Wasn't Country always "Cool?"
racvb
Jeff Wall wrote:
> I grew up in Middle Tennessee. I'm originally from Lebanon. My
> earliest musical memory is Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire being played on
> teh radio. I loved that song. My daddy loved country and my mama liked
> Motown. SO both were always playing in teh house.
>
Jeff,
Just out of curiosity, when you first heard "Ring Of Fire" was it on the
Country Station or the Pop/Rock station?
Ray Arthur
Ehfclub
we enjoy today, but ...
for a moment can we go back and view country music from the eyes and ears of
our youth and it's developement we've witnessed ...through to what our kids
today have inherited? Country music will continue to evolve.
When did you "realize" country wasn't cool to everybody or did you? When
Barbara Mandrell came out with the song? Live in the southern hills back when
you were lucky to have ONE TINY LOCAL radio station that aired (with static)
mostly local gospel talent, preachers and bluegrass (played by ear) and you
didn't know anything else much more than Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams
existed? Then another station came to town and you had TWO radio stations! A
choice! One local gospel and bluegrass and one "country?" Then the big
station from the city reached you! Three stations! Elvis! Beatles! Mamas
and the Papas!
Was Country always cool to you? (from birth throughout your lives, just as
common folks, before you were adults, or devotes, scholars, performers or
career related) Or ... did it become cool to you ...when?..........
Brenda Lee sang on American Bandstand? (the only dance show)
Dolly became a regular EVERY Friday nite on the Porter Wagner show?
When Lynn Anderson and Eva Barber became regulars on the Lawrence Welk Show
EVERY Saturday night?
When Glen Cambell appeared on Solid Gold or some show like that?
When Loretta Lynn sang about the pill?
Or when hippies sung ballads and made music that sounded a lot like country?
Back to the basics was the "thing."
When the stylish Barbara Mandrel Show aired, The Dolly Parton Show?
When affordable blue jeans became "cool" (for everyday and expensive)..and kids
started singing, dressing and acting like Hank Williams, Jr.? Some of the kids
really believed "country was REALLY FINALLY cool" or "at least SAFE" then! One
7th grade boy even ventured out for his first time on a stage performing "Just
A Swingin" for his classmates! NOT cool. ONLY "Hank, Jr" music was cool...NOT
"country" music.. TOO early...that is ....for general appreciation from his
"cool" peers...the overwhelming majority! Ha!
When driving a pick-up, wearing jeans, dipping and chewing became "cool" and
the image of some country artists and baseball players?
Was it when "Country Dance" became more than Clogging in frilly dresses and
patent leather shoes and you could watch it on TV and not just the funky, pop
and psycodylic dancing? (Oh please help my spelling.)
When video channels portrayed Country Artists "stylin" and you realized they
were/looked as "cool" as the "pop" stars?
Was it Ricky Scaggs or Allyson Crouse's beautiful voice?
Was it TNN?
Or the CMA and ACM AWARD SHOWS?
Country music has crept right along and now belongs to the WORLD. Even "down
under!" Ha! "What is country music?" is creeping/spurting/changing right
along with all of us (and the children, technogogy, etc.) as always ...BUT
"what WAS country music" will live forever! Do I ever make any sense...or
non-sense? To me it does! BOTH! Ha!
Over, out and gone,
Have a good weekend!
Nola
Erik
Maybe it will, I won't argue with that....but Faith Hill and Shania Twain are
doing a piss-poor job of representing that evolution.
Now playing on 96.3 KSCS out of Dallas, Texas: Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue."
Erik
"I like George Jones, Willie and Waylon, I think Kris and Merle are songwritin'
saviors"--Cory Morrow
Jeff Wall
earliest musical memory is Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire being played on
teh radio. I loved that song. My daddy loved country and my mama liked
Motown. SO both were always playing in teh house.
When I would go stay with my pap & grandma, the old alarm radio would
go off at six oclock every saturday morning and I would be woken up by
Lester & Earl telling me to go out and buy some Martha White
Flour. I still buy Martha White flour.
My first musical love was Southern Rock. Charlei Daniels and the
Marshall Tucker Band. My favorite cuts were never played on the radio.
There was a lot of country on those old records. A lot of blues and
gospel too. Even a little jazz and western swing.
I used to attend the Volunteer Jam at Municipal Auditorium in
Nashville. I saw all kinds of great acts there.
I remember seeing WIllie Nelson at Municipal Auditorium. This chick
singer noone had ever heard of opened up for him. Her name was Emmylou
Harris.
Then Disco came along.
I was searching through the radio and came across a country station. A
lot of the music on there sounded familiar and that became mostly what
I listened to.
I ended up joining the navy. While in the service, I heard that Monroe
was coming to town. Monroe was a legend. As big as Johnny Cash or Hank
Sr. Hell, Monroe was bigger. I figured I would go see him before he
died. This was in 82. That's also when I picked up the guitar again.
I became totally immersed in Bluegrass. I started studying on who the
pickers were. I found out about Clarence White, Marny Stuart, Jerry
Douglas, Skaggs and others because of it.
I then strarted getting into pickers like Jimmy Colvard, Wayne Moss,
and others. I would look for my favorite pickers names on teh backs of
records. Often times I would buy a record based soley on who the stunt
pickers were.
My favorite time frame for Country Music is probably 1960-1973. Man, I
would have given anything to have been 18 years old (with a draft
deferrment or a 4F rating) at the time and be living in California
(and I hate California) To have been able to hang out at the Ash
Grove, to have gone and seen Wynn Stewart live. To have seen Buck
Owens & Don Rich, to have heard Merle with Mooney, Nichols, and the
other strangers. That would have been the life. Free love, good dope,
and hot country music.
Then disco hit.
So
Janice Brooks
I wore out a copy of the Battle of New Orleans. Sure i went thru phases but I
always came back.
BUS Janice http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3886/index.html
Moderator(country music) Steel Guitar Forum
http//www.b0b.com
Jeff Wall
>Jeff,
>
>Just out of curiosity, when you first heard "Ring Of Fire" was it on the
>Country Station or the Pop/Rock station?
>
>Ray Arthur
It was on Daddy's radio so it had to be WCOR, an AM Country station,
or WSM.
We didn't listen to Pop music. It was either Country or R&B.
Balecox
child. Grew up on Ernest Tubb, Floyd Tillman, etc...got out in the 60's
(opting for Dylan & Motown), loved a lot of Marty Robbins, Cash et al though
through that time, then back in solidly in the mid-70s after records by Waylon
& Willie, Jerry Jeff, Leon Russell's Hank Wilson's Back, etc. But I always
remember being at a Kinks concert in the mid-60s and one of the "coolest" guys
on campus yelled "Can you play Wildwood Flower?" at the band...and one guy
turned around and finger picked the hell out of the tune. I thought THAT was
pretty dang cool.
Patsi
Johnny^v^
>when you first heard "Ring Of Fire" was it on the
>Country Station or the Pop/Rock station?
I wish I had Tamra Rosanes' version of that one! It's great.
But it is nowhere to be found in the US (continental 48).
Doesn't the recording industry suck?
Actually, the first version I heard of this one was a fractured
parody: Sheb Wooley (as Ben Colder) , Ring of (Fire) Smoke.
I kid you not!
Sheb Wooley was my "introduction" to Johnny Cash.
I was real little. My idea of country was Waylon, Willie, Hank,
Lefty, Buck, George, Joe Stampley, Susan Raye, etc ... not half the
dreck they present as country on the radio and CMT today.
My non-country indulgences consisted of:
Ives, Sinatra, SD Jr, Pet, Earl Grant, Herb Alpert, etc...
Rock and roll? That was the noise across the street.
Not anymore. I like all kinds of music, now. But, as a kid, I was
quite narrow-minded. I had to be, because
"My daddy was a broad minded man - he had 'em on his mind all the
time"
- Jim Ed Brown
<groan> I'd better quit
--
-John
Balecox
Ditto that. I've always loved his music. More as background but GREAT
background.
P
Tim Neely
Growing up in suburbia in the 1970s with friends who listened to either Top
40 or FM rock, country was NEVER cool. And for years it tainted my own
openness to the music.
Oldies weren't cool, either, when I was growing up. But that's what I got
into. Because there had been a fair number of country hits that crossed
over, I knew, and enjoyed, such fare as "El Paso" and "A Boy Named Sue" and
"He'll Have to Go" and Roger Miller's mid-1960s hits and "Big Bad John" and
even "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose"! But for current music, it
was pretty much pop. Most of the crossovers seemed to be more pop than
country in that era anyway (John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Glen Campbell).
In the early 1980s, when the Urban Cowboy phase infiltrated pop music, I
actually almost HATED country music. I couldn't stand the crossovers! When
Alabama or Ronnie Milsap or Kenny Rogers or especially "Elvira" by the Oak
Ridge Boys, came on the radio, that was a sign to change the channel if I
could. (My parody of "Elvira": "A virus... A virus... My nose has come
down with a virus" complete with coughing and sneezing sounds during the
oom-papa-oom-papa-mow-mow part.) Despite that, there was the occasional
country crossover that I liked -- "Lookin' for Love," "Seven Year Ache,"
"Queen of Hearts," "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" and Willie Nelson's
remake of "Always on My Mind," to name several. So I guess I didn't really
hate it after all. It was only certain parts of country that I wished would
disappear. Once MTV and the New British Invasion (1983) and the inevitable
American Response (1984) cleared pop radio of country music, country pretty
much left my radar screen, except for a few novelties that the late, great
Bob Collins used to play on his WGN radio show ("She Got the Goldmine, I Got
the Shaft," "The Bird," "Cow Patti" et al.)
Until the early 1990s.
Two things happened to pique my interest. The first, and more pragmatic,
thing was the decline and fall of the 45 rpm single. While a decreasing
number of pop songs were available on 7-inch vinyl singles, the same decline
WASN'T happening in the country section. What's going on here? I thought.
This could be something new to collect. And I had an open mind -- I hadn't
heard ANY of these singles. The second was country music videos. Those few
I saw in the 1980s were terrible, almost amateurish afterthoughts, and they
left no lasting impression. Then I caught "The Dance" by Garth Brooks. Yep,
it was Garth who got me listening to country music with a broader mind than
I had ever listened to it before. I found myself crying the first time I
saw the video for "The Dance," with its evocation of the Challenger
explosion (a tragedy that affected me deeply for reasons I still don't fully
understand). Then I remembered reading how this song was one of the few
country hits NOT available as a single on 45... Well, that turned out to be
untrue, as I did find a regular 45 of it. That was the first country 45 I
ever bought new without first hearing it on pop radio. I continued to pick
up Garth's 45 as they trickled out; they were among the very few 45s Capitol
was doing in 1990-91. And I liked what I was hearing. Eventually, one thing
led to another ("Don't Rock the Jukebox" by Alan Jackson was another turning
point for me), and I started listening to a lot more than Garth.
Looking back, I now figure that I was tuning in to one of several truly
golden ages for country music. The early 1990s were a truly diverse and
exciting time for the genre, even on the radio. There was more "rockin' "
music that the rock stations played (such as "It Only Hurts Me When I Cry"
by Dwight Yoakam and "Every Little Thing" by Carlene Carter and "Tell Me
Why" by Wynonna and "Take Your Memory With You" by Vince Gill), the ballads
were better than the pop tripe ("I Still Believe in You" by Vince, "The
Woman Before Me" by Trisha Yearwood), and then there were the transcendent
records like "Maybe It Was Memphis" by Pam Tillis... All of this and more
shattered all my stereotypes about country music. Then, just as I did when
I first got into pop music in the 1970s, I did some digging. And, in
retrospect, all that Alabama and Ronnie Milsap and Kenny Rogers stuff didn't
seem like such crap anymore. In fact, many of Alabama's hits rank among my
all-time favorites now! ("If I Had You," "Face to Face," "Tennessee River,"
"Feels So Right" just to name four.) I got a Hank Williams box set and the
Decca and Mercury country boxes. I got the Conway Twitty box. I got the
Smithsonian "Classic Country Music" box (despite several glaring omissions,
it's highly recommended). I bought lots of compilations and hundreds of old
45s. All this wonderful material I'd missed! But now I was discovering
people like Hank Jr. and Janie Fricke and the post-pop Exile, all of whom
had outside my realm of listening in the 1980s. And I discovered what I
think is the best single recording ever made in any genre of music: "He
Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones.
Can you tell I really fell in love with country music?
My affair with country music has lessened somewhat since those early days.
I still find songs that move me positively, even deeply ("Amazed," "You're
Gone," "There Is No Arizona," "I Hope You Dance," "Born to Fly," "Smoke
Rings in the Dark") but there are also plenty of songs that are dreadful,
too (most of George Strait's 1990s ballads make him look like a hypocrite
for singing "Murder on Music Row" because he seems to me to be an unindicted
co-conspirator). I've learned, though, that I can never reject an entire
genre of music again. Country, especially on radio, has gone through some
rough times the last several years. But the nuggets to be found are so shiny
and valuable that it's worth digging through the dross to find them.
Tim Neely
Goldmine magazine
Stacy, CMFTF Site Editor
"But the nuggets to be found are so shiny and valuable that it's worth
digging through the dross to find them."
--
Thanks,
Stacy, Site Editor
Country Music For The Fans
www.countrymusicforthefans.com
Tim Neely wrote in message <3a2a8...@news.siscom.net>...
<snipped a great post>
joe...@127.0.0.1
I wish you'd delurk more often, great post.
Until the early 1990s.
>
>Two things happened to pique my interest.
The second was country music videos. Those few
>I saw in the 1980s were terrible, almost amateurish afterthoughts, and they
>left no lasting impression. Then I caught "The Dance" by Garth Brooks.
Yep,
>it was Garth who got me listening to country music with a broader mind than
>I had ever listened to it before.
Interesting you would say that. When my
non-country fan friends express an interest in country, and I want to sort
of "ease" them into what it's all about, I always play "The Dance." I'm far
from a Garth fanatic, and I didn't care for a lot of his later music too
much, but I will always believe one of the greatest things he has done is
help bring an entirely new audience to the genre, and like the Chicks today,
he did it without ever leaving county music behind. However big he got, wherever
he went Garth was a Country Singer, and never ashamed of it.
I found myself crying the first time I
>saw the video for "The Dance," with its evocation of the Challenger
>explosion (a tragedy that affected me deeply for reasons I still don't fully
>understand).
The video makes me cry to this day. For me, it's more the images of JFK (and
now JFK Jr.) and MLK that affect me. I'm
likely older than you.
("Don't Rock the Jukebox" by Alan Jackson was another turning
>point for me), and I started listening to a lot more than Garth.
>
>Looking back, I now figure that I was tuning in to one of several truly
>golden ages for country music. The early 1990s were a truly diverse and
>exciting time for the genre, even on the radio. There was more "rockin'
"
>music that the rock stations played (such as "It Only Hurts Me When I Cry"
>by Dwight Yoakam and "Every Little Thing" by Carlene Carter and "Tell Me
>Why" by Wynonna and "Take Your Memory With You" by Vince Gill), the ballads
>were better than the pop tripe ("I Still Believe in You" by Vince, "The
>Woman Before Me" by Trisha Yearwood), and then there were the transcendent
>records like "Maybe It Was Memphis" by Pam Tillis... All of this and more
>shattered all my stereotypes about country music.
I agree. The early 90's were, in my opinion, one of the really great times
for country music. As you said there seem to be fewer gems today, and I think
really almost all of the artists
that were making incredible music in the early 90's, just aren't making quite
as good music today, with a few exceptions, of course. As I've said before,
it's not so much pop vs. country as it is quality vs. non-quality. But then
a song like "I Hope
You Dance" comes along.
clfr...@my-deja.com
ehf...@aol.com (Ehfclub) wrote:
> When did you "realize" country wasn't cool to everybody or did you?
> When
> Barbara Mandrell came out with the song?
I grew up on Long Island, and my first exposure was the
series "Hee Haw," which was unfortunate because my young
mind couldn't distinguish parody from reality. I watched
mostly due to some vague and unrealized attraction to the
women on the show (Barbi Benton comes to mind).
Historians a thousand years from now will probably see
that show as propaganda for a cultural pogram against
Appalachian/Ozark people that history somehow forgot to
record. (I haven't seen the show since the late seventies,
so maybe it wasn't as bad as I remembered. I remember
thinking Barbara Mandrell's effort with her sisters was a
vast improvement.)
My mother moved back to Norfolk where she grew up when I
was a teenager, and I noticed country music was very
popular there. I first heard Crystal Gayle and Kenny
Rogers on top 40 stations and didn't realize they were
country stars at first.
As an adult, I rediscovered country through my liking of
folk and Americana, and isolated artist like Tanya and
Billie Jo Spears and the Judds.
--
Craig Franck
Dover, NH
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Tim Neely
joe...@127.0.0.1 wrote in message <3a2a9212$1...@spamkiller.newsfeeds.com>...
>
>"Tim Neely" <che...@gglbbs.com> wrote:
>
>Interesting you would say that. When my
>non-country fan friends express an interest in country, and I want to sort
>of "ease" them into what it's all about, I always play "The Dance." I'm far
>from a Garth fanatic, and I didn't care for a lot of his later music too
>much,
Me neither. His first three albums (self-titled debut, No Fences, Ropin' the
Wind) are excellent, and probably did more to broaden country's audience
than any other three albums in country history. But he seems to be content
to coast since he first hit the top of the pop album charts with the third
of those. That said, he's come up with at least one gem since the early
days: "The Beaches of Cheyenne."
but I will always believe one of the greatest things he has done is
>help bring an entirely new audience to the genre, and like the Chicks
today,
>he did it without ever leaving county music behind. However big he got,
wherever
>he went Garth was a Country Singer, and never ashamed of it.
Absolutely. The only time I *ever* heard Garth on a pop station was when an
open-minded Top 40-type station (WPST out of Trenton, NJ) played his version
of "Shameless," the Billy Joel song. And I think they played it *once*. I
still have never heard the Chicks on a pop station.
>
As you said there seem to be fewer gems today, and I think
>really almost all of the artists
>that were making incredible music in the early 90's, just aren't making
quite
>as good music today, with a few exceptions, of course. As I've said before,
>it's not so much pop vs. country as it is quality vs. non-quality. But then
>a song like "I Hope
>You Dance" comes along.
>
When I was on the East Coast during the Thanksgiving holiday, that song
seemed to be all over the radio on the pop stations! I've never become tired
of it.
Tim Neely
Goldmine magazine
PurPle STAiN
> Tim Neely
> Goldmine magazine
Balecox
"Queen of Hearts," "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me"<<<
Agreed! Some of my favorites among the crossover tunes! Remember the funny
video Juice did on "Hard On Me"?
Patsi
Balecox
genre of music again. Country, especially on radio, has gone through some
rough times the last several years. But the nuggets to be found are so shiny
and valuable that it's worth digging through the dross to find them.
<<<
Tim -- a very thoughtful statement. It's absolutely worth digging for the
gems....and thanks to this newsgroup I've discovered many I didn't know
existed. (Of course, you have to dig through some troll posts to find the
legitimate recommendations...but what the hell?
Patsi
Tim Neely
PurPle STAiN wrote in message <90fdq7$3tv$1...@taliesin.netcom.net.uk>...
>Do you know Chuck Miller?
>
Tim Neely
Goldmine magazine
Johnny^v^
apparently write:
My fav of his: Whipped Cream.
--
-John
Johnny^v^
<gyr...@gyrogearloose.com> did apparently write:
1966. I was just a kid. I begged and begged my dad, and he bought
me the album. It cost about $2 back then ... LOL
--
-John
PurPle STAiN
news:3a2bf...@news.siscom.net...
> >
>
> Tim Neely
> Goldmine magazine
He did a great article on Al, nailed Dave's ass real well. :-)
Stan
PurPle STAiN
news:k9fo2tkc9r1pqmsg6...@4ax.com...
> On or about 03 Dec 2000 11:54:58 GMT, bal...@aol.com (Balecox) did
> apparently write:
>
> >>>>Herb Alpert<<<
> >
> >Ditto that. I've always loved his music. More as background but GREAT
> >background.
>
>
> My fav of his: Whipped Cream.
Ya'll just like him because he owns the record company. You should like
Carl Finch for that reason too. :-)
Stan