Just a Country Boy at Heart
by Burt PrelutskyA few years ago, I re-connected with a guy I hadn’t seen in about 50 years. We’d been friends in junior high, but once my family moved, Gary and I wound up attending different high schools. Which is pretty much like living on different planets.
After he came across my stuff on the Internet, Gary contacted me and suggested getting together for lunch. And so we did. While reminiscing about the old days, I told him that I was still grateful that he’d taught me to play tennis. He was surprised to hear that I still played. But his surprise was nothing compared to mine when he said that he was grateful that I’d introduced him to good books and great music. Quite honestly, I hadn’t realized I’d done that. Unlike his teaching me tennis, it wasn’t something I’d set out to do. But he assured me that I was the first person he’d ever known who read Steinbeck and Dickens, Salinger and Dostoyefsky, Hugo and Twain, Robert Benchley and S.J. Perelman, and who listened to classical music.
It had never occurred to me back then or at any time since that I was anyone’s role model. In fact, the only time I ever set out to influence anyone’s taste in books was with my son and, in spite of or perhaps because of my efforts, he’s always hated reading anything but a hand of cards. As for music, the only kind he ever seemed to like was the sort that people of my generation refer to as a lot of very loud noise.
Actually, my own taste in music, as with books, is pretty eclectic. Along with Beethoven, Bach and Brahms, I enjoy Puccini, Copland, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Barber, Prokofiev, Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin, Arlen, Kern, Sondheim and Loesser. I also have a soft spot for the best of those guys who have enhanced so many movies with their dramatic scores; people named Steiner, Waxman, Korngold, Bernstein, Legrande and Morricone.
But it was only in the past year that I discovered and fell in love with yet another musical genre; namely, country western. It happened quite by accident. When I’m in my car, I tend to listen to talk radio. But on weekends, guys like Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Miller, thoughtlessly leave me in the lurch, forcing me to fend for myself. Well, some months ago, after station-surfing all over the AM dial and finding that the only topics under discussion seemed to be computers, vitamins and investment opportunities, I bit the bullet and switched over to FM. It was there I discovered a country western program, and there I stayed.
If it didn’t sound so grand, I would say that I’d had an epiphany. For, I truly had no idea that there were still songs being written today that were not only melodic, but came equipped with lyrics you could understand and that did not appear to have been copied off a bathroom wall.
Driving to and from tennis today, I heard about an hour’s worth of songs, and never heard anything about pimps and hos and killing cops. Instead, I heard love songs about husbands and wives, and celebrations of fathers, mothers and even siblings. Hard to believe, but in 2008, there are people busy writing and singing songs in tribute to grandparents, to teachers who made a difference, to soldiers and even, if you can believe it, to America.
There are songs, too, about unrequited love, about friends who have passed and about spiritual redemption. I even heard a clever and touching song in which a grown-up is writing a letter to his 17-year-old self in which he tries to reassure the boy that even though it seems like the end of the world because his girl friend has dumped him, things will eventually turn out just fine, although he understands that for kids that age, it’s awfully hard “to see past next Friday night.”
Many older people lament that life in these United States has gone to heck in a hand basket, and they long for the good old days when friends and family seemed to matter more, when people married and stayed married to their high school sweethearts, and when loving your country wasn’t dismissed as a cornball emotion.
Well, I’m here to tell you that the old days aren’t entirely dead and gone. They’re actually alive and well, and as I recently told Gary, you’ll find them on your FM dial.
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53 Comments
Thank you!!! I am so sick of the tired jokes about country music being only about crying into your beer because you lost your woman. I challenge anyone to listen to 10 country songs and 10 pop songs and see which genre has more variety in themes. Country songs are about the true power of music to evoke great emotion and feeling in all areas of our lives, and sometimes we just have a lot of fun with our lyrics and just enjoy the moment.
Welcome to the club, Burt :;) (this from one of the guys who's defended the C&W music scene on the site among all the C&W "haters" around here *heheh*… Just kiddin' guys and gals!)
Thanks for this, Burt! If you ever want to discuss music or borrow CD's, let me know. I feel like I owe you one now.
Sometimes, situations can lead to taste. In the early 70's, I traveled the country with a uhaul on the back of my wheezing Maverick, hopping from station to station. I was a nomad.with a passion for album rock. I landed a gig at a big FM station, only to find the next day the format changed from Jimi Hendrix and the Doors to the Statler Brothers and Conway Twitty. To say that I went spastic, is an insult to the spastic. It all sounded like strangling cats. I found a few – Waylon, Willie, etc, but I lasted only a few weeks. As a musician I can say that I admire the Country artist. They are singer/songwriters that do have talent. But because of a bad experience, I just can't give it a chance.
I'm originally from Chicago and if you had told me that one day I'd love country music, I'd have told you that you were nuts. Living in Arizona now, it's almost all that I listen to. Is it so bad to love good music that always tells a story?
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
Hi Burt-
Make sure you go back about 40-50 yrs and catch up on Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, the list goes one and on…
mitch
I understand that country has some veriety of themes, but there is something about the nasal quality of the singing and the twang of the guitar and the whine of the fiddle they use that I just can't get past. It's a shame really, but listening to country-style music is similar to listening to fingernails on a chalkboard for me. I can read the lyrics and appreciate what you're saying about the intent, but the style just drives me away every time I try.
"There are songs, too, about unrequited love, about friends who have passed and about spiritual redemption."
Yeah but there are also a lot of songs about adultery, divorce, and drinking.
Country lyrics aren't that much different than hip-hop, the stories are just about small towns rather than inner cities.
Once again Mr Prelutsky has given an entertaining exercise in the arts… there is no bad music forms, only bad execution- and that even includes (gasp!) rap and techno. Any stereo system should have Beethoven, Copeland,
Queen, John Barry and Dolly Parton- not to mention some Outkast… Patsy Cline and Hank Wiiliams. Chopin writing for Franz Liszt. 'Physical Graffitti' by Zep. 'Who's Next'. 'Armed Forces' by Elvis Costello. John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, The Four Tops and anything by the Reverend Al Green…
God, what a country. And culture…
oops!… Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, 'Revolver' /Beatles… Shania Twain and last, but not least, the immortal stylings of one Mr. Johnny Cash…
There's more to music than hip-hop, pop, country, and classic. As a twenty-year-old I'm starting to get tired of the "modern" music bashing. If you want a clear a positive message, try bands like Reliant K, persevering through problems? Paramore and Flyleaf are two of my favorites. Redemption and growing up? Believe it or not, Linkin Park and Good Charlotte. And good music, as in melody, harmony, uniqueness, and just plain nice to listen to? The second Panic at the Disco CD, Pretty. Odd. is beautiful. And the Hush Sound is eclectic, but golden.
Before you bash all "current" music, try listening to less well-known stations. Yes there's a lot of junk out there, but that doesn't mean that all that's being created today is bad.
Even though it was before my time, I've discovered there's a lot of great Big Band/Swing music too.
I've been writing, producing, and listening to country music for twenty years, now. Welcome to the fold, my friend!
I've been writing, producing, and listening to country music for twenty years, now. Welcome to the fold, my friend!
As I see it, it is as much about the culture of the genre as it is the music.
we agree that there is some good stuff starting to crawl out of the 'hate George Bush' era of the Green Day decade. Linkin Park is kind of lame; Hush Sound does have a sense of melody- and we are on the dark side of 40…
we Chicagoans have the best taste in music because of the huge spectrum we were offered- Blues, jazz, hard rock, soul and country were all here all of the time, much more so than LA or NY. Az is kind of Chicago west now, anyway…
Yes! dcase, you forgot Sinatra, Dino, Glen Miller……and Sousa, does anyone else love listening to a bit of Sousa now and then?
Yep, you got that right. Plenty of people from Illinois here.
it's no accident that the Cubs draw 230,000 folks to see 'em play in Mesa…
it's no accident that the Cubs draw 230,000 folks to see 'em play in Mesa…
didn't forget- wanted you to list them! especially Dino… as a former military type martial music ala' John Philip Souza, particularly 'Stars and Stripes Forever' still give us goosebumps- and makes us snap to attention as well…
One of my (liberal) coworkers heard me listening to country music and freaked out. "YOU listen to country? I thought you were so sophisticated!" Could her mind get ANY narrower? Country music rocks! Not all of it and not all the time but it's real.
Alcoholism happens, adultery happens, but so do golden wedding anniversaries, stupid teenage pranks, and rags to riches stories. I like all music (even rap-though not a lot of it) as long as the music is good. If you don't like twang and fiddles, that's cool, I don't like the Beatles. But I do like the Monkees. And country is just like that. There IS no single country sound.
For true anti-twang people, I would suggest any of the Highwaymen (except Willy), Josh Gracin, Sara Evans, or Travis Tritt.
The funny part is that the "modern" music bashing happens in every genre any time something new pops up. You should hear people whine about "new" country music. I think the problem is that bands with positive messages don't get as much radio play time outside country genre channels and then they get ignored.
I've loved country music since I was a kid growing up in Georgia and my father hooked me on his favorite singer, Ernest Tubb. During the '60s I hid my love of country from my scoffing friends but still listened on my own. When I was in the Air Force in Germany I secretly enjoyed the hour of country & western that Armed Forces Radio would run each day, right after the polka hour (I kid you not). But I have to disagree about the current state of country. It's at a low that rivals the late '70s. The early '90s, though, were a high point. There was so much good music then it's hard to imagine it today. Country music today has degenerated into songs that must explicitly state that "I'm a redneck" or "I love my truck," "I'm love small towns," "I'm country," or "I love my tractor and my dogs." The current level of writing is embarrassing. It's like the hall of fame of the near-rhyme.
Using iTunes, I've made several mixes of old country, and I'm not talking Hank Williams, because he's in a class of his own. I'm talking Hank Snow, Kitty Wells, Hank Thompson, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Marty Robbins and Lefty Frizzell. Their songs weren't explicitly about being country. They were about universal emotions sung by country stars. There's a big difference. And they respected the rhyme. They didn't think that a long vowel in the middle of a word was enough to qualify as a rhyme.
Just check out Snow's "A Fool Such as I" or Pierce's "Backstreet Affair" and compare them with the current country top 40. No comparison. Country needs to get back to country.
I think you missed his point. Try reading his last two paragraphs again.
When I was a kid, my mom married my stepdad-a country boy from KY. Other kids went to Disneyworld, but we went to the Grand Ole Opry. At the time, I didn't appreciate it, but I look back now, and I'm grateful. I'll take Brooks and Dunn over anything hip-hop.
PLAY SOMETHIN' COUNTRY!
When I was a kid, my mom married my stepdad-a country boy from KY. Other kids went to Disneyworld, but we went to the Grand Ole Opry. At the time, I didn't appreciate it, but I look back now, and I'm grateful. I'll take Brooks and Dunn over anything hip-hop.
PLAY SOMETHIN' COUNTRY!
I'm delighted that so many readers could actually identify with my new-found love for country and western music. Perhaps I like what I'm hearing these days as much as I do because I'm not all that familiar with what came before. However, I must take exception to those of you who complain about the singers reminding you of nails on a blackboard. I agree that some of the men sound as if they are gargling with razor blades, but many of the women sing with the purity of angels.
Regards, Burt
no, i didn't miss his point at all- but you missed mine by a country mile. Burt has developed a new interest in country music in general and i suggested he make a point of listening to some of the greats of the past, not just what is currently playing on contemporary country radio. the sentiments he expressed in those supposedly all-important last two paragraphs used to be found in all music genres, but now that's rare in anything other than country. okay, i got that. i was only suggesting that he would also enjoy many artists who no longer get any airplay. (but thanks for your pedantic nitpicking on this oh-so-crucial interpretation of his profound thoughts! that was sarcasm, in case you missed that, too.)
Some country music is "twangy" and some is about a trashy lifestyle, but on average, it's more likely to be uplifting that 90% of popular music and 99.9% of rap.
Last month, one of the great country music stars, Dan Seals passed away. Dan's music was poetry set to memorable melodies. (Check out his "One Friend".) And because of his own moral principles, Dan wouldn't write or sing about getting drunk or cheating. Dan loved this country and was very proud of his middle son (my son-in-law) who recently became a member of the US Army.
Montgomery Gentry, Rascal Flatts, Trace Adkins, Toby Keith, John Rich and many other contemporary country musicians frequently sing about the noble quality of America and Americans.
Count me as those who prefer the older/classic stuff. Patsy Cline over Faith Hill (don't get me wrong–she seems like a lovely woman, but too syrupy for me) or Carrie Underwood(!) any day. (Did anyone see Dolly Parton on 60 Minutes Sunday? She is still a hoot, and the hardest working woman in showbiz, IMHO.) Country has also been famously called "the white man's blues," as the early stuff pretty much touches on all the same themes as early blues records. And Johnny Cash _might_ be my desert island music.
I don't listen exclusively to C&W – in fact my mp3 player has everything from the Doors to Sergei Rachmaninoff, to Phil Vassar. But to echo Burt's observation, C&W – the best of it – talks about life – and not just "my girlfriend left me, I lost my truck"… Phil sings about meeting a girl from high school years later, Garth tells of meeting an old girl friend that he hoped he would marry and figured years later that "God knows what He's doing after all"…Sometimes a song hits too close to home telling about some painful thing that you happen to be concurrently going through. And, as my late aunt used to say about most American popular music, "they sing like they have mush in their mouth". Never could understand why I could understand Abba's English words perfectly but not Jim Morrison. But C&W – if I have one choice of music to listen to across the country make it C&W!
Likewise. On occasion, I kinda like it. More than two in a row and I reach for the alternative rock.
Here in Oklahoma, we're proud of our country music roots. Garth Brooks was a college classmate. Toby Keith is a demi-god round these parts. I was never a big C&W fan, preferred rock and roll. However, there's a niche of country called Red Dirt music that I absolutely love. Lots of great music writing, great lyrics, definitely not an over-produced Nashville sound. Mainly just good guitar and vocals, like it ought to be.
You know what happens when you play a Country song backwards dontcha? America turns Socialist, your pick-up is classified as an SUV and banned, your wife turns feminist and kicks you out of the house in favor of a new life partner, a community organizer is elected POTUS, cheap coal becomes instant death and mom gets put back in prison because she was on the board at AIG. It's all my fault……….I was playin' around with "Hey, Good Lookin' " by Hank and……well, I kinda, sorta spun it backwards with my fingers…….My bad, I won't do it anymore.
I've never been much of a country music fan, but my 17-year old daughter has discovered Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, and she's getting the whole family hooked. Great music, great voices (no, really, they use their own voices) and best of all, for the most part, great stories.
I've never been much of a country music fan, but my 17-year old daughter has discovered Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, and she's getting the whole family hooked. Great music, great voices (no, really, they use their own voices) and best of all, for the most part, great stories.
Holy crap, I was going to mention Relient K because I didn't think anybody else would, but you beat me to the punch. You may not necessarily like their style of music (I happen to love it), but I will strongly contend that Matt Thiessen (lead singer who writes virtually all of their songs) is one of the most gifted lyricists I've seen in a long time.
You don't necessarily have to listen to all their music, but at least check out their lyrics, especially from their 4th album "mmhmm." I still think that's their most spirtually profound, thoughtful and mature album as far as the lyrics go. They've got some goofy songs mixed in there, especially on their earlier albums, but it's good to have those songs alongside stuff like 'Let it All Out.'
This might seem like a double post, but with the new system I'm not sure what I posted above will actually be seen and I feel to strongly about getting this out there to risk it not being seen. I can't believe American Ivy mentioned Relient K because I didn't think anybody else would. You may not necessarily like their style of music (I happen to love it), but I will strongly contend that Matt Thiessen (lead singer who writes virtually all of their songs) is one of the most gifted lyricists I've seen in a long time, regardless of musical genre.
You don't necessarily have to listen to all their music, but at least check out their lyrics, especially from their 4th album "mmhmm." I still think that's their most spirtually profound, thoughtful and mature album as far as the lyrics go. They've got some goofy songs mixed in there, especially on their earlier albums, but it's good to have those songs alongside stuff like 'Let it All Out.'
Speaking of over produced Nashville sounds never will forget a studio interview with Phil Vassar – when "Carlene" was out – and in the radio studio he simply played it on the piano and sung – slower tempo – the way the song writer really intended – and I believe I liked that far better than the studio version.
Sometimes Less is better.
And as far as country goes… I used to listen to it back in the day (Jon Ham mentioned early 90s being a high point; that's when I listened), but that's basically because it's what my parents were listening to and I didn't have a choice. Pretty much the only time I listen to it now is when I indulge my wife when we're riding together in the car.
It's just not a genre I personally enjoy a ton, although I can appreciate the pro-conservative bent of most of the songs. I really don't care for some of the trashier stuff that's put out though (I'm thinking mostly of Gretchen Wilson and some Toby Keith stuff here) which only seems to magnify and relish being white trashy. In my opinion, it's just a different kind of low class from some of the rap and hip hop songs, and that's strictly my opinion.
A lot of what we called "Rock" (The Byrds, Poco, Souther, Ronstadt, etc) would now be classified as country.
Goodness, a bit snarky today over a fairly innocuous comment, eh? Maybe you need to step away from the computer for a little bit, have a cuppa coffee and calm down a bit?
I listen to Reliant K and Flyleaf on the Christian stations. So I also like Mercy Me, Todd Agnew, BarlowGirl, etc. I have alsobeen reconnecting to high school music (Bon Jovi, etc). I used to listen to country and really appreciated the swing toward "wholesomeness". But, after my separation/divorce love songs weren't so "wholesome" any more. So I switched to "God loves me" songs. Althought, I still stop by the country stations now and again. In West Tx, you gotta keep up with the culture!!
I like both kinds of music : )
Country 'n Western
Listen to Chet Akins – Dill Pickle Rag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IiaqF-DYNY&fe...
Speaking of country music, the ACMs, Academy of Country Music, awards show this last Sunday was the best like evah!!!!!!!111!!!!111!!!! I hope you got a chance to see it. This was the best produced and staged ACMs I've ever seen. Nothing but a showcase of talent and depth 3 hrs long and I didn't want it to end. Honest. It also had a anthem for our times, "Closin' Detroit Down" by John Rich.
Granted, my viewing had 2 technical gliches, and Jaime Foxx could have remembered Charlie Pride and not to make jokes at other people's expense, but the host's jokes were funny. Go Reba! I hope they replay it on CMT.
Allison Krauss!
if you're going to appoint yourself Chief Petty Officer of Correct Comprehension of Columns- and then get it wrong- don't be too shocked when you get zinged for it.
That was a zing? ROFL
I know. I love new country like Big and Rich but people only associate them with "Ride a Cowboy." I bought their CD, and there are a couple really good religious and/or uplifting songs. A personable favorite is "I told the Devil Where to Go". It's about the personal choice to reject Satan and turn to God.
Are you kidding me? I love Relient K. Between my sister and me, we own all of their albums. And I've gone to see them every time they've been in StL since I was 15. Personally, I attribute them almost solely for helping my little sis through a crisis of faith a few years ago.
With my sis' college search however, I've learned something kind of sad. The best school for a Music Business degree (yes they have those) is a Christian school where religion courses are required and it's in Nashville!. How can these produces and managers come from such an Morally centered place and allow their "stars" to go so far astray?
Oh, I wasn't saying you specifically might not like their music, I was meaning 'you' in the general sense, as in anyone reading the comment.
Didn't know that about the music business degree, but that is interesting to know that a majority of them likely would go through that program. Although trust me, you don't necessarily have to be a Christian to go to or get anything out of a Christian school where religion courses are required. And there's always that seductive pull of the almighty dollar to corrupt morality.
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