The Official Country Music Thread Genre • Page 13

I'm a fan. Check out their album Arrow, it is their best in my opinion. If you like that one you would probably like their other stuff too, their sound hasn't changed much from album to album.

 

Wow, this song just knocked me on my ass. Reminds me so much of Springsteen it's insane.

 

Been listening to Smooth Hound Smith. They're pretty good. Kinda Shovels & Ropesy in some spots but different in many others.

 

I've shared this a bunch of places, but figured I'd drop it in here too: stellar debut from Oklahoma country artist Jared Deck. Sounds a bit like American Aquarium crossed with Bringing Down the Horse era Wallflowers. I'm a big fan.

Full album stream here: ALBUM PREMIERE: Oklahoma's Jared Deck Shines A Light On "Midamericana" With Self-Titled Debut LP - Glide Magazine

 

You may be becoming my #1 source for non-mainstream country right now haha.

 

That's what I'm here for! Literally.

 

Haha well it is greatly appreciated! Any specific sites you'd recommend following? I think American Songwriter is one I need to check out more in general.

 

American Songwriter is great. Not as active as I would like during the year, though their year-end list is always a treasure trove of great stuff. Saving Country Music has some good recs from time to time, though that guy is a bit too much of a country music "snob" for my taste.

A lot of what I've been discovering lately has come from Rolling Stone Country, though, which is a suprisingly great source for sort of under-the-radar artists. Four to six times a year they do these "10 Artists You Need to Know" lists mostly made up of up-and-comers. A lot of times, the artists on those lists don't even have albums out yet and have just released singles or EPs, so it's a good way to "get in on the ground floor," so to speak. That's where I found Ryan Beaver and Jared Deck and Logan Brill and a ton of other artists who dominated my EOTY list last year and probably will again this year.

 

Oh nice. Sounds like I can skip on Saving Country Music, though, haha. In my RSS reader I think I just have the general Rolling Stone news posts so maybe I'm missing those. They do post a lot so it could also be that. Thanks!

 

RS Country is basically its own sub-publication at this point. Different look, different writers, different home page, everything.

http://www.rollingstone.com/country

 

Perfect. Will definitely be checking that out this week.

 

Saving Country Music is a good site. What Craig means(I think) is that the editor and majority of readers are very much country traditionalists. They cover a good amount of Americana, but their focus is on what I consider country music, which is traditional sounding country. They also bash pop country non stop, which I have no issue with.

I know things blend together but I consider a lot of what is labelled as Americana very different from country music.

 

I check it for discovering artists, but I don't like reading most of the reviews and I hate reading the comments. I've never seen so many people who get so completely hung up on genre in my life. I wouldn't recommend the site to the average casual country fan, because it's honestly a pretty alienating atmosphere.

 

Ah gotcha. I'll give it a look.

 

I really enjoyed this.

 

After hearing this song, I went back and checked out his EP from last year, called Lo-Fi. I don't think it reaches quite the same heights, but it's a great set of songs. Definitely recommend it.

 

Also I saw you mentioned american aquarium and it reminded me I saw this earlier today.

 

Yeah I agree the comments can be very closed minded. The site has its flaws but it does cover a lot of deserving artists, so it's great in that regard.

 

Yeah, I mean, I'll listen to most of what he reviews or ranks on his EOTY lists, but my favorites rarely line up with his, and it's mostly because I'm way less concerned with that "is" or "isn't country." Like, he gave that Cactus Blossoms album a 9/10, and it's perfectly pleasant, but extremely derivative. And then he penalized Sturgill and gave the record an 8/10 because it wasn't country enough. I don't like that disconnect.

I also wish he'd spend less time talking about artists he doesn't like. You can cover great unheralded artists without spending more than half your posts shitting on mainstream artists. A pan is fun to read every now and then, but I think it's too much of a focus on that particular website.

 

Very cool, I'll keep an eye out for this.

 

Guy Clark passed away this morning.

 

That's horrible news. He is one of the all time great songwriters. I hate I never got a chance to see him live.

 

Haven't ever spent as much time with his stuff as I should, but I like everything I've heard. Was My Favorite Picture of You his last record? That one is pretty special.

 

Yeah that was his last one. I love the title track and the story behind it, one of my favorite Clark songs for sure. Idk what albums of his you have heard but Old No. 1 is pretty much a classic. I also love Cold Dog Soup and The Dark.

 

Bummer. I had only just started to get into him. Old No. 1 is fucking incredible