Midland’s Mark Wystrach Is Terrible At Talking Smack
I feel like Al Pacino in The Godfather III. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
Look, I’ve moved on from the whole questioning of Midland’s media narrative thing, and numerous times, and on record. Ultimately, it’s all about the music, and Midland’s music is much better than most anything else in the mainstream, and so we should all be happy. And this was never an “authenticity” argument to begin with, it was about honesty. Anyone can make country music. I just don’t want guys from privileged backgrounds who hopscotched hundreds of artists due to industry connections telling me how they came from hardship.
But apparently, Mark Wystrach—the former soap opera actor and underwear model—just can’t let it go. He once threatened Saving Country Music, saying, “If I ever meet that guy from Saving Country Music he is gonna see just how Country I really am!” And backstage at the ACM Awards last week, he was talking smack again, or at least trying to.
“That’s just some fool trying to get click bait because, you know, he’s got pay rent at his mom’s house,” Wystrach said to the assembled media backstage according to Alison Bonaguro at CMT. Wystrach was responding to media questions about the group’s “authenticity.”
But wait, wouldn’t the benefit of living at my mom’s house be that I wouldn’t have to pay any rent? I mean, isn’t that the reason you live with your mom? And if I don’t have to pay any rent, why would I have to post click bait to generate revenue?
Mark Wystrach has got this all wrong. I don’t live at my mom’s house. I live at Mark Wystrach’s mom’s house. In fact she’s warming up a Hot Pocket right now.
See now Mark, that’s how you talk smack. But seriously, I don’t want to start anything with Midland again. It’s just a back and forth cycle, and nothing ever gets resolved. I’ve said my peace, and let’s all move on and focus on the entertainment as opposed to all the sideline stuff. For example, I thought Midland’s Three Amigos skit on the ACM Awards last week was hilarious! Bravo fellas.
And by the way Mark Wystrach, how about coming off of some of that Big Machine Records money and getting your mom’s AC fixed? The summer will be here before you know it and we’re already sweating over here.
I kid, I kid.
I’ve got plenty of dough from my Midland click-bait articles to fix the AC myself, Mark. I know you’re too busy coiffing your butterfly collars and fringe to bother.
But seriously, finally and forever, can we all just go back to focusing on the music?
.
.
(Mark Wystrach’s mustache smells like Funyuns)
April 24, 2018 @ 10:28 am
Last statement, best statement.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:33 am
Did he mention you by name or are you just assuming you’re the basement dweller? And why does everybody in country think you do?
April 24, 2018 @ 11:26 am
Well he’s mentioned me by name before and I think everyone knows who he’s talking about, but I don’t have a full transcript to say if he said my name specifically at the ACMs or not.
The archetype of a country music writer is a pale, fat, introverted music nerd living in their mom’s basement. That’s also the archetype for an internet troll, so it comes up often. And to be honest, there are a lot of folks who write about music that suffer from social anxieties and such, and one of the reasons they latch onto music so hard is because it helps them cope. I get it, it’s funny. But you would think folks could get a little more inventive with their cut downs. When you’re pulling from the same bag of tricks as Maren Morris, you ain’t got much.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:36 am
“And to be honest, there are a lot of folks who write about music that suffer from social anxieties and such, and one of the reasons they latch onto music so hard is because it helps them cope.”
Damn right. I live this.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:39 am
But let’s be real here, you didn’t even know what Maren meant when she called you a basement dweller. You were really peeved about that comment so it’s not really different than this Midland guy getting mad about yours.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:32 pm
I knew exactly what Maren Morris meant. And I love it when mainstream acts talk smack about me. Are you kidding? I live for it, and far be it from me to dish it out when I can’t take it. That doesn’t mean I may not disagree with what they say.
April 24, 2018 @ 1:16 pm
I was under the impression you thought Maren thought you were beneath her and people had to explain to you what a basement dweller meant.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:52 am
Would you be willing to get in the octagon with Mark for charity?
April 24, 2018 @ 12:05 pm
No names were mentioned….but we all knew.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:10 pm
I don’t know if it’s a compliment or a slam.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:44 pm
Rita if I may ask a question. I saw you and Trigger touch on the Miranda and Evan Felker story and the hypocrisy of not reporting on it because you like her in comparison with Jason Aldean and how he was treated as a married man having an affair.
Now that US Weekly has exposed their relationship do you think Miranda will face the same scrutiny as Jason did? Will it affect her career negatively or will people not care?
April 24, 2018 @ 12:55 pm
What did I miss from US Weekly?!!
April 24, 2018 @ 12:57 pm
And I think Miranda is fine – people that kove her are still going to love her and people who were “Team Blake” are just going to have another reason to not like her.
April 24, 2018 @ 1:15 pm
Us Weekly outed their relationship and that it started while she was with Anderson East and that Evan’s wife filed for divorce when she found out. Pretty damming.
Maybe it’s better for her that Evan is relatively unknown in the mainstream. If it was a higher profiled married man the damage would be worse.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:13 pm
What I find perhaps most troubling about this whole story is that US Weekly and other “news” outlets are reporting that Turnpike is a “neo-folk” group. 🙂 Wtf??
April 24, 2018 @ 3:49 pm
US Weekly has no idea who the fuck Evan Felker is. Nor do the other outlets scrambling to post their stories in what will probably be the most heavily-trafficked story in country music in all of 2018. And here I was sitting on the info for two weeks, yet I’m having to answer accusations for posting “click bait.” Give me a break.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:27 pm
Hey I already saw a Turnpike Fan hoping the affair will boost their show numbers like it did for Anderson East ???? Any publicity is good publicity.
April 24, 2018 @ 4:57 pm
That’s why I asked Trigger. Both you and Rita knew and were dropping hints I feel like if it was somebody you didnt like you would’ve made a story out of it like you did with Aldean.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:25 pm
And as I explained to Rita at that time (and explained when I posted it), I didn’t write a story on Jason Aldean cheating on his wife. I wrote a story about how on the very week he cheated on his wife, Jason Aldean’s face was on People Magazine and being portrayed as the perfect daddy. It illustrated the facade of that mainstream country makes for many of its artists. If Miranda Lambert or Evan Felker were being presented as members of a perfect family in the press, I would offer my rebuttal too. Otherwise, it’s none of my fucking business unless it impacts the music.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:38 pm
Hopefully Miranda can give Evan some pointers on how to sing live ; )
April 24, 2018 @ 8:56 pm
Doesn’t how artist portray themselves to fans count?
Where is the authenticity when somebody like Miranda portrays herself to he in a happy relationship on social media that fans support and even have a pet name for? In reality she was screwing around with a married man. If music is all that matters what’s the problem with Midland? If you like the music, who cares about the image they created? Same thing is it not?
April 24, 2018 @ 9:48 pm
Actually you just proved my point. Similar to Aldean, it wasn’t about Midland’s image, it’s that they were selling an image as a hardscrabble band that made their way up in the Austin honky tonks, when that was an utter fabrication.
I wrote that Aldean article 6 years ago, and regretted it as soon as I posted it because of all the misunderstanding it bred. I’ve posted over 4,600 articles. Get over it.
April 25, 2018 @ 8:57 am
Yeah,get over it. Miranda could screw the entire Midland band, then do a EDM double album with Sam Hunt and you still wouldn’t hear a bad word about her on this site.
April 25, 2018 @ 9:02 am
So I’ve never criticized Miranda? I’d cite the review for “Somethin’ Bad” with Carrie Underwood, and probably half a dozen other instances.
April 25, 2018 @ 10:13 am
It’s not about image it’s about Image? Sorry it seems all to similar to me. Sell yourself as hardscrabble band, sell yourself as a family man. Sell yourself as a poor victim of heartbreak to your fans only to be quite the opposite in your private life. It’s all done to sell records so to me it should face the same scrutiny.
April 25, 2018 @ 5:19 pm
Cmon Trigger. If Luke Bryan was running around and breaking up marriage’s, (even “allegedly”) you would have a field day with it.
You don’t run with the Miranda story because you’re USUALLY telling us everything she touches is country gold and would feel dumb, or you’re just scared of the feminist crowd torching ya.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:42 am
“Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.”
Aren’t those that talk the most shit, really the most insecure? Maybe that’s the case here, and he’s not happy with receiving more praise from places like Vogue Magazine than a website dedicated to real country music. Maybe not on the surface, but deep down, he’s not comfortable with being a pretty boy while trying to be a rough and tumble country man. That said, I agree that they make music that is way better than most of country radio.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:06 am
That’s pretty much what Saving Country is and Trigger even brags about how much money his shit talking makes him. Does that make him very insecure?
April 24, 2018 @ 11:22 am
I got the impression that he (Trigger) is making fun of the situation and responding in a relatively balanced way, (acknowledging their music to some degree). And yes we are all insecure in some way. I’m just saying that the model actor guy is I’m guessing more than a little sensitive about his country music authenticity being questioned, considering they so highly emphasize their appearance and fashion.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:43 am
I just don’t think putting somebody down for being a model/actor and now successful singer is really something to be proud of. The guy is good at more than one thing, let’s make fun of him! It’s makes one look very jealous and petty.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:45 am
I’m jealous of his sweet stache. It’s in rarefied air with Selleck, and Jimmy McMillan.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:56 am
Wouldnt say I’m proud of it, it’s just a simple observation and possible explanation as to the original comment in the story about why he can’t let it go.
But you might be right. All along I thought I was really into less flashy and more substance based music, etc but maybe I’m just super jealous. You got me.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:09 pm
I’m not giving you shit for not liking his music. I don’t either. It’s the putting a guy down for being a former model / actor. That’s petty.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:00 pm
You know what, you made me feel somewhat bad about attacking the guy. And I’m often the person defending those being made fun of. Fair enough. However, I’m not randomly looking for a way to make fun of him. My original point was, and still is, that it’s not surprising that that this guy or band would be so sensitive to criticism. They seem to go to extreme lengths to be flashy and retro fashionable, high gloss, etc a AND “Traditional” (per their website) at the same time. Of course they are going to catch some shit for that. They probably knew that going in (and thus the sensitivity). Not to say that traditional country music doesn’t have some history of being flashy, but personally I feel that once again an artist receiving praise and spotlight because of how they look, dress, and for being handsome, while other far more amazing artists get ignored, is really sad. So no, I am not jealous or petty, I just think playing dress up and getting recognition for it from outlets like Vogue Magazine, while others go mostly unnoticed, is an injustice. Not everyone is enamored with fame and money. I’m jealous of most of the artists who received album of the year nominations from this website, not of this guy.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:31 pm
I understand where you come from completely Scott. For me it’s not a big deal because they all do it. Look at Chris and Morgane Stapleton. He went from dweeb in western shirts to trucker hats and long hair now he’s walking around in a duster and a cowboy hat that looks like it comes from a gift store. Don’t think you can even call it a cowboy hat. Morgane went from minivan driver to hippy dippy overnight. They’re selling a brand same as Midland IMO.
April 25, 2018 @ 8:12 am
I think that’s true, but maybe only partially true. First of all not “everybody”does that. We could all name some great artists that don’t seem to give a fuck about their appearance, or at least don’t seem to have stylists dressing them up to that level. Tyler C and John P instantly come to mind from fresh memory. Also I agree about Stapleton, and he’s been called out for that. But I would say the scale still tips more towards him being talented artist. That look he has, though maybe goofy to some, doesn’t compare to the level of effort that Midland puts into their image. I think in their case, the scale tips to the side of image over everything else – and other outlets are recognizing them for this. That’s when I think it gets ridiculous. But that’s just my opinion.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:59 am
Mr. TxMusic: Where on earth has Trigger bragged about how much money he makes? I’ve seen the exact opposite. Sounds like you’re a little hurt about his criticisms of Midland and maybe some other artists.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:09 pm
Trust me, I have never bragged about the money I make being a writer. Go look at any “Worst Jobs” list published in the last few years. Journalist is always last. At least garbage men and military grunts get benefits.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:26 pm
Maybe he was referring to you commenting on how much more traffic and clicks you get for rants and critical articles about shitty mainstream schlubs.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:13 pm
“I’ve got plenty of dough from my Midland click-bait articles to fix the AC myself, Mark. I know you’re too busy quaffing your butterfly collars and fringe to bother.”
That’s pretty much throwing it in his face is it not?
I couldn’t even name 2 Midland songs.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:24 pm
Going out on a limb here to say that was sarcasm.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:31 pm
Trigger’s revenue comes from controversial pieces. The 20 comment fawning posts makes him zero money. He’s admitted to it. I’m not saying he’s making enough money to move out the basement just that controversy is king.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:47 pm
TxMusic,
There is no money in online publishing these days. That’s why outlets are folding left and right. Don’t take my word for it, go to any article posted recently on publishing. Yes, the more traffic the website gets, the more money I make. But it’s not always the controversial stuff or the rants that get the most clicks. This is a total misnomer. If fact that’s rarely the case these days. The biggest posts over the last month were my article on the ACM’s not paying tribute to fallen artists, the Randy Scruggs obituary, and the Trixie Mattel album review.
Yes, the Midland articles did pretty well back when I posted them, but they weren’t viral events or anything, and they certainly weren’t “click bait.” 20-paragraph think pieces are not the way to maximize clicks.
The point is it doesn’t matter what I post. If I’m doing it for the money, the joke’s on me.
April 25, 2018 @ 10:06 pm
Dude, if your comment was any stupider it’d be a FGL lyric. You can’t talk about him going toe to toe with Maren Morris,the Queen of Autotune. And he cited where he’s been critical of her. You can go look up stuff, right? And if you think that Miranda Lambert’s fan are some sort of feminist army,might I suggest you try talking to an actual feminist or a woman for that matter, because frankly, I don’t think you have a clue about either.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:51 am
Just. Can’t. Stop. Laughing.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:13 am
I think the last sentence of the first paragraph is how all country artists feel, and will define this band long after their break up and Mark Mustache’s failed solo career attempt. He’ll be back in drawers taking pictures counting his country money.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:20 am
You were raised on a soap opera set
Ain’t never heard a triggerman rant
Never walked barefoot by a Sandals Resort
Felt the sand up between your toes
You never followed the blog roll
You never thrown it in four wheel
Climb up on here man bun
Let me show you how a real ‘stache feels
Let your manbun down, manbun down
Get you some of this laid on back
Kick your birkenstocks off, kick ’em off
Get you some of this triggerman rant
I’ll take you up and down these nouveau riche subdivisions
Let me show you how a real ‘stache feels
You ever watched the acms
From the basement of your mom’s house
Ever been so into somebody
You’re still typing there when she leaves for work
Marky Mark what do you say?
You cut a mud path trough your Calvin Kleins
Park down by the Ikea
Let me show you how a real ‘stache feels
Let your manbun down, manbun down
Get you some of this technicolored dreamcoat pearl snap shirt
Kick your birkenstocks off, kick ’em off
Get you some of this slow down fast
I’ll take you up and down these hipster Austin streets
Let me show you how a real ‘stache feels
Let your manbun down
Get you some of this laid on back
Kick your birkenstocks off (Kick your birkenstocks off)
Let your manbun down, manbun down
Get you some of this laid on back
Kick your birkenstocks off, kick ’em off
Get you some of this triggerman rant
I’ll take you up and down these Austin hipster hoods
Let me show you how gentrification feels
Triggerman feels..
April 24, 2018 @ 12:48 pm
You put a lot of work into this. I applaud you.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:30 am
Mark Wystrach is so country, he’s not even going to object to your misspelling of “coiffing.”
April 24, 2018 @ 11:39 am
Never punch down, hell, even McAnally knows that.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:01 pm
This was some phenomenal mom-jokery, Trig.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:03 pm
Never one to point out the obvious – but we don’t have basements in Texas – a little fact they might have picked up while “paying those dues on the road, sweating it out in Texas Honky Tonks…”
Disclaimer: I love their CD – my favorite album of 2017 – but they DID NOT spend years on the road playing bar gigs in Texas – and it is insulting to those bands that HAVE and DO to pretend they did. It is actually really gross.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:39 pm
I guess it sucks for him to have to still field questions about their authenticity, but they should have just been honest from the start. I don’t need Trigger to tell me, all I have to do is listen to the songwriting and production and I know they are not a hardscrabble Texas Honky Tonk band.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:44 pm
Exactly. As long as they are minimal talent pretty boys who where West coast hipsters 5 years ago, but who now wear Nudie suits and act like hardened honky tonkers….they deserve to have their authenticity raked across the coals. So basically, as long as they are still a country boy band making albums. Which hopefully isn’t much longer.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:48 pm
i wish my stache smelled like funyons right now… where’s my lunch??
April 24, 2018 @ 12:54 pm
That last note is just the right amount of petty.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:12 pm
Totally off topic, but does anyone know where one could get the audio from Waylon’s Lost Outlaw Concert? Perfect driving music.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:25 pm
I can’t decide which is more sinister: the industry corrupting country music and attempting to change it into simply another subgenre of mainstream pop, or said industry propping up industry plants such as Midland as “traditional country artists” in an attempt to distract us traditionalists during the takeover.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:32 pm
I recently saw that Midland played at Gruene Hall and were giving away a chance to be a part of their new video filmed at Gruene Hall. I guess they can add this to their creditably and I’m sure they will say they were the first to do this or some crap like that. My only thought, what happens when nobody submits to win these crappy tickets, will the scrap the whole video Idea? I was wrong, just google it. Good music or not, no need to look and act like a douche. At least FGL and the likes practice what the preach.
I guess they missed their opportunity to show Trig how country they are.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:44 pm
One of the YouTube comments. I was trying to put in words to describe their Pre-Video interviews, this guy nailed it.
Dr. Hackenbush
“Why do they remind of a Country version of Spinal Tap on their interviews?”
April 24, 2018 @ 2:56 pm
Yes! I believe Midland is not a real band. It’s not some cultural appropriation bizarro Nashville scam to leach onto traditional country fans either — it’s all been done to shoot a documentary style film.
It will be released in 2019, and announced later this year. It will win both a grammy and be nominated for an oscar for a documentary.
“Well, this piece is called ‘Lick My Love Pump.'” — Mark Wystrach
April 24, 2018 @ 4:30 pm
I appreciate this post as it just serves to remind me what a brilliant writer you are, Trig! Hope you’re well. Cheers, Carla
April 24, 2018 @ 5:07 pm
I love Midland, Trigger, and this site. You boys play nice now………
Wystrach: “He started it”….
Me: Well you should be mature enough to end it. Fuckin grow up! Stop worrying about SCM, call Shane and get started on that sophomore effort so you can prove them all wrong!
Trigger: “I tried to rise above it, I thought I was out, they pulled me back in”
Me: You had done a great job letting it go, heck you didn’t even review the new single….(which I like but wouldn’t of picked for a single by the way, might of went with Check Cashin’ Country) don’t lower yourself and your journalistic integrity because of what any one chode in/or any band says. You and this site are the #1 Country site on the internet and they on the row all know it. Act like it! Ignore them.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:26 pm
Central-air or window unit?
April 24, 2018 @ 5:39 pm
Brilliant!
April 24, 2018 @ 6:15 pm
Well I think it’s entertaining to watch wanna be’s struggle with their masculinity being exposed for what it is- phony.
Go get em Trigger. Though I don’t agree with a lot of your music choices you are the best at putting your opinion to words and the nay sayers are just jealous.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:00 pm
Midland is one the best country bands out right now.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
I’ve already expressed myself in the past about Midland vs. SCM/Trigger/Kyle. The gist is that Midland was misleading and deserved some modest correction; SCM over-corrected, to say the least; and here we are again, to no one’s surprise. It’s so tiresome and nobody wins, for those of us who love country music.
Why on earth, Trigger, do you always mention that Mark was a former underwear model?
April 24, 2018 @ 8:29 pm
Dude, this was me trying to make light of what is a really really stupid situation. Nothing should be taken too seriously here.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:52 pm
Well, I did laugh out loud at the Three Amigos comment. I appreciate your lighthearted approach, but, seriously, you have never failed to mention that Mark was a former underwear model.
It’s not hard to put yourself in their shoes. Yeah, they made some stupid braggadocios comments about their road-weary life. We’ve all heard worse. So you trash them, and you don’t expect them to get a wee bit defensive? And now they have to deal with everyone asking them about their “authenticity,” which is obviously a direct result of your pseudo-review of their LP, which was merely an opportunity to call them bullshitters. You spent a scant few sentences actually talking about the music in that review, and yet you now say, “hey, why can’t we just focus on the music.”
April 24, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
Midland is better that most of what is out there on radio, but the whole thing is an act and a fraud. These guys didn’t pay any due! They used connections to get a record deal and to dress up in costumes and to sing and act like a script for a movie. Fuck these guys!
April 24, 2018 @ 9:26 pm
You’re right Midland is better but it’s not an “act” or a “fraud”. Good tunes are good tunes, I don’t give a fuck if Simpson, Jinks, Sweeney, or McAnally/Wystrach write em. If the songs sucked that would be a different story but they don’t. You said it yourself, it’s better than 99% of what’s on the radio. Not that anyone here including me listens to the radio (and when I do I never hear Midland anyway) but don’t lump their music in with Hunt etc…. “Connections” are part of the business. Whatever the fuck it takes to be heard/differentiate, and get exposure is a “go”. This is a business!
April 25, 2018 @ 12:12 am
“I live at Mark Wystrach’s mom’s house.”
Savage.
April 25, 2018 @ 6:44 am
My problem with this article is that Midland doesn’t actually have better music than most because they don’t make their own music. They are a product of the Nashville machine. They don’t write the songs, they don’t play on the album, they don’t sing the backup vocals on the album, they didn’t produce the album. The only part of Midland on their album is the lead singers voice that has been tuned and edited for days and their posing pic on the cover. Giving them credit for having better music is close to saying something like “Milli Vanilli was one of the best bands of the 80’s!”
April 25, 2018 @ 9:04 am
*better music than most in the mainstream.
Even if everything you say is true, that statement still holds, unfortunately.
April 25, 2018 @ 9:34 am
You know it’s true and that kind of makes it not really they’re music. They are propped up by the machine.
April 25, 2018 @ 11:05 am
You are spot on Jessie. Although I do enjoy the music on the record. All you gotta do is take one look at the inside credits/liner notes of the CD to realize this is not a band. It is a product.
May 31, 2018 @ 7:18 am
You must be looking at different liner notes than me
April 25, 2018 @ 2:17 pm
It’s like watching Pure Country in real life when George disappears and Buddy takes over. And I’m not defending Pure Country, pretty terrible movie but I do watch it every time it comes on.
April 25, 2018 @ 11:20 am
I love how when I started reading this blog 5 or 6 years ago it seemed like some little niche website that the few people in the U.S. that still value real country stumble upon. Now you’re getting into smack talk with big time artists and being mentioned at the ACM’s. Haha it’s great and congrats Trig.
April 25, 2018 @ 11:31 am
This is a great response lol
April 25, 2018 @ 11:58 am
This is cyber bullying.
April 25, 2018 @ 12:20 pm
As Mark’s fake publicist we are consodering going full on #metoo on trig.
April 25, 2018 @ 7:42 pm
Ultimately, Midland just tries way too hard at something that should be natural if it’s been years in the honky tonks. The music is fine. It’s a fine record. But they’re like the athletes who showed up to the stoner parties in high school. They can’t handle good weed and they show it.
April 25, 2018 @ 9:06 pm
Love the smack talk with this guy, they’ve been exposed and deserves the backlash. There music is good but they didn’t have to make up the story about sweating it out in Roadhouses in Texas.
True story, I was on a flight to Puerto Rico and sat next to the head guy from Vallory Records and his wife, its under the Big Machine Label, this was several years ago. He asked me if I listened to Country Music and I told him not the shit they play on the radio! He asked me how I found new music and told him about your site. I pulled it up for him and the first thing that came up was an album review of Thomas Rhett and you destroyed the guy, it was hilarious. He told me he was on Big Machine, (Rhett), then I told him well this for you then! He then proceeded to play me a video on his phone of Midland and asked my opinion. I told him the music was good but they were fake, you can see right through their act. I had never heard of them up to that point. His wife asked if I knew who Mark Collie was and I said hell yeah, I loved his music. She was his promotions director when he was on his major label. Before we got off the airplane he took my name and address because his wife wanted to send me something from Mark Collie but never talked to them again. They were both very nice and he took it like a champ. Sorry about being longwinded, figured you would appreciate the story. Todd Villars
April 25, 2018 @ 9:53 pm
Thanks for the story Todd.
April 26, 2018 @ 12:38 pm
Trig – are we getting an Ashley Monroe album review? I love it and would like to hear your thoughts!
April 26, 2018 @ 12:40 pm
There were five must-review albums released last week. Ashley Monroe has not been overlooked.
April 26, 2018 @ 7:44 pm
“Warning up a Hot Pocket?” Trigger, I love your writing, but it would be much more effective if you checked it before you posted.
April 26, 2018 @ 8:13 pm
I think it’s very plausible that this writing was “checked” and it was a simple oversight. Hiring and editor would mean the immediate bankruptcy of this website and it’s shuttering.
April 26, 2018 @ 8:17 pm
You don’t need to hire an editor. Just ask someone else to read it over. A fresh set of eyes can catch things yours won’t.
April 26, 2018 @ 8:30 pm
Sure Anne, when do you want to start? You need to be on call 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, no vacations, no holidays, the pay is nothing, and the turnaround time for articles must be immediate.
I appreciate the suggestion, and I’ve tried out about a dozen or so volunteers for that position over the last 6 or 7 years. It has literally worked zero times. I haven’t even had one article edited in enough time to meet a deadline.
I have thousands of eyes on my writing. I always appreciate when folks reach out with a private email and let me know of an editing mistake. I’m only human. But I just want everyone to understand it has nothing to do with being lazy. In fact, the exact opposite is the problem. I’m not stupid either. It’s just the nature of this business, and this website. An editor would mean the destruction of Saving Country Music, barring an incredibly economic windfall where one could be paid a professional wage.
April 26, 2018 @ 8:37 pm
Trigger,
I didn’t intend to imply that you were either lazy or stupid, and I apologise for that. It’s late enough, and I’m tired enough that I’m having some trouble expressing myself well.
I understand your point about the difficulties of an editor. I simply get annoyed by such mistakes and I didn’t phrase myself as tactfully as I usually do.
I will stop now and save us both some aggravation.
April 26, 2018 @ 9:03 pm
Anne! “apologies”? Oh, God!
April 26, 2018 @ 9:10 pm
I don’t know what you’re reading. I typed “apologise.”
April 26, 2018 @ 9:11 pm
Which I now realize is the British spelling, but it’s still a perfectly legitimate word.
April 27, 2018 @ 4:08 am
Isn’t it apologize? Isn’t apologise the plural form?
April 27, 2018 @ 4:19 am
As I said above, “apologise” is the British spelling of “apologize.”
April 28, 2018 @ 2:05 pm
Mark Wystrach may be a dick, but in the end, it’s “ultimately about the music”, as Trigger had said before. With the exception of Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves, William Michael Morgan, of course George Strait and Alan Jackson, and Jon Pardi (I’m a huge sucker for fiddle, feel free to argue me or disagree with me on this following statement), Midland currently has the best music in the mainstream, if you count out those aforementioned artists.
March 29, 2019 @ 9:16 am
Get Mark’s dick out of your mouth. It’s not a good look for you.