Thanks for the link. I always enjoy a read like this but I am going to say that I disagree a fair bit. The item posted is an attack on mainstream Country the way I read it with the political angle thrown in. Please bear in mind I am writing this reply from another country and am looking in from the outside. I am happy to be corrected if I have got anything wrong or are generalising.
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Originally Posted by mr dave
country music has been 'dying' since it's younger generations focused on twang-ified pop tunes for CMT, or heavy handed 'patriotic' tunes that would get anyone else labeled a bigot.
this election did nothing to change the state of the style if anything it's only showing the divide between what it was and what it's become.
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I don't know if it is 'dying' per se but it sure has an image profile issue outside of it's own audience. As you imply the 'patriotic' implications within certain confines of the audience is nauseous to say the least. There are a lot of great artists in the country genre but they, with the rare exception, are not receiving the publicity that they deserve. Your right "twang-ified pop tunes for CMT" are the mainstream and that is what the vast majority are into. We know that to be true of all genres.
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Originally Posted by mr dave
much in the same way that if you want to hear good rock music the best thing you can do is turn off the radio/tv the same applies for country music.
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I agree but that just proves that the article posted is just an attack on the mainstream. Lets have Rolling Stone writers attack Andre Rui. He is touring Australia and shifting units in record numbers in both ticket, CD and DVD sales. I have read the more elite press get themselves very narked as to what he produces, one item in defence of him called him Wiggles for adults. Cut the politics out and in a sense there is a "Classical music is at a low ebb" feel. FWIW I could not care less. Most music after a while loses it's vitality when the adventurous mainstream becomes but a poor image of it's once glorious self. That is why the vast majority of music lover chat on sites like this so as to escape the mainstream and look beyond.
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Originally Posted by Janszoon
Great article. I'm definitely with the author that the state of modern country music is pretty awful and I think it's been that way since at least the 80s.
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I disagree that modern country is awful. As I stated above I think that the mainstream gets tired after a while but at a roots level there is plenty that is vital. I think that there is a massive amount of alternative Country that is worth exploring for anyone with an open mind. Giant Sands, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Callexico, Lambchop are just a couple of names that spring to mind.
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Originally Posted by Janszoon
Also, that Ronald Reagan quote, "one of only a very few forms that we can claim as purely American" made me laugh. I guess there's a reason he's not remembered as any kind of cultural historian.
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Indeed.
To add to what I have written above I purchased 2 CD's last weekend by 2 Country bands both out of my home town Brisbane Australia. One by a band of local muso's who got together and in three days recorded a Bluegrass style album, the other by a duo who's style is more morose and sparse. The independent store I purchased them at told me that they had both been selling very well just by airplay on one radio station and word of mouth. This to me is where it is at. Vital Country music made at a grass roots level. Not an item proclaiming the mainstream death of a genre for political purposes.
Both CD's lay on me desk at work, I get to listen to music through headphones at work lucky me, and a workmate picked them up to have a look. "What type of music?" he asked, Alt Country I replied and I preceded to get the "Dog and the truck and the wife" and the Blues Brother scene. All good fun but it just showed that the image sure has a problem.