This one was made by the BBC about the time of O Brother, Where Art Thou?. It's a little surprising to find British people interested in American country, although the Chieftains did an excellent album around the similarities between Irish and American Country music once.
Still, interested they were, and they got a lot right. There are a few quibbles, but it's a good piece overall. Being a few years older, these documentarians got to talk to some of the greats who are gone now.
The second part focuses on my favorite parts of the genre.
Years ago I did a concert tour of Mediterranean islands.
ReplyDeleteWhen we met local people in our off-hours (restaurants, shopping, doing touristy things, and they asked what we were doing, they would immediately ask if we did country music when we said we were doing concerts.
Their interest visibly dissipated when we told them it was pop, as they have plenty of people doing pop already.
It surprised me at the time, but after many weeks of this it began to sink in that people in Europe actually really like American country music.
https://www.theflatearthpodcast.com
ReplyDeleteThis site has an ad page for Flat Earth music man, it contains some samples of the playlist. He has that customized accent and sounds like country.
Way back when I was first in Japan, I wandered around until I found a neighborhood pub. I went in and ordered a beer and let the alien ambiance soak in. Something seemed oddly familiar though ... the background music was a country station like something I might've listened to back in Oklahoma.
ReplyDeleteI've mentioned Charlie Nagatani and the Cannonballs here before, a Japanese country band that's played for US servicemen up and down Japan and has played the Grand Ole Opry 29 times.
It's not big in Japan, but it's there.
"the Chieftains did an excellent album around the similarities between Irish and American Country music once." I'll have to check that out. Similarly, the Chieftains also have a rather interesting album looking at similarities between Irish and Chinese music! The Chieftains in China. I rather like it.
ReplyDeleteIt surprised me at the time, but after many weeks of this it began to sink in that people in Europe actually really like American country music.
ReplyDeleteI worked in Trinidad with a guy who was a big Charley Pride fan. Not an expat, a Trini.