Anyone here in a gigging country cover band?

[telefuzzfreak]

A few friends and myself are thinking of throwing together a country cover band here in town to make some side cash. Problem is, we have been out of the country music scene for awhile. We'd love to do some great older stuff like Dwight Yokam, Marty Stuart, Kentucky Headhunters, etc....but we really don't know that much new country stuff. I guess we all kinda think that new country doesn't really sound country.

Anyway...for you guys that gig....could we get away with playing just a few newer tunes, or would they have to be all new stuff.

[loudboy]

Get a big hat and some old Bon Jovi records and you'll be fine.

[telecopter]

Originally Posted by loudboy

Get a big hat and some old Bon Jovi records and you'll be fine.

You got it...:AOK

[fender tele]

We do as much current to recently current country as we can get learned (day jobs, families, life in general), some older country, classic rock. I'm wanting to get a little more adventurous & do something like "Evenflow" or something a little more rocking. Some of the bars we play at are definitely younger & we can get away with rockin a little harder. One of the bars is just the opposite. I get to sing Haggard, Jones, Gosdin, Frizell, Ray Price etc etc a lot more.

But even in the younger bars, I force feed em at least one classic country tune per set.

[telemike]

I have a country covers project that gigs regularly. My experience is that you have to do current country, and mix in some reliable classics. If you just do older material then you risk only appealing to a crowd that really doesn't spend much time in bars. Festivals are a little more lenient, but most want to hear a good mix. We don't even call ourselves country. We use the term country rock instead. We just don't get the bookings in clubs unless we throw in the rock reference. We also change up our set list depending on whether we are playing a country dance hall, or a pop/rock club.

Most of the new country that is out there is really rock based. Good examples are Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Miranda Lambert. You hear more distorted guitars than clean Teles for sure. We can make anything sound country because we have a pedal steel. Having two lead instruments is really the way to go. You can cover all of the bases without losing the essential elements. We also pay a lot of attention to tempos so that we don't goof up the line dancers. One last thing, keep the ballads to a minimum. We only throw in one or two per set.

Good luck y'all.

[Teleman]

I've been doing country covers for 16 years with my band. www.smokehouseband.net
With alot of success. We keep it moving and not too many ballads.
The key is to pick tunes that will put people on the dance floor. Do that and you'll gain popularity and all ways work.
Our list of country tunes covers songs mostly from the early 90's to current country tunes. We have some of the old material that we can draw on if requested but it is not part of our regular song list. Our song list runs from Alabama to ZZ Top.
With some Skynard, Marshall Tucker, Beatles etc. thrown in for good fun.

[Gas-man]

I just did four hours with a band that does "classic country".

I've done quite a few gigs like this and it doesn't really go over that great.

I think you need newer stuff. There's only so much Merle a guy can play.

Again, it goes to playing what YOU WANT versus playing what PEOPLE WANT.

This is most band's biggest mistake.

I've played Mama Tried to indifferent audiences so many times it's hard to even describe.

Now I'm not a big Kenney Cheese-ney fan, but if gets people going and puts more money in my pocket you better believe I'm going to do some of his material!

[Cap'n Fingers]

I used to gig in a country/classic rock band.
We did a few recent tunes but not what I
would call heavy on the current stuff. We did
well, people got into it. We had a phenom singer
which is a BIG influence on what tunes you can
get away with.

It sounds like the prevailing opinion is you need to
be heavy on new material. I think that new stuff
will get you the bigger gigs but I don't agree
that the classics appeal more to people that don't
spend much time in the bars. There are as many
classics radio stations as there are new music
stations. The same goes for bands. Younger
bar goers like classics too.

I say play tunes your band sounds good doing.
Have someone at your gigs collect data on crowd
response to each tune you do. Use that data to
add and subtract tunes.

[greggorypeccary]

Just got into a country band myself. Not being into country, I have no idea what's current or popular (in any genre fro that matter...). I guess we're doing mostly recent tunes, at our first gig on Friday most of the people (early-mid 20's) knew the tunes, so we went over well and I had a good time.
A great female singer definitely helps.

Heck, I'm just the guitar player, I learn what she wants to sing!

[mwc2112]

I'm not in one, but talk to a buddy of mine regularly who is. I know they like to put a lot of newer stuff in, mostly because they draw a younger (20's and 30's) crowd.

I think Ed Degenero plays in a country band for one of his gigs too... maybe he'll chime in.

[SouthernShred]

I spent most of last year gigging 8-10 times a month in a country band and it was all new country...Jason Aldean, Rhett Akins, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, etc...nothing old...made darned good money and packed the dance floor...too bad the singer turned out to be a d*ck

[Ed DeGenaro]

My money gig is the Country hang we do like 1 or e traditional tunes per set as a matter in my Guitar player interview I referred to it as 80s Metal with cowboy hats.

[guitarmook]

We do a mix of newer 'Texas Country' stuff (no nashville), some classics (Willie, Waylon, Cash, Haggard), and originals. About 1/3 each. That's been working fairly well for us.

[jtm622]

I play in a Classic Rock/New Country band, and will tell you that the new country stuff is a lot more fun to play... Some old "Ray Price" shuffle-type stuff does go over with the audience, but Haggard, etc., tend to go over about like a fart in a scuba tank...
But here's what I like: you can get away with playing a LP/Marshall on most of those tunes, as opposed to just the standard Tele/Fender rig, as lots of the newer country stuff is just rehashed "southern rock" from the '70's.
That said, the one thing I would point out is that current country material usually has "tricked-up" arrangements which takes more band rehearsal time to get right... (You can forget that old I - IV - V stuff and faking it on the fly...)

[Gas-man]

Originally Posted by Ed DeGenaro

My money gig is the Country hang we do like 1 or e traditional tunes per set as a matter in my Guitar player interview I referred to it as 80s Metal with cowboy hats.

Originally Posted by jtm622

as lots of the newer country stuff is just rehashed "southern rock" from the '70's.

So which one is it?

Is new country Southern Rock from the 70's or Bon Jovi pop from the 80's?