Florida Georgia Line Is Not Happy About “Girl In A Country Song”
***UPDATE (8-14-14): Maddie & Tae have responded to Florida Georgia Line’s criticism.
The debate of whether so called “Bro-Country” is now on the wane has now reached the very heart of country radio, with a couple of big articles on the topic appearing in the country radio trade periodical Country Aircheck over the past couple of weeks. In the July 28th issue, the publication ran a story called “Bro-Slow? Not So Fast.” They spoke with radio programmers and listeners who seemed oblivious to any Bro-Country backlash that may or may not be on the rise. Saving Country Music has asserted that Bro-Country was actually done months ago and that we’re just working through excess inventory in the midst of a tiring of the Bro-Country hyper-trend. Many other critics and journalists have relayed similar sentiments, and pointed to songs like Florida Georgia Line’s more substantive single “Dirt” and Maddie & Tae’s anti Bro-Country “Girl In A Country Song” as examples.
The August 4th issue of Country Aircheck tackled the topic again, but this time talking to songwriters and artist managers to get their take on Bro-Country slowing. Songwriter Dallas Davidson who some consider the Godfather of Bro-Country took time from chucking knuckles a fern bars to talk to Country Aircheck, and seems to take the short-sighted, dollar-sign perspective on the topic, which is to be expected. “We’re writing what people want to hear,” he tells Country Aircheck. “So what’s the backlash? More ticket sales? More money coming into Nashville? What’s wrong with that?”
Dallas does acknowledge however that some songwriters are tiring of the trend, including some he works with who refuse to use the term “tailgate” in a song. “I just look at ‘em and start laughing. I’ll ask, what are you driving? The tailgate on the back of it — have you ever sat on it? Well, why can’t we sing about that? Don’t millions of country fans sit in parking lots on tailgates and drink beer, getting ready for the show?”
Yes Dallas Davidson, yes they do.
Davidson does acknowledge though that at some point, enough’s enough. “You can get tired of hearing the same thing over and over. I get that.”
Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records—the head honcho presiding over both Florida Georgia Line and Maddie & Tae—seems to take a more forward-thinking approach, and appears to acknowledge the possibility of a Bro-Country backlash, but insists that Florida Georgia Line’s “Dirt” was simply a good song, and not the answer to a dying trend.
“Any time that you have something that thematically becomes so ‘done’ — and so overdone — you’re going to have repercussions,” says Borchetta. But Borchetta also says that he has no concerns that artists like Florida Georgia Line will flame out with the trend “…because there’s a lot more to them than just one song or lyrical [trend].”
Scott Borchetta is in a precarious position, because he has both Maddie & Tae and their anti-bro country anthem on his roster, along with Florida Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, and other Bro-Country artists. In the Country Aircheck article, Scott Borchetta insists though that it’s not a problem. “These artists [like Florida Georgia Line] get it. You have to be able to laugh at yourself.”
However Florida Georgia Line apparently didn’t get the memo. When The Chicago Tribune interviewed Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley earlier this week, his ability to laugh at himself, or Maddie & Tae’s “Girl In A Country Song” specifically, seemed quite elusive. Writer Allison Stewart characterized Maddie & Tae questions to Kelley as “…the only ones Kelley, in a recent phoner, doesn’t sound happy to answer.”
Uh oh.
When The Chicago Tribune first asks about “Girl In A Country Song”, Kelley plays dumb. “I’m not really familiar with that,” he says.
But when nudged a little further by Allison Stewart, who says “They sing it from the point of view of the girl in the cut-off jeans, who never gets to talk? You’ve never heard that song?”
Brian Kelley answers, “All I’m gonna say about that is, I don’t know one girl who doesn’t want to be a girl in a country song. That’s all I’m gonna say to you. That’s it.”
Well, okay then. I guess that lack of worldly-awareness will get you every time. That’s probably not the answer Big Machine’s PR rep was hoping for.
Many artists and writers who’ve made a good buck off of the Bro-Country trend are going to naturally not want to see the spike in interest and sales come to an end, or be willing to acknowledge it until they have no other choice. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen, or isn’t happening as we speak. If country had any wisdom, it would be praying for the end of Bro-Country, and cash out on the trend while the getting’s good. That seems to be Scott Borchetta’s plan. If Bro-Country is all country music has got, then it will have much bigger problems moving forward than the death of a hyper-trend.
Meanwhile Maddie & Tae’s “Girl In A Country Song” continues to climb the charts. It leaped from #26 to #16 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs this week, and was the 2nd most added single on country radio.
READ: Maddie & Tae Respond to Florida Georgia Line’s Criticism
August 8, 2014 @ 10:57 am
Oh, the butthurt! Larfing my gimpy ass off over here, hoss. 😀
July 31, 2016 @ 1:42 am
Wtf? Ya you write what people want to hear..but people dont want want to hear whats already been said in other songs,No matter which way you slice it, Its a Rip off.. I heard 3 rip offs in that damn song..
August 8, 2014 @ 11:07 am
“So what”™s the backlash? More ticket sales? More money coming into Nashville? What”™s wrong with that?”
Man, that Dallas Davidson is an arrogant prick.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:09 am
Using ticket sales and attendance numbers as your only metric for music is the same shallow-minded approach that saw the demise of Disco. Nobody’s doubting its success right now. But where will it be in 6 months?
August 8, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
“What’s the problem with Big Macs? More food for hungry people. More money for McDonalds. What’s wrong with that?”
August 8, 2014 @ 5:40 pm
“Using ticket sales and attendance numbers as your only metric for music …”
And then you have Bobby Bones, who this morning said he didn’t even pay attention to lyrics when he was getting ready to do some Dance thing. (This is the third time I’ve tried to listen to his show and again it didn’t take ten minutes before I changed the station.)
Last year another DJ posted, “When it’s just a voice and a guitar, it takes REAL talent to sound like Kenny!!” when he saw a video of Kenny Chesney doing an acoustic performance. Umm, excuse me? Record companies shouldn’t even talk to someone if they don’t sound good with just a guitar. Sad state of affairs when he thought Kenny had REAL (caps his) talent because he’s able to do what anyone who gets radio spins should be able to do.
Maybe some of the DJs out there are part of the problem, too. 🙁
August 8, 2014 @ 10:16 pm
“Maybe some of the DJs out there are part of the problem, too.”
Of course they are.
August 27, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
100% correct. It is reminiscent of 1980’s “hair-metal” era. They thought the good times would never end.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:09 am
It should be noted that Brian Kelley has never actually met a girl and has no desire to do so.
August 8, 2014 @ 10:18 pm
That would be hilarious if he wasn’t married.
August 9, 2014 @ 4:42 am
Her self-esteem must be in the sewer.
August 9, 2014 @ 1:34 pm
That’s the part that stuck with me the most. Obviously he and I don’t run in the same circles. The women that I associate with have brains and self respect.
August 12, 2014 @ 9:08 am
Considering I regularly see intelligent, Ivy League female facebook friends with six-figure finance jobs posting pictures looking like “girls in country songs” at Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean shows, I’d say that there’s no connection between lacking intelligence and self-respect and liking bro country.
I do, however, think someone who insists that one cannot respect oneself if she likes a certain type of music and likes to look good could benefit from an intelligence boost.
So sick of people (usually guys) TELLING women whether or not they have respect for themselves. As if acting the way YOU are saying is “respectful” reflects any more empowerment or agency than acting the way Luke Bryan says is appealing.
August 12, 2014 @ 9:03 am
Have you SEEN the dude’s wife?
I’d say he does okay in the meeting girls department…
August 8, 2014 @ 11:19 am
“All I”™m gonna say about that is, I don”™t know one girl who doesn”™t want to be a girl in a country song. That”™s all I”™m gonna say to you. That”™s it.”
Seems Brian’s entire existence is built around only aiming as high as you can reach.
Kind of sad, really.
August 21, 2014 @ 2:01 am
You could not pay me to be a girl in one of their “country” songs. I mean that with every fiber of my being. I’m not a feminist or anything…I just simply would never want to be associated with their shit music.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:22 am
It’s starting to become very apparent that these one trick ponies may soon be put out to pasture for good!!
Fucking sweet!!!!
Don’t let the tailgate hit you on the way out…….oh wait sorry the Honda civic you losers drive doesn’t have a tailgate…or does it?
August 8, 2014 @ 11:28 am
“”¦because there”™s a lot more to them than just one song or lyrical [trend].”
I’m not so sure. Many of these artists, like Luke Bryan, seem to be moving away from the laundry list dynamic of trying to prove their country cred and more into the realm of thinking such things are requirements. I can’t think of a single Luke Bryan song off of his newest album that doesn’t hit the “tight blue jeans, tailgate, beer, party at 3:00 am” tropes. And people call AC/DC repetitive.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:46 am
The sad thing is that many of these artists don’t know anything else. They jumped aboard the Bro-train i’m assuming with no Country backround nor talent and are going to ride it to the very end. It’s hard to tell if any of these people will still be around when the bro-era is gone, one can only hope not. They are simply imposters that sing the same shit that is pitched to them, and jump around like fucktards dancing around like a bunch of 5 year olds all hopped up on sugar.
August 8, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
Exactly. It’ll be interesting to see the likes of Cole Swindell and Chase Rice and how they do in the business if bro-country actually does dissipate into either A-another ridiculous trend, or B-into a better variety of music and lyrical content. Those two guys in particular got huge because of the bro country fad.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:30 pm
Most of Cole Swindell’s songs don’t really attract me, but I love Chase Rice’s non-bro songs, like Shades of Green, Beats A Million Bucks, and Die Tryin (but I’m an Army wife so we’re biased on that last one). Those are the kinds of songs I want to hear more of from our newer country artists.
I think a lot of people judge all the artists soley based on which of their songs are on the radio, but if you look into one of their whole albums, you’ll usually find at least one song that’s worth something, but doesn’t fit the current trend, so doesn’t make it on the radio.
August 8, 2014 @ 12:32 pm
That seems to be an accurate description, more or less. Fellow SCM reader/commenter Noah Eaton described it fairly well when he said that the idea behind country music authenticity has devolved from living it or at least respecting the roots into a “state of mind.” As in, you can be country if you like country things or something to that effect. That is the root of all of these songs.
August 8, 2014 @ 12:35 pm
Although they are trashing bro country. The song is still crap pop country. The music is still bad. And since they come from big machine they are probably just doing what they are told to do just like all the other pop country musicians. Its just labels trying to squeeze money out of every trend they find… Including trends bashing on other trends. Playing both sides against each other, while racking in profit the whole way.
August 8, 2014 @ 1:23 pm
“Playing both sides against each other, while racking in profit the whole way”
This is my major problem with this Maddie and Tae song. It’s just a clever way to extend the bro trend while saying all along that you’re not.
A serious answer to bro country is to write and record serious quality songs not just to flip the coin over and go with that side for awhile.
August 8, 2014 @ 1:31 pm
Well they certainly wouldn’t accomplish anything by doing it with instrumentation that nobody who listens to the stuff they’re criticizing will ever hear. Preaching to the choir doesn’t appear to be the goal and doesn’t accomplish much.
August 8, 2014 @ 1:46 pm
This song, may help to stop with the terrible lyrics we’ve been hearing. But the most important part is the music. And its allowing people to hear this pop country BS and connect it with anti pop country. Just bringing in more listeners into Big Machines’ “big profit making machine”.
August 21, 2014 @ 2:04 am
THANK YOU!! I’ve only heard the first 45 seconds of that song or so…because it was basically bimbo country. I just honestly couldn’t listen to all of it. I mean, the message is probably awesome, but maybe you shouldn’t use the same musical style as the “music” that you’re trashing. ha ha Makes no sense to me, but hey…they tried??
August 8, 2014 @ 12:35 pm
By the way, Trigger, here’s an interview with Big & Rich where they’re asked about Bro-country as well http://www.nashville.com/music/2014/08/exclusive-interview-big-rich/. Luckily, they don’t take the “it’s an evolution” angle that so many others do (or at least not in the same way). John simply states that music has always changed from trend to trend and leaves it at that. Hopefully they won’t have any songs that might be classified within this subgenre on their new album.
August 8, 2014 @ 2:27 pm
in my opinion, I think “Save A Horse” is what started this shitstorm called current country music.
August 8, 2014 @ 3:46 pm
Interesting point of view, but I’d have to disagree. While I can see how “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” could be co-opted into the bro-country fold, it doesn’t really apply. First and most importantly, it was a novelty song; all of these other turds on the radio are meant to be taken seriously whilst B&R meant their’s as a joke. Next, it’s not a laundry list song. Yes, there are mentions of a truck and a dirt road, but 2004 was long before every male adopted this lyrical style. It also has somewhat of a story surrounding its over-the-top machismo, and stories are usually what these bro-country songs are lacking. Also, despite the truck/dirt road reference, there’s no tight blue jeans, beer or tailgate and it’s not as disrespectful to women as has been the trend in 2014. The fact that, once again, it’s a joke song keeps me from calling it outright offensive in any particular way. I haven’t once heard anyone complain about its content from a social point of view. There’s a rapping section in the middle, yes, but it’s not gangsta or jock rap. It’s simply gimmick rap for the heck of it and that’s what Big & Rich are about with their party songs.
I find it interesting that you want to blame the current country music climate on a song that came out in 2004 as opposed to “Dirt Road Anthem” in 2011, when the songs actually started popping up across the board. “Save a Horse” made waves when it was released but it was so odd and Big & Rich’s style was so eclectic that no one could imitate it. Contrast this with Jason Aldean’s opus in which there is no story, nothing but cliches and perhaps worst of all, an attempt to pass off the country rap stylings as an “evolution.” When was the last time you heard Big & Rich try to do this with any of their songs?
I don’t care what anyone says, they don’t deserve to be lumped into the fold with the rest of the trash permeating through the mainstream no matter what one might think of them. They’re good songwriters, don’t cut laundry list songs (despite a few with similar elements) and don’t try to pass off their music as the “future” of the genre or what it should sound like to stay relevant. They’ve always just done their own thing the way they want to, as isn’t that what independent country music is about, much less mainstream? They combine genres because they want to and it’s their style, not because they’re trying to look “cool” to everyone outside country music. Take note of the fact that fiddles and banjos are used in “Save a Horse” and 95% of Big & Rich’s other songs (along with some steel guitar); when was the last time you heard any of these instruments used in any significant way in a bro-country song? Fiddles carry many of the tunes of B&R’s albums, they aren’t just there for window dressing to claim some cred and masquerade as country. They have more respect for the genre they call home than any of these other idiots.
August 8, 2014 @ 4:09 pm
I have to agree. I don’t have much use for Big and Rich, but I definitely wouldn’t lump anything I’ve heard from them into bro-country or any other trend.
August 8, 2014 @ 4:44 pm
Hm.. what about “Look At You”?
August 8, 2014 @ 5:11 pm
Thanks for agreeing with me. I’m a fan, obviously, but I’m not claiming that they’re a traditionalist’s best friend or something. In my opinion, their forays into country rap and hip hop are more artistically minded than the rest of the bro-country squad. Big & Rich do it because they love all kinds of music, not because they’re trying to appeal to the Katy Perry or Lady Gaga fanbases. They’re just trying to make music that they themselves would enjoy and hopefully others.
August 9, 2014 @ 7:30 am
I saw the trend starting right around that period with “Redneck Yacht Club” and the like. While Big And Rich may not have initiated the “checklist” songs, their heavier sound and work with Cowboy Troy certainly opened the doors to what you hear on so-called country music radio today.
August 9, 2014 @ 7:46 am
I would agree, with the one caveat being that most of the landry list songs of that period until around 2011 with “Dirt Road Anthem” had at least a semblance of story and theme. Let’s not forget that “A Country Boy Can Survive” and “If That Ain’t Country” are also laundry list songs but they have points and are well-written. Even if you have a problem with them, you could make the case that “Redneck Yacht Club” and “Save a Horse” are as well. They’re also both just consciously silly songs. On Big & Rich, regardless of the effect they had on the genre, I stand by ky assertion that their mix of genres is more tasteful and artistically minded than the rest. That’s not to say that one has to like it but they deserve more respect than they get. As for Cowboy Troy and the other hick hoppers, I think people would have a lot less problems with them if the powers that be would quit trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink into one outlet and call it all “country.” Hick hop is a subgenre and should stay as such. I don’t personally begrudge it or its fans the right to have a place at the table, but when it starts taking another type of music’s place and tries to resume as a pretender I start to take notice.
August 11, 2014 @ 6:32 am
I understand what your saying about the lyrics in “Save A Horse” not being typical laundry list, bro country themed music. What I was referring to was the fact that it was one of the first to incorperate hip hop into country music. Also it seems it was one of the first songs to be remixed about 20 times to appeal to the pop/hip hop/club goer crowd. And as much as I think John Rich is a great songwriter when he wants to be, I think Big And Rich as a band was as much as a gimmick as “Save A Horse”.
August 11, 2014 @ 8:59 am
“Save a Horse” was remixed once for the heck of it, not the hip hop crowd. It was included on the EP Big & Rich’s Super Galactic Fan Pak and never released as a single. As for the gimmick idea, I don’t begrudge anyone that opinion of Big & Rich. They do seem to just be trying to ruffle feathers a lot of the time, but I stand by my assertion that there is still artistic merit to their style outside of that criteria. It’s certainly not everyone’s cut of tea but I think they do a good job of injecting outside influences into country music. On a side note, what’s all this “was” phrasing? You do realize that they’re still together and issuing a new album later this year, right?
Sticking a feather up your ass doesn”™t make you a chicken.”
True, but I’m not so sure that metaphor is completely analogous to the debate. As we all know, in its purest form music is purely auditory. The industry has tried to co-opt other senses over the years by using music videos, reality shows, etc. to promote or showcase the industry and its artists, but when you get right down to it it’s still just food for the ears. What do we debate around here? The way something SOUNDS. Big & Rich have two very country instruments (fiddles, banjos) as mainstays in almost all of their songs along with the regular guitars and drums. These instruments are also played in a country fashion, with long fiddle sobs/saws and plucking aplenty. Wouldn’t that effectively make them somewhat country, or in the case of your analogy, part chicken? Yes, you can have country instruments in a song and it not be country, but these instruments are still played in a very country style. However, B&R also inject rock and pop elements into their music, as we’ve been saying. Regardless of that aesthetic, they’re still based within the country format. Honestly, I think we’re not communicating cohesively; I’m not nor have I ever claimed that they are traditional country. I also don’t harbor the belligerent opinion that a song has to be traditional to be “real” country. Big & Rich are country, rock and pop rolled into one package within a contemporary country template. They’re not traditional but they never set out to be. That’s sort of like criticizing Waylon for playing his guitar in a rock & roll style, Hank3 for being too stripped down or Sturgill Simpson for being psychedelic. Speaking of the latter, does that mean Sturgill isn’t country since he injects Led Zeppelin-esque drug-induced ramblings and musical interludes into his country? After all, sticking a feather up your ass doesn’t make you a chicken.
August 11, 2014 @ 6:35 am
“Take note of the fact that fiddles and banjos are used in “Save a Horse” and 95% of Big & Rich”™s other songs (along with some steel guitar)”
Sticking a feather up your ass doesn’t make you a chicken.
August 11, 2014 @ 9:58 am
I understand what you are saying, I guess it just boils down to being a fan of Big And Rich or not. I was not aware that they were playing together still. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one, though I appreciate your perspective. I suppose I am a fan of traditional country styles. I prefer to let country be country and let pop be pop and so on and so forth. And on a side note, as much as I think Sturgill’s “High Top Mountain” was great, and I’m sure I’m gonna be crucified, I don’t know what to make of “Turtles All The Way Down”. I also was less than thrilled the way his vocals were recorded.
August 8, 2014 @ 6:11 pm
Yes …SAVE A HORSE…was the turning point in terms of the rap , pop , bro-boy , drinking and partying ( in EVERY verse of that song ) ‘,girls in a country song ‘, ‘back roads ‘ truck beds ,and the obligatory mention of a country legend ( Willie ) ingredients found on country radio now.
August 9, 2014 @ 12:22 am
I can’t figure out whether you’re being ironic or serious.
August 9, 2014 @ 12:31 am
Quite serious . That song referenced everything you find in the rap-country stuff you hear today
August 8, 2014 @ 12:37 pm
From Brian’s perspective that’s probably not too far from the truth. The vast majority of girls that go to FGL concerts probably do want to be the “girl in a country song”. As far as Maddie and Tae, in interviews they keep saying how much they love bro country. To me, that dilutes the point of their song. If they didn’t want to ruffle feathers they shouldn’t have released the song. It’s like their trying to win over the bro country crowd, but do they really have to? The majority of that crowd is going to leave as soon as the trend does. Also, I don’t see the girls and guys that love FGL loving Maddie and Tae’s song. Maybe I’m wrong though.
August 9, 2014 @ 11:12 am
While I agree that saying that they love the trend they’re bashing makes the song less meaningful, i see it as them trying not to piss off industry people…The country music industry has never handled trash talking well.
Personally, I think if they have half the talent they’re supposed to have, they probably just said that to not piss off the labels, and literally everyone who is currently popular on radio.
August 9, 2014 @ 1:01 pm
Good point, I understand them not wanting to anger the radio DJs who spin bro country all day long.
August 8, 2014 @ 12:58 pm
“All I”™m gonna say about that is, I don”™t know one girl who doesn”™t want to be a girl in a country song. That”™s all I”™m gonna say to you. That”™s it.”
This reminds me of an infamous quote by a famous writer who, upon being told that Richard Nixon had won the 1972 election, replied “I can”™t believe Nixon won. I don”™t know anyone who voted for him.”
August 8, 2014 @ 1:18 pm
That quote was by Pauline Kael the long time film critic for The New Yorker and it has been misquoted so many times. the actual quote is:
“I live in rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them”
So the author is actually very self aware of the cocoon she is living in (in this case a very liberal NYC) as opposed to the rest of the nation which voted 60-40 for Nixon over McGovern.
On the other hand, I have no doubt that this Florida Georgia Line guy is very much living in a world where all the ‘girls’ just love being the subject of his oh so cool songs.
August 8, 2014 @ 8:35 pm
Scotty J,
Thanks for correcting the quote. I had forgotten that it was attributed to Kael.
I want to make clear that my post was not intended as a political statement. The anecdote merely popped in my head because it is an illustration of the universal truth that just because you don’t personally know someone who thinks a certain way, doesn’t mean those people don’t exist, or that it’s not a widely held opinion.
I have no doubt that FGL are surrounded by people who fawn over them, and these days with social media, it is easy to create a digital echo chamber where you hear nothing but positive feedback, and block out the “haters” who disagree. I would enjoy seeing FGL confronted by an articulate woman who hates bro-country as much as I do, and watching the sparks fly.
August 8, 2014 @ 8:53 pm
Yeah, I knew you weren’t coming at it from the political angle. It’s funny how quotes get bent and mangled over time to the point where they often lose the original meaning. In this case I think the well known quote makes the speaker sound arrogant and clueless while the real quote at least has a little self awareness.
But I do agree with your larger point that the FGL guy probably never comes across any ‘girls’ that don’t dream of being in his ‘country’ songs. This would be a case of confirmation bias on his part. Since he doesn’t personally come across these women they must not exist. Makes life much simpler, though. No pesky criticism for the great artist.
August 9, 2014 @ 8:39 am
Made made think of this Yogi Berra quote on why he no longer went to Ruggeri’s, a St. Louis restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
August 8, 2014 @ 1:32 pm
Allison Stewart: “Really? Not ONE girl?”
Brian Kelley: (rolls his eyes) “Yep. Any (expletive) who says she doesn’t want to be a girl in a country song is a f***in’ (expletive) liar. Every, I mean EVERY, girl wants to be randomly picked up by a stranger in a jacked-up four wheel drive with a lift kit, drink moonshine from WinCo in a mason jar, have her little fine ass depicted as a sugar shaker, and have sex either on the side of a lonesome dirt road or spot by the river no one knows whether she wants to or n……………….ummm, errrr, can you edit that last part out? Thank you.”
August 8, 2014 @ 1:39 pm
Ha! Maybe now we know why they don’t let Doogie Douche talk much.
August 8, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
Brian Kelley answers, “All I”™m gonna say about that is, I don”™t know one girl who doesn”™t want to be a girl in a country song. That”™s all I”™m gonna say to you. That”™s it.”
Dear Lord, what a shallow, self absorbed jerk. Personally, I can’t stand FGL. I turn the radio down when they come on. But hey, they seem to like themselves enough for all of us.
August 8, 2014 @ 2:21 pm
Florida Georgia Line are to Country Music as Wal-Mart is to a Farmer’s Market.
August 9, 2014 @ 6:50 am
Naw, not really. There’s rarely any actual farmers at farmers’ markets anymore. They’re mostly manned by hippies. And besides that, what’s wrong with Wal-Mart? It’s a great place to shop if you’re poor like me.
August 8, 2014 @ 2:25 pm
I don’t know why Florida Georgia line has a problem with labels. I was the one that coined the phrase “divorcee country”. now I wood say groups like rascal flats, keith urban, faith hill, maybe jo dee massina. divorcee country is a sub-genre of “fabulous and forty country” I wood say acts like little big town, sugarland, and may be even kenny Chesney aww well hell, I don’t know
August 8, 2014 @ 3:04 pm
I like their new song dirt a lot, however I still do not like FGL as muscians.. I know this sound mean because I would never want to take away anyones lilvelihood. But, there is just something about them that I cannot stand, and I hope they fade into obscurity within the next 5 to 6 years… I am a woman, and I am in my late 20’s, and I do not understand this fascination with Bro-country, or just the bad music coming for mainstream country radio in general lately. I think most of it was still really good until 4 or 5 years ago, but sense then, it has gotten worse year after year..
August 8, 2014 @ 3:09 pm
I feel the same way. To me, with the notable exception of an artist here and there, most of the music was still decent on country radio until about 2008 (coincidentally when Taylor Swift got huge). It was a bit poppy but still country and pretty good at that.
August 8, 2014 @ 3:32 pm
I know 2008 was when I started noticing the downhill trend in country music.. But, it was about 4 years ago, that I noticed it was getting bad..
August 8, 2014 @ 3:49 pm
I blame it all on streaming and stealing of music. Why the hell can’t they regulate it. If songs had value and ppl got compensated deservingly, then I think music overall would be better. What little market is left is all geared to younger crowd and partying, almost how rap was in mid to late 90s and early 2000’s. Just make something cool and some fairy tale lifestyle for the kids so they will party to it and go to concerts. Kids singing about jacked up trucks now is like how it use to be in the 90s when white kids thought they were pimps hitting the club. Cant wait till country goes Disco, actually doesn’t sound too bad Travolta dances better than Luke Bryan anyways.
August 8, 2014 @ 3:58 pm
http://www.inforum.com/content/florida-georgia-line-leaves-we-fest-crowd-screaming-more
“They know what makes a country hit, spitting out tune after tune about partying, dirt roads, trucks, girls and partying with dirty girls in dirty trucks.”
“When they deviated slighly from the anthems, like their new hit, the downbeat “Dirt”, they lost the crowds intrest.”
We Fest up the ante for scumbag country fans with a stabbing early thursday morning too.
August 8, 2014 @ 4:10 pm
Fuck FGL Listen to this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KITZHP60IWw
August 8, 2014 @ 4:15 pm
Good god Dallas Davidson sounds like a such a douche here.
“I”™ll ask, what are you driving? The tailgate on the back of it ”” have you ever sat on it? Well, why can”™t we sing about that?”
I can picture his writing sessions with with his friends.
“Hey, what are you driving? It’s got a cup holder, don’t it? Well that’s where you put your beer. Boom- Call up Blake, we’ve got another song on our hands. Yo yo wait hold up, you got two cup holders in the front there? Boom- call up Luke while you’re at it, we’ve got us a duet.”
August 8, 2014 @ 6:55 pm
I’ve been listening to Willie Nelson’s “Band of Brothers.”
And I am astonished at its quality. Here is an 81 year old man
who is singing better than ever, picking better than anybody,
and writing songs that demand to be heard again and again.
“Bring it On” and Billy Joe Shaver’s “The Git-Go” among others,
stand with anything Willie has ever done.
And it has a freshness about it that is deep and edgy.
Why am I talking about Willie in this discussion?
Because Willie is playing and singing Country Music.
And Florida Georgia Line and all of these other talentless,
pointless scabs are not. “Bro-Country” is not “country music”.
It barely qualifies as “music”. You know if you say “its not country”
fast, it comes out as “its snot country”, which of course it is…
So Willie and Billy Joe and some other genuine artists are out there
helping to Save Country Music from those arrogant lizards on Music
Row….
And they would tell you that it has been that way from the git-go.
Ben
August 8, 2014 @ 7:25 pm
Add another reason to my growing list of reasons to hate FGL.
August 8, 2014 @ 10:13 pm
Well it looks like the boys of FGL are about as dumb as their fans. I have seen a few people that I know that love “bro-country” that roll up playing “Girl in a Country Song”, obviously not realizing that it is about their favorite singers (FGL, Aldean, Bryan, etc). I wish we could attract people smarter than that to country.
Also, I know that we live in hypersensitive times now, but come on what happened to the ability to laugh at yourself?
August 9, 2014 @ 5:41 am
It’s because so many people like whatever they hear. The radio is playing it, so it must be good. They don’t pay any attention to what the song is actually about.
August 9, 2014 @ 6:47 pm
BINGO !
August 9, 2014 @ 5:13 am
Dang it, Brian Kelley needs to remember his place and not say a word, to anyone. i have told him time and again that his only job is to sit there and look pretty for the teenage girls. i am going to have a talk with him, cuz itz not wut he sposed to do!
August 9, 2014 @ 6:52 am
Over the past few years, the very idea of the word “country” has changed. Whether you’re talking about music or just the way of life, country is dead. This so called “bro-country” is to blame, in my opinion. Look at the artists of today (I use the word artist very loosely). The majority dress and act like they are pop stars. Clad in the latest styles, men’s v necks and skinny jeans, gangster hats, shiny new jacked up trucks with thug wheels and street glow. What the hell is that? That’s not country, that’s white boy rap.
This insurgence of metro sexuality in “country” music has caused a loss in the meaning of what country is. All these city guys see fuckwads like Luke Bryan and Thomas Rhett on tv and think, “hey, they dress like me and act like me, and I can get girls if I make it look like I’m country.”
Here lies the problem. People think they can go to the store and buy some cowboy boots and they are automatically a country kid. Have the boots? May as we’ll make daddy buy a truck for you too!
Dear God in heaven, please bring back George and Waylon…
August 9, 2014 @ 6:54 am
Kelley: “Uh, ‘Girl In A Country Song’? What in the hell is “country”? Never heard of it.”
August 9, 2014 @ 1:00 pm
Good point, I understand them not wanting to anger the radio DJs who spin bro country all day long.
August 9, 2014 @ 2:24 pm
Maddie and Tae strike a nerve with FGL? I love it!
August 9, 2014 @ 9:32 pm
I would truly love to know how FGL (or anyone else in mainstream country right now) talks about the current state of country when there’s not a camera or some reporter with a microphone in front of them. I’d like to think they realize just like the rest of us that this shit is fucking terrible and how they wish they could cut more solid material and still get airplay. Unfortunately, deep down, I know they probably truly believe this shit is creative with what country is now, and that all girls really wanna be the nameless whore in a “country song”
August 10, 2014 @ 8:11 pm
“The tailgate on the back of it ”” have you ever sat on it? Well, why can”™t we sing about that?”
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/girl-in-a-country-song-single/id895526493
And because it’s lazy unoriginal songwriting that has been done and overplayed to death and we’re sick of it! If artists want to sing those songs they can use this song generator to write them for free http://luvender.com/brocountry/ Also the music in these bro-country songs is pure pop and hip hip with no country whatsoever. Dallas needs to pick up a dictionary or any good country music resource and listen to pre-2013 songs and get some new topics! Why are he and a few others the go to writers? This limited thinking is why so much of today’s country sucks. Demand better and try some different writers people!
“So what”™s the backlash? More ticket sales? More money coming into Nashville? What”™s wrong with that?”
How much more money has bro-country brought into Nashville? Sure pop sells but I’m skeptical of this claim and some of the bros are selling less than artists with more original songs. Isn’t FGL the only new act that sold big with bro-country? Other big sellers were big before they made bro songs and went pop.
Dallas and all the bros need to listen to Maddie and Tae’s song on repeat for a year. Next time FGL or any artist gets asked about it, a good answer would be “Great song, it’s great to hear girls/womens’ points of view and they deserve to be played on the radio as much as we are!”
August 11, 2014 @ 11:00 am
The problem is that these bro-country artists don’t do anything. They don’t experience life at all.
They get on a bus, go to 5star hotel before going to a huge state of the art arena, put on a costume and go sing a simple song. Maybe they sign some hats and calendars, maybe if they are feeling crazy they have two beers or a couple shots throughout the course of weekend. Sometimes they stay up until 2am!!!
Dallas Davidson doesn’t get off his ass enough to experience anything either….jesus man, if you are only looking at the stuff in your garage and yard to sing about, you are going to run out of shit to sing about.
None of them experience life like true songwriters do, and create songs from those experiences.
I don’t even need to be a songwriter to know what is interesting and what isn’t When I’m out with my buddies, I don’t tell them about my computer on my desk in my office….I tell them about some crazy thing that happened on the weekend, or maybe some wild thing at a work happy hour, whatever….but Davidson and acts like FGL and Luke Bryan, Aldean, Gilbert…they don’t do anything worth talking about and certainly worth singing about that people their age would care about. So they sing about simple shit like highschool and tailgates where, yea, drinking a beer or kissing a girl was the highlight of your life. But you guys are not 16!
Good lord Dallas, I don’t need a song about what I’m doing before I go to a concert full of songs about what I was doing before I walked into the concert!!! You are fucking clueless. Wealthy maybe, but clueless as to contribution to the country music landscape. I truly wish you would get your ass kicked so you would have something else to write about.
“I’m sitting on my tailgate, drinking beer, going to the show,
gonna hear some songs from my bro….country
about sitting on my tailgate drinking beer, heading to a show about bro…country.
that’s the kind of songs we love around here. those about sitting on a tailgate drinking beer, going to show full of songs from my bro….country”
*** I get some royalties when Dallas rips off this verse for his next hit.
August 12, 2014 @ 8:17 am
Davidson’s comments are arrogance and douchebaggery at its finest, and I think he’s a bit of a prick.
That said, I see a lot of comments along the lines of “well a real writer would…” and stuff like that. Or that true artists don’t need to use marketing tactics to make good music, etc…
That’s not necessarily true. My brother, for instance, is a musician/songwriter. He’s had quite a bit of recent radio success, and writes with people like Davidson often. Most Nashville songwriters average at least a song a day, usually more. It isn’t their fault that the fact today is, the songs that get pitched the hardest and picked up the quickest are the things we consider to be “crap” or “bro-country”…they write all kinds of great songs, old school songs, that end up never being heard again. Right now, publishers, producers, and artists are looking for radio friendly content that will make them a hit, thus making everyone money. Right now, old school country isn’t going to do that.
Writers and artists are still making great music, but until the market comes back around for some great traditional-sounding country stuff, you’re not going to hear it on the radio. That isn’t the fault of the writers.
Dallas Davidson and Luke Laird and all the other popular writers you see a lot of stuff from aren’t no-talent hacks. They’re capitalizing on what will support them financially, keep their publishing deals alive, and grow their career. If they were to write NOTHING but traditional country, they wouldn’t be getting cuts, making their publishing companies (and inherently, themselves) any money, and they’d be out of a job.
Hopefully radio will come back around one day, if this country ever pulls its head out of its ass and remembers that we once had values and moral standards, and we will get to hear some of the great work of the writers everyone is calling “No-talent hacks” these days.
Proof positive of this fact: People like Alan Jackson and George Straight can’t hardly have any chart success, Jamey Johnson can’t get played or recorded, Neal McCoy can’t get back on radio even with Blaranda behind him, Easton Corbin and Charlie Worsham can’t get noticed…That’s not the fault of the songwriters, that’s the fault of radio, which is a product of the demand of the fans today.
August 14, 2014 @ 9:40 am
You made some good points but if labels send radio bro-country and pop songs, that’s what radio has available to play. If labels send them a good mix of country, country/pop, and country/rock like they did until we were told “country is going pop” and bro-country started in 2012-2013, that’s all they would have to play and it will sell because people (the market) generally buys what radio plays. Look at how many albums Carrie Underwood sold with her first and most country album for example. It seems like maybe radio wanted to go pop and asked labels to do the same. I can’t help but think it’s a long-term mistake for country to go generic pop and one day it will backfire. I don’t expect to hear old school or traditional country on country radio, just modern country that maintains country roots and instruments and isn’t generic or synthesized pure pop or bro-country.
Here it sounds like Collin blames it on label heads:
“And I”™m really depressed in how it has dumbed down to basically a one-dimensional “Let”™s party in the truck, gonna drink some cold beer!” There”™s so many of those, and I”™m not begrudging anybody their living. It”™s not really the artists I blame, and it”™s not the songwriters I blame because they”™re just trying to make a living. It”™s the gatekeepers quote unquote that we used to have in Nashville which are the label heads who used to decide what was good enough to put out and what was not. And now they”™ve just totally given into that.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/collin-raye-country-has-become-dumbed-down-one-directional
August 13, 2014 @ 7:41 am
This is why I hate today’s America. America used to good back in the early 2000s or earlier. But after the early 2000s, America started to lost steam during the mid 2000s. America is ruining music by putting in mainstream running gags like pop, dubstep EDM and twerking leaving quality like country thrown out the window. It looks like today’s America only wants repeats like mainstreams and fads just to get money damaging good stuff like Pokemon. What is America thinking? Even the internet and millennials couldn’t save the entire industry form that dreadful recent America. Worse, America music hates country like Luke Bryan. America music only wants mainstream populars like pop and big names like Britney Spears so America music can make lots and lost of money destroying the entire country music industry. Even the successes of modern country music like Miranda Lambert could save the entire country music industry. Worse, America music doesn’t care about music in general like Avril Lavigne and stick with big names like Miley Cyrus and fads like One Direction. What is America’s music industry thinking? Now the only way is inventions. It looks like America wants to forget about country music like Jason Aldean as well as other good music that needs more attention like Spice Girls and only wants nothing but big names and mainstreams like Justin Beiber. Stupid today’s America. Stupid America music. I’m glad I’m sticking with old America like early 2000s.
August 17, 2014 @ 6:16 am
This is why I hate today”™s America. America used to good back in the early 2000s or earlier. But after the early 2000s, America started to lost steam during the mid 2000s. America is ruining music by putting in mainstream running gags like pop, dubstep EDM and twerking leaving quality like country thrown out the window. It looks like today”™s America only wants repeats like mainstreams and fads just to get money damaging good stuff like Pokemon. What is America thinking? Even the internet and millennials couldn”™t save the entire industry form that dreadful recent America. Worse, America music hates country like Luke Bryan. America music only wants mainstream populars like pop and big names like Britney Spears so America music can make lots and lost of money destroying the entire country music industry. Even the successes of modern country music like Miranda Lambert couldn”™t save the entire country music industry. Worse, America music doesn”™t care about music in general like Avril Lavigne and stick with big names like Miley Cyrus and fads like One Direction. What is America”™s music industry thinking? Now the only way is inventions. Why America doesn’t pay attention to good music like Spice Girls and Avril Lavigne? It looks like America wants to forget about country music like Jason Aldean as well as other good music that needs more attention like Spice Girls and only wants nothing but big names and mainstreams like Justin Beiber. Worse, America is ruining America successes by putting in moneys and forget try something news. I hate America moneys version of America successes. Bring back America successes goes by popularities and word of mouths. Stupid today”™s America. Stupid America music. I”™m glad I”™m sticking with America 2003 and earlier.
August 28, 2014 @ 8:02 am
How in the world is country music disrespectful towards women? All they talk about is how beautiful they are or taking them to diner or buying them things. I’m just confused everyone is full of shit so maybe you should get off the feminist high horse and get the fuck over it. It’s not 1980 anymore it’s 2014.
October 26, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
Well… In 1980 we were treated a lot better than we are right now. Men actually treated us with respect in 1980. Now all we get is how nice our butt looks. I’m sick of this new bro country. Name one song where they don’t talk about how nice our butt and/or legs look in those cut-off jeans. Name ONE! Men are more degrading in 2014 than they were in 1980. Almost all of the boys that I know are jerks. And by the way you are talking, you are just like them.
March 24, 2015 @ 7:26 pm
Personally, I think Maddie & Tae are huge hypocrites! I kind of hate that song. I’m a girl and I love “Bro-Country”. I hate the way M&T sing about hating the bikini tops and then in their video are in bikini tops. If you don’t like it, don’t flaunt it. It’s not satire or even clever. If you hate those songs where guys call you “honey, sugar, or baby” so much listen to rap and get called bitch or ho. I think they men who sing country are incredibly respectful. I agree with F/G line… I would love to be the girl in a country song. Sorry for the rant. Feel free to respond with hate or whatever. Sorry if I offended you.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:29 am
FGL devalues women in their videos and lyrics. Like someone said it’s 2014 so don’t you think we could have stopped using women as sex objects? Apparently, not………As long as women continue to comply with this humiliating treatment, nothing will change.
February 16, 2025 @ 11:11 pm
How many girls want to be your girl in the country song now that your records ain’t selling, guys? Thunder only happens when it’s raining