country music in need of a revival? - or genre clarity?

[2lane]

I asked because I came across some lyrics I wrote a long time ago after my pickup truck broke down on hwy 301, miles in between the little towns that dot it, and a trucker gave me a ride to the nearest town. I asked him a lot about trucking, and he told me some cool things that led me to write 'em.
I was thinking of putting them to some music finally is all.

[funsongs]

and there ya go...

[elser]

late to the conversation...i have enjoyed reading everyone's insights and pov's. my take is that the traditional country music funsongs is referring to, qualifies as an authentic american art form...that rare occasion when musical and lyrical elements come together from a few cultural sources, to create a sound/energy/communique that is unique and outstanding to such a degree that it affects large groups of people on an archetypal level (not just a popular level). my opinion on authentic american art forms and my guess on about when they coalesced:

folk mid 1800's
blues early 1900's
jazz mid-1920's
r&b late 1940's
country early 1950's
rock & roll late 1950's
funk late 1960's
rap late 1980's

i think much of the discussion on this thread revolves around the complexities of how art forms evolve and change and cross-pollinate over time, creating derivatives. sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not. but it seems they always will, and the good news is, this can sometimes generate a new art form. but since we live in such a hyper-connected world via technology, there is a lot of chaos and noise present at once, as musical genres bump into each other.

we all got to grow up when one or more of the above art forms were being created. some are better at using the art forms as a foundation to create new music. it all depends on what you listen to in developing your craft, how you play, how you hear the other players in a live situation, and so on.

my experience has been, if you lean first towards the original art forms and secondly towards commercial viability--something we all face every day as composers and players--the music will sound better, and i believe, will ultimately find a more longstanding 'home'...whether that is in a commercial, a show, a film, or a performing career.

got a little off track, thanks for the indulgence

Howlin' Wolf was trying to sing like Hank Williams.

The South was just a big mish mash of musical styles colliding and out of it came not only Country but Blues and Jazz as well; all true American art forms. And ultimately none of it would have happened without Africans living in America. With their rhythms and extreme emotion and singing style that came as a result of their situation living here. Combining with American/European instruments and harmonic and melodic elements.

It's all good.

[Len911]

Lyrics... storytelling... seems what'd be appealing to long-haulers.
Bet most of them have some wild stories to tell of their own; mostly beginning sorta like:
"Y'aint gonna believe this, but.... there was this one time..."

I was one for 19 years. It's a rough and lonely life. If we had the same classes as they do in India, truck drivers would be in the "untouchables" class, not so much from the general public, but from the viewpoint of the "shippers" and "receivers". There are exceptions, I had a dedicated run for a year going from the caves in Independence, MO to Maine, and because I worked with the same people they get to know you and treat you great.

When I would hear that song "America" by Waylon Jennings, "...Well I come from, down around Tennesee
But the people in California
Are nice to me, Amer-ica
It don't matter where I may roam
Tell you people that it's home sweet home
America, Amer-ica "
I would get a strange feeling, because it didn't ring true at all from my driver's perspective.

Before 911, on a Sunday morning in Oklahoma City walking over to the Waffle House for breakfast, I was passing by a white BMW 8 or 9 series, it was a nice car and I complemented them on it, I'd never before seen a series higher than a 7 series. The two young Arab men asked me directions to Tinker AFB, they were going to attend a seminar that afternoon about flying jet planes, they were going to become pilots. I didn't even remember the incident until I came through some time after 911 and picked up a local newspaper in OK City and read a column that some of the terrorists had went to a nearby flight school in Norman. I don't know if they were terrorists, but the point is, I was treated better by them and had a nice half hour conversation, than by most of the people I had to deal with across the country.

So for me, lol, I don't see a future in writing songs about my experiences in that profession per se! And I dang sure don't want to hear no truckin' song,lol, songs at that time were an escape for me.

[Kolstad]

I asked because I came across some lyrics I wrote a long time ago after my pickup truck broke down on hwy 301, miles in between the little towns that dot it, and a trucker gave me a ride to the nearest town. I asked him a lot about trucking, and he told me some cool things that led me to write 'em.
I was thinking of putting them to some music finally is all.

Why not, Steven?
If you have several, it might be easier if you think of it as an album or an ep, as you then can conceptualize it.
Ideas off the cuff:
- do it as an album for iTunes or CD Baby, or just a batch of demos for artist pitching
- make it singer/songwriter in genre, and tell the stories as an observer
- make the lyrics universal (focus on emotional detail in stead of physical detail), and pitch it to the film/tv mrkt
- metaphorize trucking as travelling and write some etheral and/or retro music for it
- use an artist/artists as a persona, and write the songs to supplement an artist portfolio
- conceptualize an americana album from the songs you have, decide the mrkt (pitching, own release, tv, film), and adapt the lyrics to the format
- ...

Lot's of ways to make it work, if the songs means something to you.

Btw Robin Frederick has recently done an analysis of a hit country song about truck driving
http://robinfrederick.com/i-drive-your-truck-lee-brice/

[jdhogg]

All genres have to evolve, the problem is CM has evolved largely into irrelevant drivel, as has previously been mentioned, when a Nirvana type act appears this will expose 95% of the current "artists" for the charlatens they are.
It's all about songs, Swift has them, Lambert has them as does a select few, basically you have songs you have something valuable if you dont then watch out because you are going to be replaced as soon as someone comes along that exposes you as second rate.

[Kolstad]

If the current artists are "charlatans", it's because the paying audience wants charlatans. Most artists on mainstream radio has been screened, signed and delivered by major label A&R. I think mainstream means that they are not the least offensive to anyone, maybe except for a select group of traditional fans that expects more from music. But that group are left behind the moment they stopped buying CD's, which many does sometime during their 40ies and 50ies, if they aren't involved in music. Maybe people stop listening to new music after they have had their formative years. But either way, its the paying audience who gets what they want. If you don't pay you get nothing. I think both is what's happening today. What comes out of the wallet is a lot more credible to the record companies than what comes from people's mouths. It's a business, and they just know more about who lays it on the table.

[2lane]

and there ya go...

Yea Peter, exactly....sorry, didn't see your post. Thought Magne's was the last on that page.

[2lane]

Some of you guys sound a lot like your parents probably did about R-N-R.
Nashville producerss are not trying to make music that adhere's to some old
rules that were struck on two stone tablets, and brought down from the top of a mountain.
This is about making music that makes money....hate it, fight it, whatever makes you happiest!
If you want to turn the biz model around....pick up your guitar, grab a pad (either paper or ipad) and write a tune
that is totally traditional and would appeal to the younger crowd that drives Nashville right now, and make it sell.....simple!!

STILL A GREAT THREAD!!!!

Steve

[2lane]

I asked because I came across some lyrics I wrote a long time ago after my pickup truck broke down on hwy 301, miles in between the little towns that dot it, and a trucker gave me a ride to the nearest town. I asked him a lot about trucking, and he told me some cool things that led me to write 'em.
I was thinking of putting them to some music finally is all.

Why not, Steven?
If you have several, it might be easier if you think of it as an album or an ep, as you then can conceptualize it.
Ideas off the cuff:
- do it as an album for iTunes or CD Baby, or just a batch of demos for artist pitching
- make it singer/songwriter in genre, and tell the stories as an observer
- make the lyrics universal (focus on emotional detail in stead of physical detail), and pitch it to the film/tv mrkt
- metaphorize trucking as travelling and write some etheral and/or retro music for it
- use an artist/artists as a persona, and write the songs to supplement an artist portfolio
- conceptualize an americana album from the songs you have, decide the mrkt (pitching, own release, tv, film), and adapt the lyrics to the format
- ...

Lot's of ways to make it work, if the songs means something to you.

Btw Robin Frederick has recently done an analysis of a hit country song about truck driving
http://robinfrederick.com/i-drive-your-truck-lee-brice/

Thanks for that Magne