# Who loves Country? I do! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614 "2003-06-13T16:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/21 "2003-06-14T11:37:53Z")
Oh **FairyDust** , I must concur with you on Hal Ketchum. I can curl up and lie in the sun and listen to him all day. Same goes for Dwight, but Hal has a special place in my heart. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/22 "2003-06-14T13:05:50Z")
I like some alt-country. Early Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown is good, Wilco is good, and I don’t mind some Waifs, Dan Brodie or even Son Volt (though they sound a little poppy from what I’ve heard). I like Johnny Cash’s cover of _The Mercy Seat_ and his vocals on _the Wanderer_, but I haven’t really got into any of his other stuff. I’m new to the fold. But I’m getting there. I now like hip-hop and country, probably the two most hated forms of music out there. I swear I’ll never like prog-rock or metal, though. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/23 "2003-06-14T14:06:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Freakwater Fan-freakin’-tabulous! I’m a HUGE fan. I live in Louisville, which is home to Cathy Erwin. I have everything they’ve done, they are my second favorite band in the whole g\*\*damn world, right behind Cowboy Junkies. My only complaint is that THEY DON’T PLAY OUT ENOUGH! Lazy ferkers. 😃 Well, it’s their loss. I blew about $500 last year to travel and see CJ’s, and more than that so far to see them this year. Some of that money could go to Freakwater… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vl\_mungo \* > \*\*I’m a big country fan (not a Big Country fan), but I can’t stand the crop of top 40 acts that are stinking up the genre. Shania, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis and all their ilk are not to my liking at all. I vastly prefer Hank Sr. and Hank III to Hank Jr. > You can put me down as a big fan of… > > \ > > \*\* Can I just say you have remarkable taste? The only name I don’t recognize and have at least something in my collection by is The Hag. What’s up there? Old-school, you say? I agree with what you say about current country. If I have to look at Martina McBride one more time I might scream. My poor mother, who is entirely informed about life from television and radio, can rattle off the “legends” about these people, never realizing most of it’s part of the marketing. I DO have to give Toby Keith props though, for swallowing his politics and playing with Willie, and playing that song (he allegedly wrote) about smokin’ pot with him. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/24 "2003-06-14T14:25:59Z")
I was raised listening to mostly country music when I was little, drifted away during my teens but was still familiar with most of what was popular because of constant radio exposure. I was an avid _Hee Haw_ watcher, and remember thinking, “It’'s not the same,” after Buck Owens left the show. I nearly cried when I found out my family’s Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley 8-track of _Good Old Boys_ self destructed from constant play. I only knew “Daydream Believer” as an Anne Murray song growing up. I even thought “Do It Again” was a Waylon Jennings song, because I had never the original by Steely Dan until I was in high school. But I remember the breaking point for me, “Bop” by Dan Seals, that song was so awful and uncountry to me. My tastes broadened and changed over time: rock (classic and modern), jazz, blues, some classical, even a little “world music” (but I hate that name) and electronica (very little). But I do find myself coming back to country music and so many of the songs and artists I’m familiar with, part nostalgia, part exploration of a great genre. My favorite artists these days tend to be older ones: Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Roger Miller, Tom T. Hall (probably the funniest and most consistently great storyteller in the genre IMO), Dwight Yoakam, Ronnie Milsap, Marty Robbins and Billie Joe Shaver. I sometimes wonder if I’m the only Kinky Friedman fan on the SDMB. I’ve been growing interested in people like Ray Price, Patsy Cline, Lefty Frizzell, and Jim Reeves these days. I prefer modern country music more in the alt-country/AAA mode (Ryan Adams, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Slobberbone. And wish I could find some Songs:Ohia CDs, what few songs I heard blew me away); but I do like Allison Moorer, Kim Richey, The Tractors, The Derailers, Chris Ledoux, and Nickel Creek. Has anyone heard the group Bering Strait? I’ve been considering buying their CD, I like what little I’ve heard but want to get some other opinions. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/25 "2003-06-14T19:36:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by presidebt \* > **\ > The only name I don’t recognize and have at least something in my collection by is The Hag. What’s up there? Old-school, you say? \** Sorry, that would be **Merle Haggard** … not some crazy old lady from the Ozarks ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/26 "2003-06-14T20:30:01Z")
I’ll go with most of the stuff **vl\_mungo** listed. As far as the contemporary country that gets radio play, it’s a bit too sappy and formulaic for me. However, I like the novelty songs like “Goodbye Earl” and “She Thinks my Tractor’s Sexy.” I like some of the more rockabilly stuff. My favorite artists that tie to country: Dwight Yoakum Steve Earl Sixteen Horsepower Whiskeytown Uncle Tupelo Johnny Cash Hank Jr. Charlie Daniels Southern Culture on the Skids Chris LeDeux Earlier Terry Clark Earlier Clay Walker Earlier George Strait (everything up to “Check Yes or No”) ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/27 "2003-06-14T22:48:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shrew \* > \*\*Oh **FairyDust** , I must concur with you on Hal Ketchum. I can curl up and lie in the sun and listen to him all day. Same goes for Dwight, but Hal has a special place in my heart. \*\* Have you seen Hal Ketchum’s music video “Past The Point of Rescue”? I forgot I bought a copy years ago. It’s in my home music library. Time to pull it out, pop it into the VCR and watch it again. _swoon_ ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614/28 "2003-06-15T01:04:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyDust \* > Have you seen Hal Ketchum’s music video “Past The Point of Rescue”? I forgot I bought a copy years ago. It’s in my home music library. Time to pull it out, pop it into the VCR and watch it again. _swoon_ Oh my God, that video. Those eyebrows. He makes me want to do naughty things, but while still keeping his mouth free so he can sing. Rowr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-country-i-do/181614.md?page=1)