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Classic Country years

J

jhguthlac

Guest
What years are currently used the most at classic country stations?

Are the 60's still getting any airplay, or is it mostly 80's and 90's?
 
The "classic country" satellite offerings (Real Country from Cumulus and True Country from Dial Global) are heavily centered on the 80s and 90s, but not exclusively, maybe throwing in one song from the 50s, 60s or 70s in the typical hour. Real Country plays James Dean's "Big John" pretty regularly, from 1959.

I'm not very impressed with WIXI classic (Champaign, IL) which is 70s/80s and seems to play a lot of stiffs.
 
WSM-AM seems to be mostly 80's and 90's. They do throw in some "classic" Grand Ole Oprey performances of 60's songs.
 
jhguthlac said:
WSM-AM seems to be mostly 80's and 90's. They do throw in some "classic" Grand Ole Oprey performances of 60's songs.
Click to expand...

I find it depends on when you listen. Many late weeknights I hear selections from the 50's and 60's. Jim Reeves, Sonny James, Jeanne C Riley, etc.
 
Cumulus has been launching a "Gen X" Country format in some markets, known as "Great Country" based mainly in the 90s with some currents and 80s... how does it sound? :)
 
WIST in the Greensboro, NC market focused mainly on the 70s and 80s. Anything older was more than likely, but not always, part of the standards format they switched from. But "both Hanks play daily", they would say, and Hank Sr. died in 1953. They went Spanish a couple of years ago, but nearby WBRF took advantage of the opportunity and went all-classic, through the early 90s. They do pretty much the same thing, but maybe more of the 60s than WIST did. The 50s and even the 40s come up occasionally.
 
I think that like Classic Rock or Golden Oldies the music gets closer to our current decade as more people enter their "golden years". Even to someone who grew up in a home where the Grand Ole Opry was a Saturday night staple and people like Red Foley, Roy Acuff, Eddy Arnold, and Jim Reeves as well as Kitty Wells still trod the boards of the Ryman my idea of classic country would be different than someone growing up in the "Urban Cowboy" years.

Horror of horrors someday, long after I've departed this world, Taylor Swift will be considered classic as well as Colt Ford. :(
 
nmoore6676 said:
Horror of horrors someday, long after I've departed this world, Taylor Swift will be considered classic as well as Colt Ford. :(
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Horror of horrors, indeed.

I know that every generation has a different view, but I really don't think that much of this new stuff will be around as classics in the future. It just doesn't seem to have the staying power that artists of years past delivered. That goes for most genres.
 
nocomradio said:
nmoore6676 said:
Horror of horrors someday, long after I've departed this world, Taylor Swift will be considered classic as well as Colt Ford. :(
Click to expand...

Horror of horrors, indeed.

I know that every generation has a different view, but I really don't think that much of this new stuff will be around as classics in the future. It just doesn't seem to have the staying power that artists of years past delivered. That goes for most genres.
Click to expand...

You may very well be right as it seems that attention spans have decreased and the concept of creating something enduring just doesn't appear to exist. When you think of all of the great art and great music that was once important and appreciated it seems less so today.
 
I knew I was getting old (and annoyed) the first time I heard Garth Brooks on a classic country station - of course, it doesn't help that I'm not a Garth fan. I still stand by my premise that REAL country music died the day the Kentucky Headhunters jolted my filaments with "Walk Softly On the Heart Of Mine".
 
eacalhoun1 said:
I knew I was getting old (and annoyed) the first time I heard Garth Brooks on a classic country station - of course, it doesn't help that I'm not a Garth fan. I still stand by my premise that REAL country music died the day the Kentucky Headhunters jolted my filaments with "Walk Softly On the Heart Of Mine".
Click to expand...

Actually I like "The Headhunters" and so does my favorite Classic Country DJ, Chubby Howard who tells the story that Bill Monroe was also appalled by their recording of his song. But his attitude changed when the royalty checks started coming in. You can even find a video on You Tube of Bill on stage picking away with them.

As for Garth, I used to avoid him but now find my self enjoying his music at time, not all of it. I don't think that I shall live long enough (I'm 68) for the same to happen for Taylor Swift.
 
nmoore6676 said:
As for Garth, I used to avoid him but now find my self enjoying his music at time, not all of it. I don't think that I shall live long enough (I'm 68) for the same to happen for Taylor Swift.
Click to expand...
I remember reading about Garth-free radio some years ago. But I've always liked "Friends in Low Places". "Longneck Bottle" and "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" are also good songs.

I don't care for "If Tomorrow Never Comes", "The Dance" or "The River" but there's no reason I couldn't live with them.

I really dislike "Shameless" and "Ain't Goin' Down" and absolutely despise "The Thunder Rolls".

I have developed a taste for "Rodeo", which I used to hate.
 
Some of the music I have on vinyl, especially in the case of 45-rpm discs, don't have any kind of date on them. I do occasionally play the 1948 version of Eddy Arnold's "Bouquet of Roses," so I'm
thinking our library is primarily late 40s to the present.

I try to play some less-heard cuts without overdoing it, because otherwise the music would be unfamiliar to too many listeners. But we seem to have found a niche in country, since July will mark
nine years of playing country as an Internet-only station. I'm currently looking at options for a local terrestrial signal.
 
vchimpanzee said:
nmoore6676 said:
As for Garth, I used to avoid him but now find my self enjoying his music at time, not all of it. I don't think that I shall live long enough (I'm 68) for the same to happen for Taylor Swift.
Click to expand...
I remember reading about Garth-free radio some years ago. But I've always liked "Friends in Low Places". "Longneck Bottle" and "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" are also good songs.

I don't care for "If Tomorrow Never Comes", "The Dance" or "The River" but there's no reason I couldn't live with them.

I really dislike "Shameless" and "Ain't Goin' Down" and absolutely despise "The Thunder Rolls".

I have developed a taste for "Rodeo", which I used to hate.
Click to expand...

Actually my favorites by Garth are "Friends In Low Places" and "Papa Loved Mama" and that is probably because when I first heard them I didn't know who was singing them. The rest of his stuff is ok but I never have bought any of it.
Some of the music I have on vinyl, especially in the case of 45-rpm discs, don't have any kind of date on them. I do occasionally play the 1948 version of Eddy Arnold's "Bouquet of Roses," so I'm
thinking our library is primarily late 40s to the present.

Eddy Arnold is a classic case of country music and artists transformed to pop. His early stuff with Little Roy Wiggins on steel are my favorite. He has re-recorded all or most of his early hits in the new Chet Atkins Nashville string loaded style that was his later career.

If you compare early Ray Price to the later recordings there is a change in style. His earliest records are almost Hank Williams clones while later he is mellower and smoother although he stayed true to the steel guitar and fiddle accompaniment versus lush strings.

I like most all of it but I'm just not a fan of Taylor Swift style singers or country rap. But I love the old stuff and the old singers, many of whom are long forgotten such as Claude Gray, Carl Belew, Warren Smith and many more including Wynn Stewart and Carl Smith. On the ladies' side Jean Shepard, and Rose Maddox to name my top favorites. Of course everyone remembers Kitty Wells but her late husband Johnny Wright is long forgotten.
 
Country Rap. I thought that was wrong on so many levels at first glance, but there are parallels:

Rap - Rollin in my six-fo (as in 64 Chevy) sippin on gin & juice. Frequent shout outs to other rappers.

Country - Drivin pickups & drinkin beer/whiskey (basically in any new "country" song these days) Obligatory shout out to Merle, Hank or George who "would be proud." ???

Not too different. Just a corny version of living in the hood with my loaded gun, drankin & smokin with my crew. Haven't heard any raps about Grampa or tractors, however... ;D
 
Lancer said:
Country Rap. I thought that was wrong on so many levels at first glance, but there are parallels:

Rap - Rollin in my six-fo (as in 64 Chevy) sippin on gin & juice. Frequent shout outs to other rappers.

Country - Drivin pickups & drinkin beer/whiskey (basically in any new "country" song these days) Obligatory shout out to Merle, Hank or George who "would be proud." ???

Not too different. Just a corny version of living in the hood with my loaded gun, drankin & smokin with my crew. Haven't heard any raps about Grampa or tractors, however... ;D
Click to expand...

Or Mama, or Trucks, or Prison, or Gettin Drunk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYIrs1Dx4Ck
 
nmoore6676 said:
Lancer said:
Country Rap. I thought that was wrong on so many levels at first glance, but there are parallels:

Rap - Rollin in my six-fo (as in 64 Chevy) sippin on gin & juice. Frequent shout outs to other rappers.

Country - Drivin pickups & drinkin beer/whiskey (basically in any new "country" song these days) Obligatory shout out to Merle, Hank or George who "would be proud." ???

Not too different. Just a corny version of living in the hood with my loaded gun, drankin & smokin with my crew. Haven't heard any raps about Grampa or tractors, however... ;D
Click to expand...

Or Mama, or Trucks, or Prison, or Gettin Drunk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYIrs1Dx4Ck
Click to expand...
I can't watch videos at home, but I'm betting this is about "You Never Even called Me by My Name", which I heard going home yesterday.

I also heard a DJ talk about Eddy Arnold during a commercial break (sort of like the co-owned pop station's "A Moment in Musical History", usually about big bands) and part of that was his going pop. But the difference is that was good music.
 
Something else I heard on my classic country station, which has been around just a month.

The legends live here. "They shower out back."
 
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