I’m ready for the country hate. Here’s some YouTube links.
Cast Iron Pansexual by Adeem the Artist
For some classic class consciousness:
Those all sound more like folk music than country music.
Where do you draw the line?
There’s such a huge difference between the sound and lyrical stylings in the genres, the line separating them is an entire ocean. 🤨
There is actually some good country, but it’s never played on the radio. Artists like Sturghill Simpson, Cody jinks, and Tyler Childers really saved country for me
It helps to know that there are several different subgenres of Country, just like Rock has a ton.
I think the country most people don’t like is “Pop” Country.
Country music started to suck not when it became political, there was always political country music. It started to suck when it became the refuge for conservatives and no other viewpoints were allowed.
But there was a real hunger in a lot of parts of America for representation, and country music did offer a landscape that was talking a lot about old-fashioned values.
…
I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that country radio, which remains very corporate, does have a lock on who can become a superstar and who cannot. And so, if you get sort of an organized fan backlash against a musician over their politics. their career is done. And the most – the high-profile example of that that people will be familiar with is what happened to the Dixie Chicks during the Iraq War.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/how-country-music-went-conservative
Country music from before 1970 can be good. There are occasionally things post 1970 that are also good, but they’re much harder to find because it has become a style of music that caters to conservatives, and they expect it to glorify their values.
Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Chris Stapleton - there’s still good country out there.
You might know about Marty Robbins of Big Iron fame, but I’m here to tell you that the entire Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album is a nonstop parade of bangers.
Although Marty himself had some problematic views about snti-Vietnam war folks, I still love his music.
My advice? Skip the country music, focus on western music.
Not even Jerry Reed? Merle Haggard? Johnny Cash!??
Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton.
Dolly Parton is a fuckin treasure.
Country is a weird genre.
In NO OTHER genre do you hear an accent by default, and it’s more or less required for country. That twang, the drawl. Its playing in the background of the dive bar I’m at right now.
If you get someone from the deep south to sing alongside someone from the Netherlands, alongside a french person, maybe a Russian for kicks, the only genre you’ll notice they aren’t from the same country in country music will you hear where they are from. But not really because like any music its an affectation.
Conclusion: country music is fake bullshit made to pander to fucking stupid people who think their redneck culture exists, rather than being just profitable. 😁
Warning: YouTube link
My favorite part of that set is how he adopts the accent in the lead-up to the jokes. Im big on language, always have been a mimic, and I notice the code switch. I assume he does it unconsciously to put himself in the mindset for the rest of the jokes.
But yea thats how I feel about it, always have.
Plenty of hip hop has all sorts of accents. Also, there’s no such thing as “no accent”.
Listen to your average unknown random song and tell me where the people who sing it came from. Thats what I mean by no accent. It doesn’t exist in language, but it VERY MUCH exists in music. A-accent is the default for singing.
Hip hop I question that, but rap i could see because I’ve heard rap in other languages and being spoken poetry that does pick up a bit, but it isn’t characteristic of the music, and you still usually cant tell unless you understand the specific language… so id give that as a maybe at best.
Skip past all the “pop” country; the “bro” country; and there’s a lot of good country artists. Artists that have real songs and stories to tell. Not just jeans, pick up trucks, and being “southern”. But are actually sorrowful, thoughtful, and sometimes, extremely progressive.
- Lost Dog Street Band / Benjamin Tod
- Sturgill Simpson
- Amigo the Devil
- Tyler Childers
- IV and The Strange Band
and so many others, Matt Heckler, Dead South, Colter Wall… go listen to real country, indie country. Not corpo country.
Casualties of Cool (Devin Townsend!)
Need Hank Williams (the og, not ii or iii), Johnny Cash, merl haggard, Waylon Jennings on that list, to name a few.
And thanks for the recommendations, will have to check them outOh yeah, for sure. I was just trying to think up modern artists to illustrate that good country music is still being made today. Otherwise I’d add people like Willie Nelson, Woodie Gunthrie, Johnny Paycheck, Kenny Rogers, etc etc etc… and the list would be eternally long.
It’s like, generally accepted that old country is good, but modern day country sucks. I just wanted to disprove that. There’s still great country music being made post Garth Brooks.
Not sure quite where Corb Lund falls, sometimes blues, sometimes country, and others yodeling, but he is worthy of any music collection
We listen to both kinds of music! Country AND western!
I mean there is good country especially pre 2000 and outside the mainstream.
Does she wear an Imperial uniform from Star Wars?
What gave it away? The delightfully catchy marching tune?
Your country collection should consist of 2 songs. Jolene and Take Me Home, Country Roads. No need for anything else. And the second one is optional.
If the vocals don’t bother me (little-or-no twang), I just consider those folk music (or some variation).
I would definitely classify John Denver as more folk than country. The two often overlap, but Denver is majority on one side of it.
