Are you a George Jones guy in a Garth Brooks world? A Loretta Lynn gal trying to understand why people still call Shania Twain a "country" artist?
Well, then this website is for you! Here's your chance to read all about Nashville pop, from the late-'50s "Nashville Sound" and the countrypolitan scene of the '70s to today's chart-toppers and pretty-boy hat acts, seen through the lens of DJ Joe Sixpack, a hick music know-it-all with a heart of gold...
Your comments and suggestions are welcome, particularly suggestions for artists or albums I might have missed. Other types of twang are reviewed elsewhere in my Hick Music Guide.
This is the first page covering the letter "V"
Leroy Van Dyke "Auctioneer" (Bear Family, 1984)
Pop-country smoothie Leroy Van Dyke hit the big time in 1956 on Dot Records with his toungue-twisting novelty hit, "The Auctioneer," which he recorded many times afterwards for various labels. That original is included here, along with over a dozen other Dot recordings, material which is almost dominated by perky faux-rockabilly pop tunes (including pepped up, smoothed-out covers of hard country classics like Mel Tillis's "Honky Tonk Song" and Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On"). The palpable attempt at coopting the teen rock fad is a little silly -- Van Dyke had more vigor than Pat Boone but less soul than Marty Robbins, and most of these tracks are pretty disposable... And yet, fun in a way. This 15-song CD follows the original Ace Records LP pretty closely, but tosses in several more songs, just for good measure. It's worth checking out, although it sure would be swell if someone could come up with a best-of package that would include his later Mercury sides as well.
Leroy Van Dyke "Walk On By" (Bear Family, 1984)
Ricky Van Shelton - see letter "S"
Van Zandt "Get Right With The Man" (Columbia/Sony-BMG, 2005)
(Produced by Mark Wright & Joe Scaife)
Well, with all the top-country hat-act dudes who've been tipping their hats towards that good ol' Southern rock sound these days, from Montgomery Gentry and Toby Keith on down, it sure makes sense for Johnny and Donnie Van Zandt (veterans of Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special, respectively...) to drop their hat in the ring as well... And here's the thing: they're pretty damn damn good, better in many ways than the young'uns who have been copping their licks recently... That is, they're good on the bombastic, Southern-tinged country tunes; when they cut loose and really start rockin', though, the record gets too loose and wanky, with frazzled, endless guitar solos and a lot more noise than structure... It might be fun in concert after you've passed the Jack around, but even then you'd be better off going to see the Black Crowes. Still, I'm impressed by their country stuff, formulaic though it may be. There's plenty of posturing and talking about what tough, road-weary party dudes they are, but it rings a lot truer when these grizzled old rockers say it than when it's coming from pretty boys like, oh, say, Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. Don't tell anyone I said so, but I actually think this is a pretty good record, for the genre. Worth checking out, at least if you're not scared of actual, real-life longhaired rednecks.
Phil Vassar "Phil Vassar" (Arista, 2000)
(Produced by Frank Rogers, Mark Brophy & Phil Vassar)
Phil Vassar "An American Child" (Arista, 2002)
Phil Vassar "Shaken, Not Stirred" (Arista, 2004)
(Produced by Frank Rogers, Mark Brophy & Phil Vassar)
More of Vassar's brand of hermetically constructed pop-country... This is the kind of formulaic, hook-strewn record that lulls you in, despite yourself, and then suddenly you're listening to some goddawful, super-dorky pop crossover tune with bad soul vocals and you wonder how the heck that happened... and if any of your neighbors might have caught you playing it! It's not all terrible (just mostly)... Vassar has a couple of winners on here -- "Here To Forget" and "What Happens In Vegas" are well-written and effective... If you pay attention to the lyrics, though, this is a pretty depressing record, with one song after another about stressed-out young professionals engaging in cheap, furtive affairs at singles bars and holiday getaways. I mean, I guess I should be glad that there's someone still singing cheating songs in today's squeaky-clean Nashville scene, but Vassar's smooth, antiseptic production makes it all sound so... matter of fact, and amoral, that it's really more of a bummer than some good old-fashioned honkytonk song where they make fun of their misery, rather than embrace it. (Dammit... See? That's what I'm talking about! I sat through the whole album, tinkly keyboards and all, and now I'm actually nodding my head along to a song like "I Miss The Innocence," thinking, hmmmm, maybe this guy has some depth after all... and then some crappy tune like "Amazing Grace" or "Dancin' With Dreams" comes along to snap me out of it... Whew! Dodged that bullet!)
Commercial Country Albums - Letter "W"
