I'll try and keep this brief. I know there are countless bloggings out there reporting how country music now days has totally turned it's back on the classic country greats. Yes, Johnny Cash is getting his props, and he should because he is the best. Besides that, I just don't get it. I am a huge fan of classic country. Cash, Buck Owens, George Jones, etc. I'll also admit that I don't follow newish country music. This is mostly because it now sounds like lite-rock shit to me. I know there are always some exceptions to the rule but I don't even have the ambition to find who they are. Bands like The Old 97's and Uncle Tupelo sound more like country than the new "country stars." Anyway. Enough about that. Here is my story.
I was just in Vegas this past weekend. After starting the boozing at around noon on Saturday, my friends and I found ourselves on the strip by Treasure Island at around 2:30am Sunday morning. (Hey, It's Vegas. Time is pretty much irrelevant). I look down the strip towards downtown and I see it. The beautiful neon goodness of the classic Frontier casino sign. It hits me like a ton of bricks. Vintage Vegas + Vintage Country must certainly = Great music. So we stumble there (and believe me, things in Vegas are further than they seem). For those of you who don't know, the Frontier is an older casino on the strip in Vegas with a Western Theme. In the Frontier there is a Gilley's bar. The bar chain was made famous by Urban Cowboy and were pretty big in the country western fad around the time of that movie. They have a mechanical bull, I big dance floor, tons of rowdy dudes in cowboy hats. After watching the line dancing to a bunch of "country" songs that I've never heard, I decide to take a stroll over the the dj. Please note. I wasn't going over there to ream him about the music. This is obviously what country fans listen to so that's fine with me. I'm the outsider. I only asked the dj. "Can we get a little Johnny Cash?" Without missing a beat the guys gives me a really cold "No." Surely he was joking. Even the most un-knowledgeable country loving fan would love to hear (and dance to) Cocaine Blues or Jackson or Ring of Fire. He caught me off guard. Because I didn't leave right away, he looked back and said, "Not at 3am, maybe at 5pm." Already knowing his answer, I threw out, "How about Buck Owens?" "These people don't even know who that is!" he said back to me.
So I say to you. What is wrong with country music today? It doesn't seem to me that people that are into rock music turn their back on the pioneers of their music... Put a fork in it. Country is done. I wish they would just change the name and call it something new.
Time to get off my soap box. Sorry about the preaching. As you can tell from my normally short posts, I usually don't have a lot to say and my grammar is dreadful.
THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES HAVE ARRIVED
