Chicks plucked (Promoter temporarily pulls plug on U.S. tour!)

Miami Herald ^ | 8/4/06 | Howard Cohen

[tioga]

I agree with you, the dixie chick poll is dead on. And I love your tagline.

[relictele]

but they are GOOD musicians.

GREAT musicians are ten a penny in Nashville, the Dixie Chicks notwithstanding. The issue isn't talent.

[Thermalseeker]

Actually, Thermal left out Rhonda Vincent, which means I'm going to have to challenge him to a duel...

Dueling banjo's?

I left out a lot of folks. One I've been listening to lately is a flat picker named Ricky Simpkins. Excellent stuff......

[relictele]

Amazing. There are some tours that don't last half as long - but your list is *cancellations only*!

[Thermalseeker]

Mark O'Connor on his worst day is better all by himself than all three Chicks are together on their best day.

I totally agree. I've never met him, but I do know a couple Nashville studio musicians who know him and have played with him. They say he's so good it's spooky......

[bannie]

=

[Thermalseeker]

Ok, I can buy that. I truly don't know enough about BG pickers to comment one way or the other.

No worries. Everybody has their own favorites. My thinking is if you like the Dixie Chicks, check out any of the others I mention and you'll really love them. Check out a guy named Ricky Simpkins, too. Excellent flat picker....some of the best driving down the road music in my collection.

[GOPJ]

:)

[Old Student]

"...I'm still trying to figure out how Earl Scruggs gets some of the sounds he gets out of a banjo......"

My dad could probably tell you, as he can play anything those guys have done, but he probably wouldn't, either. Seems to think everyone should be able to pick up an instrument and learn to play it in a couple of hours...

For me, more than 40 years later, all I can get out of a musical instrument of any sort is tortured noises.

[dfwgator]

Take away the flashy looks and put them beside a real bluegrass pickers and you might change your mind. The Dixie Chicks are the bluegrass equivalent to a "boy band" in pop music. They have moderate tallent, but compared to real bluegrass pickers, they just don't cut it.

Heck, even Steve Martin is a better picker.

[AnAmericanMother]

Just guitar here. A misch-masch of classical and flat picking technique. Mostly I sing though.

[Thermalseeker]

For me, more than 40 years later, all I can get out of a musical instrument of any sort is tortured noises.

I was taught banjo at an early age. I think that makes a whole lot of difference. I'm self taught on the guitar and didn't take it up until many years later. I can fake a lot of stuff on the guitar and can easily improvise. With the banjo, though, I play note for note what I've learned through instruction and from tabs. Improvisation is very hard for me with the banjo.

I once had a friend leave a fiddle with me for a couple of months. I tried and tried and the best I could do sounded like somebody trying to kill a cat......

[Thermalseeker]

Just guitar here. A misch-masch of classical and flat picking technique. Mostly I sing though.

I found a great bluegrass lyric site the other day

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/barb923/lyrics/

No music, but words to A LOT of great songs....lately I've been on a quest to learn every song the Dillards did on the Andy Griffith show. Flop Eared Mule, There is a time, etc.

[Old Student]

"I tried and tried and the best I could do sounded like somebody trying to kill a cat......"

I keep thinking of trying to learn bagpipes. I like them, myself, but most people think they sound like someone killing a cat slowly, so maybe it would work out. I learned to play the recorder in 3rd or 4th grade, but had to give it back when school ended. By the time I could afford to buy one of my own, I'd forgotten how to play, and I've never been able to learn it or any other instrument I've tried since. It's a shame, as I might be able to inherit my dad's 1954 Martin D-28 someday, if I could play it.

[subterfuge]

Sure, that counts. Several here have said they are just as good live as in the studio. Thanks for the reply.

[beansox]

This Weeks Biggest Losers!

The Dixie Chicks:

Their latest album, "Taking the Long Way," is projected to sell only one-third as many copies as the two the group released before lead singer Natalie Maines' inflammatory 2003 anti-Bush comments at a concert in England. And, they've had to cancel 2006 summer tour dates in Red State locales like Memphis, Oklahoma City and Indianapolis due to poor ticket sales. So really, the last thing Maines and co. need is to remind the iTunes crowd how it all went down. But that's just the ticket, as this week the Toronto International Film Festival announced that it will give the gala premiere treatment to the documentary "Shut Up and Sing," co-directed by Oscar winning Barbara Koepple. If all else fails, these lovely ladies can always take a page from the Garth Brooks play book and re-invent themselves as an Australian folk trio.


http://www.tmz.com/2006/07/28/this-weeks-biggest-losers-07-28-06/