He is a talented vocalist. Just because he's not you're your preference doesn't make him less talented.
I can't believe the reaction by some before they even see him sing a note of the anthem. It's like petulant little kids that won't even try a bite of something they've never had because they know they won't like it. You would think he's coming out on a horse with a banjo and spittin' chewing tobacco in between verses.
It did seem as though you were implying that he wasn't when you said this."There are allot of talented vocalists out there. Seems like a fairly lame publicity attempt on the Flames part, hiring someone that is 'Alberta-famous'.
In other words it reads " they went with a local boy instead of talent". My apologies if that's not what you meant but it did read like that.
Holy controversial. Its just the anthem guys, it was pretty much gonna be country singer or a pop singer. Its not going to influence your musical tastes. Let's just be thankful it wasn't Jan Arden!
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He is a talented vocalist. Just because he's not you're your preference doesn't make him less talented.
I can't believe the reaction by some before they even see him sing a note of the anthem. It's like petulant little kids that won't even try a bite of something they've never had because they know they won't like it. You would think he's coming out on a horse with a banjo and spittin' chewing tobacco in between verses.
You have to love ignorant statements like this, do you not think that people didn't go and searched out his youtube video's and then gave an opinion about his singing from their impression. Just because you don't agree that doesn't make any opposing views wrong.
Do you really think that George is going to completely retrain his singing voice for this gig or do you think that he is just going to be true to himself. Basing an opinion on someone being hired for a job by looking at their previous work is justifiable and since I don't expect him (nor wish him) to change his strips I see no problem in not yelling heehaw because of this hire...
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You have to love ignorant statements like this, do you not think that people didn't go and searched out his youtube video's and then gave an opinion about his singing from their impression. Just because you don't agree that doesn't make any opposing views wrong.
Do you really think that George is going to completely retrain his singing voice for this gig or do you think that he is just going to be true to himself. Basing an opinion on someone being hired for a job by looking at their previous work is justifiable and since I don't expect him (nor wish him) to change his strips I see no problem in not yelling heehaw because of this hire...
lol...I'm pretty sure he won't add any "y'alls", "yee haws", or verses about "good ole boys drinkin beer" into the anthem. How about we just see how he sings it first before we crucify the hire.
George seems like a good guy with a decent voice,too bad his full time gig isn't so busy that he has time to do this.I'm sure he will do a fine job,at least he knows now exactly when the Flames season will end for the next few years so he can get on the road for the lucrative summer concert/festival season...
Not a big country music fan and frankly never heard of George before reading this thread, but after checking out some of his stuff on youtube seems like a pretty decent hire. IMO he has a great voice for the anthem, should be able to really belt it out.
Pretty funny how some people are getting so upset about this; Country Music is quite popular in Calgary/Southern Alberta, just because you (or I, for that matter) don't like it doesn't make him a bad choice for the job.
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lol...I'm pretty sure he won't add any "y'alls", "yee haws", or verses about "good ole boys drinkin beer" into the anthem. How about we just see how he sings it first before we crucify the hire.
Never said he would, if you read my post I said "I"wouldn't
Don't need to hear him sing the anthem, like I also said in my post is that I don't expect him to change his strips (nor should he). You don't have to be a genius to add 1 plus 1 here.... I really dislike the influence the country music industry has had on north American singers... so much that I detest the tone of a lot of pop singers because that influence has crept into their own tone.
You don't buy a Gibson Les Paul and expect to go home had have it sound like a Fender Stratocaster. For those implying that he needs to sing the anthem before I can make a fair judgment are implying that if I have a Strat in my hands I should hear it first before I know it doesn't sound like a Les Paul. George has a greet body of work online that it's very easy to get a great deal of knowledge of his tone and phrasing. Could he surprise me and better better or worse then I hope, yes. Will he be drastically different then what I expect and in tune with what I would hope the Flames replace Heather with ... I'm afraid no, it's not within his tone
Maybe 99% will really enjoy George but that doesn't mean that the 1% can't have a voice (one that the Flames will have no need to bother with). I have zero issues with George and he can be the nicest person I could ever meet but I would prefer that the Flames have a great anthem singer that I enjoy because it's something I look forward to and tune in for.... If Flames fans go nuts over George and I am in the small minority then that will be awesome for the Flames and those fans that do, in the meantime I can hope that the Flames get a better singer (better meaning personal taste and not in relation to George's skill and talent level)
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Last edited by Hanna Sniper; 10-18-2014 at 10:22 AM.
Did he sing that Mandarin duet with a good ol boy country accent? Not to my ears. He'll be fine. I'm guessing he'll go with protocol and won't be wearing a cowboy hat during the anthems either so people can probably relax about the stereotypes etc.
Well, this thread went how I would have expected it to.
"Ermagherd, country sucks."
"Yeah, but we have a really great vocalist and yes, professional country singer, to sing our anthem, which is kind of cool."
"Nooooo country is so lame."
"I don't care."
I don't like country either, I'm a rock/hard rock person, but hey, I think it's kind of neat that we have a very recognizable artist as our anthem singer, not to mention a damn good vocalist.
I've never heard his music before and reading through all the comments here, I did my best to put any new-country-music biases out of my head and listen to the clips here with a clear mind. But about 30 seconds into the Ring of Fire video I had to stop. Same with all the others. Yeah, he's got good vocal control and all, but (and this is my criticism of most new country music, as well as a lot of pop, top-40, etc.) there's nothing in it that sounds authentic. And to me, that should be the #1 requirement for singing Oh Canada. Which isn't to say that he can't find a way to do a very authentic take on it, and part of it is the studio effect. Listen to someone like Ian Tyson in person, and it's the the most sincere, authentic, heart-felt voice every time. Then listen to his studio work, and some of it can't help but sound schmaltzy. Perhaps that'll be the case with Canyon. That said, this decision doesn't really affect me so I'm not going to get bent out of shape on it.
From the lack of any recollection I seem to have of his performances during past country nights, I'm pretty confident he won't butcher the anthem in any sense.
