Rodney Crowell: New Country Artists “Missing The Boat”
Of all the people you could have picked to become an outspoken dissenter to the direction of country music, Rodney Crowell would have been pretty far down the list. Not that he doesn’t have the skins on the wall to say such things and have them carry weight, or that he doesn’t practice what he preaches when it comes to his own approach to music. Rodney is in the direct lineage of legacy-caliber songwriters like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, and came up playing in Emmylou Harris’s “Hot Band.” He and Emmylou recently released a duet’s album together, but he always seemed to be more of a reserved soul when it came to such things as saying country music is headed in the wrong direction.
Well he’s not being very reserved at the moment, taking his second opportunity in the last month to decry the direction of country in a recent interview:
I watch these young country artists come in and burst onto the scene, and I always have to remind myself that these artists didn’t experience Hank Williams Sr. or Big Joe Turner or Kris Kristofferson, who was able to bring the bedroom and sensual poetry into country music. These artists came from a different set of archetypal images. If I took the old school curmudgeon approach, I would say these guys are really missing the boat.
A couple of weeks ago, Crowell made similar disparaging remarks about the direction of country, carefully worded, coy, and cunning in the way the words cut right to the heart of the problem, saying in part:
Ever since country music entered the back door of main stream commerciality most noticeably in the early sixties the debate over who possesses the more noble heart, the purists or the popular entertainers has never stopped. (Remember the credibility scare of the late 80”²s.) Generally speaking, the purists make the more timeless music.
Pop culture is a disposable culture, therefore it stands to reason that those who want the big bucks and the power are inclined to produce slick and disposable music. I don’t see anything wrong with artists getting rich by pigging out at the trough of poor taste.
Rodney Crowell may be no Dale Watson when it comes to the temper he brings to his country music dissent, but the more voices speaking out and reaching different audiences, the better. By saying many of today’s pop country artists are “missing the boat,” Crowell is showing the leadership country music needs to help right the ship.
August 5, 2013 @ 9:34 am
I couldn’t agree more with Rodney, and he certainly has the longevity and accomplishments to make such statements. The only thing that perhaps damages his credibility a bit is that there was a time, in the Eighties, where he appeared willing to drink the Nashville Kool-Aid in the pursuit of stardom. But perhaps that period was more a case of the market briefly valuing quality songwriting, singing and production. After all, when Rodney was a Nashville star, people like Emmylou, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith, Kathy Mattea, Randy Travis and Rosanne Cash were selling albums and getting played on the radio.
August 5, 2013 @ 11:14 am
Crowell is pretty much now viewed as part of the Liberal/Americana/NPR type scene, even if he was a big Nashville star 20+ years ago.
I agree that anyone who speaks out against the direction of country music is positive development, but the NPR/Americana types are already against mainstream country.
August 6, 2013 @ 9:09 am
I’m an anti-NPR type of person. I’m more of a traditional, conservative type of guy from Alabama, but I do prefer roots/alternative country and I don’t like what Nashville has turned into since the late ’90s. So, I feel as though I stand with Crowell on this issue.
August 6, 2013 @ 10:05 am
I like Americana better than pop country too. However, I was just saying that the types of people who like that music (and Crowell) already are anti-Nashville.
April 9, 2014 @ 6:31 am
A lot of really good country music was made by leftist hippies in the 70’s, but it couldn’t be called country. Compare the Grateful Dead’s ‘Uncle John’s Band’ to ‘Make The World Go Away’. Both great songs, however, ‘Make The World Go Away’ is a middle of the road pop song ‘Uncle John’s Band’ is more of a country song.
August 5, 2013 @ 12:49 pm
I always wonder…. Who’s gonna fill their shoes…. I don’t see anyone of top 40 country doing that… And how come no one talks about the whole auto tunes issue in country music.
August 5, 2013 @ 12:53 pm
I’ve been pretty outspoken over the years about the use of Auto-tune in country.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/merle-haggard-jay-z-say-death-of-auto-tune
August 5, 2013 @ 12:52 pm
I don’t see any of this critics as being against mainstream country, they just expect more from those who are popular… And liberals changed the world, but I don’t think they can change country radio…
August 5, 2013 @ 1:22 pm
” I don”™t see anything wrong with artists getting rich by pigging out at the trough of poor taste.”
Just love this statement because it covers a plethora of what is oozing out of cracks in pop culture.
August 5, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
Trigger,
I know you have, but pretty much everyone else seems to see it as no big deal in Nashville….and it’s so obvious when certain artists perform live and are not even close to pitch, which is odd because they can use it in the live setting too…
August 5, 2013 @ 11:02 pm
I understand what you’re saying, but I do think the idea that many artists are using Auto-Tune is beginning to gain ground in popular culture. One example would be on that new “Nashville” show on ABC, the very first episode has the main pop country girl’s manager saying “Thank God for Auto-Tune,” and that line was part of the series preview.
August 5, 2013 @ 5:43 pm
Rodney Crowell’s commercial success came during the neotraditionalist movement of the late 80’s. A good era for country radio – Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, George Strait, The Judd’s, Patti Loveless, etc all on the radio. Personally I find the NPR/ Americana artist to be the group carrying on real Country music as well as real Rock music. It’s the format I enjoy most these days.
August 6, 2013 @ 9:29 am
100% agreed!
I became a country fan around that neo-traditionalist period (or shortly thereafter), and I’d say much of that stuff has held up pretty well.
August 5, 2013 @ 7:18 pm
“I don”™t see anything wrong with artists getting rich by pigging out at the trough of poor taste.”
I WISH SOMEONE WOULD POSITIVELY QUOTE THIS ON STAGE AT THE NEXT COUNTRY AWARDS SHOW.
August 5, 2013 @ 7:26 pm
Shouldn’t Rodney be more concerned with other things? His last couple records (the Mary Karr disc and the one with Emmylou) weren’t exactly winners.
August 6, 2013 @ 3:46 pm
How could I forget Travs Tritt, Vern Gosdin, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Highway 101, Marty Stewart, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill was starting to break into the mainstream… it was a good era. I am still of huge fan of Rodney Cromwell. My hope is another neo-traditional movement will follow the current trend with male vocalists
August 7, 2013 @ 9:30 am
The word “disposable” hits the nail on the head.
As the country pop singers age, they will be selling off the fancy homes they bought in Brentwood, Franklin, etc. so they can move to Branson and play to half-empty crowd and wonder where it all went.
The true artists, however, irrespective of whether they made it big for a while, will be playing smaller venues to die-hard fans who have followed them for years.
August 7, 2013 @ 5:14 pm
I love the Luke Bryan ad at the top of the page, at least my page now. Everyone’s got to get paid!!!
August 10, 2013 @ 3:49 pm
That ad has been banned. And yes, we do need to get paid. Running a site the size of SCM is costly, and we have to take money out of our pocket every month to keep it up, despite the meager revenue from one Google ad that we have little control of the content of.