Jahfin wrote:
coolbreeze2444 wrote:
^Pretty much what is wrong with country music today in a nutshell. It also puts me in mind of this article by Peter Cooper of
The Tennessean called
Country Boys Are Wearing Out Calling Cards. No offense if that is your cup of tea when it comes to country music, it's just not mine.
I do like this and in large part I like it because it is a real departure from the traditional country sound while still singing about the same stuff you always hear in country music. I've always liked the fusion of different genres of music. And, at least here in small-town, down-state Illinois, it's a natural. Country is very popular, of course, but so is rap and pop, because that's what kids are growing up on. So, a blending of them isn't surprising. I'd have to disagree with Peter Cooper's article. I think he's got some things just plain wrong, frankly. He talks as if working in the field all day or having a bonfire on Saturday night are things that don't exist anymore and anyone who sings about them has never actually experienced them. But I'll tell ya, you come to Riverton, IL on most Saturday nights and the Riverbottom Rejects 4-Wheeler Club will have a bonfire going down by the river and they'll be blasting exactly the kind of music that Peter Cooper disdains so much. And some of them will even have red necks from working in their corn and soy bean fields all day, not from hanging out the window at the drive-through.
But, back to the music itself. I like it. It's fun, frankly, and it really does describe life where I live. Now that I think about it, that's one of the real positives of living in a hick town that sits in-between three large cities (Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis). We draw influences from our own small-town, farming community culture, we draw influences from being just a few miles from the state capital (Springfield) and we draw influences from these major metropolitan centers that we're not too far from (You should see the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry around here!). Kids at our high school are just as likely to wearing jeans, boots, and a western shirt as they are to have their pants sagging. Although, if they show up sagging, their given a rope to tie their pants up for the day. Seriously!
Point is, I think guys like Colt Ford and Cowboy Troy are a natural evolution of music. Kid Rock is another one. He blends rock, country, pop, hip-hop. It was bound to happen; people grow up listen to these diverse types of music and eventually they begin to fuse. That's how rock & roll and modern country music came about.
Are the lyrics light-weight? Yeah, very often they are. I admit it's written to appeal to the lowest common denominator most of the time. So was Buddy Holly's stuff most of the time. That doesn't make it bad music, it just makes for music that's a lot of fun to listen while sitting on my tailgate at a bonfire. And yeah, we really do that around here.
Anyway, none of that is written to be a criticism of the videos you post here. Actually, I like pretty much everything you post in the youtube thread. It's good stuff. I spent nearly an hour going through it last night, listening to music that is mostly posted by you, Jahfin. Some of it I already knew and liked, some of it was new to me and I enjoyed that, too.
Wow, I hadn't planned to write an essay. I just got on a roll there.
So, yeah, keep posting the stuff you like, Jahfin; it's been a good way for me to discover some new sounds.
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