The Final Bow

She’s lost her voice now, and Tim McGraw is better between the two. But I don’t think 1990s/early 2000s Faith Hill is anything to scuff at. She absolutely CRUSHED that national anthem in the Superbowl that one year.


Martina McBride though was the woman of that era in the genre who could sing with angles. The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks could really belt it too

 

To each their own. Although I don’t know how anyone who likes country music would not like artists like Alan Jackson and Vince Gill. People like those two were/are simply pure talent with substance. Like Vince Gill can low key work a guitar as good as anyone

 

I didn’t like country music at all back then and I think a lot of it had a cheesiness to it, and when I hear it now it still brings up the same defense mechanism.

 

It was the era right after Toby Keith’s prime of people like Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley and Luke Bryan giving us “bro” pop music instead that truly ushered in the downfall of “Nashville” country.

 

And let’s be real, the dawning of Taylor Swift didn’t exactly help the cause for restoring good country music to the Nashville scene. It’s like Los Angeles has influenced “Nashville” country for 15/20 years now

 

I liked Paisley's earlier stuff and wouldn't put him in the same boat as the others. He's a legit guitar guy who would be the talent you never heard of behind the designer jeans and cowboy hat at the front of the stage if he was uglier and couldn't sing. The other two are more packaged Nashville pop. I can probably name two Blake Shelton songs, but I'd come up blank on Luke Bryan.

 

Hate to hear it about Keith. I was never what you'd call a huge fan, but he had a few great songs and some good ones.

 

True, fwiw of the aforementioned he’s definitely number one. And I’ve actually seen Paisley live on sets multiple times over the years and he can truthfully play a mean guitar and has a few decent songs. Stuff like Whiskey Lullaby with Allison Kraus and When I Get Where I’m Going w/Dolly was elite stuff.

But man, Paisely did a lot of putridly cringey and shitastically awful music too. Ever since I was a teenager his overall charisma/act just never settled in well with me or something

 

He fell into the Nashville pop trap. The last album of his I bought several years ago I listened through once and never gave it another thought. It was freshly out, and I made an impulse buy. It may still be bouncing around in a moving box somewhere, but I never even bothered ripping it.

FWIW, I still buy CDs and rip everything onto a hard drive, everything except the aforementioned album and the Steven Tyler country album which may be the worst rock/country/pop album I have ever purchased. If you think this is old or dumb, you're politely invited to stay off my lawn.

 

I think Blake’s song about breaking out of prison by making the coon hound too horny for it to bother finding him was kinda a cute, fun, folksy lil country song. Outside of Ole Red everything else of his is basically diarrhea.

Luke Bryan just flat out sucks unless you are a Tri-Delta sorority girl Groundhog Day stuck at your 2012 college spring break.

And then you have guys beneath them like Justin Moore who might be the worst music artist in the history of a musical genre

 

I think my most dangerous country music take is that Kenny Chesney is actually under slept on as an act/performer. A lot of folks can't stand him as an artist. But imo for as much grief as he seemingly gets about his music/persona, he actually had a plethora of really good hits. Like a lot of really good and soulful songs. He also was a very formidable touring artist and performs/-ed incredibly well in large venue settings like sold out NFL stadiums. Believe his summer tours to this day remain some of the biggest grossing tours of all time in country music.

 

Kenny Chesney is pretty terrible

 

I don’t know how you can’t like Mud on the Tires.

 

And hah not at all. I have my pre-ipod era CDs somewhere stored. Us 1990s born millennials still have memories of CD stores and know stuff like exactly what the inside of every BlockBuster smelled like. Hell, many of us Millennials all of a sudden decided buying Vinyl records is cool again.

 

Mud On The Tires sucks, and that's actually one of his best shit songs. It's a great shitty song compared to atrociteis like "Ticks", "This is country music", "Water", "I'm gonna miss her", "I'm still a guy", "Celebrity", ect, ect ect

 

I want to say he's alright, I won't hate on him too much, like some of his songs but not a fan, to each their own kind of stuff. Then, I remember him in the UF helmet.

 

I’d just as soon listen to my car rolling down the right lane on 24 between Chattanooga and Birmingham

 

Just can't get behind this take. If you don't like "I'm Gonna Miss Her", you just don't understand country music and its history. Some of the others are not so great, but it seems like your main problem may be who's singing it.

 

IMO he gets manicured, waxed and botoxed.

 

How can you not like a good old fashioned drinking song about your wife leaving you because you went fishing?