Country Music and Oldies

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I grew up in the seventies hearing country music radio. It occurred to me at some point more recently that country music of the sixties and seventies might have become a sort of lost music. Here and there, though the years, I've heard oldies programs on country radio, but they've always seemed to be focused on much earlier music (say, fifties country -- maybe early-to-mid sixties). Maybe now there are satellite stations that play lots of the old sixties and seventies country hits, but that would be a more recent development.

Anyway, I'm interested in whether more contemporary country artists are even much aware of this music. I'd imagine that rock and roll has benefitted from having a fairly extensive oldies catalog spanning its whole history being fairly ubiquitous on the radio. I wonder if country has suffered from not having something similar?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 1 May 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)

dude, haev you ever watch one of those CMT list shows? that are one seemingly all the time. All they ever are is current country stars paying homage to "the greats".

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 1 May 2005 01:33 (twenty years ago)

that are ON

jesus christ I just cracked my first one and I'm already posting drunk

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 1 May 2005 01:34 (twenty years ago)

US country fans don't want to listen to 70s country. Gram Parsons was a liberal and they will always hate him for that.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 1 May 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

No, I don't have cable! I'm just thinking of a couple of things:

1. I haven't heard a lot of later sixties or seventies country since that time. (I don't know. Maybe it's because I don't have cable!)

2. I don't hear a lot of retro-isms in contemporary country. Maybe some alt-country is retro in some ways, but it's not like someone comes along and you go, "Whoa, this music sounds like Charlie Rich!" Maybe I'm wrong...

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 1 May 2005 01:44 (twenty years ago)

Gram Parsons wasn't "70s country." 70s country was Dolly, Tammy, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, Don Williams, Tanya Tucker, Crystal Gayle, Statler Bros., Oak Ridge Boys, Tom T. Hall, Merle Haggard, and a whole bunch more.

This stuff is very much alive and well, and not just in cable-channel tributes. There are broadcast radio stations here and there, along with satellite radio and endless Time Life "Best of Country Music"-type compilations.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 1 May 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)

Nashville has a fetish about its past, even as it tries hard to always be denying it. WSM here plays county from the '50s, '60s and '70s (and '80s), all day long. Modern-day country musicians know about Gram Parsons, for sure; even really young guys like Blaine Larsen get Merle Haggard to guest on their albums. And, at least here, music fans know all about what went on in country past. Your average modern country fan doesn't know or care about Gram Parsons, but they know who Emmylou Harris is, and when, in my experience, they've actually listened to Gram, they perceive it as "country music," no sweat.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 1 May 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

Hank Williams III, Wayne Hancock. Those fellas and the like still sing about and respect country's roots.

― chicharo, Sunday, 1 May 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

Some of those Billy Sherrill 70s countrypolitan records are flat-out great. George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich. And OMG Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty were doing hardcore sex honky-tonk in the mid 70s, they weren't messing around *too* much with string sections.

Tim must be right about country radio, though: haven't there been complaints from veterans like Jones and Hag in recent years about they don't get much respect or airply?

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 1 May 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

One summer not too long ago I drove around a lot in the south and in the west, and I was surprised how few "classic country" stations were on the FM dial. I was expecting to find at least a couple, and I don't remember hearing more than one or two, if that.

It's worth noting that country always seems to be moving in a cycle--traditionalists rule, then pop and other mainstream elements start to seep in, then that's followed by a backlash returning country to its "roots." Wash, rinse, repeat.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Sunday, 1 May 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

that country music of the sixties and seventies might have become a sort of lost music

This is very true in the sense that the LPs of this era are almost totally unavailable on CD. Take a look at George Jones' or Merle's or Loretta's discography on AMG or this fantastic site (http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/elpe.htm). Most of their LPs haven't even made it to CD yet, or if they have they were released in very limited form on a boutique label like BGO.

Now, I know that a lot of these albums were nothing more than a few singles cobbled together with rushed session work or older material, but I'd still like to hear them. On the records I do have from this era, I find myself enjoying the 'throwaways' just as much as the 'hits.'

― Keith C (kcraw916), Sunday, 1 May 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

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