What is today's "country music"?

[JT]

I live outside of DC and the only so-called country music station we get on the regular airwaves is WMZQ. I say so-called because though I love music from bluegrass to Bach, I don't consider most of the all conforming dribble that comes out of Nashville these days to be country music. Some would call it "pop-country." I don't even give most of it that. I call it "Bubba-gum" music. Now that's not to say that there aren't incredible musicians/vocalist playing in Nashville. I think Mark O'Conner, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss and quite a few others to be flat out some of the best musicians on the face of the earth. And ol' Chet Atkins, [before he died,of course], was one of the true gods of the guitar.
No, my bitch isn't with the musical prowess of Nashville. My bitch is with the narrow minded,canned formats and play-lists being produced, and shoved down our throats by the record companies and radio stations. For me, one of the best things to happen in my life is satellite radio. Now I get to hear new country, old country, and traditional. Now instead of just the "top 10" crap on commercial radio, I get to hear hundreds of great songwriters from Austin TX, Rounder Records in Mass., Sugar Hill Records in NC, etc. There is just a ton of great music out there, [of all formats, not just country], that you'd never know was there, if you depend on commercial radio to bring it to you. Y'awl that love country music, and those that say they hate it, should tune in to the likes of Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keene, James McMurtry, Cross Canadien Ragweed, etc. You might be pleasantly surprised. But Warning!: It will probably forever ruin commercial "country music" for you.

[waterguy]

the station they have on the office here plays a 90 min. repeat drives me mad I have to have the music on to hear pages or I'd shut it off

[California Girl]

I have to admit that I like what country music has become. I like "pop country" or I don't like country music at all. I like Kenny Chesney, Big & Rich and a number of so-called "country" artists these days. I can't stand to listen to traditional country music - the Carter Family, for instance.

I remember when we used to listen to FM radio instead of AM radio so we didn't have to listen to commercials and we got a better selection of music. These days, FM is just as f%#ked up as AM. I haven't looked into Satellite radio, but I do believe it's then "next generation" in enjoyable radio.

[augie]

I think what you posted about today's country music goes for just about every popular genre of music.

You don't hear the best of rock on the commercial stations any more than the best of country.

Same for jazz. Can't say about rap - I suppose there may be a "best" of that, but so far I don't like any of it that I've heard (although my teenage boys do...)

[jmq]

Oh man, if you are an "active" radio listener i.e. you care about what you hear, like to be challenged and hear new/different stuff, and if you spend a lot of time in the car or work at home, then you got to get satellite radio, especially if you live in an area with lame terrestrial radio stations. Well worth it. I have the portable unit that goes from car to home office.
P.S. When the heck will the Sirius/XM merger go through?

[mbw1024]

Oh man, if you are an "active" radio listener i.e. you care about what you hear, like to be challenged and hear new/different stuff, and if you spend a lot of time in the car or work at home, then you got to get satellite radio, especially if you live in an area with lame terrestrial radio stations. Well worth it. I have the portable unit that goes from car to home office.
P.S. When the heck will the Sirius/XM merger go through?

hey, have you listened to the "new" WNEW? you need a high def receiver to get it but you can stream on line. Also, 101.9 has changed formats. Some pretty interesting stuff on both those stations.

[jmq]

MB - I'll check those out.
I miss the real old WNEW FM out of NYC - one of the true pioneers of the what I think they called the "progressive rock" format. The DJs played whatever they wanted and some really perfected the long lost art of the perfect segue from one song to the next, often building to a great "set" of music.
OK I just tuned over to 101.9 - "Join Together" by The Who. Thats a good start. Where is that station out of?

[Teresa_Rae]

I pretty much detest “pop country.” For me it really started going downhill with Shania Twain and her song “Any Man of Mine.” I just looked it up and that song came out in 1995. I distinctly remember hanging out on my best friend’s deck and that song came on the radio. We quickly turned it off and talked about how she was going to ruin country music if her brand caught on, and I guess we were right. We were in high school then.

I rarely listen to “country” radio anymore because I dislike a lot of it. Some of it is still good, but I get tired of hearing crap songs so much that I’ve kind of given up on it.

Honkeytonk Badonkadonk, need I say more?

(It’s too bad he did that song; I like some of his other stuff)

My very favorites are George Strait (the king of country) and Chris LeDoux. I also like Garth Brooks a lot, but I’m so disgusted with his wife cheating that I kind of stay away from him now even though I love his music.

Also on my list of favorites are folks like Alan Jackson, Clay Walker, Allison Kruase, Alabama, Charlie Daniels…

[mbw1024]

MB - I'll check those out.
I miss the real old WNEW FM out of NYC - one of the true pioneers of the what I think they called the "progressive rock" format. The DJs played whatever they wanted and some really perfected the long lost art of the perfect segue from one song to the next, often building to a great "set" of music.
OK I just tuned over to 101.9 - "Join Together" by The Who. Thats a good start. Where is that station out of?

101.9 used to be Cool Jazz I think. now it's this http://www.1019rxp.com/

NEW is supposed to be returning to its roots. Charlie has been listening to both these stations and he likes what he hears.

There was an article I think in the Daily News about the NEW return. I will see if I can find it.

Here it is
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... s__hd.html

[JT]

Oh man, if you are an "active" radio listener i.e. you care about what you hear, like to be challenged and hear new/different stuff, and if you spend a lot of time in the car or work at home, then you got to get satellite radio, especially if you live in an area with lame terrestrial radio stations. Well worth it. I have the portable unit that goes from car to home office.
P.S. When the heck will the Sirius/XM merger go through?

jmg, That's what I'm saying. Satellite radio for $12.95 a month is the best 13 bucks a month that I spend. We got it in the cars, house, and even a boombox type portable thing. We just take the module thing with us wherever. I-pods are pretty cool, but I love hearing new stuff. I gave my 24 y.o. son an XM set-up, [car and house], for Christmas, put the subscription on my account for an additional $6.00 a month. He hardly listens to the I-pod anymore. As to the XM/Sirius merger,it's moving forward slowly. The commercial radio lobby folks are fighting it tooth and nail, along with the folks fearing a monopoly.
And Augie, you're right about it being a problem in just about every genre of music, though not just popular music. Even the classical station plays the same 20 songs everyday!
Wasn't there a silly Jack Nicholson movie where aliens took over the earth and the way they got rid of them was they found out that by playing country music to them it made their heads explode?

[jmq]

JT – other cool features of my Sirius receiver is that it is always “chasing” what you are listening to i.e. you can “rewind” back to hear something again (like Tivo) and hit the “memo” button to store the song that is playing into memory and it alerts you when that song comes on again on any channel. Also useful to save titles of new music so you can pull up the list later and go to the computer to download.

MB - Thanks for the heads up. Quite an eclectic mix on that 101.9 - not bad for regular radio (God knows we are starved for decent rock radio in NY Metro area). I’ll have to program that into the car radio – from their “recently played” webpage…

"CADILLAC RANCH" - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"MONEY FOR NOTHING" - DIRE STRAITS
"STRANGE CONDITION" - PETE YORN
"I WILL POSSESS YOUR HEART" - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
"MY OWN WORST ENEMY" - LIT
"CAN I GET NEXT TO YOU GIRL" - AC/DC
"LONDON CALLING" - CLASH
"PORK AND BEANS" - WEEZER
"OTHERSIDE" - RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
"SHIVER" - COLDPLAY
"FIRE" - JIMI HENDRIX
"ENEMY" - DAYS OF THE NEW
"SHINE OVER BABYLON" - SHERYL CROW
"DIRTY BOULEVARD" - LOU REED
"MR. BRIGHTSIDE" - KILLERS
"THAT'S THE WAY" - LED ZEPPELIN
"I WILL BUY YOU A NEW LIFE" - EVERCLEAR
"CRYSTAL VILLAGE" - PETE YORN
"LET IT RAIN" - ERIC CLAPTON
"HOUSE OF CARDS" - RADIOHEAD
"ONE WAY OR ANOTHER" - BLONDIE
"IN MEMORY OF ELIZABETH REED" - ALLMAN BROTHERS
"BECAUSE THE NIGHT" - PATTI SMITH
"I ALONE" - LIVE
"ROCKSTAR" - NICKELBACK
"RADIOACTIVE" - THE FIRM
"HANGING BY A MOMENT" - LIFEHOUSE
"WALK AWAY (LIVE)" - JOE WALSH

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[mbw1024]

Click and Clack crack me up! haven't listened to them in a while though.

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