Isn’t celebrity pop culture influencing voter habits how we got here in the first place? If you’re waiting for marching orders from your favorite pop star to figure out who to vote for, you’re uniquely unqualified to be voting in the first place, just as most pop stars are uniquely unqualified to be attempting to advise the public.
It’s pretty rare that a piece of an artist’s merchandise accoutrement is worthy of a broad discussion or deep analysis into its intrinsic meaning. But leave it to Sturgill Simpson to stupefy some, intrigue others, and leaving something so open to interpretation as he’s done with a T-Shirt he’s been hawking at recent shows.
Recently Kip Moore laid out the real difference between what he does, and what many major label artists who never took the time to develop a strong grassroots following are forced to do, which is acquiesce to producers, labels, and radio trends to find attention and acceptance.
If you’re wondering where bluegrass is headed in 2018, and where it could go in a world where music is constantly being tasked to evolve and engage with younger people, following the career track of Molly Tuttle is a good place to start.
The biggest threat to country music at the moment is the rampant and rancid ultra-politicization of the country music space by opportunistic, interloping, and woefully-misguided journalists attempting to use the genre, its fans, and its artists as unwitting pawns to assert a biased agenda to change the mindset of the electorate.
It isn’t just the words or the music itself. It’s the commitment your mind makes when you listen to a Charlie Robison song. It’s the awakening of the imagination, and the suspension of disbelief, yet the true-as-dirt stories told with glossy-eyed despondency that make you deeply cognizant of every damn word being conveyed.
It’s now been two months since purely pop star Bebe Rexha eclipsed the all-time record on the 70-year-old Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for consecutive weeks at #1, and there is still no end in sight for the song’s reign. 43 weeks now the song has remained in the top spot, with challengers coming and going with no real threat.
Of the many traditions of country music that have been trounced upon and forgotten in recent history, the culture of male country artists being complimented by women on stage is one of the most regrettable. Whether it was Dolly playing with Porter, Emmylou singing with Gram, or scores of other examples…
2018 was a high water mark when it came to the amount of diversity showcased by the organization and its community. But still the criticism for Americana’s lack of diversity have grown louder, bolstered by the current political climate where many feel they need to insist upon more diversity.
When you first heard about Carrie Underwood’s unfortunate fall and her need for hospitalization in November of 2017, it was hard not to feel bad for the country star regardless of how you felt about her music. Releasing the song “Cry Pretty” as part of the personal revelations about the injury made the story especially […]
Owning a #2 and a #7 record on the Billboard Country Albums chart, as well as a strong fan base in Texas that sold out an appearance at the vaunted Houston Rodeo, Cody Johnson doesn’t need to jump through the hoops that other developing artists are sometimes asked to, though some labels still tried as they pursued him.
Virtually everyone has been ignoring Caitlyn Smith’s record Starfire, and specifically her song “This Town Is Killing Me.” With almost no press, with absolutely no radio play, and very little attention via streaming playlists, “This Town Is Killing Me” has received well over 5 million plays on Spotify alone since its release.
Look, it’s not really the business of myself or anyone else to ask why you have chosen or been forced to virtually disappear from the public spotlight for going on almost 5 years now. But dammit, it just doesn’t feel right that we’re experiencing all of this success throughout independent country music now, and you’re not here.
Kane Brown and Luke Combs couldn’t be more different. But they are both a new style of country star who made their ascent into mainstream stardom 100% during the streaming era, and due to the streaming era specifically. Last week, both artists announced their own arena tours.
Over the last few years, there’s been two primary names that people in-the-know about the doings of true country music have been sliding Saving Country Music’s way and saying they’re ones to watch. The first name was Tyler Childers, and we all know how that turned out. The second is Logan Ledger.
By the bullet points on the resume, Burt Reynolds had little to do with country music. Not since Gram Parsons did a figure in American pop culture act like a bigger bridge to country music, and proved how it could be cool. For most famous humans, the myth precedes them. But with Burt Reynolds, the myth really was the man.
Nobody has benefited more from the momentum of Sturgill Simpson than fellow Kentucky songwriter turned burgeoning star Tyler Childers. But now Tyler is enjoying a momentum all his own, and if anything, is even further ahead than Sturgill was at this point in his career.
There’s nothing new about staring at the “New Artist” nominees for a country music industry awards show and being bewildered at the names you see. It’s an annual exercise. This year the names included in the CMA’s “New Artist of the Year” category were no different.
There is a strange project that is preparing to be released on September 7th by a pair of country music performers called The Stryker Brothers that has folks trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and who the hell is behind it all.
Now that the 2018 CMA Awards nominations have been announced, the people who care about the awards can pour over the lists and find things to complain about, while the people who complain about the awards can pour over the lists while professing to not care. This is the way of things, and what happens every year.
When we first got word of a new reality TV singing competition coming down the pike via the USA Network called “Real Country,” and that the judges were going to be none other than pop country pretty boy Jake Owen and the Queen of Crossover Shania Twain, it was worth a chuckle to say the least.
There most definitely have been greater offenders to the roots and the integrity of country music over the past few years than Dustin Lynch. But arguably nobody has been a greater disappointment than the Broken Bow artist from Tullahoma, Tennessee. With a promising start to his career, with his strong voice and propensity to sport […]
Recently Saving Country Music was asked to participate in the True Country Podcast, hosted by Texas musicians Justin Mason and Vic Andrews. After warning them I can talk their ear off on the topic of country music, the conversation stretched into two 30-minute podcasts, which can now be heard on their website, and via iTunes. […]
If you wanted to know just how committed he is to doing things his own way, how inspired he is by the oldtimers and Outlaws that came before him and the camaraderie they showed towards each other, well he’s about to tell you.