And There You Have It

[westen44]

At least it's a real country song, unlike the wannabe-frat boy party rock that passes for country today.

I agree.  I think they are giving Hank respect, too.  As for the new country crap, I hardly know what to say about it.  I may hate it as much as you do, though.  It is a massacre of actual country music.  I give it a zero rating for authenticity. 

[66Atlas]

A few months ago I radomly ended up watching a country music top 20 countdown show while my wife was getting ready to go out to dinner.  It gave me plenty of time to sit through at least 10 of the 20 and not one sounded like country music to me.  If anything they were all circa 1990s hip-hop rehashed with a country accent.

[gearHed289]

Bad pop music with a little twang and maybe a fiddle or steel guitar. I read an interview with that Australian country guy... (hold on, Googling...) Keith Urban. He talked about when he first went to Nashville to make a record, the producer asked him "do you want fiddle or pedal steel on this song?". He was like "Uh, neither?" Guess he ended up having to pick one. 

[Dave W]

In the words of the late Steven Fromholz: :

You try to put Nashville in a nutshell
It's hard-sell town where the dollar is the king
When you're broke and drunk and standing in the rain
Nobody really cares how well you pick and sing

[doombass]

I suppose that's true unless you get hunted down by a Swedish television production team:

[uwe]

See, that's why the welfare state/folkhemmet is a good thing. In this case: Americana folkhemmet!

[uwe]

Some country songs have really weird chords.



This is more like it! Yet I'm sure there will be someone from the C&W ghetto police to announce shortly that it isn't country at all.





Who cares, as a European I don't have to masticate the point, it's all country to me  ...

[4stringer77]

See, that's why the welfare state/folkhemmet is a good thing. In this case: Americana folkhemmet!

Yes, the welfare state is very effective at perpetuating the conditions necessary for poverty to thrive and thus provide plenty of these downtrodden soulful musicians.

[uwe]

Ah yes, the old adage, if everybody takes care of himself, everyone is taken care of. 

[Pilgrim]

I remember when Gentle On My Mind was considered "pop country."  Now I think it's old school.

When I think old school, I think of Roy Acuff singing "Great Speckled Bird." I'll take the pop country by preference.

[uwe]

Sounds like a Status Quo song! That can never be bad.



Rossi loves country and always tried to sneak influences in - his whole overt penchant for major chords and major scale solos is country'ish ...

[westen44]

I remember when Gentle On My Mind was considered "pop country."  Now I think it's old school.

When I think old school, I think of Roy Acuff singing "Great Speckled Bird." I'll take the pop country by preference.

That's what my much older uncle sings at family gatherings.  I'm pretty sure there are far better examples of old country than that.  Stuff like that makes me shudder.  I've been around country music all my life and know something about it.  However, I'm no expert.  Dave, however, actually is a country expert.  I've been around them enough to know. 

[Pilgrim]

I'm sure Dave will be along. I've defamed this particular song before. 

[Dave W]

I remember when Gentle On My Mind was considered "pop country."  Now I think it's old school.

When I think old school, I think of Roy Acuff singing "Great Speckled Bird." I'll take the pop country by preference.

Gentle On My Mind charted much higher on Billboard's Easy Listening chart than its Hot 100 (pop) chart, and higher on its Hot 100 than its Country chart. Whatever you want to call it is okay. But The Band Perry? Not country. Not even close.

As I've said before, Great Speckled Bird is a gospel song, not a country song.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Some country songs have really weird chords.



This is more like it! Yet I'm sure there will be someone from the C&W ghetto police to announce shortly that it isn't country at all.

Nirvana is actually a good choice for a country cover. There have been so many bands doing bland watered-down versions of them already, there are no bones for modern Nashville to pick.

My favorite Dylan song!

Who cares, as a European I don't have to masticate the point, it's all country to me  ...

The Dixie Chicks from 1999 called and they want their sound back.

I really used to like these kids. They're local (Greeneville) and different musically from modern "country." Unfortunately that different tack has veered toward Los Angeles of late. I worked their show a few weeks ago. Between the completely incompetent FOH hip hop wannabe and the Pro Tools rig playing the show, whatever warm fuzzies I had for them are gone. When a week later in the same venue, a 68 year old Eddie Money can roll in with a band and nothing else and still sound like he did 40 years ago with no tricks or comp tracks... yeah, screw Nashville.