I think the whole country-pop thing isn't that bad. It is tiresome over a whole album but Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Chris Cagle
drool
etc etc all have some great singles.
singles, sure. but i understand who the people buying only itunes singles are, because the artists/bands they like only put out decent songs on the radio and the bulk of their albums overall suck ass, better after a brief foray into mainstream country. out of the handful of albums i wish i didn't own, i can only think of one that i actually like as an entire album. but i kind of hate admitting to liking tim mcgraw again, so i'll keep my mouth shut on that one. i don't know, all of it kind of makes me want to puke now. i know i own toby keith albums because i thought the one song i heard was ok, and was trying to prove a point (i don't know i was proving to it, myself perhaps?) that i'll hear one song off some rock band's album, go out and buy it, but i won't do the same when a country or pop band/artist puts out a single i like because it's just not cool enough to sit kenny chesney cds next to elvis costello, the clash, and all the other things that start with the letter C in my music collection. however, any of the stuff i picked up was about 2 years ago now, and any of it that i did like kind of has lost its charm. i'm back to thinking mainstream country/pop country has no redeeming musical qualities. even if brad paisley continues to put out the occasional humorous tune.
Also Barenaked Ladies 'For You' is an awesome bluegrassy/country track.
this is true. i completely forgot about that song.
i've been trying to get more into the wilco/uncle tupelo/ryan adams/whiskeytown stuff for i don't know how long now. and sun volt, someone told me to check them out i don't know how many years ago now and i never got around to it. i've heard a lot of stuff, but literally the only album that falls into that whole breed of stuff that can be called country that i own is jacksonville city nights. i liked it. lucero...have they been mentioned? they kind of fit in there. decent stuff, just never found any of it that completely blew me away. and EP reccomended someone local to him that i was really enjoying for a bit, to the extent that i ordered an album off their site when we were discussing it. the light wires, i believe. although at certain points, i feel like this stuff disintegrates into me going to listen to old REM. Almost like certain the stones, certain springsteen fit here, but don't really fit here.
then there's the rockabilly/psychobilly/punk rock thing that vintagepunk was getting at. no, it's a straight, cut and dry chain linking the clash to the stray cats to tim mcgraw. but you can't discount social distortion covering "ring of fire," that guy from the US bombs putting out wannabe hank sr-like songs, or rev horton heat. sometimes it feels like a stretch to me to get from point A to point B, and i was kind of flipping my shit yesterday when pandora seemed to think that mike ness = johnny cash. and how many tiger army fans listen to gene vincent, eddie cochran, carl perkins, etc.? you can start a playlist with mad sin, and transition your way into the ventures if you really want to. the sound is there. does my general love of all music that fits into these categories mean it's the reason i went to see tim mcgraw live when he played in amherst a few years ago? fuck no. but i did. and suspect device covered "sunday morning coming down." the street dogs put a kris kristoferson song on their first album. i'm not going to put dropkick murphys "god willing" back to back on a mix with "summertime blues" and say well....al barr has an eddie cochran tattoo on his arm. but i might go dkm, bruisers, death and taxes, mike ness, and then slowly work my there if i feel so inclined. and anyone else listening may or may not disagree somewhere along the way. and didn't lucinda williams do a song with flogging molly? yeah, i believe so.
that reminds me. i forget the name of the band i saw open for rev horton heat. not nashville pussy, they were dreadful. the first band, they were good. i know i bought one of their albums and that it was okay, i just can't remember who they were to look for it.
