Country Music Fans. Some recommendations please

[Bodhi303]

Howdy, Bodhi.:tiphat:

Just a head’s up, when you say “old school”, that’s going to be interpreted at least a dozen different ways, depending on who you’re talking to.

For some younger folks, “old school” is gonna be Randy Travis, George Straight, Vince Gill, Dwight Yoakam, etc. Most of that generation are active, and many are collaborating with younger artists. For others, “old school” will be the “Bakersfield sound/Texas sound/outlaw” boys like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., David Allan Coe, etc. Some of these guys have passed on and some are still alive and kicking. Then you’ve got the truly older genres/subgenres like “Nashville sound” (Patsy Cline), Honky Tonk (Hank Williams Sr.), Cowboy (Gene Autry), etc.

Personally, I gravitate toward the more raw sounds. I prefer honky tonk, bluegrass, outlaw, etc. to the smoother, overly-produced (IMO) Nashville sounds. But that’s personal preference. Also, many older folks often lament the influence of pop and R&B sounds in country, but I think it can be done well or poorly.

Outlaw?? That sounds interesting. Who should I listen to to explore outlaw? Also bluegrass seems to have peaked my interest from an earlier post. But if I wanted to listen to a more current version who should I look into? Thanks

PS Im defining current as A.D. (Aldean to Dixie Chicks)

 

[babochka]

Outlaw?? That sounds interesting. Who should I listen to to explore outlaw? Also bluegrass seems to have peaked my interest from an earlier post. But if I wanted to listen to a more current version who should I look into? Thanks

PS Im defining current as A.D. (Aldean to Dixie Chicks)

For outlaw, I’d start with Willie and Waylon.

 

[Norm_The_Robot]

For outlaw, I’d start with Willie and Waylon.

I’d say more Waylon than Willie. Waylon Jennings is THE COUNTRY OUTLAW!!! Look into Bakersfield Sound as well… Buck Owens is good stuff. Dwight Yokum too. He’s got some great tunes. The Streets of Bakersfield is one of my favorites.

On the topic of Pandora, it is really smart and based on artists you seed into a particular station and the songs you thumb up/thumb down it narrows down the sorts of music you like best… style, tempo, key, type of vocals, type of instrumentation, etc all get figured into the algorithm and eventually it will rarely give you a song you do not like, even when giving you songs from an artist you have never heard of… it knows what you like.

 

[Havard]

Outlaw?? That sounds interesting. Who should I listen to to explore outlaw? Also bluegrass seems to have peaked my interest from an earlier post. But if I wanted to listen to a more current version who should I look into? Thanks

PS Im defining current as A.D. (Aldean to Dixie Chicks)

I agree with the above recommendations for outlaw.

For younger, more modern bluegrass, check out Punch Brothers or Trampled by Turtles.

 

[Kelfa28]

I’m on the younger side and consider guys like George Strait and Garth Brooks as “old school”.

Believe me, I know I’m off base by several decades there…

My favorite country band is Zac Brown Band…but since you’re looking for other country singers/bands…here are my other favorites:

Miranda Lambert
Toby Keith
Eli Young Band
Kacey Musgraves
Little Big Town
Kenney Chesney
Brad Paisley
Taylor Swift (but only the older stuff she released before she became a major pop star)

I like these country bands/singers because they produce whole albums of music that I actually like and would listen to…as opposed to singles that I happened to like.

Alabama is good and I’ve always loved Johnny Cash

 

[Eddie_Mac]

David Alan Coe
Jerry Jeff Walker
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Lyle Lovett!!!
Robert Earl Keene

Nice!!

Brandon Rhyder
Cory Morrow
Deryl Dodd
Gary P Nunn
Jamie Richards
Larry Joe Taylor
Rodney Crowell
Roger Creager
Kelley Willis
Asleep at the Wheel
Matt Powell

Little that comes out of Nashville is true country music, especially if it has reggae or hip hop in it.

Texas country red dirt music is the real thing.

 

[Joe_McDoakes]

George Jones
Lefty Frizzell
Hank Snow
Jim Reeves
The Louvin Brothers
The Stanley Brothers
The Delmore Brothers

 

[Mirror_Mirror]

There have been a lot of quality suggestions and country music has become so diverse. Each person will have their own flavor. I like a lot of different artists, but my favorite would have to be:

Josh Turner

You spoke in your initial post about front porch sitting, if you decide to do that, do yourself a favor and listen to this song:

Lay Low

You may hit repeat once or a hundred times.

(I have just recently become a Josh Turner fan. He is a very solid Christian family man with 4 kids) He has a very good book out as well.

 

[Mirror_Mirror]

Outlaw?? That sounds interesting. Who should I listen to to explore outlaw? Also bluegrass seems to have peaked my interest from an earlier post. But if I wanted to listen to a more current version who should I look into? Thanks

PS Im defining current as A.D. (Aldean to Dixie Chicks)

A bluegrass song that I really like is Up On The Ridge not like most of the traditional bluegrass songs, but as a big Dierks Bentley fan I dig it!

 

[Bodhi303]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for sharing your passion for Country Music with me. Lots of different perspectives and I appreciated them all. I’ve explored a lot of your recommendations and still have more to go. But I lost track of which genre is which, because Youtube gives you recommendations based on your last selection. And I’ve gotten lost in the wonderful journey. I think I’ve successfully taken a bit of everyone’s recommended flavors and gone with what I like. So far here are a few of the artists or songs Ive grown to love based on everyone’s recommendations

Vintage Country Sounds
“South’s going to do it again” —Charlie Daniels Band
“Wagon Wheel” –Darius Rucker version (My Favorite Song!!!) Had no idea Darius’s career survived after Hootie and the Blowfish
Im looking into Alabama next.

Modern Country Sounds
“Im to blame”–Kip Moore. Felt like a modern take on Outlaw music…Love this track
“Break Up with Him”—Old Dominion. This is a fun, playful track
“Boys Round here” Blake Shelton “Do you do the Dougie? Naw, not in Kentucky” Lyrics of the year!!! LOL! (video was hysterical too)

Still exploring…still learning…taking spices and flavors from everyone’s library and making it my own. So thank you all for sharing your passion

PS
I had no idea that the Monday Night Football song from the 1990s (Hank Williams Jr’s All my Rowdy friends are coming over tonight) was a real song. Lol I thought it was made for just for Football.
#CountryNoob

 

[Bodhi303]

hate to get off topic but Charlie Daniels Band’s song “Simple Man” was a nice song, but one of the lyrics made me feel VERY uncomfortable as a man of color. CD made a reference about drug dealers and hanging them from a noose on a tree. Now…sterotypically people associate black men in their teens as drug dealers, and sterotypically a noose in the south is for black men…Am I reading too much? Any controversy from those lyrics?
I’d hate to stop becoming a fan. Thanks

 

[Havard]

hate to get off topic but Charlie Daniels Band’s song “Simple Man” was a nice song, but one of the lyrics made me feel VERY uncomfortable as a man of color. CD made a reference about drug dealers and hanging them from a noose on a tree. Now…sterotypically people associate black men in their teens as drug dealers, and sterotypically a noose in the south is for black men…Am I reading too much? Any controversy from those lyrics?
I’d hate to stop becoming a fan. Thanks

I don’t like that song either way. I’ll give Charlie Daniels the benefit of the doubt, but even if the racist interpretation wasn’t intended, he should know better. And further, race aside, the whole sentiment of calling for lynchings and more executions isn’t one I can get behind.

Also, I do like Wagon Wheel, but I really like Darius Rucker’s This. Even though it’s more the poppy side, it’s all about being grateful for what you have and thanking God and realizing that His will be done > our will be done.

 

[Norm_The_Robot]

I don’y know that it is racism he is expressing, I think what he is expressing is frustration with a percieved inability of our justice system to exact justice upon criminals. I hear this sentiment in many many “god ole boy” sorts of songs. LIke Hank Jr’s COUNTRY BOY CAN SURVIVE where he says he would love to should the murdurer of his NYC friend with his .45 I mean it is just all over the place in a certain segment of country music, the feeling that the government/justice system has no real interest in taking care of average citizens and rural citizens in general or refuses to leave them alone. Resentment against northern culture and it’s bias against southern culture. Also lots of odes to the glory days of the pre civil war south which I don’t think mean they are pro slavery/racist but to express resentment for the reasons I already mentioned. Very right wing/liberitarian/constitutionalist spectrum stuff and I do not mean that as a criticism as I tend to lean that way myself. You won’t find this in alot of the mainstream “pop” sort of country.

.

 

[MrZoom]

There have been a lot of quality suggestions and country music has become so diverse. Each person will have their own flavor. I like a lot of different artists, but my favorite would have to be:

Josh Turner

You spoke in your initial post about front porch sitting, if you decide to do that, do yourself a favor and listen to this song:

Lay Low

You may hit repeat once or a hundred times.

(I have just recently become a Josh Turner fan. He is a very solid Christian family man with 4 kids) He has a very good book out as well.

I would also count myself a Josh Turner fan. A while ago I sang his country-gospel hit “Long Black Train” at a Karaoke night at Applebee’s. Painless way to evangelize, and it helps that his vocal range closely matches mine.

“There’s vict’ry in the Lord, I say…”

 

[Mirror_Mirror]

I would also count myself a Josh Turner fan. A while ago I sang his country-gospel hit “Long Black Train” at a Karaoke night at Applebee’s. Painless way to evangelize, and it helps that his vocal range closely matches mine.

“There’s vict’ry in the Lord, I say…”

I was originally turned off by this song, the deep voice in the first chorus kept me from giving Josh the time of day. Looking back it was a very wrong judgement on my part as he is now one of my favorite artists and I truly enjoy Long Black Train for the song and the message.

Interesting story behind it as well. It is a good read if you have not heard it.

 

[Bodhi303]

I don’y know that it is racism he is expressing, I think what he is expressing is frustration with a percieved inability of our justice system to exact justice upon criminals. I hear this sentiment in many many “god ole boy” sorts of songs. LIke Hank Jr’s COUNTRY BOY CAN SURVIVE where he says he would love to should the murdurer of his NYC friend with his .45 I mean it is just all over the place in a certain segment of country music, the feeling that the government/justice system has no real interest in taking care of average citizens and rural citizens in general or refuses to leave them alone. Resentment against northern culture and it’s bias against southern culture. Also lots of odes to the glory days of the pre civil war south which I don’t think mean they are pro slavery/racist but to express resentment for the reasons I already mentioned. Very right wing/liberitarian/constitutionalist spectrum stuff and I do not mean that as a criticism as I tend to lean that way myself. You won’t find this in alot of the mainstream “pop” sort of country.

I don’t know….it skirts a line for me. I kind of get what you mean because it is common place for reggae/dancehall artists to disparage homosexuals in their music. Hostility towards homosexuals is a common sentiment in our culture. One of the most popular dancehall songs in the 90s was even about rallying and killing them openly if you see one. It was a shame too because outside of the lyrics it was a great song. But being common doesn’t make it acceptable. Likewise I don’t think “good ole boys” should be talking about putting people up on a noose. Even if it’s just part of the Southern Pride sentiment. I agree with Havard neither sentiment is worth rallying behind… But I appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut. Made me look at the flaws in my own culture.

Peace be with you.

.

 

[Bodhi303]

Just listened to Long Black Train…like 5x…Great Song. I liked it a little better than Lay Low.

Thanks Mirror Mirror & Mr Zoom

 

[Mirror_Mirror]

Just listened to Long Black Train…like 5x…Great Song. I liked it a little better than Lay Low.

Thanks Mirror Mirror & Mr Zoom

Right here is the story about how Josh Turner came to write this song.

I am a big fan of all of Josh’s music.

 

[Bodhi303]

That’s awesome LBT was his first major hit. God is sooo Good! Thanks for sharing

 

[Exiled_Child]

That’s awesome LBT was his first major hit. God is sooo Good! Thanks for sharing

Lee Hazlewood also has a song called Long Black Train, which is superior in my opinion.

I’m also reminded of a great song called Long Black Limousine, first recorded by Wynn Stewart.

A lot of others recorded Long Black Limousine, too, including Elvis, but Wynn’s version is tops.