Monday, October 29, 2007

Porter Wagoner, RIP

The country music world lost a legend over the weekend with the passing of Porter Wagoner at the age of 80 (ABC News story here).

If you don't know much about me, you may not be aware that I've become a huge country music fan over the past 6 years or so...and please, friends, don't hold that against me! (C: I'm more of a fan of the newer stuff--Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry, Miranda Lambert, etc. Having said that, I also appreciate Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Bocephus, and Willie Nelson.

I'll admit to not being that familiar with Porter's music, but I'll cruise over to iTunes now (as I'm sure many are doing) to see what they have of his in their catalog. But what gets to me about his passing is that the "old greats" aren't getting any younger. We've already lost Johnny Cash and Waylon, Willie is in his 70s, and Hank Williams Jr. (a.k.a. "Bocephus" is approaching 60).

They truly do not make stars like these guys any more. It makes me wonder--will a Garth Brooks or Toby Keith still be going strong 30 years from now? Not to take anything away from them, it's just that I don't think they have the staying power of the classic artists.

I guess that's why these folks are the classics...

More later...

2 Comments:

snowelf said...

I always wonder about that too--I can think of few "newer" bands that are still going strong--U2 is one of them, but it seems so many artists are so trendy that their music just comes and goes--or the bands break up due to other stresses. I have a hard time having a "favorite" band because they are constantly changing!

--snow

p.s. I do like some country too, just not very much. ;)

jtj3 said...

U2, Aerosmith, and AC/DC are the ones that come to mind--but yeah, it seems like most artists these days of any genre have about a 3-5 year lifespan and then just fade away. And I'm like you, Snow--hard to pick a "favorite" at any given time...