Country & Western Appreciation

[The Celtic Batman]

The Secret Sisters sing House of Gold live:

[seismic-2]

Chet Atkins (1924 - 2001) was an enormously influential figure in Country Music, both as a performer and as a record producer. His guitar style helped define the polished studio sound of contemporary Country music (as it came out of Nashville, at least), and he helped spread its popularity into the pop music market. An enormous number of Country, pop, and jazz guitarists count Atkins as a huge influence in their learning their instrument. As a record producer, he arranged and mixed tracks for practically all artists performing on the RCA label, and he won 14 Grammies during his career. Here he is, performing a Country standard, "The Wabash Cannonball".

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Back at #35 we had a song by the second generation of the Carter Family, namely "Mother Maybelle" Carter and her daughters June, Helen, and Anita. Oldest and lanky sister June was always the clown of the act, performing goofy comedy routines and cornball jokes with the other singers on the show, but Helen and Anita sang beautifully together, so they should not be overlooked. Here Helen and Anita do the vocals and Chet Atkins plays a great accompaniment on a 1949 recording of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain".

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And here's Anita Carter in a short duet with Hank Williams, "I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love with You". A wonderful clip, IMHO.

[ed2962]

I think I mentioned in a previous post, my mom used to be a big fan of 70's John Denver



This performance is of course from the 90's

[ed2962]

I was actually looking for the more famous Kenny Rogers solo version ( at least more famous to me), but I ran across this performance. Kenny and his earlier band First Edition.

[ed2962]

Or in other words, "Don't bring yer ho' ass around here no more...bitch!"

[ed2962]

More Loretta, this song is totally punk rock. Wendy O Williams and Lemmy from Motorhead did a cover of Stand By Your Man, but this is the song they should've done.

[ed2962]

I remember the days when Charlie Daniels easily crossed over into the pop charts. This was one of his more poignant songs.

[ed2962]

More Patsy!

[ed2962]

More Mavericks



Rickenbacker guitars!

[ed2962]

Those probably equally counts as classic rock, but the country roots are undeniable

[WillieMorgan]

Classic Skynyrd. Counts more as rock in my book but, like you say, it's roots are unmistakeable. Hope that this hasn't already been posted:



Emmylou Harris goes all bluegrass.

[seismic-2]

Roy Claxton Acuff (1903-1992) was commonly referred to as "The King of Country Music", not only on account of his enormous popularity as a concert attraction but also on account of his influence in establishing country music as a business. In addition to performing onstage he would organize shows and promote concerts, and he was essentially the single person most strongly associated with the Grand Ole Opry, as its "face" (sort of the Stan Lee of country music, if you will). In particular, he and Nashville songwriter Fred Rose ran the Acuff-Rose Music company that owned the rights to an incredible number of hit songs on the country charts for decades. (Just see how many records have "Acuff-Rose" on the label!) It should be noted that he was the first performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame while still living. Here he is as a performer in 1940, singing his signature tune "The Wabash Cannonball" (an instrumental version of which, by Chet Atkins, has already been posted):

[seismic-2]

Since we've had 2 versions of Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain posted already (Willie Nelson's hit version from 1975 and a duet with the Carter Sisters and Chet Atkins from 1948), let's now have the original recording, from 1945. The song was written by Roy Acuff's music publishing partner, Fred Rose, and Acuff himself had the first version.