Members Vito Corleone Posted August 17, 2013 Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 On May 26, Tom Petty took a swipe at modern country music from the stage of the Beacon Theater in New York City. He called today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tacdryver Posted August 17, 2013 Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 Dave - I was flipping channels the other night and landed on the CMAs..Taylor had this guitar low slung, down strum, almost punk like, a pop Orianthi type song, a kid that almost looked emo, came over with the Les Paul and did a solo ....I am seldom suprised, but there was nothing country about this song. Big deal right?Well yesterday, I was in my car, flipped a channel, girl singing, and the chord progression sounded, get this, like grunge. Nice song, but you know that feel, at the end of the song, the station identified as a New Country Station.That blew me away, because any pretense at being country was gone. I mean, they have gender bendered country to a point well past rock, to what is now almost anything goes.I am not sure if I should be critical, bitching like TP about the authenticity of it, or just go, ok, so what, that's the music biz.Given the other day I was in a bar listening to modern country, Keith Urban kinda stuff, now up close and really listening, I was kind of blown away at how close that was to rock, and If I might add, got me to thinking that maybe that's not a bad genre to pursue, especially if I can mix in the rock, with the country, or just do what the hell I want, I mean if the rules are out the door. Taylor didn't even dress up like a country Star, KU is from Australia, doesn't wear a hat.The rules out the door? Free for all? Break out the JVM and the pointy guitars on a 'country' song? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 17, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 I have really mixed feelings about modern country. I feel a lot like Petty does in a lot of ways: most of what I hear sounds like rehashed old rock, so what's to like?At the same time, while I love the classics, I certainly can't expect new country to sound like Hank and Merle either. So what's left for it? Seems to me that younger kids hear a lot of EVERYTHING growing up these days, and even country kids like rap, metal, etc. So I think what country may be learning (or trying to figure out) is that country is about the "vibe", and not about the instrumentation or the beat. Perfect example is that new song "Cruise'". Nothing much about that sounds country (especially the rap break from Nelly!), but it's still got a country vibe to it. Lyrically and emotionally it still "feels" country.Taylor Swift? Yeah, I'm not sure she's even trying to be country anymore. But I'm guessing the young country girls still relate to her songs, so that's probably what counts. Personally, I'm glad to see them get away from sounding like rehashed classic rock and pushing towards some newer sounds. But yeah, I think the point is that it's all good.KU needs to drop the fake southern accent though. C'mon. You're from Australia, dude! Then again, it obviously works for him, so on 2nd thought...don't listen to me, Keith! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted August 17, 2013 Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 guido61 wrote: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted August 17, 2013 Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 Petty needs to just shut up. His music has reached the point where ihis music filler material on most classic rock sets. He should be grateful for his career and maybe some country star will co write a sing with him and get him back on the charts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 17, 2013 Moderators Share Posted August 17, 2013 ^^^ That's hilarious, Potts. While I am a huge Tom Petty fan I think he's really adding nothing to the discussion here. It's a particularly obvious no-brainer to criticize modern country nowadays. Where's the Merle or the George Jones? Mr. Petty, considering how insightful and well spoken you can be in the pop song format, your points here are fairly mundane and paperthin. I'll tell you the one thing that modern country has going for it in spades. Craft. Say what you will, but you try it. Putting together a pop song with all the country leanings, trying to communicate a sincere emotion that tugs at the heartstrings, that speaks of divorce or pain or partying or falling in love, it's not an easy task to do well. I've been struggling to do it well for the past few years now with mixed success. It's freaking hard as hell. The matter is a simple thing really. It's a genre that has been refined to be effective to its listeners. And those listeners, quite frankly, are a few years behind on the curve. I don't say that cynically it's just a matter of fact. Not quite as cutting edge as some kids in London let's say. But that's okay with me, it is what it is. People are people no matter what you do, or where you go. The haircuts change the hat changes the facial hair changes. And just because this particular genre is behind on the newness curve so the hell what? So we can spot the influences of the new modern country tune like shooting fish in a barrel. We know where that bit or this bit came from. It's obvious to us. So it's fairly easy for us to be cynical about the whole thing. Like I said, you guys try to do it well. :-) It's not an easy thing. If it was you guys would probably be doing it, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FormerlyBassred Posted August 17, 2013 Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 Well ****. I've been wearing cowboy boots and pearl snap-buttoned cowboy shirts for years playing classic rock covers. Oh yeah, some of that classic rock was by Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers.. wonder where they fit into Petty's opinion. They've been doing formulaic (Skynyrd) country songs with a little more distortion for ages!I like Tom Petty, and count him as one of my influences, but I hardly put him in the 'groundbreaking' category. He's always written rock music with a bit of a poppy edge, and he himself relied on video pretty heavily in the 80's and 90's. Now, the new disc, MOJO - that's got a nice throw-back feel and might be a bunch of riffs that were written many, many years ago, but I could say that they are just going for that old sound ala Black Keys if I wanted to be a dick... It is all a mix of many different influences coming out in the music today. CRUISE is no more country than WE ARE NEVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER, but both are selling a ton of records (barfs in mouth)... Disclaimer - I am playing in a country rock band that is writing original music, so this topic annoys me. THings eveolve and we cannot ignore that as the resulting music does too. Rum is good, Coke is good, rum and coke is even better. sometimes iblending things together works to our advantage... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 17, 2013 Moderators Share Posted August 17, 2013 Yeah, I actually like experiencing An 808 clap in the middle of a country song and hearing some Eddie Van Halen rhythm guitar on another. Why not? It cracks me up, it's good fun. Mix in a banjo and voil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted August 17, 2013 Members Share Posted August 17, 2013 I love Tom Petty, and don't listen to much Modern Country, but you could cut-and-paste genre and artist names, and you'll have the generic outline of everything every old man has said about new music, throughout the history of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jcpatte2 Posted August 19, 2013 Members Share Posted August 19, 2013 I have to agree about comparing country artists, there's too much width within the genre to argue what is or is not country music. I read a history majors dissertation on the subgenres of country music and the lineage of influence to each. He traced no less than 37 different subgenres back to either one of two sources of influence; The Carter Family or Jimmie Rodgers - and both of those 'founding fathers' of country had they're own influences. But I feel if you can trace an ancestry of influence back to any other 'country' artist, you can call yourself 'country'. It really is more a state of mind than a sound. IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 19, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2013 But what modern country artists aren't also going to cite rock and R&B influences as well? Does that mean they can equally call themselves rock or R&B too? I agree it's more about a state of mind, but I'm not sure your influences or lineage have much to do with it, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jcpatte2 Posted August 19, 2013 Members Share Posted August 19, 2013 We all have outside influences now. We didn't grow up only listening to WSM on Saturday nights, like they did 2 generations ago. We have had television and MTV and a million other things thrown at us to influence who we are. And yes, if that influence comes through in your sound..... Then you can call it what you like, IMO. Billy Currington, for example, is undeniably a country artist. That's what he's marketed as, the stations he's played on, and the bin under which he's sold at the record store. But that guy could easily be an R&B singer, or Motown artist. He's just got that vibe from his influences. Aldean, on the other hand could have easily been Bret Michaels, if he was a decade or two older. But he's undeniably country. Both of those guys would also trace there sound through the generations of country artists, back to either Jimmy Rodgers or The Carter Family though, easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wardjames Posted August 19, 2013 Members Share Posted August 19, 2013 I'm guessing this is the same conversation everyone was having in 1981 when Elvira was topping the charts, Olivia Newton John was the Taylor Swift of the day. Then George Strait comes along and EVERYONE has to have a steel guitar and fiddle.The same thing's going to happen. Someone will come along and change country.In the meantime...if you want real country music, check out Dale Watson, Aaron Watson, Jason Boland, Cory Morrow, the list goes on. There's plenty of great country music out there...it's just not coming from Nashville. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nijyo Posted August 19, 2013 Members Share Posted August 19, 2013 Myself and others here have said many a time that a great deal of modern country music is just hair metal with a twang. Personally, I loved everything about hair metal, but I can do without the twang. Some of those hair metal bands skewd pretty close to "old country" from time to time anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted August 20, 2013 Members Share Posted August 20, 2013 Oh on the contrary, many years of deer, elk hunting and working on ranches as a kid. I still live in a ranching/farming community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted August 20, 2013 Members Share Posted August 20, 2013 Tomm Williams wrote: Oh on the contrary, many years of deer, elk hunting and working on ranches as a kid. I still live in a ranching/farming community. Well, I guess muddin' is more fun when it's recreational and not "work" . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jcpatte2 Posted August 22, 2013 Members Share Posted August 22, 2013 This is my opinion of ZBB as well. Much respect for them as musicians but I can't get into the radio stuff at all but I could sit and watch them jam all night. And the album cuts are pretty solid IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 does he do that annoying Big Brown Beaver song? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 26, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 26, 2013 David Allen Coe. Great song for making fun of country songs, that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted August 27, 2013 Members Share Posted August 27, 2013 guido61 wrote: David Allen Coe. Great song for making fun of country songs, that's for sure. but he forgot about gettin' drunk....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted August 27, 2013 Members Share Posted August 27, 2013 guido61 wrote: David Allen Coe. Great song for making fun of country songs, that's for sure. steve goodman and john prine wrote it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yer Blues Posted August 27, 2013 Members Share Posted August 27, 2013 I played "You Never Call Me By My Name" one time with the last classic rock band I was playing with. Bandleader pulled it out and it went over great! I never heard it before, but the crowd loved it. Another one was "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound". Not sure why we never added those... they fit in great with the Skynyrd, Allman Brothers type of stuff we played. That was a fun band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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