Sturgeon’s Law holds that 90% of everything is crud, and that’s as true for country music as for anything else. As a user of the Pandora custom radio service, I’ve been able to craft a country, western and bluegrass station over the past year that consists almost entirely of music that’s not crap. Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bob Wills, Wing Wilkie, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Webb Pierce, Ernest Tubb, Jim Reeves, and Willie Nelson have all popped up in the past day. If that sounds like your kind of music, give my country mix a listen. (See also “Quality Christmas songs for your listening pleasure.”)
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Pandora, cleverly, tells you why it thinks you’ll like a given song. The reasons that have been cited on a few songs that I’ve played this morning include bluegrass instrumentation, folk influences, a subtle use of vocal harmony, acoustic sonority and major key tonality, extensive vamping, a prominent banjo part, country roots, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, and slide/pedal steel guitars.
I don’t even know what a few of those are. But apparently I like them. :)
I’d been trying to craft the perfect old school country station myself with limited success. I’ll have to check this one out later on, tho.
Good stuff, Waldo!
Sounds great!
Did you put Boarder Lord on there? If not you should. Love that album.
*Border Lord*
I’m tired.
http://www.kcsn.org (“Arts and Roots Radio” Northridge CA) streaming live on the web, on Saturdays has a really exceptional country music show from 1pm to 5pm East Coast time. It’s non-profit public radio like WTJU (only better). Of course you have to be near your computer to hear it. But if you’re inside during that time it’s worth it to tune in, turn the volume up, and give it a listen.