Country music has gone from progressives singing about the real world to corporate redneck rock.

[Elwood P Dowd]

You would never hear this on the radio today, yet the studio version of this made it to Number 3 on the country charts back in the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdNV9JX-Xi8

[Initech]

1. Daniel Tosh - "I fell asleep watching the country music channel and woke up racist!"

:rofl:

Yeah - we went from the greats like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson - both big time progressives and hippies - to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6XpAEqHnAk

Big, huge dropoff. :banghead:

[Elwood P Dowd]

2. I could only handle about a minute of that shit!

Shame on you. :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

[Initech]

7. The local radio here had a 20 minute rant about how much that song sucks.

And how modern country music in general sucks, it was one of the funniest things I've heard in quite a while. :rofl:

[tabatha]

12. Agreed.

The guy cannot sing; the "music" is torture.

[w8liftinglady]

14. lol...you did better than me!

[EnviroBat]

77. That was 50 seconds longer than I could stand.

I'm so sick of dumb redneck, pro-wrestler bullshit that some call music. Canned crap.

[Dawson Leery]

9. ........

:wtf: :argh: :puke: :crazy: :silly: :dunce: :nopity: :hurts: :wow: :scared: :yoiks:

[Initech]

28. Was that a reaction to Brown Chicken Brown Cow?

:rofl:

[Codeine]

27. Are you fucking kidding me?

Two years ago that was a cheesy joke. Now it's a cheesy joke of a song. Jeeezus.

[Initech]

31. Some choice country music titles:

"I Wanted To Write You A Letter But I Couldn't Spell Yuck"
"Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off"
"I'd Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me Than A Frontal Lobotomy"
"Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In Bed"
"Her Teeth Were Stained But Her Heart Was Pure"
"I Changed Her Oil, She Changed My Life"
"I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me"
"I'm Just A Bug In The Windshield Of Life."
"I've Been Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart"
"She Got The Gold Mine, I Got The *SHAFT*"
"She Got The Ring, I Got The Finger"

Yes these all exist.

[TheMightyFavog]

33. I know a couple of these songs...

The third one got regular airplay on Dr. Demento.
Number Four is by Kinky Friedman, the guy who did a song about the guy who went postal at the Texas Tower.

[regnaD kciN]

55. What about...

"If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me?"

[TuxedoKat]

89. Wait...

you left out these great titles:

Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life

and

My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend and I Miss Him

[Initech]

93. Wow...

[Erose999]

103. One of my favorites: Red necks White socks and Blue Ribbon beer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiYgFi42PM

[Arctic Dave]

3. Other then George Straight, the last fifteen years of country music has sucked hard.

My grandparents owned a few different C&W bars and they both played in C&W bands, I hung out in them since I was ten. The garbage they play now is nothing more then a shitty pop singer with a twang.

[Ian David]

8. Do The Beat Farmers count as a C&W Band?

If so, then they are, without a doubt, the best Country band of the past two decades.

BEAT FARMERS CMA Awards 1988 pt.3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXtYxAthoxY&feature=related

[Arctic Dave]

20. The Beat Farmers seem more of a hipster band.

I think they integrated there southern roots into their music like REM.

[tularetom]

22. The Beat Farmers - greatest bar band evah!

I remember going to see them when my kid was going to San Diego State.

Back in the day of Country Dick Montana.

[RC]

17. When I say something like that, I'm told I don't know what I'm talking about.

Or CW has changed for the better. No, it didn't, real Country Western is basically dead because it is Rock & Roll with a twang. Sometimes I can't tell it from Heavy Medal lite. It is shitty.

[regnaD kciN]

57. "Rock & Roll with a twang..."

You left off "...steroids, and a lobotomy." :spank:

[RC]

67. Yeah, that too.

:thumbsup:

[regnaD kciN]

56. The last FIFTEEN years...???

I'd say the last forty have been pure garbage, but getting worse every year.

[Arctic Dave]

65. I didn't want to seem like I was bashing C&W.

I was going to say twenty but their has been an occsional artist that has some talent but then the record labels destroy them. :(

[Arctic Dave]

71. I did't want to seem like I was bashing C and W.

There have been a few good artist but the record labels usually destroy them.

[reggie the dog]

84. lady antebellum

need you now

its a pretty good duet

[Recursion]

91. Willie? Johnny? Hank? No love for them? (nt)

[regnaD kciN]

95. I guess I think of them as the "older generation"...

...that was already established when, as John Hartford put it, "country" music turned into "suburban" music at the beginning of the '70s.

[TransitJohn]

70. Chris LeDoux was alright.

:hi:

[Arctic Dave]

72. Yeah, there has been a few but for the most part, the record labels destroyed C and W music.

Same as a lot of other types of music. :(

[Recursion]

92. Yeah but it's the same closed-mindedness that has my relatives write off hip hop

There's great hip hop, and great country music, being made every day. You just won't hear either on the radio.

[Recursion]

90. Gillian Welch? Neko Case? Luke Tan? Mountain Mirrors? Brooks West?

There's still great country out there.

[lonestarnot]

99. I thought the Dixie Chicks were lovely.

Snort! :7

[Ian David]

4. Don't forget Rainbow Stew...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez24yjqRGLs

[Ian David]

5. But then again, I don't think they ever dreamed of THIS back then...

Wille Nelson's Gay Cowboy Song
Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u4CXlIYjyE

[digonswine]

6. It is mostly written by teams of writers-

to make a buck when the latest pretty face picks it up and feeds the masses. I LOVE some older country music--I cut my teeth listening to Willie, Waylon, etc. on vinyl-my parents had to get multiple copies from wearing them out-now it's just a waste of time-same w/most commercial crap in any genre. I think that those who cut on country are only hearing this type of formulaic shit.

[IDemo]

10. I love this song by James McMurtry

Levelland

That's about as close as my listening gets to "Country".

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. Don't forget this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng

[w8liftinglady]

13. and this one

We can't make it here anymore"
It makes me cry every time I hear it.....really deep TRUE DEMOCRAT!

edit...all of James' tunes on youtube..

http://www.youtube.com/artist?a=GxdCwVVULXdRg9JS53uP1UaJmhRcZllT&feature=watch_video_title

[w8liftinglady]

18. Cheney's Toy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKUE0RTuw24&feature=artist

[alarimer]

32. Yes but the corporate media never play him.

I am sure he is relieved LOL because corporate radio sucks but he could probably use the bucks.

Yes, there is plenty of good country music out there but you find it in places like SiriusXM's Outlaw Country. Elizabeth Cook, Dale Watson, Steve Earle, James McMurtry, etc.

[w8liftinglady]

36. as a young adult in the late 70's/early 80's West Texas

I remember some awesome country singers...the outlaws.
Willie and Waylon, Freddie Fender, Jessie Coulter, Emmylou Harris,Kris Kristofferson....
ah,I remember popping a cork and toking a doobie listening to them....the good old days.

[reggie the dog]

86. great song

[IDemo]

16. Another classic McMurtry

Singing about a topic that hits close to home with the people (or at least should). Why can't more country music be about themes based on actual events, places and people, instead of stereotyping themselves into a corner with idiocy like "I'm Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer"? And fer Gawd's sake, boys, leave that poor farmer's daughter alone; isn't there a mechanic's daughter or computer graphics artist's daughter anywhere to be found in town?

[reggie the dog]

87. lots of us men have a bit of a fetish

for a farm girl, perhaps we watched too much dukes of hazzard growing up???

[IDemo]

19. edit

w8liftinglady beat me to it above. :)

[zappaman]

15. Rec

Couldn't agree more.

ETA: Thankfully, we have Steve Earle.

[regnaD kciN]

60. True, but, as I joked about further downthread...

...Steve Earle is no longer considered country -- he's now classified as a "folk singer."

[muntrv]

21. If I'm correct, Clear Channel owns a majority of the country stations.

They censored Willie Nelson's "Whatever happened to peace on Earth?" Just like CC banned the Dixie Chicks.

[Erose999]

106. Cox too. They've ruined rock radio as well. NPR and college radio are the only reasons to own a

terrestrial radio receiver, really.

Well... I guess you might need a battery powered radio for news and stuff in an emergency.

[thelordofhell]

23. Thank you Peter La Farge

After all, Johnny Cash was just another artist covering his song

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_La_Farge

[Elwood P Dowd]

26. Yes, he use to get high with Johnny Cash.

Thanks for the link. Haven't read about that in years.

[socialist_n_TN]

24. Well I played music professionally for about 3 decades

2 of them in Nashville, so I've got an actual INFORMED opinion about this! :rofl:

First of all, in ALL genres of music for as long as I've been listening AND playing, if it's commercial music (written, produced, and sung for mass consumption) it's going to be 80+% forgettable crap. That includes country music, rock music, (ESPECIALLY) pop music, rap, big band, name your genre. Let me see if I can boil it down. MOST OF THE STUFF YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR IS PURE FLUFFY, NONSENSICAL, LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR SHIT! And it always HAS been.

Specifically with country music, I just happened to be starting out in Nashville when it changed over from an actual art form (in some cases anyway) to (almost) all commercial crud almost all of the time. It's was in the mid 80s when it started and really started PLUMMET downhill in the late 80s/early 90s.

Now keep in mind that even in the "good old days" of country music, since it was a mass consumption music, MOST of it was still crap, but it was crap that was usually sung by REAL artists. IOW, people that you knew who they were when you heard them sing.

That's what the labels actually LOOKED for previous to the mid 80s. Actual unique voices that could sell a song. Even a bad song. Whether you like them or not, when Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette or ANY of the old guys sang a song, YOU KNEW WHO WAS SINGING WITHOUT HAVING TO LOOK AT THE RECORD LABEL. Or have the radio guy tell you.

That changed when the labels started to try and "package" a singer as a PRODUCT rather than letting them BE their own unique artist. Then it became a matter of looks, dress, and lowest commom denominator "attractiveness". They're all "products" now. IF you become an actual artist, trust me, it's a TOTAL accident.

[Canuckistanian]

Remember when the worst insult to a musician

Was to call them a "sell-out"?

Now they call THEMSELVES "products" and proudly talk about their "successful marketing" or their "media team".

Today's "artists" are funded by venture capital, not a fan base. They know the fan base can be manufactured FOR them.

[socialist_n_TN]

35. Yes I DO remember those time.........

And if you remember them too, I guess we're just old. :)

It's fucking disgusting. They don't even ATTEMPT to create ART anymore, not even as a sideline. That's probably for the best. If they attempted to create art, they would fail miserably.

[eppur_se_muova]

64. Sturgeon's Law comes to country ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_Law

[socialist_n_TN]

76. The link said it couldn't be found...........

Could you summerize?

[eppur_se_muova]

96. Link fixed ... picked up an extraneous character somehow ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeons_Law (Weird ... an extra backslash keeps spontaneously manifesting itself when I try to paste the link. Editing out the apostrophe fixed it.)

"I repeat Sturgeon’s Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud.<1>
Using the same standards that categorize 90% of science fiction as trash, crud, or crap, it can be argued that 90% of film, literature, consumer goods, etc. are crap. In other words, the claim (or fact) that 90% of science fiction is crap is ultimately uninformative, because science fiction conforms to the same trends of quality as all other artforms."

[socialist_n_TN]

97. OK thanks. That's pretty much what I said...........

about music in general, but I could see where it could be applied to ANY of the arts. ESPECIALLY the ones that are for mass consumption. But the thing about is, that it's ALWAYS been that way.

Mass consumption and for profit (there's that word again) artistic endeavors are pretty much an oxymoron, IMO. It has the TRAPPINGS and the FORM of art, but IF it comes to the level of art, it's by accident. I prefer to go the opposite direction. Try for art and THEN see if it's mass consumable. You've got a much better chance of creating art that way.

Of course, the mass consumptionists and profiteers aren't trying to MAKE art anyway. They're trying to make a lot of money.

[izquierdista]

25. Got to give the people what they want....

like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5N35kQAPv0

[Elwood P Dowd]

29. Elwood ain't no Frankie Laine.

:beer:

[Odin2005]

30. Most "Country" nowadays is cheasy Southern Rock with a twang.

[rug]

34. Travis Tritt - Lord Have Mercy On The Working Man

All around I hear the sound of money
But I ain't got a nickel to my name
And everywhere I look I see temptation
She stands on every corner and calls my name

Won't you tell me if you can
Cause life's so hard to understand
Why's the rich man busy dancing
While the poor man pays the band
Oh they're billing me for killing me
Lord have mercy on the working man

Uncle Sam's got his hands in my pockets
And he helps himself each time he needs a dime
Them politicians treat me like a mushroom
Cause they feed me bull and keep me in the blind

Repeat Chorus

Hey St. Peter look down for a minute
And see this little man about to drown
There's quicksand all around and man I'm in it
Please help me up Lord cause I'm going down

Won't you tell me if you can
Cause life's so hard to understand
Why's the rich man busy dancing
While the poor man pays the band
Oh they're billing me for killing me
Lord have mercy on the working man

Won't you tell me if you can
Cause life's so hard to understand
Why's the fat man busy dancing
While the thin man pays the band
Oh they're billing me for killing me
Lord have mercy on the working man

Please Lord have mercy on the working man
Please Lord have mercy on the working man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omZ05EtVVTg

I'm convinced this song helped sink Bush in 92.

[socialist_n_TN]

37. And what's even more ironic is that Tritt

is now (or was the last time I heard anything about him) Mr. Big Time Republican.

He actually had some pretty good working class instincts when he first got famous, but those instincts deserted him pretty quickly when he started making a lot of money.

[rug]

43. Yeah, there's that.

But there's this too.

http://www.totallyfuzzy.net/ourtube/travis-tritt/what-say-you-with-john-mellencamp-video_1d75e3c6c.html

I believe there's a right
And I believe there's a wrong
The north and south
Black and white
Can somehow get along
What say you?
What say you?

I believe there's a basic good
In the heart of every man
And I'm not gonna criticize
What I can't understand
What say you?
What say you?

I'm not afraid to say what's on my mind
To take a stand, to draw the line
To speak my heart and bare my soul
I don't like lies, I'd rather know the truth
Hey, what say you?
What say you?

But I'm not ashamed of where I come from
With this blue collar on my shirt
And I don't look for handouts
'Cause I'm not afraid to work
What say you?
Yeah, what say you?

Man, I don't talk no religion
And I ain't gonna wave that flag
But I love God and America
And I fight for what I have
What say you?
Yeah, what say you?

I know I'm not always right
I don't think I'm better than you
I don't have all the answers
But I share my point of view
What say you?

I'm not afraid to say what's on my mind
To take a stand, to draw the line
To speak my heart and bare my soul
I don't like lies, I'd rather know the truth
So what say you?
What say you?

What say you and you and you and you?
What say you?...

I don't think he's fallen completely over the cliff.

[regnaD kciN]

61. Not too surprising, from the sound of some of the lyrics above...

Uncle Sam's got his hands in my pockets
And he helps himself each time he needs a dime
Them politicians treat me like a mushroom
Cause they feed me bull and keep me in the blind

Seriously, that could be from a Tea Party anthem.

[socialist_n_TN]

79. Yeah libertarian bullshit..............

That's the problem we commies have with the working class in this country. Because the government is broken and doesn't work FOR the average guy, they resent taxation. So instead of trying to FIX it or better yet change the entire fucking system, so that it DOES work for the average guy, they go all Somolia and want to get rid of government all together. Of course, it's easier for somebody like Tritt to take this attitude because he DOES have some money now.

People have just got to realize that we get only as good of a government as we're willing to fight for.

[reggie the dog]

88. about the taxes yes

but is it not a general perception of many in the usa that politicians are corrupt, rob our taxes sometimes, give no bid contracts to friends, waste our tax money (for me wars do this)

they hide things from us, we cannot handle the kennedy papers being declassified according to them.

many people work a lot, pay taxes, then find out they make "so much" that their kids have far less, if no govt help starting off in life. where they go wrong is to say "look at those poor, they shouldnt have more than me, THEY SHOULD GET NOTHING". if only they would say "my kids should get that too."

[Odin2005]

45. When I was little in the early 90s my parents played that song all the time!

Thanks for the memories!

[rug]

46. You're welcome, Odin

[brentspeak]

38. Alan Jackson's "The Little Man"

Granted, it's now nine years old, but a relatively recent high-charting country hit song that's anything but corporate country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBh-m1yTZS0

[jillan]

49. That is one of my all time favorites. I remember when it came out, it was right after the Big Box

stores starting invading cities and towns.

I am a huge Alan Jackson fan.

[Initech]

39. Roger Alan Wade - There's A Party In My Pants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pGzfvA0Unk

[jillan]

40. One of the most powerful anti-war songs I've heard in a long time is We All Bleed Red by Ronnie Dunn

Formerly of Brooks & Dunn.

The first time I heard it, I knew it was about war, alot of people hear it and think he is singing about love...nope.
I saw an online interview with him and he said it was written about what is going on in the world today.

I love this song enough to quote it in my sig line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElCIGdLx4UM

[w8liftinglady]

41. wow...awesome!

[jillan]

44. That was my reaction too the first time I heard it. It blew me away.

[Odin2005]

47. Great song!

[socialist_n_TN]

80. And Ronnie Dunn, ANOTHER big Republican

douche.

It brings up a conundrum. Is it still art if it's a GREAT song written and/or performed by somebody who's politics doesn't AGREE with the subject OF the art? Is it still art or does the hypocricy of the artist negate it's value?

[I owe]

42. Shania Twain

Phony.

[cemaphonic]

48. And there's even older stuff that is way more radically left than Cash.

Seattle's excellent public radio station does a 3-hour country set every week. A few weeks ago, they did a whole bunch of really old songs all about how awesome unions are, and getting in fights with Pinkerton goons, and so on.

[Telly Savalas]

98. What's the call letters for the station?

I wanna see if it's possible to catch a web stream of that. Thanks!

[cemaphonic]

100. KEXP

Here's their web page - I don't know if they have older stuff archived and available or not: http://kexp.org/Default.aspx

Used to be the University of Washington station, but moved to a mixture of foundation/public/corporate support about 10 years ago.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

50. progressive country artists

-Bobby Braddock
-Johnny Cash
-Willie Nelson
-Marty Stuart
-Dr. Ralph Stanley
-Emmylou Harris
-Merle Haggard
-Hazel Dickens
- Steve Earle
-Mary Chapin Carpenter
-Kris Kristofferson
-Kathy Mattea
-Pam Tillis
-Garth Brooks
-Dixie Chicks
-Tim McGraw
-Faith Hill
-Tim O'Brien
-Todd Snider

there are more, but these are the ones I can recall off the top of my head

[Elwood P Dowd]

53. Dolly Parton voted for Obama.

Put her on the list.

[regnaD kciN]

62. Merle Haggard may be progressive now...

...but, back when he was popular, he was the poster boy for the far-right. Remember The Fightin' Side Of Me (which basically said that anyone who was against the Vietnam war was a traitorous coward who deserved to have the crap kicked out of him) or Okie From Muskogee? And he was a big Reagan supporter, too.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

51. Garth Brooks sticks by Obama

his music isn't quite my thing, but he's always seemed like a cool guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZfp_4vnovo&feature=player_embedded

[jillan]

52. Wow! I never knew that.

[regnaD kciN]

54. Johnny Cash was always an iconoclast...

...but country music became the "refuge of the rednecks" way back in the late '60s, when it was seized on by Nixon and his ilk as the music of the "silent majority." From that moment onward, and with very few exceptions, it became synonymous with "dumb, macho, and belligerent." Remember that when a few Nashville musicians got together to cut a song for the Kerry campaign in 2004 ("I'm Takin' My Country Back"), they had to perform under the name of "Honky-Tonkers for Truth," and keep their identities secret because, if they became known as supporting a Massachusetts Democrat over George W., their careers would be over. Remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks?

And, now, a joke with two possible punch lines...

Q: What do you call a country musician who advocates for progressive causes?

A #1: A "folk singer."
A #2: What do you call who?

[coalition_unwilling]

58. My all-time favorite Country Music song title:

"We Didn't Know What to Call It (So We Called it Quits)" :)

[Warren DeMontague]

59. I'm more into alt country, or the places where 'country' overlaps with rock, punk or psychedelia.

The Grateful Dead, The Butthole Surfers, The Meat Puppets,

Steve Earle, Jay Farrar, James McMurtry

Shit, look at a song like "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"...

I have very little use for most "new country" although I'm all for Johnny Cash to Willie Nelson.

[Elwood P Dowd]

63. Add this one to the list........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU

[AngryAmish]

66. At one time Folk and Country was the same genre

Kids, let's go back to the 40s and 50s. During the Red Scare too many folk musicians were considered too pink for mainstream listening, so the music business created "country" music.

[TransitJohn]

68. Modern country is bad rock'n'roll.

[Erose999]

105. I'd say its more like bad "pop music". It has as more in common with Debbie Gibson than it does with

Hank Sr. or Johnny Cash.

[lonestarnot]

69. And you expected something different after pugs took it over why?

[kentauros]

73. For those that care enough to find non-corporate-radio sources of C&W

somafm has a pretty decent country station: Boot Liquor :)

Boot Liquor
Americana Roots music for Cowhands, Cowpokes and Cowtippers

Music that shows the ongoing hopelessness in your otherwise dreary life. Americana roots music (or what they used to call Country Western) that's both musically and lyrically unique.

recent playlist / song history

[w8liftinglady]

74. Cool! Thanks

They even play John Prine :)

[kentauros]

78. You're welcome :)

I don't listen to it very often, only when I'm in the right mood (to be depressed :P)

They play a good mix. Same holds true for all the other channels they've got there :)

[spanone]

75. we shall be free

garth brooks


This ain't comin' from no prophet
Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see
The way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there's shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skies and the oceans are clean again
Then we shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud
'Cause we shall be free
When we're free to love anyone we choose
When this world's big enough for all different views
When we all can worship from our own kind of pew
Then we shall be free
We shall be free

We shall be free
Have a little faith
Hold out
'Cause we shall be free

And when money talks for the very last time
And nobody walks a step behind
When there's only one race and that's mankind
Then we shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud, have a little faith, hold out
We shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, have a little faith

We shall be free

[EnviroBat]

81. There are some groups which I really appreciate.

Rascal Flats is one that comes to mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj6MjMpbneM

[mistertrickster]

82. Two words: Dixie Chicks. Country "artists" will never do what they did again. nt

[Catherine Vincent]

83. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK-7k8MHvnE

[reggie the dog]

85. steve earle

copperhead road http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaEJzoaYZk is a good song

[Erose999]

102. He was on Democracy now the other day promoting his new album. He played that song he did for Treme

on the set. No soundman or anything just him and a guitar and I guess whatever boom mics they use for taping the show. It sounded great. That song gives me chills...

[w8liftinglady]

109. Steve Earle and John Prine toured together a few years ago

Awesome.
I saw them in Austin in..I think 2008.

[county worker]

94. She said she was tired of seeing me coming home drunk every night with lipstick

on my collar, so she up and took the kids and left me with nothin but ole blue. I grabbed old Jack Daniels and we had a party right there on the floor. Good bye bitch you weren't good for much anyway.

I woke up the next morning and found some flag waving gun toten patriots on the lawn yelling and screaming about freedom and liberty. Well since I was free of that old nag of mine I thought I'd join in the hell raisin because if my new freedom and liberty I got last night. Another swaller of old No. 7 and I knew what this country was all about.

God, Guns and Jack Daniels! God bless the tea party! tea and old no.7 that is!

[mwb970]

101. Simple people like simple music.

I like some of it myself. But not as a steady diet. Thin gruel indeed!

[Erose999]

104. The corporate crap they call "country music" nowadays is anything but "simple" if I had to describe

it with an adjective, I'd call it "busy". The arrangements are so cluttered... so many overdubs and so much multi-tracking. Not to mention autotune. It all just sounds "canned". I mean some of these "country" acts are using more studio wizardry than the hip-hop and techno acts.

[mwb970]

107. I meant musically simple.

Of course the recordings themselves are all filled with production tricks. As a songwriter, I find a high percentage of country songs follow standard chord patterns, use standard time signatures and standard harmonies, and have standard song structures. Nothing edgy or progressive, nothing creative or imaginative, nothing new or different. As I say, thin gruel. Overproduced yes, but thin.

[rucky]

108. There's tons of great alt-country that's not being played on the radio.

We have more access to great music than ever before - we just have to work to find it.

[oldlib]

110. I like

"You be my Honeysuckle, I'll be your Honeybee"