Country Music preference
- Thread starter ketelmeister
- Start date
I have to agree with most of this CW. I can't stand Sugarland either (might as well just call themselves Jennifer Nettles and some guy that barely sings and just smiles while he plays guitar) Rascal Flatts I can handle in small doses but not one of my favorites. I'm not a fan of Taylor Swift either, will be curious to see if she can re-invent herself once she gets too old to be singing about all the "cutsie girly" kind of songs that got her to where she is now.
Jamey Johnson is a modern day Outlaw honky-tonk. Dude has the same kind of style that Waylon and Merle had only with a little bit of modern day twist to it at times. I wish he'd record "Rules of the Bar" song you can find on YouTube, go look it up if you haven't heard it yet. Eric Church is starting to become one of my favorites too, "Smoke a Little Smoke" gets a lot of play in my CD player.
Older stuff I like such as Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, some of Clint Black's stuff, John Anderson, Ronnie Milsap
I know a lot of people don't like them but I'm a huge Big & Rich fan. Hope they put out another album at some point. They've kind of been on "hiatus" the past couple years while John and Kenny have done their own things and I see they are going back on tour this summer with Gretchen Wilson (where has she been lately?) so I guess they aren't split up like some think they are. I really like some of John's solo work too, definitely some stuff that fits him better and aren't "Big & Rich type" of songs. John has been fun to watch on Celebrity Apprentice right now too, he looks like he's going to make it a long ways on the show from what he's shown so far. Last night he pretty much put Jose Canseco and Richard Hatch in their place when they were insulting the intelligence level of country music fans.
Anyone who likes Jamey Johnson should check out Whitey Ford and the 78s. Very similar, and they're playing in DSM next week.
I've got no problem with Big & Rich. Clint Black is an all-time classic. I actually found myself downloading some of his greatest hits the other day.
I agree totally on Sugarland. I somewhat feel the same way about Lady A., although unlike Sugarland, I actually like their music. I feel like the female lead singer in Lady A. (I don't even know her name) would be better off going solo. Just my opinion.
Jamey Johnson's "Guitar Song" album is one of the best country albums in the last 10 years IMO. Phenomenal.
Of course there are things I like and don't like. I don't however go out of my way to call the stuff I don't like mainstream trash. There are a lot of stuff I like out of the mainstream, especially in TV and movies. I understand why people would think they were garbage, the same way I think most people can understand why I consider something like Transformers to be dumb. However, if there was a movie preference thread, you wouldn't find me in it making comments like:
I never said anything about you personally or that I think I'm "better than you" or vice versa. However, these statements smack of elitism. Of course it's fine that we all have opinions, but if you think the manner in which we discuss them has no effect on the dialogue then I don't know what else to say.
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The one thing about Big & Rich is you have to see them in concert, probably one of the more entertaining concerts you'll see as they put on one helluva show.
How is Lady a lot like Sugarland? One of the guys sings lead on several songs or trades off on lead with Hillary on other songs. As for Sugarland their "All I want to do" song is by far one of my all-time least favorite and most annoying songs and radio played the hell out of it unfortunately.
They're like them because if you take the lady out, they are nothing. Could either one of those guys go off and do his own thing? No way. The gals make both groups.
I wouldn't argue this, but there is also an ebb and flow of creativity and innovation. I just don't think that we are seeing that right now in the popular mass produced music.
I'm in the mostly newer with a few old favorites thrown in group. I can't stand dixie land at all though. Rascal Flatts was good until the still feels good album and completely fell off my radar at unstoppable.
I have seen Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, Trace Adkins, Rascal Flatts, Lady A. (will be seeing them again this summer) Alabama, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, and Clint Black (all at the Jones County Fair) all were amazing concerts although dierks was sub-par. I also saw Emerson Drive last year at VEISHEA they may not be true country but that are good and have the best fiddle player out there imo.
I have seen Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, Trace Adkins, Rascal Flatts, Lady A. (will be seeing them again this summer) Alabama, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, and Clint Black (all at the Jones County Fair) all were amazing concerts although dierks was sub-par. I also saw Emerson Drive last year at VEISHEA they may not be true country but that are good and have the best fiddle player out there imo.
I've seen King George in concert five times. He is like a fine wine. The King only gets better with age.
Like Patterson Hood once said, "There's a lot of great music out there but you have to look for it, it ain't on your radio." This can be said about every genre of music. If you want to check out some great music (Americana) check out musicfog.com. One other thing, some people dig the mainstream thing and that's fine, I'll take my niche artists (DBT, Lucero, Boland, Reckless Kelly, etc.) and their $15 - $25 dollar tickets and their 2.5 hour shows in small venues.
CydTracked said:
Big and Rich was the first concert that I paid money to see and it was awesome. My only complaint was John Rich made a pretty conservative remark, but other than it was great. I wish they would come out with another album. But by the sounds of this thread it seems that I like the generic country music that Nashville produces.
John Rich is a conservative, hell he even wrote a song for John McCain when he was running for president. Which concert did you go to? The last time they were at the Iowa State fair was when he and Kenny both did their own solo sets too and John had 2 great quotes. One was something like "if you don't like America, then get the hell out!" and the other was he stopped singing in the middle of Shuttin' Detroit Down "can I say 1 thing? why in the hell do I have to press 1 for English?"
CydTracked said:
I went to the one at the Iowa State Fair. The comment that bothered me was the "Can I say one thing? Why in the hell do I have to press one for English." I just got caught off guard and wasn't expecting it, but it was still a great concert.
I have that somewhere on video actually. I thought it was pretty funny actually because I've ranted about the same thing myself before. I had seats like 3 rows from the stage and my ears were still ringing the next morning!
I understand your points, but I guess I still think that there's a double standard. If someone who likes pop country says alternative rock "sucks" is that any different than someone who likes alternative rock saying that pop country is "commercial drivel created without artistic vision for the purpose of making money"? I don't really think there is. Both are expressions of opinion and disapproval. The reason one is acceptable and the other is "elitism" is due to the popularity of the view point.
I'm not going to go back and dig through it, but there are plenty of folks on this site (not saying you're guilty of it) who bash anyone who isn't that interested in main stream/mass appeal as being elitist.
At the end of the day, I don't care if someone doesn't like what I like, and I don't think of less them for liking what they like. I don't think people who listen to pop music but don't give an open ear to other forms are lesser, or stupid, or anything like that, I just think they are missing out on something they might enjoy. But if we're discussing a matter of opinion (like we are here), I'm going to give my opinion, and I'm going to give my reasoning. Think of the comments that are regarded as "elitism" as explanations of unpopular opinions and they sound far less "elite".
Because you'll never see it in popular mass produced music. Check and see what the #1 song of 1969 was in sales. It wasn't Jimi Hendrix or Janice Joplin or the Byrds or anything. It was some bubble gum pop song about going to the beach. This was the height of the counter-culture movement.
In the mid-70s it wasn't Led Zepplin or AC/DC or some of the other great bands of that time, it was freaking Leif Garrett and Disco. We have nostaligic memories of the past because the forumulaic pop stuff doesn't stand the test of time.
I understand where you guys are coming from because I have this conversation with my wife all the time. She likes a lot of the newer country music that has a "pop music" feel to it. I tend to like George Jones and Merle Haggard or what most people would call classic country or "old fart country".
Part of what is disappointing about it is that most people just refer to it as country music and it seems like a whole part of the history of the genre is being lost. Even though it doesn't appeal so much to me, I'm not saying people shouldn't like it or listen to it. That is why I like XM/Sirius radio so much...there's something for everyone.
