Am I the only person in the UK that likes country

[BobVbass]

Well I like lots of music - Rock, blues, folk, jazz, I love swing but I also love country; and before everyone thinks it's all Dolly and Tammy and yee haw - I like Garth Brooks, Jaron and the Long Road to Love, Gretchen Wilson, Chris Ledoux, Modern country and country rock like Blackfoot, Lynyrd, the Eagles - sometimes it seems like i'm the only person in the Uk that does - i'd love to be in a band that plays this sort of stuff but every advert I see is for classic rock and the same old alright now and mustang sally - good songs but been there done that.

Anyway that's my Friday night throw my hands up in the air after yet another look through the bass player wanted ads to find the usual rubbish moan

Edited April 22, 2011 by bob_pickard

[Soliloquy]

I'm not a great fan, though I do like Emmy Lou Harris, her album with Mark Knopfler is excellent.

I did some gigs with a Country band last year. It was actually really good fun. The gigs are generally really well attended, and the audience dance all the way through, you get some slightly odd people there though.

I did a big festival up in Yorkshire with them, that was really good.

[url="http://www.copperkettlefestival.co.uk/"]http://www.copperkettlefestival.co.uk/[/url]

[Old Horse Murphy]

I've been after a band like that for ages and thought I'd found one recently. JJ Cale, Eagles, Little Feat were all mentioned.

Unfortunately the wider setlist included Mustang Sally, Duffy and "crowd pleasers".

I was offered the gig. Hmmm....

[BobVbass]

yes very interesting - I answered the same advert on joinmyband for that "country rock" band - go the set list through this afternoon - hence the frustrated post

[Old Horse Murphy]

[quote name='bob_pickard' post='1208668' date='Apr 22 2011, 09:27 PM'] yes very interesting - I answered the same advert on joinmyband for that "country rock" band - go the set list through this afternoon - hence the frustrated post [/quote]

Small world

If you decide to go for it, PM me and i can fill you in a bit

[Ian Savage]

You're not the only person, there's surely at least 1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5 other country bass players out there...

[casapete]

I'm in a country band, The Fork Handles. Its a 4 piece - me on bass plus guitar,piano and drums - we all sing too.
We play every (ok most) Thursdays at The Railway in Cottingham (just north of Hull), and regularly get a good crowd, say 80 people
plus each week. Its all covers, ranging from classic stuff like Merle Haggard, George Jones and Willie Nelson right through to
more recent tunes by The Eagles, Joe Ely, Mavericks, George Strait & Brad Paisley etc.

I love country stuff (not all of it by any means though) -favourite artists are Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Steve Earle and Alison Krauss.
The band got together as a bunch of friends who all just fancied playing some country stuff -we're all in other bands too.
I like the challenge of playing simple but effective bass lines (which is pretty much all I can do really!) that support great songs. I do get a bit
hacked off when people (often musos?) dismiss the genre without giving it a proper listen. Guess it's an easy target sometimes,
but there's a lot of great stuff out there,just needs finding.

[BobVbass]

[quote]You're not the only person, there's surely at least 1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5 other country bass players out there...[/quote]
yee haww!! Bass lines for interbred people with two fingers from the Florida swamps


[quote]If you decide to go for it, PM me and i can fill you in a bit[/quote]

No - turned it down - I've got Tap and the 50s rock and roll band to keep me busy - I just thought I'd finally found something

[hillbilly deluxe]

[quote name='Soliloquy' post='1208658' date='Apr 22 2011, 09:10 PM']I'm not a great fan, though I do like Emmy Lou Harris, her album with Mark Knopfler is excellent.

I did some gigs with a Country band last year. It was actually really good fun. The gigs are generally really well attended, and the audience dance all the way through, you get some slightly odd people there though.

I did a big festival up in Yorkshire with them, that was really good.

[url="http://www.copperkettlefestival.co.uk/"]http://www.copperkettlefestival.co.uk/[/url][/quote]
What band was it ? we were on the bill too.

[BobVbass]

[quote]there's a lot of great stuff out there,just needs finding.[/quote]

Very True - it's a huge field of music - like every large genre of music there's some songs that are amazing, some that's cringe making -

[Mr Fudge]

I am a very proud owner of the best of George Jones. Good music is good music the genre doesn't bother me.

[Doddy]

[quote name='casapete' post='1208680' date='Apr 22 2011, 09:40 PM']. I do get a bit
hacked off when people (often musos?) dismiss the genre without giving it a proper listen.[/quote]

I don't think any 'musos' can say anything when there are players like Brent Mason and Dan Huff on guitar and great bass players like Glenn Worf,Michael Rhodes,Dave Pomeroy,Mike Brignardello and loads more.
Even more 'name' musicians like Brad Paisley have got major chops.

Special mention to Jerry Douglas who's the baddest Dobro player around.

Edited April 22, 2011 by Doddy

[Len_derby]

[quote name='Ian Savage' post='1208674' date='Apr 22 2011, 09:36 PM']You're not the only person, there's surely at least 1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5 other country bass players out there...


[/quote]


Surely you mean;
1,5, 1,5 1,5 1,2,3,4, 1,5 1,5 1,5 etc.

Jokes aside, I feel your pain. I too love country music. Sadly, in the current economic climate venues and musicians are going to get increasingly risk-averse.
Clegg/Cameron = more Mustang Sally

I was at the Gate to Southwell Folk Festival (Nottinghamshire) last year. There were some acts that were, to my ears at least, 'Country'. Try the folk scene to recruit or join a band, it's a fairly broad church these days in my experience.

[BobVbass]

Very True - love Folk as well - lets face it most Country is just American Folk anyway - Richard Thompson (and Danny of course - how could I play DB without being a fan of the guv'nor) - I'm a huge fan - can't find a Folk band round here either

[hillbilly deluxe]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1208688' date='Apr 22 2011, 09:48 PM']I don't think any 'musos' can say anything when there are players like Brent Mason and Dan Huff on guitar and great bass players like Glenn Worf,Michael Rhodes,Dave Pomeroy,Mike Brignardello and loads more.
Even more 'name' musicians like Brad Paisley have got major chops.

Special mention to Jerry Douglas who's the baddest Dovro player around.[/quote]
This is worrying,im agreeing with Doddy,again. but he is right.

[wateroftyne]

I love country... Just not the shiny new Nashville big-hat tat. IMO it's awful.

[Mr Fudge]

Neil Young, CSN Tom Petty, Gram Parsons, The Byrds and many other greats have dabbled very successfully IMO. Always been a gig Lyle Lovett fan.

This is fantastic though.

[Soliloquy]

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='1208683' date='Apr 22 2011, 09:42 PM']What band was it ? we were on the bill too.[/quote]

Cajun Moon, we were first on. I watched your set from the side of the stage sat next to the sound man.

[hillbilly deluxe]

It was a good gig.

[jontywisp]

real country music is a close relative not only of folk but also of southern soul

proper roots music, with some great rhythm sections

any rockers who doubt this can usually be convinced by Gram Parsons or Neil Young

moreover Gram's duets with Emmylou have the most devastating harmony singing


I'm less keen on cheesy commercial stuff though

[jude_b]

I like two kinds of music - Country [i]and[/i] Western.

Sorry, Adam Clayton joke.

I love lots of Country stuff - as someone (kind of) says above - it's difficult to be interested in 20th century American music and not have some leanings to Country. Lot of interesting links back to folk and interaction with the blues. It's often not the most entertaining thing to play on bass, but if you're backing someone who's doing something good, who cares?

[chris_b]

Check out Vince Gill and Albert Lee for some of the best, least cheesy country music around.

[RussFM]

I listen to a lot of old-punks-gone-country like Chuck Ragan and Tim Barry, but I don't like the cheesy stuff.

I also play in an originals country band... www.myspace.com/liberationworksuk

[risingson]

[quote name='chris_b' post='1208787' date='Apr 22 2011, 11:46 PM']Check out Vince Gill and Albert Lee for some of the best, least cheesy country music around.[/quote]

Least cheesy?? It's a friggin hoedown!

Edited April 22, 2011 by risingson

[skankdelvar]

Most people seem to think country is either contemporary Hat acts or the kind of syrupy, maudlin rhinestone stuff the Beeb used to show once a year from the 70s -90's. Thankfully, there are enough sub-genres that practically anyone could find something they'd like.

The thing I like about country is that the lyrics are quite often about grown-up issues rather than the usual faked-up teen melodramas or poetic angst. The finest practitioners exhibit an honesty which is usually entirely absent from mainstream rock and pop. Taking a very well-known example - many people only know Cash's 50's-60's hits or the novelty stuff. Beyond that is some of the most lacerating music you'll ever hear.

But that's the US stuff. Here in the Uk there's always been a bit of a problem and I don't just mean mainstream sniffyness about the genre. I mean the problems that British country musos face within their own market.

My commercial experience of the British Country Music scene lasted from 94-98. It may have changed, but at the time it was divided into lots of factions - listeners vs line-dancers was one example of the period. I saw too many fossilised audiences, shifty small-time businessmen and agenda-led nutters.

And weary copyists like the singer who gigged with a headset mike and pointed at the audience every 2 minutes - all lifted from Garth Brooks who was big at the time. Artists seemed to find it difficult and commercially unrewarding to develop an authentic British country voice. Some tried but many simply bought a big hat and pumped out the retread covers that audiences demanded.

It's funny. Call it Americana and you can play originals to under 30's. It's almost cool. Call it Country and it's a whole different matter. The World laughs at you and the Country Police tell you what you're doing wrong.

Edited April 23, 2011 by skankdelvar