Country music is dead?

[LRTX1]

My guess is that he is a very famous country western star under contract that ties his performances up tight, so he has to do his YouTube stuff anonymously. Those videos were produced with a mixing board, and sometimes decent backup musicians. His voice is a trained voice, that shows signs of constant use in front of a microphone. It's not easy putting together a video as consistently good as his are.

What I really like is his mission. Music is not about listening, music is about playing and singing. He videos the guitar only, and his arrangements are generally simple enough that any amateur guitarist can learn them. Music is really about a jug of cheap wine, a guitar, and songs that everyone can sing.

I didn't catch any "back-up" musicians, and his arragements are simple enough. What is not simple is the flawless timing he has with guitar and vocals. I agree he has some top-notch recording equipment, but most of his playing appears to be done on a Taylor 110 which is a few hundred south of a grand.

He sounds a lot like Earl Thomas Conely.

 

[aczlan]

I didn't catch any "back-up" musicians, and his arragements are simple enough. What is not simple is the flawless timing he has with guitar and vocals. I agree he has some top-notch recording equipment, but most of his playing appears to be done on a Taylor 110 which is a few hundred south of a grand.
He sounds a lot like Earl Thomas Conely.

It would be possible to setup to record that with a computer, a mixer, a camera and a pair of mics for under $2000. In fact, you could do a youtube quality video with just a decent point and shoot camera (like a Canon A1100-IS), no mixer or external mics.

Aaron Z

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It would be possible to setup to record that with a computer, a mixer, a camera and a pair of mics for under $2000.

Assuming you have a musician who is both a professional guitarist and singer, who understands audio production standards, studio acoustics and video depth of field. He also puts in a little vocal reverb to fill out the sound, and somebody is keeping an eye on the VU meters. The result is a performance that stands up pretty well against high quality professional productions. Compare Fretkillr's "Deep River Blues" with the Doc Watson version.

In fact, you could do a youtube quality video with just a decent point and shoot camera (like a Canon A1100-IS), no mixer or external mics.

Aaron Z

No, you can't. Well, maybe you can, if you set your YouTube standards low enough. All you can do is make pretty pictures that sound like crap, just like most YouTube home made music videos. If you can't tell the difference, you have a tin ear.

 

[aczlan]

Assuming you have a musician who is both a professional guitarist and singer, who understands audio production standards, studio acoustics and video depth of field. He also puts in a little vocal reverb to fill out the sound, and somebody is keeping an eye on the VU meters. The result is a performance that stands up pretty well against high quality professional productions. Compare Fretkillr's "Deep River Blues" with the Doc Watson version.

If he is someone who is in the music scene (or in the music industry), it is not improbable that he knows people who can run sound gear, or that he knows how to do it himself.
I am not in the music industry, but I can name 3-4 people who own (or have access to) a decent mixer, some effects equipment and mics that also know how to run them well enough to make someone who is good sound good in a recorded medium.

Camerawise, it looks like he may have used a camera with manual focus, but those arent too hard to come by for cheap and with a video input device you can use anything that has S-Video or Composite video out.

No, you can't. Well, maybe you can, if you set your YouTube standards low enough. All you can do is make pretty pictures that sound like crap, just like most YouTube home made music videos. If you can't tell the difference, you have a tin ear.

I stand corrected. I listened to his videos again and compared them to some homemade videos and they are not pretty.

Overall, IF you know how to sing/play a guitar WELL (as he apparently does) and you know someone (or some people) with the skills to do a halfway decent audio mixdown, it would be fairly simple to put together a video like his and have it sound good. The hard part is finding someone who can sing/play well.

Aaron Z

 

[LRTX1]

All I know is the fellow can flat play and plays a lot of different styles. However he does it, it is very enjoyable.

 

[om21braz]

Speaking of country music, they should have let Merle Haggard play the "Working Man Blues" last night at the Kennedy Center Honors. Or maybe they did - I did'nt see it? It's something many there needed to hear.

 

[ohiobred]

i completely agree, that traditional music is much more accessible and real. how often can you meet your favorite radio stars? usually you can meet your favorite bluegrass and old time musicians and they're happy to meet you.

country music isn't dead, it's just not on the radio.

 

[LRTX1]

country music isn't dead, it's just not on the radio.

Yahtzee!

 

[RobertN]

You're sorta right IMHO. You can't find it on commercial top-40 country stations.

Country, Western, and the likes are out there on smaller radio stations. And local public radio. The station I mention, KVMR, plays various traditioanl country, western, and bluegrass. They do shows though. Saturday afternoons have three country shows, as well as a couple throughout the week. They have a great bluegrass show on Saturday AM. But, they are only shows; it is not 24x7 country. It is four hours on Saturday, and a couple hours during the week.

With the Web, we are fortunate we can get web cast's too.

country music isn't dead, it's just not on the radio.

 

[DieselnHooters]

Doctor Ralph and Patty Loveless giving it their all