So, what have you been listening to lately?

[uwe]

Does this qualify, Dave ... (biting lip)

[Dave W]

Does this qualify, Dave ... (biting lip)

...

Do you really have to ask?

[uwe]

Yes, your criteria and their application on a case-by-case basis are opaque to me! It's not a visual or an origin thing, right? What is it? Recording techniques? Rock drums? Popularity with people that otherwise don't really like C&W? Wrong accent? I'm trying to get to the root of this authenticity thing.

As a European I'm entitled to ask. If you said in Germany "die Eagles sind eine Country Rock Band", no one would flinch for a second. If you added "Taylor Swift spielt keinen Country mehr", people would agree.

[Pilgrim]

Here's a little bit of history, and the sound recording is good.

44 years ago the up and coming band Heart played a gig in - of all places - the TV studio at Washington State University. I've worked and directed in that studio, and it might have seated 80 to 100 people. The place was packed, but keep in mind this is Heart playing a one-hour concert for perhaps 100 people, in a TV studio on a college campus 80 miles south of Spokane in eastern Washington. That campus enrolled just over 15,000 students at the time. However, for some reason WSU got all the top acts - I remember seeing acts from Earth Wind and Fire and The Moody Blues, to Neil Diamond and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Go figure.

The studio was not quite 3 years old; I was one of the first students to lay hands on the cameras when it was built in 1973, and was one of the first to broadcast from the new radio studios in the building next door. At the time this was recorded I was in Oregon, and wouldn't return to the Palouse region until a year later. For TV fans, the opening is the compulsory (for that time) irritating electronic music and effects highlighting the call letters KWSU.  Special effects are limited to diamond wipes and other analog switching that was all we had to work with in 1976.

The recording is an hour, and I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet. But it's a point in time when they were just about to release their album Dreamboat Annie, the album that brought the band international fame. (Ann mentions this early in her intro to Heartless.) They had been playing in Canada and were just re-entering the US, and were poised to join the top ranks of musical stars in the next months. So this is Heart playing a tiny venue just before they became a national hit; but it was playing on TV, and the feed went out to the entire region.

You'll see a sunburst Fender Jazz bass and some interesting Gibson guitars including a Les Paul, and Nancy changes instruments and plays what looks like a white Les Paul Jr during Heartless.  Good shots of the keyboards and synth - although I can't identify what model it is. You'll also see the bass player wearing a really silly outfit that's reminiscent of the guitarist at the  band play-off in the movie School of Rock.

The audio is pretty darn good.  I knew the director, Mike Cotsones, and I know the crew there took pains to get good audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp862e4vaug&fbclid=IwAR3q11-t0HBeykGJUldENWcYcqXAJVvXM7oXyGwiyMgquBOTBBMj4bJRDeg

[uwe]

Oh my, this is cute. Progish little outfit they were in their early days. And Nancy does harmony leads - sweet!

[Dave W]

Yes, your criteria and their application on a case-by-case basis are opaque to me! It's not a visual or an origin thing, right? What is it? Recording techniques? Rock drums? Popularity with people that otherwise don't really like C&W? Wrong accent? I'm trying to get to the root of this authenticity thing.

As a European I'm entitled to ask. If you said in Germany "die Eagles sind eine Country Rock Band", no one would flinch for a second. If you added "Taylor Swift spielt keinen Country mehr", people would agree.

Instead of asking on a case-by-case basis, you might spend some time listening to real country, then you wouldn't have to ask. 

Try Keeping It Country Live (for example). Especially Justin Trevino's From Tennessee To Texas And Beyond, every Friday. You can listen to his recent past shows through the archive on the front page.

BTW, Miranda Lambert has a good voice and is one of the few modern Nashville crapsters whose accent isn't fake. But the songs she sings aren't country songs. Cute outfits and fancy videos can't change that.

This afternoon's country earworms (duet edition)

[uwe]

And I thought the bimbo glamour outfits in the one vid were, errm, tongue in cheek, is that uncountry'sh? 

[westen44]

It isn't as easy as it used to be to tell what is or is not country music.  You've got, for example, bro-country artists such as Blake Shelton who have a lot of influence.  He is the one on "The Voice."  Some people know him as the guy who left Miranda Lambert for Gwen Stefani.  His personal life is of no concern.  It's his music which bothers me.  One of his songs which I especially dislike is "Boys "Round Here" which begins by bragging that the boys he is around don't listen to the Beatles.  The song supposedly is a celebration of the Southern lifestyle.  Personally,, as a Southerner I find it embarrassing.  Sam Gazdziak of "Country Universe" wrote that it was "sexist, crude and jam-packed with country stereotypes, it's an embarrassment to everyone involved."

Not to focus too much on Blake Shelton.  I'm sure he is someone who is well-meaning.  He is just a clear-cut example.  His latest endeavor, by the way, is a collaboration with Pitbull called "Get Ready" which seems to be some kind of cover of Ram Jam's "Black Betty."  One difference with this song is that it doesn't attempt to be a country song.  And Blake Shelton is just Pitbull's featured artist on the song.  Fair enough. 

[gearHed289]

Here's a little bit of history, and the sound recording is good.

44 years ago the up and coming band Heart played a gig in - of all places - the TV studio at Washington State University. I've worked and directed in that studio, and it might have seated 80 to 100 people. The place was packed, but keep in mind this is Heart playing a one-hour concert for perhaps 100 people, in a TV studio on a college campus 80 miles south of Spokane in eastern Washington. That campus enrolled just over 15,000 students at the time. However, for some reason WSU got all the top acts - I remember seeing acts from Earth Wind and Fire and The Moody Blues, to Neil Diamond and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Go figure.

The studio was not quite 3 years old; I was one of the first students to lay hands on the cameras when it was built in 1973, and was one of the first to broadcast from the new radio studios in the building next door. At the time this was recorded I was in Oregon, and wouldn't return to the Palouse region until a year later. For TV fans, the opening is the compulsory (for that time) irritating electronic music and effects highlighting the call letters KWSU.  Special effects are limited to diamond wipes and other analog switching that was all we had to work with in 1976.

The recording is an hour, and I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet. But it's a point in time when they were just about to release their album Dreamboat Annie, the album that brought the band international fame. (Ann mentions this early in her intro to Heartless.) They had been playing in Canada and were just re-entering the US, and were poised to join the top ranks of musical stars in the next months. So this is Heart playing a tiny venue just before they became a national hit; but it was playing on TV, and the feed went out to the entire region.

You'll see a sunburst Fender Jazz bass and some interesting Gibson guitars including a Les Paul, and Nancy changes instruments and plays what looks like a white Les Paul Jr during Heartless.  Good shots of the keyboards and synth - although I can't identify what model it is. You'll also see the bass player wearing a really silly outfit that's reminiscent of the guitarist at the  band play-off in the movie School of Rock.

The audio is pretty darn good.  I knew the director, Mike Cotsones, and I know the crew there took pains to get good audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp862e4vaug&fbclid=IwAR3q11-t0HBeykGJUldENWcYcqXAJVvXM7oXyGwiyMgquBOTBBMj4bJRDeg

Thanks for posting this. I'm pretty sure I've seen some of it before. That early lineup was SO good, and a world away from what they became during the MTV era.

[uwe]

Among the myriads of guitarists Thin Lizzy had, this guy sounds faintly familiar!  And Brian does his best Pick Withers.

[Dave W]

This popped up in my feed today, video is from Weekend at Bernie's 3, which somehow was overlooked in the Oscar nominations. 

[Pilgrim]

Thinking about blues tunes for my band.

[Dave W]

She's baaack! Anne Reburn's latest cover, complete with that cute nose wrinkling that Uwe loves so much.

I don't care for the slow intro, but IMHO overall it's well done.

[westen44]

From the Beatles for Sale/Beatles '65 album. 

[uwe]

She's baaack! Anne Reburn's latest cover, complete with that cute nose wrinkling that Uwe loves so much.

I don't care for the slow intro, but IMHO overall it's well done.

Oh, she's so adorably cute!



And those sweet nose wrinkles, I'd like to see her in a shark basin, I'm sure they'd get along, it's mimicry ain't it?