Sammy Kershaw: “Country Music Hates Itself”
It’s been a working theory for years here at Saving Country Music that country is constantly trying to apologize for itself, and explain away all of the stereotypes of the genre to garner wider acceptance. Country spends all of its energy trying prove that it’s not a bunch of rednecks and racists and old people’s music, instead of educating people on the beauty of country in both its traditional and contemporary forms. I remember a couple of years ago when Jason Aldean said right before the ACM Awards,
Country music still kind of fights the stereotypes a lot of times. And here we’re having a country music show, and it’s in one of the glitziest cities in the world, so it just shows you that were not still sitting on hay bales passing out awards at these shows.
And you see this attitude play into the production of country music’s annual award shows and other large events more and more as time goes on. They invariably start off with the most non country performance as possible, attempting to lure viewers in by proving how not country the genre really is. This was especially evident during Tuesday (8-5) night’s broadcast of the CMA Music Fest special on ABC. There was little to nothing country about it. It came across as nothing more than an infomercial about how non-country the music of country really is. Dierks Bentley spelled it out before the night even started when he said, ““It’s a young, current, hip thing that’s happening that deserves to be in a downtown city center that’s new and growing and feels vibrant and just feels ”¦ represents the music properly. You know, this is not like your grandfather’s country music anymore.”
In an interview with Country Weekly, classic country artist Sammy Kershaw, who’s promoting his new Do You Know Me? George Jones tribute album had some poignant things to say about country music’s poor self-esteem.
Look, I’ve always said country music is the only genre that hates itself. It wants to be everything else, but country music. I’ve been in it for a long, long time and I’ve seen the changes, but it always comes back. But now, I don’t see it coming back. It finally found a route to go.
Hopefully Kershaw is wrong about country music coming back, but what he’s most certainly right about is country music wanting to be everything else than what it’s supposed to be. Whether the circle is truly broken forever, or it will eventually come back around again like it has done before in the past, there’s no doubting country is farther out on the loop than ever before.
August 7, 2014 @ 9:07 am
So sad, and so very true.
August 7, 2014 @ 9:10 am
It’s tough to say cause people like Blake Shelton for example, in his song “boys round here”, he fulfills a bunch of awful stereotypes. To him, we just drink, dip, and talk shit, yet people love that song.
Same can be said for a lot of those awful artists. Popular music nowadays in many ways just plays off of those stereotypes. Redneck crazy, dirt road anthem, That sort of garbage.
It’s not like the direction is going away from that. If anything it’s more predictable and blatant with the laundry list songs.
August 7, 2014 @ 9:16 am
So well put, one can only hope that this disco-era will fall of the face of the earth for good. And as for the people who actually listen to this shit, they will just go on listening to what is popular at the moment, bling dawg, spice girls, shit like that. I do belive there is no worries of ever seing a Fgl or Brantley Gilbert farewell tour in 20 years, they will all be flipping burgers at McDonalds, living in their parents basements watching Party Down South re-runs.
July 24, 2018 @ 9:00 am
Mostly because of all the filthy language, is one of the reasons we don’t listen to the so called country music nowadays. You don’t hear Sammy KERSHAW, George Jones and others using that language. They are the real intertainers today. This junk they call country is trash. Give me real country, real stories and real music. I buy everything I can find of Sammy KERSHAW, because he is a great singer.
August 7, 2014 @ 9:29 am
Warner Bros. has the same sort of love/hate relationship with its DC Comics super-heroes. They are embarrassed by them, and think that they have to make movies that show them as dark or psychologically unhinged to have them appeal to a mass audience. This is the approach taken with their Batman and Superman (Man of Steel) movies.
The movies from Marvel Studios – like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy – on the other hand have turned that conventional wisdom on its head by showing that rather than being embarrassed by the conventions of super-heroes, they can make successful movies by embracing the things that make the genre unique.
The Warner Bros. attitude is the dominant one in country music today. Hopefully there’s a Marvel Studios equivalent out there that will stop being embarrassed by the genre and start embracing it.
August 8, 2014 @ 5:16 pm
You are exactly right. Country music has always wanted to be something else, the same way DC wishes it was Marvel.
August 10, 2014 @ 6:03 pm
Oh SNAP!
Also how Google + wishes it was FB and BING wishes it was Google.
November 5, 2018 @ 2:20 pm
I buy all of Sammy Kershaw’s CDs. Don’t hear filthy words inhis songs. He is a fantastic singer.
August 7, 2014 @ 9:59 am
It took a Brit to say it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWaWnDto9Js
August 11, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
very nice song lot of heart
August 7, 2014 @ 10:32 am
Me and a friend of mine played Modern Country Music bingo in the car a couple of weeks ago. We heard the word “sip/sipping” in three consecutive songs. My friend listens to modern “country” and he even thought it was ridiculous.
August 8, 2014 @ 10:26 am
Yes! Or try to find a song without the word “tailgate”.
August 7, 2014 @ 10:53 am
I have seen this guy’s CDs in the bins while I am shopping for music, but I have never heard any of his CDs or songs.
I don’t know whether he is part of the solution or part of the problem when it comes to preserving authentic country music.
His new George Jones tribute CD looks appealing – I may pick it up.
August 7, 2014 @ 12:00 pm
Not tryin to be a dick, but if you’ve never heard of Sammy Kershaw, then what do you listen to?
August 7, 2014 @ 2:24 pm
In his defense, I certainly don’t know his music either. I know Doug Kershaw, never heard of Sammy. I wasn’t listening to country radio in the ’90s so there’s that too.
Ok, I’m open to be blasted for that if you want to…
August 7, 2014 @ 2:33 pm
One more thing:
Some of us come here to learn things. CAH said the new album looks promising. Isn’t that a good thing? That Sammy can generate new fans by coming to SCM?
Perhaps we’ll even join the fight?
August 8, 2014 @ 8:19 am
Tele-
If you are not trying to be one, then you may want to try a little harder.
To answer your question, I listen to classic rock, some new hard rock, metal, soul, blues, Broadway, Texas country music and what I regard as authentic country music.
I didn’t say I never heard of Sammy Kershaw – as I said, I have seen his CDs in bins at record shops.
I said that I hadn’t heard his music.
I don’t listen to the radio, so that vastly limits my exposure to artists.
My knowledge of artists consists of what I read about on this site and other sites (e.g. Lone Star Music, Radio Free Texas and cross-referrals on Amazon).
Complaining about the sad state of affairs of country music has, itself, become rather mainstream, so like I said, I simply asked whether this guy is part of the problem or part of the solution.
After looking him up on Wikipedia a few minutes ago, I suspect I will have all of his CDs sometime in the next month or so.
I don’t want or need the approval of anyone on this site, and I post in a civil manner.
Not everyone does.
August 8, 2014 @ 10:28 am
I was not trying to attack you or ask your approval…and though I apparently came off as a dick, that wasn’t the intent… As far as I’m concerned Sammy Kershaw was an important musician during 90’s era country music, and like him or not, I assumed it was common knowledge of who he was…as far as not listening to the radio goes, you’re probably better of not listening and doubtful you’ll hear anything of his on there again. And I too love Red Dirt Music, but I would suggest checking out a lot of 90’s country acts…. you may find your missing out.
August 8, 2014 @ 1:25 pm
No problem, amigo.
Sammy is not the first artist I probably would have liked a lot, but was completely ignorant of.
I went for many years listening mostly to DAC, Jerry Jeff, Willie, Waylon, Johnny Cash, Bocephus, George Jones, Merle and a few assorted others, not realizing that others were following in their footsteps and carrying the torch.
It’s easy for me to also let the record stores limit the new artists whose music I purchase by what they decide to order.
Way too many times, Trig will give a favorable review to an artist and I wind up never seeing it in the several LRS’s I go to across the state.
I should probably get on Radio Free Texas a lot more than I do to become exposed to a wider variety of artists.
August 8, 2014 @ 2:20 pm
You may want to look into the guys that came before the country outlaws too… Its not everyones cup of tea, but I grew up listening to my grandpas albums. i was a kid in the early to mid 90s so it was a major contrast, but i would go from Garth, Clint, and Alan all the way to The Statler Brothers, Jimmie Rogers, and Johnny Horton. I loved it all and still do… just a suggestion.
August 8, 2014 @ 7:20 pm
Statler Brothers! Hell yeah man! Ill put on the definitive collection and be instantly put in a good mood. They never get any talk on this site and I don’t know why.
August 8, 2014 @ 7:48 pm
I love The Statler Brothers. Reminds of my dad.
My favorite Statler Brothers song, I love when the ‘wall of voices’ come in. Great stuff.
‘Susan When She Tried’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CuLQj-UaUQ
August 7, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
I find this very hard to believe and I’m sure you’ve heard at least a couple of his songs, you just may not have known he was the singer. Hell, you couldn’t turn on the radio in the early ’90s without hearing “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful”.
As to the second part, he’s much more solution than problem.
August 7, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
Sammy’s a good guy. He was pretty big in the 90’s and it wasn’t unusual to see his video’s pop up on CMT all the way into the late 2000’s. He recently did a tour with Joe Diffie and Aaron Tippin, I think they might have put out an album together too.
Check out his wikipedia page for some background, and maybe preview some songs on iTunes. If you’re familiar with 90’s country you might be surprised by the number of songs he’s done that you recognize but never knew who the artist was.
Plus he’s got what I consider one of the great unappreciated songs of the 90’s in ‘Politics Religion and Her”
August 7, 2014 @ 5:06 pm
I agree about ‘Politics.Religion and Her’ and it wasn’t much of a hit either barely top 30 if I remember correctly. Sammy Kershaw was never my favorite but he was a solid hitmaker with a killer country voice.
‘Politics, Religion and Her’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4fQitwpNLQ
August 7, 2014 @ 5:36 pm
Oh, Scotty J.
“How long has she been gone?”
“Too long. She been gone too long.”
18 years later I still can’t watch that video without completely losing my shit at the end.
August 7, 2014 @ 5:55 pm
Yep. Most people comment on the sound of mainstream country music and rightfully so with electronic elements that are taking over but for me the far, far more damaging thing that has happened has been the change in subject matter. In the rush to appeal to the all important youth demo they have completely given up on more mature adult subject matter like this song. Some of the greatest mainstream country songs of the last oh, 25 years dealt with adult topics and they appealed to adults but now these songs would either never be recorded or be some album cut that no one but the biggest fan will here. Can you even imagine a song like Sawyer Brown’s ‘All These Years’ or ‘How Can I help You Say Goodbye’ by Patty Loveless hitting the top five like they did in the early to mid 1990s?
In an effort to expand there audience to a notoriously fickle group they have sacrificed their loyal base audience. Stupid.
August 7, 2014 @ 9:12 pm
I remember the first time I heard this song was at 1 a.m. during a “Vintage Block” of video’s on CMT around about 2007, I somehow missed the end of the video where he goes to visit the woman’s grave.
I downloaded the song as soon as I’d heard it, and it wasn’t until I saw the video again years later that I realized that in the video version the woman in question had died.
If you just listen to the song on it’s own that concept is not readily apparent (“I don’t think she’s coming back, we better not get into that”).
August 8, 2014 @ 9:07 am
Most people comment on the sound of mainstream country music and rightfully so with electronic elements that are taking over but for me the far, far more damaging thing that has happened has been the change in subject matter.
Truth be told I think those two things go hand-in-hand, but you’re still absolutely right. As I was saying in comments on another recent post here at SCM, mainstream country music anymore is all about partying anymore, and it’s a damn shame, because there’s more to life than that ”” and there used to be more to mainstream country music than that, too.
If you just listen to the song on it”™s own that concept is not readily apparent (“I don”™t think she”™s coming back, we better not get into that”).
Yup. My thoughts exactly. I suppose one probably could have seen it coming, but as I said on my own blog, given that the song is one of innumerable “she”™s gone and I don”™t want to talk about it”-type songs where you think the other person just walked out, I just never thought about it. And it just completely threw me for a loop
August 7, 2014 @ 5:34 pm
I thought Haunted Heart was one of his best songs.
August 8, 2014 @ 9:05 pm
I would add ‘Anywhere But Here’ , ‘Matches’ and a really good ballad ‘Love Of My Life’ as among his best songs.
August 7, 2014 @ 3:05 pm
You must be really young CAH, or maybe just started listening to Country. Either way, Sammy’s a great singer, actually resembles George quite a bit. If you can find it, you should buy The Essential Sammy Kershaw. You’ll be glad you did.
August 10, 2014 @ 9:07 am
You might YouTube “Yard Sale” by Sammy Kershaw. This is one of his best IMO.
August 10, 2014 @ 8:25 pm
He’s typical early/mid 90’s pseudo-traditionalist stuff. You could pretty much sum him up by saying he sounds like most “hat acts” of the period, even though he doesn’t usually wear one.
But come on man, even as a little kid, I used to hear “she don’t know she’s beautiful” a whole heck of a lot on my town’s only country station, before they went “top 40” sometime in the mid 2000s. I wasn’t even born when that song came out and I still know it!
Side note though, “Vidalia” is a song worth listening to. Moronic as all hell, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t get stuck in your head and you hum it to yourself the next day
August 10, 2014 @ 10:31 pm
Sammy would have done better on this album just singing George Jones instead of trying too hard to sound like George Jones… it sounded like he had gum or a chew in his mouth for some of the songs. Sammy’s voice is just as distinctive, and while I’m all for paying homage to one’s influences, there will never be another George Jones, or Vern Gosdin for that matter. Except for maybe Daryle Singletary, I honestly doubt anyone in country music could pull off George Jones as good as Sammy Kershaw, but I would like to hear the songs in his own voice.
August 7, 2014 @ 11:06 am
I saw Kershaw’s comments on facebook this morning. I liked what he had to say, thought he could have framed it better, but hopefully the message get’s across. We shouldn’t be ashamed of loving country music and it’s artists need to be proud of that tradition. There’s some commercially viable artists out there that I think really do love the music history, but I don’t see them taking a stand for it or paying tribute to it. Most artists wait until they get to a “legacy” point in their career, maybe they believe they must build a fan-base first before doing that.
I don’t agree with his outlook on the future. The tradition of country music is still alive, whether it’s commercial or not. It lives on in local bands and bars as well as some unexpected places.
August 7, 2014 @ 11:21 am
One of the things that bothers me about rants like this is the preference of “authenticity” to “quality.”
By NO MEANS am I saying that a Chase Rice song beats the classics as far as quality goes. But I do find it troubling that at no point did Kershaw say the QUALITY of the music has tanked. He’s referring to the conception of what HE (not the marketplace, by the way) considers to be authentic country.
It reminds me of the great Chipotle vs. local taco shop debate. That Chipotle is an American company automatically disqualifies it for some customers. That it uses sustainable, organic, humane meat means nothing to them. That the food is BETTER than the local shops (especially in cities like New York) means nothing to them. It’s not run by Mexican guys, so it’s not GOOD.
Let’s shift the focus to quality and cut the “authenticity” crap. If the song is an objectively good song, it’s good for country music. Period
August 7, 2014 @ 11:23 am
*And if we are going to focus on authenticity, let’s focus on the authenticity of an artist’s message. The best country songs involve painting pictures and telling stories – and a contemporary, 20-something singer shouldn’t pretend his life doesn’t involve drinking and partying because some people don’t think that’s “traditional.”
August 7, 2014 @ 11:38 am
Yeah, but his life involves other stuff too, unless he’s just mooching off Mom and Dad. Why don’t we hear about any of that?
(And from a near-lifelong Texan living in a part of Texas with taco shops and trucks within spitting distance every direction, Chipotle is ok, but frankly I’d rather have Taco Cabana, and not just because it’s based in my city..)
August 7, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
There are many ways to write a good story song about partying without using the same dull checklist lyrics over and over again.
Here is a great example of an intelligent and heartfelt song on the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJPe27YBYoQ
August 8, 2014 @ 10:21 am
“Let”™s shift the focus to quality and cut the “authenticity” crap. If the song is an objectively good song, it”™s good for country music. Period.”
No thanks, hoss. Unless you consider mainstream radio to be the sole arbiter in defining musical genres, it simply isn’t possible to judge what an “objectively good” country song is without considering the parameters of what country music is in the first place.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the critical system you’re proposing is to let the market decide what country music is, then judge its quality solely on genre-neutral criteria. If I were a music critic at a general interest publication that might be appropriate, but as a country music fan I have no obligation or interest in doing that.
For one thing, “the market” at this point is structured quite differently than in it was in the days of the “classics” to which you refer. After two decades of drastic consolidation among other changes in the radio and music industry, it is dubious whether the artists and songwriters responsible for that classic era of country music would even get a foot in the door today. Obviously, the disc jockeys and industry gatekeepers of old didn’t always make the right choices, but there was a legitimate network of gatekeepers in place. I and many others would argue that whatever moral authority country radio used to posses in defining the genre has dissipated. It doesn”™t truly represent the spectrum of what country music fans want to hear, it represents the specific demographic it chooses to target, to the exclusion of other vast groups such as say, women, for example.
http://www.mjsbigblog.com/the-country-radio-climb-how-are-major-labels-serving-new-acts-male-female.htm
I gather from your taco analogy that you think the current wave of pop-country music is simply better than what “traditional” country has to offer at the moment? If that’s so, then why are some of the most critically acclaimed country albums of the last five years those that emphasize tradition, from Kellie Pickler to Sturgill Simpson? Personally, I don’t find this fact surprising in the least, given that often the best country music is that which builds from the genre’s deep roots.
Also, generally speaking, the recent music made by Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and their ilk is not comparable with Chipotle; it is more like a unevenly-warmed taco-flavored Hot Pocket which burns your mouth when you try to eat it.
“And if we are going to focus on authenticity, let”™s focus on the authenticity of an artist”™s message. The best country songs involve painting pictures and telling stories ”“ and a contemporary, 20-something singer shouldn”™t pretend his life doesn”™t involve drinking and partying because some people don”™t think that”™s “traditional.””
To be fair, you are the one who introduced the word “authenticity” into this discussion.
Regarding lyrics, I sincerely doubt if anyone here objects to songs about drinking or good times. What folks want is for songs to be good, creative, substantive, or interesting, and to reflect the true nature of life, like country songs at their best used to do. As I believe Trigger once said, Dallas Davidson could write a song about filing his taxes or wiping his butt, and it might be “authentic” to his experience, but it wouldn’t necessarily make for a good song. Seriously, though: constant, consequence-free partying in a pasture is not a genuine reflection of anyone’s life, regardless of age.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:33 am
(I would like to add that radio programmers can’t solely be blamed for mainstream country’s lack of diversity: lazy songwriters, song pluggers, and labels deserve blame too.) 😉
August 8, 2014 @ 11:59 am
WOW, Applejack. Damned if you didn’t nail that one all the way to freaking Jupiter, never mind just out of the ballpark. The bit about Aldean, Bryan, their ilk, and the unevenly-warmed Hot Pocket would have made me snort coffee through my nose had I been drinking it. 😀
August 10, 2014 @ 9:31 pm
“*And if we are going to focus on authenticity, let”™s focus on the authenticity of an artist”™s message. The best country songs involve painting pictures and telling stories ”“ and a contemporary, 20-something singer shouldn”™t pretend his life doesn”™t involve drinking and partying because some people don”™t think that”™s “traditional.” ”
Yeah stories, not just one story. If they are that drunk all the time maybe that’s why they can’t write great songs. And what about the 20 and 30-something bros with a wife and kids? Guess they’ve never heard country songs with values and their wives and kids drive trucks, get drunk on tailgates and tell girls what to do for them too? So according to your “shouldn”™t pretend,” all the men who don’t party and pick up girls shouldn’t pretend they do with songs about it. Aren’t Dallas Davidson and Jason Aldean getting divorces? Why don’t they write about that? Songs like Give It Away are killer. I don’t care if a song is traditional or not, it just needs to be great original, mostly country song that didn’t use the same 3 writers and copy the last 20 party songs.
August 7, 2014 @ 11:30 am
Chipotle is actually an excellent analogy here. The “Americanization” of Mexican cuisine exhibited by Chipotle has meant that the food there is bland (i.e. lacking in spices and the rich bean flavor) compared to Taco Bell.
The same thing is happening with country music as it strays from its roots.
August 7, 2014 @ 12:26 pm
That’s actually funny, because the criticism I commonly see among “foodie” bloggers in New York is, “Chipotle throws too many spices and seasoning on everything.”
August 7, 2014 @ 12:32 pm
Interesting. I live in California, and so I suppose that Mexican food on average tends to be spicier here than in New York.
August 7, 2014 @ 11:44 am
And dare I ask what the objective criteria are for what makes a song “good”?
August 7, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
If you want to dwell on the use of “objective,” fine, but you obviously know what I mean.
While there are definitely exceptions, I feel like the majority of criticism here is not related to the quality of the song but to the classification of the song. “Pop” is not used as a descriptor but as a point of condemnation.
That is problematic .
August 7, 2014 @ 1:33 pm
If you want to dwell on the use of “objective,” fine, but you obviously know what I mean.
Well, actually, no, I don’t ”” at least not in the context of a certain song being classified as a country song. I don’t see how a song that can objectively be classified as a good song can be good for a certain genre if it displays virtually none of the sonic hallmarks of said genre. Just as an example, you could probably make the case that Sam Hunt’s “Leave The Night On” is a good song. I’d agree, within certain parameters. I probably wouldn’t change the channel if it came on my local Contemporary Hit Radio station. But it’s a pop song, through and through. It’s not evolution of country music even circa 2014 any more than Coca-Cola is evolution of milk.
And pop isn’t necessarily used as a term of condemnation because popular music is inherently bad. It’s used as a condemnation because those popular music influences are crowding everything out that made country music a unique and beloved genre. Sure, you’ll see folks here call Alan Jackson pop-country, but you’ll see them also lauding him because of his fidelity to the genre. And that’s not problematic. It’s something that needs to happen, at least if we’d like to maintain some sort of contrast between genres as opposed to letting everything blend into the oft-discussed mono-genre.
August 7, 2014 @ 2:13 pm
The Sam Hunt thing has long annoyed me, not because I’m particularly passionate about that song or whatever, but because people say it’s quintessential pop, but I just don’t hear it. Not saying it’s traditional country either, because it’s clearly not, but I can’t think of any current pop song that sounds remotely similar.
I think maybe you have a case for it fitting in with the adult formats that would play Jason Mraz or Rob Thomas, but I don’t see it fitting in with Katy Perry or Iggy Azalea on “pop.”
And I absolutely think there are similarities to some of the Luke Bryan and Jake Owen songs that are successful at country.
Luke Bryan’s “Play it Again,” by the way, is barely moving at all on Hot AC, and he’s a big, charismatic star that should be able to garner airplay on that format. So he’s country enough that “mainstream” music markets are hesitant to embrace him.
In any event, I just can’t see hating or dismissing a song you seem to like – or at least don’t hate musically – just because it feels like a shift from what you’ve traditionally defined as country.
August 7, 2014 @ 2:51 pm
In any event, I just can”™t see hating or dismissing a song you seem to like ”“ or at least don”™t hate musically ”“ just because it feels like a shift from what you”™ve traditionally defined as country.
Well, it’s the principle of the thing. I know that sounds trite, but it’s true. Again, we’re going back to definitions ”” what’s country vs. what isn’t. Do you want to hear Jason Mraz marketed as a country artist? I don’t. I’m willing to give folks wide leeway, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying “HAGGARD OR GTFO.” But the term “country” means something to people, something that isn’t to be dismissed. And when you have songs that go so far away from that yet are still called “country,” people are justifiably going to dismiss those artists as frauds, no matter how much they might like the song otherwise. (Did I just call Sam Hunt a fraud? Why yes, yes I did.) And I don’t see anything wrong with that ”” at least, again, if we’re going to maintain the integrity of country music in particular and genres in general. That’s ultimately what it all goes back to.
As far as the Luke Bryan thing, to be honest I’m not altogether sure how to explain that…other than pop radio programmers seeing him as a carpetbagger. But then, on the other hand, just as the fact that a certain song is played on country radio doesn’t make it country, the fact that a certain song isn’t finding any traction on pop radio doesn’t make it not pop.
August 7, 2014 @ 3:01 pm
Luke Bryan’s strong Deep Southern accent probably hinders him from gaining traction on pop radio.
August 10, 2014 @ 9:40 pm
“While there are definitely exceptions, I feel like the majority of criticism here is not related to the quality of the song but to the classification of the song. “Pop” is not used as a descriptor but as a point of condemnation.
That is problematic .”
Well what do you expect since country music is better than pop in all ways? “Hell yeah country artists, make more weak pure pop songs!”?
August 7, 2014 @ 12:55 pm
Equally as objective as the criteria for what makes a song “authentic” – at least in my eyes.
August 7, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
I’m with you. Hell, I’d argue that “authentic” is even more objective than talent.
My point is that I don’t see why a decline in adherence to traditional country elements–and thus “authenticity”–is being treated as automatically synonymous with a decline in music quality.
August 8, 2014 @ 11:25 am
The reason so many country fans are concerned with the music being traditional is because adherence to roots and tradition is an indelible part of the culture of country music, as much as rebellion is to rock and roll or competition is to hip-hop. Ask any musical historian worth their salt, and I believe they’d tell you the same. Traditionally country puts more emphasis on musical conservatism than any genre of mainstream popular music.
I honestly don’t know that people perceive a lack of traditional elements in a country song as being synonymous with poor quality, though I agree that just because a song is traditional doesn’t mean it’s good, and vice versa. However, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the genre’s recent flight from its roots has coincided with an overall decline in quality. When you strip away every characteristic that makes that makes country music good or worthwhile in the narrow pursuit of commercial interests, you end up with crappy music.
August 10, 2014 @ 9:48 pm
“My point is that I don”™t see why a decline in adherence to traditional country elements”“and thus “authenticity””“is being treated as automatically synonymous with a decline in music quality.”
Because those elements are a big part of what makes songs great and country. The problem isn’t the decline, it’s the huge decline or nearly or completely replacing country elements with pop elements. At least maintain the roots. What would happen to pop music if they took out all the pop elements and replaced them with country elements? It would get better but many pop fans would hate it.
August 7, 2014 @ 3:01 pm
Does he really need to mention that most of it is not “good” music. Just a glimpse at last nights Cma show could show you that most of it is bad music. Its bad because its just generic, formulaic and trite no matter what genre you call it. But its also decidedly not remotely country. If an R&B station decided to play Alan Jackson in their rotation would it make it an R&B song? It would still be good music but not what the listener of the station would want to hear.
August 10, 2014 @ 9:23 pm
“Let”™s shift the focus to quality and cut the “authenticity” crap. If the song is an objectively good song, it”™s good for country music. Period”
Not if it’s a pure pop or pop/rap song with no country in it. That’s good for pop, not country music. Pop is mindless repetitive lyrics, synthesized music, overproduction and autotuned vocals. Country is real stories, real music played by real musicians and no overproduction. Country is better than pop and a good or great pop song is a bad country song.
August 10, 2014 @ 9:44 pm
“Pop is mindless repetitive lyrics”
Not always. Check out Lorde, for instance.
August 10, 2014 @ 9:54 pm
I know there are exceptions but I’m speaking generally and we never heard the mindless pop stuff in country until “country is going pop.” And the best pop, rock and rap music is better than the weaker pop, rock and rap bro-country bros are doing.
August 7, 2014 @ 11:48 am
I think Sammy is wrong since I think that country music is going to come back around and not just turn into some pop subgenre. Even looking back throughout this past decade, there have been some good country songs on albums, but they just aren’t getting released as singles. Even Blake Shelton had a song called “Frame of Mine” on his last album that was 100% country. On Tim McGraw’s upcoming album, he has a song called “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools” that sounds like something Jamey Johnson would’ve written. I think its going to take that one artist, like Randy Travis in the 80’s, who has the wide audience appeal coupled with honest, thought provoking lyrics that are unforgivingly country to spin the genre back to where it should be.
August 8, 2014 @ 7:22 am
I think Sammy is wrong since I think that country music is going to come back around and not just turn into some pop subgenre.
I’m here in Nashville and music industry people disagree. They see the future of country music as it currently stands, a big mainstream cluster**** with traditional country being a niche market.
The days of the pendulum swinging between pop country and traditional country are over.
August 8, 2014 @ 9:38 am
Trends come and go, but the pendulum is not just going to magically swing back toward traditional country. Musical eras like the neotraditional movement of the 1980’s took place is because specific artists like George Strait, Randy Travis, and others forced it to happen by going against the grain to prove that traditional country was still viable in the mainstream. And the only reason they were successful is because country radio was still enough of an open market to allow traditional artists a fair chance in the first place, which is no longer the case. I’m not saying I think it’s impossible that country radio will ever experience a more traditional movement again, but I certainly don’t think it’s a given.
One reason people are excited about the return of Garth Brooks is that he is likely one of the only artists with the clout to potentially move mainstream country in a more traditional and more substantive direction.
August 8, 2014 @ 10:55 am
I love responses like this because if you hadn’t have posted it, I would have never known of these songs. Frame of mine is a good song, listening to it right now. I’ll have to check out the others as well.
August 7, 2014 @ 12:04 pm
Sammy freakin’ nailed it with his comments. What most of us consider country music does not have to come back it never died and is still being played every night by good folks of all ages in all parts of this country and the world. Will it ever be a major commercial product again, maybe not. I for one will settle for a strong independent scene that stays viable due to good old fashioned fan support.
August 7, 2014 @ 1:41 pm
Preach it brother
August 7, 2014 @ 3:12 pm
But Jim, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to use the radio again? Damn I miss the radio.
August 10, 2014 @ 8:34 pm
As someone that has a car old enough to not have an aux jack, I couldn’t agree more.
August 7, 2014 @ 1:54 pm
And while I’m at it, let’s go back yet again and compare country music with metal. You don’t see metalheads saying stupid crap like “It”™s a young, current, hip thing that”™s happening…You know, this is not like your grandfather”™s metal anymore.” I mean, yeah, a lot of the mainstream stuff was cringe-inducing even back in the day just like a lot of mainstream country is anymore, but even Motley Crue was covering the Beatles and Brownsville Station.
Or, hell, to put it a little bit closer to home, the Red Dirt movement. Those guys are proud of their grandfather’s (and father’s) country music and don’t give a damn about being hip and with it, even as the scene has exploded in popularity over the last 15 years or so. It only seems to be mainstream country that has this overweening self-consciousness and loathing. Why is that?
August 7, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
And yes, I know. There are those out there who talk about the evolution of metal to defend certain things as well. Geoff Tate tried to spin the Queensryche album Dedicated to Chaos as “redefining metal,” but he got canned as that band’s frontman precisely because of such shenanigans.
August 7, 2014 @ 3:09 pm
But why can’t we still sit on hay bales at least part of the time?
August 7, 2014 @ 7:03 pm
http://www.southernshelter.com/images/johnprine.jpg
August 7, 2014 @ 4:16 pm
Somewhere around the mid-2000s is when country music started adopting this “all-inclusive” mindset. I don”™t know if anyone can point to a specific artist or song, but the problem isn”™t about one artist or one song. But whatever kicked it off, it happened. And all of a sudden, anyone who wanted to could put out a country album, because that was what was “in.” And it’s only gotten worse.
But look at it further. If that mindset didn’t exist. If we didn’t have the Sam Hunts and the Florida Georgia Lines and the Luke Bryans, if the industry didn’t market anything and everything as country, simply because the artist happens to mention Johnny Cash in one song (I”™m looking at you Brantley Gilbert), where would our overall mindset be? Brantley Gilbert and Luke Bryan would be filed under rock where they belong, and Florida Georgia Line would be laughed out of an audition and never see the light of day, at least as far as the mainstream is concerned.
Tim McGraw has put out over the past two to three years. And sure, no matter what the current state of country music might be, a song like “Lookin’ For That Girl” would still be terrible, but would we despise it as much as we do now if the overall state of country music weren’t so God-awful? Or would we look at the song as experimental and say, “sure, it’s bad, it failed, let’s just hope he doesn’t do it again.” We might even get a chuckle out of “Truck Yeah” as something a bit clichéd, but nowhere near as bad as we know it is in country’s current state. I mean, say what you will about those two songs, but overall, McGraw still puts out solid albums and largely sticks to what made him a country star in the early 90s to begin with. Plus, he did follow up “Lookin’ For That Girl” very quickly with “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s.” And I honestly believe that, despite “Truck Yeah,” “Two Lanes of Freedom” was one of the best mainstream albums of 2013.
August 7, 2014 @ 6:43 pm
Again , we underestimate the importance of an ‘artist’s’ looks and image in the success of a song . If anyone but Luke Bryan had recorded the songs he’s recorded , would they have been successful ? In my opinion ….no . HE is what all those young girls are looking at and fantasizing about . If anyone but Jason Aldean had recorded that new Burnin It Down thing would it have even stood a chance of hitting the radio today ?…. It sounds like some bad R & B thing from a CD delte bin in the 90’s …lyrically AND musically .
How about Shania Twain ….can you honestly say she had great songs ? maybe hooky , in their way …but lyrically trite and s-h-a-l-l-o-w With her looks and that body she could sell igloos to Eskimos …it was just a case of giving her something to sing while people looked at all those sexy videos she was cranking out . A female artist who fell short in the looks department would have been laughed out of the biz with most of those lyrics .YOU CAN WATCH SHANIA TWAIN MUSIC WITH THE SOUND TURNED OFF and be just as entertained .
ITS NOT JUST ABOUT THE SONGS ! ..GOOD , BAD OR MEDIOCRE . Its about effectively marketing an image . Great songs are ignored by radio all day long . Randy Travis ( with Joe Nichols ) released a song called TONIGHT I’M PLAYING POSSUM …a tribute to George Jones shortly after his passing . This thing was a KILLER write ..top to bottom ..country as cow dung- GREAT performances by both artists …easily one of the best writes in years. I heard it on our local station twice , I think . Then it disappeared .
Alan Jackson released a song called SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOVE ME ANYMORE ‘ written by Adam Wright . It was a Grammy nominee for SONG OF THE YEAR in 2013 .GRAMMY NOMINEE …not CMA …GRAMMY . A country song nominated for a GRAMMY It was an amazing song …the kind that NEVER gets cut these days . But Alan Jackson isn’t Jason Aldean…anymore ….the song barely saw the light of day . I rest my case …and my fingers .
August 8, 2014 @ 12:29 am
I disagree somewhat about the importance of image. If image were the basis of popularity in country music, then song quality would be a random quantity, with many good, traditional songs, many bro-country songs, and everything in between. The fact that the industry almost exclusively focuses on bro-country shows that music is the paramount factor, just not in a positive way for fans of traditional country and quality lyrics.
A good recent example here would be Kellie Pickler. With her first two albums, she enjoyed strong label promotion and high sales. After she released “100 Proof”, though, she was sidelined by radio and dropped by her label. It was a change in her music, not a change in her looks, that caused this shift.
August 8, 2014 @ 6:17 am
I also love both of those songs you mention Albert. To me, “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore” was one of the 10 best singles of Alans career. But do you think if Luke Bryan had recorded either of those songs, that they’d’ve shot to number 1. I don’t think they would have.
August 8, 2014 @ 7:46 am
Clint. I can’t say whether they would have been number 1 songs but I feel confident in saying that if either had been cut by FGL , Blake, Aldean …guys with huge marketing dollars and huge fan followings …those songs would have seen considerably more exposure ( AirPlay , live performance and downloads . ) At some point in career arcs the popularity of that artist being relentlessly marketed begets the success and popularity of the song . I want to believe that even the young uninitiated country fan would respond to a GREAT song delivered by a hot young artist ( flavor of the day ) if that single was marketed the way most pap is . I think is similar to how people pay more attention to a cause when there’s a familiar , accepted name associted with that cause . It gives credibility to the cause … Awareness is the first step in the process. Great songs aren’t afforded that awareness the way they once were .
August 8, 2014 @ 11:05 am
RE: Shania Twain, I actually like her sound from her debut album and a few other songs she released. “What made you say that” is a respectable pop-country song. About the time she exploded, and started dressing like a dominatrix, her music went in a whole other direction.
Fun fact; she sang background vocals on Sammy Kershaw’s Haunted Heart.
August 8, 2014 @ 7:53 am
I’ve been following this site with interest, I came to it more from a recent Jason Isbell/Holly Williams fandom and a lifetime spent listening to indie/punk than from “pure country” place. But I feel a kindred spirit and love of music here and have discovered new artists that I now love. Thanks.
Given my musical roots, though, I find this struggle with authenticity interesting. I gave up on “mainstream rock and roll” probably thirty years ago now, in the mid-80s in college when the Replacements and other bands took the mantle of the Rolling Stones, etc. without achieving even 1/1 millionth of their “success.” It wouldn’t even occur to me today to worry about the commercial success of bands I love (yet when a band gets huge, like maybe first album Guns and Roses, I have no problem recognizing their greatness…ie, I’m not a snob for snob’s sake — I just like good, challenging music).
So it’s interesting watching all of you wrestle with the direction of mainstream country and wishing those artists were better, or more authentic, etc. and/or that the artists you love could reach the same level of mainstream recognition and success.
In those ways, the country music industry and fanbase seems to have more in common with hip hop because the concept of mainstream success is built into your DNA (though in different ways). In hip hop, success or making it big is the target of the journey yet at the same time authenticity is rewarded, whether at JayZ level (global domination) or mid-level (Wu Tang). You can’t be a complete sell-out and make it, but if you make it you aren’t necessarily a sell-out.
In country, it seems (to me, strictly as an outsider) that mainstream success as an end-goal is built into the ethos of Nashville. That it’s now warped into something that doesn’t feel so great is just the ultimate capitalism 101 end-game that I saw make mainstream rock irrelevant — yet still able to sell millions of records from crappy bands — decades ago.
With No Depression and alt-country already well-established ideas, and the Internet and social media today allowing artists to get known and sell out shows outside of the mainstream (albeit not become billionaires) it seems a place like Saving Country Music would do better to advocate for building a community (or in punk/indie parlance a “scene”) outside the mainstream rather than wishing, hoping, and cajoling the mainstream to come back to a better place.
Just my two cents, and I hope it comes across as respectful and interested rather than condescending in any way.
My 16 year old suburban daughter (who has pretty good musical taste) is nonetheless seduced, along with her friends, by the giant hooks and good looking boys in mainstream country. It’s a winning formula. I’m not sure she’d ever be a Waylon or Sturgill fan. But I also won’t let her go to Country Thunder, it scares the crap out of me what she’d run into there.
So keep fighting the good fight re: the misogyny and outright violence. But maybe fight the musical battle on a different front (?)
August 8, 2014 @ 10:40 am
Harvest the vast legacy of country music. Ignore the honesty, the deep emotional content, the sincere faith, the subtlety, the authenticity, the originality. Embrace the redneck, the superficial, the predictable. (Elements that were always the to a certain extent.) Separate the wheat from the chaff… and keep the chaff!
August 8, 2014 @ 9:46 pm
Country music is going through an identity crisis similar to the one the Republican Party is going through. The Republican Establishment (e.g. McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, Jeb Bush, Christie, etc) are ashamed to be conservative. They think Republicans need to be more like Democrats to prove that they are not right wing rednecks with our grandparents’ values, to show that they “belong” in the 21st century. And the Nashville establishment, and many mainstream “country” artists, are ashamed to be country. There is an unfortunate milquetoast defensiveness among both groups.
August 9, 2014 @ 12:39 am
The Republican Party has actually trended in the opposite direction from country music, as the party moved toward its base over the last four decades. Nixon’s and Eisenhower’s economic policies were equivalent to (or perhaps even slightly to the left of) Obama’s, and even Reagan would be considered an establishment or even moderate Republican today, with his willingness to raise taxes, lack of zeal for cutting domestic social spending, and his outright amnesty policy on immigration.
August 9, 2014 @ 5:17 am
I mostly disagree. Under Reagan the top income tax rate decreased from 70% to 28%. Reagan also never had Republican control of the House. On the other hand the Republicans had full control over both houses of Congress and the Presidency from 2002-2006, and during those years they almost doubled the federal role in education and passed an unfunded expansion in Medicare. Reagan wasn’t conservative 100% of the time, but neither are Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, or Christie. And today’s establishment Republicans in Congress will often nominally vote against Democratic bills knowing they will pass, after not opposing procedural measures that almost assure their passage. At least Reagan usually stood for something.
August 9, 2014 @ 8:36 am
The Nashville establishment chases the big crossover money, while grass roots country fans want music that is authentically country. The Republican establishment does the bidding of big money donors such as the Chamber of Commerce, while rank and file Republicans want to stick to their conservative values. Establishment Republicans believe that conservatives, such as tea party supporters, are the problem. The country establishment believes that the problem with country is country, that country must be more generic and more like pop in order to win. The Nashville establishment wants Taylor Swift to continue to be the face of country music, because she appeals to crossover fans who aren’t really country fans, she dresses well, and she hangs out with mainstream celebrities, which is the image they want to project to the public. They apologize for older country music and the old farts and jackasses who still want to listen to it, as if they’re skeletons in the closet that need to be swept away and buried. They copy trends in pop music, about 10 years later. What bothers me the most about the mainstream country establishment is that their defensiveness and their inferiority complex is ruining the music.
August 9, 2014 @ 9:20 am
I know you like making these political analogies when it comes to the state of country music, but I think these are selfish posts that you have made. You know damn well that the owner of this website discourages injecting partisan politics into these discussion and that is what you have done here. I’m pretty sure this has been pointed out to you before.
August 10, 2014 @ 1:26 am
Actually Jack, I’ve seen left-wingers on here actually insulting large sects of people that they disagree with, and no one ever says anything about it. It goes both ways. If you’re gonna call out the righties, then you need to call out the lefties too.
August 10, 2014 @ 7:35 am
Or, you need to avoid the whole political mess, and focus on the music. That was the point Jack was making.
August 9, 2014 @ 6:11 pm
Why does country always grovel and apologize for itself? At least half of the country music stars today would consider “not that country” as complimentary but if you told a punk or a metal band that they weren’t that punk or metal it’d be a huge insult.
You can be a counter culture or a monoculture. Just how much more rap with Telecasters are you willing to be? Time to pick, country music!
August 9, 2014 @ 7:08 pm
The country music establishment seems to have the self confidence of a 15 year old Taylor Swift fan. It wants very badly to be popular. It is insecure that someone else is prettier and more cool, and is afraid to be left out. Nashville seems to think it’s the homely girl sitting in the bleachers, when compared to the mainstream pop music industry in Los Angeles.
A big part of this is also economics. I think of the country audience as two separate segments: the old timers who love small town America and never want to leave, and the restless young people who want to move to the city. It is hard to have blockbuster sales selling only to the first group, so the industry wants to focus on the second group. The trendy young people move in herds, and they create hits. And trendy young culture has been steadily urbanizing for the past 15-20 years. It is what it is.
August 9, 2014 @ 7:42 pm
If the country music industry wants to appeal to urbanites, then why use the cliched rural checklist lyrics in nearly every song?
August 10, 2014 @ 1:20 am
Because Eric, urbanites have very boring lives, so they enjoy living vicariously through music. There are city boys all over this nation driving lifted trucks, who’ve never been anywhere near a dirt road, or a cow, or a pasture.
August 10, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
“urbanites have very boring lives”
If that were the case, urban living wouldn’t be such a hot trend right now.
August 10, 2014 @ 10:40 am
Many young urbanites do not appreciate the substance of country music in its more traditional forms. They think of country folks in terms of mostly negative stereotypes. Thus it is easier to sell them “country” music as entertainment for drunken parties, rather than music for serious listening. It’s similar to why white boys in the suburbs started listening to rap in the 1990s. Rap lyrics portrayed blacks in negative and stereotypical ways, and while most middle class white boys had not lived those lifestyles themselves, they listened to rap more for the attitude than for the music.
August 10, 2014 @ 6:25 pm
The song Common by Pulp also done in a fantastic cover version by of all people William Shatner and Joe Jackson expresses this sentiment PERFECTLY.
I agree about the white boys but the even the black community seems to have bought into their own stereotype. I live near Oakland and the hip-hop checklist is walking the streets their everyday. It make me sad. Hip-hop started as a vibrant music with a real message and valid anger and grievances along with love and soul and laughter but it devolved so fast into “money on my mind mind on my money” cliches. I saw it happen in the span of 4 years of high school. It kind of blows my mind to look back on it now.
August 10, 2014 @ 10:50 am
I think bro country may also have benefited from a reaction to the sugary sweet girly sounds of Taylor Swift and the watered down pop of Lady Antebellum, which were mainstays of country radio during the preceding years of 2009-2011. There must have been a sizable segment of the audience that did not find pretty dresses, hand hearts, and ballads about crushes and breakups satisfying. But unfortunately the treatment isn’t always better than the disease.
August 10, 2014 @ 6:20 pm
I don’t know why it apologizes for what it does when hip-hop certainly could and should apologize for it’s stereotypes and other ills. The image it sells people in the black community is not doing any great services to it. But even there great music abounds if you ignore the radio and respects the roots.
What I find strange, not to get too far off topic, is the larger black community gave up on their own musical heritage, blues/jazz for r’n’r and r’n’b and seems to continue to do so even with those genres in favor of rap and hip-hop. Blues was basically saved by the Brits in the late 50s and the 60s. Compare Niki Minaj to Etta James or Lil’ Wayne to B.B. King I mean the entire package the image and everything, something got lost in the transition/the message/ what music does and should do. And maybe we need some Brits to save country music. Assuming, folk like Lindi and Sturgill don’t finally take hold in the mainstream and save it.
And despite whatever, personal antics older artists may have had there was SOME real respectability to the job as a musician both front of the house and back of the house. You showed up and played and did the job for the people who paid, you were for the most part professional. No Show Jones excluded. I don’t get that feeling from these newer acts. Speaking of working musicians the new documentary about The Wrecking Crew is SUPER AWESOME the amounts hits they played on is staggering, just STAGGERING. Hal Blaine might be my new hero.
August 10, 2014 @ 8:25 pm
I have always found the black community’s abandonment of their traditional genres to be strange as well. From reading over some online forums, I seem to have found two explanations:
1) With genres like jazz and rock n roll, once white audiences came to like the music and white artists gained a foothold, radio and record labels began to focus almost exclusively on the white artists. This left much of the black community wholly disillusioned with the genre.
2) At heart, the black community has always preferred rhythmic music with minimal melody. Much of the melodic nature of early black-invented genres like jazz could be attributed to blacks’ desire to prove their respectability to the white population in an era when blacks were generally viewed as inferior. As time has passed and racism has faded, blacks no longer feel the need to tailor their musical style to appeal to white audiences and white critics, and this has ultimately caused their music to take on a completely rhythmic nature.
August 18, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
Those theories are VREY interesting. Because they also left behind Rock n Roll when Elvis took over. And yet there are anomalies like Hendrix and Prince.
#2 s a very interesting theory and I could see that with jazz but not blues is very simple in structure.
I will say most African music I hear doesn’t sound “complex” in the same way say Mozart is complex but I don’t know enough about it comment on that exactly but African sounds very rhythm driven and very much meant for dancing. And there are no great African composers (in the vein of Bach/Mozart) that I can think of.
But in this light I wonder if now whites are trying to appeal to blacks by going more hip-hop and edm and rhythm with country. To try and break into the fold in that market. I mean overall whites have not had a huge lasting stay in hip-hop, which I find interesting since in almost every other major genre of American music, with the exception of MAYBE funk whites put their own stamp on it and have had major selling acts in these genres. RnR, blues, jazz, folk, RnB/Soul… But hip-hop seems to be the last area whites have not made a huge dent. Interesting ideas I’ll be looking into this more for my own podcast.
August 10, 2014 @ 8:54 pm
Authenticity, and the perception of a certain kind of authenticity, is fundamental to country music, just as “sex and drugs” are fundamental to the majority of rock music, according to such authorities as Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. That authenticity encompassed many things from rural life, hard living, prison, love, to religion and family, but if it was to be truly country music, it had to be there. Country music and its relations bluegrass, western swing, etc was roots music, and when it has lost its roots, it’s lost its authenticity, and is cotton candy as opposed to tacos or any other real food of any kind.
August 10, 2014 @ 10:09 pm
Hey Trigger, I didn’t really know where to post this but someone just turned me onto this guy named “Buck Ford”. I was really skeptical when I heard his name but he’s pretty damn good and if you haven’t heard of him I’d give him a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMSKdjoRvaU
Very George Strait-ish.
August 10, 2014 @ 11:30 pm
Thanks for the suggestion.
August 10, 2014 @ 10:54 pm
Sammy Kershaw’s comments are that of someone in the music business… but he better be careful, even Ray Price got shut down after weighing in on Nashville’s golden boy Blake Shelton. I reviewed a Justin Moore album years ago and commented it was like the music execs were over-correcting their tires leaving the road on the way to a major accident in Nashville, and even though a few of us “Old farts and Jackasses” may hate it, the Beast has determined that Blake Shelton and his ilk are the future of country music if there is to be any money in it… just the same way Justin Moore sounds like a Yankee trying to mock a southern accent, I doubt it is what George Strait meant when he sang the song Twang, more like Murder on Music Row or Gone Country. I blame it on Garth Brooks’ degree in Marketing and Shania Twain’s Def Leppard produced albums that sold more than Patsy Cline before she ever even went on tour. Reduce the genre to the lowest common denominator and market the hell out of it, today that means any ole redneck cliché. Country music has been declared dead more than once, but no doubt a modern day Randy Travis will come along and all will be right again… in the meantime, our radio heroes are a fast dying breed, support them while you still can. Tell it like it is, Sammy!
August 10, 2014 @ 11:30 pm
“even Ray Price got shut down after weighing in on Nashville”™s golden boy Blake Shelton”
My estimation has it the other way around.
August 11, 2014 @ 7:10 am
Ray Price’s Facebook page got shut down after his comments on Blake Shelton.
Ever the gentleman though, Mr. Price genuinely regretted that anything he said could affect BS’ career… but if one was to read between the lines between BS’ half-assed apology where he said he meant every offending word about the state of country music and Mr. Price’s accepting his apology at a backstage meeting in Oklahoma, it is pretty clear the Machine got to him and Blake came out smelling like roses growing the very manure he fermented.
August 11, 2014 @ 1:34 am
“just the same way Justin Moore sounds like a Yankee trying to mock a southern accent, I doubt it is what George Strait meant when he sang the song Twang, more like Murder on Music Row or Gone Country.”
You’re a man after my own heart, sir.
August 11, 2014 @ 7:13 am
Love this site. Very interesting perspectives that are well expressed.
Today’s country music seems to derive a giddy delight in poking fun of itself through itself. Whether Jerrod Niemann is getting funky, funky on his donkey, donkey en route to the honky tonky, or Kenny Chesney’s main squeeze is hung up on the sexiness of his tractor, much of today’s country music is a parody of … country music. This gets back to the main point of the piece above which says country music is trying to be anything but country music… I agree and would add that when country music “artists” (and I use the term as fast and as loose as a rap lyric in a Big Smo song) finally come face to face with the fact that it IS country music, they’re compelled to make fun of it and the traditionally country lifestyles of their older fans to prove that they don’t have anything to prove. It’s like a genre filled with novelty songs. Except novelty songs are the rule and not the exception.
When the end comes, Hank, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Waylon Jennings will be the four horsemen of the apocalypse who ride in to take out Nashville. Willie will be on the interstate outside of Austin smoking a J aboard a sunflower-oil fueled RV en route to a gig at a San Antonio biergarten and will, therefore, be spared.