Country Music Awards

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 8 Nov 2007 11:35 am

Last I heard, Justin Schipper's on steel with Josh. Before Justin, it was Jeff Surratt. Vic Lawson plays steel for Joe Diffie.

Brett

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 8 Nov 2007 11:35 am

Last I heard, Justin Schipper's on steel with Josh. Before Justin, it was Jeff Surratt. Vic Lawson plays steel for Joe Diffie.

Brett

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 8 Nov 2007 11:49 am

I have not watched any "country" awards shows (or listened to top 40 country) in over 15 years... except to learn certain songs for gigs. Most radio country today is basically lame pop music... a watered down, dumbed down mix of pop, rock, and country. It isn't good rock, it isn't good pop. and it isn't good country, in my opinion.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 8 Nov 2007 12:05 pm

Doug, don't be political correct,say what you really mean,It's good for NOTHING,don't you know.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 8 Nov 2007 12:19 pm

What Doug and Charles said. Jody.

Marlin Smoot · Post by **Marlin Smoot** » 8 Nov 2007 1:59 pm

CMA Awards Win The Night For ABC
The 41st ANNUAL CMA AWARDS won the night for ABC-TV.

The overnight ratings show ABC scoring a 10.1 rating/16 share, with a four-million viewer edge over second-place CBS with a 7.4/12.

FOX took third with a 4.1/6 and NBC came in 4th with a 3.9/6.

ABC also won the all-important 18-49 demo with a 5.4 rating, with CBS in second with a 3.1.

The best hour for the CMA's was the opening 8p (ET) hour as ABC posted a 10.3/17 with the closest competitor, "KID NATION," on CBS with a 4.5/7.

Gaylon Mathews · Post by **Gaylon Mathews** » 8 Nov 2007 2:20 pm

Josh Turner's music was tracked...not live.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 8 Nov 2007 3:03 pm

Wow, Marlin. The show beat "KID NATION." Extraordinary!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 8 Nov 2007 3:18 pm

Barry Blackwood wrote:Did they have a steel player? Honestly, I didn't notice. I thought the Eagles were especially unremarkable in an unremarkable show. That song they did was a far cry from their best ... $:\$

Boy, do I second that remark! I think Mr. Rogers (the "beautiful day in the neighborhood" guy) could have written that one.

I tuned in late (during the LOUD, LOUD B&R thing), and put up with about 45 minutes' worth of quasi-hard rock music.

Is it just me, or are all the singers screaming now instead of singing?

B&R had a lot bigger light/video spectacular than the Eagles? Honest to GOD, I thought I was watching a cross between a video game and a pinball machine!!!

Oh it was a spectacle alright.

Whoever said "Music isn't a competition" evidently has never caught an awards show!

There was some good steeling. But with all the attendant bullcrap, it was kinda hard to notice it. (I think they had paid screamers in the audience, too. Either that, or many of them were drunk, or high on drugs.)

Depressing, really.

Darryl Logue · Post by **Darryl Logue** » 8 Nov 2007 3:48 pm

Gentelmen, Garth sold out nine shows here in K.C. People still show up to my Tues. night in Westport, weekends on the Plaza etc. We play George, Merle, Buck, Johnny Paycheck. I'm turning down work. What's the problem with that?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 8 Nov 2007 6:24 pm

No problems at all, Darryl. Realize, of course, that everyone else is not in your situation. Music is like the weather...sooner or later, most everyplace goes through a drought (it even happened in Nashville). If you're fat and happy, and turning down jobs - GOOD FOR YOU!

Enjoy it while you have it, though. I've heard many players here on the forum (including some who are far better than you or I) who bragged about work one year, and then moaned and whined in a year or two 'cause things had dried up.

Bill Cunningham · Post by **Bill Cunningham** » 8 Nov 2007 7:34 pm

I'm looking at age 50 in a few months. There are only two things constant in country music in my lifetime.

1) It keeps changing.
2) Older people, especially musicians, keep complaining that it "ain't really country any more".

Darryl Logue · Post by **Darryl Logue** » 8 Nov 2007 8:28 pm

Donnie, I have weathered the good times and bad in this town . Garth can sell out 9 shows but Ray Price or Johnny Bush can't fill a small club?

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 8 Nov 2007 8:46 pm

Bill Cunningham wrote:I'm looking at age 50 in a few months. There are only two things constant in country music in my lifetime.

1) It keeps changing.
2) Older people, especially musicians, keep complaining that it "ain't really country any more".

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Bill, I know that is true.

But it raises the (probably unanswerable) question:

What makes music "country"?

I never played or listened to country music before the early Eighties. I find I can accept quite a range of music as being country, from the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers through Bob Wills, Hank and Lefty, Merle and Buck, Ray Price and Jim Reeves, Willie, Ricky Skaggs and Dwight, Burritos, Patsy, Dolly, Loretta, Patty Loveless, right up to Brad Paisley (mostly)... (of course I can't list everybody).

But I'm hard pressed to DEFINE what it is that makes me see so many different styles as fitting the category "country", and the stuff I saw during the 45 minutes or so of the CMA's I could stomach as not being "country" at all.

Sure, last night's music that I heard has nothing significant in common with any of the styles I mentioned, IMO, but then many of them could be said to have not much in common with eachother, either.

So I wonder again, What makes music "country"? I can only answer, "I know it when I hear it". But that, of course, only applies to MY ears.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm not equating "country" with "quality"! I have my opinions about quality, too, but that's a separate concept.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 8 Nov 2007 8:49 pm

May be telling my age,but I remember when what we called country music was actually COUNTRY music,I really don't care how much someone spins it, likes it[which is their absolute right to do so ]The millions that are spent on it by the music business hyping it,NOBODY,I MEAN NOBODY,can convince me this &*^% they call country music today,is COUNTRY,In the last few days we have lost two more country GIANTS that were the REAL deal,just a few of them left.The old song WHO WILL FILL THEIR SHOES,hit the nail on the head,NONE of this contemporary crowd is even close,Warmed over 70's rock and roll is NOT by any stretch of the imagination country music,don't you know.

Randy Mason · Post by **Randy Mason** » 8 Nov 2007 8:50 pm

Darryl, I'd like to be in that small club.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 8 Nov 2007 10:33 pm

I'm hard pressed to DEFINE what it is that makes me see so many different styles as fitting the category "country", and the stuff I saw during the 45 minutes or so of the CMA's I could stomach as not being "country" at all.

That's a good point, Brint. A similar thought comes to mind: I don't know exactly what "Country" IS anymore... but I know what it ISN'T.

What makes music "country"?

Real, heartfelt, sincere, roots music, sung by people who have truely Lived the music. Not contrived. Not simply a product put together by the Industry, designed to sell to the masses. Not phony, Not trying to be something it isn't.

Howard Tate · Post by **Howard Tate** » 8 Nov 2007 11:06 pm

I'm with every one, I miss the old days of good country (and some not so good ) music. But I will say this, for several years when you turned on the radio you could not tell if it was a country or rock station. Now even if it's not the country we like, you can usually tell the difference pretty fast. There is a lot of steel now, not featured like it used to be, but at least it sounds like steel. The guitars are a different story with all the distortion and effects. I liked Fred Shannon's rule for guitar players,"No wall warts".

c c johnson · Post by **c c johnson** » 9 Nov 2007 3:47 am

Come on Doug, quit pussey footin around; unbutton your shirt and really tell us your opinion. I have saved your opinions thru the years and they are priceless. Sort of gives us Mr Milqueltoast guys courage to go on. Be Happy. CC

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 9 Nov 2007 7:15 am

I think Donny, and Doug, in a different way, hit on one element that differentiates much of today's "country" from the music I feel is real country.

Thinking over the list of country performers I attempted, and the many more I didn't mention, I note that NONE of them employ the "rear back and belt it out with maximum lung power" approach to singing.

It's much too easy to use vocal muscle to make people think you're "feeling" the music. Sometimes it may be so, but it used to be (doesn't seem as much now) that you'd hear singers of commercial jingles belting with equal fervor about shampoo or something.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 9 Nov 2007 8:20 am

I agree, Brint. When I hear voices like Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, Johnny Cash, and others, I hear "true grit"! The real thing. I don't hear that in most of today's hat acts, with a couple of exceptions. That may be partly due to the production and the mixes nowadays, but I think it also has to do with the suits who run the industry. They want a product that sells. They don't care about the integrity of the music or the roots of the music. They want crossover hits sung by sexy young people. It's all about image and sales. So they feed us a blend of pop-rock-country, which takes the music away from it's roots. It ends up being... lame rock music, contrived country music, and fair pop music... other than that, it's fine.

c.c., thanks, I appreciate that!

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 9 Nov 2007 9:00 am

"What makes music "country"?

Real, heartfelt, sincere, roots music, sung by people who have truly Lived the music. Not contrived. Not simply a product put together by the Industry, designed to sell to the masses. Not phony, Not trying to be something it isn't."

Folks, IMO, that's the best, most concise answer to that question you're ever gonna get. Thanks, Doug B.

Bowie Martin · Post by **Bowie Martin** » 9 Nov 2007 9:38 am

I was thinking (before I turned off the last half) - the group most close to "country" tonight is the Eagles; that is sad (not the Eagles) that this show is suppose to represent country. Why not call it the "pop music" awards show, then start a "Country Music Awards" show. Of course, George Strait is country, and if I had left the TV on, Josh Turner would have been - If TV would give some exposure to country, it might get a little more resurgence, and sell some records to. At least some artist are putting our some country cd's - lets keep on buying them, playing them, and supporting "Willie's Place" on XM radio, that does country, and even some newer Dale Watson numbers.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 9 Nov 2007 11:57 am

Thanks Barry, I’ve tried to listen to new country and be open minded about the music, but I just can’t buy it. I don’t think of myself as an old-timer or a purist. I like all kind of music, rock, jazz, classical, country, etc. But I like music that’s true to it’s roots. Thankfully there is still some real country out there, but you have to hunt to find it.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 9 Nov 2007 1:01 pm

" Country musics changed but the pickers are the same,, mostly out of work but trying to change' Nothing stays the same it can't be like before. Even Nashville ain't Nashville anymore .. They call it Country but we all know its a crock.....They still try to make us think that its something its not.... They tell us old Country's dead it just couldn't survive... We all know it didn't die, but they buried it alive"... Part of a song I wrote and recorded about 5 years ago..

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