By Scott Coner
Country Artist
When I first began
playing guitar, my appreciation for music began changing around the same time.
I wasn’t really exposed to FM music until I was around 15 years old, so as I
have said countless times, I listened to country music that my parents listened
to, and I had an AM radio in my bedroom that played whatever Top 40 pop hits
were on the charts.
It was around this time
that I washed the family car and my dad’s work truck on the weekends for extra
spending money. One weekend was a little different though. My older sister must
have needed her Maverick washed, so I worked on it as well. I remember exactly
where it was parked in the backyard as I fiddled around with an 8-track tape
called “Toys In the Attic” by a band called Aerosmith. I was scrubbing the tires when “Walk This Way” came on.
I had never heard anything like it before. The drums at the front of the song
were cool, but when Joe Perry cut
loose on the guitar hook, I saw guitar possibilities in high definition.
These days, most of us
have heard that song a million times on the radio. We know about the drugs and
drama that followed that band around for several decades. And we know about, at
least to some degree, how many outstanding songs they have released. But for
me, as far as that band goes, everything comes back to Joe Perry. His guitar
work is outstanding, and the “tone” of his guitar is dark and deep.
There have been several of
these bands around that just had a “sound” or a “tone” that is so recognizable
that the listener only needs a second to establish just who is on the radio. My
mind goes to the bands Boston, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Dire Straits, or
Pink Floyd. These bands came to us
with strong music, but they had a sound that was theirs and only theirs.
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| Scott Coner performs (Photo by Cynnamae Media Productions) |
In today’s music, I
sometimes think this variable may be missing. I don’t think this lack of a
trademark sound is missing only in the current rock genre. I believe it is
missing in a big way in country music as well. Maybe the business of music has
changed in a way that is based on money. There are union players in Nashville
that are so good, so amazing, that they could easily play and record up to an
album a day every day of the week. This is without a doubt remarkable, and I
don’t mean to take anything away from such a talent. It saves time and money to
be this precise at anything. But, if this is happening at a large scale around
Nashville, don’t you think in the end, most of the music begins to get
“sterilized” in some way? Have you not noticed that nearly all of the tones,
the vocal mixes, the drums, as well as the guitars, tend to sound alike in
certain ways these days?
There is an
outstanding documentary on Netflix right now called “The Wrecking Crew”. The show documents the process of an
outstanding group of West Coast session players and how they shaped a large
portion of 1960s and 1970s pop music. I will freely admit that some of those,
if not most of those tracks, were perfect. But I am not sure that this is
happening today, and I am also certain that part of the contributing factor is
technology itself. Pro-Tools, computers and keyboards can replace pieces and
parts on a track that end up sounding cold and slick and maybe a little bit too
“un-human”.
I started thinking about
all of this the other day while listening to some older Dwight Yoakam. His sound has always pretty much been his. And yes,
I am also aware that his sound was loosely based on Buck Owens. But if you listen to “Long White Cadillac”, you can
hear what Dwight was about. He had a sound that was his. His production was
outstanding, and that guitar “tone” was alive and well living in the forefront
of the songs.
It has been a natural
movement for me to pull away from the type of recording that occurs in some of
the studios. I found myself pretty unhappy too many days in a row after working
on a song, then losing its heart and soul during the recording process. I am in
no way being critical of anything or anyone. It was and is just my approach,
and I didn’t want to lose sight of what I was trying to accomplish. To me, it
would be like getting your picture taken and somebody making you wear an ugly
sweater for the picture even though you didn’t bring it to the photo shoot.
It’s not my sweater, and it wasn’t the sound I had in mind. Sometimes it might
be best to stand your ground and give BillCosby back his shirt.
I’m from Indiana, and when
I was a teenager, John Mellencamp
was a big deal in our neck of the woods. I remember him talking about why
certain people found him a little bit hard to deal with, and this very issue
was one of the primary problems. He wanted big-sounding drums, so he hired
Kenny Aronoff. He had Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic on guitar, and he had a
sound that was all his own. I admire that. I think we need more of that
attitude. Mr. Mellencamp might have needed to work on his people skills a
little, but he brought serious game.
So, if you’re reading this
and you happen to be an artist, I guess I want to challenge you to be who you
are. If you wrote the song, don’t allow the song to be lost of its energy. But
be careful. Many of the players in Nashville also have the ability to take a
mediocre song and make it a hit. It’s a fine line. Personally, I have found a
good way to hold on to your ideas is to pre-record the song before you record
in a major studio. If you have guitar hooks, background harmonies, beats, or
whatever, bring that information to a preliminary meeting. See what your team
thinks, listen to their ideas, and allow the music to flow. Remember, it’s your
song.
Scott Coner is a
country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists
such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more
about him and hear his music at www.Facebook.com/ScottConerMusic, www.YouTube.com/user/ScottConer, and www.ScottConer.com. Follow Scott at www.Twitter.com/ScottConer.
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