Opinion: Modern country is the worst musical genre of all time

@jpwarren58      Dylan didn't say he was playing folk when he was amplified.  In fact he has always disliked dividing music into genres.

prndlus

A country show came on the radio. Between songs, they played a snippet of a recording from a movie? a recording? a variety show? I don’t know.

Man: Tell me, what kinds of music do you have?

Woman: Why, we have BOTH kinds, Country AND Western

That's from the first Blues Brothers movie.

After I posted, I remembered Bob Newhart on the subject.

It’s been so long, I must paraphrase:

Many people enjoy country music. Myself, I don’t care for it. But I don’t wish to denigrate those who do like it. And for those of you who do… [long pause] …the word ‘denigrate’ means, to insult, or put down.

By the way, just having fun here; I like early country music, old-timey, and bluegrass.

And thank you for the insight, cleeds.

"I like both kinds of music---Country AND Western" is an old, old joke (I first heard it in 1969). It wasn’t written by anyone involved in the Blues Brothers movie, it was just repeated in it.

Here’s another good one:

On one stay in the hospital later in his life, a nurse asked Buddy Rich if he was allergic to anything. His reply was "Yeah. Country music."

By the way, there are two basic strains of Bluegrass music: Traditional, and Progressive. Traditional is that which usually features singing, with the instruments providing musical accompaniment. Progressive is purely instrumental, with lots of Jazz elements. Jerry Douglas plays both. I love his Traditional playing, his Progressive not so much. He and his band came through Portland on his last tour, and I of course went to see and hear them. As is common in Progressive Bluegrass, there was lots of soloing, lots of "noodling", just like in Jazz (and The Grateful Dead and Phish). Not my cup of tea.

Jerry has produced over 100 albums, and played on over 2000! A recent one is his collaboration with John Hiatt: Leftover Feelings, which was nominated for the 2022 Grammy Award For Best Americana Album (Jerry has won 14 Grammy Awards), and as I have been saying for quite a while now is my favorite currently active living musician. But only when playing Traditional Bluegrass ;-) . In this genre Jerry has a "side project"---The Earls Of Leicester, who have produced two albums, one studio, one live.

Genres are ill defined, lending themselves to commercialization more than anything else. Try Wilco, particularly their collaboration with Billy Bragg. California Stars is sublime and Walt Whitman's Niece is poetry.