Entertainment For Lively Minds
The lost art of the country pop hit
Posted by Mousey on 2 October 2011 - 12:06pm.
Why don't we have great songs like this as popular hits any more?
This is a great one-off country song that "crossed over" and everyone loves, once they remember it.
Jeannie C Riley "Harper Valley PTA"
and this - Bobbie Gentry "Ode To Billie Joe"
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Like a Rhinestone Cowboy?
Oddly enough, I was only thinking about this earlier...
Shania Twain's 'That Don't Impress Me Much' was on the radio, and it occurred to me that it was probably the most recent Country crossover hit I could think of, in the UK at least. And that must have been at least ten years ago, probably more like 12 or 13.
And remember that two
very different versions of that album were produced: pop and country. Most of the world (including the UK and Australia) got the pop version.
Oh go on then..
And "The Gambler"
I bet (sorry) that lots of people can sing the lines "know when to hold 'em" etc
I beg your pardon
Country voices
Oh hell who am I kidding trying to produce a comment. It's too hot and here's Shania just for me to look at.
I'm puzzled though...
Where's the rest of her drum kit? Even if I were stranded in the desert, the kick drum isnt the first one I'd save.
Tom T Hall
the writer of Harper Valley PTA, also wrote You Don't Know Me At All, which appears on Nick Lowe's The Old Magic and, oh, sorry, just got sidetracked by SimonL. Now all I can think about is Shania's silver hot pants...
ducks in and out of this thread quickly
Well, she's a lot easier on the eye than Willie Nelson. And to think she was married to the bloke that produced AC/DC's Back in Black
Do this count?
Elvis Costello - Good Year For The Roses
Oooh, saucy
How about this one?
Can't think why this one didn't cross over
Devil has all the best tunes
I think The Devil Went Down To Georgia is one of the greatest records of all time. Seriously.
Fraser and I were talking about this in the office
Country songs are *about* something that their audiences can relate to. We were musing how come in these apparently more liberal times you couldn't imagine anyone having a hit like Bobbie Gentry's "Fancy" which was about a financially hard-pressed mother putting her daughter on the streets.
Covered well
by Reba McEntire
Is it unique to Country songs?
Or is it the demise of all "story" songs? It's hard to imagine songs like Camouflage, At Seventeen, Pinball, Home Thoughts From Abroad or Summer (The First Time) being hits nowadays either.
That's the strength of country songs -
ie relating to the audience.
Somehow once upon a time the a country song could "cross over" to the pop audience. But given that a genre such as country music now speaks only to its own audience, and really there's no way anyone outside it can hear anything interesting unless they're curious, which eliminates 99% of the music audience, it seems unlikely that could happen again. Unless there was some kind of circuit-breaker, like a TV show or scandal or whatever.
What I'm trying to say is I think it's more to do with the way the "market" or radio exists these days as opposed to the willingness of audiences to embrace a particular song.
New Country
Lady Antebellum are having minor hits over here. I love 'New Country', me. It may be cheesy, over-emotional and jingoistic, but hey, it's fun, and often very funny.
This is very new:
Brad Paisley - Remind Me (Duet With Carrie Underwood)
This is new too:
Jake Owen - Barefoot Blue Jean Night
This is 6 years old but I think it's bloody brilliant.
Toby Keith - As Good As I Once Was
Toby Keith
I was lucky to see Toby Keith a couple of years ago in Glasgow and see he's playing three concerts here at the end of October.
Call me a softy but I love this record.
My thoughts exactly
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/if-i-said-you-had-a-beautiful-body...
As Billy Connolly once said
'A good country song requires references to family, religion and tragedy... this one's called Me Granny Fell Into The Pond At Lourdes'.