Reasons To Be Thankful For ABC’s “Nashville”
ABC’s new drama Nashville just signed on for a full season of shows, and has been winning its time slot in the ratings virtually every week since its inception. As canned as the drama may be, as ugly of a construct of modern TV as it may be, and as dirty as it may make anyone feel for watching it (or even enjoying it), it’s safe to say the show will be around for a while. And with its continued popularity, it will likely have a keen impact on American culture.
ABC’s “Nashville” Cast’s Real Life Counterparts
So what positives could come from the show? If you take away all the drama between the characters that’s really the central focus of the series, what you have is the biggest inside look into the business of country music ever released to the public through popular media, and a vehicle for presenting new music to millions of folks. The ugly trappings of Nashville go with out saying. Here are some of the positives.
Exposure
I have to hand it to the show’s music czar T Bone Burnett. I’ve always been on the other side of the silly love affair the Americana world has with this man, but he’s been showing tremendous breadth of music knowledge so far in the series. I thought we’d see a healthy dose of the usual suspects of Americana in Nashville; the same names who win all the AMA awards annually and feel very much like an exclusive crowd. Instead we’ve heard from such outliers as Shovels & Rope and Lindi Ortega.
Sure he could always dig deeper, and I’d love to see some of that independent love extend to the country, Texas, and Red Dirt worlds. But we have to understand this is the big time here. The bump even a 30-second snippet of music or a quick appearance from an artist can give to their name can be immense, not to mention the mailbox money ABC pays out to use a song.
And it hasn’t just been independent, rising-stars getting love from Nashville. Oldtimers like Del McCoury and behind-the-scenes musicians like Sam Bush have enjoyed cameos, while clips from country legends like Tammy Wynette have weaseled their way onto the soundtrack. Nashville is exposing all the alternatives to mainstream country: past, present, and future.
Important Nashville landmarks, from The Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Auditorium, to cool little independent night spots in east Nashville and on lower Broadway are getting favorable face time through the series, and it’s hard not to see how if the show remains popular people won’t make it a point to visit these spots when they visit the city. Sure, this can have a negative impact too, taking away the exclusivity or authenticity of some of these venues in the long term (see Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge). But the series works as one big infomercial/tourist brochure for Music City that will likely result in a positive economic impact.
UPDATE (11-29): Last night’s Episode 7 featured two very important Nashville landmarks, The Ryman Auditorium, aka “The Country Music Mother Church”, and Layla’s Bluegrass Inn, a venue that was at the very heart of the formation of underground country. It also featured a cameo of Hank3’s bass player Zach Shedd.
Education
Terms like “opener,” “co-headliner,” “Autotune,” and “demo” are commonly used on the show, and will become familiar vernacular to the mainstream fanbase that otherwise just waits for the superstar to take center stage and generally thinks that all the rest happens by magic. The whole process of how an album is put together or a big time tour is assembled is showcased as the backdrop to Nashville’s character drama. Songwriter characters play major roles in the show, articulating to viewers the evolution of how a song goes from the page to the stage.
Let’s face it, most mainstream music lovers have little idea where music actually comes from, and standard procedure in mainstream music is to keep all of that behind the curtain. Now through Nashville, the general public sees that it takes seasoned musicians in the studio and at the back of the stage to make an album or a show happen, and that sometimes these people are just as important to the process as the stars. They now know those hit songs are written by other people, many who struggle just to make ends meet, who have to work second jobs and who aspire to be stars themselves.
Nashville has met the issues concerning aging talent head on, and how that talent is mercilessly dealt with on the business side. Sure, the show may not offer any solutions to these problems in the short term, but when people watch Nashville and then see aging artists on the stage or hear about them losing record deals or see young stars come up that may not be talented than the older ones, they will understand on a more intimate level why that is happening. And traditionally, educated consumers make better choices. Nashville is music education through osmosis. It is the music equivalent of hiding your dog’s medicine in a piece of cheese.
Excitement About Music
We are now about a year or so removed from music’s lost decade that spanned the majority of the 2000’s. There are many things to blame for what happened to the music business: the slow move to digitization, the lack of talent, a slow economy, the ever increasing mergers and acquisitions that make the majority of the corporate music world controlled by fewer and fewer people.
But during this period I think overall the American culture was evaluating what the role of music was going to be in our lives moving forward. Sure, when music is harder to get, not as good, and you don’t have as much expendable cash to spend on it, there’s going to be a pullback. But we don’t talk enough about how the entire traditional music industry was teetering on collapse, and how in the last year or two it’s completely pulled out of the tailspin. And also, that one possible way the music industry righted the ship was by offering a slightly better product.
Aside from all the specific factors, I believe part of the reason for the music industry reversal is because people want music to play an integral part in their lives, whether their tastes and dispositions lie in the independent world, the mainstream, or somewhere in between. And that’s why the music of Nashville is such an integral part of the show, and why the show represents all aspects of it.
Music is back, and the success of Nashville proves that, and is in part because of the show’s independent focus, not in spite of it, proving that the independent music world can gain widespread mainstream acceptance if only given a chance.
November 21, 2012 @ 11:51 am
“And traditionally, educated consumers make better choices.”
You’ve mentioned this several times, but I still do not see how being educated about the internal workings of the music industry would change anyone’s musical tastes. For example, I know Rascal Flatts auto-tunes their songs, but that does not keep me from liking “Life Is a Highway”, “My Wish”, or “What Hurts the Most”.
November 21, 2012 @ 12:01 pm
Yes, but understanding how Autotune works, that it corrects pitch and gives an artist like Rascal Flatts an advantage, may also enhance you appeal for an artist like Taylor Swift, who I happen to know you like, and who happens to NOT use Autotune, either giving you more respect for that artist, or more understanding when she sings but her pitch is not perfect.
The benefits may be subtle in certain circumstances, but I’d always rather deal with a consumer who is educated than not, if only because it makes it easir to communicate with them about music.
November 30, 2012 @ 10:44 am
Hey Trig, Taylor might not use autotune, but the guys who mix her records sure do. Honestly, there’s nary a major label release out there that’s not tuned. Even the folks who don’t really need it get tuned. It’s now the industry standard. I’m not even baggin on it. I’ve tuned certain things on records I’ve mixed. There’s not a pop country record out there that hasn’t had every vocal part on it tuned and vocaligned to some degree. There’s no vocal group out there that can hit every part in perfect pitch with perfect meter and diction. Yet that’s what you hear on pop and pop country records all the time. It’s become the norm. The best harmony groups of all time, the staples singers, the jordanaires, countless doo wop bands, the Statler Brothers. Those artists were the best at what they do, but there were still imperfections. And to me, these imperfections are where you find the soul in some of these records. That’s my biggest issue with the Pop/pop country record making machine. By the time a record is finished, it’s had the drums gridded and quantized, the Bass is locked in to the drums, every instrument gets compressed, edited, tuned if necessary, and the vocals get cobbled together from sometimes dozens of takes, then tuned and vocaligned to match up to the harmony and background vocals,which have also been comped, cobbled and tuned within an inch of their life. There’s not one iota of spontaneity or honest inspiration in it. Understand, I’m not directing this ire squarely on Taylor Swift, but rather the industry that is behind her and everyone else.
November 30, 2012 @ 1:34 pm
Geoff,
Really, this issue deserves its own article, because it’s complex and seems to continuously come up and be a point of contention. (I’m sure the folks who scream every time I write a Taylor article will LOVE that). There’s also a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about it. I appreciate what you’re saying about the use of Autotune, and I agree that at this point it has become standardized throughout the industry and can pretty much be assumed to be used on most mainstream country albums.
Let me put it like this: if Taylor Swift was found to have used Auto-tune, I think it would be the biggest controversy of her career, and could possibly sink it, NOT because she used it, but because she has been so vehement that she DOESN’T and she would come across as a big liar, in a career that is based on her being the honest, down-to-earth “good girl.” Like Tiger Woods, the facade would completely crumble.
Because of that, people have been trying to nail her on the issue for years, and so far, nothing but evidence to the contrary, including numerous high-profile off-key live performances has been displayed. We all know she’s not a strong singer. But if Scott Borchetta can assemble a dream team of 8 producers for her album, he can pay for the studio time for her to do it until it’s right without digital enhancement. As I said in my review of “Red”, there is something electronic going with her voice on in the Max Martin/Shellbeck-produced tracks, and it may be some Auto-tune derivative, but even then you get in the gray area of if you’re using Auto-tune to correct pitch, basically making it a lie, or using it as a vocal filter, no different from reverb / a bullhorn/ telephone element mic / etc.
Anyway, I could go on and on here, about her calling Bob Lefsetz from London in 2009, and all sorts of other evidence that she doesn’t use it. But we’ll save that for a future article.
December 1, 2012 @ 11:08 am
I’m sure she is vehement she doesn’t use it. Ke$ha is vehement she doesn’t use it. but it’s there. Plausible deniability is a great tool. Interestingly enough. my friend wade was an assistant engineer on one of her records, and everyone who worked that record had to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the sessions. Also, as nitpicky as it is, some artists/ labels will say ‘we don’t use autotune on our artists’. which is technically true. Autotune is a trademarked brand name of Antares corp. and they don’t use it, but they use Melodyne, or another brand of pitch correction software. Also, they can claim the there’s no Autotune because the pitch is manually corrected in the waveform. No one will ever be able to prove it, unless they can find the guy who actually tuned the tracks. even the protools files wouldn’t reflect it, because the Vocal tracks are tuned independantly of the main project and then the corrected tracks are flown back in. People can claim to ‘hear’ tuning. but if the engineer who did it really knows his stuff, it’s imperceptible. A good engineer will only tune the vowel sounds, as the consonants don’t really contain tonal character. The corrected consonant sounds are what creates a lot of the tell-tale artifacts that people Identify with tuning. I can spot tuning 99% of the time by what’s not there. A tuned vocal can be identified by the absence of any sort of variable in the pitch. Even the most trained vocalist will have minor variations that are evident. The other sign is an the character of vibrato in a track. when you pitch correct a track, you actually have to draw the vibrato back into the wave form.
I’d put 100 bucks down and say her tracks are tuned. but again there’s no way to prove it without seeing the actually uncorrected files.
December 1, 2012 @ 2:04 pm
“I”™d put 100 bucks down and say her tracks are tuned. but again there”™s no way to prove it without seeing the actually uncorrected files.”
LOL! You spent your entire comment loosely accusing Taylor of being a liar, and then coming up with conspiracy theories about the tuning process for her tracks, but now you finally admit that you cannot “prove” any of it.
If you can’t prove an accusation, don’t make it.
December 2, 2012 @ 2:11 pm
First of all eric, I didn’t loosely accuse her of anything, let alone of being a liar. I’m sure that she thinks she’s not tuned. What I said, was that vocal tuning is the industry standard, and that anyone who is familiar with the process can tell you that there is tuning on damn near any pop/pop country record out today. The artists don’t know. they don’t know what goes on in mix, and they damn sure arent’ there for the entire mixing process. What I also said was that on at least one of her records the engineering staff was required to sign confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements. Therefore the only way to prove it, would be to hear the uncorrected files.
I’ve used Autotune, Avox, Melodyne, and Vocalign when mixing records for people. I’m familiar with the techniques and somewhat adept at using it in such a way that it’s fairly imperceptible to the ear. I also live and work as a musician in Nashville, and have many friends who are the people who turn the knobs and make these records happen. So I have a slightly more educated opinion than most.
But since you seem so intent on calling me out on my alleged accusation, perhaps you can offer some insight from your apparent vast wealth of knowledge and experience on the subject. Please share with us why a label would invest significantly more time and money to make a pop record that competes sonically with everything else in the marketplace that is tuned. Especially when the artist is someone known to not be a strong singer.
December 2, 2012 @ 2:46 pm
Looking back at your comment, I see you mentioned “plausible deniability”. By that, do you mean that Taylor does not know that her tracks are tuned, and therefore she is being honest when she denies it? If so, I apologize for accusing you of implying that she is a liar.
Still, though, you have no evidence that her label uses autotune. Her albums already contain a significant level of vocal imperfection, far more than a Kesha album, for example. As for your point about industry standards and her label trying to compete with pop records: Taylor Swift does not follow pop industry “standards”, nor does she generally try to compete sonically with pop artists. Computerized beats are a pop industry “standard”, but Taylor Swift’s albums still use actual instrumental music (with the Max Martin/Shellback exceptions on Red). Taylor’s music in general sounds extremely different from the vast majority of today’s pop music. If she bucks the industry norms in these areas, then why would you automatically assume that she would follow the norm on autotune?
December 3, 2012 @ 12:48 pm
After digging deep, I’ve concluded that Taylor Swift probably does use some Auto-tune on her records.
Full story:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/once-and-for-all-does-taylor-swift-use-auto-tune
November 22, 2012 @ 7:17 pm
If you want to hear “Life is a Highway” done right, without the autotune, look up either the original or Chris LeDoux’s cover. The RF version sounds bad even with the help of autotune in comparison to either.
As far as the article itself; pieces like this are why I check this blog regularly. I’d already dismissed the TV show outright just based off of the previews, but considering the only two shows I like on TV went to crap or got cancelled over the past year, I might give it a watch or two now that I’ve got more to consider than what initially met the eye.
November 22, 2012 @ 7:50 pm
I’ve heard the original Tom Cochrane version of Life Is a Highway, and I actually prefer that. However, Rascal Flatts remade the song into a full-blown power ballad, and given my love of 80s power ballads, I couldn’t help but like that version when I first heard it on Cars.
November 23, 2012 @ 4:16 pm
While I am not a big fan of Aaron Lewis’ country music, his cover of What Hurts The Most kicks Rascal Flatts ass.
November 21, 2012 @ 11:53 am
You can also add global exposure – Claire Bowen (Scarlett) and Sam Palladio (Gunner) are Australian and British and getting coverage in their home countries for this show. Would be nice to get a came from, say Kasey Chambers if they want to boost ratings in Oz as well.
It’ kind of tiring when I speak to friends in Oz about country music that they can’t get past Toby Keith.
November 21, 2012 @ 12:15 pm
I’m sure it’s a good show but couldn’t get in to it.
November 21, 2012 @ 12:36 pm
I don’t feel comfortable labeling it “good”. Watching this show gives my gag reflex quite the workout. That doesn’t mean it won’t have a positive impact on issues that are important to country music fans that “get it”.
November 21, 2012 @ 4:41 pm
Maybe I’ll give another try
November 21, 2012 @ 1:31 pm
my gf watches the show but hayden’s sexiness is why i’m thankful for the show.
trig is there anyway i can put a pic up?
November 21, 2012 @ 2:31 pm
if you have the url of it, you can use the html tag
with the url in between the quotations. That may work.
November 21, 2012 @ 2:45 pm
The fact that over half a million songs from the show have already been legally downloaded shows that T-Bone is doing something right. Well, unless most of those downloads are by the Juliette character anyway.
I do like the fact that T-Bone does cover so many musical bases in the show as the variety keeps it interesting. My only complaint about the musical content of Nashville is that some episodes have far too little of it. I say more music and less soap opera sudsiness makes for a better viewing experience.
As far as the show being “good” or not, I think it’s very well done and give it mega brownie points for NOT being an idiotic sitcom of CSI style crime solving show. Then again I really like the revived “Dallas” so my taste is questionable at best…
November 21, 2012 @ 9:30 pm
Shows like this are always going to trend toward the character drama side because that’s what drives ratings. Whether it’s context is a crime show, a hospital show, a mob show, it almost always comes back to the drama between the characters on network TV. It would be great to see music be more of a focus. I think they’re stretching the show too far with the whole political thread. But it’s about as much music as you can expect.
November 21, 2012 @ 4:56 pm
I hadn’t even planned on watching this show when I first started seeing the previews on ABC, but then I got a chance to stream the pilot on Hulu just days before it aired. I was surprised to find myself chuckling so much at the bitchy dialogue and that silly “Boys and Buses” song Juliette sang, and caring so much about Gunner and Scarlett.
The political subplot is still kind of tedious, but I’ve liked most of the music so far and I genuinely enjoy all the little insider-ish details about the business.
November 21, 2012 @ 8:20 pm
I can’t remember the characters name but its the struggling more rocker musician who’s dating the blond waitress. There is an episode where he described his music to someone as being a mix of punk, country rock (which made me think hmm wonder where the show writers got that idea 🙂 then they show a scene where he is actually playing his music and it sounded like a really bad kings of Leon esque sound, made me think that the show writers are aware of the underground music movement but maybe don’t really have a full grasp of what it encompasses? Maybe I’m looking too much into it, and no one thought that hard when they wrote the guys character… but I do like the little cameos and I have to admit the drama 🙂 but then again although I have a healthy musical appetite my television is pure junk food!
November 21, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
The characters name is Avery Barkley. The quote is, ““It”™s kind of an alt-country punk, but more cerebral.”
I agree that it is probably a little shout out to the underground world. There’s another scene where it shows the character Gunnar Scott playing in a neo-traditional country band. I think they’re aware of this side of the music. Let’s see if they showcase it at some point. I don;t think it’s out of the question to see Hank3 on there. He’s done acting appearances before and lives right down the road. Justin Townes Earle could be another serious possibility.
November 23, 2012 @ 3:27 pm
After five years of bringing my show to Nashville, I’ve developed quite the love/hate affair with that city. Sue me, I like this show and never miss it. Thanks for a fair look at it.
November 23, 2012 @ 4:51 pm
Nice piece. I agree with most of what you said and stated as much in my piece. The parallel between aging and career decline in Nashville was made apparent by Cash., Porter Wagoner and recently by Kathy Mattea and Lee Ann Womack.
There have been many on the Americana side that deride the show for it’s commercial appeal. Like that artists featured on the show don’t need to earn a living. This is the worst form of cultural conceit.
November 28, 2012 @ 8:42 am
Love the show, love the music & love my hometown. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of it, Nashville “rocks”!
November 28, 2012 @ 3:17 pm
Didn’t think much of this show judging by the previews (Desperate Housewives meets Taylor Swift cam) but after reading this, especially coming from you, I might have to give it a shot.
P.S. Been watching the first season of Hell on Wheels. Highly recommend that one.
November 29, 2012 @ 12:48 pm
I don’t know where you’re getting your Taylor Swift info but anyone that has heard her live knows she uses auto tune or melodyne. She can’t carry a tune if her life depended on it. If you are accustomed to what auto tuning sounds like you know you can hear it even when it is only used slightly. I assure you she uses something on her voice on most all her recordings and it ain’t talent!
November 30, 2012 @ 8:22 pm
You’ve NEVER heard her sing on tune? Apparently you’ve heard very few of her live performances. Check some of these out:
her performance of George Strait’s Run
her performance of “Mean” at the 2011 ACM and 2012 Grammy
her performance of “Begin Again” at the 2012 CMA
her performance of “Back to December” at the 2010 CMA
For older videos of her live performances (2006 and 2007), check out:
Taylor Swift on the bus
Taylor Swift live on the radio
Also, keep in mind that performing at an awards show is VERY different from recording in your own studio. First of all, in the studio, a song can be recorded over and over again until it’s done right. Secondly, of course, there is the stage fright effect at award shows. Imagine for a moment that you are taking an exam. In what setting do you think you would do better on that exam: in a public area with the entire country observing your work, or in your own personal setting with full privacy?
November 30, 2012 @ 10:25 pm
Did anyone catch the 5 second of Buddy Miller singing High and Lonesome on this week’s show?