ACM awards

[rajustice24]

Thanks for the info Tony, I've found your posts in this thread really informative and helfpul. I've always wondered why nearly everyone sounds so bad on the award shows. I've seen George, Brad, Carrie, etc and they were all dead on. Good to hear I wasn't just imagining things. Thanks for the information and send Ronnie our regards for being one of the best vocalists to ever come through Nashville.

[flyingb54]

Just my opinion, but live TV performing started its decline when country records started getting more complex and required more players on the stage than just the old four or five piece bands. It became too much for TV sound tech to juggle...It still is.
On SNL with Ricky Nelson, our soundman Clark sat inthe chair and did the sound. The sound was terrific.
But even on shows like Hee Haw and Nashville Now..the sound was generally real good when I did them with the Burritos & Bellamys.
However, it wasn't until shortly after I stopped doing those shows that country music took a real turn and became more complex in arrangements and content.
I think that major acts should require ( in their contract) that their live performances be engineered by someone of the groups choice...or not do the show and risk such a train wreck. Especially the majority of the weaker live acts.
Far as Im concerned, Ronny Dunn is one of the best singers I have ever heard and a perfect example of the difference between those that have talent..and those chart toppers who don't. Just my opinion, dont hang me.
JB
(below..Rick and I and sound man Clark Russell in the studio)

[tonytrout]

Originally Posted by MandyMarie

I wasn't able to watch but everytime one of these threads come up I can't help but feel like you guys are sort of angry at the wrong people.

If you want to blame someone for things being the way they are...you really have to blame the FANS (wait a minute...hear me out). They LIKE this stuff. And you can't be mad at someone for what they do or do not like. People support mainstream radio, they buy these albums, they sing these songs in the car, they're members of the fan club, they go to all the shows, they buy the concert tee, etc...THEY LIKE IT. And no one is forcing them to like it (it may be force fed to them via the radio but no one is forcing them to dig it) ...they just LIKE IT. Also, you can say that new country music is full of awful songwriting...but there's a million people who love the song you think is full of nothing but awful writing. It just doesn't do any good, people like what they like.

And just because one of your favorite performers wasn't on this awards show (George Jones, The Derailers, Wayne Hancock, Junior Brown, Dwight, Hal...whoever!) - that doesn't mean that they're not out there touring this country, working their butts off every single night and still being "successful." Keep an eye out on www.pollstar.com and support live shows...I bet there's a handful of people you don't even realize are still touring...and those people need you. You're not going to hear them on the radio...you're not going to see them on some major network award show...but they're probably going to be in your city at some point and they need ya! ...whew, sorry about that

BINGO!! We have a winner, ladies and gents!!

Originally Posted by Johnny Isaacs

Tony - I don't even know why you read these posts! You, Lou and the fellas sounded great as always working for the best singer in Nashville

You rock!

Who does Tony work for? I'm a bit slow here.....

Originally Posted by flyingb54

Just my opinion, but live TV performing started its decline when country records started getting more complex and required more players on the stage than just the old four or five piece bands. It became too much for TV sound tech to juggle...It still is.
On SNL with Ricky Nelson, our soundman Clark sat inthe chair and did the sound. The sound was terrific.
But even on shows like Hee Haw and Nashville Now..the sound was generally real good when I did them with the Burritos & Bellamys.
However, it wasn't until shortly after I stopped doing those shows that country music took a real turn and became more complex in arrangements and content.
I think that major acts should require ( in their contract) that their live performances be engineered by someone of the groups choice...or not do the show and risk such a train wreck. Especially the majority of the weaker live acts.
Far as Im concerned, Ronny Dunn is one of the best singers I have ever heard and a perfect example of the difference between those that have talent..and those chart toppers who don't. Just my opinion, dont hang me.
JB
(below..Rick and I and sound man Clark Russell in the studio)

Bingo again, John Beland---especially 'bout Ronnie Dunn...he's one of the best singers to come out of Nashville in a very long time!


(And that episode of SNL of Rick's is still one of my favorite episodes to watch!)

[Mike Dickerson]

What's sad is that there proably are millions that know of Buck only on HeeHaw.

[DMRoller]

Originally Posted by tonytrout

Who does Tony work for? I'm a bit slow here.....

Tony plays guitar and sings with Brooks and Dunn. He is a talented fellow.

Take care.
Dale

[flyingb54]

Johnny Isaacs says..."Tony - I don't even know why you read these posts! You, Lou and the fellas sounded great as always working for the best singer in Nashville"

I don't think anyone is slamming Tony for anything. Whats that all about?However, the show ( in my opinion ) sucked, and the majority of the acts sang like amatures on YOU CAN BE A STAR. Nobody singled out Tony and the band for a thing, as far as I can read. I'm sure he did his job the best he could. Not even Ronnie Dunn could save it...and thats saying alot. I thnk we all have the right to be heard on it, since we're all fans of country music.

I think the focal point here is on the acts themselves, not the sound guys or band members. It's the "front and center" talent. And I'm not talking about Brooks & Dunn.
And I don't think we should remain "frozen in the 60's" either, as others have suggested, but at the same time Nashville could at least deliver acts with more integrity, talent and diversity than what we witnessed the other night. Why is it that Brooks and Dunn are one of the few remaining major acts that can still belt it out with or without ear monitors. Why? Because they're just damned good, thats all.

I've been in this crazy record business for going on 4 decades. And thats 40 years of making records..country and rock. I've seen change going down throughout that time, and always applauded it. For the most part, change can be a healthy thing....if it's a change for the better.

But I'm just stating my own opinion, that as far as my tastes go, today's major label talent pool is the most shallow I have ever seen, and coming from a production viewpoint, I can tell you that when artists spend ( at least )a half a million to make a CD and have their final vocals comped from a dozen tracks, and then pitch corrected to boot, its no surprise that they cannot duplicate that peformance on live TV.

Nashville never catered to one specific young target audience like it does now. By todays standards, John Connolly, Don Williams, Dan Seals would never qualify for a deal based upon their looks. Their talent wouldn't even matter.

Give us more Ronnie Dunns, Vince Gills, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs and acts that always could be counted on to deliver the goods, whether its live or TV. Thats the point here.

If you feel that the quality of todays Nashville major label artists is much higher than the names I mentioned...well I guess Im through with this post. Im out of breath!
Cheers Peace Love & Teles.
JB

[tonytrout]

Originally Posted by DMRoller

Tony plays guitar and sings with Brooks and Dunn. He is a talented fellow.

Take care.
Dale

Kewl.




*We apologize for the hi-jack and now return you to your regularly scheduled thread already in progress*

[tadeo]

Originally Posted by flyingb54

Johnny Isaacs says..."Tony - I don't even know why you read these posts! You, Lou and the fellas sounded great as always working for the best singer in Nashville"

I don't think anyone is slamming Tony for anything. Whats that all about?However, the show ( in my opinion ) sucked, and the majority of the acts sang like amatures on YOU CAN BE A STAR. Nobody singled out Tony and the band for a thing, as far as I can read. I'm sure he did his job the best he could. Not even Ronnie Dunn could save it...and thats saying alot. I thnk we all have the right to be heard on it, since we're all fans of country music.

I think the focal point here is on the acts themselves, not the sound guys or band members. It's the "front and center" talent. And I'm not talking about Brooks & Dunn.
And I don't think we should remain "frozen in the 60's" either, as others have suggested, but at the same time Nashville could at least deliver acts with more integrity, talent and diversity than what we witnessed the other night. Why is it that Brooks and Dunn are one of the few remaining major acts that can still belt it out with or without ear monitors. Why? Because they're just damned good, thats all.

I've been in this crazy record business for going on 4 decades. And thats 40 years of making records..country and rock. I've seen change going down throughout that time, and always applauded it. For the most part, change can be a healthy thing....if it's a change for the better.

But I'm just stating my own opinion, that as far as my tastes go, today's major label talent pool is the most shallow I have ever seen, and coming from a production viewpoint, I can tell you that when artists spend ( at least )a half a million to make a CD and have their final vocals comped from a dozen tracks, and then pitch corrected to boot, its no surprise that they cannot duplicate that peformance on live TV.

Nashville never catered to one specific young target audience like it does now. By todays standards, John Connolly, Don Williams, Dan Seals would never qualify for a deal based upon their looks. Their talent wouldn't even matter.

Give us more Ronnie Dunns, Vince Gills, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs and acts that always could be counted on to deliver the goods, whether its live or TV. Thats the point here.

If you feel that the quality of todays Nashville major label artists is much higher than the names I mentioned...well I guess Im through with this post. Im out of breath!
Cheers Peace Love & Teles.
JB

John

I agree with you on everything you said. Thanks for the kind words. But I think it's important to point out the difference between live TV shows like SNL, Letterman, Leno, Nashville Now, etc. On those shows, the artists are usually the only one performing, or at worst, one of just a couple. You have more time to spend in soundcheck getting things right, then the board pretty much is left untouched til the telecast. Your odds of sounding good are much better. Contrast this to 10, 15 or more acts crammed into a short time period (awards shows), with minimal rehearsal/soundcheck time, using the same engineers for every band, and you have a recipe for disaster. An artist who nails it in the former type situations suddenly "can't sing" in situations like the latter. And the award shows are where you want to shine, cause you're compared to every other artist on the show. But I'm sure you've experienced all this as well


I've had the pleasure of standing beside and singing/playing with two of the best voices in country music history (Ronnie and Vince), and you're right John, we need more of them. And I don't really see any on the horizon.

Tony

[flyingb54]

Cheers back, Tony.
JB

[rodeo_joel]

I completely missed the show, but i'm pretty sure i'm glad i did. I was sleeping off a night out from my buddies bachelor party, hehe.

But seriously though, i'm glad i missed it. Watching these new pop/country acts that are popping up all over the place just gets me into a negative mood. I prefer to stay away from it all.

All i'll say is that i really don't think country music is making good progress. And from here on out its only going to get worse, but there's nothing we can do about it.

To all you guys out there that are like me and can't bear to watch the awards shows for the same reasons, just do what i do. Turn off the TV and go listen to your old Merle and Waylon tracks.

Peace Out,
Joel


....or you could do what Buck does and just change the channel to 'Desperate Housewives'

[superchicken_VI]

Originally Posted by Shnook

I've been subjected to Taylor Swift twice live when she was opening up for Paisley. Both of her sets were awful IMHO. No stage presence, way off pitch singing, really base simple songs about junior high school love, and the most ridiculous stage outfits I've seen in quite some time. However, as bad as my opinion of her was last summer, I had a mild respect for her since she was at least writing some original music, playing guitar, and attempting to sing. At the ACM Awards, I lost what little respect I did have for her. She looked like a wannabee thug at the start of the song, then tossed the guitar, lost her 'hoodie outfit' and in a blink of an eye looked like a teenage prostitute. Then she lip sync'd in the 'shower.' Yeah, she's a real normal down to earth girl living by her root convictions........

Every time I have heard her, even her studio stuff, I have thought that she wasn't a very good singer. I also think that the hoodie thing at the start of the ACM was out of place, and knew that she was going to emerge from it, I just wasn't sure how. I thought it was a fun part of the 3 minute show. The shower was interesting. It was a show, designed to be entertaining--not rep class. I also didn't think she looked like a teenage prostitute, she looked nice.

I'm not running out to buy her albums, but I'd buy one of hers before I bought one of Montgomery Gentry.