Loretta Lynn

[Tonray's Ghost]

AHH..back to a time before country became glam rock

[mickey]

When I saw this thread pop up I had a cold chill because I was afraid it was an R.I.P. notice; Loretta is 89 years old & had a stroke some time back!
When we lived in Nashville we were on the west end of town. Quite frequently we would get on our bikes and take I-40 out to Hurricane Mills where Loretta has a restaurant just north of the Hurricane Mills exit. Supposedly, all the food they served was Loretta's recipes. I can't attest to that but can say they always had pickled okra on the salad bar which they made in the restaurant. I could eat more of that than anything in the place! Now I generally stay away from anything pickled because cucumbers & I don't get along! I suffer for days upon eating the tiniest bit whether raw, cooked or pickled! And when anyone says pickled there is generally some cucumber in there somewhere! Well, I could eat more of Loretta's pickled okra than I could fried okra! And I prefer fried okra to chocolate cake or apple pie!

Incidentally, Loretta owns Hurricane Mills, Tennessee the whole town! Somewhere around 7000 acres!

[PsychoCid]

Sure sounds like Americana

All Mickey's talk about okra over the years makes me want some. I don't think I've ever even seen it. Had to Google to figure out what it looks like!

[Gergo]

Thanks for the post. Loretta is the real deal. Glad she is still alive. The old masters are rapidly disappearing. Country music was so much better when I was a kid in the 70's. I don't know what happened to the genre, but it sure has gone to S**t. Now you get rock and roll for rednecks with lyrics that make Justin Bieber seem like a literary genius in comparison.

[mickey]

Sure sounds like Americana

All Mickey's talk about okra over the years makes me want some. I don't think I've ever even seen it. Had to Google to figure out what it looks like!

Well, if there is a Cracker Barrel anywhere around you it is worth a trip just for the fried okra! Not to mention the delish hashbrown cassarole!

[Tonray's Ghost]

Thanks for the post. Loretta is the real deal. Glad she is still alive. The old masters are rapidly disappearing. Country music was so much better when I was a kid in the 70's. I don't know what happened to the genre, but it sure has gone to S**t. Now you get rock and roll for rednecks with lyrics that make Justin Bieber seem like a literary genius in comparison.

If you listen to country music of this era you realize the musicianship and the tightness of how the backing band is integrated is rarely seen today. Just stupendous. The best of the best as far as musical talent even if one does not particularly like the genre. Listen to the integration of guitars both pedal steel and normal...just amazing

[Gergo]

Thanks for the post. Loretta is the real deal. Glad she is still alive. The old masters are rapidly disappearing. Country music was so much better when I was a kid in the 70's. I don't know what happened to the genre, but it sure has gone to S**t. Now you get rock and roll for rednecks with lyrics that make Justin Bieber seem like a literary genius in comparison.

If you listen to country music of this era you realize the musicianship and the tightness of how the backing band is integrated is rarely seen today. Just stupendous. The best of the best as far as musical talent even if one does not particularly like the genre. Listen to the integration of guitars both pedal steel and normal...just amazing

Yeah, I mean, I am a rocker at heart, so I am not a huge country music fan, but I certainly appreciate the old stuff and I certainly respect the amazing level of musicianship displayed, especially in that 50's-70's era stuff. I have always been amazed by the pedal steel. I have heard that they are very difficult to play well.

In my opinion, Garth Brooks was the beginning of the end for the genre.

[mickey]

Thanks for the post. Loretta is the real deal. Glad she is still alive. The old masters are rapidly disappearing. Country music was so much better when I was a kid in the 70's. I don't know what happened to the genre, but it sure has gone to S**t. Now you get rock and roll for rednecks with lyrics that make Justin Bieber seem like a literary genius in comparison.

If you listen to country music of this era you realize the musicianship and the tightness of how the backing band is integrated is rarely seen today. Just stupendous. The best of the best as far as musical talent even if one does not particularly like the genre. Listen to the integration of guitars both pedal steel and normal...just amazing

Yeah, I mean, I am a rocker at heart, so I am not a huge country music fan, but I certainly appreciate the old stuff and I certainly respect the amazing level of musicianship displayed, especially in that 50's-70's era stuff. I have always been amazed by the pedal steel. I have heard that they are very difficult to play well.

In my opinion, Garth Brooks was the beginning of the end for the genre.

Well, I am a country music fan. Didn't really start out that way but as the 70's rock went in the toilet while the country was peaking I switched loyalties.
I spent most of the 80's & 90's living & working in Nashville (which was a great time to be there) and was lucky enough to be in a job that put me backstage at things like the CMA awards.
That meant that I got to know & become friends with some of the biggest names in country music, also with some of the most fantastic pickers you've never heard of.
In my opinion, Nashville has always attracted the best players in the business. Many are "hired guns" that will play on a Loretta Lynn album today & a Ray Charles album tomorrow.
I agree with you that Garth Brooks was the start of the downhill slide because "the suits" decided he was the future.
Here are a few Nashville pickers just having fun.....



FYI: The blue Tele Brent is playing in the above video was all but destroyed in the Great Flood of 2010 in Nashville.
I believe he had it restored.

This is Brent with the blue Tele a few years after the flood:

[andrewsrea]

When I saw this thread pop up I had a cold chill because I was afraid it was an R.I.P. notice; Loretta is 89 years old & had a stroke some time back!
When we lived in Nashville we were on the west end of town. Quite frequently we would get on our bikes and take I-40 out to Hurricane Mills where Loretta has a restaurant just north of the Hurricane Mills exit. Supposedly, all the food they served was Loretta's recipes. I can't attest to that but can say they always had pickled okra on the salad bar which they made in the restaurant. I could eat more of that than anything in the place! Now I generally stay away from anything pickled because cucumbers & I don't get along! I suffer for days upon eating the tiniest bit whether raw, cooked or pickled! And when anyone says pickled there is generally some cucumber in there somewhere! Well, I could eat more of Loretta's pickled okra than I could fried okra! And I prefer fried okra to chocolate cake or apple pie!

Incidentally, Loretta owns Hurricane Mills, Tennessee the whole town! Somewhere around 7000 acres!

I am with you Mickey - my heart dropped when I saw the headline of this post! Glad it was not an RIP.

[Gergo]

If you listen to country music of this era you realize the musicianship and the tightness of how the backing band is integrated is rarely seen today. Just stupendous. The best of the best as far as musical talent even if one does not particularly like the genre. Listen to the integration of guitars both pedal steel and normal...just amazing

Yeah, I mean, I am a rocker at heart, so I am not a huge country music fan, but I certainly appreciate the old stuff and I certainly respect the amazing level of musicianship displayed, especially in that 50's-70's era stuff. I have always been amazed by the pedal steel. I have heard that they are very difficult to play well.

In my opinion, Garth Brooks was the beginning of the end for the genre.

Well, I am a country music fan. Didn't really start out that way but as the 70's rock went in the toilet while the country was peaking I switched loyalties.
I spent most of the 80's & 90's living & working in Nashville (which was a great time to be there) and was lucky enough to be in a job that put me backstage at things like the CMA awards.
That meant that I got to know & become friends with some of the biggest names in country music, also with some of the most fantastic pickers you've never heard of.
In my opinion, Nashville has always attracted the best players in the business. Many are "hired guns" that will play on a Loretta Lynn album today & a Ray Charles album tomorrow.
I agree with you that Garth Brooks was the start of the downhill slide because "the suits" decided he was the future.
Here are a few Nashville pickers just having fun.....



FYI: The blue Tele Brent is playing in the above video was all but destroyed in the Great Flood of 2010 in Nashville.
I believe he had it restored.

This is Brent with the blue Tele a few years after the flood:

Yeah, those were killer. I agree, a lot of the very best players were Nashville guys. A lot of those guys were country players who also moonlighter as rock sidemen, and vice versa. They were that versatile. I think a lot of Elvis sidemen were Nashville players, for example.

[mickey]

Yeah, those were killer. I agree, a lot of the very best players were Nashville guys. A lot of those guys were country players who also moonlighter as rock sidemen, and vice versa. They were that versatile. I think a lot of Elvis sidemen were Nashville players, for example.

Absolutely! Check out THIS thread. One of the pickers in the video I posted a link to there was James Burton.
The video is a Buck Owens/Bakersfield Sound tribute. James Burton was Rick Nelson's lead guitar player & and Elvis' second guitar player. His resume as a side man is beyond compare!
The video was made at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. James makes a comment about being nervous because his guitar hero was in the audience!

[Tonray's Ghost]

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