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I came to the same conclusion myself not to long ago. Who particular is it you seem to like? I'm particularly fond of Keith Urban myself.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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He seems cool. I like the female singers best. Some folks in Colorado indoctrinated me into the country scene quite a bit. Today the best songs so far I've heard were- Blain Larson-The Best Man (It had such sweet lyrics!) Josh Turner-My Man (He had a nice voice) Vant Zant or something. The song was Nobody Gonna Tell me What to do. And I heard a funny song i forgot to write down with some man mad at a woman for not liking country music, I wonder how i'd feel about dating someone that could not understand the EXCELLENT that is Dir en grey.
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His story about opening for Hall and Oates (down a little ways on the left side of the page) is awesome.
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Elizabeth, you might enjoy Corb Lund. He is a quite successful Albertan roots country artist. He has some samples at his site.
Corb is based out of Edmonton, where I live. In interviews he has said that he doesn't really love the recording process but does it so that he can get out on the road and play live.
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I define "country" as "music they play on my local country music stations," and I like it. I prefer women singers, and I least prefer slow songs by male singers. I like Mary Chapin-Carpenter, though it's been a while since I heard anything new from her (ditto Reba), Sugarland, and Garth Brooks. And then there are a lot of people who have one or two songs that I like, though I don't like all their stuff. Like, I don't like Tim McGraw, but I love "My Next Thirty Years."
-o-
What I love about country music is the broader variety of subject matter than just about any other form of popular music: parenthood, nostalgia, regret, religion, aging, relationship with your own parents, and, oh yeah, being in love and being out of love. I also love the wit that is commonplace in country lyrics and almost absent, these days, from any other kind of popular music. I also like the down home humility of the genre.
What I don't care for about country are overtly preachy songs, whether they are religiously preachy or politically preachy. (e.g., Toby Keith) And, as I mentioned, country ballads by guys are often way oversentimental.
-o-
Do I detect a note of country music snobbery in this thread? That's just funny to me! Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Toby Keith annoys the hell out of me now. I liked him back when he sang songs like "Shoulda Been a Cowboy" but now it's all about the red white n blue kickin' Saddam's ass. And that isn't appealing at all to me.
I like the people that were popular a decade ago. Reba, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, Alabama, John Michael Montgomery, Pam Tillis, Mary Chapain Carpenter, Little Texas, a little bit of Tim McGraw, a lot of Vince Gill and Clint Black. Martina Mcbride, Faith Hill. But not most of their newer stuff.
And I've seen all of them in concert at least once. Almost half a dozen times in the case of Alabama. New country is too pop for me.
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quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: I like the Texas singer-songwriter kind of country, but not the CMT kind of country.
That's almost the exact same distinction I have in my head - Nashville country and Texas country.
I'm a lot more familiar with Nshville country and there are a lot of artists and songs I like, even though I'm not willing to buy many albums. Like Lyrhawn, I prefer what was being put out 10 years ago. Now, the little I hear coming out of Nashville just sound like pale imitations. And it all sounds the same to me. I'm sure there's still some good music being made, but it doesn't get played on the radio, so it's hard to find. Some 'mainstream' artists that haven't been mentioned that I like are the Dixie Chicks, the Warren Brothers, George Strait, Sawyer Brown, Diamond Rio and a couple others.
Texas country in general I like much better, but I don't know scene nearly as well (even though I live in Austin, which can be considered the heart of the Texas country scene...). My favorite group in this category is the Old 97's. They're an alt-country band out of Dallas that have amazing songs and lyrics and are one of the best performance bands I've ever seen. They're most recent albums have been more pop/rock with a twang than anything else, but it's still good music. If you're interested, you con listen to some of their songs in the discography section of their website (www.old97s.com). Of the available songs, I particularly like Indefinitely, Lonely Holiday and Big Brown Eyes.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I can't really tell the difference. I really like a lot of bluegrass like the stuff they were playing in Cold Mountain. I've always loved, "I'm so Lonesome I could Cry by Hank Williams Sr." When I was a kid I liked the Judd's a lot. Living in Alabama made me hate country for a long time, but it's not so bad. Faith Hill is spiffy and Tim McGraw. And I like Garth Brooks except he does commercials for Wal-mart (So does Queen Latifah, but she's cool, she's not country obviously) but he did that VH1 thing and had really, really stupid looking hair. And the Dixie Chicks are nice. Their Earl song makes me giggle and their version of Landslide is nto so bad. I guess country has become a bit more mainstream or something. Really patriotic country music scares me for some reason. But, dang, are my music tasts vast. I just don't seem to like gangsta rap. Stereotypically speaking, I should, but it's always gotten on my nerves. Though eminem is rather interesting, I just don't like rap.
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I adore Reba McEntire. I loved watching her show, and I love most of her music. There's something about her voice.
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And, apparently, it is "country pop" that I do not care for. Is that snobbery? Not sure. I guess I call it preference.
"The Nashville Sound The prime example of what is also known as Country Pop and by the 70s became Countrypolitain. By the late fifties it was time to take the smell of hillbillies and whiskey out of Country in order to find a larger audience and reap millions."
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: "The Nashville Sound The prime example of what is also known as Country Pop and by the 70s became Countrypolitain. By the late fifties it was time to take the smell of hillbillies and whiskey out of Country in order to find a larger audience and reap millions."
But, I like the smell of whiskey! Hillbillies, on the other hand...
And Synethesia -
I agree that sometimes the twang can be a little much but at the same time there are some songs that absolutely need the twang.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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A favorite folk/bluegrass/country band of mine is Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, a group out of Utah, that has recently gone national. Their songs have a lot of wit and and they are amazing in concert--tons of energy. Ryan Shupe and the Rubber bandPosts: 234 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Liz, I didn't say your name. I was simply referring to the fact that, despite having two country stations on my presets, I had heard of less than a quarter of the bands that had been named before my post.
I enjoyed the Hall & Oates story, and the quote that you posted.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Oh, I know you didn't say my name, I was just thinking thatmy lack of love for the "country pop" came across as snobbery.
My plan was to listen to the country station on the way to my son's soccer game, but the stupid radio was on the fritz.
I guess I like my music more on the raw end of things, and perhaps it is the glam of the Nashville scene that turns me off.
Then again, i love the Dixie Chicks, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. (though I have always thought of her more as folk.) And I loved Patty Loveless when we saw her at GrassRoots. She patted my son's head.
Hmm. Icarus, maybe I should check the calendar...
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I like Corb! He would be great to listen to and sing with kids.
I have heard of The Duhks but have never listened to them. I will check out their site though. Thanks for the link.
My 3 year old son was in the car with my wife the other day when the Corb Lund Band song "Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer" came on and he listened for a while before saying "Are they gonna play the Truck Got Stuck song soon?"
We have no idea how he would have picked up the fact that the two were by the same band. He had probably only heard "Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer" once before. He does love "The Truck Got Stuck" though.
I think that Corb's best album is "Five Dollar Bill" but the new one is quite good as well.
He took an interesting route to country music. He was a junior bull rider in his teens down in southern Alberta. He moved to Edmonton to study Jazz. He played bass and wrote songs for a pretty successful indie punk-metal band that toured extensively in Canada. That band, the Smalls, was my first exposure to Corb. They released 4 albums over their 10 or so year existence, all of which are great if you like heavy punk (with a tinge of country influence).
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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So, I checked out the samples available on The Duhks website. They are probably not something I would listen to often. Not that they lack talent. It is just that they are pretty mellow and that pace of music is just not something I would pick regualarly. I think I would probably appreciate them more live than in a studio recording format.
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Country, to me, is a catch-all for a wide range of sounds, from the steel guitar/trains and ol' dogs type of music to uh, whatever you might call Big & Rich. There is often a fiddle featured in at least some of the band's music (usually stripped out when the remix a country song for the top 40 radio). I like the traditionalists just as much as the rock-inspired artists.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I like some country artists, but can't seem to listen to a country music radio station. About every third song ends up making me cry my eyes out, and it's just too emotionally wearing.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I'd have to say I am a huge fan of Texas Country. Although I can't define exactly what that is. Though some of my favorite bands I would consider texas country.
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I saw Pat Greene on Austin City Limits and LOVED him.
Solo, I have only seen the Duhks live, actually. No, that is not true, I have one album. I guess they are pretty mellow. On the online links, though, her voice didn't sound so hot. Too tinny.
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