That’s now. George Strait is old school and he really hasn’t written anything. Guys like Waylon, Willie, Johnny Cash and Hank Jr. all wrote most of their own music. Now everything is Taylor Swift pre written stuff and I’d be hard pressed to figure out who writes anything.
While that's true in a rose colored glasses isn't the past nice and full of real musicians kind of way, it also absolutely isn't. You sign an artist, then they record your label's catalogue. Johnny Cash did it in the Sun Records era, and sure as shit the American Records era. Hank Williams Jr. is an interesting example, since he got famous singing his dad's songs and copying his sound. Waylon Jennings got over as Buddy Holly's bass player for a tour. He contributed no songwriting to the group, also his first recording was a cover.
Willie Nelson, on the other hand, wrote songs for everyone else. He also recorded covers and worked with songwriters. Everyone did. Everyone does. Everyone always will.
Taylor Swift is a bad example btw you picked the one modern pop star that is involved in her own writing process. It's also very easy to figure out who writes everything. It's listed on the wikipedia page, generally.
Yeah, I think my dad's band just did covers of stuff. I like his version of Amarillo better than Strait's, though. I dunno, I was really young at the time. I do remember being in some honky tonk places where they performed, though. Here they are looking all awesome.
Side note: when my parents were in the army in Germany, they had a band. All covers, but a killer one of In the Midnight Hour. Ask Doc, he's heard it.
Last edited by BerringerX; 18 Dec 2018 at 12:22 AM.
I'm not a devious man by nature... but when you're unarmed, your tactics might gonna be downright Archimedean.
While that's true in a rose colored glasses isn't the past nice and full of real musicians kind of way, it also absolutely isn't. You sign an artist, then they record your label's catalogue. Johnny Cash did it in the Sun Records era, and sure as shit the American Records era. Hank Williams Jr. is an interesting example, since he got famous singing his dad's songs and copying his sound. Waylon Jennings got over as Buddy Holly's bass player for a tour. He contributed no songwriting to the group, also his first recording was a cover.
Willie Nelson, on the other hand, wrote songs for everyone else. He also recorded covers and worked with songwriters. Everyone did. Everyone does. Everyone always will.
It's not just Rose colored glasses. George Strait went almost 40 years without writing a single song that he recorded, while Clink Black wrote the songs for his 1st smash hit album. Garth Brooks sang songs written by others, but by his 4 album he was writing a lot of his own stuff. George didn't write anything until 2014, when teamed up with his son to write a few songs for the album he was releasing that year.
Taylor Swift is a bad example btw you picked the one modern pop star that is involved in her own writing process. It's also very easy to figure out who writes everything. It's listed on the wikipedia page, generally.
Yeah, I sometimes forget that she was not a part of those American Idol girls that churned out songs written for them. She came though Nashville, though I don't think of her music as Country.
Speaking of Waylon and Willie. Here's one of my favorites.
While that's true in a rose colored glasses isn't the past nice and full of real musicians kind of way, it also absolutely isn't. You sign an artist, then they record your label's catalogue. Johnny Cash did it in the Sun Records era, and sure as shit the American Records era. Hank Williams Jr. is an interesting example, since he got famous singing his dad's songs and copying his sound. Waylon Jennings got over as Buddy Holly's bass player for a tour. He contributed no songwriting to the group, also his first recording was a cover.
Willie Nelson, on the other hand, wrote songs for everyone else. He also recorded covers and worked with songwriters. Everyone did. Everyone does. Everyone always will.
Taylor Swift is a bad example btw you picked the one modern pop star that is involved in her own writing process. It's also very easy to figure out who writes everything. It's listed on the wikipedia page, generally.
This.
And it cycles. You'll have a couple years where more people write their own stuff then a couple years were more people dont.
Hard to say what is more noble or better. Covers used to just be called "standards" and there is something a little romantic about musicians traveling the country playing their best version of a standard that so many others had played before.
Yeah, I sometimes forget that she was not a part of those American Idol girls that churned out songs written for them. She came though Nashville, though I don't think of her music as Country.
Speaking of Waylon and Willie. Here's one of my favorites.
Don't let the tourists branding fool you. Nashville is just New Memphis. If you record under the Mason dixon, you might end up there.
Grand Ol Opry is a performance venue, no? I understand they had some cool duets happen there, but they invented slapback echo in Memphis and recorded the first stuff by Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Elvis and I think Jerry Lee Lewis.
Grand Ol Opry is a performance venue, no? I understand they had some cool duets happen there, but they invented slapback echo in Memphis and recorded the first stuff by Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Elvis and I think Jerry Lee Lewis.
The Grand Ole Opry is pretty much Country Music's Ring of Honor. Everyone that has made it big in Country Music (or has hopes of making it big) plays at least once at the Grand Ole Opry. I don't think that Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis played there, because they weren't considered Country singers. I do know that the likes of Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire (my wife's family were friends with her family) Tim McGraw, Rascal Flats and Faith Hill have all played there. My old man used to watch "Live at the Grand Ole' Opry" on Sunday nights in the 70s'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ole_Opry
I take it back. Jerry Lee Lewis did play at the Grand Ole Opry. He dropped an f-bomb during one performance, but it's not in this a recording from an appearance there.
Grand Ol Opry is a performance venue, no? I understand they had some cool duets happen there, but they invented slapback echo in Memphis and recorded the first stuff by Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Elvis and I think Jerry Lee Lewis.
That Memphis is mostly dead. Died when they killed MLK Jr.
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Originally Posted by Josh
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