The Official Country Music Thread Genre • Page 10

Also, it's been awhile since I've listened to them, but I feel like Old Crow Medicine Show should get more love.

 

Pardon my ignorance here, but how does Penny & Sparrow, Lord Huron, Horse Feathers, Josh Ritter, etc fit into the genre? Or are they strictly folk?

 

I started a folk and americana thread a few days ago for music that might fit more into that genre, but folk and country tend to blend into and borrow from each other so often that I feel like it doesn't have to be one or the other.

 

Old 97s county fair was great. It was awesome to see Drive By Truckers for the first time. Nikki Lane was really good, not sure if anyone here has listened to her but I like her. Justin Townes Earl was good. Lucero kinda blew me away despite me not being a huge fan beforehand. And Old 97s continue to be my favorite band and fantastic live.

 

Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth (2016) • forum.chorus.fm
Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth • chorus.fm

I don't think any of those really fit into country, though Josh Ritter has definitely leaned toward country more than the others. I'd definitely classify Penny & Sparrow as folk. It's sometimes hard to figure out where the border is between folk and Americana and Americana and country.

 

I would definitely consider folk and americana music under the umbrella of country. Folk is country just like punk is rock and rap is hip-hop.

 

I am incredibly jealous of you. I wish they would take this thing on the road. I'd drive as far as 6 hours for this, maybe further.

 

Too Far to Care and Wreck Your Life are their classic alt-country albums. Satellite Rides is a power-pop album that's a little different from their typical style but is their best album. Fight Songs sort of bridges the gap between those styles, which is why I usually start people with that album. It's like power-pop/alt-country that's very accessible and likable but you can still get better from there if you like it.

 

I would say country is under the umbrella of folk and not the other way around. But yeah, the lines are pretty blurred and there's not much point in worrying about what belongs in which genre.

 

same, especially for Lucero. I want to see them live so bad

 

Saw a band called The Soorley's on Audiotree and they were pretty quircky to watch, but their recorded sound falls right in line with that folksy-country-Appalachian vibe...with just a couple EP's I look forward to a full length.

 

You could probably nitpick this album to death, but I find "Angeleno" to be hugely enjoyable. I went back to it this weekend and I've been listening to it nonstop since.

 

I look at it as folk, Americana, singer/songwriter being under the Country umbrella the same as Punk, Metal, Grunge being under the Rock and Roll label...either way, there's good quality tunes and bad quality tunes regardless of genre. Nice having options for different moods though!

 

I don't think you can put folk under the country umbrella, for two reasons:

1) Folk music is way older than country music.
2) Country music is a predominantly American art form and has clearer sonic boundaries. Folk is global and can have lots of different definitions/sounds depending on the part of the world you're talking about.

I would put country, Americana, and singer/songwriter under the umbrella of folk, though. Country music is definitely a very American form of folk music.

 

Good way to put it...if I ever mention liking 'Country' I feel the need to explain, so not to be thought of as a Luke Bryan fan...haha.

 

I think its a very promising debut and also really enjoy it, even though I find that there isn't really anything that stands out about it. He is just very good at what he does. I do however think that Sam Outlaw could easily be one of the next big break out stars in the genre.

 

But all folk music can be country music. Even the folkiest of folk music (Guthrie, Dylan, Seeger, Mitchell) has elements of country. There's tons of country music that has zero elements of folk music (the aforementioned Luke Bryan, Toby Keith, Taylor Swift). It shouldn't matter which came first, as one is more all-encompassing.

 

Look beyond the boundaries of the United States. Folk is absolutely the more all encompassing term on a global scale.

Also, Taylor Swift's Red has a ton of elements of folk music. More than it does country. And plenty of country purists would argue that Luke Bryan and his ilk aren't even country anyway. They're pop artists.

 

I'm not saying country is bigger, I'm saying it's more all-encompassing. There's a wider range of things that fit inside it.

 

How is that different than saying it's bigger? If a wider range of things fit into it, it would by definition be bigger. I am saying that, globally, countless artists and genres and musical traditions fit into the broader folk music tradition, to the point where there isn't even really an agreed upon definition of what folk music means. Country music is by and large centered in the United States and can be defined in much clearer, narrower terms.

 

Because all-encompassing and big don't mean the same thing. If you have 3 cards in your hand, a 2, a 5, and a king, while I have ten cards in my hand with the lowest being a 3 and the highest being a 5, yours has a wider range and mine is bigger.

Obviously this isn't something necessarily worth arguing about (although I don't mind that either), but the only reason I would argue it is because I think artists like Josh Ritter, Darlingside, Paul Simon etc. should be discussed in this thread.

 

I typed to hype it a bit in the AP thread so I'll try again here...

Daniel Romano put out a sweet ass album last year and has another due next month. One of Canada's secret treasures if you ask me.

Spent a lot of time as a backing musician for city and colour and was in Attack in Black back in the day.

Spencer Burton also put out a beautiful countryish album not too long ago. Voice of an angel that guy.

 

Daniel Romano is great.

 

Loved his album from last year. Not a huge fan of the song he released from the new album he has due out next month.

 

Yeah, hopefully it's not indicative of how the album at large will sound.