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Off Topic How to identify a country song

adouglas

adouglas

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
5,592
Location
On the tail end of the bell curve in Connecticut
I got invited to play with a "new country" band (and the Big Al is doing great in that setting). Not my deal, really, but I learned long ago that you can have fun playing anything. You don't have to really like the music.

Knowing bupkis about this genre, I've been having fun looking in from the outside, as it were. I have created the following handy identification guide, based on close observation.

A "country" song will contain one or more of the following words/phrases not commonly found in any other genre:

  • Beer
  • Truck (or "pickup" in reference to a truck)
  • Chevy and/or Ford
  • Lyin'
  • Cheatin'
  • The phrase "done me wrong"
  • Jeans
  • Cowboy (or girl)
  • Trailer
  • Drunk
  • Drinkin'
  • Whiskey (or name brand of any bourbon, e.g. Jim Beam, Jack Daniels)
  • The name of any state south of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Mississippi, except Florida
  • The name of any moderately sized municipality in said states
  • Lord or God

:D
 
My main band is a "modern" country band and before I took the plunge, I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. A few years into it, I can say that playing in a country band has been one of the most rewarding and best paying gigs I've ever had.

Funny enough, I'm considering picking up a Big Al 5. Trying to decide between the SSS and the Single H.
 
Sounds like you've been listening to this song...
For those of you not into Country Music, skip to the 1:50 mark for the whole story.

FYI: I love this song...and I'm a Yankee!
 
MingusBASS said:
My main band is a "modern" country band and before I took the plunge, I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. A few years into it, I can say that playing in a country band has been one of the most rewarding and best paying gigs I've ever had.

Funny enough, I'm considering picking up a Big Al 5. Trying to decide between the SSS and the Single H.
Click to expand...

What I know: The SSS does a great job in this setting. If you need a P bass sound, it's RIGHT THERE. And the signature EBMM tone DNA is certainly present.

What I suspect: The H will get closer to the mainstay EBMM sound if that's your deal.

Oh, and the knobs are straight. :p
 
Well done, AD. I've been trying to expand my repertoire and band composition for a while now. I've been with the same Tom Petty tribute band for a year, and its still going well, but you kinda get sick of the same old 4 chords.

I played some bluegrass for a while, but that's not really technical either (root-V all night).

So I've been trying to "recruit" myself into playing with what appears to be one of the better local "modern-country" bands in town. They have both female and male singers, so they cover a lot of ground. I personally prefer the rock-oriented songs (Jason Aldean, in particular, I love Tully Kennedy's playing, and he shows off a lot, but its all tasty) than the pop-oriented songs, but yeah, its pretty much "let's get drunk and s----w in my pickup", which works very well in the kind of venues we have out here in the Inland Empire. In CT and NYC there are country bars!

Popular = more dough, don't you know.
 
jlepre said:
Sounds like you've been listening to this song...
For those of you not into Country Music, skip to the 1:50 mark for the whole story.

FYI: I love this song...and I'm a Yankee!
Click to expand...

^ This. My band faked our way through this song at a private party by request. The singer didn't know the middle part where he's talking, but I knew it by heart, so I took over. :)
 
Country just now is going through a refreshing reboot mode, Jason Aldean rapping et rest. So no need to do stereotype country music.
 
Yee Haw! Ist gig I ever played was with Travis Mimms and the Country Boys in Severance Co. at Bruces Bar. All the beer and rocky mountain oysters you could stomach, I was 16. Now I like watching Rodeo Girls on TV. My dad was a real cowboy unlike these store bought ones you see now days. Back then it was country music and western music. He would sure get a good laugh at country rap if he were still here. Round em up...
 
I used to take cows out to the fields before I went to school in the mornings so I think do quality as a cowboy. And I do like Jason Aldean's rap style as it was time Country took a fresh direction.
 
I'd really like to play bass in the real USA Country band, ...but unfortunately I was born at the other side of the Atlantic...
 
We, too, have a little spinoff where we like to do some old honkey tonk tunes. Heck, even Van Morrison does it. Here's a favorite of ours.



tbone
 
I can tell if a "country " song is being played by the closed eyes and snores of the audience, It aint popular in Spain cause they wanna dance all the the time...Ye Yawn.....Shame really cause i love playing the genre :(
 
Yea, 'Mericin Country music is not very popular here in Germany but the few songs we have done in the band are always a lot of fun to play. We did a CW version of Highway to Hell that was pretty outrageous :)
 
adouglas said:
I got invited to play with a "new country" band (and the Big Al is doing great in that setting). Not my deal, really, but I learned long ago that you can have fun playing anything. You don't have to really like the music.

Knowing bupkis about this genre, I've been having fun looking in from the outside, as it were. I have created the following handy identification guide, based on close observation.

A "country" song will contain one or more of the following words/phrases not commonly found in any other genre:

  • Beer
  • Truck (or "pickup" in reference to a truck)
  • Chevy and/or Ford
  • Lyin'
  • Cheatin'
  • The phrase "done me wrong"
  • Jeans
  • Cowboy (or girl)
  • Trailer
  • Drunk
  • Drinkin'
  • Whiskey (or name brand of any bourbon, e.g. Jim Beam, Jack Daniels)
  • The name of any state south of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Mississippi, except Florida
  • The name of any moderately sized municipality in said states
  • Lord or God

:D
Click to expand...

haha!
 
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