Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Greywolf on January 1, 2011 at 9:30am

I dunno it's too depressing to think about.

 

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Permalink Reply by dennis glaser on May 15, 2011 at 12:10pm

I was working in Nashville during the '70s: personal manager, music journalist, PR vice president of a record label; even owned a record pressing plant for awhile and bartended at Kountry Korner, formerly known as "Talleyho Tavern," where Kris used to hang out. I've written a book about those years and the people I knew and some I worked with: "Music City's Defining Decade," available at Amazon.com and B&N.com. The artists and record companies benefited, but the fans didn't when they figured out that they would make more money selling a million copies of one album instead of 100,000 copies of 10 albums. This made artists like Garth Brooks dominate the market, and the diversity and "truth" of the music suffered. By the way, I was the person who validated the use of the label "outlaw." Hazel Smith has made a living off of taking credit for it, but I did the research and found the dictionary definition (one placed outside of the protection of the law) that convinced Tompall and Waylon to use the term. (Disclosure: I am Tompall's cousin and was his personal manager for as long as I could stand it,)

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Permalink Reply by Seth Williamson on May 15, 2011 at 3:57pm

Chet Atkins and the Nashville Sound is my guess.  I remember hearing Lynn Anderson's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" (I was in rock radio at the time) and thinking, "This is it for country music."

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Permalink Reply by Adam Sheets on January 2, 2011 at 5:21am

I sort of thought that rockabilly, Bakersfield, and outlaw country was the trifecta that ended it.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Moulton on January 2, 2011 at 1:08pm

I still like a lot of Nashville, it's where I grew up. Something special about the place to me.

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Permalink Reply by chris sweeney on January 2, 2011 at 8:00pm

Nashville is an easy target I guess, but in reality it is still home to so many talented musicians, songwriters, etc.

I don't care for much of the mainstream stuff, but as long as the Buddy Miller's, Guy Clark's, Patty Griffin's, Emmylou's, etc. find it a good place to be - I can't say it has gone all bad.

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Permalink Reply by Arty Hill on February 15, 2011 at 6:51pm

You been reading my mail ? I measure Nashville BW and AW (Before Whitley, After Whitley).  The death of Whitley and rise of Garth spelled disaster.  And more specifically, I remember listening to the first Clint Black cd and thinking "it's all over."

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Permalink Reply by Greywolf on February 16, 2011 at 2:35pm

Funny that you would say that, because Clint Black's first album, Killin' Time,  is one of the last "country" albums I liked. I still like Nothing's News to Me. Never listened to much of his after that though.

So are you saying you liked the stuff coming out of Nashville in the 80's while Whitley was around? Curious what your take on 80's Nashville music was. I was still listening to country radio stations back then off and on myself so I heard a fair amount of it but I was only just discovering folks like Kristofferson, McMurtry, Maria McKee, and Lucinda for the first time back then.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jim Moulton on February 17, 2011 at 2:56pm

Clint Black was a very good artist, still is, don't know what he has been up to. Problem with Nashville is they don't let artists still at the top of their game continue, thinking of Vince Gill and Patty Loveless who have both put out some great stuff recently. They are always looking for "The Next Big Thing"

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Permalink Reply by Greywolf on February 18, 2011 at 1:28pm

Clint Black done got hisself ruint by Tabitha from Bewitched. One wriggle of her nose turned him into a pretty boy singing pop tunes.

 

I liked his first album though.  

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Permalink Reply by Dustin Ogdin on February 16, 2011 at 7:20pm

Yes, major labels and sterile studios in Nashville suck.  I've certainly taken my shots at my beloved hometown, too.  BUT, as Chris Sweeney says, it's still home to some of the best musicians on the planet.  In addition to Chris's list, I'll add Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings, OCMS, Todd Snider, Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Marty Stuart, and, for the indie-rock-roots folks, we have Jack White and the Black Keys now.  This is also not to mention that almost any night of the week, you can go hear exceptionally great roots music and traditional country by lesser-known locals.  Nashville will always be a great music town no matter how lame the major labels are.  Just like Hollywood will always attract great filmmaking talent despite how insufferable most major studio projects are.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Lesher on February 18, 2011 at 5:18am

I'm new to this alt country ND concept though I think it's mostly a good fit for me.  Where does Merle Haggard fit into this paradigm?  I loved his 80's album and I used to listen to it constantly.  It had a decent duet with Willie on it.  There's another name which is on the ND list, but was he outlaw?  Or is that mainly Waylon who I wasn't that fond of?  Is it like Neil Young's quote, "You either like the Beatles or the Stones, but not both"?  Btw, Merle could have sung the contents of a can of shaving cream and it would have been amazing.

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