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/y_8xYcmGjKg/maxresdefault.jpg "Swingin' , John Anderson , 1983") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_8xYcmGjKg) This thread makes me happy! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-1970s-semi-obscure-country-music-appreciation-thread/681035.md?page=3)