THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AT THE CMAS

[a1aara]

I decided to post this here. It is political & it is off topic. It also talks about that sad & sorry state of popular country music today.


THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AT THE CMAS
By Charles P. Pierce at 11:15am

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/a ... =soc_fcbks

Apparently, the Affordable Care Act was the subject of some mockery in Nashburg last night at the annual festival of prefabricated hicks and manufactured s*** kickers.

Let's forget, shall we, that the act is working gloriously in places like Kentucky, but that places like Tennessee, which hosted the yearly gathering of artificial redneck morons, have decided to sabotage the act because Tennessee insists on electing idiots, which is why there are a lot of the problems for Jethro and Zelda Mae to make sport of on the electric teevee. Let's also forget how much an actual Medicaid expansion would help in all those Southern states where these posers sell records and that have governors who suddenly find themselves allergic to Free Money (!) Let's also forget that none of the make-believe goobers on stage last night ever are going to have to make the decision between medicine for the kids and food on the table.

Let's forget all of that and concentrate on the main issue -- which is that I think modern country music sucks gigantic bowls of monkey dick. It is, weight for age, the phoniest genre of music since Pat Boone was ripping off Little Richard. Most of what is celebrated as "country" these days is simply bad rock and roll played by people who look like they flunked the audition for a Night Ranger tribute band. I mean, Taylor Fking Swift is already a "legend," and Patsy Cline would have eaten her on toast.

You know what country music is?



Read more:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/a ... =soc_fcbks

[SMLCHNG]

I thought it was funny. Swift is hardly a legend. But I find she's a better roll model to children than Miley Cyrus is. I think Country music is just fine, thank you. YMMV.

[Tiki Torches]

I think Country music is just fine, thank you. YMMV.

Country music is fine but the state of country music as represented by mainstream country isn't. They outright ignore alternative country artists as well as most artists that bare any sort of resemblance to actual country music (a notable exception being Kacy Musgraves). Even though I'm not necessarily a fan, I don't really have a problem with Taylor Swift as she writes her own music, can actually play an instrument and showed that's she's aware of the rootsier side of country when she was backed by Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer and Eric Carken for her performance of "Red" the other night. For an awards show that's far more representative of actual country music, I suggest checking out the Americana Music Awards where folks like Jason Isbell, Elizabeth Cook, Hayes Carl, Patterson Hood, Guy Clark, Todd Snider, Buddy Miller, etc. are given recognition on a regular basis. As represented by awards shows like the CMA's and mainstream country radio it's as though those artists don't even exist.

[jbfinscj]

I think Country music is just fine, thank you. YMMV.

Country music is fine but the state of country music as represented by mainstream country isn't. They outright ignore alternative country artists as well as most artists that bare any sort of resemblance to actual country music (a notable exception being Kacy Musgraves). Even though I'm not necessarily a fan, I don't really have a problem with Taylor Swift as she writes her own music, can actually play an instrument and showed that's she's aware of the rootsier side of country when she was backed by Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer and Eric Carken for her performance of "Red" the other night. For an awards show that's far more representative of actual country music, I suggest checking out the Americana Music Awards where folks like Jason Isbell, Elizabeth Cook, Hayes Carl, Patterson Hood, Guy Clark, Todd Snider, Buddy Miller, etc. are given recognition on a regular basis. As represented by awards shows like the CMA's and mainstream country radio it's as though those artists don't even exist.

Well said! I did find obamacare by morning hilarious I must admit. I also thought the George jones tribute was great with Alan Jackson and George strait

[SMLCHNG]

For an awards show that's far more representative of actual country music, I suggest checking out the Americana Music Awards where folks like Jason Isbell, Elizabeth Cook, Hayes Carl, Patterson Hood, Guy Clark, Todd Snider, Buddy Miller, etc. are given recognition on a regular basis. As represented by awards shows like the CMA's and mainstream country radio it's as though those artists don't even exist.

I like what I like. That doesn't make me wrong. Or you. That's all it boils down to. Half of those names I've never heard of, so I searched for a quick listen. Not what I care for.

[Tiki Torches]

For an awards show that's far more representative of actual country music, I suggest checking out the Americana Music Awards where folks like Jason Isbell, Elizabeth Cook, Hayes Carl, Patterson Hood, Guy Clark, Todd Snider, Buddy Miller, etc. are given recognition on a regular basis. As represented by awards shows like the CMA's and mainstream country radio it's as though those artists don't even exist.

I like what I like. That doesn't make me wrong. Or you. That's all it boils down to. Half of those names I've never heard of, so I searched for a quick listen. Not what I care for.

I'm not really making a case for our tastes in music, I'm referring to how commercial radio in general isn't an accurate barometer of what's out there, no matter the genre. In this case, country. Tune in something like the Outlaw Country channel on SiriusXM and you'll hear it. Other artists worthy of investigation would include but are by no means limited to James McMurtry, Lindi Ortega, Lydia Loveless, Caitlin Rose, Hayes Carll, Chris Knight, Tim Easton, Chris Mills, Austin Lucas, the Old 97's, Shinyribs, Steve Earle, the Jayhawks, Ryan Bingham, etc. All artists very worthy of note yet completely shunned by commercial country radio in favor of a diluted version of country music currently spearheaded by what's being referred to as "bro country" with Florida Georgia Line leading the pack.

Perhaps you'll find this interview with Kacey Musgraves (Best New Artist at the CMA's) from CBS Sunday Morning to be insightful as to what I'm referring to. She's definitely going against the grain as to what's presently popular on mainstream country radio. Hopefully, her popularity is a sign of a positive change to come and will lead the pack in regards to a return of music to the airwaves which actually resembles country music.

Kacey Musgraves: More to country than trucks, tailgates

[SMLCHNG]

Tune in something like the Outlaw Country channel on SiriusXM and you'll hear it.

Hubby listens to it, I don't care for it.

[Tiki Torches]

Tune in something like the Outlaw Country channel on SiriusXM and you'll hear it.

Hubby listens to it, I don't care for it.

I preferred X Country on XM prior to the merger with Sirius myself. Even though I'm a fan of Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl Keene, etc. I feel that there's sometimes too much focus on singer/songwriters from Texas with three names. I've also heard Skynyrd, Sabbath, CCR, etc. on there that don't really fit the format even though some of those have been during stuff like Shooter Jennings' speciality shows. On the upside, they also play many of the artists' I mentioned, there's just not as much concentration on them as there was on X Country. If someone doesn't like artists such as Waylon, Willie, Emmylou, Whiskeytown, Jerry Jeff, etc. that are/were featured on both channels it would be safe to say they don't like country music in general. Mainstream country radio has been successful at featuring a largely watered down version of that which is palatable to the masses but that's really nothing new, it goes back to the countrypolitian and crossover stuff of the 70's and 80's. Today's "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line is yesterday's "Islands In the Stream" by Kenny & Dolly, only worse, if one can imagine that. Hopefully artists like Kacey Musgraves will help bring real country music back to the airwaves.

[PeretHed66]

Couple of points...

1. The writer of the article is guilty of an all too familiar double standard - it's ok to mock and belittle the Southerner as an uneducated slack jawed yokel ("redneck morons", "Jethro and Zelda Mae", "electric teevee"), but God forbid said yokels mock something that's near and dear to the author's heart, the AAC in this case. It's a tired exercise, and devalues the article's worth, in my opinion. Which is too bad, because...
2. I tend to agree with his taste in country music. I dislike, for the most part, the same acts he does. But I have a different solution. Instead of p***, moaning, complaining, and damning those artists and those who like them, I choose a different path....
3. I don't listen to them. It's not that hard to do. If you know you don't like something, don't expose yourself to it. Simple, ain't it. And one other thing...
4. I suspect these kind of comments and conversations debating what "country" music is have been going on as long as it's been around. I guarantee you the old guard was saying the same kind of things about the state of "country" and what is and isn't "real" when Hank Jr released his landmark "....and Friends" album, or when Willie, Waylon, Tompall, et al released "Wanted!". It's always dangerous when you try to define for everyone else what is "good" and "bad"; at the end of the day, if you like it, it's good. That's all that matters.

[Tiki Torches]

Couple of points...

1. The writer of the article is guilty of an all too familiar double standard - it's ok to mock and belittle the Southerner as an uneducated slack jawed yokel ("redneck morons", "Jethro and Zelda Mae", "electric teevee"), but God forbid said yokels mock something that's near and dear to the author's heart, the AAC in this case. It's a tired exercise, and devalues the article's worth, in my opinion. Which is too bad, because...
2. I tend to agree with his taste in country music. I dislike, for the most part, the same acts he does. But I have a different solution. Instead of p***, moaning, complaining, and damning those artists and those who like them, I choose a different path....
3. I don't listen to them. It's not that hard to do. If you know you don't like something, don't expose yourself to it. Simple, ain't it. And one other thing...
4. I suspect these kind of comments and conversations debating what "country" music is have been going on as long as it's been around. I guarantee you the old guard was saying the same kind of things about the state of "country" and what is and isn't "real" when Hank Jr released his landmark "....and Friends" album, or when Willie, Waylon, Tompall, et al released "Wanted!". It's always dangerous when you try to define for everyone else what is "good" and "bad"; at the end of the day, if you like it, it's good. That's all that matters.

As I've stated here many times, I've never been an avid country music radio listener, something that goes back to the 70's. The reasoning being, I never heard artists like Jerry Jeff, Buffett, Prine, Guy Clark, Steve Goodman, Goose Creek Symphony, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, the Flying Burrito Brothers, etc. on there. The upside was the Outlaw movement headed by Waylon and Willie, though that only changed things for a short while. In the 80's we had Jason and the Scorchers, the Long Ryders, Lone Justice, Southern Pacific, Steve Earle and similar artists but very few of those made any significant in-roads into mainstream country airplay. Ironically enough, many of them were more successful on rock n' roll stations where the listenership and programmers weren't nearly as conservative. A similar thing happened in the 90's and continues to the present day with alternative country artists like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Lucinda Williams, the Gourds, Drive-By Truckers, Hayes Carll, etc. being shunned by mainstream country radio. I see nothing wrong whatsoever with being vocal about how an entire segment of the country music community goes unrepresented by mainstream country radio. Radio itself has been in the shitter for a long time now but it's only gotten worse in recent years with the stranglehold Clear Channel, Live Nation, etc. has on the industry. Not only that but one would be hard pressed to turn on the radio and actually hear a live announcer in 2013. Removing the human element from the equation has had as much to do with the severe decline in quality of radio as anything.

[jbfinscj]

Couple of points...

1. The writer of the article is guilty of an all too familiar double standard - it's ok to mock and belittle the Southerner as an uneducated slack jawed yokel ("redneck morons", "Jethro and Zelda Mae", "electric teevee"), but God forbid said yokels mock something that's near and dear to the author's heart, the AAC in this case. It's a tired exercise, and devalues the article's worth, in my opinion. Which is too bad, because...
2. I tend to agree with his taste in country music. I dislike, for the most part, the same acts he does. But I have a different solution. Instead of p***, moaning, complaining, and damning those artists and those who like them, I choose a different path....
3. I don't listen to them. It's not that hard to do. If you know you don't like something, don't expose yourself to it. Simple, ain't it. And one other thing...
4. I suspect these kind of comments and conversations debating what "country" music is have been going on as long as it's been around. I guarantee you the old guard was saying the same kind of things about the state of "country" and what is and isn't "real" when Hank Jr released his landmark "....and Friends" album, or when Willie, Waylon, Tompall, et al released "Wanted!". It's always dangerous when you try to define for everyone else what is "good" and "bad"; at the end of the day, if you like it, it's good. That's all that matters.

As I've stated here many times, I've never been an avid country music radio listener, something that goes back to the 70's. The reasoning being, I never heard artists like Jerry Jeff, Buffett, Prine, Guy Clark, Steve Goodman, Goose Creek Symphony, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, the Flying Burrito Brothers, etc. on there. The upside was the Outlaw movement headed by Waylon and Willie, though that only changed things for a short while. In the 80's we had Jason and the Scorchers, the Long Ryders, Lone Justice, Southern Pacific, Steve Earle and similar artists but very few of those made any significant in-roads into mainstream country airplay. Ironically enough, many of them were more successful on rock n' roll stations where the listenership and programmers weren't nearly as conservative. A similar thing happened in the 90's and continues to the present day with alternative country artists like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Lucinda Williams, the Gourds, Drive-By Truckers, Hayes Carll, etc. being shunned by mainstream country radio. I see nothing wrong whatsoever with being vocal about how an entire segment of the country music community goes unrepresented by mainstream country radio. Radio itself has been in the shitter for a long time now but it's only gotten worse in recent years with the stranglehold Clear Channel, Live Nation, etc. has on the industry. Not only that but one would be hard pressed to turn on the radio and actually hear a live announcer in 2013. Removing the human element from the equation has had as much to do with the severe decline in quality of radio as anything.

OK I have to ask, Do you receive some type of royalty check every time you mention these artists by name? If so you must be a very wealthy individual.

[lime rickie]

OK I have to ask, Do you receive some type of royalty check every time you mention these artists by name? If so you must be a very wealthy individual.

Every genre has mainstream/indie: Oscars/Sundance, Tonys/Obies, etc. Why should country music be any different?

[Tiki Torches]

Couple of points...

1. The writer of the article is guilty of an all too familiar double standard - it's ok to mock and belittle the Southerner as an uneducated slack jawed yokel ("redneck morons", "Jethro and Zelda Mae", "electric teevee"), but God forbid said yokels mock something that's near and dear to the author's heart, the AAC in this case. It's a tired exercise, and devalues the article's worth, in my opinion. Which is too bad, because...
2. I tend to agree with his taste in country music. I dislike, for the most part, the same acts he does. But I have a different solution. Instead of p***, moaning, complaining, and damning those artists and those who like them, I choose a different path....
3. I don't listen to them. It's not that hard to do. If you know you don't like something, don't expose yourself to it. Simple, ain't it. And one other thing...
4. I suspect these kind of comments and conversations debating what "country" music is have been going on as long as it's been around. I guarantee you the old guard was saying the same kind of things about the state of "country" and what is and isn't "real" when Hank Jr released his landmark "....and Friends" album, or when Willie, Waylon, Tompall, et al released "Wanted!". It's always dangerous when you try to define for everyone else what is "good" and "bad"; at the end of the day, if you like it, it's good. That's all that matters.

As I've stated here many times, I've never been an avid country music radio listener, something that goes back to the 70's. The reasoning being, I never heard artists like Jerry Jeff, Buffett, Prine, Guy Clark, Steve Goodman, Goose Creek Symphony, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, the Flying Burrito Brothers, etc. on there. The upside was the Outlaw movement headed by Waylon and Willie, though that only changed things for a short while. In the 80's we had Jason and the Scorchers, the Long Ryders, Lone Justice, Southern Pacific, Steve Earle and similar artists but very few of those made any significant in-roads into mainstream country airplay. Ironically enough, many of them were more successful on rock n' roll stations where the listenership and programmers weren't nearly as conservative. A similar thing happened in the 90's and continues to the present day with alternative country artists like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Lucinda Williams, the Gourds, Drive-By Truckers, Hayes Carll, etc. being shunned by mainstream country radio. I see nothing wrong whatsoever with being vocal about how an entire segment of the country music community goes unrepresented by mainstream country radio. Radio itself has been in the shitter for a long time now but it's only gotten worse in recent years with the stranglehold Clear Channel, Live Nation, etc. has on the industry. Not only that but one would be hard pressed to turn on the radio and actually hear a live announcer in 2013. Removing the human element from the equation has had as much to do with the severe decline in quality of radio as anything.

OK I have to ask, Do you receive some type of royalty check every time you mention these artists by name? If so you must be a very wealthy individual.

I'm not sure I see the harm in giving specific examples of artists who are representative of the various eras of counter culture country in regards to "country rock" (60's/70's), the "Outlaw" movement (70's), "cowpunk" (80's), "alternative country", "No Depression", "Y'allternative", "Americana", "insurgent country", etc. (late 80's/early 90's - present day). Perhaps you can elaborate as to why that bothers you.

[sistergoldenhair]

I'll get the popcorn started. Can somebody put some beers on ice?

[Tiki Torches]

I'll get the popcorn started. Can somebody put some beers on ice?

Why would anyone need any popcorn? I politely answered his question.

[big john]

I watched some of the CMAS and I saw them make fun of Obamacare.
It was spot on, it was accurate, and it was funny. They made fun of the
fact that it takes a LONG time to get on the site and only 6 people signed
on nationwide on the first day. I don't see how the author of the article
could say it's working "gloriously". Seems if they had waited a week they
would have more material for their comedy skit. That's all I've got to say.