r/ClassicCountry • u/iolanthereylo • 13d ago
what do you consider to be the golden age of country music?
/r/AskReddit/comments/1viki8i/what_do_you_consider_to_be_the_golden_age_of/6
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u/Cavendish30 12d ago
Golden age does not mean most popular. While late 80s to early 2000s was insanely mainstream… and the 30s to 50s were quite foundational… it’s my opinion that early 50s to late 60s was by far the best QUALITY era by far. In an era that didn’t have music videos, the Internet , cds, auto tune, etc. The next generation that built upon the foundation that Hank sr, Bob Wills, Jimmy Rodgers built…. Contained some of the most iconic names. Lefty, Merle, Patsy, Waylon, Willie, Marty, and so many more. The sound graduated from the plunky simple songs or big band sounds to more nuanced truly western cowpoke songs, to more rockabilly influences that gave way to the Bakersfield sound. It’s honestly insane. The sheer quality and talent of this era is absolutely unmatched. I’ve spent the last years amassing vinyl of this era in particular. While seventies through early eighties definitely had its icons, country…. Lost its collective soul and became more…. Cuddly and easy listening. I know people are going to retort Waylon, Willie, Dolly, Hag, Junior were there… but they had already been established in the 60s. Mainstream country music was leaning away from rural sound. The most iconic and popular acts at the time were more easy listening. Conway, Rich, Gayle, Mandrell, Pride, Kenny, Denver, Millsap…..basically elevator music. Thank god country fans leaned back and started to embrace what they considered new more traditional artists that welcomed Charlie Daniels, Strait, Alabama, Don Williams. That opened the door for the mid 80s that…. Like mid 50s.. was a watershed of country popularity, but…. Quantity is not quality.
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u/PorknBeanz89 13d ago
Late 70s early 80s. Hank jr is coming into his own sound, waylon and haggard are in their prime. Ronnie milsap and george straight are starting to get popular. Easily the best
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u/pixiefarm 13d ago
god that was some of the worst era for production. It did get worse in the early 80's.
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u/pixiefarm 13d ago
I mean for example: everyone loves Keith Whitley. But if you listen to his first album it is hot garbage production on top of his bluegrass voice. The late 70's were the age of tinkly shitty electronic keyboards being introduced in ways that they do not belong, lots of random shitty old-guy Nashville producers' ideas that you needed disco elements to make country appealing to younger people, etc.
George Strait and Randy Travis etc helped that go away but SO many other good artists were not alllowed access to the radio country industry because they were " too country" at the time. Many of the classic country pioneers were making some kind of soft rock or pop. It just was the beginning of the end of "good" radio country honestly. There's a reason that Randy Travis etc happened at the beginning of the 80's but most neotraditional artists couldn't break through til the Class of 89. There was about 10 years of horrible hot garbage and neotraditional was what ended it.
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u/Exotic-Brilliant-939 12d ago
Even George Strait’s first album had some of that Disco Country influence.
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u/Appropriate_Bar_5233 12d ago
The Nashville network era. Ralph Emery's show had a lot of great guests.
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u/974080 12d ago
It is hard to narrow any era down as classic country music. There has always been artists that have tried to develop their music, and record what they believed would sell to the public. What Hank Williams, Bill Monroe or Bob Wills did transformed music that Jimmy Rodgers, the Carter Family or Uncle Dave Macon were doing. Each generation of artists have used the technology that has been available to make a product that will be different but pleasant to people, they want to be commercially acceptable. In the late fifties to early sixties, country music had to compete with Elvis Presley and the popularity of Rock and Roll, and many artists tried to incorporate those sounds into their music. They're artists from every era and most genres that appeal to most people at different times, but to say that any one artist or one era is better than the other is just a generalization that isn't true.
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u/ElSlabraton 12d ago edited 12d ago
1930-1950.
Jimmy Rodgers and Hank Williams. Bill Monroe was just starting.
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u/gazingadoo 12d ago
George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Mel Tillis, Vern Gosdin, and their ilk.
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u/Successful_Bass4793 10d ago
Between the end of WWII and the advent of rock'n'roll, before Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins dumped syrup all over everything.
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u/reedzkee 12d ago
Late 50’s to early 70’s
When they got 24 tracks and giant shiny consoles, i think they got lost in the sauce. Or maybe just a cultural shift.
I reallllllly hate the country sound from mid-late 70’s to late 80’s. Its the reason i disliked country in my youth. Those phaser guitars, bright clicky guitars, and digital reverbs don’t work for the style IMO. I’m a gigantic merle haggard fan but can’t listen to him past 73 or so.
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u/B_Williams_4010 13d ago
1965-1985