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real country music by contemporary artists

I was really disappointed when XM merged with Sirius and X Country fell by the wayside. Sirius now features Outlaw Country which is still a far cry better than anything you will hear on broadcast radio. I love listening to Dallas Wayne and especially Mojo. However, it does not feature young contemporaries like X Country did.

There are some great young people who play real country music and never really get heard outside of a community like this. Some of my favorites are:

Paul Burch & The WPA Ballclub
Justin Townes Earle
Wayne The Train Hancock
Dale Watson

There are a ton more.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andy on March 13, 2009 at 6:53am

Some of the are not young by any ones standards. All good though.

Depends what you mean as real country don't it?

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Permalink Reply by willycoolahan on March 13, 2009 at 8:04am

If you were in your prime as a recording artist say, prior to 1974, then I refer to that as good old traditional country music. Back in the day when you could find a good country station on the AM dial (WONE here in Dayton). I really enjoy listening to most of it and you do hear a lot of these tracks on Outlaw Country. It seems to me that X Country featured more contemporaries than Outlaw Country. It doesn't have to be 35 years old to be good. Provide these younger folks a soapbox.

Real country is to me like pornography was to Thurogood Marshall. I can't define it, but I know it when I hear it.

I also really dig Bap Kennedy.

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Permalink Reply by Andy on March 13, 2009 at 8:26am

Think I know what you mean, but there was crap country music around before 1974 too.
In what world is the wonderous Dale Watson considered young??

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Permalink Reply by Andy on March 13, 2009 at 8:28am

Ps Bap used to live in my neighbourhood in London. Would bump into him quite a lot socially.
"Don't ya know I am mostly water" great stuff indeed.

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Permalink Reply by willycoolahan on March 13, 2009 at 10:06am

Dale is a contemporary artist. Maybe he's not young, but he's not as old as Willie, Merle or Bobby Bare, etc. Bap is no spring chicken either.

Another guy from acrossed the pond who has really caught my ear is James Hunter. A different genre, but really good stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Andy on March 13, 2009 at 5:54pm

I've known James since the 80's when he was called Howling Wilf. Still have a Howling Wilf & The Vee Jays album on vinyl I bought at a gig. It's great he's become so successful, but weird too, as he was one of many local acts you'd see year in year out. Fate is a funny thing eh?

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Permalink Reply by Ol' time Phelan on March 16, 2009 at 3:31am

I was just looking at a Leadbelly song on youtube and there was a comment by a Howling Wilf...

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Permalink Reply by Andy on March 13, 2009 at 6:54am

Some of them are not young!
And anyway what is real country music?

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Permalink Reply by Andy on March 13, 2009 at 6:55am

Oops double post - sorry. Use my phone to do this

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Permalink Reply by Hillbilly Haiku on March 13, 2009 at 7:30am

I so agree, X Country is missed daily in this household. There are a couple of young singer/songwriters here in Nashville that blow me away in the country genre. And yes, that is a subjective call, we could debate what 'country' is forever. You can find them on myspace, Angaleena Presley and Sean Locke. They are married and they are both talented as hell. Angaleena is having some success in Australia with cuts on other's CDs. Sean has a few cowrites with Kieran Kane that have made Kane Welch Kaplin releases including You Can't Save Everybody and Hillbilly Blue. But both of them are fine singers and if Music Row had any interest in true country... well, you know where I'm headed with that. TGIF, NDers!

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Permalink Reply by David Shaw on March 13, 2009 at 9:37am

Ben Kweller's Changing Horses sounds like real country to my ears ... and he's still pretty young (my daughter's partner thought he looked like a "ten year old drug dealer" ... well I wouldn't know anything about that).