Country

So there don't seem to be too many country fans out there. I grew up on it in The '90s and never gave up.

I'm mostly a fan of the mainstream, but I like some of the more "outside" stuff too. Right now, the genre is inundated with "bro-country" (basically "bling and bitches" for the redneck crowd), but even some of the "bro" stuff doesn't bother me much. Heck, I consider Florida Georgia Line a guilty pleasure because they at least strike me as incredibly nice guys and they seem to be having too much fun for me to hate them.

Anywho, this is my absolute favorite current country single, by my current favorite country act:

What are some of your likes in country, past or present?

I grew up on country, and even though most of what I listen to is rock and metal, I still like a lot of the stuff from my childhood. I pretty much quit country as a genre in the late 90s/early 00's when it started becoming too much like twangy pop for my taste. Also, for the record: Shania Twain never ever impressed me, and I can't stand Carrie Underwood.

Listing my favorites could take a while, but the ones that really stand out are Hank Williams Jr.^note at least up through his early 90s stuff, everything after that is garbage, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, The Oak Ridge Boys (except for "Elvira", I now loathe that song), Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (they may be one of my top 5 favorite musical acts of all time).

edited 14th May '14 6:00:37 AM by Willbyr

Can't beat Johnny Cash or Hank Williams senior. For straight is the gaaaade and narruh the waaaay!

I second Hank Williams senior; here's my favorite one of his songs.

I third Hank, although I like Hank Jr's version of "Kaw-liga" a whole lot more.

I'm not too big on some stuff before the mid-60s or so because it seems too samey. But Hank Sr. definitely gets a thumbs up from me.

I find Country to be one of those genres where every so often, I'll here an individual song that I like. But I find that I often can't enjoy an entire album from a given artist.

edited 14th May '14 7:06:16 PM by Alichains

You folks who know more about country: Can you recommend some albums with good piano? Like in the chorus of this Thayer Sarrano track?

Phil Vassar's first two albums are pretty piano-oriented.

Ronnie Milsap also uses piano on some songs, but he's a bit more keyboard oriented most of the time.

If you want instrumental piano, Floyd Cramer is a good choice.

I know there's more, but it's 4 AM and I can't think of any.

ETA: "Turning Home" by David Nail is a great piano song too.

edited 15th May '14 1:09:38 AM by Twentington

Now for some patriotic horn-tooting: the Netherlands got pretty damn close to winning Eurovision with a country song.

The vocals are a bit sappy for my taste, but as a song it's wonderfully crafted, and that steel guitar in the background... oh my.

Personally I love old-time fiddle music and Western swing the best. A lot of the country stuff from before the 60s I also find enjoyable. Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, etc.

But man, the older stuff is great. Tell me this isn't good:

edited 15th May '14 3:14:18 PM by Aldo930

Man, I'm listening to some more of Hank Sr. and I'm only now starting to realise how heavy his music is. He's like a big scary preacher in a dimly-lit church, ranting about fire and brimstone and gnashing of teeth.

Case in point: "The Angel of Death" (no relation to the Slayer song, however awesome that would have been). It's basically a 20th-century memento mori.

When the Angel of Death comes down after you
Can you smile and say that you have been true?
Can you truthfully say, with your dying breath
That you're ready to meet the Angel of Death?

Now, I'll assume most people here either aren't religious at all or follow a Lighter and Softer blend of religion than the one Hank Sr. sang about. But this song, written in a time and a place where the idea of burning in Hell for your sins was taken very seriously, is pretty scary nonetheless. It points a giant, grim, accusing finger at you, making you wonder: have I been living morally? If I got hit by a bus tomorrow and some kind of Angel of Death really came down from the sky to claim my soul, would he approve of what he saw?

Aw yeah, that's great stuff. Love the piano and fiddle.

edited 16th May '14 6:55:00 AM by MidnightRambler

I'll necrobump this thread to ask if my observations are correct.

So when it comes to Country Pop, there's two big sides:

• Bro-country, typified by Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan (example: "Cruise")
• Teeny country, typified by Taylor Swift ('nuff said, though I don't know if there are others that follow her footsteps).

It's not unusual that there's a big divide between 'core country and country pop (it's in every single genre ever). But is there really that big of a divide between the two big styles of country pop?

Also, what would be an example of 'core country (so 'core that it can't ever be mainstream)?

If I get anyone to say "That's great stuff" to something I post I have done my job.

Well, you could say that one segment of the market doesn't appeal to the other that much, so that's a divide. Certainly I can't see anyone interested in more bro-ish stuff listening to the teenybopper side of country.

edited 21st Aug '14 3:34:49 PM by Aldo930

Taylor has pretty much turned her back to country lately. The current leader in "teenybopper" country would probably be Hunter Hayes, with up-and-comers like Love & Theft, Sam Hunt, Dan & Shay, The Swon Brothers, etc. also having the teen edge. With Taylor gone and Carrie currently between albums, Miranda Lambert is really the go-to female in country right now. And her stuff isn't pop at all — it can get pretty hard rockin' at times. (Kacey Musgraves is also having pretty good sales, but she's only had one big airplay hit.)

Zac Brown Band is so far removed from bro- and teenybopper-country that you'd swear they were some underground indie act, but they've had a bunch of #1's. Their sound is a melting pot of "traditional" country, bluegrass, jam band, and rock. Dave Grohl produced their latest EP, which currently has a Top 20 hit that sounds like it was lifted from the mid 70s. Check the video I linked in the top post.

edited 21st Aug '14 6:12:09 PM by Twentington

I know about Taylor; she said it outright and even the Country Music Association put out a statement that I swear is a Stealth Insult.

Also, I didn't say she's leading it, I'm saying that she's typified teenybopper country.

Also also, Hunter Hayes is whom Todd said was the Justin Bieber of country, right?

Also also also, can I have other artists in the 'core (meaning hardcore) country side?

I think Todd overstated Hunter being "the Bieber of country". I find him a much less annoying presence. I still think "Wanted" is by far his worst song, and that his music can be a bit teen-skewing (his last song was support for people who've been bullied!), but he seems more sincere and smart about what he does.

Chris Young, Randy Houser, Dustin Lynch, and Joe Nichols are acts that I think balance a more "modern" sound with a traditional side to it.

Eric Church follows the beat of his own drummer, as he can be traditional, funky, or even country-metal (check out "The Outsiders", which is by far the hardest thing I've ever heard sent to country radio). Some of his sound is the work of producer Jay Joyce, who does similarly idiosyncratic production for the unpolished country-pop harmonies of Little Big Town.

Gary Allan is also great for country about pain and heartbreak with strong lyrics and muscular country-rock production, but he doesn't have anything out right now.

Maddie + Tae are brand new, but their single "Girl in a Country Song" is a full-on deconstruction of bro-country that I absolutely love.

I also really like Jon Pardi as a singer-songwriter who clearly borrows from "Bakersfield sound" country and Texas red-dirt country, but he's only got one album out so far, and he hasn't really had a big hit yet.

Now that I've processed the existence of Hunter Hayes, another question has risen.

There are MALE teenycountry artists!? What is this world coming to?

I can understand male teen pop, but male teenycountry? It's unfathomable.

I love Country Music, but I despise 95% of modern popular country. The state of mainstream Country is abysmal these days, and just like mainstream hip-hop it has been twisted into something superficial and soulless because of greed and shameless pandering to the Lowest Common Demoninator.

There are a handful of exceptions (Miranda Lambert, Dwight Yoakam, and Jana Kramer to name a few) but most pop-country makes me gag.

However, the Underground/Indie/Alternative Country scene (or Americana as many like to call it) has been booming during the past 10 years or so, and only seems to be picking up steam.

For anyone interested, here are some contemporary artists I strongly recommend:

• Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans
• Lera Lynn
• Sturgill Simpson
• Cory Branan
• Brady Clark
• Kasey Chambers
• Dean Brody
• Ashley Monroe
• Hayes Carll
• My Darling Clementine
• Elizabeth Cook
• Jason Isbell
• Lindi Ortega
• Nikki Lane
• Wovenhand
• The Legendary Shack Shakers
• Lydia Loveless

edited 27th Jan '15 8:15:13 AM by Gozer

I found Sturgill way too impenetrable. His stuff is so brainy and trippy that it's impossible to access unless you happen to be both a MENSA member and a stoner.

A few new artists are really promising, and after Maddie & Tae had a huge #1 with their bro-country bashing, it seems people are starting to take the message — outside Florida Georgia Line, nothing in the Top 20 really seems bro right now, and a couple new female artists are making promising starts after the female-drought in 2014. (Maddie & Tae were the only female act to hit #1 in 2014. Not even Miranda or Carrie had #1 airplay hits in 2014.)

@Gozer: If you want to make a list, you need to stick a * at the start of each line.

And Wovenhand is awesome, but "Americana" doesn't quite describe them. They're kind of genre unto themselves.

I find Americana and alt-country are too often too anachronistic, too deep, too navel-gazing, too abrasive, or some combination of the above. As I said, Sturgill Simpson almost literally gave me a migraine when I listened to "Turtles All the Way Down". The whole song I was going, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF JIM THORNTON ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?!?"

How about old-time string bands?

String band and bluegrass don't usually do it for me either. They're too minimalist and all blend together for me.

I'm the opposite; in most cases I'll take bluegrass over mainstream country every time. The instrumental work is far more interesting to me...Ricky Skaggs' 80s stuff that was essentially radio-friendly bluegrass like "Uncle Penn" and "Country Boy" was some of the first country that I heard and really liked because of everything that was going on.

Looking back on it, that fast and intricate picking may have sown the seeds for my love of metal music...give a good bluegrass guitarist or banjoist distortion and you've got speed metal.

edited 27th Jan '15 7:42:00 AM by Willbyr