Well, not completely OT. The Stones introduced me to lots of fantastic music, blues, soul etc while I was still a kid. But, compared to blues, I only superficially explored country music. Another big influence for the Stones. So, people over the USA maybe, can you give me some advice about where to start things off? Sort of a 'benchmarking' thing. Thank you!

...I barely log in to post here, these days, but you got a beautiful quest ahead of you Kirk, and I'd be very happy to give you something for the road... for starters:

(a) definitely check out Hank Williams'es I & III (the latter is the grandson of the former 'bad boy' of 50's country music. In the case of Hank III: beware of his grindcore puke punk types of things... undigestible, imho. But he does some brilliant contemporary 'alternative' (non-commercial) countrymusic.
P.S.: there's a Hank II too; but I don't know much about him (only that he's the son of I, and the father of III...)

(b) can't go wrong with Johnny Cash; bigger than life, and definitely bigger than countrymusic...

(c) there was never a guy that sounded sweeter & more tender or true than Willy Nelson...

(d) don't miss out on the early bluegrass thigs - the fingerpickin' banjostyle from Flat & Scruggs f.i. ...

(e) be sure to check whatever ROCKMAN will suggest you. He IS the Ace of Spades!


Enjoy it -

Thank you very much Filip020169!! And yes, I will wait for ROCKMAN too, as you suggest. You know I just tuned in a country music radio station. And lots of those Stones-y licks and things were all over the place! That's because I actually never LISTENED to country music. It was all, you know, kind of representations.

start with jimmie rodgers and the carter family...where it began. then work your way up the ladder: hank williams, bob wills...then onto george jones, webb pierce, merle haggard, patsy cline, porter waggoner, lefty frizzell, buck owens...then onto waylon and willie and the gang...

and enjoy it all with a shiner bock or three....

I started off with Stones-connected artists like the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons. Try 'Hot Burritos! Anthology 1969-1972' which features the first 3 Burritos albums in their entirety, plus outtakes etc. Both Gram Parsons' albums ('GP' and Grievous Angel')are available as a twofer, or you could spend a little more on Rhino's deluxe 'Complete Reprise Sessions'. In a similar vein are The Byrds 'Sweetheart Of The Rodeo' and The International Submarine Band's 'Safe At Home'.. Moving away from California, if you like your country rocky, you could try Steve Earle's early albums for MCA, or delve into the work of the Texas Folk Poets like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt.
If you want to try more traditional country, you could start with the Bakersfield boys like Buck Owens. Merle Haggard made some great singles in the 60s, but really hit his stride with his albums for MCA in the late 70s (Serving 190 Proof/Back To The Barrooms) and Epic in the early 80s (Big City/Going Where The Lonely Go).
From there you could get The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 on Columbia, Hank Williams' 40 Greatest Hits, George Jones' The Spirit of Country, and then work all the way back to Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family.. Avoid Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire and pretty much anything in the so-called country charts at the moment!!!

What's a shiner bock?

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Kirk
What's a shiner bock?

it's the texas state beer...available at all finer honky tonks and saloons...

Thank you rangerdave! But why should I avoid contemporary country? Well, I have absolutely no idea about modern country whatsoever.

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rangerdave
I started off with Stones-connected artists like the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons. Try 'Hot Burritos! Anthology 1969-1972' which features the first 3 Burritos albums in their entirety, plus outtakes etc. Both Gram Parsons' albums ('GP' and Grievous Angel')are available as a twofer, or you could spend a little more on Rhino's deluxe 'Complete Reprise Sessions'. In a similar vein are The Byrds 'Sweetheart Of The Rodeo' and The International Submarine Band's 'Safe At Home'.. Moving away from California, if you like your country rocky, you could try Steve Earle's early albums for MCA, or delve into the work of the Texas Folk Poets like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt.
If you want to try more traditional country, you could start with the Bakersfield boys like Buck Owens. Merle Haggard made some great singles in the 60s, but really hit his stride with his albums for MCA in the late 70s (Serving 190 Proof/Back To The Barrooms) and Epic in the early 80s (Big City/Going Where The Lonely Go).
From there you could get The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 on Columbia, Hank Williams' 40 Greatest Hits, George Jones' The Spirit of Country, and then work all the way back to Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family.. Avoid Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire and pretty much anything in the so-called country charts at the moment!!!

it's better to start at the beginning and work your way forward, doncha think? it gets very confusing otherwise...and some of these songs will start to sound really silly or something...or something....

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StonesTod

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Kirk
What's a shiner bock?

it's the texas state beer...available at all finer honky tonks and saloons...

I see. Don't think it is available in Greece. No honky tonks either..

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Kirk

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StonesTod

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Kirk
What's a shiner bock?

it's the texas state beer...available at all finer honky tonks and saloons...

I see. Don't think it is available in Greece. No honky tonks either..

ouza in a greek cafe, then...but that's not very down-homey....

ouza in a greek cafe, then...but that's not very down-homey....

Haha, you know ouzo? Ouzo and country music? We'll see.

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StonesTod

it's better to start at the beginning and work your way forward, doncha think? it gets very confusing otherwise...and some of these songs will start to sound really silly or something...or something....

I would start with country-rock. Byrds. Flying Burrito Brothers. Poco. Then I would work my way backwards from there into real country music. If you start off by listening to something from the 1920s or 1930s, it's too much of a culture shock. Same with blues. I would listen to 1950s Muddy Waters before trying to get into Robert Johnson.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-17 18:19 by tatters.

i disagree. that's like reading a mystery novel backward. it's just plain wrong. and shameful. and stuff.

Ideally, I agree with the idea of starting at the beginning and working forward, but a lot of people get put off by the sound of those scratchy 78s.. But maybe this isn't a problem if you're a Stones fan who's heard Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. So yeah, a cold beer and some Jimmie Rodgers oughta do it.. My personal all-time faves are the honky tonkers: Hank, Lefty, Faron Young, Webb Pierce, Ernest Tubb.. That stuff is rooted in blues, so you can't go wrong.. Modern country music seems to be more based on Billy Joel or The Eagles...

well, there's still plenty of good country music being made...but like all the good stuff, you just gotta look a little harder....yeah, ernie tubb & those troubadours...i'm walking the floor right now over them....

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StonesTod
i disagree. that's like reading a mystery novel backward. it's just plain wrong. and shameful. and stuff.

If you're learning to paint, or do yoga, or whatever, you don't start off with something difficult. You start with something easy. If my kid asked me about country music, I'd give him The Best Of Glen Campbell. If he liked it, I'd give him the real stuff. If he didn't like it, there'd be no point in giving him the real stuff, because he wouldn't like that either.

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tatters

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StonesTod
i disagree. that's like reading a mystery novel backward. it's just plain wrong. and shameful. and stuff.

If you're learning to paint, or do yoga, or whatever, you don't start off with something difficult. You start with something easy. If my kid asked me about country music, I'd give him The Best Of Glen Campbell. If he liked it, I'd give him the real stuff. If he didn't like it, there'd be no point in giving him the real stuff, because he wouldn't like that either.

your kid don't know squat....

Georges Jones' "Bradley Barn Sessions" 1994 is a fantastic country record. Jones rerecorded songs he had already done in the past but he does it with a roster of impressive musicians.; the playing in top class. Nobody can play that music like those guys do; it's pure beauty. Our Keith Richards duets with Georges. That record is the SHIT!
Rock and Roll,
Mops

Well, get yourself at least that two CD set of greatest hits or so of Hank Williams. That's really great.
Be sure to get some older Johnny cash as well. The studio stuff from the early 60s is really nice. The below box is pricey but fantabulous, as somebody wrote.
[www.amazon.com]
The rest of it, I have to still to check out myself.

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Filip020169

(e) be sure to check whatever ROCKMAN will suggest you. He IS the Ace of Spades!

Are you sure? I would argue that that title goes to O.V. Wright




(not country music)

Thank you all for your suggestions! I checked my cd collection and I found a Woodie Guthrie 'Early masters' cd, a Hank Williams 'Timeless' one with alternate versions including Keith's one among Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Hank III. I also like very much the music of the 'O Brother, where art thou?' soundtrack. Are those country artists? James Carter, Norman Blake, G. Welch, John Hartford etc?

Well for me The Louvin Brothers and Hank Williams is amongst the earlier ones not to forget Tennessee Ernie Ford, Slim Whitman and Jimmie Rodgers...and this is only the beginning of it...

2 1 2 0

You cant go wrong with any of these:

1) Any Johnny Cash Greatest Hits collection

2) Merle Haggard's greatest hits collection "Hag"

3) Any George Jones Greatest Hits collection

4) Anything by Willie Nelson, especially "Red Headed Stranger"

5) The Byrds 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo"

6) Loretta Lynns Greatest Hits