Mention the word "country" and everyone imagines an evening at a ranch, when the whole day we were working hard in the fields and now have time for diner and to relax. At first, we try a meat dish, and then we open the bottle of whiskey or wine. A dog is sleeping near the fire and a cat is here about to tease the poor dog. Then we hear somebody is knocking on the door. Our neighbors are there to play bridge with us. When the game is over someone begins to play a tune on a fiddle. And soon country music is sounding, everyone is singing and dancing.
Maybe that's you're FATHER'S country music, but not these days!
Such an idyllic picture is in our head when we talk about country music. But country music of today is so different. I guess you have heard about blue grass music. You may think that it is something very close to traditional country music, but no, it is so sad and blue, that you probably will not want to listen to it at your Birthday party. Blue grass singers usually sing old ballads by Irish, Scottish and English people and the main topic of them is murder. And there is very little of fiddle in blue grass music, mostly voice of a singer and all the musical instruments are just to support a singer, to make his or her voice sound even better.
As for country rock singers, they perform an eclectic kind music. They try to make something unusual mixing rock music and traditional country music together.
The Grateful Dead and Lynyrd Skynyrd actually managed to make their music sound untraditional, but very nice. They tried to make something new, never heard before, but simple as the matter of fact.
The Grateful Dead have been playing for more than 40 years. Only Jerry Garcia's death has slowed them down. They began recording at the time when no one was interested in country music. It was the time of Beatles and Rolling Stones and people were more and more interested in electronic music. But Grateful Dead from San Francisco were ready to take a challenge and try. All of them were very talented musicians, and these country rock singers played all musical instruments one can imagine. They tried everything in their recordings - from a guitar to banjo and drums.
And they made all the musical instruments sound in harmony with each other. In their group there actually was no leader, as they were dedicated to hippy ideas and were all equally talented and active members of the band. They used so many musical instruments; they tried different kinds of country music and tried to mix it with different genres. And their fans tell that country rock was the best of all played by them.
This music is among those kinds which are difficult to determine. Music is very different and often it is very hard to draw the line between rock, country, pop music and even classical music. Seems like all these kinds are very different, but if fact, country rock singers are the best example of how two absolutely different genres can be united and sound amazing for people of all ages.
It is great for those people who were listening to country music all his or her life and those who were in love with psychedelic rock. Country rock singers help grandparents and their grandchildren to stop rowing and have wild fun together!