OT - Music/artists to listen to?

Ditto on the view that popular music has been on decline for at least a couple of decades now (or arguably more).

When I'm driving around in my car listening to the radio, I invariably tune to the local Classic Rock stations, as the "current" pop music being played just doesn't cut it for me. Yes, I grew up with the older stuff and naturally have an affinity for it, but so much of the modern stuff, even the rock, has, frankly, a staleness to it that is disappointing.

I once came across an interesting theory as to why this has come to be. It goes that composing music in a particular genre is like mining for gold in a gold mine. There's only so much gold there in the mine, and once it's removed, only the dregs are left. So, since there are only so many notes, chords, rifts, etc., that exist in any music genre, including rock, sooner or later they are used up, decreasing what's left to be used in future rock music composition.

That's where we are now.

Add to that the fact that rock music has been around for over fifty years, it's been mined pretty thoroughly.

The way out of this "rut" would be to establish a new form of pop music, a "new mine" as it were, still full of ore, where the "mining" will be easy for a while, likely years.

But what would that new form of pop music be? Rock has been dominant for half a century, and there does not appear to be anything coming to replace it.

Interesting question.

Mumbo,
I See Sam Bush every year at Merlefest. As someone mentioned above, a lot of acts are better seen live than recorded. This is probably true of Bush along with many – probably most others. On stage he is a force that can’t be ignored. Like many of my favorites he is a “musicians’ musician” known by everyone in the business and by his loyal fans, but pretty much unknown to those who listen only to what is on radio.

I sort of agree with TJ and Mattam but not because I agree that music “died” after the ‘90s. I gave up on listening to much on the radio other than NPR after the demise of album-oriented-rock on stations like WBCN Boston. IMHO broadcast radio has died, in that it only plays formulaic pop or formulaic faux-country, etc – especially since most stations have been gobbled up by large corporations that do central programming. BTW I wrote a handbook for a major broadcast equipment manufacturer 20 years ago to guide radio station managers through the transition from analog to digital broadcasting – part of mandated radio spectrum reallocation, the expense of which contributed to sale of small stations to big corporations. But I digress.

But I disagree that music itself died. It is still out there- just not on the radio. There are hundreds of music festivals of all sizes and kinds all summer long, all over the country. This is where and how musicians make a living these days and how new musicians get discovered by people like me who then buy their music and pay to see them again if they come to a place near where we live. My wife and I go to Merlefest every year in North Carolina, and occasionally to Rhythm and Roots in Rhode Island. Merlefest is misunderstood by the uninitiated as a “bluegrass festival” but it isn’t. There are a fair number of traditional bluegrass acts. But when Doc Watson was alive (the festival was named for his late son Merle) he always described the festival as “traditional plus.” Over the years I’ve discovered many bands, big and small, as well as blues musicians, singer-songwriters, jam bands, etc. I’d never known of otherwise. Ever heard of Mike Farris, Della Mae, Keb Mo, The Steel Wheels, Eilen Jewell? – they're out there crossing paths all summer at festivals along with better know bands like Old Crow Medicine Show, John Prine, etc.

@PDA-that was an awesome video! Made my day!

81GG - Hard to disagree with that theory. I think there a lot of players and singers out there but it is so hard to break through the logjam. The scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody about the agent supporting the band never happens anymore from what my younger brother tells me. You can't make any money even playing the clubs anymore (they pay the same as 30 years ago) but Garth Brooks and others will fill up one stadium after another and take all available money.

Bohemond - I still go to local concerts and fests and even the free entertainment they have in the cities and parks. 81's gold mining analogy is probably appropriate, you have to sift through a lot of sand to find anything worth keeping just like gold mining has got with huge earth moving operations. It still can be done but is a lot of work and time.

Vince - Me too, jazz guitar is nice as well as those that crossover like Howard Roberts, Tommie Tedesco, etc. We have a number of colleges and universities in the Twin Cities and lots of government sponsored music so it is a pretty large music scene. Like the gold mining, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before one turns into a prince and I have listened to a lot that is "meh" as my sons would text.
I get a CD about every 5-10 years from my brother of his latest "published" work. Decent progressive stuff which goes nowhere since that ship has sailed. He is extremely talented but he had to make a living and support children so never made the big time.

Jazzed - Kurt Rosenwinkel was in one of Crossroads concerts, did a good job of playing with Holdsworth and Clapton and adapting. Some jazz people don’t crossover well. Thanks for the Mike Stern referral, never heard him, sounds promising from a couple of short clips.

I watched Frank Vignola play with Tommy Emmanuel locally some years ago and it was quite entertaining, they played off each other well. My favorite memory was going to the Men’s room and the various guys in line wanting to know if anyone wanted to buy their guitar. It can be quite humbling to us hackers.

Bo - Sounds like a rare concert. Rarely listen to the radio since FM stopped being the source of new music many years ago. Concerts and referrals are my usual source of artists as well as reading when looking for things. This thread has given me some good tips, already downloaded New Grass Revival which I listened to yesterday and exactly what I needed. Of course, these are old guys now and not up-coming artists.

I do agree that there are still people tearing it up live once in a while. Then you pick up or download a CD and wonder where the magic went. Sometimes it is the confluence of the environment, feelings that day, and type of beer I am sipping on that comes together. I have also left early when it just does not click for me. Just seems like it was easier years ago but then that maybe that is just me now. Could be our music scene here is too eclectic or predictable. I have a son in Nashville and it is easy to find good music even ignoring country music, just a lot of good artists that can’t find a job or get famous.

Thanks for the comments.

Vince - Thanks for the Hot Club tip, pretty interesting, they look like a good act to see live.

I use to have a few albums in the old days by Vassar Clements when I needed my fiddle fix. He passed a while back but may have to check out his legacy again. He used to play with various people like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also.

Somehow I have lost track of some of these people and bands from my old album days, my brain is full I guess with a bunch of PCa knowledge that has replaced some of the music section.

Now please don't poo-poo me here folks...! Do yourselves a favour and check out 'Born and Raised', an album by John Mayer. A truly incredible guitarist, even if his reputation in the press is a little battered. Just ignore all that and take a listen to his singing and playing. Amazing!

Jaybee&GG - John Mayer is great, personal life is another story, just don't care for most of his music that much. However, his early work with the Trio and the album Try is another story back when he was in his blues-rock mode, some pretty good music there. There also is a BluRay video, "Where the Light Is" in LA, that has a set with the Trio in the middle that is pretty good if you have not seen it (begins acoustic, then Trio, then the bigger band).

RR - Will do when I get some time later. Hey, Stevie Ray and Johnny Winter are my favorites from Texas and Blake is ok from OK if I have to listen to country.

Post Edited (Mumbo) : 6/2/2019 11:21:35 AM (GMT-6)

RR - Thanks for the links. Listened to all of them and iTunes samples. All good bands, probably lean towards Whiskey Myers if I had to pick one. Would listen to any of them live somewhere if they played around here.

My tastes are slightly different, little more musician oriented with blues, rock, jazz. As a result, if I am inclined to see a country show with my wife, I tend to like Brad Paisley and Keith Urban where I know they will rock out on guitar a bit. Same with Marshall Tucker and Charlie Daniels who never played around here.

I agree that it is some work to find good players and bands which is why I started this thread. Generally, a group of men (and some wives) of similar ages are here so should being playing with the same deck more or less. I have gotten some really good leads through this and actually downloaded a couple of albums and listened to them cutting the grass and again sitting on the deck. Helps me get out of a music rut and points me in some new directions to pursue.

My wife retires in a week so we will be free to pursue more live music in the future without someone having to work the next day. There are a fair number of concerts here on "school nights" which are really tough when you are working and not young anymore.

Thanks all.

Dunno if this lot have made it over to the States yet but they've put out 2 of my favorite albums of the last couple of years. Might not be your cup of tea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va75GaPv5jY&list=RDEMazj3phJrB390ewqF8AaC-w&start_radio=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrrcVxnjJO8&list=RDEMazj3phJrB390ewqF8AaC-w&index=4

Mumbo said...
Bohemond - I checked out Merlefest, looks like a good lineup this year. Quite the drive for me but what else am I going to do, wait for PSA results for the rest of my life?.

We have a travel trailer and reserve the same site every year behind the VFW because it has full hookup for trailers. They also have a very large field that fills up with tents, pop-up trailers, etc. There are lots of campground jams night and day. Some people come just to jam and don't even go to the festival. They run shuttle buses to the festival 4 miles away. Other camp sites also run shuttle buses. There are two large camp sites run by two different fire departments. One long-standing favorite of many is near the water treatment plant and is known as "Sewerfest" - you'll see people proudly wearing Sewerfest t-shirts. It's 900 miles each way for us but we take 3 days down and usually 4 or 5 coming back so we can see something else along the return trip - Mount Vernon, Monticello, Civil War sites, etc.
Jim