Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!

[Mr.Anon.E.Mouse]

So it turns out that the older I get the more I enjoy country music. Yeah, huh? I'm wondering the same thing. "How could a guy go from listening to Throbbing Gristle to Ernest Tubbs?!" I love this stuff! Give me some Paul Burch or some Lambchop or even some Calexico and I'm one content compadre. Bill Monroe's encuraged me to pick up the mandolin and I find myself wearing gaudy belt buckles! Should I be concerned or should I just roll with it and appreciate the fact that Lone Star beer is cheaper than Guinness?

Can ya feel me? ANYONE?!

[lookout123]

get out. now.

or at least see a physician. this is obviously an illness - it may be cureable.

Don't listen to Lookout. He's just been grumpy for some reason lately. Take a look at this thread

[be-bop]

Mr mouse is proof that "Drugs don't work"
Have you ever watched the Country Channel on Cable Jeez scary stuff.
The best quote about country music was from Billy Connolly
"I was the man who put the C*nt into Country music I'm nearly 50 and there is no way i'd would listin to most of that shit.........

[Trilby]

Ah, some of it's real dang good, be-bop! And what the hell does a Brit know 'bout Cuntry Music, no-how? Ya'll don't got the Appalachian folk what make real cuntry music. However, I have been told that all those damn hillbillys in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. are Scotch-Irish descendants

[Mr.Anon.E.Mouse]

Originally Posted by be-bop

Mr mouse is proof that "Drugs don't work"
Have you ever watched the Country Channel on Cable Jeez scary stuff.
The best quote about country music was from Billy Connolly
"I was the man who put the C*nt into Country music I'm nearly 50 and there is no way i'd would listin to most of that shit.........

I wouldn't call the pap played on TV music at all, but, man, people like Iris Dement or The palace Brothers, now that's cool music!

Beleive me when I tell you I'm befuddled by all of this, too. I've always been a complete snob, music-wise, and I never EVER thought I'd like this twangy stuff, but I do, I DO!

[be-bop]

I hear what you are saying about the Scottish-Irish bit.
It's the Irish bit that's the problem.
the tattie munching micks think Daniel O'Donnell can sing

[Mr.Anon.E.Mouse]

Originally Posted by be-bop

I hear what you are saying about the Scottish-Irish bit.
It's the Irish bit that's the problem.
the tattie munching micks think Daniel O'Donnell can sing

Whu...?

[be-bop]

Sorry you're on the wrong side of the pond.
believe me the guy is scary http://www.irishcountrymusic.com/daniel.htm

[Trilby]

EeGads, be-bop! Yikes! The guy is indeed a Halloween kind of...horror. But, ya know, the micks are okay! As a matter of fact, my daddy's people got to Scotland but ONLY because they were kicked out of Ireland! (I wonder what one does to get kicked out of Ireland? Seems impossible, doesn't it?)

[Urbane Guerrilla]

You want to grok country in its fullness? Sink your roots deep into Scots-Irish traditional folk. Easiest thing to find is the connection between "Bard of Armagh" and "Streets of Laredo." Next thing is travel through Tennessee end to end; country didn't make sense to me until I road-tripped across the state. Then I kinda got it.

I've since wandered off into a different branch -- the music of the great Highland pipes. There is a bunch of pipe music that would sound well, wrung through an electric or even slide guitar.

[richlevy]

I find myself agreeing with UG on this . Bluegrass is steeped in traditional English and Scottish music. If I remember correctly, there is even some kind of link between the (dulcimer? banjo?) and bagpipes.

From here

Although it is an instrument of recent origin, the unique strumstick invented by Bob McNally, (co-inventor of the Martin "Backpacker" travel guitar) is based on the tuning of the Appalachian dulcimer (also called mountain dulcimer), another centuries-old traditional instrument used for performing old timey music. The mountain dulcimer is tuned diatonically; that is, it favors one particular key, usually the key of D, and usually has just 4 strings tuned D-A-D, with irregular-spaced frets. The dulcimer is normally played lying flat on a person's lap or on a table, strummed with a "noter" (a goosequill or flat pick); usually only the paired high strings are fretted, while the lower 2 strings act as drones (said by early Scots-Irish settlers to be reminiscent of bagpipes);

From here

The banjo is an instrument that many people on this list have declared as
having a unique character due to its 5 string drone, which puts it in the
catagory of instruments like bagpipes, strummed dulcimers, hurdy gurdies,

[Mr.Anon.E.Mouse]

Not denying the corelation between bluegrass/Appalachian folk music/Irish folk music, not here. I've been a huge fan of irish music for quite a long time, and have quite a collection of it, but, returning to the point, I'm really digging what seems to have been labeled 'alt.country' and the like. And I'd rather listen to a bunch of Irish musicians than to a cranky Scotch sheep shagger any day.

Originally Posted by Brianna

However, I have been told that all those damn hillbillys in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. are Scotch-Irish descendants

We are indeed, and don't forget Welsh. We Appalachian folk are mostly descended from indentured servants and undersirables that the Brits wished to be done with before Australia was invented. Mountain music has strong roots in Scottish and Irish folk music of old, and many traditional songs were actually preserved in a purer form than they were in the Old Country. I came to C/W via my Grandmother's singing of traditional ballads and hymns from the Southern Mountains and graduated to Blue Grass early on. Doc Watson and Vasser Clements! The Country Station on cable makes me break out in hives. Turn the channel to Austin City Limits. You can often catch some fine picking and grinning on that show.

[Mr.Anon.E.Mouse]

The Country station, is that CMT? Oh, man, that station sucks balls, mostly, though I did see a good show about Willie Nelson, one of my long-time heroes, even since before I liked C/W.