I Can (& Will) Say Florida Georgia Line Ain’t Country
Cute, Florida Georgia Line, cute. Call your latest album Can’t Say I Ain’t Country and act as if this somehow insulates you against what any country music fan worth their salt already knows inherently. I can, and will say you ain’t country if I damn well please, as will the rest of us. Because you’ve earned the right to face the harshest criticisms and most severe concerns for your music by crafting a career out of blurring the lines of the country genre with efforts of poor quality, weighted down by shoddy white-boy rapping and other reprehensible activity that has besmirched the proud legacy of the country genre, and put its integrity on perilous footing moving forward.
What I can’t say exactly yet is what Florida Georgia Line’s new record out February 2019 will sound like because I haven’t heard it. But if their latest single “Talk You Out Of It” is any indication, labeling it “country” will be a stretch to say the least. The title of the new album feels like a very similar play to what Luke Bryan did with the title of his latest album What Makes You Country. Yes, try to head off any criticism by emblazoning a patently false affirmation on the front of your record, and hope folks fall for it.
One reason these pop guys are naming their records like this is due to pandering to the demographics of the people that make up their fan base, namely country radio listeners who aren’t from the country at all, and instead dwell in the suburbs and live this romantic backroad bonfire life vicariously through country radio. Don’t misunderstand, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying country music even if you’re not from the country. Music is for everyone, and country music has always been just as much about blue collar people as it has been rural dwellers. Even if you live in the city and are rich, you have a right to enjoy country music. But when it becomes a self-affirming exercise that is detached from the reality of things like much of modern Bro-Country, it’s just unhealthy.
But the other reason Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan have chosen these self-affirming titles for their records is in response to the protestations of true country music fans who regularly and fervently question just how country they are. The fact that these performers feel the need to respond should be taken as a positive sign. As the groans from disgruntled country listeners continue to grow, it’s something that can’t go ignored. The cultural divide running through the center of country music has never been wider, and the numbers of people on the opposite side from artists like Florida Georgia Line have never been bigger. Where before critics of people such as Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line could be shewed off as gadflies, now acts like Florida Georgia Line are giving up market share, and losing awards to artists like Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, and Brothers Osborne.
Who knows what Can’t Say I Ain’t Country will sound like. There probably will be a couple of country tracks on it. Even some of the worst mainstream country records have a few good songs on them. Luke Bryan’s What Makes You Country did, and probably was his most “country” record in his last few, even if that’s not saying much considering the low bar he’s set for himself. The new Florida Georgia Line record deserves to be considered upon its own merit, and without bias for whatever has come before from them.
But if your music is truly country, you don’t need to go around telling everybody about it, let alone making the answer to your critics into the title of your record. It’s patently clear as soon as someone hears the music if it’s country or not.
There are many different ways people define country music, but the most common and accepted is, “I know it when I hear it.” And with Florida Georgia Line, we know what we hear.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:03 am
I don’t know what the songs will be, but I bet you dollars to donuts that they’ll all be more pop than country and more fitting on an adult contemporary station than a country station. That being said, their songs will inundate the airwaves like the black plague, and no one will be immune. Thank God for the Red Dirt stations out there who won’t play this crap!
December 14, 2018 @ 2:41 pm
I was born and raised in Nashville. I’m 38 years old and my high School was the one with the most kids of country music stars/record producers.
Franklin Road Academy was K-12 so I suppose that was part of the reason as well. I got free tickets/back stages passes to any country concert my heart desired through my friends.
Not a single one of the people lived in the country unless you consider Franklin the country.
The greatest recording Duo of all time Brooks and Dunn lived in cookie cutter Brentwood McMansions that we’re a dime a dozen and definitely not rural.
I was aware that Nashville made music only for blue collar folk in rural areas.
In fact out of all the people in Country music I know not a single one even listens to country outside of the business. Brooks and Dunn, Tim and Faith, Hanks William’s Jr, Curb Family, Jody Williams, BMI/Tom Collins, Sony/Paul Worley, David Lee Murphy, David Nail, David Ball, Audrey Ball.
Of course what do I know.
December 14, 2018 @ 3:41 pm
TJ …….this shouldn’t surprise any of us at this point . I’m sure the people you mentioned ALL grew up on as many musical influences as everyone else in North America with a radio or a CD player or ghetto blaster. All good . BUT we all know that you don’t have to be FROM rural areas to write songs of substance ABOUT rural areas and a lot of those folks rely on outside writers to provide them with that material . I DO think those artists have a responsibility to the genre that gave them careers and the fans who pay for those careers . If only by way of respect for the tradtions and hallmarks of a great COUNTRY song …..honest vocals , trad instrumentation and inspirations .
Thanks for your comment….
December 14, 2018 @ 8:24 pm
I stopped listening to the crap called country years ago. I can’t believe the shit called country.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:13 am
The title cracks me up because I have heard there will be a collaboration with definitely NOT country artist Jason DeRulo. I can say he ain’t country!
December 14, 2018 @ 9:16 am
If I ever drive past these clowns with a broken down tour bus I’m not stopping.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:42 pm
Dick
December 14, 2018 @ 9:31 am
They also said that if someone says he is country cause he feels like it, then he is.
These idiots keep on getting more and more embarrassing as each day passes by. Am I a bad person if I wished someone would punch them hard in the face?
December 14, 2018 @ 11:15 am
Yes it is bad…the way i see it. Nothing they do is effecting my life, and they certainly didn’t do anything to hurt me or you. So why wish pain on someone you’ve never met and had never done anything wrong to you besides disrupt the country genre? You do you and let them do them. It ain’t hurting me none. Shouldn’t be hurting you. Coming from a kind, god fearing man ????????♂️ Why spread hate
December 14, 2018 @ 12:37 pm
Its hurting me plenty. I go hang out with my redneck friends and instead of cranking good country music its this painful trash that spoils my night.
They spoil good country festivals etc. Make enemies of people who seem to enjoy this trash because they don’t know better.
So i can hate on them
December 14, 2018 @ 1:37 pm
“So why wish pain on someone you’ve never met and had never done anything wrong to you besides disrupt the country genre?”
The country genre is something that I love. It is a natural reaction to wish pain on someone or something that is helping to destroy something that we love. That’s why.
December 14, 2018 @ 7:32 pm
Pussy.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:45 pm
Hey bruh you can’t hate on their hustle. They’re playing the saps who don’t know what music is, let alone country music.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:31 pm
Jerry, just remember. It’s not a lie…if you believe it.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:31 am
Small rural town kids love these guys,they are indeed country. meanwhile Brooklyn folks are raving over Zephaniah O’hora, meaning city people have a better ear for authentic country
December 14, 2018 @ 10:21 am
Yeah, this narrative that it’s all a bunch of suburban dwellers that love the worst pop-country garbage has always struck me as a bit specious. Having grown up in a rural area, I can assure you all the self described rednecks were blasting Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and FGL from their truck stereos. Since moving to a college town, I’ve met far more fans of actual country (and Americana) than in my hometown in East Texas.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:14 pm
Undoubtedly there are people in rural areas that listen to mainstream country. I wasn’t trying to dispute that. However there just aren’t that many people dwelling in rural areas anymore, and the power base and main concentration for mainstream country listeners is in the intermediate zones and suburbs between rural and urban areas.
One of the reasons rural individuals have been gravitating more and more to artists like Florida Georgia Line and Sam Hunt, and also why hick hop is so popular in small towns, is because for years rural culture has been impugned by popular culture. If you’re truly from the country, you’ve been told for year that you’re a hick, a hayseed, a backwoods moron. That’s why they look towards music that includes elements of hip-hop and EDM, because it’s cool, new and fresh—the antithesis of country.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:46 pm
Where in East Texas? I grew up in Lufkin
December 14, 2018 @ 7:59 pm
A little ways up 59 in Carthage.
December 15, 2018 @ 10:11 am
Per capita, Carthage should win the award for Town With The Hottest Women. Idk what it is about that town but damn. I almost signed with Pinola for that reason alone lol.
January 2, 2019 @ 4:38 pm
Well I’m old. I have listened to all kinds of music. Country is my favorite. These kids blow me away. I took my 41 year old daughter with me sat on the front row. I was jumping up and down like a teenager. Don’t tell me “Dirt” isn’t Country. I really don’t care what they call it. These young men have talent they have turned into gold. I am one of their Disciples. I love everything they sing and write. This 5th generation Texan loves her some FGL.
December 15, 2018 @ 7:59 pm
Seems to be a fair number of East Texans in here. I grew up in Texarkana and spent most of my 20s in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area…
December 18, 2018 @ 10:27 pm
Central Texas here! I live in Manhattan now and I’ve gotten *more* into country (Americana) since moving here because it reminds me of home.
December 14, 2018 @ 10:41 am
I think that’s a pretty broad assertion based upon very limited information. You also have to keep in mind that kids in small town America are much more likely to tune into the local radio station rather than an NPR tiny desk or seek out underground artists on Spotify; and we know what is distributed on country radio doesn’t present much in the way of variety. A lot of rural folk probably don’t know what other options are out there. This coming from someone that lives in a major city too
December 14, 2018 @ 11:39 am
the point is,,based on who actually listens to FGL, they are indeed COUNTRY..people from rural areas aren’t smart enough to seek better music
December 14, 2018 @ 10:57 am
Dead solid comment. As a recent retiree, I have lived in metro areas and very rural area, several times each. I worked with production agriculture in a number of states my entire career. My experience was that the rural folks were much more likely to listen to music generated by commercial mainstream radio “Hot Country”. Ever so often I would engage in a conversation about music and drop some names that most people that come to this sight would at least recognize. 99% of the time the response was “never heard of them”. I also will add that I had to deal with 20yr olds to 70yr olds. Again, my experience was that urban folks had a more varied palette for music, and were better versed in the history and cross connections of artists and styles. Probably due to being exposed to a larger pool of people that could influence their taste in music.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:10 pm
I’m a city dweller and have been all my life (hence my handle). However, my husband is from a very rural area, and his children still live there, so we go there frequently. Based on what I have personally seen, most folks in rural areas just have very little exposure to anything other than what is on their radio dial. If I had to generalize as to why, they don’t have the resources or the knowledge that anything else is out there. I’ve turned my stepdaughter and a few others onto Cody Jinks, but it is a slow process.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:03 pm
Country music requires a fiddle, banjo and steel guitar. FL/GA Line, Sam Hunt, Kane Brown, Carrie Underwood and a bunch of other wannabes are ruining country music. The fact they went into a record label and came out as country acts, is absolutely disgusting. WTH is wrong with record labels and COUNTRY stations playing this garbage??? I won’t listen to it anymore. I will take Cody Johnson, Randy Rogers, Cody Jinks, Aaron Watson, etc.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:05 pm
Johnny Cash rarely if ever used a fiddle, banjo, or steel guitar. It goes deeper than instrumentation.
December 15, 2018 @ 1:46 pm
True but johnny cash also wasnt country. I love his music but hes always struck me as more rock and roll
December 14, 2018 @ 9:08 pm
Don’t forget Cody Jinks
December 14, 2018 @ 2:27 pm
Quite true but not just rural kids, there are plenty of rural adults tuned in to mainstream as well. I live rural and I see it with my neighbors all the time. You go to their houses and its all they and their kids are listening to. Its brutal.
I think a big part of the reason everyone is tuned into the radio is due to lack of good internet access. So many rural areas are underserved and the only access may be satellite or mobile hotspots. Either way. you are dealing with data caps. Streaming Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, etc.. burns through the monthly allowance in a hurry, especially with a family sharing that data bucket. Hopefully this gets better as more cell carriers offer “unlimited” plans with soft caps on the data. With data plans and poor cell coverage in many rural areas it makes new music discovery via online pretty tough.
December 14, 2018 @ 3:11 pm
these people with no internet access sure are on Facebook all the time, hmmmm. Anybody who could like Aldean/FGL etc just because that’s all they’ve heard are too ignorant to appreciate a better choice in music..these rural idiots are just as responsible for ruining the genre as much as the artist who pander to them
December 14, 2018 @ 2:28 pm
This is, and will remain, a really important point. All I hear down at the barn is commercial radio. It creates this weird little world, like Pokemon, where everyone has a favorite. With limited options, people are forced to choose. Hell, they may end up even *liking* cheese in the “blue” rather than the “red” wrapper, even though it’s the same cheese.
It all boils down to whether you think “country music” is completely subjective. If it is, then it doesn’t matter where it came from, who plays it, and what it actually sounds like. All that matters is whether someone says “it’s country.” To me, that’d be complete bullsh*t. I’ll probably be dead in a decade or two and therefore irrelevant to the market. But the idea of it all matters. Either there is something real about country music, or there isn’t.
December 14, 2018 @ 10:01 am
I this new generation wouldn’t know country music if it hit them in the face. Old Hank Williams would or probably has turned over ln his grave if he could some of this shit today.5
December 14, 2018 @ 10:26 am
The continuous, high speed spinning, of Hank in his grave is what powers our gravitational pull. True story.
December 14, 2018 @ 10:46 am
1. Attach turbine to Hank Williams’ corpse
2. Connect generator to the turbine
3. Play FGL
4. Infinite electricity
December 14, 2018 @ 11:02 am
Clean and renewable. I like the way you think.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:12 pm
Renewable, sure, Clean? You’re polluting the airwaves with Step 3.
December 14, 2018 @ 7:36 pm
5. Profit
December 14, 2018 @ 10:36 am
I expect a crying steel guitar, twin-fiddles, cheating-songs…wait…well…never ever…lol.
December 14, 2018 @ 10:49 am
When we folk finally accept the fact country music has changed and for the better no music stays the same rap changed pop changed gospel songs now collaborate with rap artists who cuss times change either accept it or stay with the old boring music you like just know that music change and just cause u boo hoo and complain about it aint gonna change a lot of country is just that some is mixed with pop singers don’t mean it’s not country I think the new country on point its reaching out to a wider audience the music is country like it or not it’s like dumb folk can’t wait for music to drop just so they can hate such lonely depressed people
December 14, 2018 @ 10:54 am
I’d like to buy a punctuation mark, Pat Sajak. A period.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:03 am
I imagine this sentence ^^^^ will continue running on until it takes flight and exits Earth’s atmosphere.
FGL sucks. It’s a fact. No need to get butthurt over it.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:04 am
Shannon’s sentence, not Trig’s. LOL
December 14, 2018 @ 11:08 am
Let this be a lesson to you youngsters, don’t be a fool, stay in school.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:18 am
Quiet down you fucking dunce.
December 14, 2018 @ 5:09 pm
Do you eat with that mouth?
December 15, 2018 @ 7:59 am
You should shut up too dawn.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:38 am
Tom Petty about new country music (2013): “…”bad rock with fiddle.”…” “I hate to generalize on a whole genre of music, but it does seem to be missing that magic element that it used to have.”
A couple of years later it’s bad r&b-edm-rap-pop-rock-“country” autotuned-to-death…but no fiddle or steel guitar. It’s Nashtrash or Nashville-pop but it’s not Country Music.
Buy or stream a Hank Williams, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Lefty Frizzell, Alan Jackson, George Strait or Barbara Mandrell album…she was country “when country wasn’t cool” & we can talk about good or bad country music again.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:38 am
Yeah this has to be the longest run on sentence in the comments in a long while, and that is saying something. No one has to accept anything, FGL is NOT country music. Its just a fact and pretty simple to understand also. I mean if you like their music that is ok so be it, but its just not country music. “Pop” music can change and it’s suppose to change that is its nature, its the music that is “POPular”, and that is how it works. Last, send me the link to a song that is considered Christian or Gospel that has cuss words in it, I would love to see that. Good day.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:39 am
… and really if you dont like it you dont have to listen to it see simple as that i solved your problem I mean just turn to a different station instead of spending all this energy hating on new country music just because you cant deal with change you all are just so pathetic god bless you
December 14, 2018 @ 2:53 pm
Grammar and syntax shaming on SCM is getting old. How bout we address her argument?
Rap has sucked at times (2003-2011/12)
Pop sucks ass on the radio right now
Gospel songs that promote unrighteousness are not gospel songs.
I may be depressed but you can go fuck yourself.
December 14, 2018 @ 4:49 pm
There it is. The dumbest thing you’ll read all day.
December 14, 2018 @ 8:03 pm
Blah, blah, blah. Same old story, country music is changing just get used to it. I don’t care what you call it I think it sucks. No substance, no heart, no good. If you like it great, listen to it all you like. But why in the hell are you trolling a website named saving country music? Makes no sense. Listen to what you want and leave us alone. We like what we like you can like the garbage you like. Jump on FGL Facebook and tell them how they make you all warm inside singing about getting wasted and downgrading women.
December 15, 2018 @ 1:51 pm
The genre doesnt change. Whitey morgan and cody jinks put out music that would fit right on with 50’s or 70’s country. The music executives just decide to attach different music to established genres and supress those who make real music.applies to all genres
December 14, 2018 @ 11:01 am
These guys are just douche nozzles. They are the furthest thing from country ever. I love to rag on them in front of my wife, who has no good taste in music herself. She’s a fan of these twats. That’s usually when I blast either some Cash, Waylon, Merle or something newer like Sturgill, Tyler, or Colter. I hope this album sells so poorly that they get dropped from their label. Wishful thinking, I know.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:06 am
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/14/people-assume-im-a-rapper-can-country-music-get-over-racial-prejudice
Just going to leave this here. From today’s Guardian here in the UK. “Ultimately, to be a country artist now “you don’t have to be a cowboy or have banjos on your song,” Allen says. Instead, his and Brown’s music, premised on modern production values and lyrics on the theme of self-acceptance and tolerance, could finally rid country of its stereotypes.” Long article on new black guys in country, with an attempt to link to some history. For those who don’t know it – ‘The Guardian’ is the largest, left of centre (liberal in the US sense of the word), widely available, UK Newspaper.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:41 am
That “attempt to link to some history” failed tremendously.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:18 pm
I wouldn’t line a birdcage with that article.
December 15, 2018 @ 9:16 am
“The lack of black acts in country music is particularly marked since, Allen argues: “Country music came from black people – it all started with the blues and bluegrass.” The banjo – an instrument central to the genre – originated in West Africa, and early country stars such as Hank Williams were mentored by black musicians.”
Even though there are some sloppy attempts that hint at some truth with this, it fails miserably. Without proper context, proper history and accurate timelines, this amounts to a lot of happy horse shit. There are University courses that take entire semesters that look at the relationships between the Blues, Bluegrass and Country music. It would take a day to unpack and reconstruct everything that is misleading, superficial and just wrong with this one paragraph. The sad thing is that people will read this and think they have gained some new, important and profound knowledge about three important American music genres.
December 14, 2018 @ 3:51 pm
The Guardian knows a lot about diversity. Not so much about country music.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:12 am
I can paint a pig and call it a horse if I want to but it’s still a pig nonetheless.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:21 am
There are Record Label execs in Nashville Trying to get Billboard magazine to split the country genre, and charts, into two seperate categories. “Country” and “New Country.” This may be the best way to deal with this situation.
Judging from streams and record sales, there are a lot of listeners that like the “New Country” sound. And judging by the outcry of listeners that want to hear “Country” there’s a demand for that, too.
It seems to me the problem is that Labels and radio are limiting the “Country” fan’s music choice by trying to REPLACE “Country” with “New Country”. Why not produce both? Give listeners the option.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:53 pm
Yes. Let’s call it “COUNTRY” and “FAKE COUNTRY” 🙂
December 14, 2018 @ 4:39 pm
lol. right on point pierre. I have a sister that loves the music on country radio. Calls herself a country girl. Live her to death but she has forgotten the TRUE COUNTRY music we grew up with. Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and remember Kitty Wells? These are just a few of the greats. They were COUNTRY
December 14, 2018 @ 2:30 pm
This approach is death to country music. “New Country” means everything else is “old” country. And who in America wants to listen to “old” country?
These terms rig the whole game in favor of “new country.”
I might be ok with “Traditional Country” and “Pop Country.”
December 14, 2018 @ 2:57 pm
In 2014, the Dickey Brothers and Cumulus Media made an aggressive move to split the country music format with the formation of NASH Icon. They even got Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records signed on and started a NASH Icon record label. The problem is the Dickey Brothers turned out to be crooks, got forced out of the company, and now Cumulus is working through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
I have been noodling on a new article about this myself. I think the country music format should have split years ago. One problem is that you need leadership to get something that gigantic done, and country music has no leadership. The CMA is completely asleep at the wheel, and none of the major labels can agree on anything. Billboard is also clueless, and completely deaf to fair concerns raised by country fans and the industry as well about how the country charts are reported. Billboard truly believes that Bebe Rexha’s “Meant to Be” is the biggest, and most important and influential song in country music history.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:29 am
“One reason these pop guys are naming their records like this is due to pandering to the demographics of the people that make up their fan base, namely country radio listeners who aren’t from the country at all, and instead dwell in the suburbs and live this romantic backroad bonfire life vicariously through country radio. Don’t misunderstand, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying country music even if you’re not from the country. Music is for everyone, and country music has always been just as much about blue collar people as it has been rural dwellers. Even if you live in the city and are rich, you have a right to enjoy country music.”
I have a very nationalist take on C(c)ountry Music. I believe that only folks with cultural ties to it, a birthright if you will, have the right, or the ability to speak about what it is or what it should be.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:08 pm
” I believe that only folks with cultural ties to it, a birthright if you will, have the right, or the ability to speak about what it is or what it should be.”
Okay, but that doesn’t mean people from the city don’t have a right to listen to it.
December 14, 2018 @ 1:21 pm
Agreed.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:55 pm
What about DNA memories?
December 14, 2018 @ 12:43 pm
Good lord, Honky. And what exactly grants people this “birthright” that you speak of? What a dumb, slippery, undefinable slope. Is it being born in certain states? Living there for a certain amount of time? What if a kid is born in East TX, but then grows up and moves to NYC to be a completely douchey banker or fashion designer who prefers EDM? Are you going to take his word on the subject of country music over a country music fan born and raised in NYC, but who chooses to move to a “country” or “rural” area (as defined solely by the all knowing Honky, of course) and become a working rancher for years on end. Tons of examples like this in so many realms its simply ridiculous. Just give it up.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:45 pm
LOL! Nice!
December 14, 2018 @ 12:43 pm
Trash take. The issue is not that individuals who are not multi-generational, dyed-in-the-wool rural dwellers are speaking about what country music is and should be. Anyone can make those assertions as long as they put forth sufficient, honest effort into understanding the history, traditions, and nuances of what country music is and where it’s from. Stating that people somehow have restricted rights based on the circumstances of their birth spits in the face of what it means to be American.
December 14, 2018 @ 1:38 pm
My mom and her extended family were all farmers and extremely rural. My dad and his family were all from North Jersey. I lived in and straddled both worlds my entire life. Worked with farmers at the production level my entire career. Do I have a birthright? I’ve listened to roots music including Country for most of my 65 years, but my opinion is negated because I don’t have rural purity in my blood? Shit, I’ve known rural America before some of your parents were born. This argument smacks of the same argument Blues purists have made for decades. Can a white man or woman have the feel for playing or singing the Blues. Why not ask someone like Charlie Musselwhite, Born in 1944, dirt poor, in rural Mississippi. As a teen in the eary 60’s he moved himself to Chicago, boarding for a while at the Jazz Record Mart (a record store institution in Chicago). He mentored under, and became a contemporary of the second generation Chicago Bluesmen. But I suppose Charlie, being white, doesn’t have the necessary birthright to speak for or have an opinion on the Blues. Wow, talk about musical bigotry.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:39 am
That article was filled with so many historical inaccuracies that it should be burned with fire.
December 14, 2018 @ 11:42 am
I swear I only read this sites posts for the pure cry baby comedy of you guys deciding what is or isn’t country the whining about the genre.
Keep up the great comedy always good for a laugh.
December 14, 2018 @ 4:47 pm
FGL ain’t country.
December 15, 2018 @ 11:53 pm
so ….you’re learning something . that’s GREAT
December 14, 2018 @ 11:43 am
The Guardian article, not Trig’s.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:07 pm
I come here for three things:
1. To find out what’s going on with great country artists that don’t get played on the radio.
2. To find quality artists that play and love country music.
3. To read rants from insecure bro-country fans that jump in to write poorly spelled, grammatically challenged, punctuation free diatribes about how country ‘evolved’ by removing everything that makes country music special.
December 14, 2018 @ 12:07 pm
You dudes are major pressed lmaooo. FGL are more country than any y’all cause real country people are nice and not bitter virgins arguing over silly things.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:54 pm
Bless your heart.
December 14, 2018 @ 5:16 pm
FGL country? So far from country. You are one of the ones that wouldn’t know country if it bit you where the sun don’t shine.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:50 pm
”FGL are more country than any y’all cause real country people are nice and not bitter virgins arguing over silly things.”
……..and because they boast ” can’t say I ain’t country “………if that isn’t proof of an ‘ act’s’ country-ness I don’t know what the hell is . and don’t forget ….LUKE knows what makes you country too …..so …….
ok then
December 14, 2018 @ 12:36 pm
“If you are truly country, you dont need to tell everybody about it…” (If that ain’t country by DAC, you’re looking at country by Loretta Lynn, heck even Waylon covered Are you Ready for the country…just a few examples)
December 14, 2018 @ 2:32 pm
The difference is that these artists actually backed their shit up.
December 14, 2018 @ 2:35 pm
I say alot of new country acts are not country, then again I’m older and things change. Is what it is. But there’s still country acts out there, there the ones that play in bars and small venues .
December 14, 2018 @ 2:38 pm
What’s with trying to burn fgl at the stake? Who cares what they are. They make music that people love (have you seen their sales and shows). Everyone is all upset about whether it’s country music or not, and yet people are changing into men\women and not sure what bathroom to go to. Maybe we should be a little more harsh on those people. That’s more confusing to me children than fgl being country.
December 15, 2018 @ 4:48 am
Because the problem isn’t *just* Florida Georgia Line. Yes, they are a MAJOR part of the problem, the problem is that 90% of what is classified as “country” in the mainstream and played on the radio has nothing to do with country music at all. And believe it or not, there *are* people who care about genre and about preserving the traditions and history of that genre. And to devalue the term “country” by applying it to anything that slightly references rural behaviors and/or adds in a token banjo hidden in the background is an insult.
So, if what you’re saying (“who care what they are”) is true, why not classify it as the pop music that it is (bad pop) and let real country music be country?
Nice attempt to sneak in your little political argument though. I almost didn’t catch it through the rest of your obvious denseness.
December 14, 2018 @ 3:11 pm
For all you psycho freaks who keep saying the dumbest shit on my post troll elsewhere sorry I dont put periods at end of sentence bite me I grew up with country and to be quite honest it consisted of line dancing and heartache to be honest country music is great right now because of Kane Brown all you dumb fucks clearly don’t understand like do we really want old stuff like we have all moved on from Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers so come to the reality that is and just get over yourself
December 14, 2018 @ 3:53 pm
Dolly and Kenny……. from the old days. How cute. Please go on. Tell us more about when country music started, where its roots came from and about its evolution. I’m dying to be schooled.
December 14, 2018 @ 4:50 pm
Oops. I was wrong.
This is the dumbest thing you’ll read all day.
December 14, 2018 @ 6:31 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHtw28t5hBk
December 15, 2018 @ 8:56 am
If you’re going to call people ‘dumb fucks’, you should try to put some effort into not sounding like the stupidist person in the 100+ comment thread. Just some advice if you ever want to be taken seriously.
December 16, 2018 @ 3:29 pm
“For all you psycho freaks who keep saying the dumbest shit on my post troll elsewhere”
That’s what is known as the pot calling the kettle black.
December 14, 2018 @ 3:28 pm
”The fact that these performers feel the need to respond should be taken as a positive sign. ‘…..
I don’t want to listen to anyone who feels the need to justify or defend their ” Country-ness “.
Its in their music and lyrics or it isn’t. With FGL it isn’t. End of discussion .
Jesus….seriously ?…….these guys believe that naming their albums like this will convince people they are something their music says they aren’t ?? Luke tells us he likes hunting and fishing and THAT’S all it takes for us to reconsider EVERY CRAP SONG HE’S SUNG ???
December 14, 2018 @ 5:04 pm
many still want to hear it. If we want to hear pop. we can go to pop. My taste in music varies. Love music. If I want to listen to Country, I won’t find it on the radio. That’s for sure
December 14, 2018 @ 5:15 pm
I don’t know who Grady Smith is but he makes a valid point.
https://youtu.be/aT9iox7jH1g
About how all the country songs sound alike.
December 14, 2018 @ 7:05 pm
Wow, that was good.
December 14, 2018 @ 7:45 pm
Yeah, Grady nailed that shit to the wall. Trigger, you need to watch it and retweet it.
December 14, 2018 @ 8:11 pm
I’ll have something on it soon.
December 15, 2018 @ 5:26 am
Excellent.
So for shits and giggles I had some errands to run tonight decided to turn on country radio to see how pervasive this click track mess really is. I counted and I heard fourteen songs. Of those, ten (yes TEN!) had either click tracks or hand claps or some kind of synthesized percussion. And of course all fourteen songs are by men.
#NotMyCountryMusic
December 14, 2018 @ 9:04 pm
That was a great video Mary, thanks for sharing. I’ve been saying that about clap/snap tracks for the last 3 years. I do like the fact that he singled out Luke Combs for being one of the only new artists actually using real drums on his recordings. Ironically he didn’t bother to bring them last night as he played an acoustic show here. That’s ok he still tore it up, his songs stand either way.
December 14, 2018 @ 10:18 pm
there’s a very simple reason everything sounds the same .its because there’s a large enough target demographic that DO NOT CARE that it all sounds the same …so labels and artists and radio keep feeding that unconcerned listener . and those listeners are not MUSIC fans in the truest sense . they are pop culture fans . they are conditioned to buy into what is CONSIDERED to be hip and trendy. there’s a lot of them .
December 15, 2018 @ 4:00 pm
Thanks for the link, Mary. I actually know Grady, but I hadn’t heard about that video yet.
December 14, 2018 @ 6:45 pm
Taco bell is 100% pure Mexican food and Panda Express is THE shining example of Chinese food
December 14, 2018 @ 7:11 pm
Okay. Just because these insufferable douchebags are #NotMyCountryMusic, doesn’t mean they’re not country. They’re untalented and they hurt my ears but they ARE country. You can’t even make the argument that they’re country music carpet baggers. They’re part of the genre and there’s no way around that.
December 14, 2018 @ 7:44 pm
Based on what?
I ll mix some japanese music and insert country words like Chevy and cornfield and I’ll say the word GIRL 48 times in 200 seconds. Does it qualify for a country song?
December 15, 2018 @ 12:05 pm
Is this my parody account
December 16, 2018 @ 1:57 pm
That’s what I was wondering
December 14, 2018 @ 7:53 pm
What if people in rural areas abandon country music and listen to rap all day long. Does that make rap “country”?
It’s ok, I’ll wait.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:14 pm
YES.
It’s also shitty rap. PLEASE remember that.
It can make one feel as tho their lives are unfolding to the combined plots of Truman Show and Gaslight. Come OOOOOON….its bad music. You know it….we know it… THEY fucking know it.
December 14, 2018 @ 9:41 pm
Here’s why it matters (most folks here already know this and can skip the post).
Everybody has the right to like whatever kind of music they like. But there are cases where certain kinds of music are inappropriate, no matter how well-liked they are.
You wouldn’t play a Beethoven piano sonata at a Junior Senior prom. You wouldn’t play polka music at a funeral. People use funeral music as an opportunity to reflect on their loss, and polka music would be more of a distraction.
But suppose one family wanted polka music played at dear old Uncle Ed’s funeral. (Maybe Uncle Ed’s favorite song was “Beer Barrel Polka.”) So the Funeral Director hires a polka band for the occasion. Then the Funeral Director figures he’s already hired one band, so he offers the next group of bereaved a chance to use the same polka band at a discount. And the next group thinks, “What the heck, we don’t like funerals anyway” and they agree. So the Funeral Director calculates that out of the last three ceremonies, he’s made the most money from polka bands, and he fires all the other talent except the polka musicians. Now the next group of mourners objects–“We want some gospel by the Sego Brothers and Naomi,” but the Funeral Director replies, “According to my calculations, almost everyone prefers polka music for funerals. If you don’t like it, wear ear plugs.”
Both pop music fans and country fans use music to help them cope with their problems. But pop music functions as a distraction, while country music helps people by making it possible for them to confront their problems directly. Pop ignores the pain; country acknowledges it.
If you like Kane Brown or FGL because they help you deal with (or overlook) your problems, fine. But when these faux country musicians pass themselves off as real country music and when this impersonation means that people who prefer real country music (as opposed to pop) have fewer opportunities to console themselves, then these real country fans have a real reason for objecting for the encroachment on their territory.
Two irrelevant historical footnotes:
(1) The second record put out by Starday is a collection of polka music. Didn’t work out for them. They decided to stick with country.
(2) Hank Thompson once recorded a cover of “Beer Barrel Polka.” Is it country music? Write a 500-word essay with MLA formatting and turn it in on Tuesday.
December 14, 2018 @ 10:27 pm
this is a terrific breakdown of things, altalcountry .
December 15, 2018 @ 3:49 am
Unfortunately what passes for “country” music for the past couple of decades is 95% (+ / -) mild Rock …and usually not exactly stellar musicianship.
It’s what LA and Nashville are ‘feeding’ the listening public. A public which kind of lost its ability to make up its own mind beginning in the 80s (with the help of the subliminal messaging and round-the-clock mind-numbing programming by Clear Channel Radio).
there just aren’t enough people like Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless and others of their quality and taste to go around anymore.
December 15, 2018 @ 4:31 am
I am sincerely looking forward to hearing this album. Once. If it’s as bad as is to be expected, once I’ve heard it once and can legitimately go onto Amazon and post a review telling how it is in fact NOT COUNTRY, I’m looking forward to seeing other reviews to the same effect and the barrage of comments from their incensed fans.
December 15, 2018 @ 4:39 am
Thank God I read this article…. I believe true country music is medicine for the soul.
I write country music and have been all my life. Please go listen to one of my songs
that I consider true country. Maybe I can get it out there with your help. i ain’t knocking nobody else’s songs but this song was wrote about my life and who I am and what i believe. Its called
“I’m Country” and every word is the truth.
https://www.facebook.com/chuck.lee.5496/videos/1123664791064582/
December 15, 2018 @ 7:00 am
FGL were weren’t country to begin with. I’ll go listen to Thomas Gabriel instead.
December 15, 2018 @ 7:03 am
I had never heard any Florida Georgia Line or Bebe Rexha (don’t listen to radio or watch music tv), so yesterday I looked at the video for “Meant to Be.” Here are the lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Baby, lay on back and relax
Kick your pretty feet up on my dash
No need to go nowhere fast
Let’s enjoy right here, where we at
Who knows where this road is supposed to lead
We got nothin’ but time
As long as you right here next time
Everything’s gonna be alright
[Chorus]
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby just let it be
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby just let it be
So won’t you ride with me, ride with me
See where this thing goes
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby if it’s meant to be
[Verse 2]
I don’t need to be so uptight
But my heart’s been hurt a couple times
By a couple guys that didn’t treat me right
I ain’t gonna lie, I ain’t gonna lie
‘Cause I’m tired of the fake love
Show me what you’re made of
Boy, make me believe
[Florida Georgia Line]
Whoa hold up, girl, don’t you know you’re beautiful
And it’s easy to see
[Chorus]
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby just let it be
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby just let it be
So won’t you ride with me, ride with me
See where this thing goes
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby if it’s meant to be
So come on ride with me, ride with me,
See where this thing goes
So come on ride with me, ride with me,
Maybe if it’s meant to be
[Bridge]
Maybe we do, maybe we don’t
Maybe we will, maybe we won’t
[Chorus]
But if it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby just let it be
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby just let it be
So won’t you ride with me, ride with me
See where this thing goes
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby if it’s meant to be
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby if it’s meant to be
If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be
Baby if it’s meant to be.
….
Now country music is about more than just the words, but the words are important.
Pop music celebrates the present, as in “Meant to Be” or Kane Brown’s “Heaven” or Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man.” There’s no sense of the past (in “Meant to Be” Bebe is foolish for worrying about the past or the future, when she could just get in FGL’s pickup and ride around). And there’s no point in thinking about the future.
In real country music, the present sucks. Country lyrics typically look to the past when things were better (practically all honkytonk, drinking, and cheating songs), or the future when things will be better (“This Too Shall Pass” by the Pistol Annies, ” or almost every gospel song). The present is something you get stuck in, not where you want to be (Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It”; Ward Davis’s “Fifteen Years in a Ten Year Town”).
There are some exceptions, but this categorization generally rings true. People who like country pop and bro country want to be reassured that everything’s okay–nothing to worry about, nothing to fix, just sit back and chill. And that’s why country pop / bro country is such an anathema to anyone who knows that if you don’t face what’s wrong in your life, you’ll never get any better.
December 15, 2018 @ 10:35 am
zippety doo-dah.
December 15, 2018 @ 7:03 am
“But if your music is truly country, you don’t need to go around telling everybody about it, let alone making the answer to your critics into the title of your record. It’s patently clear as soon as someone hears the music if it’s country or not.
There are many different ways people define country music, but the most common and accepted is, “I know it when I hear it.” And with Florida Georgia Line, we know what we hear.”
Thank you Trig. What we hear is FGL desperately trying to convince us (and themselves) that they’re country, when we all know that’s a lie. And what we also hear is BULLSHIT because that’s exactly what their music is: complete & utter bullshit.
December 15, 2018 @ 5:42 pm
Its pretty cold up here right now… real cold.
I just want to play Hockey and listen to Corby Lund.
maybe put some maple syrup on my ham.
Florida Georgia seems so far away.
December 16, 2018 @ 2:18 am
This record is gonna tank so hard, Rommel would be proud.
February 16, 2019 @ 7:14 pm
Nein! Do not soil my name and legacy by likening me to these two losers!!!
December 16, 2018 @ 12:31 pm
Create a category called “Pop Country” then slide bands like FGL, Dan & Shay, Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett, Jordan Davis, etc. into it — problem solved.
December 16, 2018 @ 2:03 pm
They belong in pop music, especially since there’s an emphasis on the electronic aspect of the music.
December 17, 2018 @ 9:49 am
I was expecting an onslaught of rabid teens and aging soccer moms to come to their defense like they do with Kane Brown and Keith Urban, but alas I’ve seen very few. The general public really does seem to be getting sick of these guys.
December 17, 2018 @ 10:43 am
I’ve been reading your blog for at least six years and one of the things that keeps me coming back is your credibility as a critic. I really respect the fact that, even though you make no bones about despising FGL (or Sam Hunt, or Luke Bryan, etc) you’ll acknowledge it if they actually release a good song. It really is just about the music with you, and I appreciate that. Thanks for all you do, Trigger and happy holidays!
December 17, 2018 @ 12:30 pm
Thanks for reading Thomas.
December 18, 2018 @ 10:48 pm
don’t forget “lovin’ every day”
January 2, 2019 @ 4:44 pm
I really don’t care what you call it. I love me some FGL. I was a hardcore B & D fan. These guys have so much talent and they have done it all own their own. This 5th generation Texan would buy anything they play. I love love love them. I’m old. I took my 41 year old daughter to see them. We sat on the front row. I was jumping up and down like a teenager.
May 17, 2019 @ 8:36 pm
I have no idea why people can’t move forward. Music changes and evolves every genre experiences this. I have not heard of any cry babies like country fans who hate on country with pop influences. I’m sure country would be on a steady decline of it weren’t for artists like Luke Bryan, Kane brown, FGL, etc. pulling new listeners. Hip-hop, R&B/Soul, pop, Rap go thru it. Whether y’all like it or not it’s ganna change and we all have to deal with it.
September 21, 2022 @ 5:42 pm
We don’t “have to” do anything for fgl
August 10, 2023 @ 9:24 am
Women are more evolved than men because we have 3 holes and they have 2. Sometimes evolved is overrated