[Closed] Where do I start with country music?

the mute button.
Hate the stuff - whay do you want to just out of interest?

Conway Twitty. Peter seems to like him and that's good enough for me.

Junkyard +1

Truly truly shocking stuff.

Cash, Kristofferson, Marty Robbyns, Neil Young does some stuff alarmingly close to country. Don't know much about the Western bit...

Used to love country music in my very early teens and have sort of returned to it in later life but far prefer bluegrass and folk.

With a different genre. I believe the sound of horses urinating on a tin roof compares favourably to country music.

This bloke's fantastic:

And Hank Williams, obviously.

Good and bad in all genres of music.
Don't let snobbishness and prejudice blind you to the good stuff.

Looking for lyrical gold.

I have the same prejudice as everyone, was just listening to James Taylor thinking "where's the history".

Johnny Cash would be a good start - he's sort of the link to it all. He's Country royalty via June Carter and hence the classic Nashville Grand Ol Opry sound. He painted himself as an outsider to this when he was younger but really it's two sides of the same coin.
Later in his career he branched out massively and worked with people who would be at the lo-fi, indie-sort of country sound like Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy). This is then a gateway to a lot of similar artists like Bon Iver, Son Volt, Wilco etc.

It's a broad church - I think to get to grips with it you have to get involved with the trad Nashville sound as well as the more contemporary stuff.

Try these:

1 - Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through The Goalposts Of Life

2 - Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed

3 - Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissing You Goodbye

4 - Her Teeth Were Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure

5 - How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

6 - How Can You Believe Me When I Say I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?

7 - I Been Roped And Thrown By Jesus In The Holy Ghost Corral

8 - I Changed Her Oil, She Changed My Life

9 - I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling

10 - I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me

11 - I Flushed You From The Toilets Of My Heart.

12 - I Keep Forgettin' I Forgot About You

13 - I Wanna Whip Your Cow

14 - I Would Have Writ You A Letter, But I Couldn't Spell Yuck!

15 - I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dawg Fight, Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win

16 - I'd Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me Than A Frontal Lobotomy

17 - I'm Just A Bug On The Windshield Of Life

18 - I'm The Only Hell Mama Ever Raised

19 - I've Been Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart

20 - I've Got The Hungries For Your Love And I'm Waiting In Your Welfare Line

21 - If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You

22 - If Love Were Oil, I'd Be A Quart Low

23 - If My Nose Were Full Of Nickels, I'd Blow It All On You

24 - If You Don't Leave Me Alone, I'll Go And Find Someone Else Who Will

25 - If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?

26 - Mama Get The Hammer (There's A Fly On Papa's Head)

27 - My Every Day Silver Is Plastic

28 - My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, And I Don't Love Jesus

29 - My John Deere Was Breaking Your Field, While Your Dear John Was Breaking My Heart

30 - My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend, And I Sure Do Miss Him

What [b]Rusty [/b]just did. That.

cheers crikey.

Townes van Zandt.

Dark, gravel voiced, alcoholic genius.

FWIW i did wake up to Crystal Castles & rode home to The Clash so we're in eclectica.

Early
Hank Williams - any compilation
Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger - First Rays of Protest

Classic
Johnny Cash - Live at San Quentin, Live at Folsom Prison

Alt/Americana
Neko Case and her Boyfriends - furnace room lullaby
Steve Earle - The Low road

This lot, can really play! 😉

They've got country............*and* western.

Willie Nelson can be pretty amazing (and awful). Red Headed Stranger is a great album.

More recently, although not really country, I'm enjoying Tired Pony quite a lot.

Start with the off button.

There were 103 of them, but I thought you'd want to get into the shallow end and splash about...

Less obviously shite would be Nanci Griffith greatest hits, Steve Earle, and Half Man Half Biscuit for UK based Country Folk parody stuff.

...Although that charming intro from Nanci is what she does at every gig, every time she plays that song..

Bubba Sparxx..
All the rest of it, as has already been mentioned, is a load of bilious tosh.

Big n Rich - Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy

Gretschen Wilson - Redneck Woman

[b]yunki[/b].

that missy elliot 'ting?

*googles*

Well, if you liked the Guy Clark, try these:

Carrie Underwood.

I would

Start there. 😯

Edit: of all the below songs, Black Tin Rocket is my current fave...

For modern country, perhaps try Lucinda Williams' album 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road', Emmylou Harris' 'Red Dirt Girl' or Lyle Lovett's 'Pontiac'.

There's also 'Americana' to consider, slightly edgier, perhaps. I like teh Transmissionary Six and Uncle Tupelo, amongst others.

If you want to begin at the beginning, at least the recorded beginning, then Harry Smith's Anthology is the place to start IMO:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music

Have a listen to Bob Harris Country on Radio 2, for good country and roots. His late show at the weekend has more Americana type stuff on it. He's on twitter too. Encyclopaedic knowledge of the genres.

Recommend Iris Dement, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings,Wilco,Steve Earle , Hank Williams, Dwight Yoakam and for western music Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys

Boxcar Willie!

Seriously, I think he's great and I'm a metal head through and through. Don't know much other country stuff but I stumbled on Boxcar through my Dad's country collection.

Try also the Nitty gritty dirt band for some more upbeat and catchy songs. Not proper country though, really.

this is what it should sound like 😉

Country and Western is all rhinestones and fringed jackets with Stetsons, country, on the other hand, is basically American folk music, and an awful lot of it can clearly track it's roots back to the English, Scottish and Irish folk music that settlers took with them, especially in the Appalachians and Blue Ridge Mountains.
I would suggest Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Gram Parsons, Patsy Cline, Alison Krauss, Gretchen Wilson, Gillian Welch, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Glen Campbell...
You can include The Band, who're very country influenced, Little Feat, even The Grateful Dead have strong country influences in much of their stuff.
Start looking into Alt.Country, and Americana, and you get into more bluegrass and folk/roots stuff, but still recognisably 'country'.
I like country music, but absolutely draw the line at the big name Nashville 'Hat-acts'!
[Edit] Damn, forgot Iris Dement! And of course, Steve Earle is very country, and his sister, Stacey Earle, has strong country influences in her work, but is more folky story-telling.
There's loads out there, without getting Nashville showbiz.

Townes doing a bit of classic Richards / Jagger.

Patsy Cline. Any best of album of hers is one brilliant song after another and her singing is perfect.

I'm not a big country fan but its influence is undeniable, you can even hear it in P-funk!

Or how about the Duct Tape Messiah?

I quite like this guy on occasion.

Ooops, that last one didn't work too well.

Try this:

What have i done.....thanks all.

..and here's where you finish

Can't stand Knopfler or Country, but strangely this ablum was actually bearable as background waffle.

oh, and this

It's a broad church:

Challenge you to watch that and not fall slightly in love with JN..... 😉

For 'indie' country try;

Josh T Pearson, try not to cut yourself while listening (very melancholic)

Mathew E White, a bit happier with gospel/R&B undertones.

Kurt Vile, electric folk, closer to standard indie music.

My head hurts. So much sadness.

Should've gone for "what dubstep for" instead...

Nah.... 😀

'Weed, whites & wine....'

The Jamie XX and Gil Scott Heron album is brilliant if you fancy some good quality dubstep

I'd basically follow CountZero's suggestions. Particularly Emmy Lou Harris and Gram Parson: Boulder to Birmingham is about the latter by the former.

Gram Parsons - start with the Gram era Byrds, then go to the Flying Burrito Brothers, then move on to luxuriate in his solo albums (where you will also hear the young Emmylou).

For laughs, try Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen - then move back to the source: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.

For more laughs plus some truly rousing live music, catch a Hank Wangford gig.

This has been a big Wednesday.

Thanks Rusty!

edit: [b]huws[/b] been there for years. Precisely why I want to find the history of country, thanks to Gil Sacot Heron and James Taylor and Emmylou Harris.

Kind of like when you watch the Rolling Stones in '67.

Where did that come from?

Lambchop?

I'm American and hate the stuff! 😡 There's entire radio stations devoted to it! 😯

It all sounds like this to me

samuri - Member

They've got country............*and* western.

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Jason and the Scorchers

Gillian Welsh

Bob Harris on R2.

OP must listen to Alison Kauss and Union Station - Wow, the voice of an angel and well crafted songs with talented players, not least Jerry Douglas on Dobro guitar - check her out! 🙂

Start with two albums

Cash Live at Folsom Prison
Townes Van Zandt Live at the Old Quarter ( careful with Townes some of the stdio albums are shit)

Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world and I'll stand on Bob Dylans coffee table in my cowboy boots and say so. Steve Earle

I've met Bob Dylan and his body guards and I dont think Steve Earle would get anywhere near his coffee table.After those two try Guy Clark, Blaze Foley, Kris Kristofferson all wrote amazing tunes.

Hayes Carll is my current favourite. Give 'trouble in mind' a listen.

If you want the Western bit of C&W then listen to Frankie Laine all entertaining 'cowboy' stuff.
Saw a lot of Cajun bands a few years ago, that's quite entertaining but forget trying to understand any of the lyrics. If you want to sing along just slam your testicles in the cutlery drawer and you'll be fine.

To make country sound good try "oil field country" almost anything sounds good after that.

Been living with a crazy canuck that loves that shit.

Felt like sticking his head in the fridge door and slaming it repeatedly for subjecting me to it.

He didnt much like the hospital podcast neither though

Finstigator- try the Townes Van Zandt stuff and also try Micah P Hinson.

Sarabeth Tucket (sp) is pretty good too.

I'll send you an email with a list off my spotifys.

Text me it please.

Mark

Another vote for Hayes Carll here, - I started with 'K.M.A.G.Y.O.Y.O and other stories' and soon bought the other 2 albums.
Funny lyrics, good writing and a unique voice 🙂

Can we have 'Trampled by Turtles' ?

Cowboy junkies
Martin plock
We died at sea
Elvis costello did an ace country album.

I can strongly recommend Kacey Musgraves album - Same Trailer Different Park - we haven't stopped playing it for months

David Allan Coe is always worth a listen.

Tyger is right on Alison Krauss and Union Station. I'm a bit of a fan of the Be Good Tanya's so laid back their almost horizontal.

I know that this a bit of a confession that will destroyer the on atom of credibility I aspire to but here goes........I think Dolly Parton is pretty good to. Ah that's better.

Elvis Costello album was 'A Good Year For The Roses', good stuff.

Lucinda WIlliams as mentioned earlier is excellent. Car Wheels on A Gravel Road and World WIthout Tears. 'West' has some excellent stuff as well. Listen to songs such as 'Jackson' or Lake Charles.

I also like Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Scud Mountain Boys, Pernice Brothers.

Alison Kauss and Union Station

+1

Mrs Binners, much as I love her, has some very dubious musical tastes. Country being one if them. Its absolutely bloody awful!!

I passed a benchmark in my life when, filled with self-loathing, I skulked into HMV (in disguise, obviously) and asked where the country section was, for this album....

...which is actually really good

Nothing modern that's for certain.
George Jones is Mr Country if you ask me.
Dwight Yoakam for newer stuff.
DO NOT listen to the radio 2 country show. That's not country.

Townes. Tower Song. End of thread.

emmylous harris - hard bargain album

George Jones is Mr Country if you ask me.

Has it really taken 3 pages for George Jones to get a mention? I would have posted a G.J. song but couldn't decide on which one.

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Dixie Chicks:

I don't like the rhinestoney stuff at all, but quite like the kind of country that I imagine is played by dangerous-looking drunken rednecks.

Like this:

Not 'canon', but still good.

'King of America' by Elvis Costello.

'Almost Blue' isn't a patch on it.

+1 for loads of the good (and funny) suggestions already posted. Whispering Bob Harris' shows are worth a listen for country / americana/ Austin/ Nashville sounds. A few years old, Rough Trade's country compilation might ease you into the less trad side of things if you find that side of things appealing. Some more "non-american-country" in the following...

First Aid Kit (simple arrangements, pop production, nashville sound, from Stockholm).

the Gourds (Austin meets Compton, some good playing, worth checking their other covers).

I'm going to listen to all of these tonight on the Mac....