Cody Johnson Lays Down The Truth About Today’s Country
Cody Johnson doesn’t just talk the talk, he walk’s the walk. The Huntsville, TX-native forged his own success as a completely independent country star down in the Lone Star State. Now he has made his way to Music Row, but is doing it his own way by keeping complete creative control and ownership of his own music, yet with the power of a major label behind him. This is how Johnson was able to get to #11 on country radio with “On My Way To You,” and #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart with his major label debut, Ain’t Nothin’ To It.
On May 4th, Cody Johnson earned another important distinction in his country music career. He played his first ever headlining show and sold out performance at the Mother Church of Country Music, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. During the show he played a lot of his own songs, but also classics from country music’s past, including Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman,” “Troubadour” by George Strait, Merle Haggard’s “Footlights,” and Roger Miller’s “Husbands and Wives”—songs that the Ryman stage helped make famous.
Feeling the spirit in the room, Cody Johnson also addressed the sold out crowd about what country music means to him, and the commitment it truly takes to consider yourself a country artist. Saving Country Music heard about the speech, but only recently has video surfaced of the moment capturing Cody Johnson’s sincerity.
Johnson starts off referencing a poster that hangs in the Ryman Auditorium congratulating Hank Williams for spending 42 weeks on the top of the pop charts. “I don’t think anybody really has the right to say what is and is not country considering that Hank Williams was on the pop charts,” Cody Johnson says, but he’s a little wrong there. The reason Hank Williams was on the pop charts was because his songs were some of the most popular songs in all of music at the time. He was also on the country charts too. The genre charts feed into the pop charts, which are meant to represent what is popular in music at a given time regardless of genre.
However Cody Johnson was dead on about the importance of supporting country artists who don’t just use the word “country” as a sales tactic, but as something they devote their lives to, and see the responsibility of being a country artist as continuing the lineage of those artists from the past regardless of how popular it may be.
“I will say this, and I’m going to be very diplomatic about it,” Cody said to the Ryman crowd. “I think personally that it is unfair for women like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and men like George Jones, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, George Strait … it’s a little unfair for those men and women to give their lives, and to give their heart and soul to our industry, the country music industry, and for us to sit back and take a look at it in 2019, and it really doesn’t look or sound anything like what they stood for.”
The comments came amid the heated debate about whether Lil Nas X and his song “Old Town Road” should be included on the country charts. As multiple other artists in country music have said, it’s not just about the song, but the fact that Lil Nas X had not shown any prior commitment to the country genre that was part of the problem. Now that Lil Nas X has released an EP and there are no other songs that fall anywhere near the disputed “country trap” sound of “Old Town Road,” it underscores how it was just one song, and it would be unfair to take precious slots on country charts away from devoted country artists to give them to performers who are simply trying to use country music to gain attention.
“Now I’m not going to stand up here and throw mud at people and say ‘This is right, and this is not.’ And what I just said is nobody has the right,” Cody Johnson continued. “All I can tell you is this: I only use Dan and Shay because they’re my buddies. If I tried to do what Dan and Shay did just so I could make a dollar, you wouldn’t buy it. Same goes for them. If they tried to do what I did just to make a dollar, you wouldn’t buy that either. All I know is how to be myself. And I’m here to tell you, who I am was influenced by those men and women that I just mentioned, that stood on this stage. There is a feeling up on this stage that I can’t describe to you knowing that men and women have stood here, knowing they didn’t have a backup plan. I don’t have a college degree, I don’t have a job to go back to. I’ve devoted my whole life to it.”
There are many thing that can go into defining an artist or song as country music, including instrumentation, composition, and feeling. But the commitment of the artist to the genre and the legacy that it has forged that bestows the opportunities all country artists benefit from is also an important factor. Without the Ryman Auditoium and the country greats who stood on its hallowed stage, there would be no audience for Cody Johnson. That is why it’s important to always pay tribute to the past, no matter where the music goes in the future.
June 25, 2019 @ 11:46 am
Cody’s kinda right too in the sense that Hank also drew a little bit from pop for his unique sound. You’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t think pop wasn’t an influence on him, too.
June 25, 2019 @ 6:17 pm
Hank didn’t draw from pop. Stop lying to this comment section.
June 26, 2019 @ 8:38 am
Not true at all. Hank was criticized when he first started out because he sounded “too hillbilly”. Pop, jazz and boogie woogie music was starting to influence many country singers in the 1940s but Hank brought country music back to its hillbilly roots.
June 25, 2019 @ 11:53 am
“On my way to you” is a decent enough song but it could very easily be a Rascal Flatts song…..he makes a good point I guess although he’s not really saying anything of substance.
June 25, 2019 @ 12:19 pm
The irony here of course being that Glenn Campbell and in particular Patsy Cline weren’t actual country artists. They were pop singers pretending to be country. Just a few of the most famous in the long list of frauds in Nashville.
June 25, 2019 @ 12:53 pm
This comment saddens me.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:09 pm
Not for me. It just makes me laugh it’s so ignorant.
June 25, 2019 @ 6:29 pm
It’s not ignorant. I love Glenn and Patsy, but it’s not ignorant for someone to have a tighter definition than you. I’d rather people be too strict than to loose.
I’d rather have to try to convince people that Glenn Campbell is C(c)ountry, than to have to convince them that Kane Brown isn’t.
And you’re not laughing. You got triggered by something you disagree with, so you replied to it in a haughty, “Im not mad, I’m laughing” kind of way.
June 26, 2019 @ 5:26 am
Patsy Cline wasn’t country?!! Me thinks Old Town Shat, shat his old granny’s hat! As for Campbell, there was not the first picker in Nashville who didn’t have the metric ton of respect for him as a man and him as a picker. My 2 fuckin’ ¢’s.
June 26, 2019 @ 8:52 am
How is Patsy Cline country? She was the Sam Hunt of the late 1950s (A pop star pretending to be country). The popularity of Patsy Cline’s “pop country” was the reason why the real Hank Williams style country died out in the late 1950s.
June 26, 2019 @ 10:56 am
Five words: I Fall To Fucking Pieces. And, to compare her with Sam Hunt, brings to mind several dozen other words.
June 26, 2019 @ 11:34 am
I Fall To Pieces are pop, not country, and thats why Patsy didnt want to record the song at first because she preferred to sing real country music. Owen Bradley was the one who pushed her in the pop direction.
You should already know this if you are a fan of her.
June 26, 2019 @ 2:04 pm
Steel guitar? Check. Violin? Check. Cello? Check. Hillbilly style soul embedded in every word she sang? Check. Hank Cochran wrote the song! While the song definitely had similarities to the pop(ular style) of the day, thanks to producer Owen Bradley, I think ultimately given the context we have now, we can clearly label this song as country.
June 27, 2019 @ 12:11 am
Thanks. Country, Rock, Bluegrass, Blues et al, all crawled out of the same muddy pond with the only difference being the various shapes of legs, heads and tails. The instrumentation controversy, however, is a curious debate; it can be argued, ’til The Jubilation, that you can have a country song with nothing but a tuba and penny-whistle.
June 26, 2019 @ 12:07 pm
I’ll tell Hank and Harlan that very thing the next time I see ’em.
June 25, 2019 @ 12:38 pm
He’s right, that was diplomatic.
June 25, 2019 @ 12:48 pm
You know, it occurs to me that as I’ve read the various articles out there about Old Town Road, I don’t think I’ve yet to see anyone ask any of its defenders what makes it a country song. All we’ve heard (either implicitly or explicitly) is how country music is racist for saying it’s not a country song.
June 26, 2019 @ 4:02 am
The main defense I’ve heard is essentially that it’s no less country than Sam Hunt. Which probably isn’t wrong, but when on earth did that become the standard.
June 26, 2019 @ 4:52 am
Exactly right; I read the same thing (or variations thereof) in all the articles/tweets/etc., but no one has come out to put together any other kind of argument for classifying it a country song.
Pretty telling.
June 26, 2019 @ 5:37 am
The argument I’ve isn’t that Sam Hunt or FGL is country, but rather pointing out that they weren’t kicked off the country charts. (And I will say they damn sure should have been.) Therefore, they argue speciously, the reason must be racism!
But yeah, they dodge the actual question.
June 29, 2019 @ 9:15 am
I love your screen name. We have the entire Freak Brothers collection.
June 25, 2019 @ 12:49 pm
Eh. Doesn’t sound like he’s saying much of anything. Talking out of both sides of his mouth.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:04 pm
Someone needs to get through to the suits in Nashville, or New York, or LA, or wherever the suits sit, and divide up Country into ‘Nashville’ and “Texas” sub-genres. They divide up “pop songs” from “adult contemporary’ from ‘adult pop songs’. Might as well divide up Country. This would somewhat ease the tension between real country music fans and the pop/bro country fans, IMO.
June 25, 2019 @ 8:02 pm
Second this. I personally like to label most of the mainstream ‘Nash-pop’.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:08 pm
I think the ‘powers that be’ in country music need to create sub-genres of country music. Billboard has different charts for “Pop”, “Adult Pop” and “Adult Contemporary”. Divide Country into “Nashville” and “Texas” (or whatever nomenclature Billboard prefers). This would solve a lot of the issue, IMO
June 25, 2019 @ 1:22 pm
Nope. I rather fight for the heart and soul of Nashville and what makes it special. I’m not going to concede the Opry, the CMA, the Hall of Fame, the Ryman, etc., to these idiots and their idiot fans. It’s a battle worth fighting. Also, I seem to recall something called NASH some years back that was supposed to be a “true country” alternative format, but I don’t remember the details other than it didn’t go anywhere.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:51 pm
Look at the charts in USA Today . There are subgroups for every form , except country.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:09 pm
In the third sentence I swore it said “but lordy don’t the wheels turn slow” before reading it
June 25, 2019 @ 1:39 pm
I think people are way too hard on Cody Johnson. I think he’s a very important figure for returning some of the twang and tradition to mainstream country music, and he’s seeing a lot of success. Of course there’s better, but he didn’t have to say what he said. More artists should affirm their appreciation for country music. Compare this with Kane Brown, Maren Morris, Florida Georgia Line, etc. saying that country is too restrictive for them and it music evolve. I appreciate him taking a stand, and don’t blame him for also not want to be as pointed as we commonly are around here. That’s not his place, or his personality.
June 25, 2019 @ 3:14 pm
I think he’s somewhat in the same sector as Luke Combs, although with more Western style. Perhaps could be seen as an heir of George Strait (keeping in mind that George hasn’t been totally unyielding to contemporary winds).
I wonder how many Cody Johnson haters on here have sworn ’til death do us part’ to Sturgill…
June 25, 2019 @ 5:02 pm
I am so glad you commented on this. The purists on here call Cody Johnson “vanilla” and run him down but this is how the war is going to be won. The fact that he is being played on mainstream country radio at all is a miracle. I have said it before and I will say it again: the whole “if it ain’t Cody Jinks it ain’t shit” crowd is not doing country music any favors by looking down their noses at other artists who are bringing the traditional sound back to radio. George Jones really sounded nothing like Waylon Jennings but we can all agree (I hope!) that they were true country artists. Cody Johnson is not the enemy here. Please see Jumping Jack Flash’s comment below as well.
June 27, 2019 @ 9:44 am
To 618creekrat and Tracy’s point, this idea that one person is going to single handedly save Country Music is absurd. It’s going to take an army. It’s going to take Jon Pardi, Midland, Aaron Watson, and numerous other artist. Country Music didn’t get in its current shape overnight and it won’t get fixed overnight. There are major signs of improvement in 2019 and I’m thankful for that.
I do agree that what Cody Johnson said lacked the punch many of us would prefer to have heard. However, it is refreshing to hear someone being played on mainstream radio give a shout out to past artist. To show appreciation and respect for those artist. That is how it use to be. That might sound old school to some, however, Country Music could use more old school.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:42 pm
Almost like he said nothing at all.
June 25, 2019 @ 2:50 pm
It’s consistent with his music.
June 25, 2019 @ 1:47 pm
The Beatles were not a ‘Rock ‘ band, they were pop. The Who used to poke fun at them when they were referred to as ‘rock’.
Country people know what country is , and we will no let others , especially New York and Hollywood , define it for us, and berate us , and call us racist’s and bigot’s if we don’t confirm. In effect , we are ‘infidels’. That also sounds like the Democrats…. disagree with them at your peril.
June 25, 2019 @ 8:57 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWW2SzoAXMo Listen to Helter Skelter and tell me that The Beatles weren’t a rock band. Dumb take, Z.
June 25, 2019 @ 9:16 pm
“The Girl With the Faraway Eyes” did not make The Stones a country band, just as Helter Skelter didn’t make the Beatles , a rock band. Dumb take, Train wreck. The Beatles were pure Pop, and there’s nothing wrong with that…
June 26, 2019 @ 8:18 am
I’m not disputing that The Beatles made some pop music, but they put out too much rock and psychadelic music for me to consider them “pure pop”. Yes, they were a pop group, but they were just as much a rock band.
June 26, 2019 @ 10:41 am
It’s good that you think that there’s nothing wrong with being pop per se, but I think you’re wrong about The Beatles. Abba was a pop band, I’d say The Beach Boys were at their essence a pop band. The Beatles at their essence were a rock and roll band. Not a hard rock band (Helter Skelter notwithstanding), but still a rock and roll band. I won’t disagree with the term power pop to describe them, which I guess is a term Pete Townshend coined and I think it applies to Who songs like I Can’t Explain, The Kids Are Alright, Substitute and A Legal Matter as well
June 26, 2019 @ 6:04 am
Wow, there is SO MUCH that’s wrong with this paragraph that I don’t know where to start. First, New York is a BIG state and there are areas that are way more country than the strip malls I’ve seen in your down south. IF you’re referring to New York CITY, the crowds I play for ask us to play Merle, Hank, Loretta, Gram, Cash, Willie, Waylon WAY MORE than they ask for Florida Georgia Line, Dan & Shay, etc
As to that side insult about Democrats, as far as I can tell, they don’t seem to be the obstructionist in this government (unless Mitch McConnell has changed parties and nobody told me). Please crawl back into your bubble and stop thinking you’re way more “authentic” than everyone else. And…. Bless Your Heart.
June 25, 2019 @ 2:31 pm
Footnote it wasn’t country music at the Rome of hank or even country western. It was hillbilly music.
June 25, 2019 @ 2:32 pm
You mean like “Country” and “Western?”
June 25, 2019 @ 2:47 pm
Another doofus boring his audience with a soliloquy about the state of “our industry.” I have seen the future of tapioca pudding and his name is Cody Johnson.
June 25, 2019 @ 3:27 pm
Idiot comment of the day…
June 25, 2019 @ 3:45 pm
Styles you can take on and off, but you can’t have much substance without commitment. Cody gets it.
June 25, 2019 @ 4:21 pm
I’m personally glad someone in a more traditional vein of country music is playing ball with Nashville while still holding onto his integrity. The war will not be won by guys like Cody Jinks and Sturgill Simpson yelling “fuck pop country.”
June 25, 2019 @ 4:31 pm
I applaud Cody for saying what he said here about what country music means to him on a personal level. Everybody practicing it should have that same kind of spirit and understanding of the genre.
But I think Cody could have taken it a step further by doing what I think Travis Tritt failed to do when he was interviewed by Dan Rather, and that is to talk about the way of life that gave birth to country music in the first place: the Rural America that many in the media really rarely examine with any depth, and which, I am sorry to say, even Music Row, at least in its corporate boardrooms, really only seems to pander to nowadays. Again, if you only focus on the tropes of the genre, and not also on the ways people in rural America make a living, then, however passionate you might feel about country music otherwise, you are still selling the genre short (IMHO).
June 25, 2019 @ 6:22 pm
Blah, blah blah, blah f***king blah….Dan and Shay are my buddies….blah blah blah……..
June 25, 2019 @ 9:15 pm
I’m not a fan of his and also don’t agree exactly with everything he said, but these comments seem overly cynical. He seemed genuinely moved by where he was playing and was showing respect to some legends, while putting today’s industry status into some fair perspective. What am I missing?
June 25, 2019 @ 9:44 pm
The world’s getting smaller and everyone in it belongs. If you can’t see that mister purified country, then why don’t write your own songs. Mr. Record Executive don’t you know what this whole things about? Or is your head up your ass so far that you can’t pull it out? So quit your bitching all you arm chair warriors. Or just sit on your ass in your lazy boy recliner on your laptop typing to the comment section or start playing music and write some original country NON pop freaking songs!
June 25, 2019 @ 10:46 pm
Took me a minute, but I now see the utter brilliance here. A purified country singer should either write original songs or not complain about its a small world after all. And Mr. record exec doesn’t know what’s up, because his head is “up” his ass [i see what you did there- I think-maybe]. And then there’s us armchair warriors who should be armchair warriors or alternatively sit in a lazy boy. Oh wait, there’s a third choice here. I chose this one, especially because I think you’ve stumbled across a new genre name AND a new dance style: Original country NON pop freaking.
Mind blown.
June 27, 2019 @ 3:04 pm
https://youtu.be/H1uhpR6qQ5A
June 25, 2019 @ 10:32 pm
I’m sorry, but ‘traditional’ country music is going to have to drum up some better ideas than straight-up conservatism or else it’s going to die. If your only alternative to something shiny and new is something old and dusty – however great it is – you’re going to lose the culture clash. I have a very hard time sympathizing with purists because of this.
June 25, 2019 @ 11:47 pm
Not sure why politics are being injected into this conversation.
Music is not a war. Country music will never lose the “culture clash” because it has no will to participate in the first place. Country music doesn’t care to be relevant to the culture at large, it just cares to be relevant to itself and its own traditions. There is so much exposed in this comments about the motivations of those demanding Lil Nas X be identified as country, and how it’s not about integrating or diversifying the format, it’s about attempting to destroy it as a conservative while institution that must be targeted in a political proxy war.
Country music is doing just fine. You can have your victory in the “culture clash.” It’s inconsequential to country music.
June 26, 2019 @ 7:14 am
But what I don’t think can be disputed is that country music has become so overtly corporatized and compartmentalized that it is barely a shadow of what it was even thirty, let alone forty or fifty, years ago. It went from being about a way of life, to a lifestyle; then to an industry; and since at least 1999, possibly even further back to 1989, it seems like all it has become is a mere Business. It’s no longer about the people who made the music possible in the first place, and if it keeps going down this path, the music itself, along with the industry, may very well perish…if it indeed hasn’t started to do so by now.
June 26, 2019 @ 8:14 am
On the flip side of that, the indie scene has never been stronger, and never could have existed like this 30, 40, or 50 years ago. Also, some of what you are describing isn’t happening exclusively to country music, it’s basically the story of all music. It’s also a bit misleading to think that the industry ever existed without being strictly tied to corporate business, selling products on the radio, etc. it’s never been a non-profit or anything close. Blaming the corporations is a bit of a scapegoat. I blame people, they are the worst. And that includes your average listener, not just “the man.”
Personally, I’m perfectly fine (and have accepted) that mainstream country is probably too far gone. There is still more than plenty of good music being made, despite all the doom and gloom about the mainstream.
June 26, 2019 @ 9:13 am
I feel like this would have been a great perspective in 2014 when Bro-Country still reigned and Sam Hunt was the biggest thing in the genre. In 2019, we have artists like Cody Johnson who own their own record label and music who are launching radio hits, selling out venues, and flipping the industry on its side. That’s why we’re seeing people like Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers get major label deals. Luke Combs is the biggest thing in country at the moment, not Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line, and George Strait just had his biggest radio hit in six years. Yes the concerns about corporate control are still big and we’re way far away from country in 1989, but I also think there’s been mammoth progress.
June 26, 2019 @ 8:31 am
I acknowledge some fault for this response by using political terminology, but I would that is the least charitable interpretation of my post, and exposes your biases more than mine.
I’m not talking about politics. When I say ‘culture’ I am only referring to the musical culture and the sounds associated with them. When I say war, I’m referring to the desire for nearly every genre or scene to gain commercial relevance, and, if possible, dominance.
Country music is going to lose that — not because of the potential political opinions of its stars, but because they’re “conservative” — that is, country music traditionalists (who you champion for) are often hugely resistant to new musical ideas, causing stagnation. The only really cutting edge sounds in country music are corporate ones; they’re coming from
young stars with one eye fixed firmly on pop.
I think country music would do very well if many of its traditionalists embraced a bit more experimentation. It would mean people with an authentic love of country music striving to create something new, not just for commercial viability, but to expand what the genre is capable of. We’ve heard “three chords and the truth” for a very long time. It’s time to pick some different notes. Or go the way of rock music and vanish almost completely.
June 26, 2019 @ 9:06 am
“When I say war, I’m referring to the desire for nearly every genre or scene to gain commercial relevance, and, if possible, dominance.”
And what I’m telling you is that country music doesn’t desire this, and never has. This is a poptimist attitude being imprinted upon people who have no true understanding of the genre, and how it’s survived and thrived for over 70+ years. Hip-hop and pop wants to dominate the world to influence culture on a grand scale, and so fans assume country wants to do that same, but it doesn’t. That is how it will fail and become irrelevant, like rock. Billy Ray Cyrus joined with Lil Nas X on “Old Town Road” to try and resuscitate his own relevance. You know what the result was, his latest album sold 435 copies. These theories that country must evolve or face extinction are ludicrous, and not based on reality whatsoever. I appreciate the concern for country music’s future, but it’s doing VERY fine. Check out the incredible sales numbers for Luke Combs, and try to tell me country music is fighting for relevance.
June 26, 2019 @ 9:44 am
Luke Combs complained about losing the Grammy for Best New Artist. He’s got his eyes on the prize like everyone else.
June 26, 2019 @ 9:46 am
Trigger,
I’ve never agreed with you more.
June 26, 2019 @ 4:12 am
Under this idea of “losing the culture clash” is either the anxious businessman or the ulcerated teenager who worries about not being popular.
Just be who you are. Again, Cody gets it.
June 26, 2019 @ 8:42 am
Can you please cite an example of something that most potential C(c)ountry music listeners(50%+1) would consider “old and dusty”, that “traditional country music” is either drumming up, or attempting to drum up?
June 26, 2019 @ 3:13 am
So I’m here to put the “dick” in Dixie
And the “cunt” back in country
‘Cause the kind of country I hear now days
Is a bunch of fuckin’ shit to me
They say that I’m ill-mannered
That I’m gonna self-destruct
But if you know what I’m thinkin’
You’ll know that pop country really sucks
June 26, 2019 @ 5:18 am
Man he set that bar low. Can’t believe some thought garbage like that passed as good country music. Embarrassing!
June 26, 2019 @ 8:02 am
But I thought the objective was to “put the O back in country”
June 26, 2019 @ 5:29 am
In response to Black Boot’s comment about Hank being influenced by pop – you’re absolutely right. And pop music was influenced by country music and blues and jazz influenced country, and on and on. These people didn’t live in a vacuum where they were unaware of what was going on in music. The mid to late forties and fifties were a time where cross pollination between genres was at a high point. You had people like Wynonie Harris covering Hank Penny or Bullmoose Jackson covering Wayne Raney. Tony Bennett had a pop hit with Hank’s Cold Cold Heart. Western swing as a genre was a response to be-bop. Charlie Parker was a big fan of Bob Wills. Bill Monroe started performing Blue Moon Of Kentucky in 4/4 after Elvis redid it. These people had their ears wide open. As the Captain sez, If you’ve got ears you gotta listen. And listen they did.
June 26, 2019 @ 6:39 am
Dear Commander Cody,
George Strait has a bachelor’s degree. (And can speak for himself.)
June 26, 2019 @ 8:12 am
We can have brand new charts tomorrow separating Nashville country vs Texas country and people will still complain that the more popular pop country isn’t the county they want to hear and ruining country.
June 26, 2019 @ 5:55 pm
Hank Williams never topped the pop charts. The closest he ever got was Jambalaya (On the Bayou), which hit #20. How did he pull “42 weeks on top of the pop charts” out of his ass?
June 26, 2019 @ 6:01 pm
Oh sorry it was the poster outside the Ryman. But whoever did that poster was obviously spewing out shit so hard his mother had to help wipe it off his mouth
June 27, 2019 @ 4:31 pm
Bob Wills is still the King! But he’s gone and some would argue that Hank Williams is the King! But he’s gone. It goes on and on. There are so many artists that have contributed so much to country music that never made it in Nashville or Texas. To quote one of Texas’ finest “You can hear the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville Tennessee, it’s the home of country music, on that we all agree. You can hear the Texas Playboy’s and Tommy Duncan sing, once your down in Texas, Bob Will’s is still the King! The fact is there are so many types of country music, and honoring the ones that paved the way and still are, such as the read headed stranger Willie Nelson is very admirable. How do we define original country music? Well I’m sure the opinions vary widely. I think we should go ahead and accept that music is always changing and the people that determine what gets played are the deciding factor of what is number one on the country charts. There is all kinds of country music out there today and there has always been quite a variety. The artists who are more than a flash in the pan succeed and the others don’t. In the end I appreciate what I like and could care less about what I don’t. I believe no one will ever get genre`s divided into Nashville, Texas, Rap Country, or Pop Country, but I believe the good ones will be around and the rest won’t. My grandmother once said “If everyone was just alike, it would be a boring world.” I remember when Hank Williams Jr. was chastised for leaving original country and making his music to rock and rollish. Now some believe he is original country. Have a stellar day and like my dad used to say “Son don’t worry about the mule going blind, just load the wagon!”
June 27, 2019 @ 8:08 pm
This is quite a breath of fresh air, especially compared to Aaron Watson sucking up more and more to Bobby Bones lately.
June 29, 2019 @ 5:02 pm
I almost cried at this line
“There is a feeling up on this stage that I can’t describe to you knowing that men and women have stood here, knowing they didn’t have a backup plan.”
I mean anyone who does something with no backup plan, who takes a risk is fucking amazing to me musician, fire fighter, scientist chef… My grandfather did the same he was uneducated Italian immigrant who taught himself the accordion (and eventually designed his own accordion) and join a cowboy music band in the 20s. There was no back plan it was all he knew how to do coming from a mining community.