Cowboy hats losing their cool?

[HudsonHawk]

Great video Hudson. The Adams ranch is in my parents hometown of Ft. Pierce, we had family and friends who worked cattle down there.
Way I look at it, Cowboy is a state of mind...

People tend to think of Florida as all Disney World and Miami Beach. It's a shame really.

 

[barrowjh]

Enjoyed the video, HH. I make regular eldercare trips to the Punta Gorda area and my Sister and her husband are there also. She's a district aide to a FL house representative and has shared many stories about the ranches and ranchers in that area. When you visit an inland antique store(s) such as those in Arcadia you see the cowboy hats and boots, always showing a heavy dose of genuine wear.

 

[Hoyt Clagwell]

I think most lounge members don't worry too much about what is cool and what isn't. And thank you Darius Rucker for screwing up Wagon Wheel.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My tastes in country tend to be strictly Old School


[video=youtube;cVv1JAUVsBo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVv1JAUVsBo[/video]

 

[Pinhead]

I don't even listen to modern "country" music. I detest it.

Willie, is an informal friend, whom I have met many times. We used to happen upon some of his impromptu "parties" when I was a lad.

Poseurs wear a pristine cowboy hat with their pressed jeans.

A real cowboy hat is a little bit disturbing in its abused, actual form.

 

[hatophile]

I don't even listen to modern "country" music. I detest it.

Willie, is an informal friend, whom I have met many times. We used to happen upon some of his impromptu "parties" when I was a lad.

Now I bet Willie can throw a party! Sometime I'd love to go to one of his 4th of July concerts.

 

[Pinhead]

Now I bet Willie can throw a party! Sometime I'd love to go to one of his 4th of July concerts.

In Austin!

Do you, "partake"?

"I'll never smoke weed with Willie, again."

(I was a little bit off, and wild, when I was a child.)

 

[hatophile]

In Austin!

Do you, "partake"?

"I'll never smoke weed with Willie, again."

(I was a little bit off, and wild, when I was a child.)

Those days are long gone for me. Now it's a couple of beers here and there.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Hank III wears cowboy hats with Misfits T-shirts which seems the only appropriate way to do it.

 

[gtdean48]

Only a few country musicians/singers are cowboys = George Strait, roper, late Chris LeDoux, bronc rider, to name a couple. They wear the hat...

 

[Historyteach24]

I think most lounge members don't worry too much about what is cool and what isn't. And thank you Darius Rucker for screwing up Wagon Wheel.

This may be the best post of all time! Old Crow should be horrified what he did to their (along with Bob Dylan's chorus) song

 

[Hoyt Clagwell]

I'm sure that Old Crow will make a buttload from royalties off of Darius Ruckers version,and don't get me wrong I tend to like Darius Rucker as a singer,but that song should have been left alone.The original version still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up with the lamenting harmony and string accompaniments.

 

[gtdean48]

I'm sure that Old Crow will make a buttload from royalties off of Darius Ruckers version,and don't get me wrong I tend to like Darius Rucker as a singer,but that song should have been left alone.The original version still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up with the lamenting harmony and string accompaniments.

He took it to number 1 on the country chart & heard his interview where he said he was really worried about covering it...being raised on bluegrass I prefer the original but like Garth covering "Calling Baton Rouge" even though I prefer New Grass Revival's original...it's all good...IMHO

 

[Lawrence Ullman]

My 16 year old daughter insists that "cool" and "country" are mutually exclusive terms. "Popular," yes. But "cool"? No way. Well, except for Willie.

 

[JPH]

I remember wearing cowboy hats back in the late 70s, then "Urban Cowboy" came out and it was 'all the rage' to wear cowboy hats, western shirts, boots and listen to Country music. It was the latest 'cool' fad, and tough to prove you weren't just another fad follower. That's about when I started wearing military BDUs and accoutrements almost exclusively, at least until that too became a fad in the mid 80s. Sheesh! That is why I started to say "I don't follow trends, I SET them."

At least kilts didn't catch on like that after "Braveheart" or "Rob Roy" came out. I believe it was the cost of authentic Scottish apparel that nipped that in the bud, which was a good thing because I had a few thousand dollars tied up in my heritage clothing. I met my wife while in a kilt and married her in one. In fact I was wearing more money than she was that day.

Then in the 90s Country music gained popularity again with some of the newer artists gaining crossover fame. I thought, "Here we go again..." :eusa_doh:

To me, Barbara & George said it best; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DDPPvPL_09w#t=21s

 

[AtomicEraTom]

They sure did.

To me, Barbara & George said it best; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DDPPvPL_09w#t=21s

I was training a new kid today and he was what my sister calls a 'wannabe redneck kid.' He had on what I refer to as 'lowest common denominator radio' our local 'Country' station. They play the same ten songs all day and will throw in a couple older ones here and there. They played an older tune and I stopped the forklift and told him "Hey, kid. This is the real deal. This is real Country music, and the crap they're putting out today ain't."

Wanting to look cool, he immediately went off about how much he hates the new Country tunes and that they're a joke, blah, blah, blah. I told him that I saw him constantly turning up the radio in the warehouse and singing all the words to the songs. He had little to say after that lol

I wish we could get the Classic Country station the AM dial to come in out in the warehouse, but all the concrete and conduit won't allow it.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I remember wearing cowboy hats back in the late 70s, then "Urban Cowboy" came out and it was 'all the rage' to wear cowboy hats, western shirts, boots and listen to Country music. It was the latest 'cool' fad, and tough to prove you weren't just another fad follower. That's about when I started wearing military BDUs and accoutrements almost exclusively, at least until that too became a fad in the mid 80s. Sheesh! That is why I started to say "I don't follow trends, I SET them."

I'm the same way. I invented "grunge". Only they didn't call it "grunge" then, just "sloppy, hungover college student".

 

[Two Types]

This is rather off my territory (for me, Kent and Sussex etc are the South) but I can't see what the issue is. So what if a singer does or doesn't wear a hat? Let the music be identified by its quality not by its hat.

Also, if a musical style (and any art form) doesn't change and reinvent itself, it will die.

 

[HudsonHawk]

This is rather off my territory (for me, Kent and Sussex etc are the South) but I can't see what the issue is. So what if a singer does or doesn't wear a hat? Let the music be identified by its quality not by its hat.

Also, if a musical style (and any art form) doesn't change and reinvent itself, it will die.

The issue is that most contemporary "country" singers have abandoned the traditional sound, trying to turn traditional American folk music into mainstream pop. The lack of the traditional cowboy hat is simply symbolic of that transition. Perhaps some think this is a good thing, but not all traditions need to be "reinvented" to appeal to the lowest common commercial denominator.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Country Western made plenty of changes in the past that made sense. From Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff with their cowboy songs, we went on to Honky Tonk songs from guys like Faron Young and Webb Pierce, which from there came smoother sounds from Conway Twitty and Ray Price, which even included fully orchestrated music. From there, we went into the Urban Cowboy sound of guys like Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee. The 80's and 90's were very similar, with plenty of upbeat tunes with steel guitar, and fiddles being accompanied by electric guitars. Joe Diffie, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, George Strait. There was a lot going on there from party songs to rodeo songs. That was up until the mid-to-late 90's, which is when things really started to shy away from Country and what was great about it, and it turned into commercialized pop. Over the past 10-15 years, it's really lost its edge.