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Justin Townes Earle, Sturgill Simpson (see below), are real good and to a certain extent, many of the "folk-ish" rock bands (Old 97s and the like) carry the tor

by trgn 11y ago

Justin Townes Earle, Sturgill Simpson (see below), are real good and to a certain extent, many of the "folk-ish" rock bands (Old 97s and the like) carry the torch somewhat. Country instruments have moved quite a bit into indy music in the last ten-fifteen years as well. The worst about pop-country music IMO now, is that popular country used to have absolutely great singing voices, sing cleanly with a sort of neutral phrasing quite different from the emotional grunting of rock&roll singers. Merle Haggard being a great example. Now, men sound like a parody. Not only do they sing like crap, the lyrics are absolute shit. It's pretty much all "it's friday, time to call in sick, take a long weekend to go fishin'". Urgh.

sk5t 11y ago
You might give a listen to Jason Isbell. I'm no country aficionado--closest I'll go is Jenny Lewis or Neko Case, usually--but Isbell seems to get back to the thoughtful lyrics and good execution that used to make stars.
omegaham 11y ago
What? My life exclusively consists of getting off work on Friday night to drink beer at some tailgate / bonfire out at the county line and finding some girl in Levis and a ballcap to jump in my truck and taaake it slooow on some back road... something something fill your cup with ice-cold beer, look into her baby blue eyes, etc. Country is at a nadir right now, and I'm seeing a lot of parallels to mid-2000s rap. I hope that it experiences a similar revival, because I really do like a lot of older country music. These days, I've been listening a lot more to folk music to get the thoughtful lyrics, and it's sad that it's going further and further underground.
- rhizome 11y ago
  I think it's an entirely new genre these days. Try to pick out all of the styles, including rap, this song touches on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8sNTqrzCw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8sNTqrzCw

by trgn 11y ago

sk5t 11y ago

You might give a listen to Jason Isbell. I'm no country aficionado--closest I'll go is Jenny Lewis or Neko Case, usually--but Isbell seems to get back to the thoughtful lyrics and good execution that used to make stars.

omegaham 11y ago

What? My life exclusively consists of getting off work on Friday night to drink beer at some tailgate / bonfire out at the county line and finding some girl in Levis and a ballcap to jump in my truck and taaake it slooow on some back road... something something fill your cup with ice-cold beer, look into her baby blue eyes, etc. Country is at a nadir right now, and I'm seeing a lot of parallels to mid-2000s rap. I hope that it experiences a similar revival, because I really do like a lot of older country music. These days, I've been listening a lot more to folk music to get the thoughtful lyrics, and it's sad that it's going further and further underground.

rhizome 11y ago
I think it's an entirely new genre these days. Try to pick out all of the styles, including rap, this song touches on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8sNTqrzCw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8sNTqrzCw