The tone of country music is changing

Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown

Ambassador of the Great Northern Bar Jams
Country flag
I watched the ACM awards last night. The whole genre of country has been shifting for quite a few years. This is different. The tone is changing. I didn't see a telecaster until almost two hours in. The most common electric guitars were PRS and Gibson 335's. The most common Fender guitars were offsets. Only about half the bands had a steel guitar. Fender basses and Gibson acoustics still ruled though. The surprise of the night for me was Ashley McBryde who was playing a Fender Jazzmaster with two Fender Twins, awesome tone.
 
Kerry Brown said:
I watched the ACM awards last night. The whole genre of country has been shifting for quite a few years. This is different. The tone is changing. I didn't see a telecaster until almost two hours in. The most common electric guitars were PRS and Gibson 335's. The most common Fender guitars were offsets. Only about half the bands had a steel guitar. Fender basses and Gibson acoustics still ruled though. The surprise of the night for me was Ashley McBryde who was playing a Fender Jazzmaster with two Fender Twins, awesome tone.
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Hmmm. I generally don't care for country music. I may need to check into it and see if my taste has changed. Any suggestions?
 
Zzzzz said:
Hmmm. I generally don't care for country music. I may need to check into it and see if my taste has changed. Any suggestions?
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Not much that I care for. Three hours of music and maybe three songs that I liked. Eric Church, Brothers Osborne, and Ashley McBryde were OK. Chris Stapleton premiered a song about his dead dog which is as country as it gets. Unfortunately it sounded like a ripoff of The Weight to me, very similar chord progression and melody. Most of it was lousy pop music. I wouldn’t call it country at all. I don’t follow country music. I just tuned in because it was three hours of mostly live music which is unusual these days.
 
Zzzzz said:
Hmmm. I generally don't care for country music. I may need to check into it and see if my taste has changed. Any suggestions?
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I listen to a fair amount of what I guess you could call "Alt Country." Bands like Drive By Truckers, Lucero, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Tyler Childress, etc. I'd suggest checking some of that out, as it's more a melding of more traditional country sounds and rock music, not the terrible pop-country that's all over the radio these days.
 
gball said:
I listen to a fair amount of what I guess you could call "Alt Country." Bands like Drive By Truckers, Lucero, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Tyler Childress, etc. I'd suggest checking some of that out, as it's more a melding of more traditional country sounds and rock music, not the terrible pop-country that's all over the radio these days.
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I don't know a single one of those. I will check it out. Thanks! I really just don't like polka beat. Lol
 
Kerry Brown said:
I watched the ACM awards last night. The whole genre of country has been shifting for quite a few years. This is different. The tone is changing. I didn't see a telecaster until almost two hours in. The most common electric guitars were PRS and Gibson 335's. The most common Fender guitars were offsets. Only about half the bands had a steel guitar. Fender basses and Gibson acoustics still ruled though. The surprise of the night for me was Ashley McBryde who was playing a Fender Jazzmaster with two Fender Twins, awesome tone.
Click to expand...

The funny thing about country music is the way the singers are using digital pitch correction.
It sounds like some robot singing a song, it don't sound like country music.
Almost every song on the radio here is more like hip-hop than country.
 
Amp Mad Scientist said:
The funny thing about country music is the way the singers are using digital pitch correction.
It sounds like some robot singing a song, it don't sound like country music.
Almost every song on the radio here is more like hip-hop than country.
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I like songs like:

Smoke Rings In The Dark - Gary Allen

Daddy Won't Sell The Farm - Montgomery Gentry
 
I wasn’t commenting so much on how country has changed but more on how the gear they use has changed. All genres evolve and we may not like the new stuff if we grew up on the old stuff. I find music follows the 80/20 rule, 80% crap, 20% OK, with maybe 5% of that 20 excellent. I was interested in how the tone changed with more PRS’s, 335’s, and Fender offsets.
 
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Kerry Brown said:
I wasn’t commenting so much on how country has changed but more on how the gear they use has changed. All genres evolve and we may not like the new stuff if we grew up on the old stuff. I find music follows the 80/20 rule, 80% crap, 20% OK, with maybe 5% of that 20 excellent. I was interested in how the tone changed with more PRS’s, 335’s, and Fender offsets.
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Sorry the can of worms has been opened. I think you know this is only a light derailment for this place!!
 
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