I’m not much of a country fan but I’m trying to broaden my listening.
For those of you who are into country music, what bass players do you think are great in this genre?
For the sake of this topic, im not really interested in the bass players for the new Pop/Bro Country. I’m talking about more traditional players or bass players that do interesting things with country music.
Carol Kaye, cause she did everything
Yes 
it’s double bass but I really like the bass players or the Steeldrivers and Poor Man’s Poison.
I played in a Honky Tonk band for a few years after touring with the Folk/Bluegrass band.
We played a selection of absolutely amazing old country tunes.
My takeaway from listening and doing my best to copy the lines:
No country bass player did anything special or fancy.
The bass and drum lock/groove is so important, and each group has a different little flavor or style of doing - what is essentially - the same groove.
Here’s a great example of a cool little stutter on the basic rhythm where the bass and drums are just so tight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y40H3OoY3Io
Here’s a great song, with a very simple simple bass line.
This is the country bass job here. At just the right moment, the bassist will add a rhythm - always going into the break, or at the top of a rhythm phrase.
So simple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj7ahuCHGbM
Another killer tune with great examples of simple root-fifth playing, with great walk-ups. And the bass is nice and audible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv7sK4WS4VM
Keep it simple!
When in doubt - root and fifth!
When in doubt of the root and fifth, root and root!!
Get a P bass with flats (or a big piece of foam). And a hat. You’ll need a hat.
@eric.kiser - sorry.
I got so into talking about good country bass playing that I forgot about great country bass players.
Which… I think, was kind of my point. Nailed it! On accident.
I don’t know the names of any bass players from those classic country records.
In my experience, the collected group of recordings I learned from showed a consistency of purpose where I never looked for just one player.
It’s 100% a song and singer genre - and the players have to make those two aspects the priority. As such, I knew the names of the singers and the songs… but not the bassists.
Bob Moore - Untitled Document
Bob Moore
Michael Rhodes - Michael Rhodes