Pop country cliches vs. Outlaw Country reality

[SD4020]

Originally Posted by bentstrider

"The Ballad of Uneasy Rider", sounds almost like some sort of parody or satire in a way.
Makes me think of those middle-aged, high-class, suburbia dudes who dish out $30,000 on a flashy Harley, and then lay it down.

Amen. $30,000 and 30 miles doesn't make you a biker. Rubber... Rich urban bikers.

[CelticViking]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I had to laugh when I read the thread about whether or not pop country adequately portrays rural small town life. I suggest the OP turn off the radio, switch off CMT/GAC, and listen to the other side of country music-the sometimes gritty, sometimes irreverent, sometimes hellraising, and always authentic and heartfelt side. I submit my list of some of the best Outlaw Country songs:

Country Boy Can Survive - Hank Williams, Jr.

Choctaw Bingo - James McMurtry

Longhaired Redneck - David Allen Coe

Copperhead Road - Steve Earle

Conversation With the Devil - Ray Wylie Hubbard

We Can't Make It Here Anymore - James McMurtry

The Road Goes on Forever (And the Party Never Ends) - Robert Earl Keen

God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash

The High Cost of Livin - Jamey Johnson

Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother - Ray Wylie Hubbard

Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand - Waylon Jennings

Cocaine Blues - (Most famously covered by) Johnny Cash

Whiskey, Weed, and Women - Hank III

Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound - Hank Williams, Jr.

Long Haired Country Boy - Charlie Daniels Band

Family Tradition - Hank Williams, Jr.

Gunpowder and Lead - Miranda Lambert

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

Sunday Morning Comin Down - Kris Kristofferson

Caleb Meyer - Gillian Welch

Mama Tried - Merle Haggard

The Boys From Oklahoma - (Most famously covered by) Cross Canadian Ragweed

The Ballad of Uneasy Rider - Charlie Daniels Band

Thats basically what my last post was about in that thread.

[Stubblejumper]

I like to call those pop-country songs about country living laundry list songs. There's no depth, story or anything to any of them, it's just a list of things the writer liked/thinks will fit the image.

[plfriend]

Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun
And you might meet 'em both if you show up here not welcome son
Our necks are burnt, our roads are dirt and our trucks ain't clean
The dogs run lose, we smoke, we chew and fry everything
Out here, way out here (Josh Thompson)

Now that's RED.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Stubblejumper

I like to call those pop-country songs about country living laundry list songs. There's no depth, story or anything to any of them, it's just a list of things the writer liked/thinks will fit the image.

I tend more toward "singer/songwriter with guitar" music, which edges me toward "alternative country." One of the things I really don't like about country music is how few people write their own music. Ella Fitzgerald doing standards is one thing, your run-of-the-mill pop country singer is another. Also, when I listen to a "top 40" country station, the use of Autotune to correct vocals becomes annoying.

[Stubblejumper]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

I tend more toward "singer/songwriter with guitar" music, which edges me toward "alternative country." One of the things I really don't like about country music is how few people write their own music. Ella Fitzgerald doing standards is one thing, your run-of-the-mill pop country singer is another. Also, when I listen to a "top 40" country station, the use of Autotune to correct vocals becomes annoying.

I can't stand autotune.

I agree about the songwriting thing too. The other thing I've noticed about the current crop of pop-country singers is how rarely they cover old standards. Even as recently as the neo-traditionalist movement (Dwight, Alan Jackson, George Strait) there were covers of Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter family etc. It's pretty rare nowadays to have a singer pay homage to old singers.