Country Bass

[Thunderthumbs73]

I've been listening to Joe Chemay who is all over Colin Raye's greatest hits album. Great, great playing. I think I would like to play in a really, really good, pro-quality/pro-gigging country band, but I don't live anywhere near Nashville. I think I have the temperment and skill set/interest for it. The very few country bands I see here are ok, but there are so few.

I think I like the fact that you can have songs with a bunch of tempos and styles (relatively speaking within the genre) and even ballads and most of the music has great harmony vocals. As a bassist/singer (or vice-versa) this is appealing.

Colin has a great voice, and so does Vince Gill. They light the way for me as they sing tenor, and I do to. Junior Brown, I ain't...

The songs aren't mind-blowingly technical from the bass player perspective, but I'm always listening to the larger whole, and can appreciate it. I also like the large ensemble sound that seems less and less common in rock music, which is acoustic guitar, at least one electric, perhaps two, keys, bass, drums, perhaps a fiddle or pedal steel or banjo or something. And then 3 part harmonies all over the place. I like that big sound.

I hate to be the pessimist, but the Eagles (Mr. Schmit! and Mr. Meisner!), CSN and Fleetwood Mac are never again going to drive the music tastes of the industry, and if those are sounds I like, maybe country music is the best and only place to get it. Or the closest I can get to it in terms of current music.

I just thought I'd throw it out there. There seems to be few country bass-specific threads out there. Unless I'm barking up the wrong tree. It might be cool to have a few country music-loving bass-friends out there.

My mortgage and poor housing market combined with the fact that EVERYONE is a musician in Nashville, so I'm not moving there anytime soon...

Well, back to the music.

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by Thunderthumbs73

I think I like the fact that you can have songs with a bunch of tempos and styles (relatively speaking within the genre) and even ballads and most of the music has great harmony vocals. As a bassist/singer (or vice-versa) this is appealing.

The songs aren't mind-blowingly technical from the bass player perspective, but I'm always listening to the larger whole, and can appreciate it. I also like the large ensemble sound that seems less and less common in rock music, which is acoustic guitar, at least one electric, perhaps two, keys, bass, drums, perhaps a fiddle or pedal steel or banjo or something. And then 3 part harmonies all over the place. I like that big sound.

...if those are sounds I like, maybe country music is the best and only place to get it. Or the closest I can get to it in terms of current music.

I agree, the vocal harmonies are a big part of what I like about country. Also I just love the sound of the pedal steel.

[Thunderthumbs73]

Amen on both the harmonies AND the pedal steel.

[Thunderthumbs73]

I wonder if there are a lot of bass players here who play country music or not. I see lots of real bass-o-holics and all (and I am one too!), but I don't see a lot of presence or impact of country music here as topics, players, bands, influences, etc... For instance, I would LOVE to see a who is the best/worst bass player in country music "war" (just one) with nearly the same conviction and wide-spread appeal/interest as the weekly pro-Jaco and anti-Jeff Berlin stuff that goes on. Not that I encourage mindless infighting, but you get the point, hopefully.

And in terms of bassists cited and favorites and all, I'm not sure if I've seen but perhaps one mention of Glenn Worf in my general comings/goings on this TB place. Or am I just somehow hitting all the wrong threads that attract all the bassists who like/listen to/play everything BUT country music?

I could just be inhabiting all the "wrong" places to find people who are knowledgeable about and interested in bass playing in the country genre? Or I could just be wrong.

I've been listening to a lot of Jerry Reed and Albert Lee lately, and also Brent Mason. Colin Raye is fantastic, and I hope to get more into Vince Gill. I've always known Kenny Rodgers is fantastic and is a landmark artist. Some of my earliest concert experiences as a kid were the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama and the Statler Brothers. We can credit the West Virginia State fair and my parents for those experiences... Watched Hee-Haw a good bit too.

[SoComSurfing]

I've been getting more and more into country-ish tunes. More of the alt-country / americana thing, really.

Ted Russell Kamp, bass player for the .357s, Shooter Jennings' band, is one of my favorites. Everything he plays is very tastefully done, and always compliments the song very well. His solo work is terrific, as is his work with Shooter.

[Thunderthumbs73]

Yes. As I've gotten older, I've become more interested in quality of songs, playing contextually with in them than whoever is "the new Jaco." Don't get me wrong, I can and still do appreciate those who are very capable players and who show it. I just haven't bought a "bassist's bassist" kind of album in years. I think the last one was Michael Manring who is not only awesome, but very musical and he's an incredibly nice guy to boot.

I've just recent had as many "zen" moments playing certain whole notes or certain very untechnical passages, if not more, than moments where I was doing "The Chicken" ala Jaco... ....or things like that. I remember one of my last gigs where I played "New York State of Mind" earlier in the evening, and then I played "The Chicken" later in the evening. The Billy Joel tune just felt better, even though it was nowhere near a "bass highlight" that "The Chicken" was.

I like the twang of the guitars, the pedal steel sound and those vocal harmonies. Very cool. I don't have much Americana (I don't think...), but here's about as close as I have:
David Baerwald- "Here Comes The New Folk Underground" This album has a song called "Why" which seems to be Americana to me with nice three part harmonies, drums with brushes, accordion, upright bass and so on. This song was featured in the movie "The Crossing Guard" with Jack Nicholson and Robin Wright Penn. Great movie, great song. The album as a whole is really excellent even though it's not a definite "country" album.

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by Thunderthumbs73

I've just recent had as many "zen" moments playing certain whole notes or certain very untechnical passages, if not more, than moments where I was doing "The Chicken" ala Jaco...

Playing the bass... one of the two best things in the world!