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Johnny Cash and Emmylou are on my list my list, as is Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, George Strait and Keith Whitley
probably Rex Griffin, Molly O’Day, Doc & Chickie WIlliams, Bill Monroe and Cowboy COpas
I’m evidently a good bit older than you because I have all the Jones and Haggard music on original LPs that I’ve converted to mp3s for easier listening. But I totally, 100%, agree with you about the state of country music today and how uninformed “country fans” are nowadays. They don’t even know what they’re missing.
When people tell me they hate country music, I now understand them completely. What’s to like about all that watered-down pop and soft rock passing for country these days?
That said, I have done what you’re doing with Jones, Haggard, etc., only with artists a generation before them. I’m trying to find the complete catalogs of people like Jimmy Dickens, Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Porter Wagoner, etc. And that’s just a few of them. It gets expensive, but I’m finding so much “new” music that it’s been a real joy to discover what was country before I was old enough to know what was happening.
Have fun.
The majority of todays country music is just plain awful.
I’m glad I have XM and get to hear artist like Amber Digby, Justin Trevino, Bobby Flores, Ron Williams and others that you will never hear on FM since the big music giants like Sony will not let on air. They have way too much invested in the likes of Carrie Underwood, etc.
I have many LP’s and CD’s of Cash, Haggard, Jim Reeves, Gary Stewart and others and there is no comparison to todays Country Music.
An alarmingly necessary post Razor.
Currently at the top of my list: Keith Whitley, Buck Owens, Marty Stuart and George Jones.
So far this year I have hit the catalogs of Alan Jackson, Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis and Kitty Wells.
Upside? Knowledge and appreciation. Downside? Expensive and time consuming.
I’ve only been a country fan for 3 or 4 years so I’ve got a lot to catch up on as far as the history of the genre.
I’ve heard a ton of George Jones as well, plus the majority of the catalogs of Loretta, Dolly, Conway, and Hank.
But I’ve got probably 20,000 songs I haven’t gone through yet on my computer that encompass the history of country music pretty well… just takes so long to go through all of those (and I don’t mean just listening to it once, I need to hear each song numerous times over in order for it to really register), in addition to some of the new music coming out.
I would say the artists whose catalogs I’m most excited to go through would be Merle, Randy Travis, Marty Robbins, Buck Owens, and Faron Young.
There’s a LOT of old stuff that I would like to get my hands on. One of my current priorities is to expand my Patty Loveless collection. I have a few Trisha Yearwood songs floating around on my iPod. Considering how much I’ve been singing her praises lately, I should probably see if I can actually get my hands on a few of her albums! Some more Pam Tillis and Kathy Mattea wouldn’t hurt either.
This is going to take a LONG time. There’s just so much great country music left behind from the good old days! Yes, today’s country radio listeners are definitely VERY much cheated.
This is going to take a LONG time.
That’s OK. The longer, the better. You don’t want to burn through too much music too quickly and be wondering what to investigate next. You have a whole lifetime to explore what’s out there.
Good points. Yes, it will take a long time, but it will be very enjoyable.
I take a completely opposite approach! I’d much rather hear interesting older songs from a wide variety of lesser known artists than collect multiple albums from the big name acts. Unfamiliar music which is unusual and unique attracts me much more than a lot of songs from the same artist as varied as they may be. I am grateful though for “Greatest Hits” and “Essential” collection package CDs that allow me to hear many of each artist’s best songs on a single album.
My exploration of 1950’s country music began in earnest with the acquisition of many Time-Life issued “Classic Country” series CDs that focused on 1950’s and early 60’s country hits. Although they feature many songs from the biggest names in classic country its the songs by artists like Warner Mack, Roy Drusky, Tommy Collins, Jimmy Elledge, and Bill Carlisle that I find most interesting.
After listening to multiple songs by the likes of Faron Young and Carl Smith, or Webb Pierce and Hank Thompson I find most modern country from the early 1990’s onward to be lacking substance. I consider the mid to late 80’s neo-traditional country revival movement that last time Nashville put out a lot of quality, real country music. I honestly don’t expect the mainstream country scene to ever attain to that level of musical integrity again…
I agree with your estimation on the timing of when mainstream country music crashed and burned. It was definitely sometime between the late ’80s and the very early ’90s. Heck, even Reba McEntire quit singing country music about 1988 and became some kind of weird singing feminist…boring crap.
I think the line-dancing craze in the mid-90s is about when things began to go wrong. It encouraged a lot of mindless, beat-driven music. And on the heels of that was the success of Shania Twain, which led to a lot of copycats producing watered-down pop. There were a lot of other factors as well — the consolidation of radio stations, the shift towards marketing to soccer moms and teenagers, pop and AC fans who were alienated by the inroads rap was making into those genres. And now with sales in the tank, labels are less willing to take chances on any new or different acts. I’m not sure how to get things back on track, or if it’s even possible.
Another thought – since reading Rosanne Cash’s excellent memoir, I’ve been thinking it would be good to get some more of her music.
Lately I’ve just been loving Loretta Lynn more and more. I could use some more Loretta and some more Patsy Cline. Also recently found out that I like the Statler Brothers.
Wow, I could go on all day.
There are still a few holes in my Haggard collection that I need to fill. But for the most part, I’m waiting for albums that I’m missing to become available on CD or through digital download. I remain mystified by the Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris albums that are out of print, especially in the case of Parton. Seems like they go out of their way to make her least essential music available. At least “The Fairest of Them All” finally hit CD, even if it was paired with “My Favorite Songwriter, Porter Wagoner” of all things.
Seems like they go out of their way to make her least essential music available.
Not only that, but they keep releasing new compilation albums containing the same songs that have been released on CD countless times already.
And scattered among all of the compilations are a good chunk of the songs from those early albums anyway. A good half of The Bargain Store, My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy, Love is Like a Butterfly, and The Seeker are already done. Only Bubbling Over would require a lot of effort.
I’ve got all the albums transferred from vinyl, but it seems like the best tracks from them aren’t the ones that make it on to the compilations. My kingdom for a high quality upgrade of “Don’t Let it Trouble Your Mind.”