I only know ONE person that likes Country music. Well, two if you count my brother...

[wyldwolf]

..but he only likes female country singers.

How do all these country music stations have so many listeners??

[thereismore]

1. Count me out. I despise country. Artificial, hypocritical. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

90. Me either. Not the crap you'd hear today, anyway.

I could be convinced to listen to Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash or the like on occasion.

But that dreck that pours out of the airwaves -- the big hat, tight jeans losers?

Ugh.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. You must not be in the south?

I'm in Texas and a lot of them are here.

[wyldwolf]

68. yep, deep south

[Mythsaje]

3. My best friend listens to country...

He went that direction when grunge hit.

I like some songs, but in general, I find most country (and most country stars) just annoying.

My wife LOATHES country.

[SaveElmer]

4. Hmmm....

Will folks catch on this is posted in GD : Politics?

[ulysses]

21. yeah, took about a second.

"Gawrsh, but there's an awful lot of folks that like country music! Reg'lar folks, and they vote, too!"

Subtle. :eyes:

[wyldwolf]

33. actually, it's more of a reference to people who

...discount polling because they personally don't no anyone who likes Hillary Clinton.

[ulysses]

39. oh, ok. my bad.

For the record, I don't know anyone who likes Hillary Clinton, including my country-music-listening inlaws.

[wyldwolf]

45. and for the record, I do.

[ulysses]

48. that's what I hear.

Not surprising - there are more than a few moderates and conservatives in IT, in my experience.

[mitchum]

76. Well, it's not very subtle , is it now?

[Beaverhausen]

5. what is your point? I'm missing how this matters to politics

[OHdem10]

6. It dpends on where you live --I think.

Country Music is supposedly the staple of the Right.

Fox featire Country Musicians all the time.

It makes sense if you hate country music, you probably
will not be around many Country Music Fans.

They make lots of money so I assume people listen.

Yes, there is some Country Music i like. I like all
kinds of Music.

[melody]

7. I love country music ... much of it is the music of the people

In fact, protest music has a lot of its roots in country.

[bbernardini]

8. Because most of the listeners have not evolved out of the 1980s.

Modern "country" music and radio is nothing more than bad 80s songs with fiddle and pedal steel guitar on them.

This non-evolution also explains the whole Reagan/Thompson thing.

[greenissexy]

9. You must have Party members for friends.

I'm sure none of them listen to that white trash garbage. If you're like me, you would certainly never associate with one of them. I can't believe you would admit to your own brother liking the crap.

As to the number of listeners, just go to a Wal-Mart and look at the people there.

[Bridget Burke]

96. Ooh, a classic replay from the leftist elite.

(Or a poor attempt at satire.)

[MNDemNY]

10. Play it backwards and.......

Your wife/hubby comes home....you stop drinking beer.........Your dog stays home......and all is good in the world.

[geek_sabre]

55. There is actually a country song

Called "Backwards," by Rascal Flatts.

I was sitting on a bar stool
In a barbecue joint in Tennessee
When this ole boy walked in
And he sat right down next to me
I could tell he’d been through some hard Times
There were tear stains on his old shirt
And he said "ya wanna know what ya get
When you play a country song backwards?"

Ya get your house back
Ya get your dog back
Ya get your best friend Jack back
Ya get your truck back
Ya get your hair back
Ya get your first and second wives back
Your front porch swing
Your pretty little thing
Your bling bling bling
And a diamond ring
Your get your farm and a barn and the boat And the harley
First night in jail with Charlie
Sounds a little crazy, a little scattered And absurd
But that’s what you get when you play a Country song backwards

[earthlover]

95. And, best part, the pick up truck still runs!

[TwilightGardener]

11. I like SOME country. Most of it is crap, but there are exceptions:

Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless, Dixie Chicks (all bluegrass-influenced), and a lot of the alt-country folks like Kelly Willis and Old Crow Medicine Show. I even like some "pop" songs by Tim McGraw, George Strait, and Keith Urban--I refuse to write off the whole genre just because most of it is mass-merchandised, marketing-department-invented, focus-group-tested crap.

[Dinger]

73. JOHNNY CASH IS MY HERO!

[TwilightGardener]

88. I didn't forget Johnnie, or Willie Nelson, or Waylon--they were just too obvious to list!

[AX10]

92. I like Eddy Arnold's countrypolitan sound.

[Bridget Burke]

97. Even those who consider Countrypolitan too slick...

Have to admire the transcendent song stylings of the late Miss Patsy Cline. Yes, the arrangements on her records were sophisticated. But she was absolutely one of the best.

Country music has room for many styles. Except for most of the crap you hear on commercial radio today!

[wyldwolf]

12. OK, I must confess...

If I go to a night club (which isn't real often) it is a dance club or a Kareoke bar. The people I work with listen to alternative or classic rock.

So I guess in my social circles, no one listens to country.

I just don't understand how country music sells so much.

[SaveElmer]

14. ...

:-)

[yes2truth]

25. Expand your music appreciation & become a modern sophisticate.

I can listen to the great Connie Smith (and you should, too) and then switch to Dame Joan Sutherland (the most beautiful voice ever recorded...though some might say that Maria Callas is better) singing bel canto in a voice that is so fine you will wonder how you could have possibly lived to be your age without having ever experienced such pleasure.

I can listen to George Jones (God's favorite country music singer) one minute and Jim Morrison the next.

Melba Montgomery, then Yo-Yo Ma.

Expand your mind, woman. It's good and good for you.

[AX10]

93. It's there choice to listen to it or not.

I have heard it and I don't care for it. I have heard Miss Smith's music and don't care for it. I have nothing personal against her.

[madfloridian]

27. In my social circles people have eclectic views on music.

So do I.

I am a big fan of country music singers like Johnny Cash, Kristofferson.

I download a lot of music from Emusic....and if you check out the country styles there everything fits almost.

And my background had years of piano instruction that was mostly classical.

[yes2truth]

13. Because so many people like to listen to country music. That's why.

Country music recordings have always outsold every other music category.

In many parts of the south, it's common to see a bumpersticker that reads:

If You Ain't Country
You Ain't Sh**


Check out Connie Smith (George Jones's favorite female country singer)

Check out the late, undeniably great Patsy Cline (her mother had these words inscribed on Patsy's tombstone, after Patsy died in a plane crash. "Death Cannot Kill That Which Will Not Die" --- meaning the beautiful voice of her daughter.

Check out the vocal stylings of Bobby Bare (on his latest CD, he does a version of the song made famous by Tommy Edwards) called "All In The Game". It'll make your teeth white, skin tight, and childbirth a pleasure.

[wyldwolf]

16. so, you're saying that just because I don't personally know many who like it...

... it must mean I just don't know enough people.

I can understand that.

[yes2truth]

18. Something like that. I guess. I'm saying, check out...

Mel Tillis singing "Carroll County Accident" (great story song + his vocal stylings)

Ray Price (to country music what Sinatra is to pop music)

Everyly Brothers ("Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail")

Mickey Newberry - his lyrics and voice will make you stand UP and say "HOWDY"

[wyldwolf]

19. some people I know really dis country music. You're saying I should listen for myself...

..and not go by what my crowd says.

Thanks for the recommendations!

[yes2truth]

34. Remember the old saying: "Everyone...

to his own taste, said the old lady as she kissed the cow"? Ever hear that?

Check out Don Drum singing "Bedroom Eyes" ("turn away, it's not meant to be, so quit looking at me...with your bedroom eyes")

Buck Owens ("Tiger by The Tail") - there's the so-called Nashville country sound (recordings that include violins etc.) - and there's the so-called Bakersfield (Calif.) country sound (Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakum, Merle Haggard) see http://www.bakersfield.com/static/FP/baksound/alive.htm

You would be hard pressed to find anything that sounds better than Chet Atkins (guitar master picker)...and the fine album he made with the former Dire Straits leader)

[Dervill Crow]

66. Obviously people sporting that bumpersticker are not grammar mavens.

By that logic, if you ARE country, you ARE shit.

I do like country music, BTW. :hi:

[ulysses]

69. rather, if you are country, you could be shit, but not necessarily.

:D

[Dervill Crow]

72. That makes sense.

I should clarify that the country music I like is mostly pre-1980s.

[jillan]

15. I can tell you one Country song I despise

Have You Forgotten by Darryl Woorley.

"Have you forgotten
about bin Laden"

Written while the debate for the IWR was going on.
:banghead:

(daughter listens to country)

[Bucky]

70. You're angry because the song came out too late to make a difference?

I'll admit I missed that one. But I'll tell you this, in the Republicans' defense. Those who voted for the IWR didn't forget about bin Laden.

The truth is, they just didn't care.
.

[wyldwolf]

17. Well, I kinda like Carrie Underwood... but I'm not sure why

She isn't a better singer than any other female country singer. But she looks great!




Maybe that makes me partial to her?

[madfloridian]

20. I like country music.

I like pop music. I am not that fond of classical anymore.

I like rock pop, the oldies.

[wyldwolf]

23. do you like hip hop?

[madfloridian]

28. Some of it.

I just enjoy music.

[Captain Hilts]

22. Patsy Cline's coat tails....nt

[KansDem]

35. I have one friend who swears Patsy Cline was a torch singer...

...with a C&W rhythm section backing her up.

I do like "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces."

[yes2truth]

41. Patsy, Patsy, Patsy. There's none better.

Anything sung by Patsy is a treasure to hear.

[Captain Hilts]

46. Ooooh Aaahhhm a waulkin' afta midnite....nt

[Dervill Crow]

67. I agree.

Patsy rocked, though, no matter what you labeled her music style.

[ulysses]

24. I can't stand most of it. It's the twang and the forced patriotism

of much of it. I like some bluegrass, though. Alison Krauss is god.

And yeah, a lot of folks like it. A lot of folks like Bush, too.

[madfloridian]

30. Ok, come on....don't equate liking country music with liking GWB

Be fair.

Many of us just have very varied tastes in music. Much of country music is heart and soul.

[ulysses]

38. didn't mean to make that equation - I know better.

I was just addressing wyldwolf's unspoken point about popularity. Could've made the same point with rutabegas. :hi:

[yes2truth]

37. Tell that to Willie Nelson's fans.

You aren't all wrong though, since you like "some" bluegrass.

[ulysses]

40. "much of it" I said.

:D

The twang does drive me nuts, though.

[Clark2008]

26. I just went to a wedding where most of the music, including

many of the "walking in" music was country.

Not a good anectodal - and I know what you're trying to "prove," but it doesn't prove anything but that you don't know very many people.

I, however, work at an adult school where I see hundreds of different faces each week - and not a one I've talked to likes HRC. Oh - but many of them like country music. Some like classical. Some like rock.

Nice try, though. :hi:

[wyldwolf]

29. well, that's really the point, huh

I mean, I work in an IT office of over 100 people. Lots of HRC supporters here. I'm the vice-chair of a 1200+ member PAC. Last straw poll we did had Hillary in the lead.

:shrug:

[Clark2008]

32. And I asked in another thread where these people are

because I know hundreds of people and don't know a single HRC supporter. Others report similar circumstances.

Your group sounds like anomaly. Well, your group and the polling data. Which makes me wonder about the polling data.

[wyldwolf]

36. ..and you keep getting told

...because I work in an IT office of over 100 people. Lots of HRC supporters here. I'm the vice-chair of a 1200+ member PAC. Last straw poll we did had Hillary in the lead.

Others report similar circumstances.

Funny, though, that "my" polling data (actually that of the groups chair who supports Obama) mirrors most national and state polls.

[Clark2008]

54. I don't see very many people on here reporting that they

know lots of people who support HRC.

You and maybe three others, though.

I think name recognition slaps people in the face when they're actually confronted by poll takers, but I really don't think too many people have sat and thought about who they support yet, to be quite honest.

Hell, I haven't even decided who I'm supporting and I'm a political junkie. I really don't like our choices too much.

P.S. It's also fairly ironic that I work in an industry that TRAINS people in the IT sector and none of them locally support her. That doesn't seem to mesh with where ever it is that you live. I live in a red state - I think people here, even Democrats, know she wouldn't have a shot in this state, so they're not too keen on her.

[wyldwolf]

62. I don't see many people claiming DU is representative of anything but DU

I live in Georgia, by the way.

[KansDem]

31. I listened to it during the summer of 1973 when "Behind Closed Doors" was popular...

But not much since then.

[yes2truth]

43. Since then , Charlie Rich has ascended on...

a cloud of stale cigar smoke, but his music is still available right here and throughout the fruited plain.

[ClassWarfare2008]

42. Guess it depends on what you mean by "country music"

Hank Williams Sr, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson - That's just some of the best music ever written.

Merle Haggard - hard to say exactly where he's coming from sometimes, but recently he had a song that was unquestionably against the Bush Crime Family's foreign policy called "Let's Rebuild America First".

Garth Brooks - some would argue his place among the true country greats, but "We Shall Be Free" was one of the greatest songs of the 90's from any genre.

Dixie Chicks - They're ashamed Chucklenuts is from Texas. I'm ashamed he's from America.

No love here for the Toby Keith/Lee Greenwood/Sara Freeperslut types though. If you're first TV appearance is on FAUX News, and not CMT, you have an agenda other than making music. And that's where the radio stations come in. It's not that people want to hear that crap, it's that Clear Channel WANTS you to hear that crap. And the Nashville establishment has never been exactly liberal, so they aren't much help.

I've always looked at music this way: Either it's good, or it ain't. The hell with the labels.

[yes2truth]

44. Do you like "Cowboy Jack Clements"?

I was shocked the first time I heard him, on "Prairie Home Companion". I had never even heard of him. He is one extremely talented gentleman. I'm tempted to get Sirius satellite radio just so I can hear his program that is broadcast on Saturday afternoons.

[ClassWarfare2008]

47. Haven't heard him.

But I do have SIRIUS, so I'll look for him on the weekends. Thanks!

[yes2truth]

49. He goes way back to the 50's in the music biz.

I believe he is acknowledged in Nashville as being responsible for the success of more country music artists than anyone else. He's a producer, lyricist, and he also has a great voice...even now, when he must be north of 70. His program (maybe "show" is the better word) comes on late Saturday afternoon. I remember he said that it's on during the same time that Garrison Keiler's show is broadcast.

[martymar64]

81. Check out the Austin artists

They're a great liberal alternative to Nashville. Ray Wylie Hubbard, Joe Ely, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, James McMurtry, Jerry Jeff Walker, and of course Willie.

I've always been partial to old timey myself (Hank, Bob Wills, Patsy, Kitty Wells, Marty Robbins, Buck Owens)

[wildhorses]

50. define country

and sheesh...y'all take it sooooo seriously. really!!! you just need to get over yourselves. knock back a shot of tequila with a beer backer and lighten up.

you are messing with my buzz, man

[ulysses]

51. GD:P to the Lounge to GD to GD:P

Someone get this thread a tour bus!

[LSK]

52. see the movie Shut Up and Sing

Thats my current take on country.

[Tellurian]

53. I'm gonna sneak this in...before another trauma happens..

seeing that I'm not Hillary challanged... and posses superb eclectic taste.. :)

I like Faith Hill, Jimmy Buffett and Mozart!

And you've got to give this new Country Rock Band, "BIG & Rich" a listen.



Their hit single is: "We Love Our Country and We Like it Loud!"

[treestar]

56. Because it has started to tilt towards pop

It is more like the "country rock" of the 70s than pure country.

[geek_sabre]

57. I love country music

Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Big & Rich.

Much easier on the ears than rap music, IMHO.

[RandomKoolzip]

58. I can't believe people think you're being sincere.

Hey DUers: Did you know that "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?

[wyldwolf]

60. oh, no. My OP is 100% correct.

[RandomKoolzip]

63. Disingenuousness is the new sexy.

[wyldwolf]

64. I'm bringing sexy back... wait, that ain't country!

[Tellurian]

61. No, I didn't, but check here:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gullible

[ulysses]

65. LOLOL!

:D

[mitchum]

77. I imagine those people are not familiar with the OP's single minded agenda

[wyldwolf]

84. LOL! You forgot to cue up the some nefarious sounding music

[mitchum]

85. Would that be an adequate rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes" performed on the sax?

In the key of DLC? :)

[wyldwolf]

89. if that is the soundtrack that your prefer.

[zulchzulu]

59. It's suburban muzak for mini-vans and over-sized pickups

There's a distinction between country and over-produced Nashville "country"...there's folky stuff and then there's the crap, which usually has an air of jingoistic ignorance peppered in for good measure, no pun intended.

Most country music is as unlistenable as music artists like Celine Deon. :rofl:

[mitchum]

74. Exactly (n/t)

[rucky]

71. Around here, we listen to both kinds of music...

Country AND Western

[martymar64]

82. The best place to hear it - Bob's Country Bunker!!!

That ain't no Hank Williams!!!!

[mitchum]

75. Lots of people are attracted to corporate controlled fake populism...

whether it's packaged as DLClinton or country music

[LWolf]

78. I know, and have known, plenty of country lovers.

My father, and the culture of people he grew up in, never listened to anything else. My first husband and his family were also big country fans. Old country. What I used to think of as "real" country, that had more in common with folk music than anything you'd hear on the radio.

I remember when country music, to me, seemed to become commercialized. The reflection of urban and suburban cowboys and girls. Country music dropped out of favor in my circle of aquaintances and family at that point.

Last year, my son the musician brought me a cd of some stuff he was working on. I'd always cast him as a sort of alternative rock/folk kind of songwriter. He called himself "a new sort of country." I don't really understand why, except that his stuff doesn't seem to really fit any established genre well.

It isn't about guns, moms, girls, fights, or trucks. It doesn't twang. It seems more closely related to folk music than to what country music has become. Maybe that's it. The older roots developing into something new.

I live rurally. Rural and mostly red. I don't know anyone who listens to commercial country music radio. I think those listeners are suburban dwellers. :shrug:

[Prophet 451]

79. Because some country singers are talented?

I'm not the world's biggest fan of country but some of the people doing it are extremely talented. Patsy Cline had one hell of a voice, Johnny Cash had an amazing voice (and a decent social conscience too). OK, most of it is crap but so is most pop music.

I think you need to seperate country, the musical style from the political sentiments pushed by a lot of country stations and listeners. It's certainly true that the abuse of patriotism into "love it or leave it" is often found on country stations but is that because country predisposes to that or because country is popular? I suspect the latter.

[William769]

80. Well you sort of know me, and I LOVE Country music!

Only the classics though.

[Jed Dilligan]

83. I'm startin' to hate country but I still love cowboy songs

Well, I turned on my tv set
to see if it was cheesey as I forget
Maybe country videos my soul to save.

But those New Age Nashvilles on the juke
turned my guts fixin to puke
I bet Hank Williams is spinnin in his grave.

Cause this western glamor's full of philistines
Churning out false profits, slave to the machine
But I'm headin for the lowlands you won't miss me when I'm gone
Cause I'm startin to hate country, but still love cowboy songs!

-Asylum Street Spankers

[zulchzulu]

86. Some country music is pretty damn good if you ask me...

Like this little tune...

:toast:

[illinoisprogressive]

87. Da Blues, baby. Da Blues.

[AX10]

91. The broad Pop/Rock genre outsells Country.

Fortunatly.
There is very little in Country that I listen to. I never liked them as a group and what was done to the Dixie Chicks justs reconfirms what I already knew about THAT genre of music.

[auburngrad82]

94. I like any music that's good, including some country

That being said, most country music today kinda sucks. Back in the day when it was George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, etc country rocked. But then back in the day everything was better.

:)