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Country Music Fans: what do you think of the state of country?

I am a life long fan of country music but modern country is not the country I grew up on. It is an auto-tuned pretty boy singing B level pop. Calling it country is like calling your asshole an exit. But these young people love it, especially the women who are treated liked sexual objects in all of these songs . I blame Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, and that child, Taylor Swift. Chris Stapleton seems like a different direction but now I have to seek out real country music in other corners of music.

by Anonymousreply 87January 28, 2018 10:52 AM

The little bit of country that Marie Osmond is is still more country than this crap. And that's sad.

by Anonymousreply 1January 15, 2018 2:00 PM

If Garth, Shania and Taylor hadn't happened, you would never have heard of Chris Stapelton. Without the those crossover artists bringing money and new, young fans, country music would have been relegated to an AM station ghetto long ago. It will still end up there but now it will be decades before it happens.

by Anonymousreply 2January 15, 2018 2:03 PM

I am that same outlier: a country fan who's also an eldergay.

But my true love lies in country music that was recorded before the explosion of popularity that happened in the nineties, which the OP refers to with some key names. (I still have a soft spot in my heart for the countrypolitan sound that came into vogue in the sixties and seventies, however.)

I seldom bother to listen to mainstream country today. I heard some while I was shopping the other day at the hardware store. It was autotuned twang and I tuned it out almost instantly. No sentiment. No style.

I guess I go back to the past whenever I need a fix.

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by Anonymousreply 3January 15, 2018 2:03 PM

I was just having this conversation the other day. I think the "beer and beach" songs sung by the likes of Kenny Chesney (sp), and his ilk started the true decline. It's all shit now.

by Anonymousreply 4January 15, 2018 2:16 PM

R2 their fans didn't really like the country music. They liked pop with a fiddle. They don't leave to Chris Stapleton. He sounds more like Waylon. That's sound has no connection to Garth or the girls. Country would have expanded it's base without arenas and style over substance by just being adult music. Adult music with a twang would have appealed to some aging boomers.

by Anonymousreply 5January 15, 2018 2:20 PM

Agreed, everyone. I can't believe anyone callls Kenny Chesney country. He's no different than Taylor Swift or other pop singers. I'll just keep listening to the classics-Hank Williams (senior, I've no use for his son), Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, etc.

One modern country singer I do like is Brandy Clark, if you haven't heard her, she's on youtube.

by Anonymousreply 6January 15, 2018 2:28 PM

Even this is closer to the real deal than what constitutes country now.

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by Anonymousreply 7January 15, 2018 2:32 PM

Nostalgic, regressives clinging to their guns and bibles. I sure do miss those racist, wife-beating, alcoholics. Put on a John Wayne movie. I love when he kills the Injuns and praises God for his rifle.

by Anonymousreply 8January 15, 2018 2:40 PM

Not a fan of the genre, but I have respect and appreciation for classic country music.

The auto-tuned crossover shit I have heard is absolute garbage.

by Anonymousreply 9January 15, 2018 2:41 PM

Country music died when music executives decided that their audience was teenage girls rather than adults.

by Anonymousreply 10January 15, 2018 2:43 PM

[quote]I sure do miss those racist, wife-beating, alcoholics.

They never went away, they just became opioid addicts.

by Anonymousreply 11January 15, 2018 2:45 PM

Because adults don't waste money on music and those that do move on to serious music and not three-chord hillbilly blues.

by Anonymousreply 12January 15, 2018 2:48 PM

Ain't nothing wrong with hillbilly blues. That's part of the structure of the music. I will own up to likeing Chesney from No Shoes No Shirt, No Problems up to The Road and the Radio albums but he got shaky for me until Hemmingway's Whiskey which I thnk is his best album. Also liked a lot of stuff from the early 2000's. I liked Keith Urban a lot but he seemed to stagnate after a while. Frankly, I had the NASH fm station preset but recently removed it because it is just brutal listening to that blatant pop shit. I can only listen to Miranda and Dierks now. I pretty much listen to the non radio acts like Dwight Yoakum, Marty Stuart, Emmylou and Ms Lynn. Also trying to build up the Waylon, Willie, Cash, Merle, Buck, Kristofferson and Loretta back catalogue.

by Anonymousreply 13January 15, 2018 3:05 PM

I can only listen to Miranda and Dierks now.

I agree 100%

by Anonymousreply 14January 15, 2018 3:14 PM

It’s Reba or nothing for me nowadays. Reba and her razor thin upper lip. Yup, that’s all I want.

by Anonymousreply 15January 15, 2018 3:17 PM

This!!!

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by Anonymousreply 16January 15, 2018 6:53 PM

I can one up that!

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by Anonymousreply 17January 15, 2018 6:54 PM

Sadly, old country boys are leaving quicker than can be replaced.

by Anonymousreply 18January 15, 2018 6:57 PM

OP, country music started changing a long time before Garth, Shania or Taylor. John Denver, Olivia Newton John, Glen Campbell, Waylon, Hank Jr, Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbit, Anne Murray, Alabama all helped change the direction of the music. I've been a fan for a long time but many of today's country performers seem to be frustrated metal bands with loud, unnecessary guitar breaks.

R2 is correct. Without Garth, Shania, Taylor and others, country music would have slowly died out. I don't think today's kids would give a rat's ass about hearing Hank Sr or Hank Snow or Conway Twitty. It's their loss but that's life.

by Anonymousreply 19January 15, 2018 8:17 PM

Too many songs about trucks, beer and Saturday night. Too many songs with false, commercialized patriotism, too. A lot of what passes today as country music would've been considered light rock in the '90s but with a southern accent.

For me, country peaked in the 1970s.

by Anonymousreply 20January 15, 2018 8:20 PM

Those of you who miss real country music:

START PLAYING IT YOURSELVES!!

Get yourself a guitar/fiddle/banjo and take lessons from the many, many great teachers on the internet. Some are for free!

You, as a player, will be keeping the classic country alive with your own playing. And it will give you a reason to live, too.

by Anonymousreply 21January 15, 2018 8:39 PM

Most country music today is rock music from 30 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 22January 15, 2018 8:42 PM

"pretty boy". Hmmmm...

I smell a homophobic redneck, probably with internalised misogyny and Bambi's mother's head, that they shot, looking down from the wall.

by Anonymousreply 23January 15, 2018 9:19 PM

It's total SHIT. The older, classic stuff is still best: Loretta Lynn, George Jones, the Louvin Brothers, Merle Haggard, etc.

The "country" music today is nothing but top 40 pop with a twang.

by Anonymousreply 24January 15, 2018 11:25 PM

Sturgill Simpson is the real deal. He has an awesome, muscular country voice.

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by Anonymousreply 25January 16, 2018 12:37 AM

He needs a better song. But you're right, he's got a great voice. Sexy.

by Anonymousreply 26January 16, 2018 12:47 AM

I posted Long White Line because it's an old song, and I thought people might like it; Strugill didn't write it.

Here's an original.

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by Anonymousreply 27January 16, 2018 12:55 AM

Country music is more like pop music these days. Give me the old country music any time. it's so real and pure.

by Anonymousreply 28January 16, 2018 12:56 AM

Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton are great, but their studio efforts are overwrought with too much production. Their music would sound much better if it was grittier. They're much better live.

by Anonymousreply 29January 16, 2018 7:28 AM

Randy Travis is straight, right?

by Anonymousreply 30January 16, 2018 7:36 AM

Patsy Cline, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Alan Jackson, K.T. Oslin, Travis Tritt are some that I liked. In NYC there's an FM station that plays current "country " that's unlistenable.

by Anonymousreply 31January 16, 2018 7:44 AM

WSM is the only C/W stuff I listen to. They make it interesting, play songs released last week and 60 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 32January 16, 2018 7:53 AM

R1, on a side note - how many layers of wigs is Marie wearing?

by Anonymousreply 33January 16, 2018 8:16 AM

Aren't Florida Georgia Line a couple?

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by Anonymousreply 34January 16, 2018 8:27 AM

They sure are in love with their douche bro posturing and 4 note range.

by Anonymousreply 35January 16, 2018 8:54 AM

Reba marketed to middle age women who wanted to feel empowered. Garth to fun-loving baby boomer bar hoppers, who had some hope for life and they both had decent vocals and lyrics. Now it's marketed to teenage dumbasses.

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by Anonymousreply 36January 18, 2018 8:13 AM

Been listening to this all day. If only something half as good would be released today, I'd be satisfied.

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by Anonymousreply 37January 18, 2018 9:29 AM

I am the OP of this thread- thank you all for sharing. Will country ever be as good George Jones again? R36 I think that is the best country video ever made. I know who it is marketed too. But at least those woman knew country when they heard it.

by Anonymousreply 38January 20, 2018 12:52 AM

R38 Reba made the best videos, across all genres! They were all like mini-movies. This one should be a Gay classic, very Bette/Joan.

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by Anonymousreply 39January 20, 2018 12:56 AM

Oh and there is a lot undercurrent marketing to gay men in country music.

by Anonymousreply 40January 20, 2018 12:56 AM

R40 it's the last genre selling fairytale love stories. Except it's pretty bothersome sometimes with the Man-Killer songs by Miranda & Carrie. Hillbilly Men should be frightened of their women. Justified Male Homocide Culture.

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by Anonymousreply 41January 20, 2018 1:09 AM

I like you OP, I want shoot the Country Music shit with you.

by Anonymousreply 42January 20, 2018 1:10 AM

Douche bro country has now fucked up country music.

Look at the history of country music. That same thing happen in the late 70's and early 80's then George and Randy stepped in the mid 80's and brought it back.

by Anonymousreply 43January 20, 2018 1:16 AM

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was one of the best country albums of the last 10 years. The title track was almost an X song. Carrie is talented but she hasn't quite escaped her launch origin as amedia creation.

Miranda plays along to a point but she has it in her to be as great of a true country artist as Loretta or Tanya. As corporate as Nashville has gotten, she's done alright, walking that line. Lets face it, it's play along with the machine and reach a wide audience or be a niche artist forever like Elin Jewell or Jesse Sykes. Playing those small venues and trying to make a living gets old as you do.

Here's a track from that album that's almost the polar opposite of the title track, quiet and full of bitter regret. It didn't chart but it's one of many reasons I think this lady is going to be around decades from now:

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by Anonymousreply 44January 20, 2018 1:21 AM

Miranda's voice sucks.

by Anonymousreply 45January 20, 2018 1:22 AM

R44 love that song! And this one...

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by Anonymousreply 46January 20, 2018 1:26 AM

Country isn't about having a beautiful voice. For every "voice of an angel" like Allison Kraus or Patsy, you have a reedy twanging hillbilly like John Fogerty (who i consider country as a watermelon stand). No one would objectively say Loretta or George Jones had beautiful voices either.

It's about Redneck soul. Miranda sounds like a seen-it-all waitress in the only restaurant in town in one of those one stoplight towns in the Panhandle, and that's the point.

by Anonymousreply 47January 20, 2018 1:27 AM

[Quote] Country isn't about having a beautiful voice. For every "voice of an angel" like Allison Kraus or Patsy,

How funny then you would post two female country singers who CAN sing and carry a note.

Miranda voice blows.

by Anonymousreply 48January 20, 2018 1:30 AM

They can all bow down! They're will never be another. Reba took the lessons of Dolly, Barbara, Loretta and Tammy and capitalized on the commercial pop side without losing her country base like no one before or after. She evolved with the new sounds through the last 5 decades since the 70s and no woman has ever been able to maintain relevance in any genre as long as her. She still charts high and last year her album was among the top 10 female albums for sales.

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by Anonymousreply 49January 20, 2018 1:43 AM

Read the whole sentence, R48.

by Anonymousreply 50January 20, 2018 1:46 AM

Always sounded like she had a stuffed up nose and inflamed adenoids. In her most famous song, she abruptly shifted an octave becauseshe couldn't hit the high notes. Kept a current beautician license her whole career because she was afraid every success was the last, and that's really what she sounded like if you were being honest--a hairdresser getting up on karaoke night after a couple bottles of liquid courage.

She was one of greatest country-western singers of all time:

by Anonymousreply 51January 20, 2018 1:51 AM

Always sounded like she had a stuffed up nose and inflamed adenoids. In her most famous song, she abruptly shifted an octave becauseshe couldn't hit the high notes. Kept a current beautician license her whole career because she was afraid every success was the last, and that's really what she sounded like if you were being honest--a hairdresser getting up on karaoke night after a couple bottles of liquid courage.

She was one of greatest country-western singers of all time:

by Anonymousreply 52January 20, 2018 1:51 AM

Always sounded like she had a stuffed up nose and inflamed adenoids. In her most famous song, she abruptly shifted an octave becauseshe couldn't hit the high notes. Kept a current beautician license her whole career because she was afraid every success was the last, and that's really what she sounded like if you were being honest--a hairdresser getting up on karaoke night after a couple bottles of liquid courage.

She was one of greatest country-western singers of all time:

by Anonymousreply 53January 20, 2018 1:51 AM

Link to above:

No one will ever confuse her with Renee Fleming, but that ain't the point:

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by Anonymousreply 54January 20, 2018 1:53 AM

R37, that was the first Emmylou album I ever bought and I'm partial to it. I learned about her via her connection to Ronstadt ( Emmylou was on the Heart Like a Wheel album and when I heard Linda was on Emmylou's I rushed out to buy it). Every song a real country song (maybe not Here,There and Everywhere). R44, I agree re Miranda. More Like Her was the song that convinced me she was the real deal. I believe that when her commercial success is over (strangely, radio play does not match her music selling/streaming success which is really the state of women on country radio these days) she will have a career similar to the likes of Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou. She will do whatever she wants (which I do think she gets to do now) and she will have her following. I think the same goes for a guy like Dierks Bentley. I can't wait for their post 40 years.

by Anonymousreply 55January 20, 2018 11:58 PM

I turned to country music in the early/mid 90s when I hated what was on pop radio. I stayed tuned in until about 10 years ago, more or less. Douche bro country did me in...trucks, parties, girls, guns, girls with guns. If I listen to any county music right now I'm listening to either Prime Country or Outlaw Country, both on satellite. There are a few artists out there trying, Jason Isbell, Sturgill, Brandy Clark. The older I get, the more I appreciate the older stuff with real singing, pedal steel, fiddles. Connie Smith can still sing the hind legs off a mule.

by Anonymousreply 56January 21, 2018 12:23 AM
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by Anonymousreply 57January 21, 2018 12:55 AM

[quote]Oh and there is a lot undercurrent marketing to gay men in country music.

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by Anonymousreply 58January 21, 2018 1:02 AM

Twang Pop marketed by the big labels and the radio stations they own is universally garbage. The good country and bluegrass all falls under the garbage label of Alt. Country and Americana now. That's not to say there isn't awful Alt. Country as well, but there's still good stuff being made and played: you just have to look elsewhere for it.

by Anonymousreply 59January 21, 2018 1:04 AM

R46 Miranda Lambert may write good songs, but her music still reeks of manufactured pop.

Reba was/is corny as fuck. She opened the door for Shiny Twat (Shania Twain).

by Anonymousreply 60January 21, 2018 1:27 AM

Randy Travis was packing.

by Anonymousreply 61January 21, 2018 1:56 AM

[quote]Oh and there is a lot undercurrent marketing to gay men in country music. —OP

If you want to market to gay men successfully, then make better music. Steve Grand is just the same bro-country crap repackaged for a gay male audience.

by Anonymousreply 62January 21, 2018 2:08 AM

For those stuck in I Heart Radio Corporatopia who don't want to have to pay for sat radio, this weekly program out of Seattle streams live on their site. One of the best surveys of classic and modern country around. Third Coast Music on some college stations in Texas is also pretty good though it seems every third song is Cajun/zydeco.

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by Anonymousreply 63January 21, 2018 2:15 AM

R63, they have Lefty Frizzell on the archives now. Here in NYC WKCR fm 89.9 is the Columbia University station and it airs the Tennessee Border Show on Sundays 12 noon to 2pm.

by Anonymousreply 64January 21, 2018 2:42 AM

R64 here. I messed up the link. Sorry. R56, I heard Connie Smith on this station recently and she was amazing. Great voice.

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by Anonymousreply 65January 21, 2018 2:44 AM

Thanks R65. I'll check it out.

This is Connie, age 75, singing her number one hit from 1965. You can't find better than her on the radio today. Carrie comes closest but still pulls in a distant second to Connie.

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by Anonymousreply 66January 21, 2018 5:23 AM

See, now that's country. Those types of songs can probably never be popular again with all the twang but damn I wish it would. Anyway, Once a Day is a standout.

by Anonymousreply 67January 21, 2018 2:30 PM

I think the roots / americana movement is where to find the old school country folks now - Shovels & Rope, The Deslondes, Carolyn Mark, Rosie Flores, Devil Makes Three, Brown Bird, Jenny Watson, Eileen Jewell

But if you're looking for actual queer country - check this link out

(full disclosure - I'm on that list)

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by Anonymousreply 68January 22, 2018 5:44 PM

Best version of Butch Hancock's Boxcars, by one of the greatest country guitar players of all time, San Antonio's own Rosie Flores:

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by Anonymousreply 69January 22, 2018 8:17 PM

Thank you for posting that, R69, it's great. Butch Hancock is one of my favorite songwriters.

Here he is with the Flatlanders, when they were young, with one of his most beautiful songs.

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by Anonymousreply 70January 22, 2018 10:31 PM

OP, I think that the state of the country is dismal.

by Anonymousreply 71January 22, 2018 10:51 PM

It died when Cash died.

by Anonymousreply 72January 22, 2018 11:21 PM

I loved country music during the late 1980s through the mid 1990s. There was a resurgence of great country songwriting with the songs by Dwight Yoakam, Rosanne Cash, Pam Tillis, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Trisha Yearwood, Clint Black, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Afterwards it was more about image and gimmicks rather than the music.

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by Anonymousreply 73January 23, 2018 12:14 AM

R73 I can't believe I left out Steve Earle.

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by Anonymousreply 74January 23, 2018 12:18 AM

Jimmie Dale Gilmore has a son, Collin, who's also a singer.

As does Steve Earle, whose son Justin Townes has carved out a respectable career as a musician too.

by Anonymousreply 75January 23, 2018 12:38 AM

No one says it better than Dale Watson, who deserves way more attention than he gets outside of Texas:

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by Anonymousreply 76January 23, 2018 12:41 AM

Fuck, I love him:

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by Anonymousreply 77January 23, 2018 12:44 AM

I grew up in Boston, listening to the folk station that played the odd country song, so I grew up listening to it, and have an appreciation for the older country. I moved to Nashville in the 90's to write music, because I was drawn to the then folk-tinged country artists like Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nanci Griffith and Kathy Mattea et al. I had a good run, and got a bunch of songs recorded, but I stopped writing when I saw the ascent of bro country. I wrote with Luke Bryan a bunch, and when I saw his type of country becoming popular, I stopped writing. I do not like the whole country fake lifestyle of trucks and beers and I love America crap, and I refused to celebrate it in song. It is a shame that philosophy is what pervades country now, and I stopped listening to it a long time ago. But..it does have its fans, so I can't argue with its success. It is appealing to a lot of people, but it is no longer for me.

by Anonymousreply 78January 23, 2018 1:02 AM

I think what sets country apart is it's the only genre--with exceptions like Sir Mix-a-Lot--that has a genuine sense of humor about itself and target audience. I could do a whole other thread on songs like "You Don't Have to Call Me Darlin'" "I'm Going to Hire a Wino" "All My Exes" "Dry Town" and "Redneck Woman." And it's the only genre that's not ashamed to do a 180 and unashamedly wear its heart on its sleeve with tearjearking songs like "He Stopped Loving Her Today" "Someone I Used to Know" "The House that Built Me" "That's All I Need to Know" "Travelling Soldier" and "Chill of an Early Fall." It's also unafraid to show patriotism, subtle and not and reflect positively on what it is to be American--"Okie From Muskogee" "This is Country Music" "Coal Miner's Daughter" when other genres are reflexively negative or too embarrassed to even countenance such subject matter.

I think that's at the heart of what irks me about corporate country--it's preoccupied with looking cool, so it's become straitjacketed by the image it's trying to project. The problem is that music is maybe the most emotional of the arts when it's done right. You see similar with black music--soul and blues are marginalized as image-obsessed hip hop and autotuned R&B dominates the market.

But when this middle aged homosexual grabs 2 handfuls if his husband's ass and waltzes him around the kitchen, it's not going to be to some forgettable Lady Antebellum "tune," its going to be to Bad, Bad Kevin Fowler:

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by Anonymousreply 79January 23, 2018 1:17 AM

It was ironic how the best country album of 2004 by far was Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White.

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by Anonymousreply 80January 23, 2018 2:35 AM

Most of the songs you mentioned, R79, are old, and with the exception of The House the Built Me, would not have a chance on radio. That song was written by Tom Douglas, who is incredibly gifted, and who wrote the song I attached, by Blake Shelton. It's a stunner. But you are right: the great old country songs were not afraid to be heart-tuggers. Now, everyone is , indeed, trying too hard to be cool, and have everything they do fit within their image and "brand."

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by Anonymousreply 81January 23, 2018 6:51 PM

One artist who manages to walk the line between cool and heartfelt is Eric Church, though I'd really classify him as more of a rocker myself. But he writes about the traditional CW subjects, and this wistful ode to lost love was musically elegant and complex as well capturing that bittersweet feeling of wondering about if the first one was The One. Can't believe it lost to that overcooked Carrie Underwood song whose title I already forgot;

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by Anonymousreply 82January 23, 2018 7:27 PM

I've known Eric since he moved to Nashville, and a friend of mine used to manage him. He's an ass, and he screwed over my friend. I've heard he's good, but I won't listen to a single thing he's recorded. Ever.

by Anonymousreply 83January 23, 2018 7:39 PM

That's a whole other topic, R83. Probably no traditional CW artist is more revered than George Strait, but I've heard from too many people through the years--venue support staff, workers in the gated San Antonio community where he lives and other "little people" that he's arrogant, dismissive and rude. Still love his music though.

by Anonymousreply 84January 24, 2018 2:45 AM

This guy.

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by Anonymousreply 85January 25, 2018 12:50 AM

Thing about Marty is he's country and so much more. Blues, Gospel, Rock, Rockabilly.

by Anonymousreply 86January 25, 2018 12:51 AM

......

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by Anonymousreply 87January 28, 2018 10:52 AM
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