Sounds good to me. I like alt-country (and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you post about Wilco and Uncle Tupelo etc.), so could you recommend some good bluegrass that would be palatable to an indie kid who likes alt-country and is a bluegrass novice? Preferably not the Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack, though I feel I should check it out. I’d like to come in fresh, rather than with the baggage of an Oscar award hanging over my listening.
I love Radiohead (going to see them next year - yes!), but I’ve never heard any Warren Zevon.
There’s a live album by Alison Krause and Union Station that’s a pretty good. (Union Station were the guys who sang “I am a Man of Constant Sorrow” for the ‘O Brother’ soundtrack).
I also highly recommend “Mountain Soul” by Patty Loveless, especially for “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive”, which is a fantastic song.
Then there’s the hardcore stuff - Flatt and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe. All good stuff.
If you haven’t listened to Warren Zevon, run out and get “Warren Zevon”, “Excitable Boy”, “Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School”, and “The Wind”. The first eponymous CD would be a good place to start. Knowing what I do of your musical tastes, I think you’d really like Zevon. One of the most under-rated artists of the last 30 years.
I just have to point out that this is one of the silliest things I’ve read in a long time. I live in the city, far from any cattle, but I like Willie Nelson and Jo Dee Messina. I’m an optimistic, angst-free people-person, but I can get into punk. I’m not Jamaican, but I like ska and reggae. I don’t live in Edwardian England, but I’m a Gilbert and Sullivan fan.
How limiting, how ridiculous to suggest that one’s preferences in music should be defined by one’s race, class, geographical location, etc. Please tell me, in your expert opinion, what kind of music I, a 25-year-old, married, educated, middle-class white woman, should like? I’d hate to be considered a poseur.
Now, that may very well have been true at the time she posted (July 4th almost 3.5 years ago), but I must say, things have changed. One of the first threads in which I actively got involved on this board was covering similar ground. I would have to say that this thread went alot better than that one: Warning: May offend rap fans. A long read, but if you make it through it trainwrecks nicely. Whether the difference is due to the fact that this thread is here in the Cafe (without the harsh overtones) and that one was in the Pit, or due to a newfound higher level of awareness amongst this population is hard to tell. IMO Alphagene’s words have been proven wrong in my book. This board handles the hip-hop debates just as well as any other debates. At their best, these threads bring knowledgeable & interesting people together to discuss the intricacies of any issue, with the goal of getting as close to the straight dope as is humanly possible. Usually everyone learns a bit, thinks a bit, and perhaps broadens there horizons. Intelligent folks tend to come out looking at things a little differently, and certainly leaving with a better understanding of the oppositions positions.
Basically, this thread is an example of what this place does when it is working best. No matter how much hate was responsible for the OP (“hate” was the muse for this thread after all), you guys can turn it into an interesting, informative, and at times really damn funny hijack. There are plenty of threads like this for most subjects, but it’s great to see that hip-hop has the same kind of support from intelligent and persuasive people doing their best to educate the unaware. This is one of my favorite threads on this topic. The difference between this and the thread linked above are drastic - not in subject - but in the way they are handled. The relative success here makes a pretty strong case for the effectiveness of being polite (even while vigorously debating something). Communication and understanding seem so much easier to achieve when you don’t cloud the issue with personal insults. Who knew? Anyway, also check out this Great Debates thread I started way back when to discussTurntablism. Some interesting stuff there as well . . .