re: Any 80/90s country fans?

I've been listening to the 80's/90's country station on Amazon Prime. I forgot how good the groups were in that era.

The Highwaymen
Alabama
Diamond Rio
Sawyer Brown
Blackhawk
Lonestar (before they went all adult contemporary)
Shenandoah
Confederate Railroad
Montgomery Gentry
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Bellamy Brothers

Also, the late 90s Chesney was so much better than what he tried to turn himself into today.

Prime Country is the GOAT XM station

Good list. Forgot about those.

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lsucoonass

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Earl Thomas Conley

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Doug Supernaw

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Loved him when he first came out - Reno and I Don't Call Him Daddy were great songs. So sad he fell into the bottle and never capitalized on what could have been. His son was an undrafted free agent out of Ouachita Baptist and has played for the Texans, Ravens, Chiefs and Titans.

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Rhett Adkins

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When That Ain't My Truck came out, he seemed like he was going to be a huge star. Unfortunately now he is better known for his son (Thomas Rhett) and as being the writer or co-writer on a ton of bro country songs (Boys 'Round Here, Parking Lot Party, etc.)

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Kentucky headhunters

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I remember seeing them at the first real concert I ever went to. Headhunters and Doug Stone were the two opening acts for Hank Jr on his 1991 tour.

Tracey Lawrence
Doug Stone
Daryle Singletary
Gary Allen
Joe Diffie
Kenny Chesney (Yes, he sang damn good country back then)
Sammy Kershaw
Tracy Byrd

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Alabama

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Responsible in large measure for the shitshow Country music has become today. They were not the first country-pop group, but they were the biggest. Without Alabama, there's no Bro Country.

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Responsible in large measure for the shitshow Country music has become today. They were not the first country-pop group, but they were the biggest. Without Alabama, there's no Bro Country.

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I've seen that said before, and I just can't buy it. Yes, Alabama brought a bit more of a rock sound to country music but they certainly weren't the first. They were building a lot on what Hank Jr and Charlie Daniels had done in the late 70s when they aligned with the southern rock scene. Bocephus and CDB were friends with/played shows with Skynyrd, the Allmans, etc.

Alabama just took a lead from that, as did Travis Tritt. Even lyrically I don't see Alabama as being part of the bro evolution. The closest you could maybe come is Dixieland Delight.

Chesney may be the closest to the patient zero of bro country, because he was the first that I can remember to start really heavily incorporating that laundry list of items in seemingly all of his songs. But, I think really you can't even blame him. The real rise came from the Jason Aldeans, Luke Bryans, etc. that were in college or playing in college towns and frat houses and tuning their music to fit that environment.

They had to relate, and unfortunately at the southern schools, especially among a large part of the Greek population, to relate you had to sing about lifted trucks, drinking, hooking up, and you had to throw in the musical influences of the different varieties of music college kids were listening to - which included hip-hop and rock. These few artists got big, and then everyone in Nashville followed the bouncing ball because it was selling, and with country radio being controlled by one or two major media conglomerates, you had to make the music that they would play.

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Kenny Chesney (Yes, he sang damn good country back then)

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First time we saw him in concert was at the Ozark Civic Center in Ozark Alabama, spring break 2000. This was shortly after She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy made it big, and they were raffling off an autographed John Deere riding mower. I'm not sure why he played there instead of Dothan, but we drove over for the show. It was still that 90s country feel before he started pretending to be a Pirate and living on an island.

I saw Martina McBride open for Garth Brooks in 91 or 92. She was working the merch table when we walked in, we commented how hot she was having no idea who she was. 30 minutes later she was on stage singing. She had just released her first big single "The Time Has Come" and we recognized the song.

She really was gorgeous back then. Still is I guess. Haven't really paid attention to her in years.

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