Country Comes To Rock Band - UPDATED

Like the formative stages of some kind of pretend musical Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, it appears that we're about to get some country in our Rock Band.

CMT blogger Alison Bonaguro wrote yesterday that five country songs will be released as downloadable content for Rock Band, and despite an earlier promise by Harmonix that country would end up in the game "sooner or later," this is the first indication that something specific is actually on the horizon. In fact, Bonaguro is certain enough about this to name names: According to her post, the country DLC will feature artists Dierks Bentley, Braid Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert and the Dixie Chicks.

There's been no official word from EA or Harmonix about this Boot Scootin' addition to Rock Band, but according to Bonaguro the response on the Rock Band forums to the idea of country music in the game has been largely negative, on general principle. "If country is in that big of a demand, let them release a Country Band," one user wrote. "Don't pollute Rock Band with that... type of music." Another said, "To quote my grade 12 ethics class teacher: 'Country music is God's curse on this earth.'"

It's safe to say that a lot of the negative feedback is at least partially tongue-in-cheek ("Country music is the devil") but the first quote makes a very valid point: Why not Country Band? Country music is hugely popular, and while the guitar-centric gameplay of Rock Band would need some tweaking I have no doubt that a lot of country fans would enjoy the opportunity to play a music game built around their genre of choice.

In the meantime, we'll wait to see how this particular rumor pans out. Bonaguro says there's been no details released regarding the difficulty levels of the tracks, but does suggest that the topic could come up for discussion when Bentley appears on the Top 20 Countdown on CMT on December 5.

UPDATE: Jeff Castaneda of MTV has confirmed that Bonaguro has the story straight. "We can confirm the artists mentioned in this story, and that this country DLC offering will be available starting December 16th," he said. "More details to come."

So there you go.

via: Kotaku

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Every country music star wants to be Johnny Cash. But they can't all be Johnny Cash, because Johnny Cash has already been born.

As long as Tim McGraw and Toby Keith don't get Rock Band deals, I'm fine with it. Especially not Toby.

Personally I would like Rock Band to skip all genre limitations and sell any DLC that sounds and plays good.

Give me Alcia Keys or OutKast dammit!

well it is called *ROCK* band. I guess country gets away with the fact that it still usually uses a guitar though.

**Collapses into a pile of screams**

But seriously, I won't play them, but I think Country is a perfectly fine addition to Rock Band. If the Freeze Pop numbers have taught me anything its that the Guitar also can fill Piano and Keyboard parts.

I want mah "Ring of Fire", damn it!

Meh, until they release a plastic banjo and fiddle controller it's just that fake garbage they label as country.

If it ain't got whiskey, stomping, and lyrics about killing your no good cheating wife then it's not really country anyways.

Don't forget the plastic jug.

I'm not sure I like country as an addition because the strength of country has always been in the singers more than the instrumentals. We remember Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash for their phenomenal voices and songwriting. It should work fine for production heavy songs that are all about the melody and hook, but real country will probably have a hard time finding a place in Rock Band.

To each his own, I suppose. Personally, you won't catch me dead playing country on Rock Band, but that's just me.

tendo82:
Don't forget the plastic jug.

I'm not sure I like country as an addition because the strength of country has always been in the singers more than the instrumentals. We remember Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash for their phenomenal voices and songwriting. It should work fine for production heavy songs that are all about the melody and hook, but real country will probably have a hard time finding a place in Rock Band.

Really? I remember Dolly Parton for her god-awful cover of "Stairway to Heaven".

I'm fine with any music that can be played with the instruments we have. Though personally I'd much rather have some ZZ Top, Queen, Clapton, or Dire Straits first :P

Virgil:
I'm fine with any music that can be played with the instruments we have. Though personally I'd much rather have some ZZ Top, Queen, Clapton, or Dire Straits first :P

I would be so happy if "Killer Queen" or "Sultans of Swing" got on.

If they released Country and Western songs as DLC or as a seperate game, I would finally buy an Xbox 360

thebobmaster:
I want mah "Ring of Fire", damn it!

SingStar Classics is your game then. It's PS2 even. But you can only sing.

SaintWaldo:

thebobmaster:
I want mah "Ring of Fire", damn it!

SingStar Classics is your game then. It's PS2 even. But you can only sing.

You can play Air Guitar.

Where are all the classics of country? I want Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers! There's not even any Gram Parsons!

Lukeje:
Where are all the classics of country? I want Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers! There's not even any Gram Parsons!

Assuming you mean Hank Williams Sr., I'm with you.

Another note, I got the title wrong, it's SingStar Legends that has Cash. It also has Patsy Cline's "Crazy", so, yeah, you might want to look into that.

SaintWaldo:

thebobmaster:
I want mah "Ring of Fire", damn it!

SingStar Classics is your game then. It's PS2 even. But you can only sing.

You've never heard me sing. It ain't pretty.

SaintWaldo:

Lukeje:
Where are all the classics of country? I want Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers! There's not even any Gram Parsons!

Assuming you mean Hank Williams Sr., I'm with you.

Yup, I wanna be able to annoy people with my interpretation of Your Cheatin' Heart.

triorph:
well it is called *ROCK* band. I guess country gets away with the fact that it still usually uses a guitar though.

The only good country music was released in the 90s, all the country nowadays sounds like rock anyway...

I would like a little more diversity and am open-minded about most genres of music. There simply is not enough good music in the world to refuse to listen to certain songs simply because they don't fall into a specific musical category.

Besides, these country songs are being added as downloadable content, which means that if a song doesn't appeal to you then you can save your M$ points for other songs that you do wish to play. Nobody drowns, nobody dies.