CMA Fan Fest “Country’s Night To Rock” LIVE Blog
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the LIVE blog for the 2013 broadcast of CMA’s Fan Fest, dubbed over the last few years as “Country’s Night to Rock.” Since our live blogs for mainstream country’s big awards shows have been so successful over the years, and because we had many requests to also create a platform for commiseration as what they call “country” music will dominate ABC’s airwaves for the next 3 hours, it was decided we’ll give it a shot for this event too.
This is not a live event. It is culled from footage taken during the CMA’s Fan Fest in downtown Nashville June 6th through the 9th at LP Field. As the night progresses, we will post our observations in an attempt to give voice to the other side of the country music spectrum. You are invited to join in through the comment section below. All times Central time.
Here we go!
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10:05 PM: Welp, that sucked. The show, most of the performances, the fact that my online stream crapped out twice, throwing me off my game considerably. But thanks anyway for everyone showing up, and to all those that participated in the comments (positively and negatively).
Now let’s cleanse our palettes with some true Nashville rising stars that exude soul and true country artistry.
9:59 PM: So hard to pick the most evil pop country star right now, but it certainly is a male performer, and Luke Bryan makes a real good case for himself.
And yes, you have NO idea how hard it is for me right to not make a certain off-color remark about a portion of Luke Bryan;s anatomy. But I made a promise not to revisit that line of humor….
9:57 PM: Just don’t understand The Band Perry appeal.
9:49 PM: Kip Moore would get his bung hole bleached on stage if he thought it would make him a star. No scruples.
9:48 PM: From SCM’s rant on “Wagon Wheel”:
As if legions of college town string bands full of anthropology majors mercilessly regurgitation “Wagon Wheel” over and over to try and score hummers from undergrads after the show in their Volvos with the back windows tattooed with political stickers wasn’t enough, now Hootie has lent his back to the collective toil of the Western World to do everything humanly possible to run this song into the proverbial ever-loving ground so hard that it taps the mantle of the earth and causes a catastrophic volcanic and tectonic event that wipes out the entire human fucking race.
9:45 PM: Who is Old Crow Medicine Show? Huh, never heard of them.
9:39 PM: Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host the CMA Awards again in November. Are we surprised? They have pretty good chemistry when the writers give them decent material.
9:36 PM: And yes, we sort of found a new online stream, though it’s kind of like trying to find a nipple through 1980’s cable filter fuzz.
9:33 PM: Kid Rock is like the accidental anchovie on my Zac Brown / Blackberry Smoke Hawaiian pizza right now. The reason his nickname is the “Wet Cigarette of Country Music” is because he can take anything and make it trashy.
9:26 PM: Yes, you absolutely positively can’t have any single music event in the English-speaking world regardless of genre or context without a washed up Sheryl Crow showing up and wheezing into a microphone at some point.
9:24 PM: A lot of people observing that Will Hoge’s Chevy Truck commercial is the most country thing on this presentation.
9:20 PM: If Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” didn’t mention “motorbotin’,” and “motorbotin'” didn’t have an adolescent sexual connotation, the song would have never made it out of ASCAP’s songwriting cubicles.
9:17 PM: Just remember folks as you’re watching Lenny Kravitz, he later flipped off this same crowd when they wouldn’t get into his 12-year-old rock anthem.
9:15 PM: Carrie Mess on Twitter:
“Hey Miranda, your boobs are on fire.”
“Are those vegan leather boots Carrie [Underwood]is wearing? Is she vegan pocahontas?
9:13 PM: Alright , so as we work to re-connect to the broadcast, well share some observances from other folks on Twitter and from around the web…
9:10 PM: Still trying to find a good online stream of the program folks! Looks like the CMA’s are shutting all the live online feeds down like the creativity in a Music Row recording studio. We’ll keep trying!
8:58 PM: Sorry folks, still trying to re-connect. All of our fail safe online TV watching outlets are not working at the moment. If anyone can procure a good link, please share in the comments section.
8:48 PM: Sorry folks, we are on the West Coast, and the only way to watch live is online, and our stream just got yanked. We’re working on getting re-connected!
8:43 PM: Aaaaaannndd, there goes our live feed. Working to re-connect!
8:42 PM: Got no problem with Zac Brown, though he’s not really my bag. Interesting footnote: Shooter Jennings, an artist that struggles to pack 350-person venues is charging $85 for meet and greet packages at his shows. Zac Brown band who regularly sells out 15,000-20,000 person shows at arenas, has an “eat and greet” where you eat a meal with Zac Brown and the band…. $55.
8:38 PM: Eric Church is not Outlaw, just ask him……but he’ll sell you an Outlaw T-shirt.
8:35 PM: Wait a second, did this asshole in Little Big Town really compare Eric Church with Willie, Waylon, and Cash ?!?! Blasphemy!
8:32 PM: There’s something especially sad a desperate about idolizing Luke Bryan and trying to craft your career around learning from his success, but falling short. That’s where Jake Owen is.
8:28 PM: “Double wide trailer back in the holler on a country road”? Jake Owen lives in an antiseptic penthouse suite and spent $800 on a fung shway expert to align his modernist couch and nouveau coffee table with his Tao.
8:25 PM: Hillary Scott is wondering why her man doesn’t take her downtown anymore? Because she’s got one 8 months in the oven. We don’t need anyone’s water breaking on the subway.
8:23 PM:Um, music?
Actually screw that, I’d rather see this chick school these dudes in ping pong than a Lady Antebellum live performance any day.
8:22 PM: How stereotypical is it that they got an Asian to be the super ping pong shill in this stupid bit?
8:15 PM: The name of this song is “Highway Don’t Care (hot pop star saves struggling has-been star’s dwindling career in label-forced collaboration)”.
8:12 PM: Who knows how much they cleaned this up for the tele, but this is the most on-pitch live performance I’ve seen from Taylor Swift in a while.
8:08 PM: Watching Taylor Swift 2013 is like watching the awkward girl next door nearly breaking her ankle trying to walk around in high heels. Just be yourself.
8:06 PM: Someone ask Taylor Swift what Max Martin, Shellback, and Scott Borchetta did with her soul after they stole it.
8:01 PM: What the hell is this? It ain’t even at the CMA Fan Fest. Jason Aldean is such a tool, and “1994” was a total dud.
8:00 PM: They edited out the part when Jason Aldean got his various wallet chains stuck in the braces of one jubilant 14-year-old fan in the front row.
7:56 PM: I just don’t get these country music groups like Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum. It’s hard to identify with the various players. It all seems so arbitrary and random. One of the reasons we love music is through identifying with individuals. These groups are simply designed to take advantage of award show nominations.
7:51 PM: Working to confirm that Blake Shelton’s drummer was indeed injured before the performance, and was replaced by a Chippendale’s dancer, complete with sleeveless tuxedo and white tie.
7:49 PM: Yes, here’s the reigning Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year….to sing a rap song. Beam me up.
7:47 PM: Leave it to pop star Kelly Clarkson to be the first performer to feature some traditional country instrumentation.
7:46 PM: SECURITY! There’s a banjo on stage!
7:44 PM: Man, that opening riff of Kelly Clarkson was straight up ripped off from Led Zepplin’s “Heartbreaker.”
7:42 PM: This show teases work like disclaimers. “WARNING: Coming up, Jason Aldean, Darius Rucker, and Taylor Swift collaborating with Tim McGraw.”
7:39 PM: Interesting factoid, it took 7 Hobbits using shoehorns to squeeze Luke Bryan into his skinny jeans.
7:37 PM: Interesting factoid, The Perry Brothers’ hair was used by Peter Jackson to model the hair of the Hobbits in his latest movie.
7:35 PM: Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry needs to focus more on delivering an inspiring vocal performance instead of her pop-inspired stage gesticulations. They make her performances annoyingly breathy, though this is admittedly better than her AWFUL ACM performance.
7:32 PM: And “Ho-Hey” by the Lumineers is now officially the most ubiquitous song in the history of music.
7:30 PM: Going back to Carrie Underwood opening with a Guns & Roses song—this is par for the course for primetime country broadcasts. They feel the need to apologize for being country, so they always start off with a off-genre song.
7:25 PM: Of course we couldn’t get the performance of Brad Paisley with Charlie Daniels from Fan Fest. That would be against their “no gray hair” policy.
7:23 PM: The thing is Hunter Hayes is a good musician, who apparently can play anything. But he uses his talents for the forces of pop evil.
7:21 PM: Hunter Hayes on the Ellen Show, courtesy of Farce The Music:
7:20 PM: Hunter Hayes is the Justin Bieber of country music. Eternally pre-pubescent.
7:18 PM: So apparently I missed Carrie Underwood channeling Axl Rose?
7:16 PM: What??? They allowed Brian Kelley to sing??? That 7 seconds right before the commercial was the first peep I’ve heard from that dude during a performance in 2 years.
7:14 PM: Sorry folks, our online stream crapped out, but we got a good one now! Right in time for….oh, Florida Georgia Line.
7:00 PM: Here we go!
6:58 PM: In the spirit of full disclosure, I am currently located on the West Coast, so I am trying to hop 2 time zones away so that I can pick up the live feed. This may result in some broadcast interruptions as our feed has already gone down numerous times.
6:55 PM: One performance we will probably not be seeing is the one put on by Lenny Kravitz. During CMA Fan Fest, he went 15 minutes over his appointed set time, trying to get the crowd engaged into chanting a 12-year-old rock song. They would have none of it, and eventually Kravitz chided the crowd for not being able to “get with love,” and then ironically, flipped them the double bird as he walked off stage. So much for his upcoming “gone country” career.
6:52 PM: So according to Saving Country Music intel, the event is going to be hosted by Little Big Town, and will feature performances by Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Eric Church, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Lady Antebellum, Jason Mraz, Kacey Musgraves, Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler and Darius Rucker.
August 12, 2013 @ 5:37 pm
I just turned this crap on to see of it truly as bad as it sounds…it’s worse. A banjo or fiddle do not a country song make. This “music” is the domain of high school/college girls and the boys who love ‘m. The Band Perry and half of that paragon of honk tonk Luke Bryan was all I could stand. Just awful.
August 12, 2013 @ 6:15 pm
During commercials I’m playing Faron young, mixed with some old crow medicine show to get some new bluegrass in my toolbox.
August 12, 2013 @ 5:51 pm
You know if people in Nashville would let the ones that still sing good ole country — record and get the music out there we would here more – I still love the older county music – I am 50 years old and have to say a lot of the new I love to — Times change – people change and the music changes with everything else .
But to set and cut down everyone on the show — that Millions like compared to the ones on this site is pretty bad if you ask me – If people don’t like it just turn it off and listen to what you like … If I hear a song I don’t like I don’t grip I turn it off and find one I do like
August 12, 2013 @ 6:19 pm
Second time I’ve needed to link to this article today.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/why-criticize-bad-music
And believe it or not, I will be looking for positive things to say.
August 13, 2013 @ 12:14 am
And not to drive home the point, but last weekend I spent three days live blogging a music festival, and earlier in the summer spent and entire day live blogging Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic, and both of those events combined drew less traffic over their entirety than this live blog did in any given 30 minute segment. There’s nobody this bothers more than me. The positivity is here. People just need to start paying attention to it.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/pickathon-2013-live-blog
https://savingcountrymusic.com/40th-annual-willie-nelsons-4th-of-july-picnic-live-blog
August 13, 2013 @ 1:22 pm
Well, I linked in here from somewhere and I found the live blog comments very tasty. Please continue to give ’em hell. I didn’t watch the show but then, I didn’t have to because I could pretty much predict who would play and that they’d pretty much all suck. Great comment on Wagon Wheel, BTW. Hell, I attend a folk festival every year and there are t-shirts that say DON’T PLAY WAGON WHEEL. Hootie, indeed. The whole rock n’ roll charade is laughable too. Now an homage to Hank WIlliams with Buddy Guy might be kinda cool but that kind of crossover would freak everyone out. We like to think we’re all traditional in Texas but even that genre has gotten pretty stale.
Since news today is that Tomball Glaser died, I think I’ll go listen to some Gram Parsons in honor of the irony where TG got all huffy with GP on the Grand Ole Opry, yet TG became most famous as a Willie, Waylon, and Kris co-outlaw and is most associated with a Shel Silverstein song. Even the jerks can have redemption.
And just to be on topic, I figure your critical because modern C&W sucks and needs a kick in the ass. Thanks for being the boot.
August 12, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
I was at cma fest, been a family trip for over 20+s and it has gotten worse. He music is terrible. Jason aldean singing(rapping) 1994 is a disgrace. Randy travis was at cma fest but you won’t see him tonight . What a shame! He is a legend and still has a better voice than any other male on abc tonight.
August 12, 2013 @ 6:09 pm
What song(s) did Brad Paisley and Charlie Daniels play at the festival?
August 12, 2013 @ 6:20 pm
He made an appearance when Paisley played “Devil Went Down To Georgia.”
August 13, 2013 @ 1:11 am
Paisley played “Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Aahhh!!! No, the thought of that is just wrong, wrong, wrong!
August 12, 2013 @ 6:16 pm
Here trigger goes again with his attacks on the artists and not their music. So typical.
August 12, 2013 @ 6:21 pm
…yet so fun.
August 12, 2013 @ 6:24 pm
Whatever makes you feel better about you. Go for it. Just don’t think I have respect for it. Its online bullying at its finest. Criticize the music not the artist.
August 12, 2013 @ 10:06 pm
The music sucks, we’ve been over that time and time again. When the music becomes nothing more than a platform for these fabricated acts to stand upon, they become more than fair game.
The music is without substance, plain and simple.
August 13, 2013 @ 1:09 am
She doesnt suck without taylor swift i wouldnt be here so take a steP back and respect others. we have gone over this but her platform is for good things. I don’t see you hating on Hank Williams Jr. Where you should be he is a racist and that’s debatable.
I can respect if you don’t the music but it goes beyond that. Musical taste is in the beyond of the beholder. You should know that she has a platform and does many good things such as singing a sing for. A 3 year old but you probably don’t know that. She is a great role model for young girls/boys on how to work hard . She writes all of her own songs.
Have you actually listened to her latest album? It’s a quality album with some country, pop, acoustic. If you have you realize such songs as state if grace, all too well, treacherous , starlight are all very underrated and she is still country.
The hate on this site has gotten out of control against taylor. If you don’t like her change the channel. She is very talented and continues to grow . She takes risks and makes good music.
August 13, 2013 @ 9:51 am
Look Rachel, I understand what you’re saying, and in some respects I agree with it. Of course an exercise like this is stupid, immature, and maybe even in some ways self-defeating. But all of this goes without saying. If someone roasted me this way (and it has happened MANY time with much more spite), I would laugh. This is sport. It is the reason celebrities line up to get roasted on Comedy Central. Over time you will probably see less of this, and I was mostly prodded into doing this by readers. But if you take any of this too seriously, then the real joke is on you.
August 18, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
E Everyone should just stfu. You cant save country music. It doesnt need to be saved. Its just different now.,the outlaw era is over. Get over it. I agree that tgere is alot of bs.,that is put out too. But you cant make people not like what they do. And as far im concerned anyone trying to do old country and calling it real country are just as pretentious as the pop cpuntry artist doing their thing. Maybe even more so. At least the modern country sounds like its from this century.
August 13, 2013 @ 10:27 am
@Rachael
im a big taylor fan as well and trigger has actually been very fair towards her in the past couple of years and even complimentary at times. getting defensive and angry every time shes slightly mocked or criticized just makes us look like some wacko beleibers.
August 13, 2013 @ 4:12 pm
The biggest problem that I have is that a of people that criticize her music haven’t even listened to the latest album or seen her tour they just off what the mainstream media says. If you give the album a chance you might be surprised at the different styles from pop, country,acoustic, dub step.The album as a whole shows growth in her music and writing. I don’t understand the criticism that she isn’t country because the lyrics still are and that hasn’t changed.
August 12, 2013 @ 6:34 pm
Every single shot of the audience is of a pretty “country” girl. WTF ?
August 12, 2013 @ 8:22 pm
There are no ugly people in the corporate country world. They’re kept in the basement away from the cameras.
August 13, 2013 @ 10:14 am
It’s part of the brand that the suits in Nashville are trying to create. They want “country” music to own Miss America, the homecoming queen, and the cover girl next door. If I recall, CMT even aired the Miss America pageant a few years ago. It’s as if they are trying to create an identity where pretty girls are associated with “country” music and the millions of young girls who aspire to be pretty and popular become “country” music fans. It makes commercial sense, because selling music to young people is more about identity politics than artistic ability.
August 12, 2013 @ 6:40 pm
Then why read the blog, if his comments annoy you so much? Free speech…bullying? Please….
August 12, 2013 @ 6:48 pm
I am watching to see Pickler and I must say this thing is so over produced. Where is the country music? I saw Carrie Underwood on her last tour stop and I was just furious that she was relying so much on gimicks and props – there was no connection with the crowd!
August 12, 2013 @ 7:07 pm
I think the most country sounding song I heard so far is the Chevy commercial
August 12, 2013 @ 9:06 pm
Will Hoge is getting some good attention from that ad. I checked out the video of it on youtube and there were lots of people leaving comments that the commercial caught their attention and they searched to find whose song it was. He already wrote “Another song nobody will hear” so it is cool that people are hearing this one. Chevy might be able to get a lesser known artist more attention than radio.
August 12, 2013 @ 7:29 pm
Jake Owen for me is the best of the worst when it comes to pop country. I’m a huge Eric Church fan personally. Jake Owen though, while his songs don’t have much substance stays true to himself and his fans. He is known to leave tickets for fans at concerts that tweet him saying they don’t have the money to go. He also enjoys the pre-concert parties with his fans in the parking lots. His first single off his new album is Days of Gold originally written and recorded by The Cadillac Three. While the lyrics aren’t of depth the production is different and brings something different to the table that isn’t the country rap that Aldean, Shelton, and Bryan are bringing to the table. Sorry for my rant. I’m stuck some where in the middle. I love Sturgill Simpson, Hellbound Glory, Kellie Pickler and the classics, but I do like some new upbeat country. Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Blake Shelton are just awe-full though. If you are going to be pop country at least bring something different to the table, like Jake Owen actually caring about his fans and making that known.
August 12, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
Good on Jake Owen for taking care of his fans. Let’s hope he carries this on, even as he gets bigger (which I have a sense he will), and not pull a Shooter Jennings and charge his fans to shake his hand.
August 12, 2013 @ 10:12 pm
I was a huge fan of Jake Owen’s Startin With Me album.
Since then he’s ditched the shirt and the accent. He’s well on his way to craptown.
August 12, 2013 @ 7:33 pm
Ha! From the Iron Shiek on twitter – The Iron Sheik ”@the_ironsheik 18m
Miley Cyrus Taylor Swift you are both 2 dumb bitch you never be like Dolly Parton or the Queen Latifah. Both you go fuck yourself forever
He’s better than Shakespeare
August 12, 2013 @ 7:34 pm
They announced during the show that Brad and Carrie will be hosting again! 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PLkCdHrbWY
August 12, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
It really pissed me off when they said Kip Moore’s influences were Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger. To top it off, he’s wearing a Stones cut-off shirt. Five of my favorite artists of all time, and that tool doesn’t sound a lick like any of them (Maybe slightly Bruce vocally, but his lyrics don’t even hold a candle). If you’re going to claim those influences, at least sound remotely like them, douche.
August 12, 2013 @ 9:13 pm
see this is why i could never do a blog. there’s perfectly good baseball on and Triggerman has to subject himself to this insufferable garbage because the man is bound and determined to save country musics soul. i tip my Twins cap to you sir…
August 12, 2013 @ 9:29 pm
Luckily the Rangers game today was a day game. Yu Darvish damn near threw a perfect game…again!
August 12, 2013 @ 9:46 pm
Darvish is a beast…
August 12, 2013 @ 9:23 pm
I completely forgot this was on! I watched a film on Turner Classic Movies (the 1964 French musical ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ — excellent, if kind of bittersweet), and then switched over to ‘Under the Dome.’
I would love to have seen Kellie and Kacey; but otherwise, it doesn’t sound like I missed anything. Thanks for the snark-tastic live blog, Trig. 😀
August 12, 2013 @ 10:12 pm
Haha, I totally thought Kelly clarkson was going to sing heartbreaker. Thank god for this website, every time I watch one of these shows I inevitably type into my search engine some variation of “miranda lambert is awful/trashy/a b-word.” I hate her a little more everytime i hear steve earle’s I feel alright. Bless you for your live streams, they carry me through.
August 12, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
Glad I missed it, thanks for the laughs as usual though. Looking forward to your inevitable rant about Luke Bryan’s new single “That’s My Kind of Night” I mention this because my brother had just heard it on the radio and claimed it was the worst song he has ever heard. Well I lent my ear and think we have a candidate for the worst country song of all time. Good luck to anyone who attempts to get through the whole song.
August 13, 2013 @ 10:52 am
Can’t believe he mentions Conway and T Pain in the same sentence…
August 13, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
Yeah I hear ya, not only does the music continue to get worse, they’re even getting progressively worse with the “name-dropping” I’m ok with Conway, but T Pain??? Are you f*cking kidding me??
August 13, 2013 @ 10:49 pm
Seriously, it’s everything that’s wrong with country music right now.
– Pop sound
– Autotune
– Cookie cutter country lyrics about girls, trucks, beer, sex, name dropping country legends
– Borderline rapping
– NAME DROPPING FUCKING T PAIN
Which means it’s going straight to #1. Ridiculous.
August 14, 2013 @ 12:17 am
And it just keeps getting worse, it’s like they are going completely out of their way to make it shittier. Not just to make money….but to sing pure shit. It can’t be happening by accident. What’s mainstream country gonna be like in just another 5 years?? Nothing would surprise me anymore.
August 13, 2013 @ 1:14 am
Let’s me honest ….. we all knew it was going to be crap!
August 13, 2013 @ 2:06 am
Now you got to see what I had to hear, when I got trapped working just outside of LP Field that week! What’s more enjoyable than watching that shit? Having to just “hear” it!
August 13, 2013 @ 6:28 am
This was my third and last time attending the CMA Music Festival. It no longer is about country music and the fans. It’s about producing a show for ABC. The title even drove the direction of the performances, “Country’s Night to ‘Rock'”. To have Carrie Underwood open with “Paradise City” shows what’s wrong with today’s country music. Talk about blurred lines! Nobody knew that Randy Travis, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Gary Allen appeared. No, we had to endure Lenny Kravitz and Jason Mraz. Thankfully I was able to see Kellie Pickler perform at her fan club party and she was far better than anyone at LP field. Just sayin’.
August 13, 2013 @ 10:20 am
To me, “country’s night to rock” basically means “country’s night to not be country”. Now having a special event for this seems redundant, because on many mainstream country stations “country’s night to not be country” seems to be just about every night. But I can understand that it could be hard to have to put up a pretense all the time, and it’s easier for the pop wannabes to let it all hang out.
August 13, 2013 @ 6:53 am
AFTER WATCHING 3 1/2 MINUTES HERES MY CONCLUSION, HERES A THOUGHT……..INSTEAD OF INVITING WASHED UP NEVER-HAS-BEEN ROCKERS TO PERFORM, LETS INVITE THE FEW REMAINING COUNTRY LEGENDS TO PERFORM AND SCHOOL THESE LITTLE PUKES IN SOME COUNTRY HISTORY! OR AT LEAST TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE MUSIC THAT THESE DUMBASSES DISRESPECT. I WOULD LOVE TO SHOVE MY STEEL UP EVERY ONE OF THESE MORONS ASS……BUT WHATS THE POINT THEY WOULDNT KNOW WHAT IT WAS ANYWAYS……
August 13, 2013 @ 8:53 am
After reading through your play-by-play, Trigger, I had to go to YouTube and play Dale Watson’s ‘A Real Country Song’.
August 13, 2013 @ 10:37 am
I watched the entire show waiting for pickler to sing but she never did unless I missed it during a bathroom break.
very dissapointed
August 13, 2013 @ 7:07 pm
The thing is, I actually think I’m defending Taylor Swift here against the people who are not letting her be herself. But maybe that only makes sense in my own skewed mind.
August 13, 2013 @ 5:26 pm
I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD POST TOO FAST,AND THERE WAS A SPEED
LIMIT ON TYPING. SO AGAIN, HERE, HERE, GTRMAN86, I AGREE !
I KNOW THINGS WILL ALWAYS EVOLVE,BUT IF THEIR GOING TO CALL
COUNTRY MUSIC JUST THAT, THEN THEY NEED A SEPERATE GENRE.
WHERE YOU HAVE THE CONTEMPORARY AND STILL THE SEGMENT OUT THERE THATS LIKE THE ORIGINAL, LIKE ALAN JACKSON, GEORGE STRAIT, RANDY TRAVIS WHEN HE GETS BACK TO HIS SELF& THERE’S MORE THAT I’M NOT THINKING OF. ONE DAY I THOUGHT OF SEVERAL & I THINK THEY
WOULD PERFORM IF THEY HAD A REAL COUNTRY PLATFORM (STAGE).
THEY NEED TO FORM THEIR OWN ORGANIZATION TO ALSO BE RECOGNIZED
BY THE CM HIGHER UP’S ,I DON’T KNOW, JUST SOME SOLUTION. CKFLORIDA07
August 13, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
Nobody deleted your comments, and there’s no time limit to post. It may have gotten caught in the spam folder because you are using all caps.
August 13, 2013 @ 5:37 pm
I really like Zac Brown Band. It seems like they’re the only mainstream band that has managed to stay true to themselves.
August 13, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
Paisley is and always has been a fraud.
August 13, 2013 @ 8:57 pm
I wouldn’t put it in those terms. Paisley is a compromiser. Unfortunately, as a result of the compromises he has made, his music is not as good as it used to be.
I would put him in the same category as Carrie Underwood. I think he supports country music deep down in his heart but he wants to please other people and feels the pressure to follow the mainstream.
August 13, 2013 @ 9:08 pm
I’m not sure what “being herself” means in this case. Taylor presented a different persona until 1-2 years ago. It is hard to say whether that persona represented “herself” any more than her current persona does. I think you were among the millions of Americans who fell in love with the “sweet and innocent” persona she portrayed earlier in her career. You were smitten. Many people wanted to believe that was the real Taylor, because it fit their stereotype of what girls should be like (“they don’t make girls like that any more”). It was great marketing on her part.
August 13, 2013 @ 9:16 pm
I wasn’t smitten with Taylor early in her career. I hated her. However I was impressed with how on “Speak Now” she wrote and co-produced the whole thing herself.
August 14, 2013 @ 1:55 pm
Trigger the song in which signifies what Taylor is all about is Mean. You can call it bitter, I can call it a song about a big isssue. Tons and tons of kids are bullied day after day for years. This was my life for years so its easy to say the song is bitter but It makes a lot people help get through the day.
August 13, 2013 @ 10:42 pm
Anyone heard Luke Bryan’s latest single? Might be the worst country song I’ve ever heard in my life.
August 14, 2013 @ 8:26 am
“That’s My Kind of Night”? No, but I looked up the lyrics and read them last night. Had a good laugh.
Anymore, it feels like Music Row must be having some sort of contest to see who can cram the most partytime “country”-style cliche`s into a song and still have a hit with it; that would entail eventually ending the game and deciding on a winner (so to speak), and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. :p
I’ll say one thing for the T-Pain reference, though; the song may not have much of a shelf-life, but in this context, mentioning an AutoTune-happy rapper actually seems more honest than, say, angling for country cred by name-dropping the likes of Cash, Waylon, Haggard, Hank, and George (either Jones or Strait).
August 13, 2013 @ 10:51 pm
But she hasn’t changed she is still the same girl. Trigger you say you want to offer dissenting and realistic and independent viewpoint of taylor. How is that possible at this point? In your reviews you don’t even mention the lyrics just the sound.. This is probably her best album from a lyrical perspective. Take another look at All too well this probably her best song ever written. It takes you through the relationship . She is still country evidenced by her lyrics which is the standard.
August 14, 2013 @ 12:02 pm
You say she’s “still country” yet one of your posts above mentions that the new cd has “pop, country,acoustic, dub step.”
So which is she? Pop? Country? Acoustic? Dubstep?
August 14, 2013 @ 1:38 pm
She can be country without having the same sound album after album. Every album of hers has some changes and evovling. This latest album has all of the those sounds. Artists don’t have to be pigeoned toed to be only”Country”.
August 14, 2013 @ 6:04 pm
Sorry but I feel the same about Underwood. Went from an amateur hour to the top of the heap without ever breaking a sweat. Worked for nothing and yet repeatedly awarded / rewarded for her caterwauling. Her limited fan base constantly request her music and video’s and know how to manipulate the system, check out GAC’s website and it’s all there. How else could such dreck as “Good Girl”, “Cowboy Casanova” and “Undo It” succeed.
August 14, 2013 @ 9:57 pm
I think this was the very last time that a country artist actually rocked…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqQkECIn738
Notice how these people look cool without really trying, and the folks on last night’s show looked goofy as hell.
August 15, 2013 @ 11:41 pm
Hank 3 and Jamie Johnson are the only country music i listen too that is real music. I love hank 3 rebel music and could be forgetting other people that dont do the gay pop country thing. The shit people call country is so pathetic it makes me sick. I recorded the ACM awards and laughed and ffwd my dvr through the whole thing.