have you noticed as of late all the "Rock and Roll" bands and some members of bands doing the country thing. i think the latest i've seen is Aaron Lewis. is it the economy or the way you can record something and post it and sell it on line, no contract required? i know some rock guys like to play country,Zak Wilde said he did in an interview over a decade ago(Ozzy called it chicken pickin). E.C. did acouple of country blues type albums back in the late 70's. as i remember the economy was bad then too....hmmmm.so is it a loss of originality or just money? would you go that route? or would you keep flying the rock n roll flag(or blues). i don't even want to mention Bon Jovi....oops. country shows sell out. would you?

Hi blackstrat71: rockers have had a side interest in country for as long as I can remember. In my own part of the world Pete Townshend was inserting little pinches of country flavor into his playing from the end of the '60s on. Mark Knopfler's playing was always laden with country bends and in recent years has gone ever further in that direction. And from his punk/indie origins Elvis Costello rushed towards country just as fast as his band and label would let him.

To name just three.

And others look in the direction of jazz. Or world music. Or...

Frankly, there probably comes a point where your musical mind wants a little more than just blocking out power chords and shrieking away soloing on the high frets. Don't you think?

Cheers - C

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Rock 'n' Roll has its roots in country music along with the blues. I imagine a lot of rock players gravitate towards country music as a way of expanding their musical horizons.

Let's see....
Poco, The Grateful Dead, NRPS, The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater R., Quicksilver Messenger Service, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Alexis Korner, John Mayall Blues Band, Dave Mason, Little Feat, The Eagles, Atlanta Rythm Section, Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I actually think that the country segment has morphed more deeply into the Rock and Roll flavor, but it really is symbiotic.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I think its more just being a well rounded musician and just playing what you enjoy playin.

I have noticed blackstrat71 and a couple of my Bros here pitched the country covers gig to me last week. Just waiting to see if the pitch was out of frustration not getting good paying gigs for original bands or some deeper reverence for country music.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

i think a well rounded guitar player, musician, band should know a few "country tunes".
i dont think bands are as specialized as the were 15 yrs ago, or even 10 yrs ago for that matter.
i think a lot of it has to do with age too. you get so stuck on one thing for so long its only natural that your interests wonder into other style.
back in the 80's i swore my allegiance to metal, hair metal. i lived it, breathed it, ate it, drank it even. i had no interest in the "lesser" blues or country styles of playing. those types were no where near as talented as we in the metal scene were
and they damn sure were boring to watch or listen to.
i took a 15 yr break. much to my suprise, when i got back in the swing, i was interested in blues and country lol. i didnt even really listen to music at all during those off yrs either.
i woke up one morning with different tastes. yep just that quick. crazy how it all worked out too. its my thinking that its better to be a well rounded player than to stick with one style, you never know whats around the next bend. look at the fast paced career of john5 as an example. the guy has recorded or toured with everything from metal,rock,country,bluegrass, and some jazz. no question hes the busiest guitar player
in the business at the moment. everybody wants to work with him.
hes probably the most well rounded name in lights right now. he learned early on what some folks may never learn. being well rounded is more important these days than mastering one style. so as for a fall back plan, have something set up just incase music itself doesnt work out. nothing lasts forever.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

ah yes....Little Feat

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I Can't Explain

BTW I did not list everyone I could think of as there's just a few more...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

i believe the last real original music came out from 63 to 69. Beatles being 63 and Sabbath being 69. blues rock being inbetween. bands today just don't have the drive to do something original. i find myself listening to the stuff from the 60's and even beach music (Sam Cooke and he is considered the father of soul) anything but the music of today. thats a shame. there's some intresting responses to this. i just think that the bands need to think about what they do. are you a leader or a follower. wolf or sheep. i like the responce that some country bands sound like rock. the lines are blurry. it's time for somebody to clear them up.

original music????? lol theres nothing new under the sun.
everything has been done at some point already. often its been so long since it was done, at first folks think its original. the chances of something coming out that cant be traced back to somebody somewhere is slim.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

full agreement. do we re-hash older songs and older sounds or do you take the music from where you found it. i would love to hear those fenders and marshalls,strats and lps roar with some emotion. maybe if instead of going country try some emotion in the music they normaly make. it's like theres no feeling not even the rebelious spirit of rock. anyone can sing ....."there's a tear in my beer and i'm crying for you dear".......we got it. even the country guys don't have what Johnny, Waylon and Hank had. the new guys want you to THINK they have lived a rough life. hell, those guys did. you felt every moment of it in their music. this day and time they want to be "country gangsta". sad. maybe it's just no body has the experiences that our heros did. were all sheltered and therapied. tought to be sweet and respectable. i guess it's hard to write songs about that. in the 90's every rock band was singing about killing their self and how tough their parents were. that didn't go too far. i think that was the wrong type of rebelion. the rockers doing the country thing seem that they want to be emotional but rock can carry emotion too. not just bad times and crying but feel good stuff too.

i dont know what country your listening to bro but "country music" has come a long way in the last 20 yrs. its more up beat than ever. its just that in country its safe to play a ballad and get an award for it lol.
to think country is all boo hooing is crazy. if rock wants to keep their reputation for fun and good times they better raise the bar for themselves. its not the fans fault i assure you.

"the rockers doing the country thing seem that they want to be emotional"

lol i think they just want to do something different. cant blame them either.
country is cool like it or not, and if your in it for the money, country is the place to be right now too. the rebelion rock & roll is a dead subject, thats seen its day already, and over played. todays artists dont need an image like that to sell their music.
some think they do but they usually dont last long. at some point musicians just grow up and worry about music as a whole sometimes. rock isnt dead, but its on life support.
its because of the record labels, promoters, and other styles of music are getting better.
"we are rock, its gonna live forever" yeah!...... wrong.
you dont have to have lived a hard life to write and sell good music.
but as in all things, if ya dont like it change the channel. country and blues is here to stay. if you go back and really look at it, a lot of your "hard times" artists brought those hard times on themselves.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I'm listening to Buck Owens right now, so I'm getting a kick out of this.

The bottom line is that country music never has gotten the respect that it deserves. Granted, there is a lot of BAD country music out there, but most of that tries to sound like pop music.

People tend to focus a lot on the influence of blues on rock, but let's not forget that young Elvis was once considered a bit of an outsider in Memphis who played "dirty hillbilly music".

If rockers are starting to lean toward country, it can just as easily be said that country players are leaning more toward rock and pop. When I listen to some of the younger (than me) country guys out there, I think much of what they do is more rock than most of their older contemporaries. One of the reasons I got hooked on Marty Stuart years ago was because a lot of what he did leaned more toward rock than country.

And as someone who will be old enough to start drawing Social Security in a few months, everything (and I mean everything) always fades away, then comes around again... and again... and again. I know, I've seen it happen. And some of it still amazes jaded old me.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963