Copperhead Road...Country or Southern Rock?

[PRW]

That's Steve Earl's M.O.
Not a box big enough for him.

This … it‘s like Johnny Cash, undefinable and un-pigeonholeable.

 

[Flyin' Brian]

Avant-garde, jazz, pop, classical, country and western, rock, free, straight-ahead, etc. are ultimately meaningless terms in the face of the music being discussed at best - at worst, those terms often serve as code words for what is in fact a cultural / political discussion more than a musical one.

~ Pat Metheny

 

[DewieCox]

Country. It has fiddle, it has mandolin, it has moonshine running, it has a nasally singer. All it is missing is a pickup truck.

I feel like a pickup is strongly enough implied to qualify.

I remember it showing up alongside other country music videos of its day, along with stuff like Fogerty’s Run Through The Jungle. Definitely rural…Sits so well alongside other country music

 

[TubeStack]

I recall hearing Earle say that while the song was a hit, it was “too country for rock and too rock for country,” or something along those lines.

 

[pete692]

Love the song, but dang, I hate the drum sound on that album

 

[macula56]

It's redneck rock. Closer to swamp rock and way too good a song to be considered southern rock.

 

[Mentat]

Your band mates are wrong and you are right. That is a really good song and it's not a country song. Ask your buddies why it was played on all the Rock stations.

 

[JukeBoxRat]

Back in the 90s, my guitar teacher used this song as a learning tool in one lesson. I believe he introduced it by saying "You love the Stones, you'll dig this". He was very right, though I prefer albums like I Feel Alright, El Corazon, and Transcendental Blues. Still, this was my first exposure to Steve Earle. Thanks Alex!

 

[Monkeyboy23]

It's rock, but Steve sounds like a hick and people get confused.

 

[rwmct]

Ask your buddies why it was played on all the Rock stations.

I agree.

Though, to be fair, the "rock stations" also played Vincent" and "Fire & Rain." Emmylou Harris' cover of "Easy from now on" also, now that I think about it. So it was not just rock on the rock stations.

But yeah, in the album version, its a rock song. First time I had ever heard Steve Earle was on WPLR or WHCN in CT.

 

[Steadfastly]

My bandmates seem to think it's country, but I wholeheartedly disagree.

Thoughts?

I don't really care. I just like the song.

 

[Nebakanezer]

This first part is country to me

When the full band is in I call it 70s rock

The tiebreaker? The line dance says it has to be Country.

Play it in any country bar and the dance floor gets filled up with a few folks that wholeheartedly know the line dance and a bunch of folks that are drunk enough to try and follow!!!!

 

[urizen]

......it's obviously redneck rock.....'n I mean obviously !

 

[urizen]

A Texan arrangement might have allowed an accordion but never never a bagpipe. That's been outlawed in Texas for many years.

The accordion is because of the Mexican roots and the bagpipes are a nod to the Scots-Irish roots....mix 'em up and you got you some strong rebel roots

 

[guitarjazz]

The accordion is because of the Mexican roots and the bagpipes are a nod to the Scots-Irish roots....mix 'em up and you got you some strong rebel roots

Word!

 

[El Rey]

The accordion is because of the Mexican roots and the bagpipes are a nod to the Scots-Irish roots....mix 'em up and you got you some strong rebel roots

Spice it and swamp it up with a dash of Zydeco. I could imagine it, so could my Cajun brothers.

I love playing in the Casinos in Shreveport (also the home of one of my favorites...James Burton).

 

[Knucklehead71]

You could easily throw in some bagpipes in that song and they would fit right in!

 

[TubeStack]

You could easily throw in some bagpipes in that song and they would fit right in!

There are bagpipes in the intro.

 

[Knucklehead71]

LOL, sorry I have a stupid sense of humor sometimes.

 

[Riffi]

You could easily throw in some bagpipes in that song and they would fit right in!