OK, so what's the big deal with these guys? Have they just been around long enough that they have good connections? Is there a cult following underground somewhere? The Eagles were on the Country Music Awards the other day with Vince Gill gushing all over them like a chubby little schoolboy. They were singing their latest single about well...I don't know what it was about but the song held no attraction for me nor did the band. Now I'm not against the Eagles. They were good back in the day. Back in the 70's. I can appreciate Hotel California as much as the next guy. It's just that they aren't country. Vince Gill supposedly said the Eagles have done more for country music than Ernest Tubb. Exactly what have the Eagles ever done for country music Vince, you deep dish has-been? Get off the crack pipe and go buy a George Strait cd or Brooks and Dunn or Allan Jackson-all of whom were at this award show--not to mention the Tubbs, Waggoners, Williams and Cashs who are turning over in their graves thinking about the state of country music.
5 comments:
Ahem! Where to start here?
To channel the immortal Gipper here, as a product of the '80s, your youth and inexperience are showing!
You are, of course, correct to take Mr. Gill to task for comparing The Eagles to Ernest Tubb. That's blasphemy. And, also correct to say that they're not country. True enough.
Looking through our social lens into the maelstrom that was the '60s, dripping over, Salvador Dali-esque, into the '70s, there was Country & Western music, and there was rock-n-roll, each with their adherents, essentially Rednecks and Hippies. But not much commonality.
Groups like Buffalo Springfield, Poco, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers started fusing the rock idiom with country, melding not only musical styles, but uniting social classes, as well. The Eagles certainly did not invent this fusion, but were arguably the most commercially successful of the lot. Messrs. Frey, Henley,[Bernie] Leadon (a long-time paramour of Patti Davis, daughter of Ronald Wilson Reagan), along with collaborator J.D. Souther, composer of "How Long" (their CMA performance) infused much of their first four albums (Eagles, Desperado, On The Border, One of These Nights) with just such a country-rock blend.
You referenced Hotel California, arguably one of the finest, most literate, and sonically perfect works of its decade, perhaps any decade. HC more or less marked the band's break from country rock, with the addition of former James Gang frontman Joe Walsh, giving them a bit more edge.
Like Fleetwood Mac's Rumours the following year, HC marked The Eagles' creative zenith, which they would never equal.
As the '70s rolled on, the Austin (just keepin' it weird, dude...) element brought the likes of Waylon, Willie, Jerry Jeff and others. And, of course, we mustn't forget Billy, Frank & Dusty.
So anyway, don't dis on The Eagles. Country, real country, they're not. But they're consummate musicians, and Henley's lyrics (former UNT English major), are some of the most intelligent in R&R.
BTW, is Amy Grant still married to Vince Gill?
Excuse me! What youth and inexperience are you referencing? You agreed with me on my whole point for this post. You made the exact case I did, you just used bigger and longer words. Shakespeare said, "When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain”.
Hey, bro, I'm just practicing my chops to be a newspaper rock critic. It's not whether I agreed with the blog or not, I needed a chance to break in my keyboard...
BTW, the Bard needn't worry, I gotta lotta words...
Proof that the Eagles are not country:
I can listen to them without gouging my eyes from their sockets.
Todd, is D² sayin' he don't like Merle an' Jerry Jeff an' Willie an' Buck an' DAC?
Why, that just ain't American.
Somebody's gittin' on the fightin' side of me...
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