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Author Topic:  The death of Country Music
Andy DePaule


From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 5:49 pm    
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The death of Country Music has been a subject on the forum and other places for years now.
I don't think I've bothered to tune in an AM country station since 1982.

This guy seems to nail some of the latest developments of the same problem.
https://youtu.be/aT9iox7jH1g

These days, So called "Country Music" is almost all just elevator trash with a southern accent.
Not sure what can be done to get back to the real thing. Sad
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Jamie Kitlarchuk


From:
Alberta, Canada
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 6:07 pm    
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There's a lot of great stuff out there, just have to get away from commercial radio.

Check out older Sturgill Simpson, Luke Bell, Country Side of Harmonica Sam. All different styles, but all what I would consider to be great country music.
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Brian Henry

 

Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 6:13 pm    
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Here’s my favorite backing track....just about sums up the situation!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iBuXFgDOA8c
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Andy DePaule


From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 6:55 pm    
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Brian Henry wrote:
Here’s my favorite backing track....just about sums up the situation!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iBuXFgDOA8c


Thanks Brian, That's Great!
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2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
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Andy DePaule


From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 7:01 pm     The sad part
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The sad part is that two generations of younger people think the crap coming out of Nashville is country music. Rolling Eyes

Most of us know the difference. There are still a few bars and clubs where we hear C&W but they are few and far between.
I know when I'm back in Oregon there is often nothing anywhere in Eugene/Springfield area you could call country music.
Most steelers are stuck playing the living room, bedroom or garage with band in a box. Crying or Very sad
The crowd is two cats and the family dog!
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2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.
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Allan Revich


From:
Victoria, BC
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 7:46 pm    
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This story has a more positive flip side.

I think that the audience for nearly every genre of music is shrinking, but because of the digital revolution, a dedicated audience can be found for virtually every genre.

So country music may have a smaller audience then in its heyday... but it is definitely not dead or dying.

And funny things can happen even in the overhyped over-produced world of kiddie pop music... or hip hop. Taylor Swift or some other flavour of the month might cover something like Willie Neilson/Patsy Cline “Crazy” and a whole new audience might discover the original country classics
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2018 10:13 pm    
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The snap track is just one element. Another is the repetitive chord progression 1 5 6m 4 (G D Em C). I learned to play many years ago backing my father-in-law, who absolutely refused to play minor chords. They just weren't country, in his opinion.

Every kind of music changes with time. Today's R&B only hints at its roots, and rock barely connects with Hendrix. Contemporary jazz rarely swings. When you mention a genre, you have to put "classic" in front of it to tie it to the 20th century. Else the youngsters don't know what you're talking about.
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David Mitchell

 

From:
Tyler, Texas
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 12:45 am    
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Bobby is correct. Country Music has sub genre's now labeled New Country which is the current country and Classic country which is old country. Regarding the original post if country music is dead I say yes and no. No if you just want to listen to old country music on an independent label or in a nightclub. There's still a lot of young people still recording and performing new songs with the older sounds but yes old country is dead if you dream of playing country music and ordering bizjets and mansion's. That all seems to have ended with Conway Twitty, George Strait and Alan Jackson. For a new country artist on the radio now that dream is not out of reach. People playing classic country will do well to order a used Honda motorcycle and live in a low rent apartment. It's all because no one is willing to invest 2 to 5 million dollars promoting a traditional country album when most millennials are not familiar with old country. You might as well play a record sung in Chinese to those young people. It's gambling and you won't get your money back. Music has to keep moving forward or it will die. Some brave souls someday may be willing to gamble a few million but until then that's the way it is.
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David Mitchell

 

From:
Tyler, Texas
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 12:53 am    
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One other reason old country won't be back very soon is the people that enjoy hearing it are usually well over 50 years old. Statistics indicate the average record buyer and concert attendee is under 30 years old. Traditional country music will live on with a cult following like bluegrass, traditional jazz, western swing, big band music, dixie-land jazz, delta-blues, classic rock, etc.
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Craig Stock


From:
Westfield, NJ USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 4:36 am    
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Please check out the website Savingcountrymusic.com and check out their top 25 list. It may change you mind.

The site has great reviews of good country music, most of it not in the mainstream, but time's are changing Smile

www.savingcountrymusic.com
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Ken Boi


From:
Arizona, USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 5:44 am    
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You just have to weed through and find the good ones out there. One of my favorites is Dale Watson. He's outspoken on the current state. For examples:

https://youtu.be/mr4pfRb1viI (Nashville Rash)

https://youtu.be/ZcCfGdKKMIU (Country My Ass)

https://youtu.be/_2B85PyZr0Y (A Real Country Song)

https://youtu.be/xhbq0ERSjM8 (Hello, I'm An Old Country Song)
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Dick Wood


From:
Springtown Texas, USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 7:09 am    
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B0B,Minors not being country is funny as heck. I'll have to remember that one.
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Jim Cohen


From:
Philadelphia, PA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 7:27 am    
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Dick Wood wrote:
B0B,Minors not being country is funny as heck. I'll have to remember that one.

About a dozen years ago, I met someone who had traveled to Nashville to record an album and told me that the session players absolutely refused to play any Maj7 chords on his charts. Maybe they were trying to defend classic country music from the incursions of pop? I dunno...
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 7:57 am    
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I got a reprimand from the MD on a recent production of 'Always, Patsy Cline' for playing Cmaj7 as the 4-chord on the bridge of 'Leaving On Your Mind'.

It really doesn't detract from the song and it fattens things up, harmonically speaking. On top of that, the singer loved it! But, thinking of my family, I played what he wanted.

Crying or Very sad
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Roy Carroll


From:
North of a Round Rock
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 8:07 am    
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I think they must have used a clap track on this.
Jus'funnin' !!! Laughing Laughing Laughing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq3y7chFSPI&feature=youtu.be
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Brian Henry

 

Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 8:07 am    
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Minor keys are too sad for me, I much prefer majors keys with lots of minor chords in them for contrast!
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Bob Bestor


From:
Ashland, OR
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 2:25 pm     Wow this some shitty music.
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I agree entirely. But those tunes are so bad I couldn't make it more than a few minutes. I also agree with Ken Boi, Dale Watson is tops. There is a lot of great stuff out there. Here are a few links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDsoCdymaqY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jHCI-r-1-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaPKh0X-zD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnnhgmH35j4&index=7&list=RDQUEyXt1uxy0
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Godfrey Arthur

 

From:
3rd Rock
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 2:40 pm    
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This is about austerity, moving populations into mega cities away from rural areas.

It's going to be confusing talking about farm/country life when the planned back drop is going to be this:



The music is being changed to get ready for being metropolised.






Snap!


Grady Smith needs to see the real dominant beat going on.
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Mark Eaton


From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 3:04 pm    
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Allan Revich wrote:

And funny things can happen even in the overhyped over-produced world of kiddie pop music... or hip hop. Taylor Swift or some other flavour of the month might cover something like Willie Neilson/Patsy Cline “Crazy” and a whole new audience might discover the original country classics


You don't have to like what she does, and I sure don't own any of her music - but the way you phrased it above: "Taylor Swift or some other flavour of the month..."

Taylor is anything but a "flavour of the month." I'd call her more of an "empire."
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Godfrey Arthur

 

From:
3rd Rock
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2018 10:04 pm    
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Mark Eaton wrote:
Taylor is anything but a "flavour of the month." I'd call her more of an "empire."



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Damir Besic


From:
Nashville,TN.
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2018 4:04 am    
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first of all, Taylor Swift is not country, and she herself said that... so thats for that... second of all, when she WAS country, she made it only because for one reason, her Dad, who is a banker , a hedge fund manager, and a millionaire , and he financed, or bought, either way you like, studios, musicians, radio play time, etc etc... I have seen many, many girls on Broadway in Nashville more talented then Taylor, who can sing better, play better, and write better... and many of them even look better... but without support of Daddy's money, in the music business world where money is everything now days, they never got the chance ...
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Godfrey Arthur

 

From:
3rd Rock
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2018 6:04 am    
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Damir Besic wrote:
first of all, Taylor Swift is not country, and she herself said that... so thats for that... second of all, when she WAS country, she made it only because for one reason, her Dad, who is a banker , a hedge fund manager, and a millionaire , and he financed, or bought, either way you like, studios, musicians, radio play time, etc etc... I have seen many, many girls on Broadway in Nashville more talented then Taylor, who can sing better, play better, and write better... and many of them even look better... but without support of Daddy's money, in the music business world where money is everything now days, they never got the chance ...


Laughing Taylor is a song writer writing/co-writing for other artists including for herself.

She was influenced by Shania Twain. Hence she has country "roots" albeit vicariously.

Okay so you're Brad Pitt...

Though it may be true she had financial backing from her family, she had the writing chops to pull things off. And the industry's sanction to lead things through.

Just as producer Max Martin has/had his knob prints over many of the major hits spanning the artist list, (and there is a Grady Smith-type Youtube "Portnoy's Complaint" video on Martin and his maleficent effect on the music industry) Swift was chosen to be one of those go-to mover and shakers.

Where talent and social engineering meet at the crossroads is key.

The music industry is not just about "talent" but about "selected" talent.

We would be surprised at how much of what we have been fed as the next new thing was chosen for more than musical reasons.

Enter Dealey Plaza and then this arrival months later at JFK Intl:



Talk about the quicker picker-upper.


Money does not always cinch the deal. It can also ruin it. Classic example is Moby Grape. Bad decisions and over-hyped, lost more than they deserved to lose.



Money does play a huge role no doubt but there are controls on who gets to make it and money is not the deciding factor at the highest levels.

Gone are the days when Mooney Lynn took his wife's songs to radio stations and made them play it!
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gary pierce


From:
Rossville TN
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2018 6:04 am    
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This is country snapping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU
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Joachim Kettner


From:
Germany
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2018 7:24 am    
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Godfrey, the Moby Grape came from an area (1967) when "Commercial" was considered as something bad.
and as you said rather killed their career than supported it.
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Skip Edwards

 

From:
LA,CA
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2018 7:40 am    
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"minors not being country"

Reminds me a Dwight Yoakam session a few years ago...
We were having Ralph Stanley play on a cut, and Pete Anderson asked him to play a 7th chord. Ralph replied...

"Never played a 7th... never have, never will. It ain't the mountain way"

We thought, well, he oughta know...
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