Country music (totally off topic)

[tomgallagher]

This is bluegrass:

<a href="http://youtube.com/v/zqn5qOOX6Fo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://youtube.com/v/zqn5qOOX6Fo</a>


This is country:
<a href="http://youtube.com/v/T4a7YOIfuRg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://youtube.com/v/T4a7YOIfuRg</a>

This is pop pretending to be country:
<a href="http://youtube.com/v/oM7NQQ0Lfu4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://youtube.com/v/oM7NQQ0Lfu4</a>

That about sums it up.

[tomgallagher]

Do you listen to the Country stations over there

There aren't any.

There aren't any in England.? I know they have them in Ireland.

[Chavster]

Do you listen to the Country stations over there and what particular artist do you like. That would give us some idea if you are a Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Kenny Chesney kind of guy or a George Jones, Merle Haggard. Johnny Cash, George Strait kind of guy and then we can go from there.

We dont have country music stations. There are a few shows on BBC radio that will play 15-20 minutes of country music once in a while, but I dont know of any dedicated country stations. There might be some online, but none that I know of.

Through some trickery on my iPad, I can listen to a dame called Delilah, who has a radio show in the US, and the show airs (UK time) from midnight until 6am. Its not broadcast on UK radio, so I have to hack my way in, and she'll sometimes play some country music, or at least what I imagine to be country music, but I guess I dont know if its country or bluegrass or punk rock

The UK obviously has some dedicated country fans, but the vast majority of the population thinks country music is a bit of a joke, so there's no demand for a country station.

Most radio stations here are controlled by the BBC, plus each town will have a few local independent radio stations, but they tend to be just rock or easy listening with a few exceptions.

[tomgallagher]

Wow, that sucks.

[Chavster]

Do you listen to the Country stations over there

There aren't any.

There aren't any in England.? I know they have them in Ireland.

Yeah but thats a different country

Ireland has 'Irish country', which does sound quite similar to American country music, but its Irish themed, and the songs are usually about towns in Ireland, pubs in Ireland, love affairs in Ireland, etc.

BBC Radio Oxford (which is my local station) has an Irish Country show every Sunday afternoon, because there's a big Irish population in the UK, but its not country music as you'd know it. Probably the biggest Irish Country singer is Daniel O'Donnell. Eww. He's like an Irish, untalented, mincing version of Barry Manilow. He comes from a little town in Donegal (part of the UK rather than Ireland, but right on the border), and he's the singer of choice for housewives over the age of 604.

[Chavster]

http://www.irishcountrymusic.com/daniel-odonnell-the-ultimate-collection-cd/daniel-odonnell-the-ultimate-collection-cd.htm

[tomgallagher]

The County of Donegal is in the Province of Ulster and is part of the Republic of Ireland not part of the UK. I've heard of sold out concerts put on by Garth Brooks and the like. To bad you can't hook up Andy. That's a shame.

[Chavster]

The border line has changed so many times over the years.

Ulster, according to the British, is another name for Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. Ulster, according to the Irish, is an Irish province which isnt part of the UK. The television station in Northern Ireland is called Ulster Television, even though its based in Belfast, which is a British city rather than an Irish city, as you know.

IMO, the term 'Ulster' should only refer to the province in Ireland, and not to Northern Ireland, however a) nobody is ever going to agree on the status of Northern Ireland, and b) some of the counties within the province of Ulster are physically in Northern Ireland, which is probably why the British often refer to the whole of Northern Ireland as 'Ulster', which is technically incorrect.

Also, because there have been so many peace treaties over the years, a lot of people in the extreme north of Ireland became British citizens, and some people in Northern Ireland became Irish citizens, which is all a lot of bullsh1t anyway because both countries are part of the European Union so the individual citizenship is a little irrelevant technically.

But if you look at some British maps of Ireland, they show the island of Ireland split into four provinces - Connacht, Munster, Leinster and Ulster - with Ulster being what is essentially Northern Ireland, a term in itself which is misleading because parts of County Donegal are further north than Northern Ireland

[Chavster]

Northern Ireland is often referred to as 'Ulster',[9] despite including only six of Ulster's nine counties. This usage is most common amongst people in Northern Ireland who are unionist,[10] although it is also used by the media throughout the United Kingdom.[11][12] Some people, mainly Irish nationalists, object to this use of the term.[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster

[Razor X]

Northern Ireland is comprised of two-thirds of Ulster.

[tomgallagher]

Donegal is one of the 26 counties that make up the Republic of Ireland and is governed by Dublin. It's got nothing to do with the UK. Educate those folks will ya Andy.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

I was under the impression that the blue grass style is older than "country."  To my understanding blue grass is more in the folk music tradition and much of the music can be traced in one fashion or another to English & Welsh roots.  Country is more "American" in its background.  Broadly speaking, Country would include Cajun music. Cajun, not Zydeco, has the same theme matter of Country, broken heart, problems with women or men--depending on the artist and such except that the language is a local French patois and, increasingly, Franglish--just plain bad French.  Zydeco is the African-American take on Cajun but is a distinct music style although often confused by the general listening public.  

[Razor X]

I was under the impression that the blue grass style is older than "country."  To my understanding blue grass is more in the folk music tradition and much of the music can be traced in one fashion or another to English & Welsh roots.  Country is more "American" in its background.  Broadly speaking, Country would include Cajun music. Cajun, not Zydeco, has the same theme matter of Country, broken heart, problems with women or men--depending on the artist and such except that the language is a local French patois and, increasingly, Franglish--just plain bad French.  Zydeco is the African-American take on Cajun but is a distinct music style although often confused by the general listening public.  

Bluegrass as we know it today only dates back to the 1950s. Bill Monroe is generally credited as the Father of Bluegrass. Obviously much the music itself is much older but it wasn't labelled bluegrass before the 50s.

[tomgallagher]

I was under the impression that the blue grass style is older than "country."  To my understanding blue grass is more in the folk music tradition and much of the music can be traced in one fashion or another to English & Welsh roots.  Country is more "American" in its background.  Broadly speaking, Country would include Cajun music. Cajun, not Zydeco, has the same theme matter of Country, broken heart, problems with women or men--depending on the artist and such except that the language is a local French patois and, increasingly, Franglish--just plain bad French.  Zydeco is the African-American take on Cajun but is a distinct music style although often confused by the general listening public.  

I always thought Cajun and Zydeco were the same thing. Thanks for educating me.

[Chavster]

Donegal is one of the 26 counties that make up the Republic of Ireland and is governed by Dublin. It's got nothing to do with the UK. Educate those folks will ya Andy.

I dont think they give a sh1t to be honest with you. The UK is so desperate to hold on to whats left of its empire that the views of other countries dont really matter. Towns like Belleek also blur things a little, because its right on the border of Fermanagh and Donegal, and there's no physical border between the two countries, and so people go back and forth without even considering which country they're in. Im not sure but I think most of Belleek is in the UK.

The UK has a lot of strange border and sovereignty issues. Ireland/Northern Ireland is the biggest, but Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Herm, Sark, Alderney, the Isle of Man...they're all very confusing. Crown Dependencies, Crown Colonies, Overseas Territories...wtf? And it was even more confusing when Hong Kong was part of the UK.

I doubt Northern Ireland will ever re-join Ireland, but I do think Scotland is heading for independence, and if that happened, we would (apparently) change the name of the country to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and we'd drop the United Kingdom.

Who knows. Im off to listen to Delilah

Time will tell