http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/ Trash, Treasure, Oddities, Obsessions and Obligations Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:50:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-907 Derrick Bostrom Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:46:16 +0000 http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-907 Thanks, Andy! Those are my favorites as well. Thanks, Andy! Those are my favorites as well.

]]> http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-906 Andy Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:28:46 +0000 http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-906 I just found out about this site, and it's already at the top of my blog lists. I'm making my way through the reports from the country and so far, really like Songs About Bad Choices, the George Jones live LP and Songs of the Restless (love "Bob" and "Big Daddy" especially). Your picks are well done. Great job and thanks a lot! I just found out about this site, and it’s already at the top of my blog lists. I’m making my way through the reports from the country and so far, really like Songs About Bad Choices, the George Jones live LP and Songs of the Restless (love “Bob” and “Big Daddy” especially). Your picks are well done. Great job and thanks a lot!

]]> http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-899 Derrick Bostrom Sat, 03 Jun 2006 12:20:46 +0000 http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-899 I don't disagree that there are "dark" undercurrents in many old country songs -- certainly there are in the not-necessarily-representative selections offered on this site. After sifting through hundreds and hundreds of songs in order to distill these compilations, what strikes me is not the darkness, but the strong undercurrents of uninterestingness. But all of my choices have stuggle of one sort or another as their theme. What interests me is not so much how this reflects the American chararacter, but how things struggle and hardship get encoded into the shorthand of pop. I don’t disagree that there are “dark” undercurrents in many old country songs — certainly there are in the not-necessarily-representative selections offered on this site. After sifting through hundreds and hundreds of songs in order to distill these compilations, what strikes me is not the darkness, but the strong undercurrents of uninterestingness. But all of my choices have stuggle of one sort or another as their theme. What interests me is not so much how this reflects the American chararacter, but how things struggle and hardship get encoded into the shorthand of pop.

]]> http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-896 Josh F. Sat, 03 Jun 2006 06:34:31 +0000 http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2006/05/31/report-from-the-country-part-seven-the-cruel-world/#comment-896 As someone who had never generally listened to country music willingly or attentively, I'd like to say that I've really loved this series you've been running here. Particularly the George Jones' Dancetown USA and Songs of the Restless collections I found myself listening to over and over. This section was an interesting change in tone, although I think theres been a lot of undertones about cruelty, sorrow and hardship in it all. Although the article you link to suggests that most rock fans are quick to label the genre as the expression of some kind of nostalgia, it does seem like a rather implicit character of it. Although maybe it's not a nostalgia for something long lost, but rather just in the difficulty of holding onto any kind of life in a world that's always changing. One thing I thought rather interesting was in a search I did on Knoxville Girl, it's apparently a derivative of an older English ballad called Wexford Girl, which although seemingly more violent in its lyrics, serves as cautionary tale unlike the Knoxville Girl which just describes almost a bitter cruelty. I've grown up and lived only in the Northeast, but I think there's a kind of endemic penchant for darkness in the American character, and its even here in the music of the hearth of the country. As someone who had never generally listened to country music willingly or attentively, I’d like to say that I’ve really loved this series you’ve been running here. Particularly the George Jones’ Dancetown USA and Songs of the Restless collections I found myself listening to over and over. This section was an interesting change in tone, although I think theres been a lot of undertones about cruelty, sorrow and hardship in it all. Although the article you link to suggests that most rock fans are quick to label the genre as the expression of some kind of nostalgia, it does seem like a rather implicit character of it. Although maybe it’s not a nostalgia for something long lost, but rather just in the difficulty of holding onto any kind of life in a world that’s always changing. One thing I thought rather interesting was in a search I did on Knoxville Girl, it’s apparently a derivative of an older English ballad called Wexford Girl, which although seemingly more violent in its lyrics, serves as cautionary tale unlike the Knoxville Girl which just describes almost a bitter cruelty. I’ve grown up and lived only in the Northeast, but I think there’s a kind of endemic penchant for darkness in the American character, and its even here in the music of the hearth of the country.

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