Regardless of whether or not you're a big fan of country music, you can't deny that Merle Haggard was a huge influence on country, folk and americana music as a whole.
Any fans of Merle in /mu surprised to hear of his death?
>>63868233
If it isnt trendy or Fantano, nobody cares. Sad
He was a staple in my house. A lot of memories listening to him with the family.
where should I start to get into him?
>>63868426
I actually found him through the Grateful Dead. Mama Tried and Okie from Muskogee are probably some of my favorite covers that they did. It was a great gateway into country music listening to him and it got me to actually appreciate the genre.
>>63868469
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYY2FQHFwE
>>63868469
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSsv8Hq1Jz5Lg18ImaPbnw/playlists?shelf_id=3579731707244514300&view=50&sort=dd
Pretty sad. Had started getting in to him as I've been digging in to classic country over the past year or so. One of the last big outlaw country stars that was still tickin, no?. Who's left? Willie?
Anyway, this is probably my favorite Merle tune
https://youtu.be/0N7vLaAM8Ok
RIP buddy
>>63868233
I know /mu/ is full of godless commies, and thus have little appreciation for country & western music.
Glad to see someone beat me to this thread.
Dwight Yoakam posted quite a bit on NormieBook today, one of which was this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxOMSy8hJo
It's really quite apt.
>>63868469
You can download a collection of his greatest hits (should be something like two CDs worth) on whichever site you prefer.
He lived an incredible life that you don't see in musicians anymore. Basically your stereotypical bad kid and drifter. He was in San Quentin when Johnny Cash played there.
The old bastard was still touring at 79 when his health started to fail him.
Died on his birthday.
My local classic country station has been playing nothing but Haggard in respect.
There goes the Okie from Muskogee.
>>63868501
The Woodstock Mama Tried was fucking awesome
Tom Constanten's organ sounded like a flute being played by god
>>63868685
Willie, David Allen Coe
I saw him open for System of a Down last summer at Riot Fest in Chicago, it was a good show
>>63868915
Really?
>>63868915
That honestly sounds amazing.
It was side by side stages so it went more like
A) Echo and the Bunnymen
B) Bootsy Collins
A) Merle
B) Billy Idol
A) System of a Down
Me and my pals were in front of A but could hear B
>>63868889
Hank Jr. is still touring.
Jerry Jeff Walker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjkGlZzZLjY
Charlie Daniels isn't expressly outlaw, but his music sort of fits the bill. He's still around:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnepPZChA5U
Billy Joe Shaver:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpEElGVgv24
Ray Wylie Hubbard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqE6KN_suU
Before you just condemn the previous song as redneck shit, he's the hippy that gets his ass kicked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E24C4NY0ga8
Really funny fucking story.
Outlaw and eventually Texas country were the chemo curing the cancer that became the Tennessee sound of country music in the late 1970s and 1980s.
There's more than what I mentioned, but it's a start.
He was in Folsom when Johnny Cash played there
>>63869159
see:
>>63868725
>He lived an incredible life that you don't see in musicians anymore. Basically your stereotypical bad kid and drifter. He was in San Quentin when Johnny Cash played there.
lrn2read.
And it was San Quentin, not Folsom
>>63869200
damn, mixed them up. Thanks for fixing that for me
>>63869158
Actually, the Bakersfield sound and Byrds/Flying Burrito Brothers (in addition to the outlaw guys) were the initial chemo after the horrible, overly polished Nashville Sound of the 50s and 60s
Just came to pay my respects. Not many outlaws left. Coe, Willie, and Kris are still out there among a few others, but the remnants of true country is slowly leaving us.
>>63869341
Not going to argue with you there, but the Bakersfield sound (thank you Buck Owens for getting me into country) was only chemo enough for stage 1 or maybe 2 cancer.
Outlaw served as an additional, stronger dosage of chemo years later to combat a stronger resurgence of the cancer.
Apart from Dwight Yoakam, the Bakersfield sound isn't very present in today's music. Not to say it isn't good, I love the shit.
But outlaw country continues to provide relief from the cancer which is Nashville.
Also, let us pay homage to the great King George II:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtVeDaZxAXo
>>63869422
Does the Nashville sound even exist anymore?
And I meant Bakersfield and later country rock was the initial chemo. Sweetheart of the Rodeo is blatantly country sounding in my opinion, albeit with a heavier backbeat, yet the Byrds were not accepted when they performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
>>63868233
RIP in peace Okie from Muskogee from California.
>>63868469
This is a solid comp. His glory years were the mid-60's through mid-70's.
>>63869476
>Does the Nashville sound even exist anymore?
It does in the sense that mainstream country tries to sound extremely similar to pop/rock, but the original "Nashville Sound" with string orchestration and backup choruses has been done for over 30 years.
>>63869476
I think the Nashville sound has devolved into basically shit like Luke Bryan and Brad Paisley shit.
In the 1980s you can see the complete transition from classic country to pop-country coming out of the country music capitol.
>>63869693
This.
George Strait, Alan Jackson and Dwight Yoakam are the only artists still worth a damn.
Smaller, more niche artists exist, the most popular being Hank 3, and I vehemently support him and his various forms of music. Still waiting for him to do another tour through Texas.
Even his metal is actually quite nice.
>>63869734
>tfw Darius Rucker still tries to keep the sound
>mfw the former frontman for Hootie and the fucking Blowfish is more country than any other big name in Nashville right now
If you went back to 1998 and said those words you'd be locked up as a lunatic.
>>63869693
>>63869734
Okay that makes sense, basically the Nashville sound is basically always the shitty mainstream country.
>>63870035
>the face of mainstream country that's actually good is a black dude from a 90s alternative band
>>63870035
>former frontman for Hootie and the fucking Blowfish
Damn, had no idea.
>>63870083
>basically the Nashville sound is basically always the shitty mainstream country.
Back when the Nashville Sound emerged in the early 60's, Chet Atkins and company produced some very pretty music. Too bad it was at the expense of more "hard" country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWCUh6tf7PA&nohtml5=False
>>63868233
I appreciate his music a lot, but I honestly thought he had passed away many years ago. I guess I had him mixed up with Waylon, I could never keep those two straight.
Anyways, RIP. Man wrote some fantastic songs in his day. Thanks Merle.
>>63870280
This sounds pretty but it doesn't sound like country at all to me, just generic early 60s music
>>63870083
Darius Rucker is the second coming of Charlie Pride. I'm going to be completely honest: I didn't think he'd be good changing over to country, but I'll be damned if he isn't actually trying unlike nearly every other artist in Nashville.
It's funny. Alan Jackson sang about pop artists like him making the jump to country for a quick buck, but then he goes and gives it his all.
>>63870319
That was the point. Country and pop fans alike ate it up. Another one of her songs, "Crazy", holds the record for being played more times on jukeboxes than any other song in history.
Maybe I have more of a soft spot for really mainstream classic country because I grew up on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR7z9SBZwr4
>>63868725
>The old bastard was still touring at 79 when his health started to fail him
Yeah well, Willie is older and still playing quite good and he probably matched or exceeded Merle's drug intake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48G93ldpbfA
>>63870515
wow that's great!
also, he has a cool song with Toots and Maytals
>>63870536
I give my props to anyone who can still play while standing in their 80s. Because Bob Dylan is younger by a whole decade and...well you know what his "shows" are like now.
>>63870515
That's the most hair I've seen on a man of his age...not just length, but he's not even bald yet
>>63870515
I'm was not trying to belittle other artists, but rather exemplify his personal dedication.
Without a doubt Willie did W A Y more drugs than Haggard, but Haggard also lived a rougher life growing up.
They're both great musicians, without a doubt.
I just admire the man for trying to maintain a tour while battling health issues. I'm sure Willie would do the same, but reefer has a panacea affect on illnesses.
Still glad Willie is around, don't get me wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvcFOogsUsI
>>63870554
I'm glad he's not doing morbid gothic shit like Johnny Cash was.
>>63870554
Bob Dylan sounded like shit even in the 90s...but Joan Baez is the same age as him and she still sounds amazing...I would have loved to fuck her back in the 60s or 70s
>>63870574
I don't get why Johnny was so somber, he had June who he lived so much (not counting the last few months of his life)
>>63870568
Forgot to mention Glen Campbell.
Bastard toured while suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUICxv_0VV4
Fantastic artist and entertainer.
>>63870574
Morbid, gothic shit is necessary for country, look at Hank Sr.
What's your opinion on Gram Parsons?
I fucking love the first Burritos album, it's quite possibly my favorite album of all time, but I'm not a fan of his solo work. It's too soft for me, although Brass Buttons is a great song and I randomly sing it to myself sometimes.
![maxresdefault[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/a1ar7YA.jpg "maxresdefault[1].jpg")
>>63870625
Also forgot to mention (fuck you, I'm drunk), the little documentary bit CNN did on Campbell is amazingly sad but beautiful.
Also, his daughter, Ashley Campbell, is 11/10 would bang even though she has her father's chin and has it more so than her brother.
>tfw will never have a qt3.14 southern, banjo playing, big chin having gf
>>63870601
One of the more "interesting" Dylan phenomena is how his voice seems to radically change on every album. Some Dylan fans like to argue over what period of his career had the best voice.
>>63870679
Are any of his post 60s albums even relevant, though?
And I'm not trying to knock the guy, I'm not a fan of his singing but other artists made great use of his songwriting.
It's rumored that Dylan purposed attempted to fuck his voice up so he'd sound like Howlin' Wolf or some other old bluesman. Which if it's true was an amazingly stupid thing to do. I don't think any mortal man should try and impersonate Howlin' Wolf.
>>63870625
>Morbid, gothic shit is necessary for country, look at Hank Sr.
There's a difference between Hank's grim songwriting and doing Nine-Inch Nails covers though.
>>63870635
Agree about his solo work with Emmylou being too soft. Not a huge Parsons-era Byrds/Burritos fan either, but I can appreciate them.
>>63870697
Plenty, especially Blood on the Tracks.
>>63870697
Blood on the Tracks
Holy fucking shit his thread is comfy.
>>63870635
love and treasure everything he ever did. Return of the Grievous Angel is my favorite song of all time, i'd recommend it to anyone curious about gram or country music.
>>63870724
I think Gram was just so obsessed with country music that he wanted to create a more "traditional" country album.
>>63870775
What is your opinion on Gram Parson's hairstyle?
>>63870554
>Because Bob Dylan is younger by a whole decade and...well you know what his "shows" are like now
Yeah it's bad.
>can't sing anymore at all - even allowing normal loss of range as he's gotten older, he's exceptionally...horrible
>can't play standing up anymore
>can't play guitar anymore due to his fucked-up hands (but he still rocks a mean harmonica)
>>63870574
>>63870601
>>63870625
Consider the life he had. His brother died when they were young. He'd dealt with some crazy ass addictions and was almost murdered by a fucking bird at one point. Through his prison shows and other performances he'd seen the wealthy ignore society, while also seeing those on the bottom rung of society being forced away from it. His latter reflections on his religion were fairly bleak and apocalyptic. And by the time of his death, most of his early contemporaries (excepting June and Cousin Fucker Jerry) were long gone.
>>63870796
I swear, his harmonica has gotten BETTER. When I saw him in 2009 or something, his harp was more proficient than I'd heard on any album.
Yeah I can't explain Bob Dylan's horrible vocal deterioration either. It's not as if his music requires him to do anything overly exerting on his voice. I mean, he's not Rob Halford.
Since the recent string of 60s musician deaths, I got paranoid and wanted to see CSN again, and they fucking broke up.
>>63870832
Perhaps it's simply the sheer amount of singing he does. Like 200 nights a year since the 80's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWq_mEXqmyo
This is one of the better recent Dylan shows I could find. The lyrics to TUIB are still pretty incomprehensible except for the bridge, but he's not quite as raspy as some other concerts.
>>63870601
Johnny was crazy religious and he had a crazy life, tends to happen when people get close to death, especially if they're real into Jesus. Also people really undermine how much Rick Rubin orchestrated the sound and motif of his last records, literally and figuratively. That said I think he was genuinely in a sort of somber "old man awaiting death" mode, just watch that Larry King interview where he nonchalantly blurts out "Oh, I expect to die very soon". Not sure if that was post June dying or not, can't remember.
>>63870724
>There's a difference between Hank's grim songwriting and doing Nine-Inch Nails covers though.
You're right, traditional country & western music is way more suicidally depressed than anything modern.
Case in point, Bob Wills & The Texas Playboy's cover of Trouble in Mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9kkohRJQC8
>I'm gonna lay my head
>on some lonesome railroad line
>and let that 2:19 train pacify my mind
Way more dark than Hurt.
Further proof from the same song:
>my good gal she done quit me
>and it sure does grieve my mind
>when you see me laughin', laughin' to keep from cryin'
The older you get in country, the sadder it gets.
That's how Hank Sr., revolutionized country. Pure, raw emotion that he was feeling from his personal problems. Previously, it was mostly singing cowboys that was mostly a western style of music (I fucking love Gene Autry), but generally it was upbeat and positive.
Then you have Sr., moaning the Long-gone Lonesome Blues and Your Cheatin' Heart.
Pain is a traditional country music emotion.
>>63870742
This image is fantastic, I'm saving it and will use it whenever I can, but I doubt anybody will ever get it.
>>63870870
>>63870832
It's most likely decades of drinking, chain-smoking, and doing a borderline insane number of shows. I'd be willing to bet Willie Nelson and Joan Baez have done nowhere close to the amount of concerts Dylan's done.
>>63870832
Yeah, except you know, sound like Bob Dylan.
>>63870908
Then why didn't the same happen to Johnny Cash or George Jones?
>>63870900
>The Texas Playboys
Mi amigo
>>63870900
I do think country music since the 80s has done a lot to revive some kind of good-time fun spirit when it all used to just be "I'm drinking my life away in a redneck bar in a redneck county and my wife cheated on me and my son got hit by a truck and my dog died."
>>63870936
How many live shows did they do versus Dylan? I mean, Jesus Christ, setlist.fm has him at 3426 performances and he's done 70+ a year every year since 1986.
![PAGE-ONE-BobWillsDay-Photo1[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/WsplzoS.jpg "PAGE-ONE-BobWillsDay-Photo1[1].jpg")
>>63870938
He's still the king, sir.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLrJ250Gao8
Also, apparently a smug pepe...
Regardless, phenomenal musician and band leader. Western swing may be Texan fedora tier, but it's one of my favorite genres of music.
>>63870972
You're fucking forgetting trains, asshole. Trains are fucking important....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuYRehFLHzk
>>63870994
Several. Cannot confirm.
Isn't it adorable when Joan Baez imitates Bob Dylan in her live shows?
>>63870832
heavy smoker. and it's (partly) an effect. he's emulating old bluesmen like howlin' wolf to compliment his recent bluesier music. but if you listen to his last album (shadows in the night) or hear any of his recent interviews you can hear him clear as day. or as joni mitchell put it, "Everything about Bob Dylan is fake ...his name and voice are fake ...Everything about Bob is a deception.." the whole grizzled road-warrior act suits what he's doing.
he's still my favorite tho. these guys aren't required to do anything except serve their songs. pj harvey was so annoyed that people automatically assumed that her songs were all autobiographical that she made uh huh her in response to fuck with people who were only listening because she had recently broken up with vincent gallo and wanted the gossip.
it's gonna be tough to see dylan go too. my aunt loved merle. i remember fillingup her ipod with his music and other outlaw stuff a few years ago.
>>63870900
To add to that, some of the songs he re recorded for those later albums are far more depressing than Hurt, anyway. Streets of Laredo, Give my love to rose, Bury me not on the lone prairie. Sad shit, and aside from Give my Love to Rose those are traditional songs that are the shit the settlers brought over and eventually mutated into western cowboy ballads.
>>63868889
tfw no one cares about kris kristofferson :(
Since this is the first real country thread I've ever seen, and I haven't seen /tv/ talk about it yet, might as well post this here.
I Saw The Light is fairly average, but in a good way. Tom Hiddleston nailed it as Hank The scene where he finally gets to the Opry was great.
It's just a damn shame the script sucked. Loki did wonders with what he had in spite of it. It's worth a download at least.
>>63870900
>The older you get in country, the sadder it gets.
>Previously, it was mostly singing cowboys that was mostly a western style of music (I fucking love Gene Autry), but generally it was upbeat and positive.
[I know what you're getting at though]
>>63871120
I think it's because he isn't as gritty and tough-sounding as the other "outlaws".
>>63870832
True, his range has always been extremely limited though that's probably one reason he's the most covered artist of all time. Almost anyone can sing Dylan tunes while Halford...not so much.
Does anyone else like the Clarence White era Byrds? They did a fire version of "Farther Along"
>>63871184
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mgX7C5kqiU
>Dat mandolin
>>63871095
Agreed. His American XX are some of his more edgy albums.
>>63871120
I know that feel, bruh.
>>63871124
>I Saw The Light is fairly average, but in a good way. Tom Hiddleston nailed it as Hank The scene where he finally gets to the Opry was great.
Srsly?
I've spent nearly a year listening to Hank 3 talking shit about Hiddleston and seeing his shitty renditions of Hank Sr. songs.
I'm going to see it because I love Sr., but how bad is it in technical terms? Is it a shitty movie?
>>63871149
My statement stands. The singing cowboy era is distinct from modern country & western. It was just a genre that helped form it, just like western swing. Hank Sr., is about as far back as you can go in terms of what we associate country music with. MAYBE Tex Ritter, but he's way more western, same with Ernest Tubb.
I think this is the most successful thread about country and western music /mu/ has seen in quite some time.
Can we induct Merle as the patron saint of country & western for /mu/?
>>63871120
The people here who love Cohen would love Kristofferson too if they gave him a chance. But he gets painted with the "Country" brush and it's easier for them to re-listen to Songs of Love & Hate than it is to try to identify with Kris' equally literate but more concise material.
>>63871225
I wonder if it was Clarence or Gene who played the mandolin
I really like the final four version of the band though, it's a shame they disbanded for the short lived reunion of the original lineup
>>63871225
>tfw no Latina gf who likes country music
I mean yeah, Jerry Lee Lewis could be considered country but he's mostly (in people's heads) not associated with that genre.
>>63871069
Dylan is noticeably not as gravelly on his albums though of course it's easier to sing into a mic than have to project your voice across a stage also on his recent albums they can use computer editing to touch them up.
Feels incoming
>>63871239
Ernest Tubb was doing pretty straightforward country almost a decade before Hank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_VLOnZfFQs
I'd even describe Jimmie Rodgers' stuff from the 20's as country even though it doesn't sound like what came after.
>>63871246
Fun fact: Kris has said he wants the opening line to "Bird on a Wire" written on his gravestone.
>>63871239
Yeah. It focuses too much on Hank Williams the alcoholic and not Hank Williams the musician. It doesn't even bother to see how one affected the other. Script is pretty disjointed too; just jumps from event to event to event. All in all, your average Hollywood biopic of a musician.
>Hank 3 being mad
Hank 3's just mad they didn't pick him to play his own grandfather. Hiddleston was the best part of the whole movie. And while yeah, he didn't get Hank's sound 100%, that's because he isn't Hank himself. At least he took the effort to try and learn to sing the songs himself instead of them just dubbing everything in. They went and got Rodney Crowell to teach him.
>>63868469
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ye_TNP-h_g
>>63871416
I honestly thought the same thing Hank 3 did, Matthew McConaughey could have done a better part because true fucking southerner.
I have no other prejudices on the film, though. I will likely download it rather than see it in theaters because I don't think they did Sr., the honor he deserves, as you mentioned.
>>63871375
Tubb was basically the mainstream """"""country"""""" people wanted, and its what they got.
His Anti-Hillary song that he tricked her into using is fucking hilarious. 'Too bad he won't live to see Trump as president for the next 8 years. The good times ain't over good B)
>>63871375
>Fun fact: Kris has said he wants the opening line to "Bird on a Wire" written on his gravestone.
Based.
2016 man... People are going to look back like, "what the fuck." Looks like The Westboro trolls are already on this btw. just found this on YT.
>>63871561
Hiddleston's actually a good actor, though. If you didn't already know he was a Brit/Loki, it would be almost impossible to tell. The movie's problems are entirely on the screenwriter/director's end.
That's honestly the worst part. Not only did they not do Hank Sr. the honor he deserves, they wasted someone giving a Grade-A performance of him.
>>63871611
See. this is worse than what I was expecting.
I saw the previews and thought it would be a decent flick.
They overblow the alcoholism, don't they?
I knew it wouldn't be a decent film because they're trying to represent Hank Sr.
God forbid what they do for George Jones.
Faron Young was a screwjob, couldn't take being replaced on the airwaves by the rising young Alan Jackson generation so he...kind of performed brain surgery on himself. The end.
>>63871658
They don't overblow it. They just focus too much on it during the period of his first marriage. Like, as I said earlier, they focus too much on him wrecking himself and not how his spiraling life really affected the way he wrote and performed his music. Hiddleston does what he can; the parts where they actually let Hank perform are the highlights of the movie, and the scene where he's at the Opry for the first time is the best of the bunch. It's just that those moments aren't as common as they need to be in a biopic about Hank Sr.
>>63871723
Thank you for the warning. I'll take it with a grain of salt.
>mfw I thought this was exactly how a Hank Sr., bio-pic would turn out
>>63871749
It's worth a torrent, at least. It's not total dogshit; the feeling you'll get from it is of wasted opportunity.
You know, for what a big phenomenon it was, there weren't a whole lot of Bakersfield Sound artists during its peak in the 60's.
>Buck Owens
>Merle Haggard
>Wynn Stewart
>Jean Shepard
>Bonnie Owens
>Tommy Collins
>Handful of artists who didn't record an album's worth of material
>>63871591
What the fuck, I watched some of that and it devolves into numeric symbolism and rainbow MK ULTRA nonsense halfway in.
>>63871691
Necessary post/10
RIP Merle
You helped me hold things together.
>>63871801
Cannot find it currently on public trackers, but I will keep an eye out for it.
2aesthetic
who /john prine/ here?
