JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Traditional country vs Modern county

There’s a lot of complaints about that traditional country music has been chased out of Nashville, and listening to today’s country songs this seems to be true. Luckily Europe and in particular the Scandinavians appreciate such wonderful American heritage as traditional country music is/was. It would be interesting to find out what our American JPF friends think about the direction modern country is taking. Below is a link to a country group performing a traditional country song, the vocalist is as good as anyone you’ll find in Nashville, IMHO. What do you think? Jan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt2H4uA_q8Y&feature=related

And good riddance ! Old twang or new twang, it's all just twang twang to me.

cheers, niteshift

Today's country is but a shadow of yesterday's country. Traditional country told stories people could relate to, could make you laugh or cry, today's country just make me moan. Most pop music just make me groan. Today's country is a cross between pop and rock,can't make up its mind what it wants to be,country in name only.

Hi niteshift,

That you don’t like old or new country is fine, it’s the way it should be. The different likes, dislikes and interests we have, is what makes life interesting. That said a sweeping statement like yours (perhaps unintentionally) reveals that you couldn’t care less if millions of people who enjoy and receives comfort from this genre of music were deprived from listening to it. Apart from revealing a mean streak, it also reveals ignorance, IMHO. There are good creative and performing arts (as well as bad) in all genres of music whether we like it or not. With regards to performance, I’ll bet you wish you had the WOW factor as this group and in particular the vocalist have.

Hi Everett, I agree with you.

Still JPF friends
Jan

Wow Jan!! Why didn't you tell nite what you "Really" thought!! LOL

Was it Duane Eddy who said "The twang's the thang"?
I like "Twang".
Not keen on most "Country pop" or most "poppity pop".
The lyrics have to mean something other than "Let's dance or lets make love" for me.
But then that's just my "thang".
Vic

Traditional country is still alive and well. Commercial radio always seeks out "crossover" music since the sales are so much higher. Garth Brooks changed the scope and reach of country music with his large mega-spectacle tours and it ain't going back.

I believe the older traditional country artists still have quite the business playing the Indian Casinos and such. Top 40 (or is it top 20 now) is what it is.

I'm enjoying the "exchanges" here, Jan:

What's a "Viking" doing in Croatia? (Sorry, I digress!)
Old Country versus New Country! We've had this discussion before here at JPF. Pearls may be found in either basket... or not... as our personal tastes dictate. If forced to decide... I suppose I would fall squarely in the camp of "Traditional Country" but I like most music... if it MOVES ME.

Everything musical seems to find a way to "come 'round again."

My best to all,

Dave

I really enjoy Kurt Nilsen's music. He is very talented and a great vocalist.
But to use him as an example of "Traditional" Country?
I don't think so.
Traditional Country cannot be "faked" If you don't have that "Country" sound to your voice, the way you pronounce the words, and the "feel" that a true traditional country singer has it will never sound like "traditional" country.

Then again what is your definition of true country. I'd have to go back a LOT of years to bring up my definition of traditional country.
Jimmy Rogers 1920's to 40's
The Carters 1930's to 50's
Hank Williams 1940's to 50's

Then the change to Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Willie,
Too many to list

Lots of "Traditional" Eras
But there's a few things they all had in common.
Stories
The country "or Southern" accent. The way they spoke.
You can't fake that. You either grow up with it or you don't.

And of course the musical instruments played in a traditional way.

And to be honest. I'd say there are about a thousand Country singers in Nasville alone that can sing "Country" as good or better as what you hear on the radio, including Kurt Nilsen.

Today I'd put Tracy Lawrence or Alan Jackson at the top of what I'd call a traditional country voice.

Rock Music is the same way. There is no comparison to the Rock music of the 50's and today's Rock music. They sound totally different, IMHO

In the US, there is a huge variety of music available from a huge number of decent musicians and singers, although much of it is under the radar. If you judge it from what is on the major radio stations however, you will think that all country music is now the cookie cutter '80s rock with a twangy accent stuff. There are a lot of people who would prefer the traditional country, but what is selling to record buyers is the modern country. Hard to say which is the chicken and which is the egg in that scenario, but the net result is that a traditional country sounding song has a snowball's chance in hell of being played on a major country station. There is a bit of a resurgence of bluegrassy sounding material from the Avett brothers, the Decemberists and others, but again, you will not hear them on a major country station.

I have noticed that the Europeans on JPF who are writing country style songs sound very traditional so it is not surprising to hear that trad country is still popular in Europe. Unfortunately in the US, they would immediately be called dated.

Wattya mean ? Some of my best friends like and play country music.

I wouldn't invite them over though..... they tend to dribble a lot and can only play 3 chords.

Then you've got to feed them soft food, cos they haven't got many teeth.

As they say, "How many country singers does it take to change a lightbulb?"

Two, ......one to do it and one to sing a song reminiscing about all the good times he had with the old bulb.

cheers, niteshift

Seriously, I do like some country music. My most favourites are...

I Dropped the Bookcase On My Darlin' and Pleaded Shelf Defense

(Her Bar Tab Is a) Leading Economic Indicator

I Thought I Had Tourette's, But I Just Like Talkin' Dirty To You

You're My Kleenex of Love, and I'm Afraid I'm Gonna Blow It

Bacon and Eczema For Two

Achy, Breaky, Hanky, Panky, Am I Drunk or Are You Skanky? ( my favourist favourite )

The Ballad of Pretty Mouth Dan ( easily changed to Jan )

My Urine is A-Burnin', and You'd Better Believe I'm Pissed

Tearstains on My Pillow Are the Only Wet Spots in My Bed

I Can't Stop Thinkin' About Cowboys (And I'm a Cowboy, Too)



They really get me going they do.

cheers, niteshift

I don't have those kind of characters on my keyboard. No seriously, I think we should appreciate the different likes, dislikes and interests we have.



I didn't use Kurt as an example of "Traditional Country", I used him as an example of the Scandinavians appreciation of "Traditional County"



I think the Europeans would be happy to be called dated whether it's their liking for "Traditional Country" and/or Shakespear's works.


Cheers to you to niteshift.

Traditional Music is still in Nashville. But most of it is in the Ernest Tubb Record Shop or the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Practically all of the Country Music from the 40's, 50's etc is avaliable on CD somewhere.

I can see niteshift is a real fan of Traditional Country Music! There is probably somebody right there in Aussie Land playing some of that music on the radio!

He should go on Google and listen to Billy Edd Wheeler's song, ODE TO THE LITTLE BROWN SHACK OUT BACK. I think that is his kind of country.

Jan I was not attempting to argue with you but you pointed directly to Nashville, American Traditional Country Music, and asked what Americans think of Traditional vs Modern Country music.
You provided a link to Kurt Kilsen as an example of Traditional Country music and say the vocalist is as good as any found in Nashville.
I don't disagree with his vocal skills. He is just as good as any Dozens of vocalists in Nashville. But I would not compare him to a "Traditional Country Vocalist" from the American South singing Traditional Country music.
That is what I consider Traditional American Country Music,
If Europeans consider Kurt's performance "Traditional Scandinavian Country Music" that is OK with me.
But it does not compare to "Traditional American Country Music" and I thought that was what you were asking for.

Now I will qualify that by stating It is only my opinion. Someone else may chime in here and have a totally different point of view.

Some examples of what I consider True Traditional American Country Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCniFuHlPG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzlOI-8J_4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCFVR7cPbbA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjO_OK03UNY&feature=related

That Jimmy Rogers one is more Traditional Country Blues and if you listen to Doc Watson you can hear that influence.

Woohoo Ray ! Thanks mate !

That will fit nicely in my "Odes To Excrement" playlist.

Better not play it to Big Jim, ..... he'd just call it CRAP. LOL

cheers, niteshift

Just to clarify a bit
The Gambler was released in 1978 by Kenny Rogers who was a Country/Pop/Rock Musician and did mostly Pop Country of the Era.
The Song was written by Don Schlitz.
I have never considered The Gambler a Traditional Country Song except for it being a good story song.

If you want any example of Traditional Country music beyond Jimmy Rogers I think you will be listening to Appalachian Mountain Music

Hey Jan,

You asked if the singer and band were any good ? Nope. The singer has bad teeth, but apart from that, they're simply an emulation. The vocalist is just "Ok", and the backing band is way off in it's groove and interpretation.

What is Trad country anyways ? It really depends on the era and location where it was recorded. It varies greatly from state to state.

cheers, niteshift

PS - the last country song I co-wrote and produced was http://iacmusic.com/songs.aspx?SongID=75076&ArtistID=129785 Is that Trad ? It was co-written by a Kentuckian, remembering her young days at the local store.

Hi Bill,

I won't argue either though I specifically said: "the Scandinavians appreciate such wonderful American heritage as traditional country music is/was". Inother words though they might not have the perfect country twang, they appreciate it by buying listening and performing it. Thanks alot for the links Bill, I really appreciate that.

Yeah as an after thought I tend to agree with you that "The Gamler" is not traditional county and was a poor example to use as the Scandinavians' appreciation of tradiditional country music.

Hi niteshift,

We have to agree to disagree. BTW Kurt won the World Idol where all the individual country idols competed. His solo effort in Leonard Cohen's classic Hellelujah is widely regarded as outstanding and has hence gathered almost 48 million hits on youtube.

All the best to both of you
Jan

Hey Jan,

Yeah, it's all a matter of taste, and we will all disagree to some extent.

To drift just a bit from the thread, Kurt is Ok, but if you want a real interpretation of Hallelujah, then KD Lang just wipes the floor with him. Here is KD at our Aussie TV awards.... just magic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--FrDSx-21k

Of course, KD is a real performer, and not an Idol winner. I think that's the difference.

cheers, niteshift

What a lot of nonsense spoken.
There are only two kinds of music....good and bad or put another way stuff we like and stuff we dislike. Putting music in genres used to be a way for record shops to conveniently categorise, label and display their stock so customers could home in on the type of music they liked. Now it has become a joke with too many genres and sub genres and even sub sub genres. Genres only cause snobbishness confusion, division and cliques. Most eclectic musicians would not know or even care which genre their music fitted....whether it was pop rock folk or country or any other genre.
I firmly believe that all across the board the modern music industry trend relies on putting production, image, hype, peer pressure and marketing first rather than promoting a good song performed by a talented performer. Too much importance is spent on how they look rather than how talented they actually are. The end result is the quality of music suffers....now you get to see good looking kids who cannot p;ay or sing rather than geeky guys with faces like a pizza who could play, write and sing great songs.

Gotta say "Amen" to that Jim!

Peace,

Ian

I'd have to agree with most all of that Jim

I live in Scandinavia, and can't say that I'm particular fond of the Scandinavian "taste" for "traditional country". To me it sounds embarassing and ignorant. We have a concept here called "Dansk Toppen" which is mostly a bunch of hacks, exploiting the 40+ bar crowd's lack of appreciation for creativity. Similar for Norway, Sweden and Finland. Scandinavians most often doesn't distinguish between trad. country and cont. country. Here trad. country IS "country" is all it's might, and cont.country very rarely sneak into the regular pop/rock charts (if it doesn't have too obvious American dialect).

Now, I don't mind they do what they do. To each his own, but you asked what i think, and that's the free flow from my mind.

The modern vs. traditional debate has historically been in country from the beginning, as it from the start was a highly manipulated genre, seemingly invented by a New York'er recording a blues musician in Georgia.

Audiences got sold the "authentic" idea, though, so when they used drums in the 40'ies, they complained. When they used electric guitars in the 50'ies, they complained. When they introduced string arrangements in the 60'ies, they complained. It almost seems like cromudgeons are the core audience for trad. country. That way it's very similar to Scandinavia.

Listen to the lyrics in trad. country. It tells the lives of the regular bar crowd, who never took an interest in life outside of Whiskey, and at least only speaks to the 50+ segment now, with few exceptions. I think it's important to separate bluegrass, folk and country. Bluegrass and folk being genres rooted in rural American culture, while country from the start was about the commercial exploitation of the bar crowd.

Cont. country springs from the countrypolitan of the 60'ies it seems to me, but has more and more blended with pop/rock from the 70'ies and forth. The lyrics are relevant for the younger crowds, telling about lives as they are percieved now. So ironically, cont.country seems as "real" to me as trad.country has ever been. However, the targeted audience is different.

To my ears, Kurt Nielsen is a generic singer from the Norwegian Idol show, now trying to take off as an artist, writing songs ect. Now, he's going for the 50+ bar crowd too, not too cool with the younger audiences, perhaps.

Rounding off, I'm really not ranting. I'm really not trying to put anyone down. Read the story books, they tell these things. They may have made some of it up, and I'm sure country is as real as it gets for those living it, and that folks are proud to do it. But the authentic/real crap is long gone.

So you asked me how I see the trad.country vs. cont.country debate from my chair, so that's what I wrote :-)

Hi JPF friends,

I was quite ignorant to Kurt until my wife’s sister who is British told me about him not so long ago. Since then I’ve been told by friends and family in Norway that Kurt is most known as a performer due to his connection with his audience. He has dragged that guitar up and down the highway sometimes.

With regards to the highway, during an Award Ceremony in Norway, Kurt was prompted to join Willie Nelson on stage and did a duet un-rehearsed with Willie of “Lost Highway”. It’s said that Willie and his musicians were very impressed by Kurt’s performance. The video of their duet is on youtube.

I had a Kiwi friend (who sadly is dead) from Auckland who was the unusual combination of South East Asian Champion in body building and well known sculptor who tried to explain to me that creative and performing arts could be technically below par yet excellent artistically and visa versa technically excellent but artistically poor. He went on saying that if you don’t touch the emotional spots in the only emotional creatures on this rock, you have failed in your creative and/or performing art form no matter how good you are, technically.

As technically a numbers man with limited abilities in creative arts like songwriting and even less abilities in performing arts like singing and/or playing musical instruments, I think I know what my Kiwi friend meant. Hence I’m neither embarrassed nor think the Scandinavians sound ignorant regarding traditional country in spite of not having read the books mentioned.

Emotionally yours
Jan

I have listened to Kurt Nielsen. The guy can sing and his band can play BUT does he bring anything new or original to the table or is he just a clone copying what has been done and been done to death before.

Just another thought. It seems to me that the modern pop and country producers are a pretty closed shop......they know what they like and do not want to risk changes....so we get the same old sounds produced by the same old people in the same old formula driven way with little or no room for any originality. This is turned into a vicious circle by wannabes who know no better so clone themselves to look and sound like their role models who themselves were spawned by this same old regime. This is further stymied by shows like Got talent and Idol where karaoke type singers just cover these same old songs and sound just like the originasl artist. This is the main reason I dislike Simon Cowell and similar type people so much. We have been bomarded with so much mediocre crap and cloned copycats we have come to accept it and cannot now distinguish anything original or talented from this mass produced garbage.

Jim, that’s like saying when actors are performing Shakespeare, do they bring something new and/or original to the play which hasn’t been done too death before. If they perform it better than most (that in itself is new and original) and therefore they most be regarded as good performing artists though they never created the work.

BTW I agree fully with you that there’s two kind of music/songs, good and bad ones and genres sometimes only confuse people.

All the best
Jan

I agree with Big Jim that the Genre' thing is exploited way too much, and in my opinion has been used and changed and rearranged for decades.
Bill said "If you want any example of Traditional Country music beyond Jimmy Rogers I think you will be listening to Appalachian Mountain Music". True words spoken Bill in my opinion. A long forgotten genre', "Hillbilly Music". The first commercial "Country" music genre' was called "Hillbilly", and was made popular by radio shows like "The Grand Ol Opry" from Nashville, "American Barn Dance" from Chicago, and "Louisiana Hayride" from Shreveport. There was also a live radio show transmitting from L.A. but I can't remember the name. Out of these four powerful radio stations, "Hillbilly Music" could be heard all over the contiguous US long before TV shows and radio DJ's existed. It was mostly Appalchian Moutain Music. Stars emerged from these shows and they sold records. To me, traditional music is just that. Traditional.

Guy's like Jimmy Rogers came around and wrote new songs about being homeless or working for the railroad. Hank Williams emerged and wrote songs of heartache and relationships. Ernest Tubb and Ray Price did honky tonk music, so now we have a new sub genre'. Country merged with Western from bands like Bob Wills And The Texas Playboy's, so now we have Country And Western Music.

The examples go on and on from Country Rock to Punkgrass, to Joe's Deathgrass. Where does it end?

My answer is that it ends with the quality of the music being produced right now. Good or bad.

Wow, I read Nites post and thought he was paying homage to Billy Joal's (sp?) Its Still Rock and Roll to Me" I didn't see anything other than that....guess I need more sleep....I totally missed the whole rest of what is thought to have been implied.

Personally, I like all if it, old, new.....don't care. I've got Tom T. Hall, Buddy Holly along with Pink and Usher.....good music is good music and it's all a matter of taste....

I enjoyed listening to them. IMO, The Gambler about as perfect a song as has ever been written. I don't think I've never heard a professional musician do a bad version of it.

It's odd though you would choose a song made famous by one of the poppest of the country stars. Kenny Rogers is on record as saying he got into country to use it as a springboard back into pop. His hits between Lucille and Lady (I reckon) were pretty country but from then on he was pop. His songs started out country but I'm not sure he was a country singer any more than Julio Iglesias was.

When Acuff became the big star of the Opry, the old timers thought his music wasn't country. When Hank came along, folks thought he wasn't country. Then there was Elvis and he sho wasn't country. Then Ray Price and Don Gibson and Marty Robbins and the whole Nashville Sound pop thing. Then Buck Owens, who once said he couldn't go pop with a mouth full of firecrackers, was doing Bridge Over Troubled Water. Then in the 70s, Billy Crash Craddock started out with old rock hits playing his pseudo Elvis persona. Charlie Rich was as lush as Johnny Mathis. Then John Denver and Olivia Newton John won CMA awards and I about had a heart attack at 19. From there we went to Kenny and Tom Jones on the country charts, then Alabama and Exile on the country charts, then Garth (who really is pretty close to country) and Shania, then Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban, and so on and so on and so on.

Old country is dead and I'm not sure it's gonna come back. But I still love it. And some of the newer stuff I like but I hardly listen to modern country radio anymore. I listen to pop more now. And no matter what I listen to, I am rarely impressed these days by new music. You're Beautiful by James Blount kind of got me excited when it was out.

I'm an old hippie and I don't know what to do
Should I hang to the old should I grab on to the new

Jan I do not see the point you are making in your analogy. Actors perform the script in front of them. If it is Shakespeare or any other playwright it does not matter they interpret the scripts and put their own stamp on their part. They do put in an original performance. They would never dream to copy other actors voices, performances or interpretation. That is how they bring originality to a well established part or play.
Some singers however DO copy others.....they try to be a complete soundalike and even copy other singers mannerisms. That is what I meant by not bringing anything new to the table. Kurt sings in a style that has been done to death. There is nothing new or original in his voice his sound or his material. He is a good singer as I said BUT offers nothing original. My whole point is that music should evolve. Whilst we should treasure the old songs we cannot keep rehashing the same old tired songs and singing styles time after time without introducing NEW material and styles.

Neil Young recorded a "Country" album about 25 years ago. I remember listening to it with a friend. My friend loved it. I told him that I thought that Neil was actually mawking the music and it wasn't really in his heart. Of course Neil has tried every other genre before.

Just by saying the word "Mawking", and hearing the phony southern accents in the songs, my friend was convinced that this music was far from authentic.

Some major recording artists can get away with it. Dylan, Springsteen, and others. I would put my money on the real thing.

If you want to hear a modern, traditional country artist, listen below to Norman Blake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_YB9SC7AV4

I reckon i like both when i think about it.There are my favorites and those i dislike from both generations!Yee-haw!

You know the more I think about it the more ridiculous this whole country thing becomes. In Scotland we also have country music. We get guys in kilts singing about heather and the highlands....most have never even been to the highlands have no idea what heather is and only wear a kilt cause it is the accepted dress for such music. The songs are all predictable and usually pretty cheesy.
Whilst I hate to ridicule people sometimes they ask for it. I very much suspect that the same things apply to American country music. How can you take a guy in a cowboy hat serious when the nearest he has come to a cowboy is watching a John Wayne movie.
Now I have heard a lot of people say that this music is real authentic life stories and reflects true life events that we can all relate to.......in a pigs eye. When a Scandinavian guy sings some cheesy song in a fake American accent how can you take it seriously. Lets be honest the stuff passing for country music whether old or new is just cheesy manufactured pop....and the guys singing it are just actors posing as country folk.

Sounds like a fitting Shakespearian analogy, "life is but a play, and each must play a part" :-)

That's basically a premise for living, so nothing wrong with Nielsen singing country, going on stage with Wille ect., Imo. That's all good fun. Music is also an entertainment industry, and as the world has become cheaper to travel and genres spread more world wide, the boundaries are torn down. Anything goes..

My issues begin when we start talking about "autenticity" and musical genres. That's buying into commercial and calculated mythology.

People can be authentic and grounded in their lives and in their culture, and music can spring from it. But a mainstream genre of music can't be generalized as "authentic", which is the premise the debate on traditional vs contemporary country is founded on, imo.

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their contribution here. I respect everyone’s personal opinions for what it is; their personal opinions, though I don’t always agree with them. It’s been educational and given me some food for thoughts, enough for a while so for now I will take a passive role and only read any potential additions to this thread.

Jim, below is my personal opinion regarding some points you made before I retire into my passive role.

“My whole point is that music should evolve. Whilst we should treasure the old songs we cannot keep rehashing the same old tired songs and singing styles time after time without introducing NEW material and styles”

Jim, music, styles and other creative and performing arts evolve continuously and during this continual process artists perform their own and/or other people’s material till they write their own and/or find other people’s new material. Some material, in both plays and music, become classics and will be performed over and over again by various artists. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a tribute to the creators, be it Shakespeare or Kenny Roger. In fact some performers, like Frank Sinatra, Elvis and a vast number of today’s country artist realize(d) that (“none performing”) songwriters write better material than themselves and therefore record/perform other peoples material. In that respect these artists are willing to lower their personal ego for the benefit of creational artistic quality. However some superb and not so superb performers are not willing to downsize their ego for reasons just given and keep recording/performing only their own creations which sometimes don’t cut it creation wise, though their performance might be superb.


“Jan I do not see the point you are making in your analogy. Actors perform the script in front of them. If it is Shakespeare or any other playwright it does not matter they interpret the scripts and put their own stamp on their part. They do put in an original performance. They would never dream to copy other actors voices, performances or interpretation. That is how they bring originality to a well established part or play.”

This goes for singers/musicians as well, they have the script (the song) of other people’s material in front of them and in addition to be true to the words of the creator they must in addition also be true to the notes of the creator, if it is the creator’s work the want to record/perform. With regards to Kurt, if you listen to the various songs in all types of genres he performs, you will notice that this is his original voice. His performance of “The Gambler” is quite different to Kenny’s. What new he brings to this established part/the song, is his “personal” ability to touch the emotions of his audience.


“In Scotland we also have country music. We get guys in kilts singing about heather and the highlands....most have never even been to the highlands have no idea what heather is and only wear a kilt cause it is the accepted dress for such music”

Yes, you and we also have people singing “sea chanties” who never have been at sea and get sea sick watching “Titanic”. In Europe we also have people who sing southern American spirituals and blues who never have picked cotton at all, not to mention jazz and rock which is far from the original roots. We and the Americans too, also sing about Heaven, shot a man in Reno, the American revolution and the American civil war etc. etc without ever personally experienced or done it. As a vocalist/musician you are an actor.

Why single out “country music” alone?


“I very much suspect that the same things apply to American country music. How can you take a guy in a cowboy hat serious when the nearest he has come to a cowboy is watching a John Wayne movie.”

Jim, honestly, the nearest Toby Keith and Alan Jackson came to be cowboys were watching a John Wayne movie.

Singers and musicians are (as mentioned above) actors as much as those who act in Shakespeare’s and other plays. I’m sure Jim when you go and order your fish & chips and other culinary treats, you don’t sing them.

Music is a universal language which IMHO means that genres and their original roots know no borders.

I’m tired, all the best to all my friends here.
Jan

PS! Jim, with all the above in mind, I do agree with you that some people sounds like clones to the original artist. This is not too bad either if they reach the spiritual level of Mahalia Jackson, the phrasing level of Eva Cassidy or the sincerity level of Edith Piaf, otherwise it can be boring as you so rightly mentioned.

I don't agree, Ben...nor would a whole lot of country artists, I'm convinced. It's true that his main strength is rooted in rock, but his love for country music has been demonstrated unfailingly over the years. Inauthentic is not a word usually ascribed to Neil...he has always done only what he wanted to do, even when it meant losing a lot of money. Buffalo Springfield were playing country rock before it became cool, and they did it because they loved country music. And Neil has always brought out songs by the likes of Don Gibson and Don Williams, introducing them to rock listeners. There's no way he did this to mock them; he did it because he thinks they are truly great songs.

If you still think he didn't have his heart in it, check out this recent interview regarding the International Harvesters and his views on country music: http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/...ying-with-country-music-legends-20110616

I actually think Neil Young is more authentically country, in his music and in his lifestyle, then most of the current top country stars who talk the talk on Entertainment Tonight.

Music will evolve whether one likes it or not. Much like television, it has many stations to choose from. Like it, don't like it. it really doesn't matter and shouldn't matter to the next person in line.


Although, I do have to say....I kinda wanna see the kilt wearing, cowboys hat brandishing man with a Fender or Gibson singing about Heather and Highlands...(no, Im not trying to poke fun....)

Hi Mark, sorry that I compelled you to defend Neil Young. It's only a matter of opinion. I've listened to his music most of my life, been to his concerts with "Crazy Horse", and began playing guitar with his songs. What I mean by "mocking" (spelled it right this time) is his use of a southern accent, and especially the "hard R's" that sound to me more like an obvious imitation of a southern accent. To me he would sound more authentic if just used his own dialect.

Yeah, I hear ya. He talks pretty weird too! Kind of a Neil Young accent...don't know anyone else from Ontario who talks like him, haha.

I think lines are blurred today in so many areas, and because of new music/sounds/styles they just try to fit it as close as they can to the genre it most closely represents. I love some of the old country and I am very fond of some of the new country and country/pop.

Listening to Dwight Yoakam right now.
IMO, this is what Country Music should be.

Niteshift,

Are you gonna be at the APRA music conference at the end of May in Sydney?

G

Productions are so much louder and more powerful than they used to be. The technology is better.
Jim Colyer

If you look at old videos of country bands, the Grand Ole Opry, etc.,. traditional country attire for performers, and melodies that were not limited to the pentatonic scale, and lots of twang and southern accents and such, and all the famous country greats most of whom are no longer with us, and familiar chord progressions, and I really miss that. The new sounds, the slick new look, of course, have come much closer to, or smack dab in the middle of, american pop, and sure, they keep a banjo or two just to make it not too far from country, and though it's good, one cannot help feel that country music has lost it's soul.

Hey everyone, just thought I'd add my two cents. I feel many country artists are abandoning the story-telling aspect of their music in favor of well, I'm not quite sure what. Another interesting trend I've noticed is that many new country songs are about how country the artist is...
Maybe since their music's no longer so obviously country they feel the need to point it out...over...and over...over?