On Fri, 5 Feb 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> OK, I know we've been over this before, but it hasn't sunk in yet. (I'm
> a hard headed Italian, if ya haven't guessed yet). What's so "hard"
> about any of this? I was never really a fan of Twitty (though seeing
> Dale Watson perform some of his songs made me appreciate him more.) and
> I can't say I'm overly familiar with the other two, though I know their
> names, so you may be right. Can you explain? Obviously adding the word
> hard to country is not like adding it to rock. <g>
It's "hard country" because non-country types like you don't like it.<g>
I'm feelin' lazy today, so here's the definition I gave the last time this
subject came up, way back in December '97:
Hard country isn't exactly synonymous with traditional country.
Traditional country is a more all-encompassing term that may include a
number of well, traditional country styles -- honky tonk, western swing,
old-timey, etc. For example, Uncle Dave Macon could rightly be considered
to be a traditional country artist, but he is not what most folks consider
to be hard country. Now some may quibble with the definition of hard
country that I'm about to give (I'm sure they'll be an objection or two
from Northern Kentucky<g>), but I'm fairly confident most folks would go
along with it.
Hard country music arguably reached its peak in the period of time from
the late 60s to mid 70s. Generally, hard country artists used a
stripped-down honky-tonk sound that often included fiddle, and almost
always pedal steel. Hard country emphasizes slower tempos, and is
generally absent of any kind of rock influences. Typical hard country
artists of that time would include Mel Street, Moe Bandy, Johnny Bush,
Tony Booth, Conway Twitty, and Cal Smith. Even though his heyday was the
mid 70s to early 80s, Gene Watson would have to be considered one of the
ultimate hard country artists. Lyrically, hard country artists emphasized
the downside of love, along with venerable honky tonk subjects such as
drinking and cheating. No doubt Northern Kentucky could plausibly argue
for a more open and generous definition of hard country, but I'm more
interested in defining the music's core values.
You could say my definition of hard country simply means it was the
honky tonk music of its day, but that's not quite right (even though the
two terms are roughly synonymous). Whereas honky tonk may include the
occasional roaring song or novelty tune, hard country rarely gets to be
boisterous. Shuffles and ballads heavy on the fiddle 'n steel with lyrics
expressing a gritty, realistic portrayal of love's travails -- that's hard
country music. I suppose you could say hard country goes all the way back
to the very beginnings of honky tonk, when folks such as Ted Daffan and
Floyd Tillman wrote bleak songs of unrequited love like "Born To Lose" and
"It Makes No Difference Now." Still, the hard country sound didn't truly
come to fruition until a coupla decades later.
I'd trace hard country's beginnings back to the mid-to-late 50s, when Ray
Price shuffles like "Crazy Arms" and "Invitation To The Blues" and early
George Jones ballads like "Color Of The Blues" and "Just One More" really
defined hard country's sound and bleak lyrical outlook. Singers like
Bush, Booth and Darrell McCall were heavily influenced by Price, and they
carried his sound into the 70s and beyond. Not everything Jones has
recorded would be considered to be hard country, but the bulk of it is.
And the same goes for Haggard. Not necessarily his tribute albums to
Wills and Rodgers, but definitely songs like "It's Not Love (But It's Not
Bad)," "The Emptiest Arms In The World" and "Holding Things Together."
When new singers talk about their admiration for Jones and Haggard,
they're paying obeisance to hard country. And those fabled Johnny
Paycheck Little Darlin' recordings from the mid to late 60s are definitely
hardcore hard country.
While hard country generally has a basic barroom sound, it can easily
incorporate strings -- many of Jones's 70s and early 80s recordings with
Billy Sherrill are hard country at its best. As for the alternative
country artists of today, Dale Watson is probably the best example of a
hard country artist. Alan Jackson has perhaps had the most success with
hard country in the 90s mainstream.
As you can see from the list of artists above, hard country is
predominantly male (but not necessarily so). The ideal listening
environment for hard country is while sitting alone in a bar (preferably
smoky and dimly lit), or, second-best, alone somewhere else.<g>--don
n.p. Mel Street - Smokey Mountain Memories
