Before They Sucked: Big Country Stars at the Start
Many of mainstream country’s big stars came to Nashville with the best of intentions. They had a sincere love of country music, a belly full of talent, and big hopes to make music their way and ascend the country music ladder with their integrity still in tact….
…and then the Music Row machine did it’s worst.
When you look back at some of the early songs, early albums, and even the early image of some of country’s biggest current stars, it can stimulate downright culture shock. Of course styles change naturally over time, but many of these artists came from small towns and had simple dreams. But the problem with money and fame is that you can always have more of it, and next thing you know, they become shells of their original selves.
Below are some illustrations, not necessarily listening suggestions, but examples of some of the dramatic changes we have seen in some of country music’s biggest artists since their start.
Blake Shelton – “Austin”
With long hair hanging down past his shoulders and a cowboy hat, Blake Shelton and his first single and first #1 hit “Austin” from 2001 seems light years away from the rapped verses and hip hop beat of “Boys ‘Round Here.” Not an exceptional song, but one that has a sincere story, steel guitar, and shows that Blake Shelton did have a soul once upon a time and didn’t mind singing a song for the “Old Farts & Jackasses.”
Luke Bryan – “I’ll Stay Me”
With his baseball cap facing the right way and a goofy smile, Luke Bryan from the small town of Leesburg, GA made his way to Nashville, and after penning big songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington, signed with Capitol Records Nashville in 2007 and released an album called I’ll Stay Me. Yes, let’s not let the irony of that title escape us. Bryan wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, compared to his latest album Crash My Party that has only two co-writes from Bryan in the entire 13 tracks. Though there is certainly the early leanings toward a laundry list style of lyricism on “I’ll Stay Me,” it also has a lot of sincerity and a pretty authentic country flavor.
Jason Aldean – “Amarillo Sky”
Before Jason Aldean became the mainstream champion for country rap with “Dirt Road Anthem” and became one of the Godfathers of laundry list country with its caricaturist portrayals of rural life, he put out a song called “Amarillo Sky” on his debut, self-titled album in 2005, releasing it as a single in 2006. Instead of clichés about dirt roads, beer, & trucks that mark Aldean’s current offerings, “Amarillo Sky” tells a pretty authentic story about the struggle of American farmers, while the video featuring real sons of farmers does it one better. The song was written in part by Big & Rich.
Jerrod Niemann – “Good Ride Cowboy”
Jerrod Niemann has become the poster boy for the gentrification of country music with his EDM-laced radio superhits like “Drink To That All Night”, but can you believe that he once co-penned a tribute to Chris LeDoux cut by Garth Brooks called “Good Ride Cowboy”? Neimann actually had Garth record three of his co-writes, and had Jamey Johnson and Neal McCory record his songs as well. “Good Ride Cowboy” wound up at #3 on the Billboard charts in 2005. Below Niemann can be seen sporting an actual cowboy hat instead of his signature club-hopping fedora. Where did you go wrong Jerrod?
Brantley Gilbert – “What’s Left of a Small Town”
When Brantley Gilbert started out in country music, you wouldn’t even be able to recognize him compared to today. Brantley Gilbert ver. 2014 is all attitude with his ball cap pulled down over his eyes, singing country rap songs in a complete vacuum of self-awareness, but as many long-time Gilbert fans can attest, back in the day he wrote and sang some very sincere country songs, while being known to pay homage to the roots by playing many country classics. His first album released in October of 2009 called Modern Day Prodigal Son gave many hints to the bro-country king Brantley would become, but it also had a few really sincere songs, including one called “What’s Left of a Small Town”.
Sugarland – “Tennessee”
Remember when Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles actually had a Southern accent, Kristian Bush had a cowboy hat instead of an outfit pattered off the leprechaun on the Lucky Charms box, and they had a third member that looked like a 40-something female volleyball coach? Yes, it was 2004, and light years away from “Stuck Like Glue.” Oh how I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that uncomfortable meeting at Mercury Records when some suit demanded Jennifer lose her twang, and the band lose their third wheel.
Florida Georgia Line
….oops, they started bad and stayed there.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:42 am
I actually heard some early Brantley Gilbert the other day. Almost did a spit take when I found out who it was.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:09 am
Brantley Gilbert might be the biggest shock. He doesn’t even sound the same.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:38 am
He looked better, too.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:23 am
The first time i heard Brantley Gilbert was around 08 maybe, and the song was called ‘Picture on the Dashboard’ i think. I thought it was a great song and he didn’t sound like he was straining to shit the whole way through, crazy how nashville can change them so much. I bought the Merle Haggard tribute CD a while back and it has Randy Houser, Joe Nichols, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and a few others. Just listening to them sing those old Merle songs and in my opinion most of them did it justice, especially Randy Houser and Joe Nichols, I wonder if that’s the way they would be if Nashville would let them. Maybe they enjoy this Bro shit, i don’t know.
June 20, 2014 @ 9:52 am
I’m currently listening to A Modern Day Prodigal Son and as of thirty seconds into the first song (“Freshman Year”), I’m convinced that at least one of two things happened:
1. His evil twin saw how good his bro could have it, killed him and signed a deal with a major record label under his brother’s name and proceeded to work on “his” second album.
2. He sold his soul to the Devil for fame but got burnt on the downtake, thus becoming a douche as a side effect with a raspy yell.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:41 am
I agree, Brantley Gilbert’s 1st album had some awesome songs on it, with deep lyrics such as the song Modern Day Prodigal Son.
June 3, 2014 @ 3:58 pm
I honestly think its all an opinion. Yes, their sound changed. But with Brantley Gilbert he still writes ALL of his songs. From the songs on Modern Day Prodigal Son to now it has been 10 years since he wrote them. Lives change, people change. When you listen to his entire Just As I Am album you continue to hear the same Brantley. You do not get the party anthems that are constantly released by the label.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:46 am
Man, I miss Blake. Back when he had long hair and wasn’t always sportin a five o’cock shadow. Ol’ Red was a good one too.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:58 am
the possuem beat Blake to ole red and does it better but I get your point.
December 17, 2014 @ 8:47 am
I like traditional country musicians like Jones, Strait, and Jackson, but Jones is the one that I’m still currently trying to listen to all of his stuff. With that said I still feel really stupid when I say I didn’t know he did this song. But anyways I checked it out and I agree with you, The Possum kicks Blake’s ass on this one, great song by Jones.
June 2, 2014 @ 11:30 am
Ol Red is still one of my favorite songs. Great song. Great country music.
June 2, 2014 @ 5:06 pm
Oh, Blake. You have to go back to that first album to REALLY appreciate just how hard he’s sold out in recent years. See “Same Old Song”:
Now I love country music
And I guess I always will
But these days, when I turn on the radio
It’s just not the same thrill
I like a song that gives me chillbumps
Now and then there’s some that still do
But I’m fed up with the same old vanilla
Hey how about you
I’m tired of the same old guy
With the same old song
About the same old love
It goes on and on and on
Same old guitar
And the same old strum
I may be country but I’m not dumb
Hey there Mr. Songwriter
Come and visit in my home
Then tell me about life being perfect
And love that goes on and on and on
Then ride with me in my old Bronco
Down to the factory for eight hours
Then let me introduce you to my supervisor
Then write me a song about sunshine and flowers
and the same old guy
With the same old song
About the same old love
It goes on and on
Same old guitar
And the same old strum
I may be country but I’m not dumb
I want to hear a song about passion
I want to hear a song about sin
I want to hear a song about redemption
Yeah, sing me one of them
Tell me about a cowboy in Australia
Tell me about a prisoner in China
Tell me about some old stock car driver
Down in Orangeburg, South Carolina
Instead of..
the same old guy
With the same old song
About the same old love
It goes on and on and on
Same old guitar
And the same old strum
I may be country but I’m not dumb
Amazing, just absolutely amazing. He turned right into (and defends without fail) that guy he was once deriding.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:54 pm
The key fact here is that, to my knowledge, he didn’t write this song. It was given to him so he could put on a persona, just like he is now. It was simply a different act when he was out on the fringes of the business. Or at least that’s how it appears to me.
June 3, 2014 @ 4:50 am
True, he didn’t write the song, but then Alan & George didn’t write “Murder On Music Row” either. Yeah, I know Strait said at the podium when they won at the CMAs that it was done as a joke, but I always had a hard time believing he really meant that. I seem to remember Alan being pretty serious about it.
October 2, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
George Strait wrote very few songs. He was more an interpreter
June 2, 2014 @ 8:49 am
Man, this is like a flashback to my senior year of High School. Tooling around some trails in my Blazer listening to Pre-Bro Aldean, Moore and Luke. Sad to think that it’s only been 5-6 years since they jumped off the deep end.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:55 am
Let’s not forget that Jason Aldean also had an early, if not earlier than Amarillo Sky, even, song called Hicktown. Kind of foreshadowed what has come to be, it seems.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:43 am
Yeah he did. But, at least on he first few albums, he would always offset the douchy singles with really good tracks. Guess that wasn’t paying the bills…
June 2, 2014 @ 8:55 am
Good article, though you missed some of the biggest examples in the genre:
Tim McGraw
Brad Paisley
Carrie Underwood
June 2, 2014 @ 9:08 am
I considered all three of these artists.
1) I was planning to include Tim McGraw and “Don’t Take The Girl” as an example, but going back and listening to it, even at the time it was adult contemporary schlock like a lot of his singles, except for “Indian Outlaw” which is just offensive. McGraw had some great song material, and he still does. But he was never truly country in the traditional sense, a few songs here and there aside.
2) Carrie Underwood starting on American Idol seemed a little to easy to pick apart for this exercise. I also don’t know I would say she “sucks”. She’s always been a great singer, she has just trended towards pop more over time.
3) Though Brad Paisley may officially turn to the dark side on his next album, it’s hard to say he’s done that already. Where Paisley is right now, I wouldn’t consider him part of the “bro-country” movement. Sure, in 3 months he might be leading it, but we can’t assume that.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:11 am
Agreed, agreed…however, I saw Brad Paisley play in a small venue just before he went big (Wrapped Around was a real stand out – and very country – song from that show) and it was an excellent show by an excellent up-and-coming artist. Based on that experience, I bought his next few CDs he released and was continually disappointed by the lack of Country in his “country music” offerings from that time on.
Tim McGraw’s earlier stuff? Yeah, there was some good stuff too, but he’s always seemed pretty commercial, as has Carrie. I can’t blame them, however, but I don’t have to like it any.
This was a good piece, thanks for posting it.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:57 am
I look at McGraw’s career in two eras…BPT and APT (before Pro Tools and after Pro Tools).
June 2, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
Not A Moment Too Soon was kinda hit and miss, but TM’s self-titled debut album was pretty good. He covered both George Strait “The Only Thing I Have left,” penned by Clay Blaker) and Joe Diffie’s “Tears in the Rain.”
Aldean’s early stuff sans “Hicktown” was actually pretty good. But once “Johnny Cash” hit the airwaves, it was all downhill.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:52 pm
I don’t know if I would use the term “adult contemporary schlock” for Tim McGraw’s earlier work. Sure, “Indian Outlaw” is incredibly stupid, but it’s undeniably country. The same goes for “Don’t Take the Girl,” which I’ve had the pleasure of hearing a request to turn off because it was too “twangy.” That aside, I find the song to be powerful and a heart-rencher, so I don’t think it’s above including here. After all, it’s hard to believe that we went from that to “Live Like You Were Dying” and then …. “Truck Yeah” and “Lookin’ For That Girl”? That’s arguably a steeper decline than any of the rest of these guys. In addition, with the exception of Shelton’s early material and “Good Ride Cowboy,” none of these other artists have many, if any, great songs. McGraw does, which makes his drop to the bottom of the barrel all the more depressing. Plus, if you wanna talk about schlocky adult contemporary, Sugarland is about as much of a red flag as you can get.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:16 pm
Trigger, these are all fair points. Of the three I think Brad has changed the most. He used to be the poster boy for traditional country, now his music is very mainstream and vanilla. I’d thought that Tim was a good example for this list mainly because of “Truck Yeah”. But I agree the essense of Tim’s appeal hasn’t changed all that much over the years. He is popular because of the female fan base, women are attracted to him because they want to believe that he’s the perfect guy who would do anything for them, and he was tapping into that same sentiment way back with songs like “Don’t Take The Girl”.
June 3, 2014 @ 3:51 pm
I agree about Tim McGraw for the most part.
Carrie Underwood, while she releases her more pop songs to country radio (See You Again wasn’t even written for a country album), she generally has at least a FEW more traditional leaning (and well-written) songs on her albums. For instance, on her latest album Blown Away she has “Wine After Whiskey” and “Forever Changed”, while Play On features “Someday When I Stop Loving You” and a cover of Alan Jackson’s “Look At Me”.
Same with Brad Paisley. Although his last album did stray a bit and he has leaned more pop with every subsequent album, he’s released more traditional sounding and/or gospel songs on each one.
I think the longer you’re in the industry, the harder it is to stay away from pop-influences, especially with the threat of obscurity looming. I think this is the case for all 3 of these artists. Tim sold out big time, Carrie can’t win awards, Brad is just getting too old and is no longer being nominated. So they each have to stay relevant but at the same time have songs that are true to themselves, which is hard to find on the latest Blake Shelton or Luke Bryan albums.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:19 am
I’ve never had respect for Tim Mcgraw. Especially being a big supporter of Clinton and an even bigger supporter of Obama.
“My wife and I and our family will do everything we can to support Obama.”
June 3, 2014 @ 8:47 am
Really? You can’t respect the work of an artist because of their politics? Would you refuse to cross a bridge because you found out the lead engineer was a democrat?
July 29, 2017 @ 6:56 pm
I would definetly refuse to cross that bridge because the engineer would have taken a short cut in order to do less work which would therefore cause a weak bridge.
Country people tend to support the USA, and democrats tend to not support it (Have you heard of Hillary Clinton? The one who let four American soldiers die after calling her for thirteen hours?). Why would you want to give money to someone who verbally advertises for democrats if you disagreed with democrats? It’s kind of similar to listening to a rock singer who verbally supports Sam Hunt or Luke Bryan. It just ain’t worth the money.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:13 am
I wanted to just “like” this whole post, so please treat this as a huge “like”. Well done. It’s important that people take notice of what the Nashville machine is doing.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:16 am
I loathe “Indian Outlaw”.
Camie jo
Niece of Hunkpapa Sioux Chief Struck By The Ree
June 2, 2014 @ 11:34 am
Me too!!!! I thought I was the only one. Cannot stand that damn song.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:29 pm
I agree, “Indian Outlaw” was one of the worst songs of 1990s country. I always thought it sounded very patronizing and insincere. Not that he is the only country artist to use native American imagery as a marketing tool (and if he could have gotten Shania to play the stereotypical native American wife in the video, that would have been hilarious).
June 2, 2014 @ 9:19 am
This is probably the best post I’ve ever seen on SCM. I miss when I could turn on the radio and hear a storyline about something I could relate to, something I’ve gone through and something with some depth and metaphors. Being a songwriter it is so frustrating turning on the radio and being guaranteed to hear “This is How We Roll” and Tyler Hubbards stupid “ay baby”
June 2, 2014 @ 9:20 am
I was familiar with all of these with the exception of Brantley Gilbert’s early stuff. The first I had heard of him was as the co-writer of “Dirt Road Anthem,” which immediately made him dead to me. I didn’t realize his Batman voice was a recent development.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:25 am
Jason Aldean and Brantley Gilbert are the biggest disappointments on this list.
Both of their first albums were amazing (I own both, still listen to them regularly).
Either/both could’ve honestly been every bit as successful as they are today without selling out like they did, they both had rare talent.
I remember the first time I heard “Hicktown” by Jason Aldean… I was little put off by how “hard” the instrumentals were, but the lyrics were spot-on, it was like it was the story of my own hometown. Then I heard “Amarillo Sky”, “Asphalt Cowboy”, and “You’re The Love I Wanna Be In”… they’re my favorites from an awesome album that doesn’t have a bad song on it.
Blake was already as successful as he is now before he sold out “Ol’ Red”, “Austin”, “Some Beach”, etc. he was a lot easier on the ears when he was still hanging out with Nascar drivers instead of the hollywood crowd and Elliott Sadler was still making cameos in his videos.
I’ve never liked Luke Bryan or Sugarland though, and I wasn’t even aware of Neiman until he did “Drink To That All Night” (which wouldn’t have been a horrible pop or r&b song with a little work, but it’s awful to hear on country radio).
June 2, 2014 @ 9:44 am
One thing I’ll give to Jason Aldean is that even to this day on some of his album cuts, he’s kept the theme alive about the abandonment of America’s agrarian culture and small towns that even if it’s marketing, still can be quite stirring.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:26 pm
Agreed.
Also, I’ll give Aldean this: at least even with his newer material, there are at least a couple songs that sound decent to my ears and one of them even finds its way to single status. With “Night Train”, I enjoyed the title track because of how nuanced Aldean’s vocals are in that they sound urgent and even semi-melancholy while anticipating a romantic get-together by the train tracks, and “Drink One For Me” was respectable, though simplistic. With “My Kinda Party”, “Church Pew or Barstool” is a brilliant standout and “Tattoos On This Town” was a solid single. And on his earlier releases, strong album cuts were even more abundant in-between the terrible radio pandering.
With Luke Bryan, on the other hand, there is genuinely not a single song I’ve enjoyed on any of his albums since his debut. A few passable efforts perhaps (“Do I”, “You Don’t Know Jack”, “I See You”) but nothing that reaches the level of enjoyment.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:39 pm
I would agree with that. I’ve begun to differentiate Aldean a bit from the worst of the worst (Bryan, FGL, Niemann, etc…). Partially, that’s due to those guys just continuing to get worse and worse to the point of ridiculousness. While some of Aldean’s singles in recent years have been pretty bad (1994 anyone?), some of them really haven’t been so horrible. Night Train is a decent to good song that I don’t mind listening to. He’s one guy who I really hope puts out more good tunes than bro-country tunes in the coming years, I enjoy listening to his better stuff.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
If Aldean and his management play their cards right and refuse to succumb entirely to the pervasive trend that’s swallowing Jerrod Niemann, Luke Bryan and perhaps Brad Paisley whole, I can see Aldean remain a dominant radio force to be reckoned with through the rest of this decade………..and be remembered as one of the most iconic entertainers (for better or worse) of this generation.
At least Aldean has demonstrated morsels of (relative) depth here and there on each of his releases. If he is wise, he will take notes as to why “1994” was only the second single of his career to miss the Top Ten and continue to mine what made “Amarillo Sky”, “The Truth” and “Tattoos On This Town” hits.
June 3, 2014 @ 9:15 am
I know Aldean gets a lot of flack around here, and he certainly has contributed to the Bro Country crap that dominates the radio. But, like you said, he always has some pretty decent cuts on his albums, and many of them make it as singles.
Also, for all the hate that “Dirt Road Anthem” gets for kicking off the country-rap, remix collaboration phase in country music, to my ears it doesn’t come off nearly as gimmicky and market-driven as what we get now from the likes of FGL and the rest. I can actually listen and enjoy the song now and then, whereas “This is How We Roll” and “I Could Drink to That All Night” make me change the station the second it comes on.
I constantly see arguments on this site about how to stay “country” and true to the roots and history of the genre, but also evolve so everything doesn’t sound just like Hank. I don’t think the introduction and experimentation with elements of rap and EDM automatically make music bad or “not country.” But most of what is actually making it to radio is terrible, because it doesn’t seem to be driven by talented artists experimenting with their sound, but driven by market conditions and record label pressures.
I’m just saying that I think it would be good to have a more nuanced and critical take than “Sounds like EDM. Garbage.”
June 3, 2014 @ 2:47 pm
I”™m just saying that I think it would be good to have a more nuanced and critical take than “Sounds like EDM. Garbage.”
That might be possible if the EDM/rap influences didn’t completely take over the music as they seem to be doing.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:47 pm
I’ve never been a fan of Aldean, even in his early days. He music used to fall more solidly within the country category, but I have a hard time thinking of any songs he has recorded that will become future classics.
Yes, some of the songs were “on message” for rural audiences. I can certainly relate to the message in “Fly Over States” but that alone doesn’t make it a great song. You can find words in the laundry list lyrics of bro country songs that pay homage to aspects of small town life, but that doesn’t make them good country songs.
June 5, 2014 @ 4:38 am
Thank you for this topic. I read the site regularly, but post seldom. SCM has turned me on to a lot of great country. ….but I am a huge Aldean fan. Sorry, I admit it. Despite garbage like 1994 (catchy garbage, but garbage) . By way of background, my first loves were the rock thru metal category. I love the cranked up guitar. I discovered country when I graduated law school and moved, as a guy born and raised in Connecticut, to Fresno California in the mid 90s. A friend there turned me on to Dwight, Steve Earle, Mavericks, HW Jr., DAC, and Garth. I had always liked heartland style rock by the likes of Mellencamp and Tom Petty, and I thought these country guys nailed the lyrics and still brought the guitars I needed. I have also always liked progression, extremes and genre mixing. Iron Maiden was my favorite metal band growing up, but at the tine they were pushing the envelope of what metal was and sounded like. Def Leppard was another favorite, getting that balance of pop injected just right so the song was still hard rockin enough, but commercially appealing. Purists hated them at the time too. So my point (finally): I don’t lump aldean in with the FGLs and Puke Bryans of the current scene. Aldean started it and got the balances right. I like Johnny Cash and She’s Country, they are great mixes of what he clearly loves, country and hard rock. He’s not the first, but he did it well. I like Dirt Road Anthem. Sure, it created a monster, but there was nothing really like it at the time. I do think he is now hewing to a formula a little too much now (Night Train follows the My Kind of Party blueprint a little too closely), I’d love to see him go rogue and put out something unexpected, like a pure country album. I guess what I am saying is that hating him would be like hating G’n’R for Poison and Winger and the other hair bands. Guns ‘n’ Roses did it first and best. The others copied. In retrospect, they are all hair metal! but that does not make the music Axl and company created less brilliant. I think Aldean will be looked back on like Garth, a bunch of good catchy songs that sold. The copy cats like FGL and other bro country morons will soon be forgotten.
June 9, 2014 @ 4:22 pm
Be careful what you wish for… there is now a pop mix of “Drink To That All Night” featuring rapper Pitbull. And FGL have remixed “This Is How We Roll” with Jason DeRulo, the “genius” behind two of the WORST pop records of this year (and probably of the decade) – “Talk Dirty” and “Wiggle.”
June 2, 2014 @ 9:32 am
I had forgotten about “Amarillo Sky.” I really enjoyed listening to that song and the music video for it is pretty good too. I guess “Dirt Road Anthem” and “1994” blocked it from my memory. Another one you could’ve added was Big & Rich, although they’re a little more complicated. They’ve released great songs like “8th of November,” but then participate on a Cowboy Troy song (“The Train” is a horrible song). Rich had a great single with “Shuttin’ Detroit Down.” I was wondering what your thoughts are on them?
June 2, 2014 @ 9:42 am
Yes, Big & Rich are pretty much their own case study, from truly being one of the first mainstream pioneers of country rap (ironic or not), to writing songs like “Amarillo Sky” and “Shuttin’ Detroit Down”.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:52 am
I believe “Amarillo Sky” is actually a cover of a band called McBride and the Ride.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:53 am
But written by Big and Rich, I stand corrected. McBride and the Ride cut it first.
June 3, 2014 @ 5:50 am
I actually have that McBride and the Ride album, it’s very good if you can find it.
June 2, 2014 @ 1:14 pm
(I’m sure you were just waiting for me to respond to this :P)
Interesting. I’m not sure whether my mad fanboyishism has had any effect on this or not, but your opinion of Big & Rich seems to have changed a bit. When we first talked about them you seemed fairly confident that they were just another member of the dreck club that is ruining modern country music. Now you seem to be at least willing to acknowledge their merits. I would say that they key difference with Big & Rich, as opposed to FGL and the like, is that they did country rap because they wanted to, not to make money. As has been said, they’re very self-aware and don’t take themselves too seriously. They like all types of music and combine these influences into theirs, the key differences being that they A) respect the roots of the music (fiddles and banjos are still present in most of their material, in contrast with their peers in the business) and B) don’t rap or inject hip hop into their music and try to pass it off as some “evolution” of country music. They still do it, yes, but one of the things that gets lost in the fray when it comes to the radio is that Big & Rich’s whole mantra is that they do music “their way.” They’re perfectly aware that what they’re doing isn’t traditional nor straight country, unlike FGL, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean. They also don’t make laundry list songs and always have substance somewhere. The party songs are simply intended as gags as far as I can tell, which some people miss altogether. “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” isn’t serious in the slightest; how anyone could take see the marching band and “living doll” the video and still think it’s supposed to be anything else is beyond me. Or in the video for “Comin’ to Your City” with the guitar space ship filled with aliens. No one has to like it or think it’s good but I find it odd to criticize a song for achieving what it set out to do in the first place. That’s like complaining about Sturgill Simpson because he makes real country music. “Well, but those Big & Rich songs are stupid.” Duh, they’re supposed to be.
The thing is these guys just want you to have fun and a laugh along the way. Even then they’re not above making quite striking songs like “Holy Water,” “8th of November,” “When the Devil Gets the Best of Me” or “That’s Why I Pray.” If anything, it takes balls to include blatantly dumb songs alongside heart renching ones. It doesn’t exactly make for a cohesive listening experience, though, which is why one has to understand what the duo is about to properly digest their music.
June 2, 2014 @ 2:50 pm
Honestly, I didn’t even like “Shuttin’ Detroit Down”.
Even though Rich actually sounded sincere and serviceable in that song, I couldn’t help but cringe at the narrow-minded lyricism nestled underneath that veneer of populist appeal. He singles out “them bankers” while not taking into account how the plot thickens well beyond the likes of AIG and Freddie Mac among others. It’s that type of song where I get all of the underlying sentiment and there are some strong one-liners here………..but in the broader scope it seemed opportunistic, at least to my ears, and amounts to little more than bumper-sticker populism.
With “Amarillo Sky”, on the other hand, I have enjoyed that and still do. I consider that probably Aldean’s second-best single behind only “Tattoos On This Town”.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:28 pm
Given how the bankers were the ones who destroyed the economy and then received massive bailouts from the government while foreclosed homeowners and innocent employees who lost their jobs were left in the dust, I would call the message of “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” quite appropriate. I would actually rank it as my second favorite song about the recession (the first being Ronnie Dunn’s exquisite and heartbreaking “Cost of Living”).
Coming from John Rich, a self-professed Republican, it was quite a surprise.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:53 pm
I didn’t like “Shutting Detroit Down” at all. Don’t forget that large auto manufacturers were bailed out at taxpayers’ expense. And the Detroit companies had become economically uncompetitive because of huge legacy costs resulting from agreements negotiated by demanding labor unions. In 2009 Detroit and the bankers fed from the same trough.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:06 pm
The two bailouts are not very comparable. First, the auto industry received about 8 times less money in the bailout than did the financial industry ($85 billion vs. $700 billion, not including the Federal Reserve’s use of near-zero interest rate loans to banks). Secondly, the auto bailout came with far greater conditions, with the government essentially taking over GM on a temporary basis.
Imagine how the economy would look different today if similar conditions had been imposed on Wall Street. At the very least, we could have required the banks to refinance loans to homeowners facing foreclosure and lend to small business to help create jobs.
The fact that Wall Street received such special treatment from the government shows exactly who holds power in Washington, D.C.
June 2, 2014 @ 1:01 pm
Your post highlights the problem I’ve always had with Jason Aldean: he covers too many songs. Let’s see:
“Amarillo Sky” – originally by McBride & The Ride
“Johnny Cash” – Tracy Byrd
“The Truth” – Trent Willmon
“My Kinda Party” – Brantley Gilbert
“Dirt Road Anthem” – Brantley Gilbert
I’m not against covers in principle, but this is easily a fourth of his total singles. What’s worse, Aldean literally changes little to NOTHING from the original version, but just happened to get his released on the radio and takes all of the credit. He even sings the songs with the exact same phrasing as the original artists as if the older songs were just demos instead of album cuts. The only exception to this rule is Aldean’s version of “My Kinda Party,” where he overlays the original acoustic part (which is still there) with some loud guitars. Otherwise, he sings it exactly like Brantley Gilbert. I’m not arguing the merit of any of these songs so much as just saying that I view Aldean as a bit of a hack. It’s like the record label sees potential in these songs that were never released to radio, found a new up and coming artist and told him to record them, released them to radio, sat back and cashed some checks. The irony is that Aldean moved to Nashville to become a songwriter. I normally try to give an artist the benefit of the doubt, but Jason strikes me as such an obvious puppet that it couldn’t be more apparent even if the strings were showing.
On Big & Rich, as Trig said, you really have to judge them in a vaccum. Their music is so purposefully erratic and gimmicky at times that it can be hard to know what to make of it. That said, it’s interesting that you think they should be included on this list. After all, the first song they received wide exposure with was “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy),” which by many traditionalist’s accounts is “horrible,” or if you’re Trigger, one of the worse country songs of all time.
June 2, 2014 @ 1:30 pm
I remember a few years ago I saw a lot of people calling out Aldean for this problem. Many of Gilbert’s fans went after him on social media for constantly ripping him off. In fact I remember seeing Gilbert fans constantly bash Aldean’s version of “Dirt Road Anthem.” So his problem of covering other songs has been around for a while, but I don’t see it get brought up as much as it used to.
I wouldn’t have necessarily put Big & Rich nor suggested it. I was really wanting to hear Trigger’s thoughts on them because they’re such an odd case. They seem like cool dudes, but they’ve released a lot of bad music. The worst you mentioned being “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” I hate that song. I went to a wedding reception last year where my aunt and uncle “danced” to it in a drunken fashion. I now have this embarrassing image of them in my head when I hear the song mentioned. So thanks for that :p
June 2, 2014 @ 2:59 pm
When John Rich and Big Kenny really put their hearts to it, they repeatedly prove to create deep, meaningful songs.
Besides the examples mentioned save “Shuttin’ Detroit Down”, I also thought “8th of November”, “Holy Water” and to a slightly lesser extent “Cheatin’ On You” reflect the duo at their best.
And look, I can truly enjoy my share of silly, irrelevant joke songs and free-wheeling banter put to tune as much as most listeners. I happen to still enjoy their debut album overall for just that reason. Their infectious stage presence, charisma and energy level drips across most of that album’s tracks and that passion means a lot in elevating a listening experience. It’s just that, especially beginning with their third album “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace”, it all started to sound forced and paint-by-numbers and, with that, the energy level dropped and the freshness expired.
The Muzik Mafia entered the scene as self-professed outsiders, and now many of its alumni are followers. “Look At You” is shameless pandering to the “bromance” trend dominating the format right now (“bromance” is gaining visibility as a term describing “bro-country” softened around the edges and with less loudness in its sound). With all due respect, lyrics like “Every move so sexy it’s shockin’, girl you sure do know how to serve it, the way I did ya Lord I deserve it.” are as crass and formulaic as ever.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:09 pm
Glad I’m not the only one that loves Horse of a Different Color. For me, that’s my all time favorite album of any genre. I’ll never forget hearing Big & Rich for the first time and being blown away at how fresh they sounded, particularly in comparison with the rest of the radio. Granted, country wasn’t nearly as bad then as it is now, but it was still getting a bit anemic. These guys were like a shot in the arm and spurred me to get back into music after having essentially ignored it altogether for about five years. And I’ll agree, after Comin’ to Your City the duo went from sounding dangerous and unpredictable to bland and calculated. What’s sad is that I don’t think they’ll ever cut another record like their debut. As I’m sure you know, back then they were both failed solo artists without steady sources of income and an erratic style. I think this played into the making of their first record, with a devil-may-care work ethic thrown in for good measure. There was probably a sense that their financial situations couldn’t get any worse at that point so they just decided to make the record they wanted without fear of it failing. Fast forward to 2014 following the unexpected smash of that album and with their latest single just hitting radio, and they suddenly have reason to pine for sales. I’m also glad that I’m not the only one that thinks “Look at You” is depressingly paint by the numbers. Given that Kenny and John are quality musicians and songwriters, it’s nowhere near a bad song, but the B&R personality that made their first two records so infectious is nowhere to be found. It’s still nice to hear their appreciation for the roots of country with the fiddles and banjos (despite the hip hop beat), but the song isn’t taking any chances. It’s my opinion that it could have been sung by Randy Houser or Luke Bryan and it wouldn’t have changed a thing (with the exception of raising the latter’s material up a whole new level of quality, notwithstanding). That, in essence, is what’s wrong with the song. Big & Rich have always had their own ridiculous style; if a song feels like it could have been made by anyone, guys, you’re doing it wrong. I still like it because it’s Big & Rich and it’s new and I’ll still get Gravity when the album finally comes out, but my expectations are null at this point.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:19 pm
Sorry for the horrible mental image D:. That said, I still think terming their more dundee headed songs as “bad” is missing the boat. Obviously I have an enormous, beer goggle induced bias, but they’re different from other artists that cut “dumb” songs. Unlike essentially the entirety of this list and the top tier of modern “country,” Big & Rich are very self-aware. They make fun of themselves whilst boasting about their own egos. By all accounts, the personas they project in their party anthems are nothing like the actual men behind the act. If you must, think of them almost as cartoon characters in their party songs. Many of them, like “Comin’ to Your City,” strike me as intentional self-parody. Sorry to bring it up again, but I would also count “Save a Horse” in this as well. That, in my mind, is what separates the songs from the “bad” crowd. I could see them being bad if they took themselves too seriously, but if anything these guys don’t take themselves seriously enough at times and can be obnoxious. In fact, I could almost see them setting out to make party anthems that are bad in a “so stupid they’re good” kind of way. Tell me this is trying to be anything but a joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5LlkvWexvA
June 3, 2014 @ 8:00 am
no aldean smoothed out dirt road anthem from brantleys version. and colt ford actually wrote the song and had many more verses that also got cut. colt ford is really the one who gets slighted on a lot of stuff because he can not put out a hit to save his life yet whenever someone does one of his songs it does really good. it’s kind of amusing. as far as my kinda party he did a few more things different as far as lyrics and whatnot.
side note. I still have some respect for Brantley. his music is steadily going downhill but he recently moved from Nashville back to his hometown where he shares a cabin with his brother I think. either way, he basically said that to keep writing his small town songs he’d rather be back home in an actual small town than in a suburb in Nashville. he at least walks the walk.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:43 am
I feel like Blake sold out when he went on The Voice. Like somebody else said, he hangs with the Hollywood crowd now with Adam Levine and their “bromance”(oh brother). He is probably in LA more than he is in Nashville these days. I almost wonder if he still would have made the “old farts” comment or “Boys round’ here” if he never went on The Voice…
June 2, 2014 @ 9:58 am
Michael Jackson Montgomery needs to step it up. He’s fallen behind the times…too old school now.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:14 am
God bless this website for having some damn common sense.
June 2, 2014 @ 10:31 am
I’ll be honest I liked most of these artists when they first came on the scene. Aldean’s Amarillo Sky video was actually filmed in a small town 10 min from me in Rantoul, IL. I enjoyed most of these guy’s first albums, but that was before I went to a Hank III show and he peeled my eyes back and I realized there was much better music out there. So I got heavily into Texas Red Dirt music first with artists like Stoney Larue, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Jason Boland, then I came across SCM and found a whole new group of musicians.
June 2, 2014 @ 11:17 am
Great piece! I altogether quit listening to any new country music in the mid 90’s, but Wayne Hancock and Hank III opened my eyes to a whole new world of music.
Imagine if half of today’s country music fans went through a similar transition. The musical landscape would look much different than it does. It’s a damn shame!
June 2, 2014 @ 10:57 am
This summary emphasizes why, as much as I can’t stand Florida-Georgia Line any further than I can throw them, why I can’t get as worked up about them as I do the others listed here for the simple reason that it is impossible to accuse them of selling out their integrity.
At least Florida-Georgia Line, from the onset, went about this boasting: “Damn right we like writing loud, big-sounding and obnoxious anthems about partying that owes more to Nickelback than country! What of it?” Granted in interviews the two are clueless in claiming their sound is “unlike anything you’ve heard before” as it is gentrified beyond compare, but at least they weren’t disingenuous about their career intentions out of the gate.
It just seems, overall, the women of the format have been more likely to rebel against the wishes of label executives at Music Row. However, “Somethin’ Bad” resembles an alarming crack in that armor too for both Underwood and Lambert (it doesn’t help matters that one too many tracks off of Lambert’s new album “Platinum”, while lyrically retaining some personality, are ridiculously overproduced and still pander to tropes). I wouldn’t be surprised if these executives have also stepped up their pressure on Kacey Musgraves and are using her friendship with Katy Perry to steer her closer to pop.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:27 pm
I don’t think there is any way Kacey would shift toward laundry-list country. If she moves away from traditional country, it will be in the direction of straightforward pop.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:58 pm
That’s what I said.
Musgraves is defiant in ever pandering to laundry-list “country”.
But I DO fear she may feel intensely pressured to play to mainstream radio and, while I’m sure she’ll produce some thoughtful, sincere material either way, it may mean she’ll forever be pushed into a corner outside of this genre from a marketing standpoint. She may be marketed much the same way Sara Bareilles is, for instance.
June 2, 2014 @ 11:07 am
Jennifer Nettles was told to lose her twang? More like she was told to exaggerate it to the Nth degree so that it was comical.
I’ve been waiting for that Justin Moore/Jennifer Nettles duet where each tries to ham up the twang even more than they already do (I’m sorry, Justin, but nobody in their right mind thinks you actually talk that way–and you were actually a lot better live before you started hamming it up so much). They could call the song “Hyperbole.”
June 2, 2014 @ 11:32 am
Thinking about my own personal list, I’d probably include Montgomery Gentry. I really liked that album with Hillbilly Shoes, Lonely and Gone, and Daddy Won’t Sell the Farm.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:02 pm
Saw them on tour for that album, they were great!
June 3, 2014 @ 5:54 am
I wore that album out and they I also saw them on tour around that time. Good stuff!
June 2, 2014 @ 11:59 am
I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but look up the song “You Don’t Know Jack” by Luke Bryan on Youtube. Keep in mind, that song was on the same album for which “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” was released as a single.
I can’t help but think that country radio would be vastly improved, even if it continued playing many of the same artists it plays now, if the people / corporations responsible for programming simply had an inclination towards substance and respectable songwriting rather than vapid nonsense. (Not that I love the artists that are played now, but many of them are capable of much better.) I am thankful that the legendary artists that classic country fans know and love got the opportunity to make their music at a time when marketing quality, substantive music in the country mainstream was at least feasible. In the current radio environment, I don’t even know if it’s possible.
Apparently, this is the reason “Bourbon In Kentucky” by Dierks Bentley got pulled as a single and replaced by “Drunk on A Plane.” The radio programmers said it was too serious for their listeners and was derailing the bro-country party time gravy train:
http://bit.ly/1hRXlzg
June 2, 2014 @ 3:14 pm
I lament “Bourbon In Kentucky” never got the due respect it deserved.
That said, I do enjoy “Drunk on a Plane” also.
Why? Because it is much more nuanced and subversive than your typical “bro-country” song. On the surface, it sounds like the kind of song I would usually hate with a seething passion (I mean, it even name-drops “Like a G6” by the Far East Movement: one of the most cringe-inducing cult hits in all recent memory).
So why do I like it? Well, in the second verse, we suddenly learn that the narrator had proposed to his fiancee, only to have just earlier called it all off and that we understand he feels as lonely as a plastic groom on a wedding cake.
I get how that sentiment can lead to such raw emotions of mixed resentment and depression, and cause some people to have wild mood swings. I interpret this as a bombastically over-the-top version of how one hypothetically reacts to such a situation, and it makes for a campy, though catchy, listening experience.
The nuance makes it work to my ears in a way “5-0-5-0” and “Am I The Only One?” failed.
June 2, 2014 @ 12:01 pm
Oh, Blake Shelton. I was just talking to a friend about Miranda Lambert’s ridiculous song “Priscilla’ from “Platinum.” My take is “Honey, you created him, deal with him.” Before they met he was a mullet bearing perennial opening act. Now he’s an obnoxious reality game show host.
June 2, 2014 @ 12:36 pm
Goddammit, did Miranda record another bullshit “I just need to bitch about something” song?
My God. That woman would be so much more tolerable if her angry songs had a point.
June 2, 2014 @ 12:27 pm
jennifer nettles twang was always phony
June 2, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
Exactly.
Go back and listen to her with “Soul Miner’s Daughter”, and you’ll hear her real voice. (Which is actually quite good.)
The country twang bit has always been an act, but hey, it’s made her millions.
June 2, 2014 @ 12:37 pm
Also, I would have included Miranda on this list. I know she releases some good tunes here and there but I’d rather listen to Brantley Gilbert’s newest garbage single than yet another rehash of Gunpowder and Lead.
June 2, 2014 @ 12:42 pm
Wow look at Brantley Gilbert’s old picture. This brings up another point:
Does anybody else hate when the country guys like Florida-Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, and to a lesser extent Jason Aldean(with the earrings at least) try to go for the whole “look” of having their ears pierced, a million tattoos, wearing chains, and converse shoes? This wasn’t the look intended for country.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:36 pm
Kacey Musgraves has a nostril ring. Sturgill Simpson has tattoos.
Your point?
June 2, 2014 @ 3:41 pm
Look, I get where you were trying to go there. You were speaking more to the contrived, manufactured image many entertainers feel obligated to emulate in order to be marketable………and it’s easy to see how being “macho” and succumbing to rock-star caricatures is the most instantly-gratifying way to do so.
That said, look. I have eighteen piercings and no tattoos, and I couldn’t care less about that exaggeratedly “macho” image stereotype. I just enjoy my piercings for specific, spiritually-toned reasons.
Whether Musgraves got her nose pierced, or whether Simpson got all tatted up may or may not have had anything to do with “being cool” or simply for personal desire. Either way, I find it unfair to diminish an entertainer’s integrity instantaneously by having body modifications, specific hair-dos or other ultimately irrelevant features.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:36 pm
What about Nicki Minaj? Those kinds of alterations ought to be criticized.
June 2, 2014 @ 7:55 pm
I don’t think looks particularly matter. I mean, Stoney LaRue and Cody Canada have that look about them. Stoney even has a tattoo on his hand and wears a bandana 90% of the time. The difference is, those guys don’t go around creating that look for marketing purposes to be the biggest badass around.
These other guys, you watch them morph into that look as their superstar grows. And that’s disappointing because that just screams inauthentic. But I’d say the same for a guy wearing a cowboy hat who really wants to be in a ball cap or no hat at all. Country music needs no look, it just needs good music.
June 2, 2014 @ 1:04 pm
At what point should we say, “I can’t blame them”?
If we made a list of people who would sell out their musical stylings for a cool $10 million paycheck, we’d eventually run out of paper.
I’m not saying he can’t criticize their shitty music, but it’s pretty hard for a man to turn down a paycheck that would take care of his family and allow him to retire and live the good live.
June 2, 2014 @ 6:14 pm
This guy gets it. I don’t care for a lot of their music, but give me the chance to sell out for millions I’d do it in a heartbeat and never second guess myself.
June 2, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
Good article. That Sugarland video still annoyed the hell out of me. Never liked Nettles’ voice.
Always liked “Amarillo Sky.”
As often as I’ve had members of “BG Nation” tell me to go listen to Brantley’s older stuff, I never have until the above video. Still don’t like it, but you’re right, the difference is striking. I’ve never thought to characterize his voice change as the Batman voice- that made me laugh pretty hard.
By the way, Brantley’s fans are by far the most rabid defenders of a bro-country star that I’ve encountered. His lack of self-awareness extends to his fans, I’m afraid. Has anybody read the track list to his new album? “If You Want a Bad Boy”, “My Baby’s Guns n’ Roses”, “One Hell of an Amen,” “Small Town Throwdown.” I can’t even type those without laughing. But his fans will tell you he’s “just writing about what he knows.”
June 2, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
Right now Brantley Gilbert has one of the most loyal fan bases in country music, and it has translated into big album sales for his new album that have shocked the industry. The only artist whose grassroots come anywhere close to Brantley at the moment is Carrie Underwood, and to an extent, Eric Church, though Eric’s loyal support might be slightly waning, just like Taylor Swift’s.
June 2, 2014 @ 2:28 pm
Trig,
You hit the nail on the head there. Once a artist/performer gets so big, it seems they start getting “handled”, and people can see right through that BS.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:17 pm
Though I’m inclined to think you’re correct there, I have nonetheless noticed quite a few “BG Nation” fans have expressed relative disappointment over how overproduced “Just As I Am” is to their ears.
Many are complaining they expected an album of abrasive “rawkers” and instead felt mislead by the rock-edged sound of the two lead singles only to be presented with an album heavy on introspective, nostalgic mid-tempo fare and ballads.
Thus, I think there’s a chink in Gilbert’s fanbase armor, just as there is in Church’s.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:29 pm
Taylor still has a fan base larger than that of any of these other artists, judging from album sales and concert sizes.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:35 pm
There’s size, and then there’s loyalty. No doubt Taylor’s fan base is the largest, but unlike earlier in her career, they are not endowed with the type of fervor that you are seeing in other fan bases. This isn’t a knock on anyone, artist or fan. These things are very cyclical. Hank3 used to have one of the most loyal fan bases in music, and now he doesn’t. Phish used to have so much loyalty, they had the highest-grossing concert tours for multiple years without any radio play or industry recognition.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:49 pm
My theory as to why Gilbert has such a loyal and impassioned following is this.
Following the commercial decline of Nickelback, and the precursors to the current “indie-Alternative” wave dominating a once rock-dominant format, many of their listeners faced a dilemma. Where could they turn to now to get their instantly-gratifying fix for knuckle-headed, meat-and-potatoes rock and aggression?
Then, they discovered Jason Aldean was rocking harder than arguably anyone that Alternative was playing at the time. Thus, one by one, word-of-mouth drew people who were traditionally anemic to Jason Aldean and, hence, “country” music.
However, after a while, some of Aldean’s new fans were disappointed to find that his sound was becoming increasingly polished and mainstream-friendly. Hankering for a rawer, more aggressive fix, they happened upon Brantley Gilbert and Eric Church. And, incidentally, both Gilbert and Church saw their fanbases grow exponentially and surprisingly to many industry analysts.
*
Now, I feel the cycle is repeating itself. Some of Gilbert’s fans, who were expecting a hard-rock effort, are expressing dismay over how “soft” and ballad-heavy “Just As I Am” is. Thus, the loyalty of his fans may be tested from here on out………….and they may feel inclined to wander yet again for the next up-and-coming aggressive act.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
No doubt that when an artist goes for greater mainstream acceptance, it’s usually a tradeoff: less fan loyalty, but more fans, and more general financial and industry success. However loyal fans will always be with you, even when you’re not putting out your best material, or are entering the twilight of your career. It’s a very interesting study.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:35 pm
I agree that the intensity in Taylor’s fan base has somewhat diminished, primarily due to her musical shift away from her roots.
Interesting that you brought up the analogy with Hank3. Both Taylor and Hank3 used to have among the most devoted fan bases of any artist, and yet both have hemorrhaged fan loyalty due to moving away from country music. I suppose this serves as a reminder that country fans are the most loyal fans in music as long as an artist sticks with them.
June 2, 2014 @ 5:14 pm
To be discussing the relative rabidity of current country artists’ fan bases is quite comical.
If the fan bases can support an artist for 30 to 40 years with very nominal mainstream airplay, then we can talk. Otherwise, it’s just silliness. See Rush and Iron Maiden.
June 2, 2014 @ 6:32 pm
And bringing up metal bands in the country context to prove a point is somewhat comical too, which seems to happen here quite often. I was measuring country artists against other country artists. Because after all, this is a country music site. Measuring loyalty of fans bases throughout music is a whole other subject. You make a valid point though, there seems to be much more loyalty for rock’s legacy artists than country’s. This is probably a deeper topic for another time.
June 2, 2014 @ 6:49 pm
Point taken.
Discussion for another time and place.
Carry on.
June 2, 2014 @ 1:53 pm
Although never completely country, I did enjoy a fews songs from Florida Georgia Line’s first EP, Anything Like Me. To this day, I still like listening to “Man I Am Today” and “Black Tears” (which Aldean went on to record). I’m not claiming these songs are masterpieces but they’re much better than the nonsense they put out when they went full mainstream.
June 2, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
Thank you for posting this article. This is what makes me sad most about what is on so called country radio. A lot of these people can sing a good country song but choose to release the trash that is on the radio these days. Like I alluded to earlier in a comment about Brantley Gilbert, it is a shame these guys don’t follow their heart instead of the dollar signs to release songs. As much as it pains me to say it, I like the early stuff from Blake Shelton, Some Beach, The Baby, Austin, and etc. I guess their stuff that is on the radio, is what happens when you drink the Nashville Kool-Aid.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:22 pm
Excellent article. I’ve done some old/new comparisons with artists like Tim McGraw, but this really brings it home with the early Brantley Gilbert and Luke Bryan stuff that isn’t as well known. I wouldn’t have even recognized Gilbert. They’re definitely in a different category than FLGAline, which is just watered down from crap that was already watered down to begin with. My hope is when the bro-country fad passes, some of these guys will return to their roots and put out real country music. And FLGA will just go away.
Jason Aldean is such a hit or miss guy for me, more on the miss side lately. Love “The Truth” and “Amarillo Sky” though.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:34 pm
I think Florida-Georgia Line have gotten too big to just simply fade away.
Also, I think even the duo and their management understand that the bubble will be bursting soon and they feel the incentive to write (even if slightly) more mature (NOT to be confused with occasionally challenging 😉 ) fare from here on out if they’re going to truly be regarded later on down the line as the “Brooks & Dunn of this generation” (not implying they actually are anywhere remotely close to their brand of sound, but speaking from the standpoint of wildly successful duos in “country” music).
What remains to be seen is if they’ll be dominating the airwaves for another five years, or another ten. There’s no certainty because, on one hand, it seems the average career life span has shortened compared to before due to how interchangeable so much of what gets serviced to radio is. On the other hand, the few who make it especially big seem to become omnipotent fixtures in the format, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Florida-Georgia Line and Luke Bryan are identified as two of that select few.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:47 pm
You should do a review of Brantley Gilbert’s “Just As I Am”,great CD,no it’s not a rock sounding album,but that’s what I like about it. Plus, I don’t think it has any bro country influences at all. Except for “Bottoms Up” and “Small Town Throwdown”.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
I plan to have something up on the album soon.
June 2, 2014 @ 5:27 pm
Hey Trigger, have you ever considered doing a sort of potpourri style article every once in awhile where you comment on a number of topics that maybe aren’t worthy of a full post?
It could almost serve as an open thread where people could pick and choose which topic they wanted to comment on.
June 2, 2014 @ 6:27 pm
I have considered it, and shoot it down every time. One of the problems with journalism today in my opinion is that few are still willing to dig deep into a subject and raise the level of discourse, especially when it comes to music. Sure I could cover more topics, and review more albums if I was like Rolling Stone and limited them to one or two paragraphs, but is that really serving the music’s best interests? The artists spent months, sometimes years making these albums, and they deserve people to really listen. Same with news topics. I would rather miss four and cover one in-depth, than to cover all five. That’s just the way I’m wired. I hope in the future to be able to cover even more topics, and include contributors to help me in that pursuit, but it will always be in the long form style unless it is something that only needs a paragraph or two to cover.
One a similar note, at this time last year I was covering roughly 6-8 articles a week. The last three weeks, I’ve posted 15 articles per week, and have been hovering around 12=15 per week for months. So I am definitely ramping up to try and cover as much as I can.
I do appreciate the suggestion Scotty and I’m not saying it isn’t a good one. I just think doing something like that would be against my nature.
June 2, 2014 @ 6:50 pm
That’s cool. I appreciate the thought you put into your articles.
June 2, 2014 @ 4:13 pm
I admitted before, and I’ll admit again, that I streamed “Just As I Am” expecting the very worst based off of the lead two singles………..but actually found it better than I expected. Definitely not great, but it has a surprising amount of passable to decent material.
“My Faith In You” and “Let It Ride” are actually, dare I say, well-written and genuine-sounding songs. “One Hell Of An Amen” is also affecting. And “That Was Us” is alright.
Then there are tracks that I think have mixed results. “17 Again” is overproduced and generic-sounding to the point it didn’t do anything for me, but lyrically it’s not that bad. On the flip-side, “If You Want a Bad Boy” has lousy lyrics that follow the exact same formula as chest-beating macho bravado bait elsewhere, but I’ll admit I like the Southern rock groove.
So, “Just As I Am” is an effort I can’t honestly hate, and I don’t. It actually hints at the well-rounded entertainer and songwriting Gilbert CAN be if he puts his heart to it instead of his Affliction merchandise. It’s an effort tragically eclipsed by two terrible singles, lunkheaded PR decisions and, of course, Gilbert’s mouth itself.
June 2, 2014 @ 3:49 pm
Also I think a review of Tim Micgraw’s two newest songs “City Lights” and “Meanwhile Back At Mama’s” deserve a review too,they’re much more Country sounding than “Lookin For That Girl”
June 2, 2014 @ 8:03 pm
I’ve heard “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” on the radio a few times now, and I think each time I looked it up expecting it to be 10-12 years old. It’s night and day different from “That Girl”. I was shocked.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:41 pm
“Meanwhile Back at Mamas” features solid lyricism and wistful, truly country instrumentation. The main problem I have with it, though, is the lack of melody in the vocals. The verses are essentially rapped.
June 2, 2014 @ 5:25 pm
Another one is Kenny Chesney. His first two albums are his best by far, and REAL country. He had a lot of twang in his voice. Things just started going downhill after those first two albums.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:13 pm
I agree. That whole first album from Kenny Chesney was great. Somebodys Callin, Whatever it takes, and High and Dry just to name a few.
June 2, 2014 @ 9:27 pm
I used to be such a fan of “The Brantley Gilbert Band”. His website, at the time, was his myspace page. I ordered his first cd from a boot store in Georgia. When he finally got a website, I ordered bracelets, and whoever mailed it put a sincere thank you message in the package.
Forget the ridiculous, laughable music he releases now. Did he SMOKE his voice away??? It was never the strongest one in the world, but he could make me listen to him sing a good song back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKLDNV9ZXNA
I can’t understand a damn thing he sings/screams now, and don’t really care to. He needs to go home to Mama for while.
June 2, 2014 @ 11:28 pm
I read all of this about Brantley, and couldn’t help but roll my eyes, I have a hard time believing he was EVER “authentic”… I base that view upon the stories I’ve heard from multiple about a show he played in Springfield, MO while he was still a “nobody”. I have friends in the band who opened for him that night in the Outland Ballroom (holds 300 people, max), that say he wasn’t actually playing the guitar he carried onstage. Additionally, I have friends who were in the audience who tried to approach him after the show, and we’re not allowed to because Brantley had several large security guards who rushed him offstage and kept fans away… Other than an overly inflated ego, I cannot find a plausible reason why a then-nobody “artist” would hire such goons for security purposes, while playing a small hole-in-the-wall venue.
You can make all the claims you like, but I’ll never believe Brantley Gilbert was ever authentic in his approach.
June 3, 2014 @ 12:23 am
I know you may be referring to other commenters, but I personally never said that Brantley Gilbert was authentic, now or ever. I said some of his early music was sincere, and that is solely based off of listening to it, not really off of anything about his personal life or how he treats people.
June 3, 2014 @ 12:41 am
Fair enough, I understand what you’re saying at least, and wasn’t directing the comment towards you specifically… However, for me at least, there’s little difference between how he acts, and how sincere his music is. Maybe I’m just too picky and/or cynical in that regard. But If he acts like a total douchenugget, but releases the most heartfelt song he can, one of those sentiments are fake… And being fake means true sincerity doesn’t exist.
Like I said, I think I get your point, but I got from the comments that people were somehow reading that these guys were once potentially great, but something foreign tarnished their potential… My comment was made to show that no, these guys were always who they are now, they just hadn’t gotten a chance to show their true colors to the masses yet.
June 3, 2014 @ 8:27 am
Hey, I am in no way endorsing Brantley Gilbert’s music, even his early stuff. This was more an illustration of how much these artists have changed. I agree, if I think someone is just trying to act authentic instead of actually being authentic, it tends to erode my taste in their music.
June 3, 2014 @ 7:44 am
I’m curious as to why someone is hypothesizing that Brantley’s loyal fan base could be diminishing due to their unhappines with Brantley’s newest “softer” album. Brantley’s first album was not hard rock at all, and featured quite a few songs with instrumentals consisting of simply acoustic guitar and piano. Even his second album had just a few hard rock songs on it.
June 3, 2014 @ 8:54 am
This is probably one my favorite articles you’ve written in a long time. I’ve said this a million times. Everyone always wants to say how little talent all these people have, but that’s not it. They all have songwriting abilities, they are all good singers, and they are all good musicians.
It’s not even these songs. Luke Bryan- We Rode in Trucks, The Car in Front of Me, Do I…Even Tailgates and Tanlines had some decent songs. Jason Aldean had Lonesome USA, Asphalt Cowboy, and Why. And Sugarland had many fantastic songs. But that was back when Jennifer Nettles actually sang and wrote more than 3 word choruses. I’ve never been a fan of Brantley Gilbert, but the fact that he doesn’t even try to sing anymore, he uses that fake rasp in his voice to sound like he’s a badass and acts like a total tool.
It’s sad when you look at what these people really have to offer and then turn on your radio and listen to what is on there. It sucks to lose that much respect for what were some of your favorite artists a few years ago
June 5, 2014 @ 9:32 am
My theory on Jarrod Neimann- He drew the short straw in his circle of friends and has to put out the biggest horseshit songs he can come up with for radio play. It is a joke amongst them… lets see how bad we can make a song but follow the music row formula and they will eat it up.
Have you heard his “Donkey” song? That is a fucking disaster! I don’t even think anyone can get mad at it but to say, he is fucking with us right? And music row and the 15-25yr. old crowd is loving it.
Jarrod maybe the most talented songwriter of the bunch you list here, that is why I think he has purposely gone off the deep end to push the line as far into horseshit as possible.
Rather than battle with quality songs, he is saying, “ok, you want simple/disposable/2min. dance music? Here you go, and here is another, and here is something even worse. and another….” Almost like he is overloading the circuit to implode on itself.
July 8, 2014 @ 9:17 am
To go along with the Florida Georgia Line comment, they released a new single “Dirt” today which has, rather predictably, skyrocketed to the top slot on iTunes chart this morning. Of course, country radio will covet and praise it for being a “change-up” song with a slower rhythm and lyrical depth (gag not at all).
Typically though, it is the same Fgl crap I’ve been forced to listen to on Country radio when I forget my auxiliary cord in my car. I sure would’ve thought by now those teenage girls who are shopping in Michael Kors right now and who have probably never seen a road covered in dirt or gotten their “shine” on with Tennessee whiskey would’ve figured it out that country radio is stealing their iTunes gift cards by selling the same shit on a gold plate.
What’s new though, why wouldn’t Fgl put out another song that’s the exact same as the previous ones they released, or for that matter that everyone has released apart from Eric Church (who tries to be different with a disappointing song “the outsiders” and “cold one” which I find good but sonically challenging)(side rant: he does have a couple of truly good songs on the outsiders in Dark Side, Like a Wrecking Ball, and A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young, although commercially he has 2 singles left to release from the album and one of them will be Talladega in order for this album to have its “Springsteen”, and the other one will probably be something to appease EMI Nashville like Broke Record. As much as I’d like dark side to be a single, it probably won’t happen.) and Zac Brown Band who aren’t exactly country but they are probably the best thing that will get airtime on country music radio…. Not to say the aren’t great, I think the Grohl sessions are a piece of musical genius, and should they have Dave Grohl produce a full length album, it would be a fantastic album. (Back to the initial question) Because Fgl keeps having record breaking sales… Business is business right? It makes me sick, good music traded for a few bucks. Not that Fgl had good music to trade for money.