Dale Watson is so sickened by the state of country music today, he’s gone so far as to say he no longer calls his music country, coming up with the moniker of Ameripolitan. "It would be more accurate to leave country out of it," Watson said in the The Exponent, Purdue University's campus newspaper. "They own it now, and you can't change it. They've stolen country. To me, it automatically means crap." Well Watson can call his style whatever he wants, to those of us who know any better, it's country - real county.
Watson’s been at the gig as long as Hancock, releasing Cheatin’ Heart Attack in 1995. Watson’s blood runs Texas Lone Star blue - born in Alabama but moving to Texas at a young age. His music is a direct descendant of that lineage. Think Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and other artist who left Nashville in the early/mid-1970s and invented the “Texas Sound.”
This all seems like it’s coming full circle doesn’t it? Start with 1998s The Truckin Sessions and from there grab up Dreamland. Watson has a new release set for April of this year full of songs he recorded while spending some time at the cabin that once belonged to Johnny Cash, I can’t wait for that one to come out.
Real country music's always been about the hard life - your women left you, you drank too much and it’s time to catch that rolling freight train and get the hell out of dodge for awhile. Now I ask you, what the hell does Toby Keith know about any of that? Hard to talk it, when you’ve never walked it. J.B. Beverley has walked it and his songs do the talking.
Full disclosure here, I’m one-third owner of the record label that put out Beverley’s latest release, so I am, of course, biased. I’ll put it like this, if I didn’t think Beverley is the real deal, I’d have never agreed to release his first album.
If I were to try and draw a parallel between artists of yesterday and artists of today, I would say Beverley is closet in ilk to Jimmie Rodgers. Beverley spent time hopping trains and viewing the American landscape from the open door of a boxcar. His music is the music of real people, of real living and real heartache and pain. To hell with this crap of “Whiskey for My Men, Beer for My Horses” saddle up to “Drinkin Bourbon.” If you can find a copy of American Highball, get it, as it showcases Beverley and his band, The Wayward Drifters, at their best – live. In lieu of that, grab a copy of Dark Bar and A Jukebox. In addition to the Nashville barn-burning title track, the album is from start to finish what real country music is all about.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Daniel Woolstencroft
Damn you Cossel! Now I have to order every one of those and have them shipped to the UK!
Great write-up, and I look forward to trying out your suggestions. Cheers!
2 - Benjamin Cossel
Oh man, that's just the tip of the iceburg. From there you can dig into the likes of William Elliot Whitmore, Scott Biram, the .357 String Band and on and on.
3 - leftyaxe
Great article, Ben!
You hit the nail right on the head!
There are a lot of great acts that put "mainstream country" to shame, you mention the cream of the crop, though!
4 - Jean
You obviously don't know a thing about Toby Keith. Why don't you check things out before you right about them. Toby got out of high school and worked with his dad in the oil fields. He was married with a baby and when it closed they lost everything. He tried semi pro football and then ended up going into music and had to work his ass off more than any of the other singers because he wasn't a copy cat like the rest of them, cookie cutter molds because they are afraid to do anything on their own. Toby has been through a lot more than most of them and is still out there and will be for a long time. Don't say anything about anyone unless you know the facts.
5 - Benjamin Cossel
Let's just for a second assume I don't know anything about Toby and say that everything you just said is true. That only makes it worse, cause then he's a sell-out caring more about style over substance, pop crap over true music.
6 - Jean
No it's a man that isn't like anyone else. One that knows what his fans like. He's not a sell out he takes chances, he's not afraid to try something knew. He doesn't want to be like everyone else. He is more country than any of the other ones are, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, they are all played on all radio stations, Toby isn't. I'm sick of everytime you hear some of them sing it's the same old crap. He is far from pop, those mentioned above are pop. Drinkin', cheatin', broken heart's that's country.
7 - gomer
you didnt mention Leeann Womack who gave the world an outstanding COUNTRY album last year...."There's More Where That Came From"
8 - Vern Halen
So, where does alt country or country rock fall into this? I think of a group like Jason & the Scorchers, who don't sound country in one sense, but I'd listen to them over 90% of the Nashville crew any day. And Marty Stuart - his last couple of releases weren't aimed at the modern country audience at all - a concept album about the Lakota and a traditonal bluegrass live recording.
Yeah, mainstream country - no better than mainstream rock after all.
9 - Big Al from Texas
Great article Benjamin. You hit it right on the head. Today's country is crap and sounds all the same to me. Thank God Loretta, Ray Price, Mel Tillis, Charlie Pride, Jones and a few of the others are still out there turning out what we all know is real country music. Don't miss them in concert if they come to your area. Country musice is dieing fast.
10 - leftyaxe
Some great acts are Splitlip Rayfield, The Weary Boys, Scott H Biram, Big Sandy And The Fly Rite Boys, Joe Buck, Those Poor Bastards.
(The last two are kinda hard to define, but great nonetheless.)
11 - Matt
Good article. There isn't much good country on radio or anywhere else that can be heard when not standing right in the front row at a concert anymore.
Yes there are lots of great new and current artists and bands doing great country music these days (country music, not pop), but let's not forget all the great country music from past days.
Living where I do we don't get many of these artists/bands that play good country music, so I started up an online radio station, 10 Gallon Radio I'm just trying to spread the word musically about what REAL country music is.
12 - Temple Stark
Ding ding ding.
Don't forget the fake accents. I always say I hate country .. except for Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Haggard ...
13 - Glen Boyd
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Now go vote!
-Glen
14 - Charlie Frederick Music Enterprises-Ebay
Good article! To understand country music you must have lived it and understand life. Too many current artists are merely faking it! Hank Williams Sr., Cash, Haggard, Jones and a few others are real! On the female side, Patsy Cline, Lynn, Parton, Wynette and a few others are also real! Great artists and great music stands the test of time. Where will the newbies stand in 50 years? This is the real test! I have lived long enough to actually witness this truth.
15 - Benjamin Cossel
Jean, You like Toby. OK Cool. Whatever. I don't and I don't think he's real country. Ok cool, whatever.
16 - Todd
Nice read Ben. Everything you said was true. These guys aren't alternative country, they are real country, not 80's pop music with a fiddle thrown in here and there. I'm glad I discovered JB Beverley, III, etc. They are the hank Sr.'s and Marty Robbins' of the modern day.
17 - Connie Phillips
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18 - Repohellbilly
Keep Country Music Real and buy the albums in the article!!! Hank III , Wayne Hancock,JB Beverley & The Wayward Drifters & Dale Watson are the REAL DEAL!!! Thanks Ben for helping get the word out about REAL COUNTRY MUSIC!!!
19 - Jon Sobel
Good article! I wonder why you didn't mention the term "Americana," though - it's a pretty vague "genre," but it's where a great many of the "real" country artists are hanging their hats these days, both old-timers and new acts. Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams, Hayes Carll, Patty Griffin, Darrell Scott, Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shooter Jennings, the list goes on and on...
20 - Benjamin Cossel
Hi Jon,
Great point, I cause I didn't label it Americana because it just seems wrong to have to classify the type of music made by the above listed artists, which is in the same vein as Hank Sr, Johnny Cash and others, as anything but real country. In my humble opinion, it's today's country music that needs the relabeling as it's certainly not country.
21 - SFC SKI
Great articles, I'll be looking for a few of these bands.
When in Nashville, go to Third and Lindley (sp?) to see Webb Wilder, he's real country, real rock, and real, real gone.
22 - Alan
Check out Joey Allcorn or Those Poor Bastards
23 - misfit138
Great article Ben.! I grew up on real country music and then the Garth Brooks era hit and has since turned into complete garbage and I stopped listening to it. Thankfully guys like Shelton, Wayne and JB came along and restored my faith in country music. I get so tired of these artists singing songs they know nothing about while wearing their damn flip flops. We have a local band here called Whitey Morgan that sticks to the country roots and is damn proud to say they play real country music. One of their songs is called "if it Ain't broke".. you should give it a listen sometime.
24 - Sal
Nice article, Ben. I, for one, cannot turn on country radio anymore because it immediately makes me nauseous. The crap they call "country music" these days is disgusting. If somebody in Nashville would be so wise as to bring real country back, he would be called an innovator and a genius. That's how far gone those people are!
Seems to me that ever since Garth Brooks hit the scene way back when, it's been downhill all the way. I would rather listen to Barry Manilow than that crap they play over the country airwaves these days. Seriously!!
25 - Benjamin Cossel
Well, ok but there's only so much Copacabana I can take before loosing my entire biscuit.