Americana

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

Like a lot of folks around these parts, I listen to a lot of rock music and country music from the past. “Classic” is the word the radio stations like to use, and that’s fine, as long as you’re actually talking about “classic rock” and “classic country” from the 1980s or earlier (the 1990s are getting into the “classic” era too, but we’re not going to talk about that).

But what about music from the modern era that is performed in the style of those classic rock and country artists? I’m talking about musicians who have not embraced modern music-producing technology and trends and play songs in the same vein as artists like Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. It’s a smart idea, since so many fans of those artists are kind of stuck listening to those oldie-butgoodie songs of days gone by. Well, good news…

See VIEWPOINT, page A9 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

If you want something with that Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Eagles or Charlie Daniels kind of sound but you want some songs you haven’t heard a million times, let me invite you to listen to some music from the “Americana” genre.

Americana is best described as kind of a country-rock hybrid that usually includes electric guitar right beside the banjo and/or fiddle. And most of the songs are “story” songs like you used to hear all the time in the 1970s during the peak of the singer/songwriter era from James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Johnny Cash.

Today, artists like Jason Isbell & the 200, Jamie Johnson, the Turnpike Troubadors, Avett Brothers, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Nightsweats and Dead South are carrying on the tradition.

Even established artists like Bruce Speingsteen, John Mellencamp and Stevie Nicks are dabbling in Americana, as is the “Godfather of Americana” Bob Dylan, so next time you’re listening to music, find some Americana!