Interesting blog from the other side

[Bob Knetzger]

Wow, here’s an interesting look at one guy’s view of “today’s country” music trends from the other side in today’s No Depression blog.

A common thread here is “country music ain’t what it used to be” and specifically many of us steelers really miss the prominent role pedal steel played in classic country: “CMA= country, my ass”

We’re not alone. There’s another group of music fans that long for the good old days, wonder what the heck happened to the good music they listened to when they were younger and miss their favorite instrument…and blame hugely popular stars for wrecking the music form they loved.

Classic rockers miss their stadium-rock sounds and shredding guitars of 80s/Van Halen/Journey, long gone from rock and now find what they miss in today’s country:

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(From the article)Remember the scene from the The Wrestler when Mickey Rourke’s character, while partying to Ratt’s “Round and Round”, extols the glory days of Guns N’ Roses until “That pussy Cobain had to come around and ruin it for everyone”? It’s one of rock history’s great oversimplifications—Nirvana killed hair metal—but the sentiment points to a prevalent notion that big, catchy, accessible “classic” rock has been somehow, inexplicably, washed from the face of the earth in favor of what these fans see as angsty mook-rock, whiny emo-rock, abstruse indie-rock, crass R&B, and atonal hip-hop. Where these fans have found refuge, beyond their old Zeppelin albums, is in modern country radio, the closest thing out there to the music of their rock ’ n’ roll good-old days.


(Ha, they “blame” Kurt Cobain for wrecking rock, just as others “blame” Garth Brooks or Shina Twain/Matt Lange for wrecking country music.)

Here’s the link:

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/bl ... -on-me-why


Well, if classic rockers have found what they used to like in today’s country, where do trad country fans go today to find NEW music like they used to enjoy? I’d say one place is in the alt.country scene (whatever that is). You gotta love stuff like Peter Coopers’s recordings with LOTS of Lloyd, or Robbie Fulks’s cuts with some terrific Tom Brumley.

What NEW music do you listen to for good song writing and great pedal steel?

[Joachim Kettner]

Intersting and valid thoughts. The last albums that I got with steel on it, were by Tony Gilkyson and Hawks in L.A.

[Mark Eaton]

Thanks for the link, Bob. Good article, and it also provided me some good chuckles this morning. I think the guy made some points that were right on the money.

I especially got a kick out of this paragraph:

"What these rock fans have to tolerate, obviously, is whatever purely country elements have remained in the music, but in the exodus from a rock radio where Ratt has been supplanted by Rhianna, they’re clearly willing to accept a rural drawl or a buried fiddle as long as they can pump a fist to it. The music follows enough tried-and-true hard-rock archetypes to make inroads into a broad audience’s pleasure centers. At the same time, Nashville has wisely maintained decidedly red-state concerns in song themes, rolling out a steady stream of hits that celebrate small towns, God, the simple life, the way things used to be, farms, partying in the woods, etc."



Until the print version went down a couple years ago, I read No Depression pretty religiously for years, and I seem to forget to check in with the on-line version, but then, it's a shadow of its former printed self. A lot of the music in my CD collection in about the past dozen years came from learing about artists featured or reviewed in No Depression.

[Charles Davidson]

Dale Watson and Ricky Davis. Can't get any better. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

[Leslie Ehrlich]

Dale Watson and Ricky Davis. Can't get any better. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

I don't mind Dale - you can call him country, but I hear a bit of rock influence in his sound too.

[David Beckner]

KING GEORGE ..MR.PAUL FRANKLIN...