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

@coltrane1 we fell off the country music train pages ago. I don’t think anyone questions that Jazz was created by black musicians do they? I wouldn’t feel bad about it not being heralded. That is probably true of most instrumental only music today, even classical who is followed by a smaller and smaller percentage of the population every day. However, I think there are definitely influences of Jazz on R&B, Hip Hop and even Rap and those are definitely heralded by a large portion of the population and I personally believe they have within them, some of the most interesting (and complex) music compared to what else is popular today. You can’t force people to like something or appreciate something just because you do. You can personally expose them, but that is about it.

There is a long list of musical artists over the years who can’t / couldn’t read/write sheet music. Most reading this thread have probably even heard of some of them. Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Elvis, Paul McCartney, John Lennon.

@thespeakerdude, Excellent post, and I heartily agree!!!

@bdp24 

If it’s Soul music you want, there is one current "act" I can enthusiastically recommend: The War & Treaty. An unlikely name, but this husband & wife duo of Michael and Tanya Trotter are absolutely fantastic!

Listening to this now for the first time...great! Thanks for the suggestion.

@thespeakerdude 

There is a long list of musical artists over the years who can’t / couldn’t read/write sheet music. 

True, but perhaps an equally long list of those that can. The great Oscar Peterson comes to mind. His scores are complex!

As an aside, I was maybe 12 or 13 when my dad took me to see my first Jazz concert - Oscar and Joe Pass, just the two of them. Lucky boy.

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos of Robben Ford discussing all things guitar. I saw and heard Robben live a lot when he moved to San Jose (during my senior year in high school I had been in a band with a bassist who was in Robben’s band for awhile), as did all the other musicians in town. I then followed his career when he moved down to L.A., where he worked first with Joni Mitchell. He went on to play with a lot of greats, including Miles Davis (who gave Robben his blessings when he tendered his resignation from Miles’ band, understanding Robben had to forge his own solo career), George Harrison, many others.

Anyway, Robben freely acknowledges that he is self taught, never took any lessons, and doesn’t read music. But if you watch his videos you will soon learn that he has a deep knowledge of music theory, which is more important than being able to read. That is, unless you intend getting into doing a lot of session work, in which reading is pretty much mandatory.