Kris Kristofferson

I'm watching Heaven Gate,I remember seeing it back in 1980.

Kris was a great human being.

RIP.

....hang on Willie as you are from a time when country was country and was good music.

@garebear , I am inclined to agree with you. I remember growing up in Montana and listening to AM country radio stations and hearing Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynne and Charlie Pride and Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash and Kris and Waylon and Willie and Buck Owens and Roy Clark and Freddy Fender and even Kenny Rodgers and so on and so on . . . and that is what I remember being as mainstream Country & Western at the time.

I might be wrong, but it seems that mainstream Country & Western became, at a certain point and I don’t exactly remember when, Garth Brookes and Toby Keith and a lot of performers that I don’t know the names of but that strike me as Country-Pop.

I do like Emmy Lou Harris and I am glad she is still around, and I like the Millers and Iris Dement and Steve Earle and Lucinda and Allison Krause and I can think of others . . . but the thing is, I don’t feel they meet the criteria for being in the C&W genre anymore. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure that back when I was going to the CD store and buying CDs, those artists were not found in the "Country" section, but were actually in the "Alternative Folk" or maybe even the "Folk" sections of the store. Which, although related to Country, is in my mind a different genre.

@immatthew: Yeah, the lines separating Country & Western, Hillbilly, Bluegrass, Folk, Singer/Songwriter, etc. are not clear cut. And it was---imo---the emergence of Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, etc. that led "mainstream/commercial" Country music to lose it’s credibility. Steve Earle declared Shania to be "the highest paid lap dancer in Nashville."

But remember at one of the long-ago Country music awards ceremonies when Charlie Rich opened the envelope containing that year’s winner of some category, saw the winner’s name, then pulled out his lighter and set the card on fire? The winner was John Denver, whom Charlie obviously had no respect for. In retaliation, the Nashville business establishment black-balled Charlie for the rest of his life. John Denver Country? Not imo.

On the other hand, the "New Traditionalist" movement of the 1980’s produced a new generation of real Country artists: Steve Earle, Randy Travis, Patty Loveless (love Patty!), k.d. Lang, George Strait, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Ricky Skaggs, Rodney Crowell, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Vince Gill, Keith Whitley, Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, and Lyle Lovett, all equally Country as the guys and gals from the 50’s and 60’s.

I recently went to a small club in Portland to hear a new favorite Country singer and songwriter of mine---Brennen Leigh, and at one point in the show she mocked the term Americana, opining that the term was used in the effort to make Country music cool to those who don’t view it as such. In her opinion, Country is already cool, and requires no validation from those who don’t think likewise.

Before Americana, there was the Alt-Country movement, spearheaded by the likes of Uncle Tupelo (members included Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar). And before that there was the Cow Punk scene, which was pretty big in Los Angeles. Both Alt-Country and Cow Punk were Country music made for Rock music audiences, and while I appreciated the band’s of that music’s apparent love of Country music, to me it sounded like kids attempting to play adult music.

There will never be another Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Thompson, Johnny Horton (his greatest hits album was my first LP purchase), Bob Wills, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens (though Dwight Yoakam is sure trying ), Tammy Wynette (my favorite female singer), George Jones (Gram Parsons would still be trying if he had lived), or any of the other artists we consider "real" Country. But if Merle Haggard records an Iris DeMent song, she’s Country. She has actually recorded music that sounds more Country than some of Merle’s own songs.