RABid Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 I was thinking about going to iTunes and picking up maybe 10 country music songs that feature good musicians. Any suggestions? Im really out of touch with the country music scene. Robert This post edited for speling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihategarybettman Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 If you want to hear someone with a sense of humor who also burns on a combination Telecaster/steel guitar that he calls the "guitsteel", check out Junior Brown. Also, Dwight Yoakam's guitarist, Pete Anderson, is the epitome of taste. A great arranger, I've never heard the man play a wrong note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RG203 Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Junior Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where02190 Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Anything by Tim McGraw, hes got some incredible players with him in the studio and on tour. Brad Paisley is a very good player and songwriter. I like the newcomer Gretchen Wilson's CD, lots of rootsy stuff mixed with a modern interpretation. Lonestar, great vocals!!!! Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 By Brad Paisley... "Me Neither" "Luxury Liner" ...Emmylou Harris, featuring Albert Lee on guitar. There are literally TONS of hot pickers out there...mind you, not all songs are chock full of slick pickin', but, a few to check out... Steve Wariner Danny Gatton Joe Maphis Jerry Reed Johnny Hiland Albert Lee "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robman2 Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Pete's not playing with DY right now. D's got a less known backup group for reasons of intrigue (not my place to tell. Pete's on Little Dog Records and is out with Moot Davis plus producing and MD. Country music's best players are all, usually on the recordings, much like the sessions done in LA etc, back in the day. They churn out the backing tracks for everyone unless the "Artist" is also a great player. Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Toby Keith etc, they'll have session guys come in nail it, then the band, learns the tracks, note for note. been like that forever. So, that being said there is new country, which is alloted to the airwaves and is a form of post 70's and 80's POP. Then there are traditionalists, like Joe NIchols etc. It may be more that you should find out what lyrics you prefer, the writers are actually what drives the songs to a large degree. Marv Green, Don Schlitz, Don Henry, Aaron Barker, Jim Collins, Jeffery Steele etc, have well steeped tunes out there. Most of the newer bands, blend a lot innuendo into the genre. Country music now days, seems to be a haven for T & A, like Big and Rich, Rascal Flatts etc. Byond the MTV versions, which tend to dominate, there is a very strong presence, Gill, Crowell, Jackson, Krause. It's a long story right now, but one session luminary told me a while back, that "It can't get to much further over to Rock, the pendulum has to swing back sooner or later" Pete BTW, is considered an outsider, to some degree but he came from Detriot, via Bakersfield and along with Will Ray, etc, made the 80's Country happen in LA. FWIW. Label on the reverb, inside 1973 Ampeg G-212: "Folded Line Reverberation Unit" Manufactured by beautiful girls in Milton WIS. under controlled atmosphere conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Cole Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Anything by the Hellecasters! There is no substitute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Geez...how could I forget Ricky Skaggs? That guy can pick the bejeezus out of anything with strings. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtreat Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Check out Reggie Young, session player with utmost taste. BTW he was part of the Boxtops- "Cry Like a Baby", Dobbie Gray -"Drift Away" Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve LeBlanc Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Dixie Chicks - "Home" Almost the whole album has great picking on it http://www.youtube.com/notesleb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Second for the Dixie Chicks. Home is my favorite, but all their albums are fantastic. FYI - I was at the foot of the stage when they played the New Faces show at the Country Radio Seminar convention and, having read the names of the upcoming artists, was fully prepared to hate them as some record exec's country version of N'sync, et. al. I couldn't have been more wrong. Even then it was obvious they were amazing. Glad to see they have also become successful. Keith Urban - A good songwriter, an amazing guitar player and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Find his album(s?) with The Ranch, too. (Oddly enough, The Ranch was on that same New Faces show. ) Another second for Tim McGraw. I worked on his backstage/green room setup during rehearsals for the 2003 tour. Had the chance to hang with the guitar techs and the band. They are great players and a very cohesive group. After as many years as they've played together, they should be. If you don't know, they also play on Tim's albums now. Pretty serious stuff in a town in which the road musicians are almost never the studio players. It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where02190 Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 The Chicks, of course. those girls play and sing even better than they look, which IMHO is pretty darn good. Home is an incredible collection of traditional country bluegrss sounds in a modern flavor, and their debut, Wide Open Spaces is incredible. Saw them on the Home tour, in the round, one of the best altime shows i;ve ever seen, incredible sound, fantastic visuals, a truly top rated show. Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funk Jazz Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 speedy west and jimmy bryant jim campilongo & ten gallon cats rockhouse ramblers redd volkaert brad paisley brent mason hot club of cowtown bob wills and the texas playboys some of this is western swing, but the focus is kick ass musicianship, so stylistic semantics can be tossed out, right? fun project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Sayers Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Dixie Chicks - "Home" Almost the whole album has great picking on it get the DVD and watch them do it live Dolly has some great pickers on her buegrass albums too. cheers john Studio Design Forum Studios Under Construction Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Get some Doc Watson music. It don't matter what, just get some. The Time period when his son Merle was playing with him shows some of the flat ass best acoustic picking you'll ever hear. I can't remember the person's name who's playing with Doc now but he's darned good too. Also get some Kate Wolf. Nina Gerber played with her and is also an awesome picker. Others have already mentioned Albert Lee, Ricky Scaggs, Vince Gill & others. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Force Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 I caught Shania Twain on TV and her backup band was SMOKING! Hell, ALL country music acts have great bands! I am not a country fan but every time I catch a country act on TV I am always impressed. So, I guess my point is.......?? (forceman exits stage left embarrassed as hell... ) Steve Force, Durham, North Carolina -------- My Professional Websites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sistatroll_dup1 Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Johnny Cash, mang. Johnny Cash. "Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." -Robert Heinlein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Middle Man Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 "speedy west and jimmy bryant" Oh yeah. I have not heard another guitar player as fast as Jimmy B, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Alison Krauss and Union Station. Jaw-dropping good musicianship. The dobro player (Jerry Douglas) may be the best on the planet. Albums to check out - New Favorite, the Live album, or So Long, So Wrong. Her solo material veers a little to close to the middle of the road for me, but the Union Station stuff is great. js Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Keelan Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Originally posted by js: Alison Krauss and Union Station Yup, there's another DVD that is well worth the price of admission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihategarybettman Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Three words: Flatt and Scruggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 How long is it going to be before someone mentions Chet Atkins? Anyone? Bueller? With the upcoming release of "Ray", I'll soon be adding "Modern Sounds in Country & Western" to my CD collection. Floyd Cramer "Last Date", the man who launched a million country piano licks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 First off, my impression of the first post was that the poster wanted to know about current country music with great players. Therefore I've left off many greats including legends such as Chet Atkins, Flatt and Scruggs, etc. Originally posted by js: Alison Krauss and Union Station. Jaw-dropping good musicianship. The dobro player (Jerry Douglas) may be the best on the planet. Albums to check out - New Favorite, the Live album, or So Long, So Wrong. Her solo material veers a little to close to the middle of the road for me, but the Union Station stuff is great. jsMay be? Not a chance. IS/b]?? Absolutely. But calling Jerry Douglas the dobro player for Union Station would be like calling Steve Lukather the guitarist for Toto. Jerry is the first call dobro session player in Nashville and has been for at least a decade. He's also played with a wide variety of musicians outside the country music scene. He's a monster. (And he has his own albums, too. But like so many great musicians, they don't sell particularly well. Just because he's a phenomenol player doesn't mean the songs he'd choose to record are the best songs. But they do showcase his talent well. ) It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted October 19, 2004 Author Share Posted October 19, 2004 Originally posted by fantastic-hound of the Baskervilles: First off, my impression of the first post was that the poster wanted to know about current country music with great players. ...And something I was really hoping for is "songs". While I really appreciate the list of artists and it gives me a starting point, I cannot afford to go buy a bunch of CD's to figure out which songs feature good musicians. Which songs by these artist really stand out? Then I can get on iTunes and build a "Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio and Stage Country Favorites" collection. Then, I can take the songs and artists that I really like and start adding a few of their CD's to my collection. Thanks, Robert This post edited for speling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stranger Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Originally posted by RG203: Junior Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Well, several of us mentioned the Dixie Chicks - Home. You can't go wrong with any of the songs on it. Home Is Where The Heart IsGodspeed (Sweet Dreams)I Believe In Love LandslideLong Time GoneMore LoveTop of the WorldTortured Tangled HeartTravelin' SoldierTruth #2White Trash Wedding Off of Fly I'd suggest you hear Sin Wagon, Ready To Run and [/i]Goodbye Earl[/i] in particular. Keith Urban - check out: Raining On Sunday Love Somebody Like You Clutterbilly (w/ The Ranch) It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Rabid, If I may be so bold and speak for the group that responded with names, it's because there are too many great songs by the players mentioned. On your end, spend some time searching for those named and you'll find numerous samples available and some complete songs available for listen or download. Once you've spent some time, & it'll be fun, finding some of the songs go ahead and make the purchases. What I'm trying to get at is this; Any Emmylou Harris with Albert Lee playing on it is worth having. My taste as to a particular song may not gel with yours once you've heard it. Same with Ricky Scaggs & the rest of them. The songs may not do anything for you but the picking is going to be worth listening to. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flemtone Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Another vote for: Alison Krauss and Union Station (gasp!) Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant (whew!) Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (Ahh, fiddles!) Chet Atkins (we're not worthy!) Anything from the 'Will the Cirlce Be Unbroken' albums (yikes!) Emmylou Harris (ahhhh!) Ricky Skaggs (another 'whew'!) Dixie Chicks (mmm) and don't forget Nickel Creek (YOW! Trust me!) Seriously, check out Nickel Creek. They're just scary-good. -Tim from Jersey Play. Just play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Flemtone: and don't forget Nickel Creek (YOW! Trust me!) Seriously, check out Nickel Creek. They're just scary-good. -Tim from Jersey Y Great players, just never got me off as a group. It's the same with Nickel Creek. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelandre Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 Another vote for Alison Krauss and Union Station, just plain breathtaking musicianship. And indeed, Jerry Douglas is king, no doubt about that. Junior Brown is very cool too. Any CD with the following players ( to just name a few of my favorites: Brent Mason , Clint Strong ( check out his 1993 REH instruction video on Jazz/Western Swing), Mark O'Connor, Paul Franklin, Buddy Emmons, Tom Morrell, Matt Rollings, Eddy Bayers, Kenny Malone, Larry Londin (r.i.p.). Ahh, too many to mention here, really Oops, forgot to mention Vince Gill... steelandre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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