Saturday, January 18, 2014

Recently Unearthed: Mandolin Orange

If you asked me to write a history book about music, the chapter about hipsters and country music would probably start with Johnny Cash. I grew up on country music, so at first I thought it was cute when Johnny Cash got the attention of hipsters, but I'm really, so sick of hearing his version of Personal Jesus, I really start to vomit every time I hear it. I really didn't like that song to start with and listening to him drag it out just makes it worse.

Anyway, today's topic isn't Johnny Cash. Personally, I don't have a problem with hipsters or Johnny Cash, was just trying to show the evolution of country music into a modern time that doesn't include Trace Adkins or some of the Jersey Shoresque country music that is out there today.

I've listened to my share of country music in the past. Remember how old I am. I was country when country wasn't cool, then stopped being country, then went back to country in the mid 90s. I've seen Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, and several other well known country acts live. I'm still planning to go see Kenny Rogers live before he's not live anymore. You might recall David Allan Coe's song "You Never Even Called me by my Name" that gives the recipe for a country song:

Well, I was drunk the day my momma got out of prison,
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But before I could get to the station in the pick-up truck,
She got runned over by a damned old train.


The kind of country music I like now is not about beer or cheatin', but its more of a sound, I like acoustic sounds: mandolins, banjos... dammit I even like a steel guitar when you do it right. So, on days like today, a band like Mandolin Orange hits the spot. I first found them on Daytrotter. Anyway, long story short...I like them, you might too.

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