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

For those who like Iggy Pop and dislike "modern" Country music, here’s a quote from IP about an old-timer with a new album: " ’London Too’ will break your heart if you’ve got one".

The song is on Tommy McLain’s new album I Ran Down Every Dream, his his first in forty years (!). Collaborators with Tommy on the album are Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Van Dyke Parks, Ivan Neville, Denny Freeman, and some others less well known. The album was released on LP and CD by Yep Rock Records (a very hip label) last year, and Tommy has been on the road promoting it (at the age of 82!), on some nights sharing the stage with Nick Lowe.

This album is just one of the many Country albums which you do not hear on the radio or TV, with songs that do not talk about going down to the river in a pickup truck to drink beer, are not sung with an exaggerated Texas accent, and are not played as Rock music. Would those of you who keep repeating the lie that THAT is what all modern Country music sounds like please stop doing so? There are dozens and dozens of currently-active Country artists who DON’T sound like that. Expecting to hear music you like on radio or TV is rather silly. ;-)

By the way, Iris DeMent’s new album is now available (sorry LP purists, at the moment only on CD), and her tour in support of the album is commencing. I’ve seen her live on stage three times, and she is a fantastic live performer. A startlingly-great singer, a powerful pianist (she plays a grand piano on stage), and a delightful entertainer. I saw her on her last trip through Portland, but this time she’s not coming up from San Francisco.

For anyone who wants to hear current Country music that will appeal to his or her Rock ears, try Larry Campbell and his wife and musical partner Teresa Williams.

Larry was in Dylan’s road band for eight or nine years, then lead the band at the Midnight Rambles shows held in Levon Helm’s barn in Woodstock for about the same length of time. Teresa was a regular singer at the Rambles, and she and Larry have two fantastic albums available on LP and CD.

Jim Lauderdale is another, a fantastic singer and songwriter (a lot of the 80’s-90’s Country singers recorded his songs). Jim wrote the song "The King Of Broken Hearts" after reading about Gram Parsons characterizing George Jones thusly. For female vocals, Patty Loveless is highly recommended.

All the above are real/traditional/"hard" Country artists, not Rock guys who decided to jump on the Country bandwagon (no offense intended to Robert Plant ;-) . No songs about pickup trucks or drinkin’ beer down at the river.

Though not a "modern" Country album, it is one I think some may find of interest.

After Creedence Clearwater Revival disbanded (unintentional ;-), John Fogerty recorded and released his first solo album. But you may not have heard it, or even OF it. The reason for that is the fact that it came out not under his own name, but rather as The Blue Ridge Rangers (which is just him, playing every instrument, singing every part). And the music is pure, unadulterated Classic Country music, as Hillbilly as all get out ;-) .

I didn’t like Creedence (still don’t), but loved this album the instant I heard it in 1973. But then my father grew up on a farm in South Dakoda, his father a sharecropper. I grew up in the suburbs of various cities in California, but came to love Country music when I first heard it done by Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep At The Wheel, and Poco. Well, that’s not quite true; my mom had Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire album, which I played a lot. And I loved The Everly Brothers long before I heard John & Paul imitating them ;-) .

The songs on the Fogerty Country album:

 

Side 1:

"Blue Ridge Mountain Blues".

"Somewhere Listening (For My Name)".

"You’re The Reason".

"Jambalaya (On The Bayou)", by the Hillbilly genius Hank Williams.

"She Thinks I Still Care", a hit song by the favorite male singer of Gram Parsons and Elvis Costello: George Jones.

"California Blues (Blue Yodel #4)", by the Father Of Country music, Jimmie Rogers.

 

Side 2:

"Workin’ On A Building", a Country Gospel song.

"Please Help Me I’m Falling", the fantastic original recording was by Hank Locklin.

"Have Thine Own Way, Lord", a Gospel obviously.

"I Ain’t Never", written by Mel Tillis & Webb Pierce, a hit for the latter. Dave Edmunds also did a great version of the song on his superb second album Subtle As A Flying Mallet.

"Hearts Of Stone".

"Today I started Loving You Again", one of Merle Haggard’s best songs.

 

As you can see, Fogerty has great taste in Hillbilly/Country music. And his recorded instrumental and vocal performances are top notch. A good candidate for a Rocker’s first Country album.