# The tone of country is changing



## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

I watched the ACM awards last night. The whole genre of country has been shifting for quite a few years. This is different. The tone is changing. I didn't see a telecaster until almost two hours in. The most common electric guitars were PRS and Gibson 335's. The most common Fender guitars were offsets. Only about half the bands had a steel guitar. Fender basses and Gibson acoustics still ruled though. The surprise of the night for me was Ashley McBryde who was playing a Fender Jazzmaster with two Fender Twins, awesome tone.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)




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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I've pretty much given up on modern country music. I get that music evolves and changes. In the 60's Buck Owens brought in a new sound with his Bakersfield country. Over his career he experimented with some really different tones. In the 80's bands like Restless Heart, Southern Pacific and the Kentucky Headhunters evolved country music progressive sounds, arrangements, etc. They all had one thing in common in that you could see\hear the connection to the roots of country music. You could tell where they came from and what they paid homage to.
This new modern country has no depth, sounds more like the terrible new pop music. The lyrics don't tell us anything. Most of it has nothing in the way of interesting hooks. Most of it sounds like the same song with loop drum tracks. The singing is not musical whatsoever. Some it very similar to rap. 
There are some good music out there. I really dig the band Midland. Its music is reminiscent to what we heard in the 90's with Dwight Yoakum, George Strait, etc. Bands like that can still get me excited.
I'm a very adaptive music listener and I can appreciate many new things. I've never thought of my self as one of those old guys that thinks kids music today is garbage like my parents thought of my music. But most music today is garbage. 
It seems to get worse and worse. I wonder how long before we get to Country music's version of WAP. They're not far from it.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

guitarman2 said:


> I wonder how long before we get to Country music's version of WAP


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

When I heard this Donovan Woods / Katie Pruitt song on country radio it occurred to me that country is not what it was until recently and that includes but isn't limited to guitar tone. Same thing with Maren Morris. 






I remember my dad saying in the early '80s that whatever it was coming out the speakers in the pickup it wasn't country. pop country for him was buck owens. 

j


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

guitarman2 said:


> I wonder how long before we get to Country music's version of *WAP*. They're not far from it.





laristotle said:


>


Here's how disconnected I am... I have no idea what WAP is. 

I stopped listening to Country in the early 2000's. I only listened for a few years, but I still go back to some of it. I still really, really like the (Dixie) Chicks. Honest. Seen them in concert twice, they're great. Still like Garth, Dwight, some of Tim McGraw's stuff. 
I moved on when Taylor Swift and her contemporaries showed up. Cannot tolerate Keith Urban.


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## HighNoon (Nov 29, 2016)

When a bunch of session guys were moving from L.A. to Nashville in the late 80's and early 90's, you knew the amalgamation of styles in to an amorphous pile of steaming pop pile was underway.


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## BadHiwatt (May 9, 2017)

I grew up in Kansas and hated 90's country. Today, guys like Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson. Cotton Walls and Orville Peck make a regular appearance in my playlist. Whatever they are doing, I like it.


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

There was a damn funny ad for CFNY on tv last year.
It showed a blaster that was playing the same childish chord progression every song these days follows regardless of genre.
The self involved rap just keeps repeating "this is my BUTT!" over it.
So someone comes over and smashes the blaster in the ad, finally putting an end to the misery.
Now every time I get served one of these bowls of self important musical pablum / elevator hip hop / preschool country, I refer to it as THIS IS MY BUTT.
😂


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I grew up with country on the radio in the house, truck, tractor and shop. CFCW AM in Edmonton.
For me country is Waylon and Willy and George and Tammy etc. Anything before about 1985. 
I've heard some modern country but to me the country accent seems pushed or faked, the lyrics are way more cliched, and the music is too pop bordering on rap in some songs.
Oh well, people thought Waylon was a rebel at the time...


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

tomee2 said:


> Oh well, people thought Waylon was a rebel at the time...


All through the decades with all the sub genres of country music you could always hear the connection to country music. The DNA was always there. In this new modern era of country music every trace of country has been bred out.
The Rolling Stones are closer to country music than this new crap.













https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rolling+stones+tumblin+dice


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

we got a case of the Monday’s in here. I like the part where someone says .._I wasn’t going to be like my parents and hate on the music but I sure do hate today’s music, ., I rekn, tell you hwhat,._


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

These guys are in Australia, the one with the hat is a good pedal steel player.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

vadsy said:


> we got a case of the Monday’s in here. I like the part where someone says .._I wasn’t going to be like my parents and hate on the music but I sure do hate today’s music, ., I rekn, tell you hwhat,._


I guess you didn't really understand the point of my comment. I loved the music of my youth. I loved the music of my parents youth and I loved much of the music of my childrens youth. I love music from pretty much every era going back hundreds of years. The modern pop and country illustrates the worship of non talented musicless idols. Its crap with little to no substance. There is some great new music out there but the execs aren't promoting it.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

I wasn’t bemoaning the changes to the genre. Country has evolved as all music does. Watch the Ken Burns documentary Country Music to see and hear the changes. Like it or not music evolves. My post was more about how the tone has changed as the gear has changed. A few years ago even the new country bands usually had a Telecaster in the mix somewhere. I was really struck by the fact that there were no telecasters to be seen until almost two hours in. I was surprised how many PRS’s, 335’s, and Fender offsets were in use. More than you see in any other genres. It seems country musicians may be less rooted in tradition than other genres.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Kerry Brown said:


> I wasn’t bemoaning the changes to the genre. Country has evolved as all music does. Watch the Ken Burns documentary Country Music to see and hear the changes. Like it or not music evolves. My post was more about how the tone has changed as the gear has changed. A few years ago even the new country bands usually had a Telecaster in the mix somewhere. I was really struck by the fact that there were no telecasters to be seen until almost two hours in. I was surprised how many PRS’s, 335’s, and Fender offsets were in use. More than you see in any other genres. It seems country musicians may be less rooted in tradition than other genres.


Although Telecasters seem to be synonymous with country music there have been many artists through out the past that rarely or never touched a tele. I can't recall if I ever saw one in the hands of Chet Atkins. Kenny Chesney's stage was filled with Les Pauls. Although Merle Haggard him self was a big tele player he's lead players in his band that never touched a tele. Look up youtube for Merle with Clint Strong on guitar. 
For amps a lot of the country bands in the 90's used Marshal stacks. Brad uses Dr Z. We've come along way since the days of a tele through fender twin. Looking at traditional country your likely to find a tele and a black face amp (my favorite combo) but with country evolving in to a rockier sound and now more of a pop sound its possible to see any brand of guitar or amp on stage.


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## pckpat (Aug 19, 2009)

Well, at the risk of offending any fans of his on here, for me C&W irrevocably changed ( and I would posit more "devolved" then "evolved") when Garth Brooks took over back in the 80's sometime. Nothing against the guy, he seems like a decent enough fellow, but the hard-core sincerity of the guys I heard when I'd play my old man's albums, just seems to be lacking. Where's the modern equivalent of a Hank Williams(Sr. or Jr.), John R. Cash, Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell, Willie Nelson?... yadda yadda. Then again, maybe it was when they started replacing the guys on pedal steel with a PRS through a TSL.
Heck, back in the late 60's-early 70's there were bands like CCR or the Flying Burritos on the radio who could outrock and outcountry any of todays Big Rodeo Buckle/ GiantStetson Suburban Cowboys. ( There I'm glad I did it- got today's curmudgeonly old-man rant off my chest) 
That said, I don't mind guys like Isbell. Ah, ys...I remember going to see Merle in the late 80's and I had always thought it was Redd Vollkeart who was just ripping those cool jazz licks on the black LP Custom. Maybe it was Clint Strong.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

SWLABR said:


> Here's how disconnected I am... I have no idea what WAP is.


Count your blessings.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

laristotle said:


> Count your blessings.


So it doesn’t mean Worship and Prayer? .. lol


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

laristotle said:


> Count your blessings.


Last time I googled something I didn't get I regretted it...so I'm gonna stay ignorant on this one.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Wardo said:


> So it doesn’t mean Worship and Prayer? .. lol


been worshiping and praying at the alter a long time. Just matters which way you swing


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## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

Click names.

Dave Cobb is saving country music with his bare hands 

Sturgill Simpson
(My favourite)

Colter Wall 
(maybe the greatest country musician to ever live. And he’s a 25 year old from Saskatchewan)

Chris Stapleton
(Out of this world song writer / singer)

Charlie Crockett
(Not well known)

Vincent Niel Emerson
(Affiliated with colter)

Lukas Nelson
(Willie’s son, Niel young’s band)

Nathaniel Rateliff 
(Alcoholic / poet / amazing musician)

Shakey Graves
(Not the greatest albums but ridiculous performer).


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## b-nads (Apr 9, 2010)

Let me see - new country I listen to...Chris Stapleton, ****** Morgan, Cody Jinks, even Blackberry Smoke has some tunes that are closer to good coutnrey than any of that processed shit on the radio.

I can get along with the cookie-cutter 90's country because at least there were som good singers, but this drivel they call country now makes me puke in my mouth.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

If you want tele, check out Nice Horse out of Alberta.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

I like good ole country...
So they say country is the most popular music in the states...
But when I hear every success of other genres served in country sauce, I jump off the boat.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Budda said:


> If you want tele, check out Nice Horse out of Alberta.


the old Jakalope singer. they had some catchy stuff


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

vadsy said:


> the old Jakalope singer. they had some catchy stuff


Jakalope? My buddy won a Juno for designing their album artwork. (And he designed their website) 

I’ll check this out for sure!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)




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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The decline of country music may well have started when Ringo Starr sang "Act Naturally".  

I enjoy Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton. I saw a Colter Wall show a couple years back and thought he was decent. Not my preferred music, but he did what he did honestly and authentically. Every time I've heard Corb Lund, I've quite enjoyed him. And while his material is medium grade, there is a lot to respect about Paisley.

To some extent, the popularity, and more urban quality, of country has attracted a lot of musicians who might as well be rock bands to wear more plaid, look scraggly and affect a twang in their voices, simply because it will provide a more successful career launch pad. In many respects, they've pulled country more to the rock side.

In statistics, there is the concept of "regression to the mean"; that what may appear as very disparate outcomes or data points at first eventually turn into a pattern of consistency. In his essay "Why No One Hits .400 Anymore ", the late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould suggested that, over the history baseball, and especially the introduction of "the lively ball", superstar hitters gradually disappeared, not because of a lack of talent on the field, but because of general regression to the mean. Batters improved, but so did pitchers, and outfielders, removing the divergent datapoints. It's been a while since I read the essay, but I recall he made the point that .200 hitters declined in number as well as .400 hitters.

What's my point? I think that multiple forms of western (and occasionally eastern) popular music are gradually moving towards a "grand mean", where less and less will be stylistically distinctive. Rock, country, jazz, gospel, classical will all begin to resemble each other.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

Most of the posts in this thread:


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

My mentor in university said "Country music sounds like pop music from twenty years ago."

I'm not familiar with pop music from 2020, but give or take a few years, I think this holds. Patsy Cline when she was most famous sounded like late 40s pop. 80s country sounded like the Eagles. Hank Wiliams' first hit was a pretty faithful cover of a 1920s song recorded by Emmett Miller.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

The country fans I know credit Shania Twain with "rockin the jukebox". 

Maybe just because they're Canadians? At any rate her personal story has many elements that only Canadians can understand. And things that entitle her to do whatever she wants IMO. 









Shania Twain - Wikipedia







en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

lmao @ Johnny Bitcoin.

What I consider to be country; also like Colter Wall.


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

Wardo said:


> So it doesn’t mean Worship and Prayer? .. lol


i thought wonder at philosophy ... who knew

j


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

It's no secret that a great number of rock musicians have relocated to the Nashville area over the last 20 years. Not just the musicians, but the people (like multiple pedal-makers) who make the equipment that anticipates those musicians and style of music. Having visited there a few times, it's a very nice place to live (if you have a bit of money), so relocating there is not conspicuous in and of itself. But it is hard to imagine that flooding the region (not to mention all those Broadway clubs) with rock musicians would NOT dissolve the boundaries between rock and country and result in both exemplary and pathetic crossovers..

And I would be remiss in overlooking that the rock of today has its roots in rockabilly, which itself was an adaptation of country to appeal to young people, and that some of the most popular electric guitar models used in rock - Tele, Strat, most Gretsch - were initially developed for country musicians.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Wardo said:


> lmao @ Johnny Bitcoin.


Me too. The strip has declined in general quality, somewhat, since Wayne took over from Piraro, but that one was clever on multiple levels. A keeper.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Here’s a good demonstration of what’s wrong with today’s bro country


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

mhammer said:


> It's no secret that a great number of rock musicians have relocated to the Nashville area over the last 20 years. Not just the musicians, but the people (like multiple pedal-makers) who make the equipment that anticipates those musicians and style of music. Having visited there a few times, it's a very nice place to live (if you have a bit of money), so relocating there is not conspicuous in and of itself. But it is hard to imagine that flooding the region (not to mention all those Broadway clubs) with rock musicians would NOT dissolve the boundaries between rock and country and result in both exemplary and pathetic crossovers..
> 
> And I would be remiss in overlooking that the rock of today has its roots in rockabilly, which itself was an adaptation of country to appeal to young people, and that some of the most popular electric guitar models used in rock - Tele, Strat, most Gretsch - were initially developed for country musicians.


I hadn't thought of that. That could be part of the reason for the change in gear.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Sneaky said:


> Here’s a good demonstration of what’s wrong with today’s bro country


That was actually a good job of mashing.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)




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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Its basically rock and roll now, with a sprinkling of fiddle, lap steel guitar, and southern accents.

Im ok with it actually. never cared for old school country which became painfully cliched, and didnt resonate with younger people or those in suburbs/cities or a lot of places outside of the US.
It was the NASCAR of music.


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## John McMillin (Aug 5, 2018)

Sketchy Jeff said:


> When I heard this Donovan Woods / Katie Pruitt song on country radio it occurred to me that country is not what it was until recently and that includes but isn't limited to guitar tone. Same thing with Maren Morris.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's ok- it's just folk music, which is the taproot of Country Music. They'll grow out of it in a few years and plug in.


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## TheGASisReal (Mar 2, 2020)

Always12AM said:


> Click names.
> 
> Dave Cobb is saving country music with his bare hands
> 
> ...



Nailed it. And let's add Jason Isbell, as well as the Brothers Landreth. 

There is great "country" music out there if you look for it. It's really the same as any other genre.. Don't seek out new artists via listening to mainstream radio.

But yes, the genre has changed, as have the tones.


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