Irish Country (& Western) please explain
Discussion
Found some of this stuff on the telly recently. It`s awful. Why are the Irish pretending to be from Texas?
e.g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jww__APQRI
The Irish folk influence of over a century ago isn`t what this is about.
What is it about?
e.g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jww__APQRI
The Irish folk influence of over a century ago isn`t what this is about.
What is it about?
Fans of that stuff might say the same about the music you like.
I mean... he's probably not too keen on this tune that I keep listening to these days: http://youtu.be/AuaGfbgjNfU
I have no idea why I'm suddenly listening to old skool rave. It's awful when you think about it.
I mean... he's probably not too keen on this tune that I keep listening to these days: http://youtu.be/AuaGfbgjNfU
I have no idea why I'm suddenly listening to old skool rave. It's awful when you think about it.
"Country and Monaghan" has been popular in a lot of Ireland since the 1960s at least. It always had a large fan base in the North West of the country. I lived in Sligo back in 1980 and it was the most popular form of music up there - more popular than mainstream charts, more popular than Irish traditional music and even more popular than "normal" American Country and Western.
I think the reasons are complicated.
It DOES share some of its roots with Irish folk music, so Irish people can identify with it
The sentiments in the songs are/were often simple and sentimental and appealed to simple rural folk
The melodies are simple and easy to remember. Somebody also mention "foot tapping" - which is true.
When I used to go to "dances" in the Sligo area (I was a young blade in those days), it was in the tail end of the disco era but in Sligo disco hadn't really happened. The vast bulk of the venues were hotel ballrooms with live bands playing both Irish and American country style music. Some of it verged on rock and roll (which also has country and folk roots) so there was lots of jiving opportunities.
However, for a Dub like me, it was all a bit alien and Dubliners on the whole used to be a bit dismissive of the whole phenomenon. These days I am far more likely to listen to country music of all sorts (including the Irish variety).
Also, once I started playing guitar in the mid 1980s, I found that a lot of these songs were "singable" and "playable".
I think the reasons are complicated.
It DOES share some of its roots with Irish folk music, so Irish people can identify with it
The sentiments in the songs are/were often simple and sentimental and appealed to simple rural folk
The melodies are simple and easy to remember. Somebody also mention "foot tapping" - which is true.
When I used to go to "dances" in the Sligo area (I was a young blade in those days), it was in the tail end of the disco era but in Sligo disco hadn't really happened. The vast bulk of the venues were hotel ballrooms with live bands playing both Irish and American country style music. Some of it verged on rock and roll (which also has country and folk roots) so there was lots of jiving opportunities.
However, for a Dub like me, it was all a bit alien and Dubliners on the whole used to be a bit dismissive of the whole phenomenon. These days I am far more likely to listen to country music of all sorts (including the Irish variety).
Also, once I started playing guitar in the mid 1980s, I found that a lot of these songs were "singable" and "playable".
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