One hour in on the Country Music Awards and I am extremely distressed over the state of country music. :eek:

Friggin' Big and Rich dedicated their performance to "the King of Bling, Porter Waggoner' :wtf:
He's probably rolling over in his grave with some of what passes for country music these days.

I really know how things are with the industry these days but seeing it all together on network TV really is enough to make you cry:tears:

Oh, and the Eagles are starting up now................

Alan

Anyone else watching the CMA?
It is not on here yet but I do not watch any music or even the Oscars award shows. :)
I look at it as encouraging them.


Carl

The only constant is change...

Much of today's country is "pop" country. Gotta be current.

There's still plenty to like, though, including some cool new stuff.

Have you heard "Raising Sand", the new Alison Krauss & Robert Plant album?

It's a stunner.

Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, George Strait, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire....:thmbsp:

To me, real country music is people like early Dolly Parton, Hank Snow, Roy Acuff, Hank Williams Sr., Merle Haggard, George Jones, Sons of the Pioneers...

In other words, the stuff my dad still plays in the car on cassettes.

Ferlin Husky, Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, and Ms. Patsy....now that was Country!

Yeah Carl, you're probably right but I can sit in here with the wife or go in the other room and do something else. So tonight I'm sharing the CMA's and taking a couple of opportunities to vent here.

Fisherdude - I know there is some decent music out there and a lot that I can handle if we go out drinking and dancing. Have not heard but one cut - Gone, Gone, Gone - from that pairing. Keep thinking I'll hear more of it on the radio but no such luck.

I feel like I need some Hank Snow now.

Alan

I worked as a DJ for a little AM country station for years, and I can't tell you to the hour when I gave up on country music, but I CAN tell you it started on April 3rd 1995.

The great Rodney Crowell, one of the best singer/songwriters in recent country music, had released a song that day that I just knew would make him the star I had always thought he should have been. I would have bet money it was his path to the top of the charts.

The song was beautiful, deep, complex, and sung as only Rodney could sing it. We got the pre-release CD single of it, and I had been playing it in the booth for several days, when I asked the program director when it would go into the rotation so I could play it on air. His answer: "Never... As much as I love this song, Crowell doesn't sell enough records, so we won't be playing this one".

Less than 6 months later, Tim McGraw released a cover (that wasn't a pimple on the original) of this same song, and it went straight to number one.

In the end, I asked for and was given the Crowell CD single of "Please Remember Me". If you've never heard his version, try listening to it back to back with McGraw's. I feel sure you'll hear what I mean.

I have 3-4 Rodney Crowell lp's/cd's. Definitely like that guy. Picked up a Roseanne Cash LP a couple of weeks ago that he produced for her - haven't listened to it yet, though.

Alan

I think Pro-Tools us used more in country than in rock/pop. Alternative country is more "real" country. Hank Williams III is modern Honky Tonk.

I found the audio of the CMA's terrible! The sound kept going up and down in volume. Anybody else hear it?