Where do you listen to Country music?

feichin · 11-05-2014 9:00pm #1

As the question says, where do people find country music to listen to, Please don't say in the shower -garden - car etc.
I was just wondering are there any good online stations, or is there some other format that has passed me by where people find country music to listen to?
Personally, I find it by surfing itunes and You Tube which is a very haphazard way of going about it. The local radio station's country show plays mainly Irish country (which is fine, but not all the time)
Occasionally I'll get to a good concert which might throw up something new, ie. after going to the first night of C2C this year I've listened to some Dierks Bentley but if I never hear another Zac Brown Song again it wont be a day too soon (I was already a Dixie Chicks fan)

harr · 11-05-2014 9:04pm

Spotify is your friend ,loads of country play lists,cheaper than buying them off I tunes ,I have loads of old American oldes on my play lists and you can listen off line for the car.

feichin · 11-05-2014 10:03pm

What is this "Spotify" thing you speak of?????
Seriously, I've heard of it but that's as far as my knowledge goes.
You say it's cheaper than iTunes, so there is a cost?
Do you register similar to Netflix etc?
I assume "downloads" are to a computer and then can be transferred to an ipod or similar for future listening?
Apologies if my questions mark me out as being a dinosaur from the dark ages, there was a time when I was into technology but it got ahead of me and now I don't bother even trying to keep up

Tigger99 · 11-05-2014 10:21pm

Download the 'tune in radio' app. It's amazing and free. You can search by music category so pick 'country' and you'll fund fantastic American stations. My favourites include icountryNashville, Country 106. CAM Music Festival radio.

I've found so many new artists by listening to it. It's heaven on earth.

Sideshow Mark · 12-05-2014 5:25pm

Spotify mostly, worth signing up for the free version especially if you have a smart phone. You can listen to any artist, playlist (and create your own) on shuffle play. You get 90 seconds of ads every 4 songs or so. Their new releases and curated playlists are constantly updated.

If you like it then subscribe, stream almost any album or song for a tenner a month. No more ads and shuffle play becomes an option rather than mandatory. Been a subscriber for years, and I love it. Only use the radio for talk shows now.

SusanneKn · 13-05-2014 12:19am

Tigger99 wrote: »

I've found so many new artists by listening to it. It's heaven on earth.

Or a curse! I found a lot of new brilliant artist that way and I am one of those people who likes to support musicians and I usually end up buying their album, if not their whole discography.

I have about 4 different Country Music Radio Apps on my phone, which each have a lot of different station listed.

I am also a fan of Bob Harris on Radio BBC2. I love his voice and the music he picks is excellent.

LoonyLovegood · 14-05-2014 2:13pm

Spotify, sunshine 106.8 when I'm in Dublin.

bridster007 · 05-06-2014 9:38pm

http://www.wsmonline.com/

Real Nashville station that also broadcasts online. Also home station of the Grand old Opry which you can listen to live around 2am on a Sunday morning.

Manach · 08-06-2014 10:56pm

Spotify ++.
Also from the days when CMT was broadcast in Europe, youtube handy to replay those older videos.

Porridgemonster · 12-06-2014 10:33pm

Spotify,Tune-In Radio and I have an iPhone full of The Band Perry,Blake Shelton,Brad Paisley,Bucky Covington,Carrie Underwood,Dolly Parton,Jerry Reed,Johnny Cash,Kacey Musgraves,Keith Urban,Kellie Pickler,Kenny Chesney,Kenny Rogers,Kurt Nilsen,Martina McBride,Miranda Lambert,Pistol Annie's,Scotty McReery,The Secret Sisters,Tim McGraw,Toby Keith,Trace Adkins,etc
I listen to it all day everyday

topper75 · 17-06-2014 12:50pm

I use youtube a lot in work. The suggestions on the sidebar are helpful in expanding my knowledge and bringing me down new roads. You start with something you know and on it goes. Could start with Justin Moore and end up on Fiddlin' John Carson!

Aenaes · 17-06-2014 7:31pm

Grooveshark when I'm on the PC. CDs when at home or driving.

FREDNISMO · 29-06-2014 12:17am

Tune In Radio

Johnny901 · 28-08-2014 4:26pm

Can you recommend a pub in Galway for Country, about to move up there.

topper75 · 28-08-2014 5:09pm

Johnny901 wrote: »

Can you recommend a pub in Galway for Country, about to move up there.

Padraic's Place on a Fri evening has a folkie jam (docks). Maybe Richardson's (Eyre Sq.) later that night. Shout for some country or ballads and they'll play it.

freelife2014 · 29-08-2014 9:38am

Spotify, Radio

magicmoves · 29-08-2014 9:40am

Check out Will Jones from x factor

horseburger · 29-08-2014 10:28pm

feichin wrote: »

As the question says, where do people find country music to listen to, Please don't say in the shower -garden - car etc.
I was just wondering are there any good online stations, or is there some other format that has passed me by where people find country music to listen to?
Personally, I find it by surfing itunes and You Tube which is a very haphazard way of going about it. The local radio station's country show plays mainly Irish country (which is fine, but not all the time)
Occasionally I'll get to a good concert which might throw up something new, ie. after going to the first night of C2C this year I've listened to some Dierks Bentley but if I never hear another Zac Brown Song again it wont be a day too soon (I was already a Dixie Chicks fan)

Noel Casey on Dublin City FM presents After Midnight every Monday night, a two hour show that regularly includes older and more recent country music and he will regularly mention upcoming country gigs.

http://dublincityfm.ie/after-midnight

RTE Radio 1 includes some programmes that will cover country music; Country Time with Sandy Harsch, The South Wind Blows with Philip King and Roots Freeway with Niall Toner. Alf McCarthy presents Late Date at night who also plays country.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/country-time/

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/roots-freeway/

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/south-wind-blows/

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/late-date/

Sandy Harsch also writes for The Lonesome Highway website along with Stephen Averill and Ronnie Norton and they include gig reviews with photos and upcoming gig dates of any country music that take place in Ireland.

http://www.lonesomehighway.com/about-us/

There was a good four part documentary on BBC 2 around 2002 which covered the early country music in the US from around the 1920s and 30s 40s and 50s including the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Jean Shepard and to the later era, onwards to the 1990s including of Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks.

It included contributions from singers like Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Bragg, and country music writers like Nolan Porterfield and Charles Wolfe.

Nolan Porterfield wrote a biography of Jimmie Rodgers and also wrote the booklet that is included in the Bear Family box set of Jimmie Rodgers.

http://www.amazon.com/Jimmie-Rodgers-Times-Americas-Yodeler/dp/1578069823/ref=la_B000AQ6SFK_1_1/189-7248460-0091742?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409358647&sr=1-1

Charles Wolfe has written in the booklets that accompany their box sets including the Lefty Frizzell and Carter Family sets.

Charles Wolfe died in 2006:

http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1524144/country-music-scholar-charles-k-wolfe-dead-at-62.jhtml

http://www.bear-family.com/en/country/new-country/rodgers-jimmie-the-singing-brakeman-6-cd-box-60-page-book.html

http://www.bear-family.com/en/by-brand-manufacturer/tubb-ernest/tubb-ernest-walking-the-floor-over-you-8-cd-40-page-book.html

This label has released comprehensive, although quite pricey, box sets of many early country singers from the 1930s onwards including The Carter Family, Marty Robbins, Bob Wills, Bill Monroe, Webb Pierce, Ernest Tubb, The Louvin Brothers, Hank Thompson, Kitty Wells, Hank Snow and many others.

There is another BBC documentary on youtube covering these eras from the 1920s and 1930s onwards. It is on youtube in about 16 different parts just under 15 minutes in length each.

Edit: From watching part 13 of that documentary just now, about 1 minute and 44 seconds in, I just learned about this song:)

horseburger · 02-09-2014 1:11am

Ubangi Stomp brings over country and rockabilly groups.

They organised the Petunia and the Vipers and Big Sandy gigs in the Grand Social recently and last week brought over Daniel Romano.

They also brought Jim Lauderdale over recently, for a gig in Whelans

https://www.facebook.com/ubangistompclub

http://www.cattytown.com/directory/listing/ubangi-stomp-club

Ponster · 18-09-2014 12:14pm

I don't think that it was mentioned but Bob Harris Country on BBC Radio 2 is an excellent resource. Live on Thursday evenings and available as podcast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x527

This week he has Sheryl Crow in session speaking about her new album and singing a couple of live tracks from it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04gbxss 38 minutes for her first song.

Or the album version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGuwfpSg4eo

freelife2014 · 25-09-2014 11:55am

in radio

jillymayr · 13-10-2014 3:00pm

Pandora and iheart app

BuilderPlumber · 30-11-2014 9:29pm

One needs to be aware of the various types of country music out there. Personally, I like the classic older country music. Newer country music often is more like rock, pop and even rap. Some of the newer country is good as well but different to the older country. The older country often has a lot of blues in it.

Most of the good stuff you will have to collect on CD, listen to on Spotify, Youtube and similar and on RTE programmes like Niall Toner's or Country Time. One should avoid local radio stations if they like classic country music. While they all have supposedly country programmes, local stations mainly play only that awful new Irish country stuff which is plasticy pop with a country and trad flavour. To me, this is not real country music and is why country music often has an undeserved bad name.

red sean · 01-12-2014 12:57am

Mid West Radio do a programme of good, mostly traditional country on Fri nights from 11pm to 2am online.
DJ isn't world class

but he refuses point blank to play non-american artists.

horseburger · 01-12-2014 4:40am

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

One needs to be aware of the various types of country music out there. Personally, I like the classic older country music. Newer country music often is more like rock, pop and even rap. Some of the newer country is good as well but different to the older country. The older country often has a lot of blues in it.

Most of the good stuff you will have to collect on CD, listen to on Spotify, Youtube and similar and on RTE programmes like Niall Toner's or Country Time. One should avoid local radio stations if they like classic country music. While they all have supposedly country programmes, local stations mainly play only that awful new Irish country stuff which is plasticy pop with a country and trad flavour. To me, this is not real country music and is why country music often has an undeserved bad name.

I wouldn't say that the Country and Irish singers have given country a bad name.

I think the bad name comes because the type of American Country music that gets coverage in music charts and radio now - and over the last 20 years - is towards the more pop end of country, which sounds nothing like the 1930s, 40s and 50s singers like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb or Kitty Wells.

In the documentary here, it discusses how the sound of country music changed in the late 1950s and early 60s. So I guess the more recent pop country trend just follows on from that.

It includes interviews with Eddy Arnold and Ray Price where they mention deciding to record less country type songs. The documentary includes as an example Eddy Arnolds recording of Make The World Go Away and Ray Price's version of Danny Boy. It also discusses how Ray Price's music style changed.

braddun · 01-12-2014 4:42am

at a HOE down

BuilderPlumber · 01-12-2014 7:18am

horseburger wrote: »

I wouldn't say that the Country and Irish singers have given country a bad name.

I think the bad name comes because the type of American Country music that gets coverage in music charts and radio now - and over the last 20 years - is towards the more pop end of country, which sounds nothing like the 1930s, 40s and 50s singers like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb or Kitty Wells.

In the documentary here, it discusses how the sound of country music changed in the late 1950s and early 60s. So I guess the more recent pop country trend just follows on from that.

It includes interviews with Eddy Arnold and Ray Price where they mention deciding to record less country type songs. The documentary includes as an example Eddy Arnolds recording of Make The World Go Away and Ray Price's version of Danny Boy. It also discusses how Ray Price's music style changed.

Yes. Very true. I know there is a lot of poor pop-orientated country music in the US country charts since the 1970s at least. Now Make the world go away by Eddy Arnold was a lot different to his earlier stripped down country blues songs like I'll hold you in my heart, I walk alone and Each minute seems a million years but it still was a good song still with a feel for country blues sung by a good artist. Arnold and others did open country up to pop and inadvertently opened the door for poor music to come that they themselves did not make!

I think the same trend is in the Irish country. Big Tom, Larry Cunningham and Frankie McBride are much much better than Mike Denver, the 3 Amigos and Derek Ryan for example. Roly Daniels kind of bridged the gap from what was the genuine country and Irish to the country/Irish/boyband mixture we have today by singers who sound and even look alike. If you have blond hair and can sing and look like Mike Denver, you are a hit!

We do need to take our country music back from what it is perceived to be. Bad music passing as country be it US or Irish in origin has tarnished things. Friends of mine often say how can I like country music. They mention Denver and some American singer called Rascal Flatt (no relation to the great bluegrass legend Lester Flatt btw) who I never heard of (and don't want to from what I have heard said about him). I play these people something like Hank Williams singing Long gone lonesome blues and they love this and I tell them this WAS country music and they don't believe me!

horseburger · 02-12-2014 4:45am

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Yes. Very true. I know there is a lot of poor pop-orientated country music in the US country charts since the 1970s at least. Now Make the world go away by Eddy Arnold was a lot different to his earlier stripped down country blues songs like I'll hold you in my heart, I walk alone and Each minute seems a million years but it still was a good song still with a feel for country blues sung by a good artist. Arnold and others did open country up to pop and inadvertently opened the door for poor music to come that they themselves did not make!

I think the same trend is in the Irish country. Big Tom, Larry Cunningham and Frankie McBride are much much better than Mike Denver, the 3 Amigos and Derek Ryan for example. Roly Daniels kind of bridged the gap from what was the genuine country and Irish to the country/Irish/boyband mixture we have today by singers who sound and even look alike. If you have blond hair and can sing and look like Mike Denver, you are a hit!

We do need to take our country music back from what it is perceived to be. Bad music passing as country be it US or Irish in origin has tarnished things. Friends of mine often say how can I like country music. They mention Denver and some American singer called Rascal Flatt (no relation to the great bluegrass legend Lester Flatt btw) who I never heard of (and don't want to from what I have heard said about him). I play these people something like Hank Williams singing Long gone lonesome blues and they love this and I tell them this WAS country music and they don't believe me!

Send them the link to the Bear Family record label, It has comprehensive - but very expensive - box sets of loads of the country greats including two other Hanks; Snow and Thompson!:)
http://www.bear-family.de/

https://www.youtube.com/user/BearFamilyRecords

they have this box set that looks very interesting, of music from The Johnson Sessions from 1928 and 1929.

MontyChips · 18-01-2015 11:27pm

There is a good show that does be on sky channel 191 around nine o clock on the weekdays that has some good american country music. I'd recommend it as it has introduced me to some great new acts. It usually plays a mix of old and new, so great for everybody. I have heard everything from Don Williams to Luke Bryan, so will suit everyone!

Where do you listen to Country music?

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