Living in "Takes-us", country is pretty gosh-darn big round here y'all !!

My band ( http://www.aintmisbehavinband.com ) - which often plays for a pittance [good thing we've all got real gigs] - is marketed as playing "Country, Rock and Oldies", tho' it tends to be more like Country, Oldies and Rock. The country stuff ranges from Shania Twain (we got a cute gal as one of the lead singers ?? maybe that's why we get those gigs LOL !!), Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson to Willie and Hank (senior).

Still, the rock is defintely "Southern", with the likes of Skynyrd, Kentucky Headhunters and ZZ Top on the list.

Country is a much maligned, mis-labelled too broad 'genre' - IMHO. If we talk Waylon, Wille and the boys, sure... pure tradional 2-step, waltz and boot-scootin' music. Not really my cup of tea.... However, when you get into the more 'modern' country, most of it is light [and not so light] rock. 12-bar with a twang !! Cross-over country IS definitely the most popular music hereabouts and they ain't afraid to let you know how they feel about it neither.

So... we play what the crowds want to hear. It's a lot of work keeping up with the latest stuff, but when you play cover music -you have to do it !!

We try to analyze our audiences too, but in my experience you never can tell. It depends on their age, how their week went, are they tired, are they there to party or just relax. Do they want to dance or just want background music to sit and listen to. Sometimes, it's ALL of the above, and the challenge is to make 'em all happy. Many times we've played thinking we did not 'gel' that night and had great feedback. Other nights you get off stage and go "WOW.. AWESOME gig dudes !!", yet the feedback is "You guys seemed a little off tonight" Duh ????

So I don't worry too much about it anymore. Folks hereabouts (as I said) ain't shy about coming up and letting you know how they feel, or make requests, so we tend to rely on crowd feedback as much as 'reading' the audience.

Just my $0.02
Regards,
Steve

[This message has been edited by S0C9 (edited 11-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by S0C9 (edited 11-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by S0C9 (edited 11-03-2003).]