Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on September 30, 2011 at 3:01am

People used to wear nicer clothes just to fly on a jet, now they (we) dress like slobs on a daily basis. Ah how times change.

Lets bring back the sport coat!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on September 30, 2011 at 3:39am

I am not sure why that is. I have posed that question to a blues enthusiast friend of mine to see if he has any thoughts.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Morin on September 30, 2011 at 3:52am

Michael if I could find an old gray sport coat with the patches on the elbows I would wear it every day.

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Permalink Reply by William McCauley on September 30, 2011 at 4:09am

Same with bluegrass musicians, they still do it. My dad was a WWI vet and a heavy equipment operator but he always wore a tie on weekends if he left the house. He always wore a suit to buy a car. It was just something his generation did.

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on September 30, 2011 at 4:22am

At the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering this summer, a circle of older guys were playing bluegrass, and all were wearing trousers, pressed shirts and string ties.  Everyone else - jeans/shorts and tshirts.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on September 30, 2011 at 5:00am

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on September 30, 2011 at 5:20am

No clear cut answer on this, but I think it just basically boils down to the fact that years ago, men wore suits and hats unless there were in a line of work that required workerman type clothing. Folks back then simply did not dress down like we do nowadays.

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Permalink Reply by Grease Stains on September 30, 2011 at 6:18am

An old fella told me once, "its how you used to pick out the poor people, they'd still be in their sunday best on monday." 
Being a farmer/fishermen, he had one set of cloths for work, and the other set for church/going to town.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 30, 2011 at 7:11am

Gents,

People used to want to look as good as possible. Why? You got treated better. People wanted to appear successful, or at least dignified. This has been proven empirically and scientifically numerous times ( the well-known book Dress For Success is based on such studies). Try it yourself. Next time you force yourself to go into any sort of store ( even Guitar Center), wear a coat and tie, and see how well you're treated (nice clothes mean money, and money means sales - granted, younger store clerks won't usually get this, but the perceptive and possibly older ones understand where their commish is coming from). Same thing buying a car: it signals seriousness of purpose and the ability to pay; I know, I used to work at a car dealership. Those were the customers we wanted to deal with.

Now, imagine being a black musician - I grew up in the Deep South (born in Eldorado, Arkansas) and can assure you that during the 60's, even my grandmother's black maid dressed in her Sunday best for 1) shopping, 2) negotiating pay with my GM, 3) church services, 4) weddings and funerals, 5) dealing with the bank - pretty much anything that involved dealing with white folks. The musicians dressed flashier (and some would say, trashier, meaning like flash gangsters) than the preachers, but they all wore coats, ties and hats, until at least the mid-70s. Some still do.

Heck, I remember my Mom getting us new suits for my first airplane ride at age 4 in 1963 - everyone dressed up to travel. I remember her also getting dolled up just to go the grocery store with me and my two younger brothers.

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Permalink Reply by Richard G Caudill on September 30, 2011 at 5:00pm

I'm like oily   ,, roots are in eastern kentucky in the appalachians,,, all my "old folks"   might b in bib overalls on sunday ,, but had on a fedora ,, polished shoes,,starched white shirt,, and they b in the "newest" bibs

 

All wore "Old Spice" .. Hell  ,,reckon if they didn t ,,none of us be  here now !!

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 30, 2011 at 5:38pm

Rich,

 

Old Spice! The choice of the old generation...now, my son's generation can't seem to get enough of Axe.

 

Which I suppose is alright for a budding guitar player. But Lordy, the stuff smells terrible. Possibly because he sprays a choking cloud of it.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 1, 2011 at 1:10pm

Works unless your at the Harley dealership.....

 

Seriously though, consider the people and time period and where they wanted to play.

You think they all wanted to play for tips on the corner or get into the more "upscale" gigs? That was a way of life in the period. You want to move up, dress the part.

By the way, I have similar childhood memories about being dressed up proper, and feel some of the current generation could use a little kick in the ass in this area. Pants on the ground? you should be ashamed fool. Especially if you knew the origons of that particular fashion statement! Scary thing is, even those who do know seem to embrace it. I'm gettin' some of dads redneck on me here........

Oily "Strat-O'-Nine-Tales" Fool said:

Gents,

People used to want to look as good as possible. Why? You got treated better. People wanted to appear successful, or at least dignified. This has been proven empirically and scientifically numerous times ( the well-known book Dress For Success is based on such studies). Try it yourself. Next time you force yourself to go into any sort of store ( even Guitar Center), wear a coat and tie, and see how well you're treated (nice clothes mean money, and money means sales - granted, younger store clerks won't usually get this, but the perceptive and possibly older ones understand where their commish is coming from). Same thing buying a car: it signals seriousness of purpose and the ability to pay; I know, I used to work at a car dealership. Those were the customers we wanted to deal with.

Now, imagine being a black musician - I grew up in the Deep South (born in Eldorado, Arkansas) and can assure you that during the 60's, even my grandmother's black maid dressed in her Sunday best for 1) shopping, 2) negotiating pay with my GM, 3) church services, 4) weddings and funerals, 5) dealing with the bank - pretty much anything that involved dealing with white folks. The musicians dressed flashier (and some would say, trashier, meaning like flash gangsters) than the preachers, but they all wore coats, ties and hats, until at least the mid-70s. Some still do.

Heck, I remember my Mom getting us new suits for my first airplane ride at age 4 in 1963 - everyone dressed up to travel. I remember her also getting dolled up just to go the grocery store with me and my two younger brothers.

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