My paternal grandparents were both from Eastern European immigrant families (Ukranian and Czech, respectively), lived their whole lives in Pittsburgh, likely never went anywhere further south than West Virginia, and they loved Hee Haw. It was a vibe, for sure.
I've been watching clips and the Catskills comedy influences are unmissable, and Catskills comedy has a lot of Eastern European influence. So your grandparents liking Hee Haw kind of makes sense!
Oh, those old country stars were real as hell. Merle Haggard was in and out of prison, for real crimes, and decided to launch a serious songwriting career after seeing Cash perform at Folsom (where Merle was a prisoner, not some "honored guest").
You feel the authenticity. Now you just feel the industry and America's Got Talent pushing these folks along.
Yeah, Jason Aldean will never be able to write a true life story about his prison buddy on Death Row getting executed.
There is a TON of good country out there, but most of it isn’t programmed hard by terrestrial radio. I listen to the Willie Nelson, Chris Stapleton, Outlaw, and, yes Morgan Wallen channels on Sirius XM and get all the good country I want, including modern artists like Stapleton-saw him live a few weeks ago ( Lainey Wilson opened-not a fan), Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Paul Cauthen, etc.
For contemporary country, I have to recommend John R Miller! He's not famous at all but he has such a warm, unpretentious spirit and an actual poetic sensibility. Check out his songs Summer Lens, Smokestacks on the Skyline, and Dollar Store Tents and see what you think.
Amen. Check out Charley Crockett if you haven't already. Also Robert Earl Keen - I think he tells a story in verse as well as anyone, and he's slower now, but his timing at live shows was extraordinary.
Southerner here - we also thought Hee Haw was stupid and only watched for the music. Buck Owens, when asked why he participated in this famously said “they drove a truckload of money up to my door.” I like this clip of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris about to play a Buck Owens song at a Boston concert in 1973 lament what Buck Owens was doing to his legacy on Hee Haw in the intro. “This is for all of you people that didn’t get turned off by Hee Haw before learning to dig Buck Owens - he was really advanced before he started strapping on that red, white and blue guitar. He was, I really mean it.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Q4VrKxsoo&list=RD95Q4VrKxsoo&start_radio=1
It hasn’t, it just isn’t featured as a lead instrument per se. Most major country artists have a pedal steel in the band. A lot of times a niche genre of music-ska-horns, bluegrass-banjo-is defined by a specific instrument and when a niche band has a breakout from that genre-Billy Strings in bluegrass, ska mid 90s-people like specific songs but then collectively realize they don’t want to listen to horns or banjos constantly. Pedal steel is kind of the same.
I know! When used correctly it is great! I saw Bob Dylan several times live where he had steel player Bucky Baxter in the 1990s and the songs were so good with it. The 90s in general were a great time for steel guitar in the alt-country scene.
Hee Haw is a valuable source for incredible televised live performances of the type that mostly don't exist after that era. Those TV hillbillies wearing overalls and sipping corn liquor from jugs are actually some of the most accomplished Nashville musicians of their day.
My parents and I watched Hee-Haw every week (on our one TV, a massive CRT one in a wooden cabinet with no remote control) and loved it. My dad grew up in rural north Texas and my mom in rural southern Arkansas, although neither were really country music fans. We knew exactly how corny the show was, as did the show itself, but I still remember it fondly. One thing about it you didn’t mention was that it was helmed by two legitimately stellar country musicians, Buck Owens and Roy Clark, who (like the show) weren’t afraid to make fun of themselves.
Even a lot of younger rednecks back in the 60s thought Hank was too much. In The Outsiders Ponyboy made a point of saying Hank was ick, in his opinion, lol.
Meanwhile, Charlie Daniels was playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.
1. If you like substance abuse problems & old country music like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, you'll love them outlaw country boys Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt.
2. My buddy and I come up with shitty obituaries when celebrities die, and Dolly was so beloved that I actually felt bad when I came up with "Country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton has passed away. The combined age of her tits was 160."
3. It is right and normal and good to look back fondly at old-timey entertainment and reflect "That stuff was so much better than what we have now." Some day my children and grandchildren will thank me for introducing them to Kurt Metzger's "White Precious," Louie C.K.'s "Chewed Up," & Aqua Teen Hunger Force, in the same way I thank my father for turning me on to Abbott & Costello & The Marx Brothers.
My paternal grandparents were both from Eastern European immigrant families (Ukranian and Czech, respectively), lived their whole lives in Pittsburgh, likely never went anywhere further south than West Virginia, and they loved Hee Haw. It was a vibe, for sure.
I've been watching clips and the Catskills comedy influences are unmissable, and Catskills comedy has a lot of Eastern European influence. So your grandparents liking Hee Haw kind of makes sense!
Interesting, thx. I always figured it was just trying to feel as 'Murican as possible
Maybe a bit of both.
Oh, those old country stars were real as hell. Merle Haggard was in and out of prison, for real crimes, and decided to launch a serious songwriting career after seeing Cash perform at Folsom (where Merle was a prisoner, not some "honored guest").
You feel the authenticity. Now you just feel the industry and America's Got Talent pushing these folks along.
Yeah, Jason Aldean will never be able to write a true life story about his prison buddy on Death Row getting executed.
There is a TON of good country out there, but most of it isn’t programmed hard by terrestrial radio. I listen to the Willie Nelson, Chris Stapleton, Outlaw, and, yes Morgan Wallen channels on Sirius XM and get all the good country I want, including modern artists like Stapleton-saw him live a few weeks ago ( Lainey Wilson opened-not a fan), Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Paul Cauthen, etc.
Bro country is godawful Nashville pop crap.
I was taken to a Stapleton concert very much against my will, and I enjoyed it immensely. He is talented.
Wallen is a moron and a douchebag, but he has a good voice
Is he the one who did the Isbell song and it caused a whole thing? I can just look that up myself, I suppose.
I think so, but I’m not sure, whatever the the blowup w/ Isbell was
https://youtu.be/tUWzZsqWvBA?is=_IUhlFLVnzBMYElc
This is the song where Wallen truly brings it, talentwise, imo.
Dolly's getting a lot of proverbial ink.
Meanwhile, the unsolved disappearance of Chris Gaines continues to be swept under the rug.
Where are the bodies, Garth?!?!?!
For contemporary country, I have to recommend John R Miller! He's not famous at all but he has such a warm, unpretentious spirit and an actual poetic sensibility. Check out his songs Summer Lens, Smokestacks on the Skyline, and Dollar Store Tents and see what you think.
https://johnrmiller.bandcamp.com/album/heat-comes-down-deluxe
+1
Dolly was such a nice lady and so energetic. I thought she was going to live to be 100.....
Amen. Check out Charley Crockett if you haven't already. Also Robert Earl Keen - I think he tells a story in verse as well as anyone, and he's slower now, but his timing at live shows was extraordinary.
And REK’s college roommate at Texas A&M, Lyle Lovett.
Laurie: That's blows my mind LOL.....
Yes. Love the Front Porch Song.
Southerner here - we also thought Hee Haw was stupid and only watched for the music. Buck Owens, when asked why he participated in this famously said “they drove a truckload of money up to my door.” I like this clip of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris about to play a Buck Owens song at a Boston concert in 1973 lament what Buck Owens was doing to his legacy on Hee Haw in the intro. “This is for all of you people that didn’t get turned off by Hee Haw before learning to dig Buck Owens - he was really advanced before he started strapping on that red, white and blue guitar. He was, I really mean it.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Q4VrKxsoo&list=RD95Q4VrKxsoo&start_radio=1
I will watch this clip out of respect for the honesty of that quote.
And I'm glad I did -- that was really good! I don't understand why the steel guitar has almost entirely disappeared from country music.
It hasn’t, it just isn’t featured as a lead instrument per se. Most major country artists have a pedal steel in the band. A lot of times a niche genre of music-ska-horns, bluegrass-banjo-is defined by a specific instrument and when a niche band has a breakout from that genre-Billy Strings in bluegrass, ska mid 90s-people like specific songs but then collectively realize they don’t want to listen to horns or banjos constantly. Pedal steel is kind of the same.
I know! When used correctly it is great! I saw Bob Dylan several times live where he had steel player Bucky Baxter in the 1990s and the songs were so good with it. The 90s in general were a great time for steel guitar in the alt-country scene.
Hee Haw is a valuable source for incredible televised live performances of the type that mostly don't exist after that era. Those TV hillbillies wearing overalls and sipping corn liquor from jugs are actually some of the most accomplished Nashville musicians of their day.
Cern: The music was pretty good!
My parents and I watched Hee-Haw every week (on our one TV, a massive CRT one in a wooden cabinet with no remote control) and loved it. My dad grew up in rural north Texas and my mom in rural southern Arkansas, although neither were really country music fans. We knew exactly how corny the show was, as did the show itself, but I still remember it fondly. One thing about it you didn’t mention was that it was helmed by two legitimately stellar country musicians, Buck Owens and Roy Clark, who (like the show) weren’t afraid to make fun of themselves.
Oh man, thanks to an old HBO special, I fell into Hank Williams fandom hard. Such good music.....
Even a lot of younger rednecks back in the 60s thought Hank was too much. In The Outsiders Ponyboy made a point of saying Hank was ick, in his opinion, lol.
Meanwhile, Charlie Daniels was playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.
Hank Williams influence is all over country music. Even if someone has never listened to a Hank Williams, they’ve probably heard his songs.
Meanwhile, Tim Curry, also age 80, died the same day. Nice bookends.....
I wonder what would happen to Jeff’s opinion of country music if he went on a road trip and listened to “Trace” by Son Volt.
ok but have you heard Brad Paisley's "The Cigar Song"
1. If you like substance abuse problems & old country music like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, you'll love them outlaw country boys Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt.
2. My buddy and I come up with shitty obituaries when celebrities die, and Dolly was so beloved that I actually felt bad when I came up with "Country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton has passed away. The combined age of her tits was 160."
3. It is right and normal and good to look back fondly at old-timey entertainment and reflect "That stuff was so much better than what we have now." Some day my children and grandchildren will thank me for introducing them to Kurt Metzger's "White Precious," Louie C.K.'s "Chewed Up," & Aqua Teen Hunger Force, in the same way I thank my father for turning me on to Abbott & Costello & The Marx Brothers.
Recently they turned Hee-Haw into a Broadway musical called "Shucked" and it was a massive hit.
God, I hated "Shucked".
I loved it! But I think that's b/c I knew going in it what to expect.
Here is the actual "perfect country and western song" (listen to the last verse for the actual perfection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkKn5HrKgHQ
Authenticity matters in art.