Sturgill Simpson’s New Album Doesn’t Belong on Country Charts
And something tells me Sturgill Simpson agrees.
This is not some commentary on the quality of Sturgill’s new album, Sound & Fury. It’s not about country fans evening scores because he decided to not make a country record. If you like the record, that’s all that matters, regardless of genre. It’s simply stating a fact that Sturgill’s new record is not country, and doesn’t belong on country charts pushing actual country albums lower down the ladder, and diluting what the term “country” means. On Billboard’s latest Top Country Albums chart, Sound & Fury shows up at #3. Sturgill was beat by Whiskey Myers, who came in at #1 with their self-titled release, and Jon Pardi’s Heartache Medication at #2.
“It’s definitely not a country record,” Sturgill Simpson told Sarah Silverman point blank back in November of 2018 about the new album. The “definitely” underscores that there’s no wiggle room in that interpretation. Sturgill Simpson then said in July, “We went in without any preconceived notions and came out with a really sleazy, steamy rock n roll record.”
Then in the only print feature published on Sound & Fury that included Sturgill Simpson’s participation, Jon Caramanica writing for The New York Times states, “‘Sound & Fury’ is an album full of songs fired in the caldron of that new success: resentful, agonized, seething. It is also not a country album.“ Sturgill describes the album later in the article as a “…sleazy synth-rock dance record.”
So the question is, why is Sound & Fury on the Billboard country charts?
The answer is because Billboard has no idea what it’s doing. This has been true for it’s Hot Country Songs chart for some time, with Billboard allowing a song by Bebe Rexha to become the longest-running #1 in the chart’s history with “Meant To Be” just because Florida Georgia Line guested on it. The same thing is happening as we speak with a song by EDM artist Marshmello called “One Thing Right.” It just went #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs due to Kane Brown appearing on it. The collaboration knocks Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up” out of the top spot that it’s held for months due almost solely to people making Tik-Tok videos of it. This week “The Git Up” officially failed at country radio after topping out at #44, speaking to the track’s remarkable weakness within the genre. Nobody in country cares about this song, yet it’s considered one of the biggest country tracks in all of 2019, according to Billboard.
And what’s the most added song on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart this week? It’s a song by Justin Bieber collaborating with Dan + Shay called “10,000 Hours.” Of course none of these questionable entries on Billboard’s country charts resemble anything near an actual country song. But at least in these cases, the artists and the industry still regard them as country, legitimately or not. When it comes to Sturgill Simpson’s Sound & Fury, this is not about various interpretations of what is country and what isn’t. Sturgill quite literally went out of his way to purposely not make this a country record. Sound & Fury was not released on a country label. It’s not being played on country radio. Sound & Fury is not country by anyone’s estimate. And yet it lands on the country charts anyway.
Does any of this even matter anymore? That’s a good question, and one that gets more interesting by the minute as Billboard continues to make these dubious decisions, while the periodical recently decided to put all their charts behind a paywall, severely limiting access to the public. So now if you want to see where your favorite band is charting, you have to give Billboard the same amount you give Netflix each month, or Spotify for a premium account. Or, you can just ignore these charts since they seem to be making a mad dash to becoming more illegitimate and obsolete as we speak.
But that didn’t stop one of Billboard’s catastrophically bad decisions earlier this year from becoming the biggest discussion point in the entirety of country music in 2019, and an existential crisis for the genre. We’re talking about Billboard’s unilateral decision to first allow Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” onto the Hot Country Songs chart, and then unilaterally deciding to remove it the next week. There are now upwards of 600 articles and think pieces written on this decision, and the adversary in nearly every one of them is not Billboard, who was solely responsible for the disastrous decision. It’s the supposed racism coming from country music, when nobody in the country industry had anything to do with the decision, whatsoever.
In an article posted by Billboard on September 19th—well after the fervor over “Old Town Road” had died down—Billboard’s Senior Vice President of charts and data development, Silvio Pietroluongo, finally came clean, saying the decision to remove “Old Town Road” from the Hot Country Songs chart was “purely an internal decision.” But of course, Billboard didn’t pipe up about this as country music was getting dragged through the mud. They only spoke on the matter through proxies and on condition of anonymity. Why would they though, when it was country taking all the heat instead of Billboard?
Removing Lil Nas X from the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart proves Billboard either made a mistake adding it in the first place, or the mistake was removing it. But regardless of what anyone feels was the right decision in the matter, it was Billboard’s inconsistency that created the controversy. Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up” is allowed to chart in country, and so is Sturgill Simpson, even though he’s actively marketing Sound & Fury as his breakaway from the country genre. Again, “It’s definitely not a country record,” is Sturgill’s opinion on the matter.
The unfortunate and extremely messy chaos that ensued around Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road” is what can happen when these charts are not dealt with in any kind of uniform, informed, intuitive, judicious, or reverent manner. Ken Burns had been working seven years on an 8-part documentary about country music that aired in September, and all he could talk about in the run up to the film was how Lil Nas X should be considered country, attempting to stave off being rebuked by the public at large for devoting his time on such a racist genre. These are the widespread and effusive implications the judgement calls Billboard is making on these charts can have.
And don’t bother with the argument about how there’s actually more country on Sturgill Simpson’s Sound & Fury than there appears at first listen. This point was made in the review of the album when Saving Country Music concluded, “Multiple tracks on the album are country songs, just with a different sonic treatment.” But it’s those same sonic treatments that Billboard cited when removing Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” from the country indexes. Of course there are other records that Sound & Fury is more “country” than currently on Billboard’s Top Country Albums charts, but this is more of a further rebuke of Billboard’s methodology than it is an excuse to include Sturgill Simpson. Some country fans will criticize Sturgill unfairly for being on the country charts, when it was Billboard’s decision, not his.
Also try telling the Texas band Green River Ordinance that none of this matters. They were kicked off the same chart in 2016 that Billboard has Sound & Fury placed at #3 at the moment for not being country enough. There is no way you can conclude that Green River Ordinance’s Fifteen is less country than Sturgill’s Sound & Fury.
Sturgill Simpson’s new album charted #3 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, as well as #12 on the all genre Billboard 200. The album found it’s home, and doesn’t need to chart in country to be dealt with equitably. Nowhere is Sound & Fury being listed as country. Why not honor the wishes of the artist, and allow the album to chart where it’s appropriate? Otherwise, it’s just taking up space and attention from titles that deserve that distinction on Billboard’s country charts, and further mucks up the already nauseating discussion about what country music even is.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:08 am
Wouldn’t its charting on country be due to Elektra Records (and by proxy Warner Music) possibly labeling it as country? Lil Nas X made it on the country charts due to intentional mislabeling, and even though Sturgill is adamant about it not being a country record, it doesn’t prevent Elektra/Warner from pushing it as such.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:40 am
I would have to see the metadata sheets confirm how ‘Sound & Fury’ was labeled by Elektra, but it appears to be populating under “alternative” in the places that label releases like Apple Music. Alternative is a subset of rock. I’m not seeing anywhere where it’s populating as country.
Even then, Green River Ordinance filled out their metadata for the album “Fifteen” in 2016 to expressly chart in country, and were denied. Lil Nas X called himself country, and was denied. So clearly Billboard can and has exercised editorial decisions here regardless of what an artist wants to call their music.
The label where a song or album originates is also important. As Billboard says, one of the reasons they denied Lil Nas X but allowed Blanco Brown is because Blanco was on a country label, and Lil Nas X wasn’t. The new Elektra label is sort of a grab bag of country-ish and rock artists. It shouldn’t deny anyone from charting in country, but it’s not expressly a country label that would mean charting in country should be considered automatic.
Again, the issue I have here is consistency. I don’t deny these are very difficult decisions to be made during an era when genre is becoming more and more nebulous. But clearly it wasn’t Sturgill Simpson’s intention to make a country record. Clearly it was Green River Ordinance’s intention to make a country record. Let’s be consistent because these decisions affect the careers of these artists, and the other artists who get reshuffled on the charts due to these decisions.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:17 am
It’s not only more country than other albums on the chart, it’s more country than his previous album. Sailor’s Guide was not a country album. (It was still really good though.)
October 9, 2019 @ 1:01 pm
Ehh, most of the songs on Sailor’s Guide have enough country elements that you could reasonably call it a country album, even if it might fit better in other genres. Sound and Fury is clearly a rock album.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:35 am
With most radio stations owned by a handful of companies, the charts are just another tool for legitimizing the homogenization of music to make more money with less expense. There’s no need to sign or promote a talented country artist when you can throw in Bieber on a record with an established act and put millions of eyes on Dan+Shay that never would have known them otherwise. With Billboard as the acknowledged gatekeeper, the radio stations can then say they are giving the people what they want no matter how devoid of substance the songs are. Radio conglomerates want everyone to eat from the same trough, so filling it with songs featuring Bieber brings down the expense and earns executives more money. Billboard is more than happy to lend their name to the process for some of those dollars.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:42 am
Adding to your point, the exact same could be written for Whiskey Myers’ new album as well. Classified as Rock in iTunes and the band has said its a rock album/they’re a rock band. Yet it ends up #1 on Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:57 am
I would respectfully disagree. Songs like “Rolling Stone,” “Bury My Bones,” “Houston County Sky,” “California to Caroline,” “Running,” “Bad Weather” all are just as much country as rock, if not more. No doubt there are also some straight up rock songs on the record, but nothing close to ‘Sound & Fury.’ Whiskey Myers is one of those bands just like Blackberry Smoke and Jason Isbell who mix country and rock pretty consistently, so I don’t have a problem with them populating on both charts.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:07 am
I definitely agree Whiskey Myers is country but I also think Drive By Truckers are and I feel like thats a minority position around here. But I prefer a broad definition of country where anything that wants to be country is country, and we can classify within that and criticize pop country for being bad.
To me an illustration of this is drums in country music which once upon a time were a mark a song isnt country, but now real drums are a marker of being real country as opposed to canned snaps or snares. The Opry used to not allow any acts with drums and I always am amused by Murder on Music Row having the line “but drums and rock n roll guitars are mixed up in your face” on a song that literally features drums.
Sturgill though yeah he says this isnt a country record so its not. But if somebody wants to be country it seems weird saying they arent when what we really mean is they suck.
October 9, 2019 @ 9:42 am
This Beiber like stuff is going to get a lot worse with the Scooter Braun takeover. Grady Smith jokingly compared him to Thanos and it’s really pretty apt.
Blanco Brown is on Broken Bow Records and to my ear differs mostly from snap-track garbage in being a quality improvement. “The Git Up” has a springy beat that doesn’t crawl under my skin want make me want to break things like white guy cowboy hat rap. This is the problem, the mainstream is already there.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:27 am
Baker, I predicted the whole Scooter Braun effect months ago on this website. I feel that Trig should do a review on Scooter. He’s super powerful in the industry and he’s probably the season Dan and Shay gets tons of tv air time on programs and award shows. Scooter is responsible for Bieber, Ariana Grande, Kanye West, and even Zac Brown Band (says it all) … Don’t be surprised if Ariana collabs with Zac Brown or Dan Shay someday…..
Also, Scooter is quite sneaky too… Because Ariana Grande used to be on a Nickelodeon show called Victorious (a musical sitcom) but Victoria Justice was the main star of said program over Ariana. Long story short, Scooter worked with Ariana as her manager once the sitcom ended, and there were rumors that they staged a fued between Ariana and Victoria in order to paint Victoria as a bully\bad person. Soon after, Arianas career soured while Victoria’s hasn’t taken off. Many cite Scooter as the reason. Even Taylor Swift doesn’t trust him….
October 9, 2019 @ 9:43 am
At this point I think the only answer is to eliminate genre labels from sales and streaming charts. Maintain the genre labels for airplay charts because what you’re measuring there is frequency of plays on stations that identify as country (or rock or R&B or whatever); but the people who run the Billboard charts are statisticians rather than music directors, so they have no business trying to categorize songs like that.
October 9, 2019 @ 10:19 am
Oh for Christ’s sake, what a pointless argument.
At least I like Sound and Fury. who cares if it’s Country at this point?
I’d rather hear something that isn’t Country that I like, than something that isn’t that I don’t.
So better to send the message that I like this, regardless of what chart it’s on or what genre you call it.
Better to get rid of Kane Brown now and sort out Sturgill Simpson later.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:20 am
“who cares if it’s Country at this point?”
Sturgill Simpson does. That’s the reason he went out of his way to say it wasn’t.
“Better to get rid of Kane Brown now and sort out Sturgill Simpson later.”
I don’t think it works that way.
October 9, 2019 @ 10:23 am
The way I see it, heckling Sturgill Simpson’s record won’t hurt Kane Brown or Lil Nas.
So if I can’t get Kane Brown out of Country, I can at least get Sturgill Simpson in.
Sort of like I’d rather grow zuchini in the pumpkin patch than weeds, because at least Zucchnini are good for something, and I’ve already given up on getting pumpkins
October 9, 2019 @ 11:10 am
Are the deer eating your pumpkins?
October 9, 2019 @ 2:32 pm
Agree totally, Fuzzy. If it were up to me, half the people on the country charts wouldn’t be labeled as country, but it isn’t. I’m not sure what the point of all this fuss is. Sturgill is more country than most of the country artists these days anyway. And I really doubt that he’s mad about his record charting in the Top 3.
October 9, 2019 @ 10:38 am
It’s a strange phenomenon to me seeing country fans try and force music into boxes. While I agree with keeping things seperate on charts if an artist says he’s a rock artist why can’t people just be happy with enjoying his rock album? It doesn’t have to be labeled country to be good. Same as people hating on vapid pop country until it’s an artist they like then suddenly it’s a great fun song. It’s weird.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:19 am
“It’s a strange phenomenon to me seeing country fans try and force music into boxes.”
Country fans did not decide where to put Sturgill Simpson on the charts any more than they chose where to put Lil Nas X. Billboard made this decision. It is Billboard putting music in a “box,” in your words. And in this case, they put it in a box not even the artist wanted it in. It is Billboard that is boxing and labeling Sturgill Simpson, and eating into his creativity. He did everything he could to make sure this record was not called country.
“It doesn’t have to be labeled country to be good.”
Who said it did? Once again, folks are arguing against a position they’ve created because they know it’s indefensible, as opposed to the position the critics of “Sound & Fury” are actually taking.
October 9, 2019 @ 12:33 pm
Calm down. I didn’t blame fans for Billboards labeling. How the hell would fans influence that. Let’s use some common sense.
I’m talking about Sturgill saying it’s a rock album and then the comments of but it’s more country than X and it has more country songs than…..
Enjoy it for what the artist wants it to be, thats it.
October 9, 2019 @ 12:07 pm
I don’t like to look at it as country fans trying to “force” music into boxes as much as it is fans trying to preserve a huge piece of their lives. Nothing is wrong with rock, pop, classical, etc, etc, the problem is when songs that are ENTIRELY pop or rock or whatever invade country music and steal the spotlight away from someone who has dedicated their entire lives to making music in a genre they love. I love pizza and I love Chinese food. I love rock and I love country. If you went to a Chinese restaurant and the only thing on the menu was pizza, wouldn’t you be upset, regardless of how much you like pizza? You went there with the purpose of getting Chinese food, like how I listen to country music with the intent to hear country music. Zac Brown said in an interview the other day that he’s “not a country artist” and asked purists to leave him alone. Sturgill made it very clear this is not a country album. No one is trying to force them into a box, but I’m not ok with them taking advantage of the genre and exploiting it (I’m looking at you Lil Nas X) What we’re trying to do is prevent country music from eroding and collapsing completely to the point where everything is just one monogenre and there’s nothing unique to listen to anymore.
October 9, 2019 @ 12:50 pm
I agree with everything you said. I’m all about avoiding a mono genre that’s why I’m pro siding with an artist who says this album is rock. I don’t see the point in people trying to find anything country in it and don’t think it has any place on the country charts. It’s hypocritical to let somebody like Sturgill slide in and then exclude other artists that are not deemed country enough.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:14 am
“Does any of this even matter anymore?”
No.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:24 am
Comedy?
October 9, 2019 @ 11:44 am
“synth-rock dance record”
That is exactly what it is. And exactly why I don’t like it.
October 9, 2019 @ 12:00 pm
I just reckon that this is an issue that will never end, we will always be fighting it as country fans. Those outside of our little sphere have never understood, ever since the beginnings when they labeled it as “hillbilly music”, to put down the music they didn’t fully comprehend.
October 9, 2019 @ 12:01 pm
If Billboard says it’s Country, maybe he can net another Grammy for best Country album of the year.
October 9, 2019 @ 12:32 pm
Would you rather see Sound & Fury win a Grammy Best Country Album of the Year, or some pop-country album get it?
October 9, 2019 @ 1:05 pm
Well, that depends on what the pop country album is. But on principle, I’d rather see the pop country album win. Let Sturgill compete in rock and the all-genre categories where “Sound & Fury” belongs. Just because we’re Sturgill fans doesn’t mean we should let our biases not allow us to see the forest for the trees. Country charts and awards are for country music. I may not dig on the latest from Carrie Underwood, but she’s always shown loyalty to country and its institutions. That’s what these charts and awards are for. When Sturgill releases another country record, which I’m confident he will, then he’ll get to compete again.
Also as an aside, don’t expect “Sound & Fury” to be nominated for anything for the upcoming Grammy Awards. It was released after the eligibility period. It won’t be considered until next year.
October 9, 2019 @ 3:45 pm
Yeah, I don’t really expect it to get that nomination, either, but in my opinion Sailor’s Guide was already a stretch for the category.
My point was, categories DO matter when a darling of the selectors sucks the oxygen out of a category and more fitting projects get forgotten.
October 10, 2019 @ 7:22 am
Pop country doesn’t automatically mean bad.
October 9, 2019 @ 1:55 pm
Hilarious, the total irony here. Ol’ Sturgey was trying to distance himself from country music as hard as he could. Call it a giant middle finger to his country fans, the industry, boredom, stagnation, restlessness, whatever, he made a record that’s devoid of steel guitar, fiddles, upright bass, banjo, chicken pickin telecaster, mandolin and the like. Its a lo-fi synth and guitar distortion rock/pop/ edm Frankenstein monster. The only way he coulda made it more non-country woulda been to rap all over it. Now Billboard throws it on the country album charts…hysterical really. I’m sure hes scratching his head, maybe even kicking a few things around the yard trying to figure out how and why this happened. ( IMO) Such irony. I guess the “country music” moniker is gonna be the monkey on his back he just can’t shake off, no matter how hard he tries.
Curious if anyone has looked, the latest Zac Brown abomination..is it on the Billboard country charts?
October 9, 2019 @ 3:56 pm
first off ….NOBODY listening to ‘country’ radio today is a COUNTRY fan or they wouldn’t be listening to ‘country ‘radio .
radio , labels and artists know this and exploit it .
the demographic targeted by “country’ radio now is largely non-discerning , not all that knowledgeable ( musically speaking ) and listen to other genres …likely as often .
hell , many people HERE do .
the labeling of a song as ‘country’ by billboard ( or whomever ) is meaningless whether its l’il nads , or sturgil , urban , maren morris or , carrie underwood . NONE of it is COUNTRY . very, very, very little on mainstream radio is COUNTRY . it makes no difference at this point whether they call sturgil country or billboard wants to chart him as country . alongside other ‘country’ chart-folk and an instrument here and there , there is absolutely no difference . NONE OF IT IS COUNTRY so hell …..call it anything you want .
the folks listening to mainstream radio don’t know or care and don’t want to know or care and don’t get what the fuss is about . they eat it up , buy it , stream it , pay to see it and don’t care what it is . THAT’S the business of ‘country’ music . find a demographic that’s young , gullible , impressionable, trend-centric and has no allegiance to or knowledge of COUNTRY music and exploit them for all they are worth . it goes back to shania …it cont’d with Swift and exploded with bro . do we really believe an artist -no matter her genre – would care if another genre played the shit out of her music and the cheques were bigger because of it ?
It’s BUSINESS all day long . BUSINESS . if it makes money , it must be good . If it makes money it must be right . if people who think they are listening to country music like it ….let’s call it country music .
the only thing that matters is getting exposure for REAL COUNTRY artists and that’s why the billboard stuff is just unfair . unfair to REAL artists and unfair to REAL fans of REAL COUNTRY .if sturgil or anyone else on ‘country’ radio cared that it was unfair to REAL COUNTRY artists don’t you think they’d step up and say so to these stations and these chart-maker-uppers …?
NO ONE CARES ….
BTW …if you think forced play and fake charts is a problem in the U.S…..consider that here in Canada stations are FORCED BY LAW to play 33 % CANADIAN CONTENT . and as long as it SOUNDS like the U.S radio’s definition of ‘country’ music , it gets played up here .there is absolutely NOTHING Canadian OR COUNTRY about the 33% our stations are forced to play . its a musical joke …..a nation FORCED by govn’t to play ‘country ‘ music by Canadians which sounds just like the crap American stations play as ‘country’ music .
WTF ????? .
October 9, 2019 @ 4:02 pm
Had a ticket to last night’s show in NJ, chose to stay home and get a full nights sleep.
Nuff said.
October 9, 2019 @ 4:37 pm
Hopefully Sturgill opens for Tyler during the upcoming tour. Better yet, have Tyler play 2 country sets.
October 9, 2019 @ 4:46 pm
I agree, it is not what I would consider a country album, but as so many of us agree, so much of what is on country charts is NOT country. That being said, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth was probably borderline, but it is the album that made me fall in love with Sturgill. The first single I heard of Sound & Fury was the title track, and to be honest, I wasn’t crazy about it. But after listening to the whole record…I’ve had it on repeat/shuffle every day. It just gets better and better. Can’t wait to see him (and Tyler Childers) live.
October 9, 2019 @ 5:03 pm
It isn’t a country record..biff said!
October 9, 2019 @ 5:58 pm
It’s not a country album.
Sound and Fury is fucking incredible.
Cameron Out.
October 9, 2019 @ 7:04 pm
Agreed and well put
October 9, 2019 @ 7:19 pm
This is stupid! Ol’Waylon always said dont let em put your music in a box! And he absolutely hated labels! And as for letting em compete in the correct genre for their various awards. Its part of the over all problem. My heroes in this industry all boycotted these awards shows because music shouldnt be a competition or have boundaries! It hinders the artistry and becomes manufactured! I will end by saying this sound and fury isnt a country record but its a sturgil record and i am a sturgil fan!!!
October 9, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
“So the question is, why is Sound & Fury on the Billboard country charts?”
The real answer is that nobody – including you – really cares how an artist (or a critic) defines their work. Florida Georgia Line, Lil Nas X, old-school Taylor Swift – they’ve all defined their music as country, and you’ve scolded all of them for what you see as deceptive marketing.
Billboard doesn’t care what Sturgill Simpson understands country music to be – someone from there presumably heard the record, and thought it sounded like country. Which, frankly, is how genre works for every person. Not to beat a dead horse, but you’ve labeled at least one song from the latest Kane Brown album as hip-hop, which is something no actual rap fan would say. You define hip-hop differently from how hip-hop fans do. Billboard defines country music differently from how you do.
“In an article posted by Billboard on September 19th—well after the fervor over “Old Town Road” had died down—Billboard’s Senior Vice President of charts and data development, Silvio Pietroluongo, finally came clean, saying the decision to remove “Old Town Road” from the Hot Country Songs chart was “purely an internal decision.”
Do you really believe this? It seems bizarre of you to be so critical of Billboard’s integrity on many of their country-related decisions only to believe them here, with a flimsy, flip-flop decision that angered everybody. It seems obvious to me that the Lil Nas X reclassification was due to the intense backlash from the country music community – including several country musicians who spoke out against it.
October 9, 2019 @ 8:02 pm
“It seems obvious to me that the Lil Nas X reclassification was due to the intense backlash from the country music community – including several country musicians who spoke out against it.”
That is physically impossible, and the only way anyone could come to such a conclusion is by reading false reporting on how Lil Nas X was removed from the country charts, which is ample. First off, there was no backlash about Lil Nas X being on the country charts. Nobody was even aware that he had been on the country charts until 10 days after he had been removed, and another chart cycle had been published. The artists that came out against the song did not do so until well after the song was removed. This is all easily verifiable.
If you want a detailed timeline of how it all happened, and the way the media made a false timeline to falsely implicate country music, the most concise explanation can be found in this article, where The Bitter Southerner had to offer a retraction for presenting this false timeline.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/bitter-southerner-posts-false-timeline-of-lil-nas-x-removal/
You can also read more in-depth about the false timeline the media presented, and why here:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/lil-nas-x-the-media-echo-chamber-shane-morriss-vile-past/
October 10, 2019 @ 12:35 pm
Musical Genre is not malleable to individual taste. I hate to let you in on the secret.
October 9, 2019 @ 7:48 pm
The more you talk about charts, the less significant this website becomes. You’ve lost your way Trigger. I don’t know what’s going on because it used to be I could agree with just about everything you wrote.
Now, just about every review you post pretty much misses the mark. (I don’t know what you were listening to the new Sturgill record on, and I’m no audiophile by any stretch but I pride myself on having a pretty decent setup and I thought that sonically, it sounded fantastic.)
I watched Tyler Childers play at Cains Ballroom last night, and if House Fire is such shitty song you’d never know by listening to a packed house stomp their boots in unison to it.
You’ve got this weird unhealthy obsession with Zac Brown and every other post is about fucking charts.
Do some interviews or something dude.
Your shit is going down the tubes.
October 9, 2019 @ 8:16 pm
1. I don’t do interviews, except in rare cases. But I did just interview Junior Brown: https://savingcountrymusic.com/junior-browns-iconic-guit-steel-guitar-has-been-stolen/
2. Never said “House Fire” was a shitty song, or anything close. Not sure how you came to that conclusion. I like “House Fire.” I did question the decision to release it as a lead single because I felt other songs represented Tyler’s new album better, but it all worked out in the end.
3. All my stories are about charts? I’ve done two stories on the charts in the last few days because that’s where the news has been. Also did a story about how the Ken Burns documentary affected so chart performances, but it wasn’t a dedicated article on the charts. But except for that, the last chart story I did was on August 12th. I just checked, and I’ve posted 108 articles between the last time I posted a story about the charts, and the two recent ones. That’s definitely not every other post. Similarly, Zac Brown just released two albums, and I wrote about them. Beyond that I’ve barely written about him at all. Sometimes when posts are popular, it makes them loom larger in people’s brains, when in between I’m posting about a wide variety of topics.
4. Reviews are opinions. If you disagree with them, I respect that. But it’s impossible for me to “miss the mark.” They’re my opinion.
I appreciate feedback from readers and take all criticism seriously, and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts here. But most of what you’re saying here is just stuff that’s either not true, or stuff I can’t control, and illustrates how sometimes it’s perceptions of what I’m doing as opposed to the reality of things that gets some readers sideways with me. But I will take your criticism to heart as best I can.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:31 pm
I’ve disagreed with a lot of things you’ve written, Trig, but I have to step back and say that the volume of material that you produce is just incredible. I don’t know how you do it. And it’s generally all well-written, with few spelling/grammar errors, even compared to a lot of heavily-staffed sites like Mediaite.
October 10, 2019 @ 7:31 am
You don’t have to justify yourself Trig some of us enjoy occasional chart talk. Like it or hate it, it is one of scoreboards of the music industry and sadly has a domino effect on a lot of other things. By the way the Billboard charts still come up full in Internet Explorer for me but not in Chrome.
I’m sure most people would love to see more interviews because you would dare to ask the questions nobody else would as well as interviewing artists no one else does. Who amongst us wouldn’t love to read your interview of a Mike Harmeier, Cody, Tyler, or one the Turnpike boys? I’m sure just like this site they would be the best in Country music.
October 10, 2019 @ 8:34 pm
I would argue it IS important for Trigger, and other commentators, to discuss charts, country radio, and industry leaders. Even though a lot of traditional country fans understandably don’t pay much attention to the mainstream anymore, part of “saving country music” is about protecting its institutions. So, that’s why I’m concerned when a Dan + Shay song is added to the WSM playlist, and that’s why we need to try to ensure pop-country industry leaders aren’t eventually invited to join the Country Music Hall of Fame’s anonymous selection committee. The day that Keith Urban, Kane Brown, Dan + Shay or even Jason Aldean is inducted into the hall of fame will be a very sad day indeed. It will render a currently meaningful institution meaningless. Just as has already happened to the Billboard Country charts.
October 9, 2019 @ 11:07 pm
Stomping boots = great song
October 9, 2019 @ 8:25 pm
Sturgill’s album charted country because he’s established a record as a country artist and his fan base is in country.
If Tim McGraw puts out a record of pop standards using Axel Stordahl woodwind and string arrangements made for Frank Sinatra, it’s going to chart country.
At least the first time. At some point, if an artist truly breaks from country–like Tom Wopat or Shelby Lynne–they seem to keep their albums off the country charts.
October 9, 2019 @ 10:45 pm
Whatever it is I can’t stop listening to it.
October 10, 2019 @ 3:59 am
Me neither. The other day I went fishing. As we were pulling out of the dock I turn it on and played that shit loud as we rode offshore. It really is a badass driving record. Meant to be played LOUD.
October 10, 2019 @ 12:35 am
Honestly I agree with article. While people are allowed to experiment with their sounds we cannot gravitate too far away from what TRADITIONAL country is. At what point does one say ” this isnt country…and we cannot accept this on country radio?.”..Sadly it has become more about making country music mainstream, getting crossover hits and making money instead of preserving the credibility of what true country music.
October 10, 2019 @ 1:55 am
All quality aside Old Town Road is more country than this record. I bet he’s going to win or be nominated for some Country or Americana awards for this somehow .
October 10, 2019 @ 9:10 am
Lil Nas X wanted to be considered on the country charts, and was disallowed. Sturgill Simpson says ‘Sound & Fury’ is “Definitely not a country record,” and it was included anyway. I think “Old Town Road” is a terrible song. There has been no artist I have touted more in the 11 years of Saving Country Music than Strugill Simpson. But it would be immoral and unfair to not point out the rampant hypocrisy in this decision by Billboard.
Beyond what any of us think about Lil Nas X or Sturgill, this inconsistency is patently unfair to both artists.
October 10, 2019 @ 5:38 am
He said it wasn’t country and it isn’t. Do any of us really care what is in the country charts? The album charts probably don’t really mean much as a result of downloads etc. I remember reading that Sturgill was the savior of country music a few years back and having heard his early albums, I wondered why. I wasn’t sure he was ever that country. He recorded some good country songs but some ‘weird’ songs. I am not sure that this is that good a rock album. Its loud but without much melody. Like some of his earlier music it is a bit all over the place for me. For Country music ‘saviors’, Tyler Childers, Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, Midland etc have all impressed me this year. There are plenty more. Whiskey Myers is for me better Country and better rock than Sturgill. There is plenty of great country music around but perhaps not much of it appears to be on the charts.
October 10, 2019 @ 6:21 am
It IS more of a rock beat but I seriously believe that Sturgill Simpson is the new Outlaw Country. This album fits that category.
October 10, 2019 @ 7:07 am
If I want to listen to country, I will not listen to this album. It should not be on a country genre list.
I will add some of these songs to my workout playlist, along with TOAD, Metallica, whatever. Rock mustic…that is the genre in which it belongs.
This album was exactly what I expected when I read Simpson’s description of it before its release. I honestly do not understand all the controversy and chatter when he really made a good explanation before its release.
October 10, 2019 @ 7:28 am
This album was exactly what I expected when I read Simpson’s description of it before its release.
This is close to how I feel. I would say that this album is along the lines of what I was hoping for based on Sturgill’s description. I accepted that it wasn’t going to be a country album. But at least it’s a collection of rock songs. It’s not his Metal Machine Music.
October 10, 2019 @ 8:37 am
I remember reading somewhere in an interview with Shooter about Electric Rodeo that he was really happy when it charted on the Country top 10 because “we wanted to expand what country music could be”. In a way that feels like this. Then Shooter’s Countach, which personally is one of my favorites, charted #7 on the Billboard Dance Charts. So who knows!
I definitely would say that Countach set the way for this record. Even some of the melody lines seem ripped from Countach. But what do i know I work in drywall.
October 10, 2019 @ 9:59 am
The real comparison between Shooter records and “Sound & Fury” is Shooter’s “Black Ribbons.” That was the concept record where he stepped outside of country, started using synthesizers, and even had a companion movie just like Sturgill does.
There is a very interesting review in the Washington Post about “Sound & Fury,” and the critic directly ties it to Shooter’s “Black Ribbons.” He was complimentary of Sturgill’s live show, but if you thought I was brutal on “Sound & Fury,” you should read this:
“You have to understand how bad the album is.
Bad. Though maybe not inexplicably so. Simpson is a defiant, self-possessed country star — the rare kind who routinely violates the codes of Nashville songcraft and industry decorum but still has a big-old Grammy collecting dust in his closet. He has no interest in scoring radio hits or fulfilling anyone else’s expectations.
But throughout “Sound & Fury,” it’s difficult to figure out what Simpson expects of himself. This is a shrill, tetchy, claustrophobic rock album sodden with record-biz pouting and only the dullest shades of pre-apocalyptic ennui. And believe it or not, it’s not without precedent. Back in 2010, Shooter Jennings dropped “Black Ribbons,” a similarly mutated country album with a dystopian lyric sheet and at least a half-dozen guitar riffs that pushed the perimeters of good taste.
The thing that made “Black Ribbons” so cool was that Jennings sounded as if he were secretly having a blast. On “Sound & Fury,” Simpson only sounds aggrieved, grousing about how he wants to “make art, not friends” with a joylessness that won’t generate either. And don’t bother with the album’s accompanying anime film on Netflix. As far-out as the concept might sound, it’s basically a sequence of end-times battle scenes with the album blasting in the background.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-your-ear-buds-sturgill-simpsons-new-album-is-a-drag-in-person-its-a-triumph/2019/10/08/3ec132c8-e9ee-11e9-9306-47cb0324fd44_story.html
Ouch.
So I don’t want to hear about how overly aggressive I was on this thing
(Not from you California Dan, just in general).
Sturgill has said himself he doesn’t care if people like “Sound & Fury.” He recorded it to be fun to play live for himself, and it appears he accomplished that.
The difference with Shooter’s “Black Ribbons” is he recorded that to be his magnum opus. I have mixed feelings on that record as well, but there’s no doubt Shooter put incredible care into that record, much more care than went into “Sound & Fury.”
October 10, 2019 @ 2:59 pm
I don’t personally know the reviewer, Chris Richards, nor have I met him, but I’ve known of him since seeing him perform many times in a DC punk band called “Q and Not U” at the turn of the millennium, and I’ve read a lot of his Washington Post stuff since then. Like most people who originate in the DC punk scene, and most people who write for the Washington Post – elitism and snark are key components of their shtick.
That said, I generally agree with Richards’ estimation of the album (however, unnecessarily wordy), particularly regarding the “record-biz pouting.” I never liked that sort of self-centered complaining from artists in other genres, particularly hip-hop, and I don’t particularly like it from Sturgill – but I’ll give him a pass, since I generally like the album and have happily had it on heavy rotation since its release.
I was also at Sturgill’s recent DC gig, where he played the whole album in sequential order followed by some of the back-catalogue. I must say, the show was a blast on the whole – but, the new album wasn’t consistently improved in a live setting, as Richards implies.
Some of the new songs translated great live,sure, but some suffered live. For the most part, all the songs were played as extended jams -which was cool. “Best Clockmaker” and “Fastest Horse”, tracks without any real hooks anyway, sort of plodded along without a lot of oomph in a live setting, while “Last Man Standing” and “Mercury In Retrograde” were excellent live. The former featured an extended intro where the band rocked out building tension for a while before getting to the vocals, while the latter was played in a much more funky way than on the album.
It worth noting that Sturgill wrote, and probably recorded, this album years ago – so he’s only now getting the opportunity to play these tracks live. Of course, considering the elapsed time, they’ve morphed a bit for the live set, and they’ll likely continue to morph as Sturgill keeps himself entertained on tour over the next year or so.
October 10, 2019 @ 8:55 am
I’d say this was a good article to sift the Sturgill stans from the Sturgill fans.
October 10, 2019 @ 3:08 pm
First of all, it’s hilarious to me that there’s a website called “saving country music”. Wtf are y’all trying to save it from. Second of all, it’s pretty irritating that my phone thinks I care about Simpson cause I listened to a podcast with him on it.
October 22, 2019 @ 3:14 pm
Saving it from undiscerning listeners such as yourself. Obviously the work isn’t done.
October 11, 2019 @ 3:35 pm
The only country chart that matters is the country AIRPLAY chart. I would say that’s true of any genre chart that has radio stations (alternative, adult R&B, smooth jazz, etc.).
October 12, 2019 @ 9:58 pm
Absolving country fans of the decision to remove “Old Town Road” from the country charts when the decision was obviously influenced by artists and fans prominently protesting its inclusion is some wonderful whitewashing.
Even if you really want to hold the line that all that whining by a certain subset of country artists/fans had “zero” influence on the decision, it still existed, and still represented a telling position.
October 13, 2019 @ 3:53 pm
JonathanD,
With all due respect, you’re completely incorrect about the timeline. And the fact that you are the second person to comment on this article with this incorrect notion speaks to just how much the public was misled about the timeline of the Lil Nas X removal. “Old Town Road” was removed from the Hot Country Songs chart by Billboard on the chart first made public on March 18th. Nobody, NOBODY, not Saving Country Music, not a country fan, and most definitely not a country music artist even addressed the song until five days AFTER it had already been removed. Nobody even knew what “Old Town Road” was. It was seen as an anomaly on the charts, and then Billboard removed it.
Again, as quoted above, the Billboard Chart manager says it was solely Billboard’s decision to remove it. Again, “Old Town Road” was removed on March 18th. Saving Country Music did not address it until March 23rd, FIVE DAYS after it was removed.
Brothers Osborne did not address it until weeks after that, in early April:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/brothers-osborne-are-spot-on-about-lil-nas-xs-old-town-road/
Luke Combs did not address it until the END of April:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/luke-combs-is-latest-artist-to-oppose-lil-nas-xs-old-town-road/
Again, there were NO artist, NO outlets, NO fans that complained or even addressed Lil Nas X being on the country charts until AFTER it was removed. The Media got this flat wrong. If you want to read more, you can do so here:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/lil-nas-x-the-media-echo-chamber-shane-morriss-vile-past/
December 8, 2019 @ 8:58 pm
Sturgill has been listening to Shooter Jennings. This album reminds me a lot of something that would be a mix of Black Ribbons and Countach. The Shooter and Steven King collaboration had a lot more country on it than first treated the ear as well. I say to both of these guys, follow your muse. You’ll be more honest than anyone and more country than 99% of the country charts nowadays.