Quote:
Originally Posted by andthentherewere3
 LOL. |
Actually, there are a number of parallels, as well as a common history between the two. Think Southern Rock (Allman Bros, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, etc).
You still see some crossover today, with Alt Country, Folk Rock, and Americana.
Listen to some of the Led Zeppelin acoustic tracks like Tangerine, Gallows Pole, That's The Way, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp (really, a lot of stuff from III) and tell me there aren't some Country elements to that.
Some Country musicians also incorporate a lot of blues sound in their music. Not everything has a fiddle and steel guitar.
However, I will agree that current rock (especially Alternative) has a lot less in common with current Country music. Harder rock and heavy metal especially. But that's definitely not to say that such a band could not find success in Nashville and Memphis. Both places offer a wider variety of music than they are given credit for. Just because a place is consider a "mecca" for a certain genre of music does not mean that the local scene is completely dominated by that.
In Nashville's case, a number of rock, indie, and Americana acts have found a nice niche in the local scene. There really aren't a lot of places that can boast the amount of musical talent and music infrastructure (recording studios, session musicians, songwriters) that Nashville has.
I disagree with the notion of the OP about only country being popular here. Country dominates the headlines, because it is more or less headquartered here. But you turn on the radio and it's a different story. In fact, the top Country station in Nashville is the 8th most popular station in the market.
While rock and hard rock don't dominate the market, the audience is definitely there. On radio, the rock stations enjoy a roughly equal market share to the country stations.
The biggest benefit for living here over a place like New York or LA is the cost of living. For a young (and likely penniless) musician, it's a lot easier to scrape by here. And bands of all genres are discovered all across the country...so I don't think that you necessarily have to move to a certain location to be successful.
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