Country music: Dumping ground for dried-up rock artists

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Off the top of my head: Jimmy Buffett, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and John Mellencamp. All have been duetting with country artists. Can the Stones be far behind?

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I would love it if the Stones only did country albums from now on.

― Bumfluff, Monday, 3 January 2005 02:03 (nineteen years ago) link

John Mellencamp

cmon dude. FARM AID.

― Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Jimmy buffet was almost sorta country anyway

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:12 (nineteen years ago) link

"Wild Horses"? "Dead Flowers"?

― What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:15 (nineteen years ago) link

lotsa country fans like them there coral reefers plenty. i dunno, all the people named just like country a lot. makes sense to me. i mean, would you hang out with bosefus for real if you were just posing? you would definitely have to be a fan to hang out with mr.monday nite. he's freaky deaky!

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:17 (nineteen years ago) link

ween!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:20 (nineteen years ago) link

before he died, gg allin was a big country music fan. i don't suppose that it's TOO much of a stretch to see him doing a country album had he lived. (i mean, the drive-by truckers saw one of his shows. and what is david allan coe, if not country music's version of gg allin?)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Does Mark McGrath fall into this category thanks to the Shania duet?

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:25 (nineteen years ago) link

mark mcgrath is more like it if you are playing "opportunity knocks". between that and his extra gig i think we all know what he will do for a buck. how bout that ray charles? what a poseur that guy was.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:33 (nineteen years ago) link

beck!

― chaki in charge (chaki), Monday, 3 January 2005 02:34 (nineteen years ago) link

didn't nelson go country? i just watched glen campbell rip through galveston, awesome.

― keith m (keithmcl), Monday, 3 January 2005 03:30 (nineteen years ago) link

what about nelly?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 3 January 2005 05:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Solo Albums by:

John Doe (X)
Mike Ness (Social Distortion)

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Monday, 3 January 2005 05:38 (nineteen years ago) link

john doe was country from the day X released their first record. same with mike ness.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link

mike ness was country the day x released their first record!!

mommy's little monster wasn't really very country, though the influence def. showed up on prison bound.

― Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Ha, I am out of my league.

(goes back to his Mikkel Metal b-sides)

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm not saying that they're bandwagon-jumping or inauthentic country (I'm sure that you're not gonna see, say, Sting on CMT), but I'm betting their latest songs would not have gone very far if they had released them to rock radio (and with Kid Rock, we actually know this to be true). I'm just saying, if you have a country edge to you, you may have a better chance of getting airplay with a country duet, and it's starting to become a trend.

And come to think of it, there's a new song out by Kenny Chesney about how certain songs evoke certain memories, and the songs he cites are not country songs, but "Jack and Diane" and Steve Miller's "Rock'n Me." Country: more classic rock friendly now. Odd.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:08 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm sure that you're not gonna see, say, Sting on CMT

not unless you're, say, actually watching CMT. his connections to country run long and deep. he's duetted with toby keith (at the CMA awards, no less), he's pals with wynonna judd, and if i clicked past the first page of google hits i'm sure i'd find a lot more!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Country: more classic rock friendly now. Odd.

country and classic rock have been quite friendly for decades, going back to the eagles, lynyrd skynyrd, bob dylan and all that.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:18 (nineteen years ago) link

i wouldnt say "dumping ground" as much as i would say "investment opportunity"

The only two genres of music that consistently "break even" every year for the past ten or so are country and rap. for a rock artist to go "country", whatever that means, is a very wise financial move.

how else can you explain the recent Nelly/Tim McGraw collaboration?

― JD from CDepot, Monday, 3 January 2005 06:19 (nineteen years ago) link

how else can you explain the recent Nelly/Tim McGraw collaboration?

maybe they actually like each other?

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:22 (nineteen years ago) link

suuuure.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:27 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, im sure they travel in the same circles.

or Nelly cries to "dont take the girl".

or Tim McGraw wanted to smoke an L in the back of the Benz with Pimp Juice.

― JD from CDepot, Monday, 3 January 2005 06:28 (nineteen years ago) link

sorry, i forgot that it's ok for people here on ILM to listen to both hip-hop and country but it's not ok for actual musicians to do so. silly me.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:33 (nineteen years ago) link

he's duetted with toby keith (at the CMA awards, no less), he's pals with wynonna judd, and if i clicked past the first page of google hits i'm sure i'd find a lot more!

D'OH. I knew that.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:34 (nineteen years ago) link

(x-post)
and, uh, they DO travel in the same circles. they're pop stars who live on the same red carpets and attend the same hollywood parties, aren't they?

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:36 (nineteen years ago) link

im sorry, i just dont believe that they are freinds. i'll buy that one went up to the other and said "hey ive got this great idea for a collaboration blah blah blah" and the other one saw dollar signs in his eyes so they went in the studio, recorded it, and waited for some money to roll in.

so yeah, maybe they'll send each other diamond encrusted christmas cards every year, but they arent hanging out watching NASCAR or the NBA finals.

― JD from CDepot, Monday, 3 January 2005 06:40 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm not suggesting they're friends. i really don't pay attention to either of their personal lives, though i do know that tim is married to a certain country star who crossed over to the pop charts and vh1 a long time ago. i am suggesting that it's easy to believe that one of them liked the other's music and got in touch and said let's do something together and the other said "yeah, cool." it's also possible some record company suit dreamed it up on a lunch break. but to dismiss the possibility that they listen to each other is crazy. they're both pop stars and they're totally in each other's league.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 3 January 2005 06:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Before I even opened this thread I thought "Yeah I'm gonna say something sarcastic like 'Man, the stones were really washed up when they did Honky Tonk Women in 1969'" BUT people got to that already. SO I'm gonna say this: The Stones already have, so it wouldn't be a "wash up" for them to do it again.

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Monday, 3 January 2005 07:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Jerry Lee Lewis
Waylon Jennings
Ray Charles

Oh wait...

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Monday, 3 January 2005 08:20 (nineteen years ago) link

ok, fair enough. i still fucking hate it.

― JD from CDepot, Monday, 3 January 2005 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link

There is good crossover and bad crossover and there is good fusion (I think) and bad fusion. I force-fed myself some CMT last week and found some stuff I sort of liked. Nevertheless, I tend to agree with this man.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 3 January 2005 17:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I think I like country-music Beck better than woohoo-bloop-bleep-dancin'-white-boy Beck.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 3 January 2005 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Sting did music on the COLD MOUNTAIN SOUNDTRACK with ALISON KRAUSS also.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 3 January 2005 17:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Jimmy buffet was almost sorta country anyway

everyone on the list was. except now country is high-profile enough that it's either safe to make a country move or country moves are more prominent now than they were in the past (and this is hardly the first time for some of these artists)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 3 January 2005 17:53 (nineteen years ago) link

The lead singer of Keel (rembember them? "The Right to Rock" anyone?)

He was on one of those Where Are They Now shows a few years back and was doing the whole "I traded in the glitz and the glam, for this here ol' pick up" routine.

― darin (darin), Monday, 3 January 2005 21:10 (nineteen years ago) link

um, nelly's a pretty noted nascar fan, not sure of mcgraw's take on the nba though (he'd probably be wise to avoid karl malone though).

― blount, Monday, 3 January 2005 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link

nick i liked beck best when he was both at once!

― blount, Monday, 3 January 2005 21:22 (nineteen years ago) link

So the point is that artists that have expressed a pretty solid interest in country have been doing duets with country artists, and that the results are for the most part only popular among their country fans? Seems like pretty common cross-genre behavior. To use the most over-cited pseudo-collaboration ever, I'm pretty sure that when Aerosmith and Run DMC busted through that wall, there were a few fans that stayed on either side.

― mike h. (mike h.), Monday, 3 January 2005 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Kevin Fowler from Dangerous Toys is a country artists now...my friend who's my go to country expert likes him alot.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 3 January 2005 21:28 (nineteen years ago) link

I know this is supposed to be about rock artists but someone's already brought up the Nelly/Tim McGraw collaboration, so I'm going to throw this out: how does Kenny Rogers collaborating with Wyclef fit into the big picture?

― mike h. (mike h.), Monday, 3 January 2005 21:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Didn't Sheryl Crow originally come from a country angle in the first place?

Actually, looking at the artists listed, is there even a point to this thread besides "I hate country music"?

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 3 January 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Could I be any more redundant in my first question?

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 3 January 2005 22:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Kenny Rogers was a rock artist before he was a country artists, so it's not really the same thing....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 3 January 2005 22:28 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't know how to explain country music, but I know it when I see it. And I see some right here.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 3 January 2005 22:29 (nineteen years ago) link

conway twitty was rockabilly, then country, right?

elvis himself went elvis country--after he went ballads, soundtrack tunes, everything else he did.

lots of these guys, like buffett, go for the country audience. but they're don't really play country music, not the same thing at all--in the perfect world no one lives in (which ought to be a country song title).

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 3 January 2005 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Ah fer fuck's sake. Can we get a brief history of rock in here, folks. Jesus. (Over simplified, but still: Two words: Fender Telecaster)

Also where is the required "I don't like modern country, but I like old country" line from the token shithead who can only name two old country artists* when asked what the fuck that means? Cause that's totally my favorite part of any discussion that starts out as a thinly-veiled I Hate Country Rant.

* hint: one of them is Hank Sr, and the other is Johnny Cash

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 3 January 2005 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link

We hashed all that out during the 17 Day Threadbare Dementia on the Where Does Folk End And Country Begin? thread but now it is gone like the good old days, so I'm going back to liking Old School Country* and some of the better alt-Country#, while adding new cost-efficient strategy of watching year-end roundups of CMT to find something to salvage^ while still taking secret potshots at some of the array of behatted fools that I STILL don't like.

*such as George Jones!
#such as Neko Case!
^such as "Suds In The Bucket" or "Girls Lie Too"

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 3 January 2005 23:40 (nineteen years ago) link

um....so how come nobody has mentioned bret michaels yet?

― chuck, Monday, 3 January 2005 23:58 (nineteen years ago) link

and you guys know lionel richie has had country hits before, right?

― chuck, Monday, 3 January 2005 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link

cuz he's not 'dried-up' obv!!!

― blount, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link

chuck, maybe you can explain why both Ray Charles and James Brown have cited Little Jimmy Dickens as an influence. If not, maybe somebody else can.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 00:02 (nineteen years ago) link

What's the take on Bret Michael's BTW? Which is his best country album?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 00:03 (nineteen years ago) link

and you guys saw the toby keith/aerosmith/run dmc collab on cmt this year, right? but i mean, face it, if rock radio didn't turn to utter shit in the past ten years, maybe some of these old farts wouldn't *have* to go country. but hey, country radio is where the drummers are these days, you know? not to mention the songs. not to mention, um, the rock. who rocks harder montgomery gentry or hoobastank? (so what i wanna know is, what the hell's taking tom petty so long???)

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 00:03 (nineteen years ago) link

I have to say I don't mind Toby Keith but DMC embarrassed himself a little on the Superbowl thing or whatever it was. And aren't Tom Petty's bandmembers working on those Tift Merritt records?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 00:09 (nineteen years ago) link

who rocks harder montgomery gentry or hoobastank?

Amen, brother... Assuming that that question is rhetorical and that the answer is what I think it is.

― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 00:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Ken L, where is this 17 Day Threadbare Dementia on the Where Does Folk End And Country Begin?. I must read it.

Also, mentioning Suds in the Bucket makes you the Hero of this Thread.

― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:01 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, my answer is the same as yours, martin, at least judging from the "amen brother: i was about to give you when you wrote this, which i agree with so much it's not funny:

"where is the required "I don't like modern country, but I like old country" line from the token shithead who can only name two old country artists* when asked what the fuck that means? Cause that's totally my favorite part of any discussion that starts out as a thinly-veiled I Hate Country Rant."

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:05 (nineteen years ago) link

here you go martin, and i'll send you more threads you should read in a second:

Where does folk leave off and country begin?

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Holy SHIT is my reaction to You Do Your Thing by Montgomery Gentry

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Thanks... So sad I have been keeping up with neither ILM nor ILE as well as I used to.

― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:09 (nineteen years ago) link

rolling 2004 country thread

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Why I Love Country Music

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:13 (nineteen years ago) link

The all-new contemporary mainstream country thread

― chuck, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link

"...maybe you can explain why both Ray Charles and James Brown have cited Little Jimmy Dickens as an influence."

If I was to guess, I would imagine it was because they heard him many times on the Grand Ole Oprey.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 01:19 (nineteen years ago) link

That's a good answer, thanks. I personally never like his stuff, he always seems like an annoying novelty act.

Also, mentioning Suds in the Bucket makes you the Hero of this Thread.
So my strategy worked?!? I was afraid I was gonna end up the token S-head.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 02:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Donny and Marie to thread.

Cracker's Countrysides is "country" I guess. I just like it is all.

― rat, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 22:50 (nineteen years ago) link

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