Music WI: Buddy Holly lives, but Waylon Jennings dies?
- Thread starter Hadley
- Start date
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Without Waylon, a lot of things are going to change. First off, you are going to see a lot less electric guitar in country music. He made the electric guitar acceptable as a lead instrument. Also, the influences of rock and roll are going to be aren't going to be as welcome in country music. Jennings was one of the first performers to really set out and tour on his own.
(If you couldn't tell, I'm kind of a big fan of Mr. Jennings
)
Without Waylon, a lot of things are going to change. First off, you are going to see a lot less electric guitar in country music. He made the electric guitar acceptable as a lead instrument. Also, the influences of rock and roll are going to be aren't going to be as welcome in country music. Jennings was one of the first performers to really set out and tour on his own.
(If you couldn't tell, I'm kind of a big fan of Mr. Jennings
)Eh, hard to say. Waylon really didn't adopt the southern rock sound until the early seventies. At that point, the southern rock movement was already well underway. Southern rock probably would have developed without Waylon, but he did play a significant roll in making southern rock acceptable to the country music establishment.
DaveH
Banned
Country music bears much more of the syrupy-strings Nashville influence,and Willie Nelson is much less well-known than IOTL.Holly's feud with Norman Petty over those Bogarted royalties (which sent him out on that tour to begin with) ends up in a nasty court fight,which Petty loses.He and Holly never work together again.Holly poaches Norman Petty proteges Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs and records a monster 2 sided hit "I Fought The Law" b/w "Sugar Shack" with them backing his vocal in January 1962.Both sides go gold.After that,Holly moves into production in New York and almost never performs live.Surviving Crickets Bill Mauldin and J.I. Allison move to LA,and both find studio work with The Wrecking Crew.
Liverpool,England,July 1962.Johnny And The Moondogs drummer Peter Best objects to producer George Martin's choice of "Sugar Shack" as the A side of the Moondogs' new single.Outvoted,he quits the band in disgust and changes his name to Dave Clark.Neither he nor his bandmates are ever heard from again.
Liverpool,England,July 1962.Johnny And The Moondogs drummer Peter Best objects to producer George Martin's choice of "Sugar Shack" as the A side of the Moondogs' new single.Outvoted,he quits the band in disgust and changes his name to Dave Clark.Neither he nor his bandmates are ever heard from again.
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Bob Dylan either goes to Sun Records and revitalizes the label, or else he records under Holly. Either way, he doesn't write most of the early '60s songs he's most famous OTL for, doesn't need to go electric at the Monterey Pop Festival (since he probably already is) and isn't credited with inventing Folk Rock, Neil Young is.
When Buddy Holly goes country sometime in 1960, as his diary seems to indicate he woould, this would alienate much of the Liverpool "Merseybeat" scene, causing most of those who stayed in music to turn to skiffle in spite, making them unapproachable on this side of the pond, thus aborting roughly 2/3 of the British Invasion, including The Beatles, as well as the Merseybeats, the Hollies, and the Moles. Of course, the London Based Blues Rock scene of The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac, and Ten Years After will as a result do that much better without the competition. With no first few hits for the Stones written by Lennon and McCartney, they would have gone straight for "Satisfaction."
Whether or not Holly can manage a band to become a "Stray Cats twenty years or so early," there may or may not be Psychobilly twenty-five or so years early.
Holly will eventually get involved with either the Austin or else Bakersfield country scenes. If anything, either California Country Rock will be known in the mainstream for more than just The Grateful Dead's country years and The Eagles, or else Southern Rock will be even bigger and last longer than OTL, though I do wonder what Holly would have had to say about the 90s' "Young Country" of Garth Brooks, Wade Hayes, and Billy Ray Cyrus.
When Buddy Holly goes country sometime in 1960, as his diary seems to indicate he woould, this would alienate much of the Liverpool "Merseybeat" scene, causing most of those who stayed in music to turn to skiffle in spite, making them unapproachable on this side of the pond, thus aborting roughly 2/3 of the British Invasion, including The Beatles, as well as the Merseybeats, the Hollies, and the Moles. Of course, the London Based Blues Rock scene of The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac, and Ten Years After will as a result do that much better without the competition. With no first few hits for the Stones written by Lennon and McCartney, they would have gone straight for "Satisfaction."
Whether or not Holly can manage a band to become a "Stray Cats twenty years or so early," there may or may not be Psychobilly twenty-five or so years early.
Holly will eventually get involved with either the Austin or else Bakersfield country scenes. If anything, either California Country Rock will be known in the mainstream for more than just The Grateful Dead's country years and The Eagles, or else Southern Rock will be even bigger and last longer than OTL, though I do wonder what Holly would have had to say about the 90s' "Young Country" of Garth Brooks, Wade Hayes, and Billy Ray Cyrus.
"Now, folks in Hazzard County had never had their show narrated by Slim Pickens, and they didn't much care for it..."
Good stuff, Kalvan! I'll add that DaveH's comment that the Nashvillle sound goes on, giving the Outlaws even more to rebel against. I expect Holly will go with Austin. I don't think Shotgun Willie will be too much less well known. I'd love to see this TL just for the potential of Cash and Holly working together seriously.
Also, Hank Williams Jr would probably continue to write music more in the vein of Hank Sr rather than the rock-oriented country he would be known for. That gets me to wondering if there would be as much rock-oriented country in the 70s as there was in OTL (Besides waylon and bocephus, there was also david allan coe and charlie daniels just to name a few).
Hank Jr would pretty much be an imitator of his father. Although I could see him going of into the complete left field and getting into Psychadelic rock or somthing. Ain't too much of a strech, his son is very into hard-core punk, as well as country and western.
Minus points for misspelling Jimi...
Anywho, I expect this doesn't butterfly away either surf rock or the British blues scene. I expect the British Blues will develop a harder sound over time and we end up with an even more explicitly blues based metal. Jimi may even be a bigger hit in the UK in this case.
Jim Morrison would almost certainly go in this direction, probably with a big dose of bop and cool jazz. I see a dirtier Kerouac. Maybe Iggy would actually end up repalcing Jim after his death ITTL...
Surf rock will probably sound a lot more rockabilly.
Outlaw country probably takes off sooner - mid 60s rather than 70s, in reaction to that Nashville sound.
Punk is probably later, if at all. But something will end up filling that void.
Elvis was a hack who could barely play guitar and let his record company write (or steal) all his songs for him. Say what you want about Buddy Holly, but he was both an innovator and an excellent songwriter. Sure, he couldn't remain on the cutting edge for his entire life, but I think he'd be an important factor in pop for quite a while after 1957.
DaveH
Banned
Which butterflies away the Gretsch Discussion Pages,where Deed Eddy(the current Mrs. Duane) is a frequent and valued contributor.Since I'm a member there who found out about this forum from another GDP'er,I wouldn't be typing this post as we speak!
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Buddy goes country and incorporates the sound of both Bakersfield and Austin. Over the years his style is simply known as the "Buddy Sound." A hell of a songwriter, Buddy, like Waylon, fights for creative control of his music and thus starts the Outlaw Movement.
Buddy incorporates the electric guitar as Waylon did, but not to the same extent. Willie Nelson follows the Buddy Sound and is still majorly successful, but instead of using a classical Martin guitar, he either uses a telecaster or a drednought style Martin or Gibson.
Buddy doesn't have the drug problem that Waylon had, but is probably a reformed alcoholic by the mid to late 1970's.
Buddy incorporates the electric guitar as Waylon did, but not to the same extent. Willie Nelson follows the Buddy Sound and is still majorly successful, but instead of using a classical Martin guitar, he either uses a telecaster or a drednought style Martin or Gibson.
Buddy doesn't have the drug problem that Waylon had, but is probably a reformed alcoholic by the mid to late 1970's.
I'd love to see the 80s crossover supergroup ITTL - Travelling Wilburys + the Highwaymen (the country supergroup rather than the folk group). Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Roy orbison, and Bob Dylan, for sure. Maybe Neil Young. Hell, toss in John Lennon for good measure. No reason he's dead in 1980. That's about as close to the Stephen King's hell of a band as you might get realistically... one to make strong men cry, real women weak in the knees, and kiddies widdle their pants.