Rascal Flatts at The Garden

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 31 Jan 2008 12:30 am

I had to learn Broken Road on the piano for a wedding last year. I think the voice grated on me more than anything. But, I must admit that the song was more fun to play than it is to listen to. I could probably handle the tour for a season. But then again, I even get tired playing music I truly love if I'm playing it every day. I need a challenge if I'm not going to stagnate. Maybe that's part of the problem--most of the stuff out there doesn't create much of a challenge to play. If it's not simply a great song, it's hard for it to not get old eventually. But then again, I could play Hag and Bob Wills songs every night for eternity.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 31 Jan 2008 10:36 am

The NEW YORK TIMES music Review in the original post is right on!

RF is a POP / soft rock band, masquerading as a country band, like many of today’s country acts.

The Review sums it up nicely:

Although the eight-man band is based in Nashville and includes some country instruments, its pedal steel guitar or mandolin are usually more visible than audible. Rascal Flatts is, by and large, a power-ballad band. Like many current country acts, it sings for suburbanites, and its prime sources are 1970s and ’80s soft rock and arena pop: Steve Miller, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, the Eagles and, especially in its vocal harmonies, Crosby, Stills & Nash.

I would not be so genteel in my description. I would call it what it is: lame, bland, and phony. There isn’t an ounce of honest 'country' in it. It’s just a product devised to sell to a mass audience. Now let me tell you how I really feel!

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 31 Jan 2008 10:53 am

Doug,
So you and the reviewer agree. COOL!
Regardless, RF are selling records and selling tickets and are considered todays country music.

I really dig the pedal steel work Travis!

Kent Thompson · Post by **Kent Thompson** » 31 Jan 2008 11:26 am

Quote:

Every time I hear a pedal steel played in a whiney crying E9th style I wince in pain ... it's almost as bad as listening to bagpipes.

Better not go to a Glen Campbell show then...Although he has no steel he does play bagpipes.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 31 Jan 2008 11:31 am

RF are selling records and selling tickets

Yes, people are buying into this, and nowadays this stuff is called "country"... but...

I don't think that CD sales should be a measure of what is "country" or a measure of what is "quality music" I don't hear much authentic 'country' in RF or other current POP/Soft Rock bands that are played on country radio today.

Big record sales does Not mean it's good music or true country music. It just means it's popular.

Big record sales often means it's formula, dumbed down music.

Ricky Martin sold a lot of records.

So did Millie Vanilli.

"Achy Breaky Heart" was a big hit... it sold a lot of records. Not good music...

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 31 Jan 2008 11:31 am

And he plays them very good.DYKBC.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 31 Jan 2008 11:39 am

We can agree to disagree.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 31 Jan 2008 12:20 pm

Fair enough, Theresa.

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 31 Jan 2008 3:24 pm

Doug, I'm on your side, The Flatts are not country. Do they have a place in music, of course they do, just like any intertainer. The thing no one seems to get is the music style. As I've said before country has a sound and a feel of its own just like Jazz, Blues or Rock, When you listen to Bulegrass you know what style your listenin to and be it new or old country we as country music lovers should have the right to hear and feel the music we love, without argument. I happen to love good Delta Blues but I don't want it to sound country just like I don't want country to sound like Rock.

Archie Nicol R.I.P. · Post by **Archie Nicol R.I.P.** » 31 Jan 2008 3:32 pm

Heard them on the radio over here doing a couple of live songs. The harmonies were iffy and the lead singer sounded like a country Mariah Carey. Why sing one note when seventeen will do? Not impressed.

Arch.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 31 Jan 2008 3:44 pm

...country has a sound and a feel of its own just like Jazz, Blues or Rock, When you listen to Bulegrass you know what style your listenin to

I agree. Adding a pedal steel guitar to a Top-40 pop band does not make it country. It's like putting a cowboy hat on Mick Jagger and calling him a country singer.

I don't know exactly what country is anymore... but I know what it ISN'T!

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 31 Jan 2008 4:05 pm

From the review: "During “He Ain’t the Leavin’ Kind,” a song about the omnipresence of God, a group of United States marines marched onstage to stand at attention..."
Adding a steel to the band and then barely using it is one thing. Someone please tell me what Marines marching onstage has to do with music in general, country music in particular, a song about God, or Rascal Flatts. IMHO it is the worst example that I know of, of a band shamelessly pandering to it's audience. That kind of exploitation bothers me more than whether or not they're 'country.' I'll bet the crowd went wild ....

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 31 Jan 2008 4:07 pm

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 31 Jan 2008 4:07 pm

robert hays · Post by **robert hays** » 31 Jan 2008 4:15 pm

I wonder if a steel guitar would have made Alabama country ? Even tho I only really liked about three of their songs, at least there was a melody there, And they sang on key most of the time but they did not need a steel to Identify where they belonged ! I think most all of us old heads just prefer music that you can hum, Music needs a melody! That is whats missing in most of the "new Country" IMO.(I consider Alabama to be Country I just didn't like all their music)

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 31 Jan 2008 4:34 pm

...a band shamelessly pandering to it's audience. That kind of exploitation bothers me more than whether or not they're 'country.'

Now your getting the picture.

It's all about image, sales, and marketing. It's corporate music... and it goes whichever way the wind blows. Artistry and music have nothing to do with it. In a couple of years they will probably switch over to hip-hop or whatever else sells.

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 31 Jan 2008 5:49 pm

[/quote]"Achy Breaky Heart" was a big hit... it sold a lot of records. Not good music...

I was going through a divorce when that song was out and at that time I think I might have decked Cyrus if I ever met him face to face. That song made me hate country for about 10 years.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 31 Jan 2008 9:23 pm

Bitter, I understand.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 31 Jan 2008 10:01 pm

Nashville has got a big wake up call coming from Texas.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 31 Jan 2008 10:07 pm

OK, REALLY?

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 1 Feb 2008 5:19 am

Kevin I think you might be right. The music coming from there is the music that Nashville producers have turned their back on. That's the part I don't understand because there is room for everybody on the charts. The sad part is just you or I can't do a thing about it. We have to hope for some young hunk to break on the scene that is loyal to what we like in music. He would have to be ready to hold to twin fiddles and steel guitars dominating the mix. He will have to be so good at his craft that the producers don't dare change what he is doing. We have a couple of them already but even they have changed since they arrived on the scene. Singers that use their own bands to record might be nice too. No offense to any of the big dog players in Nashville, but using your own guys gives you your own sound. That's why some of the greats we like: Merle, Buck, Ray, Hank Sr. sound they way they do. Johnny Bush still has what it takes. Dale Watson has it. Amber, Justin, and Ron Williams are closing in. That's just to name a few.

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 1 Feb 2008 6:01 am

Craig, a lot of good artist are moving to Texas just so they can work, ie Darrell McCall. The movement of restoring country into the mainstream is growing.It has made a huge gain in the past two years. Its comming back, (well let refraise that) It never left, it just moved.
By the way I bought that Deluxe.

Stephen Silver · Post by **Stephen Silver** » 1 Feb 2008 9:08 am

As Mr Zappa said "We're only in it for the Money"

RF chalked up roughly $42 million in sales (total of all concerts, CD's etc) in 2007.

More power to em....but please retire sooner rather than later!

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Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 1 Feb 2008 11:17 am

RF chalked up roughly $42 million in sales (total of all concerts, CD's etc) in 2007.

...and in 10 years they will be forgotten. No one will have ever heard of them or their Top-40 pop music. I hope they save their money.

Stephen Silver · Post by **Stephen Silver** » 1 Feb 2008 11:29 am

Doug, I would agree. But they will probably be out on the county fair circuit by then, not unlike many of the hat du jour acts that pass through.

And I do wish Travis well and hope he is well paid for not growing wheat (so to speak). If I were 28 I'd be jumping at the chance to play out with them as well, though I would hardly find it satisfying.

I have often said that if the music isn't that great but the pay is, then that is ok. If the music is great and the pay is not, then that is good. But the combination of poor pay and poor music is unacceptable. It is what caused me to lay out for over 12 years in the 80's and 90's.

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