Radio Host Anthony Cumia Goes on Epic Rant Against Modern Country

WARNING: Language
Of course around these parts, this is just regular Monday morning conversation. But if you think that dedicated country music fans are repulsed by much of the stuff that transpires in the mainstream of country, think about how you might feel if you’re pretty repulsed by country music already.
Anthony Cumia is best known as the co-host of the legendary Opie and Anthony radio show that aired for nearly 20 years until coming to an end in 2014. Cumia now hosts a daily show on the subscription-based video platform Compound Media that he founded after Opie and Anthony ceased. He commonly releases clips from the show to YouTube.
Recently Cumia was at Sullivan’s in New York trying to prepare for his next show, heard Luke Bryan’s 2019 song “Knockin’ Boots” playing in the background, and flipped out. A clip of the rant made it onto YouTube and has been making the rounds, and it’s pretty darn entertaining and spot-on.
“The country music that is out now is go generic. It’s so made in a factory … It’s the same formula, the big fucking chorus-y part, and then back to his bullshit, shitty, contrived, immature lyrics. I hate cunt-try music,” Cumia rants.
Then he goes off on Luke Bryan’s “Knockin’ Boots” specifically.
“It was just the epitome of every shit country song. The writing, the words, what they pick as the subject of their songs. Do you know how long ‘knockin’ boots’ has been a term? We get it. You’re fucking. It shows how fucking devoid of talent and creativity these country fucks are. They’re ALL the same. Knockin’ boots? How about knockin’ a boot up your asshole?”
Anthony Cumia continues,
“It’s so bad. It’s so poorly written, and the execution of it musically is the same format as every fucking country song out there right now. That’s every song. You could sing every country song to that music, down to the number of fucking bars and beats, and when the chorus comes in. It’s the same fucking shitty song. Oh country, fuck off.”
You can see the full rant below.
Cumia does clarify early on that there is a difference between the modern stuff and older country music. But what he appears to not be aware of along with many of the folks outside of the country sphere is that there is an entirely other world of country music out there that acts like an alternative to the mainstream, and that isn’t all the same formulaic crap like Luke Bryan and “Knockin’ Boots.”
Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, the Turnpike Troubadours, Billy Strings, and recent Grammy winner Molly Tuttle are turning the tables on the mainstream at the moment, not to mention the world of up-and-comers like Charley Crockett, Mike and the Moonpies, Sierra Ferrell, and so many more that are moving up. There are so many good artists right now, it’s hard to know where to stop listing them off.
Those of us that have been awakened to the country alternative take it for granted that everyone is aware there is a different country world out there beyond radio. But so many folks—including mainstream country fans—have no clue.
But not only is this independent side of country music becoming the mainstream due to the success of artists like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers, the mainstream is having to answer the challenge these independent artists are presenting and improving the quality of mainstream country as well. This is where Lainey Wilson, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Jon Pardi, and others are stepping up, and changing things from within.
There is still so much work to be done before rants like the one from Anthony Cumia are considered obsolete. But it is not 2015 anymore, and songs like “Knockin’ Boots” are starting to become more of the exception than the rule. Go listen to the new album from Chase Rice if you need an example.
Sure, on a website like Saving Country Music, Anthony Cumia’s rant almost comes across as cliché and redundant. But as country fans, we should all want to live in a world where we’re proud of the music we listen to, and not have to explain to people when we say we like country music that we don’t mean that kind of country music.
The whole world has woken up to how bad songs like Luke Bryan’s “Knockin’ Boots” are. It’s about damn time that the country music industry does too.
February 13, 2023 @ 10:54 am
Dang I’m excited to see this one. Anthony Cumia is one of the most consistently funny guys online. (probably why he was cancelled from major tech)
February 15, 2023 @ 7:59 am
He wasn’t cancelled, he was fired because he was taking photographs of women on the streets of NY at 3am and then racially abused them on Twitter.
March 21, 2023 @ 6:29 am
You left out the part where he was assaulted for taking pictures of NYC not just “women” (oh and she was a hooker) who didn’t like that she was in the frame. He called her an animal and there were racial connotations sure. But you can’t reframe it however you like to fit an agenda. The photos he took were classy noir shots of times square in the early am. It’s a public street in NYC you have no expectation of privacy.
December 3, 2023 @ 8:25 pm
WRONG
February 13, 2023 @ 12:18 pm
Any chance you’re going to review Chase Rice’s album? I know it might be beneath you, but I’ve seen a lot of indie country people talking about it. I haven’t heard it, but if a generic pop-country dude put out a half decent record it might be a stronger indication than anything that the mainstream is changing.
February 13, 2023 @ 12:39 pm
I was genuinely surprised by it. Is it incredible? No, but it’s clearly country and I enjoyed quite a few songs on it. Bench Seat is a surprising twist and certainly not that formulaic.
February 13, 2023 @ 3:11 pm
Yeah Bench Seat and the song with Read Southall Band really caught me off guard
February 13, 2023 @ 5:09 pm
Ditto on the expanded “Flower Shops” album from EARNEST that was released on Friday. We’ll see if any of those are sent to the radio, but it was full of quality country from an unexpected name.
February 13, 2023 @ 5:45 pm
I’ve got reviews coming up.
February 13, 2023 @ 12:20 pm
This guy has no idea what he’s talking about, but he’s 100% right 😀
February 13, 2023 @ 2:56 pm
From around 57-63, rock had some of the most formulaic crap ever heard… Fabian, Rydell, Anka, and on and on …. then in ‘63 the world changed. I’m waiting for that in country….
February 13, 2023 @ 12:20 pm
As Todd Snyder says in some of his hilarious live shows, “before they invented the term Americana, we just used to call it unsuccessful country music.” From that point I’ve stuck with the Americana term so as to create some distance in the minds of the uninitiated between what I like and the shitpile that Nashville poops out on a daily basis. The hilarious Nashville based “MusicShitty” Instagram account is named perfectly.
I’m convinced that Nashville writer Luke Dick does his “Hey Steve” side hustle band to prove that everything he does professionally isn’t pure garbage.
February 13, 2023 @ 7:07 pm
I’m 100% with you, Todd Snider was probably the first artist I ever saw (’99 in Santa Cruz) who showed me that there was new music too, not just The Byrd’s and The Highwaymen. The only gripe I have is that Luke Dick made an absolutely insane documentary about his life growing up at the Red Dog strip club in Oklahoma. Called “Red Dog” and streaming on Amazon it’s absolutely nuts and completely entertaining. Anyway, I’m sure his pop songs are awful but he genuinely seemed pretty cool. Of course it was his documentary so who knows,either way worth the watch!
February 14, 2023 @ 7:40 am
Red Dog was amazing, and didn’t Luke Dick write all of the music in the movie? I started listening to his side-hustle band “Hey Steve,” did some Google searches and realized he also was the person behind Red Dog.
I’m really digging on his side-hustle band “Hey Steve.” He is a truly talented person that happens to be hammering checks writing garbage pop-country songs. Everything that he does outside of pop country, I love.
But here I am writing code for the highest bidder $$$ so some private equity fund more money online, so who am I to judge someone selling their soul for cash. We’re all whores at the end of the day.
February 18, 2023 @ 11:10 am
I’m working doing finish carpentry on a $20,000,000 house and going home to play my telecaster and write shit kickers and torch songs. It’s a strange dichotomy.
February 13, 2023 @ 1:23 pm
So black people are in a bar listening to country music, guess this racist dumb ass never heard of Charlie pride, or chapel heart or Darius Rucker or Ressee Palmer, or Ray Charles? I wonder if this guy is related to honkey cracker shit face, I know his communist loving ass will show up here and his anus mouth will start spewing his communist bull shit.. this guy hates today’s country, fine so do I, but guess what Mr. Jim Crowe, black people listen to country music, yes, I know it is still hard to believe that all these right wing extreme backward ass hillbillies, that still think country is for only white people, but this is the 21st century, all kinds of races, gender orientations, and so many others love real country music. It’s called DIVERSITY, that’s the crazy thing about America, we’re a melting pot, sorry it is not a whites only club, and for those of you wondering why I don’t go back and forth with alot of these FACIST CONSERVATIVES, like honkey cracker ass shit face, who has anal sex with his communist dictionary, I don’t argue with stupid people, when every I fight a battle with stupidity, Intelligence always loses, so yeah, I always lose, come on honkey, open that anus mouth and call me a communist at least I am not a nazi loving fascist right wing ammosexual brain dead trump anus sucking fascist like you are, if I am a communist then you are a fascist pig, enjoy honkey do your communist worst. He thinks his body is chemical free because he didn’t get a covid vaccine, guess what cracker shit face, your mommy and daddy took you to get your polio, measles and chicken pox vaccines when you were a baby, YOU HAVE CHEMICALS IN YOUR BODY, GUESS THAT MAKES MA AND PA COMMUNISTS for doing that right? Have a wonderful day buddy, hugs and kisses.
February 13, 2023 @ 2:52 pm
This can’t be a real comment. Nice troll buddy, gave me a laugh.
February 13, 2023 @ 2:57 pm
From around 57-63, rock had some of the most formulaic crap ever heard… Fabian, Rydell, Anka, and on and on …. then in ‘63 the world changed. I’m waiting for that in country….
February 13, 2023 @ 4:38 pm
Grace and mercy countryfan, grace and mercy. Don’t mistake what I am saying as me condoning what this potty mouth guy said, but that anger is not healthy.
February 13, 2023 @ 5:27 pm
Trigger,
Why didn’t you block countryfan58? You have done so in the past with less offensive post submissions. Did you allow it based upon who he was commenting against? Your site to do as you will, but I am a bit confused.
February 13, 2023 @ 5:47 pm
Because it’s so ludicrous it’s not worth worrying about.
February 13, 2023 @ 5:51 pm
Countryfan68,
Why poke the bear?
Also, I don’t think Anthony was being “racist.” I think he was pointing out how implausible it was that Black people would listen to crap like Luke Bryan’s “Knockin’ Boots,” and perhaps pointing out how you have to signal “diversity” even in casting for crappy pop country videos. I agree Black people can enjoy and perform country music, and love to highlight those artists here. But this is so ludicrous, if I was a Black guy, I’d be embarrassed to be a part of it.
I could also see a scenario where Anthony was implying that Black people wouldn’t be there because country is perceived as racist.
July 26, 2023 @ 12:30 am
Bro just check Anthony Cumia’s Twitter, he’s not only racist, he actually despises black people and is proud about being considered a white supremacist, he has even said that black people doesn’t deserve to be considered human
Or check this out to give you an idea
https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/14l5vl5/blatant_racism_from_anthony_cumia/
December 3, 2023 @ 8:27 pm
WRONG
February 13, 2023 @ 8:07 pm
You don’t go back and forth with posters like Honky because he and others have utterly embarrassed your mentally backwards outlook.
It is people like you that makes a monarchy sound good.
February 14, 2023 @ 9:03 am
While Countryfan68’s comment is unbearably ridiculous, Honky hasn’t embarrassed anybody on this site. His comments are just as embarrassingly laughable and radical.
February 14, 2023 @ 10:48 am
Exactly what I was thinking. About a week ago Honky was basically accusing Trig of being pro-pedophilia because Trig likes to promote diversity. Honky’s posts are full of communist delusions and stupidity, but they’re easy enough to ignore. CountryKnight is usually just as ridiculous. But nobody should get as riled up as Countryfan over that nonsense.
February 14, 2023 @ 6:50 pm
Honestly Travis, I actually prefer being “attacked” by imbeciles like Countryfan68, over mid-wits like you and Jbird.
With imbeciles, we can all just have a good laugh, but with you mid-wits, it’s a slightly more challenging situation. Your unwarranted confidence, combined with the simple fact that your grammar and sentence structure are mostly on point, can create the illusion to other mid-wits, that your invincible ignorance is even remotely coherent, as you knock down strawman after strawman.
And just FYI: If you want folks to think that you ignore my comments, it would really help your cause if you didn’t leave comments about my comments.
February 13, 2023 @ 9:47 pm
“covid vaccine,”
Laughing.
February 14, 2023 @ 8:48 am
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so worthy of the phrase “triggered” in my entire life.
February 14, 2023 @ 6:58 pm
Don’t worry, Countryfan68, I don’t think you’re a communist; just a boomer imbecile
Communists have to, at a very minimum, be of average intelligence to pull off the things they do.
And if you don’t mind, I prefer ‘Christofascist’ over ‘fascist’. I just think it’s more precise. Thanks.
February 14, 2023 @ 8:49 pm
: D glad to see you jumped up & dusted your britches off, and – All is Well …
Was going to jump in and defend you but thought about it, and was all like – Nah, he be alright.
He tough …
Happy Valentine’s day everyone!
Love – man.
It’s what makes the world go ’round.
(that, and centrifugal force(s), the pull of the moon, etc.)
don’t want to get too scientific here. Wigs Trig out
August 10, 2023 @ 1:51 pm
LMAOOOOOOOOOO
You’re so triggered. You call Ant all these names not because you’re mad about his take about how horrible country music is, you’re butthurt because you believe the lies about the man. Ant is friends with black people. Ant has a problem with “homeboys” who deal drugs, do nothing, create only crime, and rape and kill white people. If you hate him for hating on gangbangers, then maybe you’re a gangbanger.
lmao I love seeing people flip their wig over the dumbest stuff. thanks for making me laugh Hootie.
February 13, 2023 @ 1:37 pm
Luke Bryan songs and his voice make me want to stab my ears with a screw driver. How was he ever considered a defining hit maker in this genre of music?
February 13, 2023 @ 1:46 pm
“Y’all dumb motherfuckers want a key change?”
Bo Burnham summed this up years ago. I’m not surprised a shock jock is a little late to the party. Lol
February 13, 2023 @ 6:25 pm
“I walk and talk like a field hand, but the boots I’m wearin’ cost three grand…”
Good stuff, Maynard.
February 13, 2023 @ 2:06 pm
I agree with Mr. Cumia. The country music I like is 90s back til 1920’s. Today’s country is all about the demographic 18 to 25 years old. It’s more pop or rock country not true country. That’s why I don’t listen country music radio anymore. If I do I’ll listen to 650 WSM out of Nashville cause they just don’t play the boring top 40 over and over again. You have to have a mixture of old and new and then you have the whole demographic. I truly don’t know this next generation of country music singers….and I don’t want to. The genre is HORRIBLE now!!!!!
February 13, 2023 @ 3:20 pm
Girls like it. And guys want to be around girls dancing and getting loose. Most guys fucking hate it except for the few that “don’t real care about music”. Its an unsolvable problem. Until the girls quit liking it, it’s staying.
February 13, 2023 @ 10:15 pm
Realest comment here. Chicks can dance to shitty pop country pop with the same dances they do for pop and hip hop. They don’t have to learn how to line dance like its 1976. Florida Georgia Line introduced rap beats and that Pandora’s Box will never close, at least as far as mainstream radio country is concerned.
February 14, 2023 @ 7:54 pm
Spot on. Guys that don’t give a damn about anything meaningful (relationships, art, love, contemplation, etc.) and only want to get laid, will be around forever. Therefore anything that attracts easy partners, like bad music that you can dance to, will live on.
February 13, 2023 @ 3:22 pm
“I hate country music.” Then spends six minutes complaining about country music. These washed-up radio guys think people love them ’cause now they can drop the F word.
February 13, 2023 @ 4:12 pm
Hilarious but i disagree.
Contemporary Mainstrem pop and hip-hop music is horrible and extremely formulaic if confronted with what was popular 30 yrs ago( or even 50 yrs in pop-rock).
Country is far from the only fabric made genre on the radio, and if in 2023 you still don’t know there are healtier alternatives to radio well probably you don’t care that much about your music Mr. Cumia.
P.S.: yes, white guys who like country music speak with black people.
February 13, 2023 @ 5:31 pm
Modern Country does have a big problem, but I don’t think Anthony Cumia laid it out in this little rant of his–perhaps because he isn’t conscious enough of the music’s past. That big problem is that Modern Country doesn’t seem to have any connection any longer to the genre’s actual roots in a rural lifestyle: farms, ranches, small towns where everyone knows everyone else, and mom-and-pop stores (meaning no Wal-Marts, by the way). It is why Linda Ronstadt, who knows whereof she speaks (having grown up on a steady dose of C&W in her youth in Arizona), has derided what Nashville so often has churned out over the last two decades in a more genteel but still very blunt fashion as “Mall Crawler Music”.
This isn’t to say that there are plenty of younger artists these days who get the idea of country music’s traditions, and who can keep those traditions and make them relevant to today–that’s how country music at its best has evolved. But not only do we need more like them, the country music audience has to support them when they come around and force the powers-that-be to put them in the forefront. Absent all that, all that will be available out there is more of the same junk of driving drunk down dirt roads and shameless pandering to stereotypical redneck tropes..
February 13, 2023 @ 6:25 pm
This is an extraordinarily dumb takedown of a dumb song. Pot, meet kettle. I don’t think country music needs friends like this…
February 13, 2023 @ 7:11 pm
“Nobody wants to be country. Everybody wants to go pop. They traded in their saddle and they all try to straddle the road that will take them to the top.
They put their skill in hock, and add a little rock, and wind up something their not. Nobody wants to be country, they want to go pop.”
From the song “Nobody wants to be country” by the Statler Brothers
February 13, 2023 @ 7:31 pm
I switched it off when he didn’t get the Fishing in the dark/Nitty Gritty reference.
Dumb song but there are a lot worse.
At least its a dumb song admitting its a dumb song. The guy is a pretentious dumb person.
Wow, never thought I’d kind of defend Luke Bryan.
February 13, 2023 @ 8:15 pm
What makes this rant interesting is the fact that it’s coming from someone who is decidedly NOT a country music fan. We’re all country music nerds here hanging out on a site called Saving Country Music dot com. This guy is not, but even from the periphery, he was able to diagnose what we all say on here commonly. I wouldn’t expect him to get the “Fishing in the Dark” reference. He’s not a country fan. I guarantee you that 90% of country radio listeners have never heard “Fishing in the Dark” either.
February 13, 2023 @ 9:00 pm
Even civilians know that there are a large amount of country fans and a large amount of division between them.
Sounds like he read one of your old articles and used all the buzzwords from it “formulaic” etc.
Not sure, but over in Australia, in the middle of the tractor rap craze, Fishing was a surprise inclusion in a lot of playlists.
No big deal. Maybe I just don’t like that kind of humour. The uninformed kind. It would be like me making fun of a rap song. I wouldn’t expect a rap fan to be impressed.
So I suppose some people like this bloke. Some like Luke Bryan.
Meanwhile I just listen to something better. Life is good.
N.b. recently started listening to early Jimmy Buffet, he had some really good album tracks.
February 13, 2023 @ 9:44 pm
Big fan of Gypsies in the Palace, here …
February 14, 2023 @ 7:50 pm
70’s Buffett is as awesome as awesome can get. Much of the 80s as well
February 13, 2023 @ 8:04 pm
He picked a weird song to go off on. “Knockin’ Boots” isn’t great but it is far from the worse in the mainstream or Luke Bryan specifically.
And his complaint about how knocking boots is a common term and uncreative is bizarre. Every songwriter, even the great ones, have used common phrases.
I love the song “Atlantic City” by the Band. The chorus is built around the cliches “everything dies” and “that is a fact.” And the song uses phrases like “skin of his teeth” and “there is winners and there is losers.”
Yeah, knocking boots means sex. And Bryan is hiding that fact with a phrase. It is what Conway Twitty did.
Dude ranted over an inane song.
February 13, 2023 @ 8:11 pm
I don’t know. “Knockin’ Boots” is pretty bad. And you’re taking for granted that he has a wide array of country songs to choose one and picked this. He’s a civilian. If I was at a bar and heard “Knockin’ Boots,” I would be repulsed for sure.
February 13, 2023 @ 11:28 pm
He is a radio celebrity not a civilian.
He should do some research if he is going to rant.
February 14, 2023 @ 6:34 am
The song is awful. Kermit the Kountry Singer has a lot of awful songs and his voice is the worst.
February 14, 2023 @ 9:08 am
I was kind of waiting to see how this thread would roll but since you tee’d it up for me Trig I’ll tell this 100% true story and keep it short if I can. I WAS actually in a bar after this song came out and don’t you know a local cover band launches into it and yes THIS IS the kind of song that gives many a visceral reaction of “oh no they’re not gonna?” but they did. It’s also not the one a bar band can weave in mid set anyway. It sounded horrible and got no reaction but crickets…… The band comes off for a break and myself 3 drinks in at this point says to the guy “really dude….Knockin’ fuckin Boots??!!” “That song sucks and you guys can’t even play it” and he sheepishly looks at me knowing how bad it was and says “yeah I know but the band wanted to learn a current hit”. I said “try something else….anything else” and I walked away shaking my head.
February 14, 2023 @ 7:59 am
“I love the song “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen”
I fixed that for you
February 13, 2023 @ 8:52 pm
Most radio/Nashville songs don’t deserve to be called country. There are less and less ‘writers rooms’ in Nashville every year, but the ones that still exist work that ‘formula’ to come up with the next ‘radio hit’ that isn’t an actual hit at all, just a jockeying back and forth between labels of who gets played each week.
It’s a joke to call most of these people artists anymore. There is nothing artistic or creative about them or the songs they release. More often than not, the only thing that is authentically country in many of these songs is the accent of the person singing them.
And these song pluggers pushing music they think will be hits… I’ve heard their preferences/what they’re ‘currently excited about’ and just because they went to Belmont and/or are a relative of someone high up in the industry doesn’t mean they can recognize a good country song when they hear it. I’d be willing to bet none of them are actual music lovers who know the history or could name artists from more than two decades ago. For example – They’ll only know Keith Whitley because it’s the title of a song on the most recent Morgan Wallen album.
Morgan gets to shit on old hits that hold a special place in the hearts of country fans by doing that Nashville ‘formula’ where he plucks some lines from them (or two…or four) and plugs them in his new POS song. And the twist of that knife is that he’ll be praised by the masses for the ‘nod to the past’ and for ‘introducing a younger audience to old country hits’. And if you’re his fan don’t come at me – because they way you appreciate and regard his music is the way I appreciate and regard the old hits (like those of Keith Whitley).
Play a song like ‘Homecoming ’63’ next to a current ‘radio hit’ that is also a love song. Hell, play it after ‘Knockin’ Boots’ and tell me not to be infuriated and insulted at the difference. The difference between the lyrics (and melody for that matter) is GLARING. I recognized good country music like this when I was in third grade. I was listening to this stuff in grade school. There is no excuse for today’s younger audience – educate yourself on what actual country music sounds like. Not Hallmark Country.
For so many years country radio has been Hallmark Country (like a Hallmark movie, but songs). You know…the same plot recycled time and again with the same buzzwords, often referencing or just plain stealing past (actual) country hits, all to a generated (snap track) beat from a ‘track guy’.
And these publishing companies that are ‘developing artists’. It’s so depressing to see who they choose to sink money into. ‘Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes’ indeed. I’d love to hear what Alan Jackson and George Strait think of the ‘Next From Nashville’ and ‘Hot Country’ playlists.
Sorry for the rant. I am happy to see some actual country artists making their way on radio, but there’s still so much work to be done. I’m thankful I grew up during a time when meaningful, catchy country songs were played on the radio from all kinds of artists (old, young, male, female, duos, groups with incredible harmonies, etc…).
February 14, 2023 @ 8:44 am
It’s Southern Pop. (Guthrie Trapp ‘guitar’ claimed to coin that term)
February 14, 2023 @ 8:52 am
Agree completely with your sentiment. I’ve always thought that if a song sounds stupid and out of place when played next to a Merle Haggard song, then it isn’t real country.
February 14, 2023 @ 7:40 am
Yeah, I get it, he doesn’t like mainstream country. He’s a media guy, right? You telling me he’s not savvy enough to know how to access and stream alternate sources? Doesn’t know people in the industry he can ask for advise on where to find alternate music, bands, venues? I’ve been seeking out Blues, Country, Cajun, Tejano, Rockabilly, and “Americana” music since my teens, and I’ll be 70 in three month. In a wired world, this stuff just ain’t that hard to find. I don’t have time to listen to all the good stuff out there, let alone worry about the crap that the casual listeners consume. I think the guy just wants to rant. It’s what he does.
February 14, 2023 @ 9:25 am
Anthony Cumia is basically a comedian whose forum is radio. To find it shocking that he doesn’t know that there are alternatives to mainstream country out there is to grossly misunderstand the entire point of this article. Zach Bryan is the 2nd most popular artist in all of country music at the moment, and if you asked 99% of Americans who he is, they would have no clue.Their teen kids might. Most of them probably know who Luke Bryan is though.This is both the challenge, and the opportunity of the independent country movement. Running a website like this, I so often see this misconception that people think Tyler Childers is sitting there right under everyone’s noses, they just need to make that choice. Music Row and mainstream culture is actively shielding mainstream consumers from these options. That was the whole reason I started Saving Country Music. I started it because when I talked to people about modern country, I often got the same reaction Anthony Cumia gave in this rant.
One of the major drivers in the popularity of guys like Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, and Colter Wall was Joe Rogan shouting them out on a show very similar to Anthony Cumia’s, though granted, with a bigger audience. Cumia’s got the first part right. Modern country music is terrible. Now he just needs to complete the circle, just like so many other consumers. We need to help people through this process, not judge them because they don’t know. It’s not their fault. The system is designed to hide the best country contributors.
February 14, 2023 @ 9:56 am
I take your points, but I also contend that people have to want to seek something different out. The vast majority of people are casual listeners and see music as background noise to their life. They are perfectly happy with Zippity-Do-Dah. At my age maybe I’ve grown cynical trying to turn people on to the likes of Dave Alvin, Tish Hinojosa, Doug Sahm, Jimmy Reed and David Olney.
February 14, 2023 @ 8:43 am
Bill Burr’s rant on The Grand Tour by George Jones and Take This Job and Shove It, are hilarious
February 14, 2023 @ 8:52 am
One of the important points here that I took away is that it’s crap like this song that make us SCM nerds (Triggers words but accurate) have to stop and think before we answer when someone asks what kind of music do you like? I find myself either muttering country under my breath or qualifying it – good country, real country, Texas country, not-radio country. Because 99 percent of the time the person who asked is going to assume Luke Bryan and his ilk are what you mean. Maybe Americana is the easy answer but it’s not quite accurate either. Or we need our own word like not-shitty country.
February 14, 2023 @ 6:05 pm
Um, be aware that Anthony Cumia is a virulent racist AND a pedophile. His Twitter feed is nothing but racist memes, and he regularly expresses his desires re: underage girls. This is not speculation, or false accusations.
February 15, 2023 @ 6:29 am
Google search ‘Anthony Cumia self cutting girl’ and you’ll see all the texts and sexualized messages he sent to what he believed was a 13YO CHILD. Anthony Cumia is a CHILD PREDATOR.
February 15, 2023 @ 3:19 pm
That was good for a laugh, I share Cumia’s disgust with Luke Bryan. And yet I don’t care even a little if my music is acceptable to somebody like Cumia. He can go his merry way ranting about what he thinks country music is. Meanwhile, this is a golden age for country music. Streaming liberates me from radio to listen to what I want. Here in Texas, regional radio and the live scene give me plenty of interesting new music.
I’m an old fart who listens to country because I like it. The opinions of people like that mean nothing to me.
February 15, 2023 @ 6:25 pm
When people hear me say country music is my second all time favorite genre all time… the looks I get. And it’s not even about the bro-stuff it’s about the overall PR problem country music has had for decade name around race but also more recently around me and the queers and women. And unlike hip-hop country music doesn’t quite seem to have shaken it’s PR problem in the way hip-hop has been VERY mainstream for the 25+ years.
But I never justify my liking of country music I just prove to those double take looks that THEY too like country music. Drop names like Johnny Cash or Patsy Cline or Dolly, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, heck Kenny Rogers, Willie, Dwight… people start stumbling over their words… well, “Well yeah Johnny Cash, who doesn’t like Johnny Cash?”
To say nothing of me playing country music in my home (usually something I discovered here) and people start asking, “What is this?” And when I show them the response is usually, “Wow. I actually like this country music”. Tami Nielsen is always a winner for example. But American Aquarium goes over well too, Sunny Sweeny, and few others.
Ironically the names I listed are the ones I find most younger country fans trash as overrated when they say the LIKE country music because they grew up Brantly Gilbert and Florida Georgia Line.
In the end I hope people keep ranting. Not just about country but rock, hip-hop, EDM, blues, jazz all major genres are suffering from half-assery and checklists in the mainstream realm.
February 17, 2023 @ 12:25 pm
There’s so much good music out there, life is too short to worry about the bad…
February 17, 2023 @ 6:24 pm
I had a similar experience in college, 20+ years ago. I also had a slight accent and people thought I was a hillbilly even though I’m from a liberal Virginia college town, raised upper middle class, and I’m basically the first born and raised southerner in my family tree.
It’s funny, in a way. I feel like the “woke” country music wars were fought in the 60s/70s and country won. Now, they (liberals, I guess) are fighting the war all over again. Are they out of ideas? (I say this as someone who is essentially more or less a liberal)
February 19, 2023 @ 3:20 am
WOW this guy totally gets it, and its funnier because he’s not a musician, so its funnier than that guy that dissects country music for a living on youtube. gotta love these old school italians. also what about that garbage crap with laundry lists, and the new thing is counting. i remember that fuck hardy did it, … 1 beer turns ‘ into a two beer buzz Three beers turns into five and six, 7, 8, luke bryan 1 margarita 2 margarita 3 margraitas, and elle king has that shitty song wiht dierks bentley 1 from the top 2 yea its all we got 3 on the rocks ya FOUR. theres way more examples that i forget. TOTAL GARBAGE, needs to end now 3…4.. shut the door
February 21, 2023 @ 12:35 pm
TBF those we here from the most (i.e. the woke crowd) is a minority I find. But they are a very vocal minority. We in the middle of the road don’t much yell and shout so we are not click or headline worthy.
And I think both side have run out of things to talk about and it ran out decades before this IMO.
November 20, 2024 @ 3:17 pm
Show is unwatchable !!! Now these 2 assholes wear the same glasses 🤔Cumia is always late😡it’s supposed to be 4:15 to 6:00 no guest anymore! It would be nice to get my $ back!! The show really sucks now😡