I seem to recall Dean Martin (on his show) introducing the Rolling Stones for a song and stating, "I've been rolled when I was stoned" which had me thinking it was still a grog related impairment.
-
AFLW 2024 - Round 6 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Country Music
- Thread starter Mitchell Madness
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Lol for so Long I thought rainy day women was another word for a mistress
Actually, by the time Waylon came out with his 'Rainy Day Woman' in the mid 70's, he most probably was literally meaning it as a woman he sees when feeling blue - but the lyrics could work either way.
Thats what I thought as Waylon wasn’t a pot man. Perhaps his version of a “rainy say woman” is a big brick of peruvian booga sugar
I'm back to the history series, but no artist or actual music today - just a pause and a summary of where this is at as we proceeds into the 1980's. If you've followed this whole history through, I've occasionally paused the music to include a general piece outlining where things were at with country music at the time. Examples are -
Post # 146 - The Grand Ole Opry as the catalyst for the rise of Nashville as "Music City".
Post # 175 - The "Motherchurch of country music", Thé Ryman Auditorium.
Post # 354 - Chet Atkins and the development of the Nashville Sound.
Post # 404 - Rise of the Nashville Sound, and the death of the first wave of Rock'n'roll in the late 1950's.
Post # 455 - The Bakersfield Sound of the early 1960's.
Post # 527 - Rehash of the 1960's and setting the scene for the 1970's.
Post # 528 - Influence of the Mississippi Delta
Post # 772 - The rise of the Outlaws, what they were - and were not (busting a few modern day myths).
In addition, post # 181 on Bill Monroe briefly outlined his development of the new sub-genre of Bluegrass, while post # 908 on Mickey Gilley and post # 1,004 on Johnny Lee looks at the influence of the the movie Urban Cowboy on the rise of pop-country.
The Outlaw movement was already declining by 1978 when Waylon's hit song 'Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand' attributed the decline to pressures from drug (cocaine) use. The movement was falling victim to the same pigeonholing and commercialisation as mainstream country music; Mickey Newbury, a prominent influence on many outlaw artists, rejected the "outlaw" label, stating "I quit playing cowboys when I grew up". Hank Williams also noted in his song 'All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)', that many of the core "outlaws" were growing up and older, abandoning the drugs and hard partying that had driven much of their lives in the 1970s in favour of their home lives and other healthier pursuits. As we have seen here, by 1980 mainstream country music was practically dominated by country pop artists and crossover acts, as epitomised and further popularised by the Urban Cowboy movie.
But by the mid-1980s, country music audiences - even the suburban middle class that got drawn in by pop-country) were beginning to tire of it (maybe just like the followers of this thread?), and by 1985, a NYT article declared country music "dead". The emergence of Neo-Traditionalism changed all that. As the 1980's progressed, a new crop of country artists emerged who eschewed the pop-laden sounds of Nashville. Neo-traditional country took inspiration from country music's traditional roots and particularly emphasised the instrumental background (in contrast to pop influences like synthesisers and disco drum machines etc) and a traditional country vocal style. In addition, the neo-traditional movement encompassed stage presence. Many neo-traditional artists sported styles typical of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
While this sort of creative renaissance can be attributed to a talented new bunch of country artists, quite a lot of it was also due to a fresh influx of Nashville music executives. Many of these new names came far from Music Row, the established group of labels who dictated what country music was supposed to sound like. Some of these new execs, including Garth Fundis and Jimmy Bowen, were producers and working studio musicians with strong foundations in classic country music.
The new batch of artists found inspiration especially the honky tonk-tinged sounds of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell (one artist in particular based his sound on Lefty), Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, amongst others and also, in Texas, from the western swing of Bob Wills, while others looked to the bluegrass that Bill Monroe developed from its Appalachian roots. But this new style of country music blended the old school instrumentation with contemporary, smooth production (hence "neo") - afterall the goal wasn't really to resurrect the music of the past but to use the past as a base to develop a new commercially successful sound, appealing to modern-day listeners on radio - and the charts showed people took a liking to the more traditional sound.
There wasn't one sound that defined the Neo-Traditional movement, as different artists made use of different influences -
Bluegrass
Honky tonk
The Blues
Bakersfield Sound
Texas country/dancehall
Western Swing
Rockabilly
But whichever influence or influences the artist chose, an emphasis on traditional instrumental accompaniment (in whole or at least in part - keep in mind the sound was aimed to appeal to the contemporary commercial market of the 1980's, not just re-create the past), was an essential element of the Neo-Traditional movement.
The first Neo-Traditional artist who actually broke through with some chart topping hits did so as early as 1982 - hence he will be coming up next in this history series - but the movement didn't really fully hit its strive until the mid 1980's. So that means the history series ain't quite completely done with pop-country just yet - but it mostly has. Anyway, I'll be back in a couple of days with the first of the neo-traditional performers.
Post # 146 - The Grand Ole Opry as the catalyst for the rise of Nashville as "Music City".
Post # 175 - The "Motherchurch of country music", Thé Ryman Auditorium.
Post # 354 - Chet Atkins and the development of the Nashville Sound.
Post # 404 - Rise of the Nashville Sound, and the death of the first wave of Rock'n'roll in the late 1950's.
Post # 455 - The Bakersfield Sound of the early 1960's.
Post # 527 - Rehash of the 1960's and setting the scene for the 1970's.
Post # 528 - Influence of the Mississippi Delta
Post # 772 - The rise of the Outlaws, what they were - and were not (busting a few modern day myths).
In addition, post # 181 on Bill Monroe briefly outlined his development of the new sub-genre of Bluegrass, while post # 908 on Mickey Gilley and post # 1,004 on Johnny Lee looks at the influence of the the movie Urban Cowboy on the rise of pop-country.
The Outlaw movement was already declining by 1978 when Waylon's hit song 'Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand' attributed the decline to pressures from drug (cocaine) use. The movement was falling victim to the same pigeonholing and commercialisation as mainstream country music; Mickey Newbury, a prominent influence on many outlaw artists, rejected the "outlaw" label, stating "I quit playing cowboys when I grew up". Hank Williams also noted in his song 'All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)', that many of the core "outlaws" were growing up and older, abandoning the drugs and hard partying that had driven much of their lives in the 1970s in favour of their home lives and other healthier pursuits. As we have seen here, by 1980 mainstream country music was practically dominated by country pop artists and crossover acts, as epitomised and further popularised by the Urban Cowboy movie.
But by the mid-1980s, country music audiences - even the suburban middle class that got drawn in by pop-country) were beginning to tire of it (maybe just like the followers of this thread?), and by 1985, a NYT article declared country music "dead". The emergence of Neo-Traditionalism changed all that. As the 1980's progressed, a new crop of country artists emerged who eschewed the pop-laden sounds of Nashville. Neo-traditional country took inspiration from country music's traditional roots and particularly emphasised the instrumental background (in contrast to pop influences like synthesisers and disco drum machines etc) and a traditional country vocal style. In addition, the neo-traditional movement encompassed stage presence. Many neo-traditional artists sported styles typical of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
While this sort of creative renaissance can be attributed to a talented new bunch of country artists, quite a lot of it was also due to a fresh influx of Nashville music executives. Many of these new names came far from Music Row, the established group of labels who dictated what country music was supposed to sound like. Some of these new execs, including Garth Fundis and Jimmy Bowen, were producers and working studio musicians with strong foundations in classic country music.
The new batch of artists found inspiration especially the honky tonk-tinged sounds of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell (one artist in particular based his sound on Lefty), Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, amongst others and also, in Texas, from the western swing of Bob Wills, while others looked to the bluegrass that Bill Monroe developed from its Appalachian roots. But this new style of country music blended the old school instrumentation with contemporary, smooth production (hence "neo") - afterall the goal wasn't really to resurrect the music of the past but to use the past as a base to develop a new commercially successful sound, appealing to modern-day listeners on radio - and the charts showed people took a liking to the more traditional sound.
There wasn't one sound that defined the Neo-Traditional movement, as different artists made use of different influences -
Bluegrass
Honky tonk
The Blues
Bakersfield Sound
Texas country/dancehall
Western Swing
Rockabilly
But whichever influence or influences the artist chose, an emphasis on traditional instrumental accompaniment (in whole or at least in part - keep in mind the sound was aimed to appeal to the contemporary commercial market of the 1980's, not just re-create the past), was an essential element of the Neo-Traditional movement.
The first Neo-Traditional artist who actually broke through with some chart topping hits did so as early as 1982 - hence he will be coming up next in this history series - but the movement didn't really fully hit its strive until the mid 1980's. So that means the history series ain't quite completely done with pop-country just yet - but it mostly has. Anyway, I'll be back in a couple of days with the first of the neo-traditional performers.
Monocle
And the rebuild begins.
- Sep 18, 2003
- 12,142
- 38,062
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Claremont NE Patriots Eagles AFLW
What an absolutely totally shit month it’s been for Country Music fans.
Firstly with the passing of J D Souther and then the best Country Music songwriter EVER Kris Kristofferson.
Fell on love with KK’s music in my late teens and been a fan and student of his work ever since.
Both will be up there in that Honky Tonk in the sky, listening to Hank, having a drink with Merle and waiting on Willie to turn up
latter with something to smoke.
As I said, it’s been a sad month.
While I knew this was coming as his health has reportedly been in decline for some time now, it still hurts and has hit me hard.
The lyrics he penned, what a wordsmith and poet.
He was able to write and deliver melancholy, with a level of sophistication and depth.
He had the ability to see and appreciate life as it is, made up with many layers and parts.
He described life’s challenges in word so eloquently and yet so poignantly, that his songs resonated with people from all positions and stations of life and that’s called, mastery of communication.
His passing also opens up another of life’s vagaries, how can you miss someone you never met, so much.
Firstly with the passing of J D Souther and then the best Country Music songwriter EVER Kris Kristofferson.
Fell on love with KK’s music in my late teens and been a fan and student of his work ever since.
Both will be up there in that Honky Tonk in the sky, listening to Hank, having a drink with Merle and waiting on Willie to turn up
latter with something to smoke.
As I said, it’s been a sad month.
While I knew this was coming as his health has reportedly been in decline for some time now, it still hurts and has hit me hard.
The lyrics he penned, what a wordsmith and poet.
He was able to write and deliver melancholy, with a level of sophistication and depth.
He had the ability to see and appreciate life as it is, made up with many layers and parts.
He described life’s challenges in word so eloquently and yet so poignantly, that his songs resonated with people from all positions and stations of life and that’s called, mastery of communication.
His passing also opens up another of life’s vagaries, how can you miss someone you never met, so much.
Last edited:
Wow - I never expected the Country Roland Band to appear in this thread! Unless one's been to the mostly Spanish speaking South Texas, how does one get to know of them. This band, mixing Spanish lyrics with traditional Mexican, Tejano and Texan country influences (often including the Ray Price shuffle beat), probably had their peak popularity in the 1970's and '89's, with singer Rolando Garcia Jr, using the name "Country Roland", becoming very well known across the Texas South and even beyond. The last 10 years has seen something of a revival in the band under Rolando's son, Rolando Garcia Jr, who has inherited the "Country Roland" name after Senior passed away in 2012.. Of course, it helps to know some Spanish to fully follow their music.
Actually, I'm a bit of a fan of the hybrid Latin/Country Tejano music that evolved in South Texas - keeping in mind that Tejanos, descendants of Spanish and Mexican settlers, were in Texas well before the first Anglo-Americans arrived (at this stage, I better avoid being sidetracked into a long rundown of Texan history, and/or an even longer discourse on Texan music history - there are just too many elements to cover). Suffice to say that two of the great Tejano singers, who had big hits performing in a mix of English and Spanish, made it into the history series -
Johnny Rodriguez (posts # 713-716) and Freddy Fender (posts # 764-766),
Now that song, 'Haya En El Rancho Grando' is a Mexican ranchero mariachi standard about the simple joys of ranch life with a bit of humour thrown in. Bing Crosby had a # 6 hit in 1939 with a half English half Spanish rumba version. Gene Autry sang it in one of his cowboy films and recorded it before going off to fly bombers in WW2. Amongst others, Elvis Presley and Dean Martin also recorded it. In Country Roland's version, he's thrown in verses from some famous country songs -
'Pistol Packin Mama', a big 1943 hit for Al Dexter, was also covered by Bing Crosby..
'Blue Moon Of Kentucky', the only non-Texan song snippet here) is a bluegrass waltz written and recorded by the founder of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe in 1947, and later recorded as an up-tempo 4/4 version by Elvis Presley as the B-side of 'That's All Right Mama', becoming his second big hit.
Heaps have recorded it since, even Paul McCartney.
'Drivin Nails In My Coffin' was originally released in 1945 by Jerry Irby and became a hit in 1946 for both Floyd Tillman (# 2) and Ernest Tubb (# 5). Charley Crockett also released a worthy version a couple of years ago.
'Walk-in The Floor Over You' was penned and recorded by Ernest Tubb in 1941 and eventually sold over a million. It's credited with establishing honky tonk as a major country music sub-genre.
Last edited:
