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SpeedRacer

WTF is wrong with Mainstream Country Radio

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Nashville has gone 'cookie cutter' singers. They all sound alike, look alike and dress alike. One song sounds like the other. The easily recogniseable sounds of country music ended with the end of the 1980's. All the 'real' country singers went to Branson. or just faded away.


Chuck

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I pretty much can't stand country music, but the only singer I could tolerate because it sounded good, was Alan Jackson's "Down the Chattahoochie" or something like that.

That's saying something, coming from a fucking deaf dude.... :P

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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I get my fix of (alt)-country on KEXP ... now that I'm not living in Seattle I listen online.

Wednesday night - The Roadhouse
Thursday night - Swingin' Doors
Friday night - Shake The Shack

All are some variation of country/blues/roots stuff (Swingin' Doors is the most "pure" country in there). I won't listen to country radio, ever, but I love what KEXP plays.

Check it out:

http://kexp.org/streamarchive/streamarchive.asp
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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Why, you said it yourself: MAINSTREAM. Don't you know that the majority of radio stations out there are owned by only one or two companies? Don't you realize that it's in their ADVERTISERS BEST INTEREST that they keep things "dumbed down" so that they can appeal to the lowest common denominator! BTW, it doesn't matter what the format is but it seems the most common is "light rock" love songs by women for women working in the office, capable of bringing on a diabetic coma in a matter of seconds it's so sweet... :(

It seems your only alternative is either on-line, satellite radio (XM/Serius has at least 4 or 5 different C&W stations), or download to your own personal listening device.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

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See, now that is cool stuff, like Loretta Lynn's collaboration with Jack White on Van Lear Rose. Interesting that the more innovative stuff is coming from the older folks in country and the younger artists from different genres.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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I prefer the 'un-amplified' country music. The older Bluegrass bands, hill music and the music out of the Carolinas. There are some newer groups like 'The Old Crow Medicine Show' and 'The Carolina Chocolate drops' who put-out some 'original' roots-based, Country music. Jimmy Dale Gilmour and Alvin Crow put-out some good stuff!


Chuck

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Nashville has gone 'cookie cutter' singers. They all sound alike, look alike and dress alike. One song sounds like the other. The easily recogniseable sounds of country music ended with the end of the 1980's. All the 'real' country singers went to Branson. or just faded away.



Chuck, I imagine you are old enough to know this already, but you might drum up a conversation or two with some of the kids about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakersfield_sound

I'm not a country music kind of person, but I find the history interesting, and why this happened in California of all places.

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You bet! Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Dwight Yokum, really made a big impression on Country music in California. The recorded in California and brought the 'country' back to Country music. When I lived in California, back in the '70's, there were a lot of country music beer joints and is still popular in many parts of the Golden State. Then, there's the Lone star State, with it's so many contributors to Country. Everything had to go through Nashville until people like Waylon Jennings literally told Nashville to go F*** themselves and recorded on their own and recorded 'their' music. Nashville still, has a strong hold on country but, not like it did.


Chuck

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WTF is wrong with Mainstream Country Radio


Maybe cause it's country? [:/]


No, it's not country music. If you compare "Mainstream Country" woth the Rock & Roll of the late 50's (the Devils' Music), Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and all the rest would seem like a church chior.
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

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Here's the poop.... MTV bought out the Nashville Network and promptly shit canned it. Then they focused all the attention on CMT... Rock & Roll with a Cowboy Hat on. Throw in a couple of bubble-gum little twits with fake titties like Taylor Swift, and Kelly Pickler, and you have the lowest common denominator all ready for the stupid listening masses. None of these people can sing outside of the studio and digital enhancements. I lived in Nashville, toured the world and played professionally for 20 years. Dont get me started...... Long live Merle Haggard.
Is it illegal to yell "MOVIE" in a crowded firehouse?

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Why, you said it yourself: MAINSTREAM. Don't you know that the majority of radio stations out there are owned by only one or two companies? Don't you realize that it's in their ADVERTISERS BEST INTEREST that they keep things "dumbed down" so that they can appeal to the lowest common denominator! BTW, it doesn't matter what the format is but it seems the most common is "light rock" love songs by women for women working in the office, capable of bringing on a diabetic coma in a matter of seconds it's so sweet... :(
.



I think that's a good observation. They should call it "Office Country".
Speed Racer
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I lived in Nashville, toured the world and played professionally for 20 years. Dont get me started...... Long live Merle Haggard.



Thanks to YouTube, because that's one of the few places to hear the real thing if you're not in Nashville or Branson.
Outlaw country and chicken pickers like Albert Lee took country to its apex. It's been downhill ever since on the airwaves.
1st jump August 6, 1977.
Last jump July 8, 2006.

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See, now that is cool stuff, like Loretta Lynn's collaboration with Jack White on Van Lear Rose. Interesting that the more innovative stuff is coming from the older folks in country and the younger artists from different genres.



The Highwaymen - what’s old is new again, again, eh?

(Tangent: Jennings’ voice at that time is his career makes me melt. His narration is one of the best parts of old Dukes of Hazard reruns. :)

-- - --- - --

W/r/t the subject line question: I don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with mainstream radio. Is it formulaic? Sure. Do some like that composition? Yes, one can see that in other genres as well.

I like Carlene Carter's latest release a lot, but it's not getting much airplay. My favorite track, "Bring Love" doesn't even have a decent you tube video to link. [:/]

As was mentioned, yhe internet offers fabulous access to non-commercial media, e.g., through iTunes. I’ve been listening and donating to Santa Monica’s KCRW for years, which doesn’t really play much country, ... but since the 1990s, Jason Bentley’s “Metropolis” has been one of the best shows for new music of a more urban … but not rap/hip-hop … variety, imo. Bentley’s another guy with a fabulous voice, but I don’t like “Morning Becomes Eclectic” as much as the old “Metropolis.” Nothing ‘wrong’ with it, just my personal preference.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

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