Success of “Body Like a Backroad” & Lack of Women on Radio is No Coincidence
Yes, I know you’re tired of hearing about Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad.” But until the public gets tired of hearing it, and the song stops breaking records, we’re faced with no other choice but to face its success head on and speak about what the possible ramifications of that success could be. Just last week the song broke a 55-year-old record held by Leroy Van Dyke’s “Walk On By” as the longest-charting #1 song by a solo artist in Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart history. Cresting the chart once again this week for a 21st straight time, it’s now only 3 weeks from tying the all-time record for a country song held by Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise.”
And the momentum for “Body Like a Backroad” hasn’t eased up at all. Though many expected the song to be done at radio by now, it just logged its 8th consecutive week in the country radio Top 5 after reaching #1. Usually songs see a precipitous fall off after hitting #1 on the country charts, but the song has now broken the record for weeks in the Top 5 after hitting #1, previously held by Rascal Flatts’ “My Wish” from 2016 that spent 7 weeks in the Top 5 after hitting #1.
And consumer sentiment is even stronger believe it or not. “Body Like a Backroad” once again tops the Streaming Songs chart, and is up 3% in its totals, and also continues to lead the Digital Songs chart, with an upward gain on the week of 4%. The song just won’t be stopped.
Similar to the historic run of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” in 2012 and 2013, we spent so much time paying attention to the song breaking records and the overall rise of “Bro-Country” that we initially overlooked the fact that one of the results of the phenomenon was the virtual evisceration of women on country playlists. Just as the experience with “Body Like a Backroad” feels like deja vu all over again, so does it’s parallel with a lack of female representation in mainstream country music.
At the moment there are exactly zero women in country radio’s Top 20, and a whopping total of 4 in the entire Top 50 for an abysmal 8% representation. In fact this 4 out of 50 ratio has been pretty consistent now for the entirety of the “Body Like A Backroad” reign at #1.
Meanwhile who are some of the men sitting in the Top 50 at country radio? Have you ever heard of Morgan Wallen? Well his song “The Way I Talk” sits ahead of Miranda Lambert’s stalled single “Tin Man” in the charts at #35. How about Adam Craig, or Todd O’Neill, or High Valley, or Walker McGuire? Does anyone outside of country radio recognize these names? Well they’re all in the Top 50 at the moment in the gaggle of nameless, faceless male country stars who simply have to roll out of bed and are added to country playlists. Dylan Scott’s “My Girl” was the greatest gainer on country radio this week, and will likely hit #1 soon. Heretofore his biggest claim to fame was inviting Chewbacca Mom onto the Grand Ole Opry.
Make no mistake that the dominance of objectifying male singles on country radio parallels the fall of female voices on the format. For the last couple of years the country music industry has been trying to tell us that inroads have been made into the gender diversity issue on playlists. And it was partially true. “My Church” by Maren Morris and other big singles helped turn the tide, at least to some extent, while healthier songs from female writers, like Lori McKenna’s solo-written “Humble and Kind” performed by Tim McGraw, gave everyone hope for the future of the mainstream format.
But once again we’re back to counting female singles in the Top 50 like the numbers of an endangered species, even though the industry would lead you to believe everything is fine.
Tom Roland writing in this week’s Billboard Country Update paints a rosy picture of the future. “The Bro-Country movement is officially dead, and R&B-leaning material already seems to be on a downward trend,” he says. “What’s around the corner? It appears that labels are betting on a more traditional brand of country, a healthy dose of duos and groups, and killing the moratorium on female acts.”
But the success of “Body Like a Backroad” would seem to foretell an entirely different story. It is one of the few songs that can swear allegiance to both the Bro-Country, and R&B-influenced “country” trends. And as we have seen so many times before, Music Row is the worst of copycat campuses in the entire entertainment industry, and when something works, everyone tries to follow suit. That’s why we’re seeing a massive push behind folks like Dylan Scott, and the garbage new single from Walker Hayes, “You Broke Up with Me.”
Yes, there are some success stories and outliers, like Midland’s “Drinkin’ Problem,” though that’s a very wool-pulled situation when it comes to how Big Machine is selling their authenticity. Carly Pearce’s “Every Little Thing” is surely to pop the Top 20 bubble here soon, but only thanks to iHeartMedia’s “On The Verge” program. These are small outliers in a much larger reversing trend from quality and female representation we saw attempt to take hold over the last couple of years. Yes, major labels are stocking their talent rosters with more Americana-style acts, but it seems partially motivated to cut off the air supply from the emerging Americana industry that continues to encroach on the mainstream’s market share as opposed to a true effort to bolster the mainstream trends started by the success of Chris Stapleton and others in 2015-2016.
You also just can’t put female names in playlists just to even out the odds when the music isn’t quality or even slightly country, and call it a success like we’ve seen with Kelsea Ballerini over the last couple of years.
The monopolization of mainstream country music by “Body Like a Backroad” proves that it’s a misogynistic, male-dominated perspective on life permeating the mainstream that is holding women back in the industry, and not just a numbers game where the ratios are bit skewed at the moment, but are sure to even out over the long run. If country truly wants to solve the female problem instead of just talking about it, then they would take a long hard look not just who is dominating the charts and what their gender happens to be, but what is being said in the songs.
I hope that Tom Roland of Billboard Country Update is right, and the future will be brighter. But until the industry and the public show the guts to reject “Body Like a Backroad” as a country song, it’s hard to see any true change taking hold.
July 6, 2017 @ 8:50 am
It is at the point where labels seem to just have female artists just it makes it seem like they care. It is so rare to see a label even push their female acts, they all kind of just sit there. With the males doing so well chart wise, it makes it that much tougher. When your own artists are saying how under represented they are, there is a huge problem.
At the end of the day we can talk about this for hours on end and write a million articles like this one, but to get an entire industry to change is so tough. I still believe that the general country music fans enjoy more than just the pop-bro-r&b-country that is over taking the radio, the industry just needs to push more than just the same songs. There is plenty of evidence that the songs that go against this mold are still highly sought after, bought and listened to. It is just impossible to say how to go about fixing this and if the industry even cares to.
July 6, 2017 @ 9:17 am
Many of us walked away from mainstream country radio years ago, refusing to subject ourselves to any more of their garbage. I think on some level we thought that if enough of us boycotted radio it would be forced to change. Looking back, that seems to have been a miscalculation. Not only have we not been missed, the powers that be appear to be glad to be rid of us and more than happy to replace us with a less discerning and demanding audience. I’m really starting to question whether abandoning radio was the right thing to do, although I can’t think of anything else we could have done to rectify the situation. It’s a very sad and frustrating situation.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:38 am
By the late 70’s to early 80’s the music business, including mainstream radio, was taken over by accountants and marketing managers who had no real connection to the music. Before this, music at the ground level was being run by people of the night. The folks that were primarily fans of the music, and wanted to promote their favorite artists.
July 6, 2017 @ 9:29 am
Trig I’m wondering why I havent seen anything on here regarding Ashley McBride. I’m a big fan and think that she is the real deal. Would love to get your take on her
July 6, 2017 @ 9:38 am
I guess what bothers me just as much as the objectifying of women in music, in general, is what seems to be the acceptance of (some, not all) women in being objectified. It’s like when that song “Crazy Bitch” by Buckcherry came out a few years back…I thought it was a pretty degrading song, yet women of all ages were out on the dance floors singing along and “woo-hoo-ing”. Same goes for every new song by these dirt road douchebags…..same reaction. I don’t get it.
July 6, 2017 @ 9:47 am
“Dirt road douchebags.” Perfect.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:38 am
Women are crazy, and can be b!!chy, Mark.
Have you ever been married?
Emotionally, they’re somewhere between a child and a man.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:08 am
I’m reminded of Chris Rock’s routine about misogynistic rap lyrics. “If the beat is right, she will dance all night” And “He ain’t talkin’ about me” ,
July 6, 2017 @ 1:07 pm
Mark, what you’re saying is pretty well on point with how some, if not most, women are proud to call themselves a bitch or can call each other that with no issue. The second a man says it? War. Remember the song ‘Bitch’ by Meredith Brooks? That song became some kind of anthem for women. They lyrics may or not be degrading, but the title says a lot.
July 6, 2017 @ 2:27 pm
Many women have reclaimed slurs like ‘bitch’ as an act of resistance; to build group solidarity; and to help members of that group try to regain some confidence after a lifetime of having those slurs used to tear them down. Meredith Brooks’s song is influenced by that act of reclamation.
As for women liking songs that explicitly degrade women…women are just as susceptible to absorbing patriarchal messaging as men are. This is called internalized misogyny and one of its most common manifestations is that some women see being turned into a sex object as an achievement, victory, or sign of success as a woman (because those women have absorbed the “women are primarily sex objects who exist to bring men pleasure” message that still runs rampant in American culture).
July 6, 2017 @ 5:47 pm
They have fancy terms for everything nowadays.
How about taking responsibility for liking garbage instead of blaming society?
July 6, 2017 @ 6:31 pm
Perhaps you’d like to make a substantive argument in response instead of arrogantly dismissing phenomena that scholars have spent decades articulating with a handwave, platitudes, and an insinuation that book learnin’ is bad (way to perpetuate one of the ugliest stereotypes about country fans, by the by).
July 6, 2017 @ 7:14 pm
Perhaps, you would understand a gag (fancy words) when you see one instead of indulging in self-righteous rhetoric designed to show how progressive you are.
I didn’t dismiss the phenomena. I asked (opening another avenue of discussion) why people can’t be more self-reliant (a trait that Americans used to be proficient in) instead of blaming society/sexism/etc for their failings. Does it exist? Sure but in a much reduced fashion. But people use its existence as a crutch to justify their falling for it. “It is society’s fault for shaking my hips to Luke Bryan’s songs. I didn’t have a choice.” Funny how, plenty of women here and else where have escaped it.
It is humorous, they wail about the rampant sexuality in the media but it is a direct cause of the sexual revolution pushed in the 60s by free love. The Christian view on sexuality, as something sacred and respectful, was labeled as outdated and restricting. So, it was discarded and replaced. But the Christian view will never be dominant again so you are left fighting a monster fashioned by a free love Dr. Frankenstein.
You insinuated that I saw book leaning as bad. And you insinuated that belief from nothing but your disagreement with my take. I have a college degree in English which is about books! Furthermore, I am working on a Master’s Degree.
By the way, fancy words is a phrase usually used in an exaggerated fashion.
Writing learnin’ that way is also extending country stereotypes. But you were trying to score a point for your side, so it is acceptable.
And by the way, it is by the way, not by the by.
July 6, 2017 @ 8:03 pm
Responding to your most recent post here b/c the comment tree has run out.
First the very minor issue: “By the by” is a perfectly respectable English idiom that I used well within its received meanings as listed in many dictionaries, which include, ‘incidentally,’ or ‘by way of digression.’
Source: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19331/what-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-by-the-by
Now the second minor issue. Do you seriously intend to claim that a reply of “They have fancy terms for everything nowadays,” is not dismissing the phenomenon? Do you also not think that it is would be reasonable to assume that the person who wrote such a reply did not hold intellectual endeavor in terribly high regard? Now, you say you do hold some forms of intellectual activity in high regard. I suppose I would ask you to consider extending the same respect you expect to be given as someone pursuing an advanced degree in English to scholars in all fields of intellectual endeavor.
Now the major issue: First off, songs that degrade women predate the 1960s, and women have ALWAYS faced the virgin/whore dilemma in terms of having to somehow simultaneously present as experienced sexual objects of desire and as pure maidens for the pleasure of men. That Luke Bryan is somehow the fault of the sexual revolution strikes me as highly unlikely.
Second, the reason that I, and the women I know, I don’t like Luke Bryan is because we’ve all had educations that allow us to think about the messages culture sends women AND lets us break those messages down to see how harmful they are. We’ve learned that both internal and external factors determine who we are and what we want. By taking the knowledge that we have spent all our lives as targets of certain messages about what “real” women should be, we can listen to Luke Bryan, detect those messages, analyze them, decide them are harmful, and ultimately decide to reject them.
Given what neuroscience and many other disciplines are telling us about how human preference formation and will, free or not, I think it’s very dangerous to think that calling for more personal responsibility will fix all our problems. The evidence is mounting that suggests that our preferences are determined, at least in part, by involuntary factors that we don’t control, like genetics and, yes, the invisible cultural/ structures that we all grow up in.
July 6, 2017 @ 3:24 pm
great point , mark …..I came to the conclusion that the only people who could care less about country radio right now thanREAL country fans are , in fact, the women who listen to it . its just seems so obvious ……the labels sell GUYS to women ….they aren’t selling SONGS to women cuz any self-respecting female listener would ( and should be ) appalled at the music and the sentiment of many of these ‘songs’ .
the female audience seems to be buying into the ” hot ” male guys’ image regardless of the actual ‘ musical ‘ product they are peddling .
July 6, 2017 @ 4:15 pm
This completely mystifies me, too. I recently went with a friend to a Luke Bryan concert. (This basically means that I’m a saint but that’s neither here nor there.) And it’s not just that 99% of the women in attendance were merely accepting the objectification and downright stupidity, they were lapping that shit up. So much so that it’s still unsettling to me, six or so weeks after the fact. Seriously.
Mr Bryan spent almost two hours singing at all these crazed women, dancing suggestively in those godawful jeans, grabbing his crotch, laughing and smiling good naturedly the whole time. And then, here’s the kicker–for the encore, there was a mirror image silhouette of a woman on the giant screen behind him doing straight up stripper dances and he entered the stage right in the middle of the silhouettes, vigorously and enthusiastically hip thrusting and crotch grabbing. And every single woman around me didn’t so much as bat an eye. They screamed for more. It’s honestly one of the more disturbing things I’ve seen in recent memory.
I guess because it’s presented in an all in good fun and non-threatening vein that women and men alike accept this kind of blatant objectification? But after that, as a woman, I left there with not just downright disdain for Luke Bryan the musician but also Luke Bryan the person. It’s so incredibly awful on so many levels.
July 6, 2017 @ 7:25 pm
The dirty little secret is that many people, lacking self-esteem, like being objectified. It means you are sexy or desirable. Of course, the people doing the objectifying have to be the “right” ones. Take high school for example. The nerd better not stare at the cheerleader but if the star QB studies her legs is wanted. You can see the same phenomena at a bar every night. It is OK to stare if you are attractive enough. Goes both ways.
That was the secret to Bro-Country that most people missed. Bro-Country offered a fantasy for men and women. The men were cool and collect. The women were hot and approachable.
The lyrics were vague enough on specific details for the characters that someone could insert themselves into the fantasy. It is like Treasure Island. Jim is a cipher. An “I” character meant for the reader to view themselves as. I saw plenty of men and women who were as far from Luke Bryan and a stereotypical hot country girl you could get moving and grooving to Bro-Country songs. They don’t want the relatable country song, the bedrock of the genre, they want a fantasy where the ladies love them and the men worship them.
July 8, 2017 @ 9:29 am
I’m not sure how “Crazy Bitch”, a song about an individual “crazy bitch”, is degrading to all members of that crazy bitch’s group. I try to avoid ingroup/outgroup thinking as much as possible. Why must everyone be treated as a victim? I’d wager the same group that is offended by this song, on behalf of all women, wouldn’t pipe up if Sarah Palin or Ann Coulter were called a crazy bitch. In the same way I wouldn’t consider it a slight to all men if someone calls Trump a crazy dick.
July 6, 2017 @ 9:52 am
I don’t mind radio still keeping “Body Like A Backroad” in heavy rotation. Now if it wasn’t for the crossover airplay maybe it wouldn’t be #1 on the Mongrel Chart.
But to just assume that all male singers just get handed success is just false. Yes there has always been more male singers but they have to work hard for success as well. The male singers aren’t some sleazy douchebag who are just handed success.
It sucks that there is no women in mainstream country especially since I like a lot of their material.
What I don’t get is how is Kelsea Ballerini succeeding not a success for women in country music? She’s a woman who is seeing success and another female artist getting success is a good thing for the women in country music because it encouragea the women to keep trying. I mean unless you find Kelsea Ballerini to be a bitch, a slut, untalented, a hack, and any other insult people seem to give to the mainstream country singers.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:41 am
As a woman, I see the success of Kelsea Ballerini as a double-edged sword. Yes, she is a woman who achieves success by the standards set by the industry, and in doing that she can stand as encouragement to other women, as you suggest.
However, if you look more closely at her music her crafted image, the issue becomes a little murkier. First, there’s the obvious issue with the quality/actual suitability of her music for the country genre. However, that issue applies to many men as well, so I’ll leave it for the time being.
One could argue that she’s achieved her success *because* she presents the type of woman the Music Row execs think MEN want. She’s younger, conventionally attractive, deferential, does not challenge the Bro/Politan power structures, and her music doesn’t make people feel remotely uncomfortable. The chances that her music will speak in any meaningful way to older women or women who have ever felt marginalized is very, very small. (And that’s not really her fault–no artist can speak to all people…that’s why it’s important not to artificially close the genre off to other women artists whose music could speak to the women who find Ballerini’s music to be empty.)
I will say that the fact that people seem to want to hold Ballerini herself responsible for the state of things drives me crazy. (And it goes without saying that people who call her a bitch or a slut because they don’t like her music are beneath contempt.) Getting angry at her is just as pointless as getting angry at the college football recruit who was caught taking payments under the table because the NCAA’s idiotic rules left him without enough money to cover his basic needs. The villains here are the people controlling the powerful institutions, not the people who are being sold as the product, and, IMO, if someone really wants to solve the problem, that’s where s/he will direct the real anger.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:52 am
“What I don’t get is how is Kelsea Ballerini succeeding not a success for women in country music? She’s a woman who is seeing success and another female artist getting success is a good thing for the women in country music because it encouragea the women to keep trying.”
Simple: Ballerini has the good fortune of having a country radio programmer for a father. She didn’t have to “try.”
July 6, 2017 @ 3:39 pm
Um no. She had to work for her success. She went on a radio tour and had to work hard. She did. Having radio relations doesn’t mean there’ll be success and Kelsea Ballerini had too work very hard for her success. She had to work hard and her father had nothing to do with her success and saying her success is bought is bs.
July 6, 2017 @ 4:23 pm
Bullshit. Her daddy provided her the access by being a country radio programmer and he used his contacts with labels and his radio programming drinking buddies to start spinning her shit. Then a glowing endorsement from Taylor Swift to her psycho fanbase through Twitter and boom, a “star” was born.
“Hard work,” my ass.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:11 pm
Give me the proof that she didn’t have hard work.
She wanted a music career. She was rejected from a label after a meeting the label basically said “There’s already a Taylor Swift what are doing here?”
Kelsea Ballerini wanted to be a singer and she wanted that success. It was her decision.
Where’s the proof that her dad did all this stuff, otherwise you are just assuming? Knowing you’re comment you probably think Kelsea Ballerini is a fame attention whore.
July 12, 2017 @ 1:17 pm
a bit of a digression, and I don’t have any major qualms with Ballerini, but why on earth should a radio tour be required to garner radio play or be a conduit to getting mediocre music on the air? Shouldn’t the best music simply speak for itself?
I know that’s not how it works, but it’s still sickening that so many good artists are out there playing great songs into a vacuum because they are unable financially or simply unwilling to jump through seemingly unnecessary hoops. A radio tour is a lot of travel and hard work, but it has nothing to do with making great music. It’s marketing. If the product is crap, a radio tour should not be able to salvage it.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:01 am
Not all male singers are handed success, but the ones that are unflinchingly willing to submit to the label handlers, image consultants, and sing whatever is picked for them in whatever way they’re told, they most certainly have a fast track to success.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:30 pm
So basically sellouts? Like those guys, Kelsey, Shania and a long line of singers in history?
I am not seeing a gender problem there. More like a moral problem.
July 7, 2017 @ 10:52 am
“I mean unless you find Kelsea Ballerini to be …………. untalented, a hack….”
Pretty much this.
July 6, 2017 @ 9:58 am
What the fuck, I never heard body like a backroad til now. I purposely played it after reading article, this is not country music not even in the same vein as country music. This is pop bullshit, millennial garbage. All those folks that latched onto country music as it’s popularity rose are grasping for straws to stay relevant as the popularity of real country music wanes. So they cut and paste it into this trash that the kids like so they won’t have to face the fact that they were fake the whole time they professed their love of country music. This paints a dim picture of the state our country is in when consumerism steers the sheep to this rancid excuse for music and they eat it up.
Sorry for the women, but that isn’t the real problem. If they would unite and protest against degrading music the female fans would respond in kind.
THIS IS NOT COUNTRY MUSIC!!!!
July 6, 2017 @ 10:05 am
Trigger, first off, and I know this will sound saccharine, but I can’t thank you enough for refusing to let this issue go, even though I know there’s a part of your readership that wishes you would. In this unjust world where women are still routinely dismissed and quasi-gaslighted when they point out stuff like this (“you’re too sensitive” “you’re just looking to be offended” “it’s not a problem”), it’s a huge thing when a man who has a platform that people pay attention to stands with us.
Second, this part: “Yes, major labels are stocking their talent rosters with more Americana-style acts, but it seems partially motivated to cut off the air supply from the emerging Americana industry that continues to encroach on the mainstream’s market share as opposed to a true effort to bolster the mainstream trends started by the success of Chris Stapleton and others in 2015-2016” really stood out to me.
I think you’re 110% correct. The mainstream Country behemoth (radio, TV channels, magazines–all the tentacles that have perverted a genre of music and a way of living for profit) has a history of behaving like the most stereotypical capitalist villain ever, which suggests that it would rather do everything possible to choke off or destroy alternative products or alternative channels of access instead of going through the expensive and uncertain process of change. Lovers of Americana need to be quite vigilant and watch out for warning signs that mainstream Country is even *thinking* about trying to absorb their musicians/culture in order to repackage them in the same way that it has repackaged Country/Southern living to such deleterious effect.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:13 am
Jesus, Mark. If you stop wearing skinny jeans you wont have to keep your balls in the purse. Try some old 13MWZs a size larger than you’re used to.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:39 am
Ah, another keyboard cowboy. Did it take you all day to come up with that comment??
July 6, 2017 @ 2:24 pm
About as much time as it takes you to sip a Chardonnay?
July 6, 2017 @ 2:39 pm
Chardonnay? Has 90s nostalgia now hit the wine world? Have those who wish to drink the existential horror away abandoned Riesling, Sauv Blanc, Moscato, and the wonderful world of rosé? (I hope not. I like rosé.)
Or have you just not felt the need to update your 1993 edition of “1001 Insults for Bigots”?
July 6, 2017 @ 10:19 am
In related news, my 4 yr old thinks it’s called “Body Like A Backhoe”, which is an infinitely better song title.
July 6, 2017 @ 3:30 pm
hahahahahahahahahahaha
July 6, 2017 @ 10:11 pm
Maybe the funniest comment ever!
July 6, 2017 @ 10:29 am
I’ve never heard, “Body Like A Back Road”, and never will, unless I’m forced to in some unforeseen circumstance. I’m sure it’s horrible.
But what I am definitely tired of hearing, is all this crying about the lack of women on the radio. What a stupid, pointless thing to cry about.
I literally (not figuratively) would be perfectly content if the radio played 100% men, and all those men sang 100% Country Music.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:39 am
I can agree with you for the most part. Call me sexist, but I’m totally fine with all my music coming from men. My wife will also tell you that she isn’t fond of women in music. However, I fell like we would miss out on some major contributors if that were the case. Allison Krauss, for example, was pretty instrumental in bringing bluegrass into the mainstream. I can’t comment on her being a woman had anything to do with it, but she is a great musician nonetheless. I feel like its totally fine to judge a musician solely on their talent rather than their talent in relation to their gender.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:46 am
Yeah. I don’t have any problem with women singers. But I don’t need it to be happy.
Forced diversity is one of the most idiotic ideas Western Civilization ever came up with
July 6, 2017 @ 11:06 am
“Forced diversity is one of the most idiotic ideas Western Civilization ever came up with”
So is institutionalized sexism.
Nobody’s asking for quotas here. Just a fair system where all music is judged based on its merit, not the gender of the artist. When you have consultants saying, and I quote, “Keep women out,” there’s a problem.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:26 am
Institutionalized sexism would subjectively be a bad idea.
But Trigger, that’s not what’s happening here.
Ask yourself, “Why would a bunch of greedy, corporate bastards, who only care about making money, keep women off the radio?”
What driver would dictate that?
July 6, 2017 @ 11:39 am
Trigger,
To spell it out for you,
This is institutionalized crony-capitalism; NOT institutionalized sexism.
July 6, 2017 @ 12:03 pm
Honky, because most of their audience is female and their market research shows (rightly or wrongly) that most women would rather listen to men than women on the radio.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:43 pm
It is not institutionalized sexism. That sounds like a conspiracy theory and you have always been against those and for good reason as you would explain.
July 6, 2017 @ 7:00 pm
No conspiracy theory is necessary when you have statistical certitude backing up public statements such by radio consultants and program directors specifically stating they exclude women from the format.
July 7, 2017 @ 8:24 am
Razor X is correct. Women love hearing purdy boys singing purdy songs about girls, sex, and love. They really don’t want to hear women for the most part.
July 6, 2017 @ 3:35 pm
” However, I feel like we would miss out on some major contributors if that were the case. ”
ABSOLUTELY we would ….ABSOLUTELY !!
I think you and most listeners would be surprised at who has been writing and recording the BEST music ( country AND pop ) in recent years if you were to do a bit of research . In my less than humble opinion , its women hands down !! It just so happens that POP music gets this and is not prejudiced whereas ” country ” music doesn’t want to acknowledge this because it is , seemingly , prejudiced .
July 6, 2017 @ 4:12 pm
Last I checked, the best music released in the last year has been written by Jason Isbell and Cody Jinks. I don’t take away anything from other fine artists, male and female, who have recently released albums, but it all pales in comparison to those two.
July 7, 2017 @ 12:37 am
I should have clarified BCS ..I was talking , for the mostpart , in terms of popular ( mainstream ) music/writers . I’m not sure Jason or Cody fall into that category …yet .
July 6, 2017 @ 12:31 pm
I can’t see why corporatists, whose only concern is making money, would exclude women if it cost them money. I don’t know where Trigger’s “keep women out” quote comes from, but its certainly possible that the consultant wants to “keep women out” because “they lose us money.”
Part of a song is being able to put yourself in the same time and place and imagine that you are there. Its hard for me to relate to a woman singing about something she experienced and I generally just don’t care about the subject matter.
July 6, 2017 @ 12:52 pm
“I can’t see why corporatists, whose only concern is making money, would exclude women if it cost them money.”
Bingo.
And your personal point is relatable as well. I own thousands of cd’s. Maybe 15 of them are by female singers.
July 6, 2017 @ 1:55 pm
“I can’t see why corporatists, whose only concern is making money, would exclude women if it cost them money.”
How on earth can people who are upset by mainstream country’s treatment of traditional artists think this is a good argument? One could easily try to shut up traditionalists the same way–“I can’t see why corporatists, whose only concern is making money, would exclude traditional acts if it cost them money. You need to stop being so sensitive and stop being so offended by music that you don’t like. There’s no problem.”
Face it, Music Row is lazy. As SCM has pointed out over and over again, Music Row threw itself into this whole Bro/18-34 male demographic trend with about as much foresight as a Russian government budget analyst pegging the budget to $100+/barrel oil. As a consequence, they drove away traditional fans and a lot of women. To get those fans back would be haaaard. It would require disrupting the status quo. There’s loads of evidence that suggests that companies will stick their heads in the sand and desperately keep trying to do the same thing (while attempting to kill competition, which is why Trigger’s warning about Americana in this piece is so spot on). Look at how AM/FM radio in general has failed to effectively adapt for one example.
Plus, the issues facing women and the issues facing fans of traditional country are connected. As someone else eloquently said elsewhere in the comments on another piece, traditional country elevates the stories of ordinary people, ideally in their own words, so women are an ESSENTIAL part of traditional country (maybe not for you personally, RD, since I know it’s soooooo haaaaaard to have to empathize with icky women, but certainly for other ordinary people). In other words, I sincerely believe that if mainstream country becomes a better place for women, it will become a much better place for traditional artists as well.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:49 pm
You basically made their points. Music Row is lazy and it is a money issue. Like they said.
July 6, 2017 @ 6:26 pm
I apologize for not being clear then. I was trying to argue that the phenomenon of women (and to a lesser extent, traditionalists) in mainstream country is an example of societal biases against women (and to a small extent against those people whose understanding of rural life is complex enough that they resist the commodification of that life) partially interfering with economic rationality.
Societal biases like these are one of the reasons that lethargic industries are incapable of taking what would seem to be rational economic action (what I called in my earlier post, ‘being lazy’).
In other words, the fact that the industry is lazily defending a paradigm that is hostile to women (and to some extent, traditionalists) is, I would argue, not random accident.
July 6, 2017 @ 6:53 pm
Rational economic action to Music Row would be doubling down on what they think works not spending money on what would be considered chance.
What you are arguing for is doing the right thing.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:38 am
I don’t know what is going on with my local mainstream country station, but they are now dedicated to playing the “90’s to now” and I actually heard a Waylon, Merle, and a George Strait song on there in the past week. A lot of female stuff from the past 15-20 years too. I don’t know what sparked the change because this was the main country station in my area, but it’s a hell of a lot better than Sam Hunt and his bros constantly getting spins.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:45 am
We’re back on this again… Sam Hunt sucks, Midland is fake, Carly doesn’t deserve notoriety, Kelsea is a popstar … it’s always the same. Go back to talking about stuff we care about. Yawn.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:08 am
As I’ve said before, as soon as I see similar comments like this on the articles about unknown artists that nobody reads and nobody bothers to comment on, I’ll heed this advise. Otherwise, I won’t shut the hell up until the problem is solved, or at least addressed. I’m not running a popularity contest. I have a diverse reading audience, and do my best to offer as much coverage of engaging topics as possible.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:30 am
You’re right, man.
I think we hate knowing this crap exists, but we love to come on here to vent about it.
Because, what the heck else can we do about it?
Not a dad-gum thing.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:32 pm
It is tiresome because it is the same article just rewritten.
July 6, 2017 @ 10:50 pm
And this comment is always the same too, just by different people…you’d think you all would have learned the nature of what Trigger will say, indeed as he already said…and here’s another solution, don’t fucking read this and comment. Seems simple.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:23 am
I just looked at the billboard country chart top 50 just for kicks. What a laugh. With the exception of maybe a couple of them, the rest wouldn’t be worth a piece of lint in the butt crack of a few of my favorites who passed away last year. Merle Haggard, Guy Clark and Steve Young. To be honest, I have never heard of most of them, and the one I have heard of I don’t need to hear more than once to know I don’t need to listen to them again, ever. Call it what you will (Alt.Country, Americana, Roots Music) but there is more country in these categories (If one needs to categorise) than any of the swill that passes for mainstream country now.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:38 am
I’m hard pressed to find a country artist in the bunch other than Stapleton and possibly Midland, but the book is still out on them. It’s so sad when a guy like Jon Wolfe, for example, who is a purely country artist, has no recognition from the charts. Guys like Wolfe, Aaron Watson, and Cody Johnson are who should be on the mainstream charts. I’m not saying they are groundbreaking artists by any means, but they are the ones that should be filling in the voids left by the Mark Chestnuts, Tracy Byrds, and Clay Walker of the 90s country world. Mainstream country is anything but
July 6, 2017 @ 11:41 am
Jon Pardi is a respectable country artist on the charts as well
July 6, 2017 @ 1:56 pm
Jon Pardi, Chris Stapleton, Midland, and Aaron Watson were the only purely country artists I saw on the top 50 charts. Brad Paisley is also respectable. Even some of the non-country artists (Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne) and the ones who are only country sometimes or half of the time (Eric Church, Drake White, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band, I also really love Carly Pearce’s “Every Little Thing”) are worthy of airplay and recognition. Other than that, the top 50 is pretty much a joke.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:34 am
Thanks for the article Trigger. I don’t know what to say about this problem though. And I don’t even understand how things could go this bad and even less what to do about it.
It wasn’t this bad in the 70’s / 80’s. Yes, female artists were probably underrepresented on the radio in those days too but not like today.But I remember Loretta was boycotted by the radio twice. (Because of “The Pill” and “Rated x”)
But I personally have gone so far that if there are two albums i want just as much, and one is by a male and the other an female artist, then I chose the female artist. That is of course not an solution, even a bit silly, but least I feel like I’ve done something…
July 6, 2017 @ 11:37 am
So sad. If this is country radio, then where the hell is all of the country music? Body Like a Backroad is total bullshit. I’m 21 and I think that roughly 65% of mainstream country is bullshit. If this is country radio, then why is Sam Hunt, FGL, the virtually unknown faceless bro-country and straight up pop singers, Luke Bryan, Kelsea Ballerini and the like getting all of the success and accolades, meanwhile great mainstream COUNTRY artists like Ashley Monroe, William Michael Morgan, Jon Pardi (yes, he’s had two number one hits but he probably had to fight his ass off to get them), Kacey Musgraves, Maddie and Tae, Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Midland, Mo Pitney, Josh Turner, Brad Paisley, etc. have to fight and fight to even get noticed. There are also artists who are not country, but regardless, make great music that deserves to be heard: Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, Drake White, Lauren Alaina, Tim McGraw (he is only country sometimes, a lot of his music skews more towards adult contemporary); and even those guys and girls are overshadowed by the bullshit. Sam Hunt and the gang make me sick.
Here’s another thing: I am a woman, and I would love to hear more songs from the female perspective on country radio. But I’m pretty sure the radio executives would never go for that. So if they are going to play predominantly male artists, why the hell not play the ones who are serious about country music and quality music in general, and not the ones who are just blatantly using something everyone at this site loves so much as a quick cash grab?
July 6, 2017 @ 1:51 pm
All good questions. Sadly, the answer is that the radio execs and country award shows have realized that pure pop music has a broader audience and sells better than country music. So, they have thrown real country out the window, and replaced it with the crap that is on the radio today in an effort to maximize their listening base, which makes their radio stations more profitable and valuable.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:54 am
Lets just say that radio had a better mix of female/male artists, would the songs be any good? Look at the garbage that dominates radio now. What if it was a female singing “Body Like a Back road”? I’m guessing it would still be a terrible pop song trying to pass as country.
I guess my point is, any artist that has any credibility wouldn’t be played on modern country radio regardless of their sex. I turned off radio a long time ago, but I’m guessing they aren’t playing Sunny Sweeny, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Whitey Morgan, Cody Jinks, Jaime Wyatt…etc. Maybe its time to stop caring what they play on the radio altogether.
July 6, 2017 @ 12:12 pm
” Maybe its time to stop caring what they play on the radio altogether. ”
Many of us have already tried that, wtih the unintended consequence that there’s no one left to object to all the bad/non-country material being played on the radio. And whether we listen to it or not, what’s on the radio is what defines country music is to the masses. A whole generation of people now has no idea what country music is supposed to sound like. And if no one demands anything better, things will never improve.
That being said, I fear that it may be too late to fix this problem. Real country music is no longer represented on mainstream terrestrial radio. Country was always a niche gender but it’s becoming a much smaller niche that we have to work at seeking out.
July 6, 2017 @ 1:24 pm
” Country was always a niche gender”
That should have read “Country was always a nice GENRE”. Autocorrect strikes again.
July 6, 2017 @ 12:18 pm
We don’t need a hypothetical. The women of country are releasing singles just like the men. The problem is radio is not playing them. Yes, Miranda Lambert’s “Tin Man” is better than “Body Like a Backroad.” Carly Pearce’s “Every Little Thing” is better than Dylan Scott’s “My Girl.” You may not like those songs, but I think most would agree they’re of better quality. And if those women could find traction, it would open the door for Sunny Sweeney, Margo Price, and similar artists. At this point, the door is shut because the reigning Female Vocalist of the Year can’t even crack the Top 30.
July 6, 2017 @ 12:52 pm
Fair point.
Would radio be even interested in playing Sunny or Margo tho? They arent interested in playing Sturgill and the bunch?
July 6, 2017 @ 3:43 pm
Sunny Sweeney and Margo Price won’t see any mainstream success until they are signed to a major label that will have a radio department to promote their songs.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:35 pm
I agree, Trigger, but that is how the radio operates. “Drinking Man” by George Strait was a modern day classic died on the vine at #37 while Taylor Swift tripe went to #1.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:38 pm
If a song being “better quality” mattered your website wouldn’t exist and all the stuff you feature would be on the radio. People who listen to “country” radio don’t like country music and generally aren’t real lovers of music.
July 6, 2017 @ 12:52 pm
Guys don’t have women’s curves, so it invalidates the basic premise (and I use that word loosely) of the whole song.
July 6, 2017 @ 1:29 pm
Maybe she’d be singing it to another “woman.” It is the current year after all and most of the radio-approved “country” stars support the revolution.
July 6, 2017 @ 1:42 pm
Anne,
Not all back roads are curvy.
Ever been to west Texas?
Or, the female version could be called, “Package Like A Python”
July 6, 2017 @ 1:46 pm
Or, how about,
“Anatomy Like An Anaconda” ?
July 6, 2017 @ 2:02 pm
The problem isn’t that this “country” pop crap exists, as it is pretty easy to ignore and just not listen to. The problem is that this crap has taken over the radio stations that should properly be giving air time and exposure to real country artists. Second, calling this crap “country” serves to turn people off to the genre altogether……one listen to “country” radio or stumbling across the CMA’s on tv and many people shake their heads and write off the country genre altogether. However, I think if the radio and award shows were focused on sincere, real country artists, many people out there who have otherwise written off the genre would become interested, which would be a great thing. This would also lead to a greater audience among younger people, which is going to be critical if real country is going to have a healthy following 40 or 50 years from now. This wider exposure to the vast, vast number of people who get their music from mass media like radio or TV is being completely cock-blocked by the Sam Hunt’s of the world and their puppet masters who are laughing all the way to the bank, and that is the real problem.
July 6, 2017 @ 1:32 pm
…I like High Valley.
July 6, 2017 @ 1:41 pm
True story.. Im takin my daughters to the pool this past weekend, ages are 13, 8 and 5. Im letting my oldest control the radio when this song starts. I had never heard it before that moment. The 5 yo squeals, the 8 yo screams ‘leave it there’ and the 13 yo cranks it up..they all begin to sing along word for word. Once I realize that Im listening to ‘that’ song, I ask the kids how they know it. They just say ‘everybody knows this’. I look at my wife to get her take and she’s mouthing the words right along with them.Ive never felt like a failure as a husband a father than at that moment…point is, if a carload of kids are singing along to this song, how silly is it for adults to be mad at it.? It’ll soon fade and a new ‘worst song ever’ will have 8 year olds singing along..
July 6, 2017 @ 2:09 pm
That’s hilarious….and also true. Don’t feel too bad…..you haven’t done anything wrong and that is completely normal at that age! Catchy pop music will always have a place in the world. I just wish they would stick to the pop stations and still keep the option open for even halfway decent country on the radio dial.
July 6, 2017 @ 3:12 pm
Yeah, true story women and younger people love this song. It’s catchy & has a good rhythm for moving to it. And most pple think of back roads as pretty things winding through mountains. (& a lot of those exist).
July 6, 2017 @ 7:53 pm
That’s funny…realizing you’re listening to “THAT” song, haha.
July 6, 2017 @ 2:11 pm
In response to the barely known artists:
Adam Craig’s Just a Phase is actually slightly above average. He has a nice voice and the song is definitely blues-inspired. I can see where it would be sleepy and boring to some, but for the record, it’s not horrible to my ears.
High Valley aren’t really my thing but I can see why some people would like them. Their music is just not for me.
Walker McGuire: Meh. Til Tomorrow is really boring and all it makes me really want to do is take a nap.
Todd O’Neill: Love Again is just horrid. A gas station I frequent regularly has the radio on a mainstream country station, and this atrocity came on. The only reason I stayed in there was because I wanted to talk to the cute guy behind the cigarette counter for a while longer. If that were not the case, I would have booked it out of there so I wouldn’t have to be subjected to Todd O’Neill.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:16 pm
Todd O’Neill won the Nash next national contest last year for singing. I’ve yet to hear him. It is probably a cumulus station as they are now the recipients and ones promoting him from the contest.
Cumulus does some similar stuff as on the verge.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:24 pm
Oh boy, it is bad. Todd O’Neill is not country. And he isn’t even a good non-country singer. Love Again is terrible. Like I said, if it weren’t for the cute guy behind the cigarette counter, I’d be outta there for sure. I wouldn’t make my worst enemy listen to that garbage. Or Walker Hayes’s new single. Or Body Like a Backroad, for that matter,
July 6, 2017 @ 2:26 pm
“blah blah blah woman artists blah blah blah “Body like a backroad” blah blah blah”
Can I just say something?
I used to find all sorts of new artists who were worth listening to by reading SCM.
If we look back at the last ten days of articles. there are two album reviews. only two. only one of them was an artist I haven’t heard of before.
How many articles are about Sam Hunt? also two.
did nobody release albums that were worth reviewing in these ten days?
The Sam Hunt bro-country make Country great again thing is starting to feel like the hundred years war.
pretty soon most of us won’t remember who started it, why we’re fighting or what we’re fighting about.
other than some bland force-fed repeat after me catchphrase like “Country has to evolve”
And I’m tired.
I work too many hours, sleep too few, spend too much time alone and have too many responsibilities to invest the time and energy that 2013 and 2014 Fuzzy TwoShirts invested into theorizing, debating, and all around considering this stuff.
I’m tired, tired of my position, tired of the same old arguments, tired of being alone.
I don’t really care about “the definition of Country Music” anymore.
I just want to hear stuff I can enjoy, any genre will do.
Honestly?
I probably haven’t checked Farcethemusic in almost a year, until this past couple weeks.
I quit commenting on here for a while too.
I just don’t have the time for this whole “Country music evolution blah blah blah” and it has worn me out.
just point me in the direction of something pure, honest, and heartfelt, I really don’t care what genre you want to label it anymore.
So here’s a list of some albums (if anyone’s interested) that I really enjoy, in case anyone else wants to find something new today. just to make this comment a little less negative.
Placido Domingo and Ithaca Perlman: Together
Michael Cleveland: Fiddler’s Dream
Charley Pride: To all my wonderful fans from me to you
Don Walser: down at the skyview drive in
Vassar Clements and Stephane Grappeli: together at last
Sweethearts of the Rodeo: buffalo zone
Al Hirt: our man in new orleans
Michael Crawford: live
Roy Clark: live from branson
“the lightning fingers of roy clark”
Aubrey Haynie: doin my time
Chet Atkins plays back home hymns
Jerry Reed sings Jim Croce
July 6, 2017 @ 7:20 pm
Fuzzy, you ungrateful son-of-a-bitch.
You want to complain I’ve only posted two album reviews this week? Most journalists and reviewers took this entire week off. I haven’t taken more than two days off in eight years. Every year I’ve written more album reviews, and more album reviews, and in 2017 so far I’ve written more than ever, yet the moans about me not writing enough only grow louder. I could review 100 more albums every year and there would still be ungrateful fucks like yourself complaining that this website doesn’t serve your EXACT desires 100% of the time. The only solution would be to not write album reviews at all, which I’m seriously considering since I’m tired of hearing the whining assholes who I haven’t asked one red penny from to access the content I work at 70 hours a week, making sacrifices in my financial well being and personal life to keep this site afloat. You know what I did on the 4th of July? I spent 14 straight hours sifting through email and going through submissions while Willie Nelson’s picnic happened a mile from my house. I also posted an album review, while you and the rest of America fucked off.
Saving Country Music has always been about caring about something bigger than yourself. I don’t listen to the fucking radio. I haven’t been able to recreationally enjoy listening to music in over half a decade because I’m too busy pumping out review content for assholes like you, which is never enough. I care what’s on the radio because I want people to find better music, and because I believe people reflect the culture they consume.
You don’t like stories like this? Then don’t read them. But the truth is you have a hard on for these stories. You wait in the weeds until they’re posted and then pounce because it gives you the ability to tee off and make it all about yourself. Same with Honky.
Be grateful you have anything to read. 90% of sites like this are gone, and so may this one sooner than later. And then what would you have to bitch about?
July 6, 2017 @ 8:05 pm
Thanks for all your hard work here Trigger. I REALLY enjoy this site. One of my favorites.
July 7, 2017 @ 4:24 am
Why are you dragging me into this?
I love hating this crap.
To be honest, I hardly ever read the album reviews. I wish you’d do less of them, not more.
I already said earlier in this section that I agree with you.
July 7, 2017 @ 10:10 am
Well said Trigger. And I must also say that Honky has even written some good posts recently. ?
July 6, 2017 @ 3:30 pm
I’m listening to the new Charley Pride album (Music In My Heart) right now.
Country Music for “old farts & jackasses”. Not overproduced, no drum loops, no heavy-metal guitars or Backstreet Boys. But strange instruments like fiddle & steel guitars.
Will “country” radio play a Charley Pride song? Hell no! Too old, too country, too good.
July 8, 2017 @ 5:11 am
Iris DeMent was once told by a radio station exec. that they couldn’t play her music on their station because it was too country. They only played Real Country and Hot Country. Merle Haggard loved her music, but hey, what the hell did he ever know about country music?
July 6, 2017 @ 3:30 pm
Keep hearing about all these people leaving country radio because they’re not playing enough women so they’re streaming instead yet there isn’t a single woman on the streaming charts. Let’s make the case that you try fans are buying instead of streaming. The only woman in the top 20, Carly Pierce and Maren and Carrie are there thanks to their duets.
If it’s true that country radio is a thing if the past and woke fans are supporting women by other means, why is that not reflected in the digital charts? If Keith Hill was honest about the data that women actually prefer to listen to male country artists over women, it seems like women in country have a bigger battle on their hands than just fighting the patriarchal powers that be.
July 6, 2017 @ 3:44 pm
First off its Carly Pearce. Second of all she isn’t on a duet.
July 6, 2017 @ 3:55 pm
BTW …..if you haven’t , won’t, and will never listen to this Body Like A Backhoe Bullshit , have a look at just the lyrics . they are not only degrading , objectifying , and in parts crude and disgusting ….but they scan like they’ were written by an 8 year old boy .
the music is completely lifeless , repetitive , lacks dynamic performances and the vocal is un-challenging , lacks ANY emotional conviction whatsoever …..and could have been sung by that same 8 year old for all of the honed ‘ talent ‘ you’ll find there . This thing is a complete BOREFEST ! Now what does THAT say about folks who like this kind of lackluster excuse for a song
July 6, 2017 @ 4:32 pm
“Body Like a Back Road” is so enormously successful because it’s NOT one of those “Bro Country” songs that disrespects women. The character singing the song is obsessed with his woman’s body and wants it from top to bottom. There’s no suggestion that he’s into casual sex or one-night stands. There’s nothing about the lyrics that are degrading or crude or disgusting. Women obviously like the sentiment expressed by the singer a lot. Most men would love it, too, if a woman were that taken by their body!
July 6, 2017 @ 5:13 pm
That’s great… but it doesn’t belong on country radio. Because it’s not a country song.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:08 pm
Brocountry “dead”? Is Tom Roland serious?
July 6, 2017 @ 5:13 pm
“Tom Roland” is not me btw – never realized it might look like that in my posts. This guy has been writing about country music for a long time, I think his comments are pure wishful thinking though about the future of country music.
July 6, 2017 @ 7:36 pm
Bro-Country is dead, huh? Guess Mr. Roland has never heard Dylan Scott’s “My Girl”. An atrocity if there ever was one.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:28 pm
Women would be on the radio if women wanted to listen to women. Men don’t listen to country radio.
July 7, 2017 @ 4:36 am
Exactly.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:38 pm
The women problem on the country radio won’t be solved until the stupid problem is solved on the country radio.
July 6, 2017 @ 6:49 pm
what I’ve been saying.
July 8, 2017 @ 4:55 am
Mainstream radio will die it’s natural death the same way buggy manufacturers did. It is an outdated model. If you don’t like it, move on. There are plenty of options.
July 8, 2017 @ 7:01 am
But what if you don’t know if you have better options? What if you don’t know where to go?
July 8, 2017 @ 11:25 am
Hopefully you can teach them about other options. They have to be exposed to the good stuff to know the difference. I have three married children, all getting towards 40 years old. They were exposed to all forms of roots music since birth. They wouldn’t know a mainstream radio station if it bit them in the ass, thank God.
July 8, 2017 @ 1:22 pm
The number of people who cannot see your reasonable and clear point about radio remaining an essential gateway frustrates me on your behalf.
Do folks think that people just wake up one morning and decide, “I have become an adult and must put away childish things like pop music. Time to be a country fan!” without having been inspired to learn more about country through the radio, a TV/movie soundtrack, or some other more accessible channel of culture? It’s unlikely that mere intellectual curiosity about country will move someone to spend hours combing through reviews and chasing down lesser-known artists?
Do folks think that *everyone* has a parent or sibling or friend with good taste who can ‘educate’ them? I would guess that for every person with a ‘smart’ relative or friend, there’s another who has a parent or friend telling them that _______ (fill in your most hated artist here) is the pinnacle of country achievement.
I’m just confused that so many folks seem to think that ceding the most easily accessible cultural outlets to those who pervert the music and the lifestyle for profit is a reasonable movie.
July 8, 2017 @ 8:24 am
Mainstream radio stations will never die. We were bitching about this same exact thing in 1980 although the genres are different. The 2 Country stations here in Chicago which at one time yesterday were both playing the same song at the same time (FGL/Backstreet) still draw huge numbers. Mainstream people numbers. They have the SAME playlist and both survive easily. This site and all the music you guys love is a niche audience for better or worse. Occasionally an artist like Stapleton breaks through etc……
July 6, 2017 @ 5:40 pm
I wish I would see more concern from people for traditional country music singers like Josh Turner, Joe Nichols and others. Turner disappeared from the face of the earth for a while and Nichols is long gone as well.
Eh, maybe I am fighting more of a sound war than a gender war because the sound is the front where country music must win.
July 6, 2017 @ 7:09 pm
What’s so great about Josh Turner and Joe Nichols? They both have good voices but the music, outside of maybe two songs between them, is pretty bland.
July 6, 2017 @ 7:28 pm
That is a false assumption about their music.
But it is not about the level of music as it is about the sound. They were some of the last constant charting traditionalists. We can talk about the outlaws and underground but the fight has to be won on the Nashville level.
July 7, 2017 @ 7:00 am
It’s not really an assumption, just an opinion. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not bad artist. And the sound is definitely more on the traditional side but from what I’ve heard it’s still overproduced and lacking in personality. Nothing really stands out. Point being is that not many are concerned with either artist because they don’t exactly bring a lot to the table other than having a good voice. I understand that their more traditional sound put them at a disadvantage as far as radio play goes but I also think having a dull product didn’t help either.
July 11, 2017 @ 8:09 am
Dull product is your opinion.
July 6, 2017 @ 8:00 pm
Turner and Nichols are two good artists who have not fared well in the current environment. I agree that while both are immensely talented, their material has often been weak. This isn’t likely the result of trying to compromise just enough to maintain some commercial viability without completely sacrificing artistry. I was hoping that during his recent struggles to get his album released by MCA that Turner would be cut loose by the label and then release an independent album of exactly the kind of music he wanted.
July 6, 2017 @ 9:57 pm
Joe Nichols just released a new song from his upcoming album called “I’d Sing About You”. It’s a fantastic song. It’s an actual, honest to God country song, complete with steel and fiddle all the way through. If I knew how to link it, I would. In the meantime, go check it out. You will not be disappointed.
July 7, 2017 @ 3:25 am
I will. Thanks.
July 7, 2017 @ 4:45 am
Wow “I’d Sing About You” is unreal.
July 7, 2017 @ 5:53 am
Listening now … it’s fantastic. Thank you!
https://youtu.be/MyOe5jz-CBs
July 6, 2017 @ 9:59 pm
One more thing: If Joe Nichols’s upcoming album is anything at all like the three songs I’ve heard so far from it, we’re in for a treat.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:51 pm
what a surprise, white men only want to listen to other white men. i swear there’s a litmus test, somewhere back there, behind the scenes, where a room full of old white men line these new guys up and rate them like beauty pageant contestants on whiteness of skin, straightness of sexuality, how much religion they got, how conservative their politics are, how many years they have before they hit 40 and get chased off the airwaves (as singers anyway)…
the state of mainstream country is a great example of not putting white dudes in charge of everything. it’s shows what happens when you exclude all minorities and go all-white everything …you create a big, bland, repetitive, monolithic mess. at some point i need to actually listen to this “Backroad” song so that I’ll have an informed opinion about it. Problem is, I have a backlog of 60+ Alt. Country albums from this year alone, lined up ahead of it. oh i’ve probably heard it in the background somewhere by now, but honestly, it hasn’t been that hard to avoid.
July 6, 2017 @ 6:40 pm
“…what a surprise, white men only want to listen to other white men.”
Whatever gave you that idea? It’s patently and demonstrably false. Furthermore, the white men being promoted on country radio are here to appeal to female listeners, not other white men.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:57 pm
Body Like a Back Road” is so enormously successful because it’s NOT one of those “Bro Country” songs that disrespects women. The character singing the song is obsessed with his woman’s body and wants it from top to bottom. There’s no suggestion that he’s into casual sex or one-night stands. There’s nothing about the lyrics that are degrading or crude or disgusting. Women obviously like the sentiment expressed by the singer a lot. Most men would love it, too, if a woman were that taken by their body!
Excellent post Luckyoldson.
Topic is so fucking redundant it’s laughable.
July 6, 2017 @ 5:59 pm
Have to hear “Jerry Reed sings Jim Croce”.
Croce was a GOD.
July 6, 2017 @ 6:47 pm
it’s maybe not the best album as a “oh my god this music is wonderful” sense it’s more a “wow this is really interesting and unique” album
July 6, 2017 @ 6:15 pm
It still sounds like radio is the biggest problem here.
I was naïve enough to believe that artists issued an album or single and then used gigs and word-of-mouth to “promote” it to a level where radio picked it up. Seems I was way off.
Moreover, it seems that radio types are not going out catching gigs and picking up the vibe of live performances in bars and other small venues. They seem to just tap into an ongoing collusion with record labels who run a sausage machine of like-for-like, generic country-pop acts.
Guess the term “radio executives” is far more apt than originally supposed.
The bro-country bandwagon rolls on, knocking intelligent, non-clichéd music and non-sexualised female performers clear out of the way as it rolls!
July 6, 2017 @ 6:26 pm
Body like a backroad will be at #1 on Hot Country Songs chart for “cough” 52 weeks. yawn
July 6, 2017 @ 6:28 pm
Walker Hayes’ “You Broke Up With Me” only got 6 adds on Mediabase stations the past week. If it’s going to #1 like Trigger says it’s going to be a slow climb.
July 6, 2017 @ 6:31 pm
The two Minneapolis country stations KEEY and KMNB are already playing it to death though. They’re the only ones. Payola? Haha
July 6, 2017 @ 8:39 pm
sweet. I think
July 6, 2017 @ 7:12 pm
Let’s face it, mainstream country radio just programs to 35 year old women in the rush hour drive-time to work who just want to hear a soothing male voice with a slight southern twang singing about whatever (even if it’s objectification of women, and even if it’s poppy/R&B/EDM).
July 6, 2017 @ 8:30 pm
childhood sweetheart/fiance/now wife. I think it’s
July 6, 2017 @ 8:44 pm
I don’t find Body like a Backroad as offensive as others on this site. The song was written about Sam’s childhood sweetheart/fiance/now wife. I think it’s sweet. I think context is everything.
July 6, 2017 @ 8:46 pm
The entire genre of bro-country is utterly mysoginistic but I don’t consider this song bro.
July 6, 2017 @ 8:54 pm
As far as Nashville country/mainstream country goes, it’s basically turned into harlequin romance/soft core porn for women. Fabian is going to show up in country videos any minute.
July 6, 2017 @ 11:13 pm
AS a woman, it’s some pretty shitty porn then.
July 7, 2017 @ 9:34 am
I am glad I am not the only one having an utter laugh at the men here declaring that this is all women’s fault, somehow.
I would feel very safe betting some of the men here have *definitely* shared creepy ‘nice guy’ memes unironically
If we were just less vapid (unlike all those men), amirite??
July 12, 2017 @ 6:54 pm
Lol! true
July 6, 2017 @ 11:56 pm
Insert the mandatory ungrateful douchebag comment about how Trigger should shut up and review some artist we’ve all never heard of.
Now that that’s done, I’m glad that you continue to talk about this issue, Trigger, despite the backlash it invariably causes you. As a commenter said above, it says something for you, as a man with a platform like this, to be constantly speaking out about this to the point it pisses off an unfortunate subset of your readers.
As to the problem itself, I have to agree that the success of Kelsea Ballerini is a double-edged sword. If shitty, non-country music is on the radio, she should have the same, equal, albeit ill-advised, shot. The bigger problem is that neither she nor Sam Hunt should be on country radio.
To all the people saying women listen to these artists and are okay with the objectification, one, that is true of some, even many, women. It’s not true of all, and many of us would kill to hear a female perspective on country radio. Country is the music of real people, not just real men, and even if you all can’t relate to female singers, some of us can’t relate to all male singers. There just needs to be a balance. I’m not saying we force a quota, but there has to be a balance of stuff being considered. A song is not automatically bad because it comes from a woman. I’m not saying that’s what anyone here is asserting, but I’m saying that is what the industry is asserting, and it seems that some people don’t see this as a true issue and say they themselves can’t relate/listen to women most of the time. That’s neither here nor there, we all like what we like, but what about those of us who can’t relate as much to the men? Even if this issue doesn’t affect you personally, you have to recognize it’s a real and threatening problem. I’d even go so far as to say the traditionalist crowd is as much to blame for this as the mainstream; I say this because we can all unite and fight for sound and substance on the radio, and progress has indeed been made on those fronts (Pardi, Morgan, Stapleton, Midland for sound, even stuff like Eric Church for substance), no matter if it seems like the success of “Body like a Back Road” will reverse that progress or not. But we are divided on this issue, instead of fighting with one voice. Some don’t see it as a problem. Some just don’t care because it doesn’t concern them. And frankly, that apathy is disappointing, and speaks even more to the uphill battle that females do face in this industry. It’s not just the mainstream and labels and programmers that ignore the issue, but many of us traditionalists and supporters of independent music make light of it too.
AS for women liking the objectification, that is part of the danger to this. Yeah, some women like it because it’s catchy and fun, but others, and I daresay many more as more and more songs come out like this and we see the female perspective continue to be absent from radio, will see this as normal. It will start to affect culture in a larger way, not just in the ways men think of and treat women, but in the ways women view themselves. When girls start embracing the roles given to them in these songs and put out stuff like “Girl in Your Truck Song” from a few years ago, that’s the bigger danger. And when there’s no mature female perspective on radio to counter this notion for young girls, how long will it be before they grow up thinking this is okay? Indeed, many already do, as many here have pointed out.
So stop saying it’s not an issue, or that sites like this shouldn’t speak about this and other problems facing the mainstream. Sure, don’t listen to the radio. Go stream albums. I don’t listen to it either. But it’s a bigger problem than radio, it’s a problem that is affecting our culture as a whole. Trigger stated above that SCM “has always been about caring about something bigger than yourself.” So call this issue what it is and try caring about something bigger than yourself, instead of ignoring/trivializing this and/or bitching that we’re still talking about Sam Hunt instead of some unknown artist.
July 7, 2017 @ 1:22 am
And I just want to know as I do with hp-hop WHY women/girls eat this shit up. I do not know really any bros into this shit but women go crazy.
And shamefully, as a poet, I am just now realizing body like a backroad as a simile is not a compliment.
July 7, 2017 @ 10:26 am
someone earlier in the comments said we need to stop caring what’s on the radio, and honestly I’ve been there for awhile now. It’s a great time to be a country music fan, because the radio doesn’t hold us hostage with so many other avenues for music.
I do miss the disk jockeys though. It’s more the format and personalities that I miss, since radio is no longer so important as an aggregator of music. I’m also spoiled, we have two independent country stations that both play a lot of classic stuff. I’ve also never heard this song played on the radio.
I’m the last person you’d see at a woman’s march or using the term misogyny unironically, but I do care about this women on the country radio thing. Country used to arguably stand out on this issue, with stars like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette (and so many others) making hits while rock and roll was a complete sausage fest. I’m also one of those dudes that think a lot of women are just making better music. How Ashley Monroe isn’t more well known really boggles my mind, with her voice and songwriting. Sunny’s record is fantastic. Many more examples come to mind. I just don’t get it, on this issue country radio has moved backwards.
July 7, 2017 @ 3:08 pm
“How Ashley Monroe isn’t more well known really boggles my mind,”
because there’s only one Monroe: Bill.
July 7, 2017 @ 11:55 pm
”……because there’s only one Monroe: Bill.”
that’s an insult to Marilyn , Fuzzy 🙂
July 8, 2017 @ 3:44 am
hahahaha!!
July 9, 2017 @ 12:55 pm
Thanks for writing these articles, Trigger. Sad about all the men on here who seem to dismiss this.
I grew up in the era of Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks, Jo Dee Messina, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack, Sara Evans,and many, many others. You’d be hard pressed to find many women country singers in the last decade of that caliber and success (Carrie and Miranda, basically. I won’t count Taylor).
Women have a proven track record of selling well, so I don’t get it. I just know I miss those days.
July 11, 2017 @ 8:15 am
First off, it is not all men.
Second, we are just tired of the same article being reworked. What is new about the issue? Nothing. The good women singers (along with the good men singers) aren’t being played while Kelsey and Sam rack up #1 hits.
At least with the Bro-Country rants, we got some entertainment and hilarious jokes.
August 22, 2017 @ 7:57 am
Yeah,well look at rap.Most rap is horrifically misogynistic,yet women love the rappers and defend the sexist (and worse) lyrics. I think that may be what’s going on in Country,with handsome good ol’ boys and cowboy posers being slobbered over by women who don’t care that they’re being slagged.
August 22, 2017 @ 7:59 am
OlaR,Charlie Pride is 83,about my maternal uncle Ronald’s age,so H**L NO,they won’t play any Charlie Pride songs!!!!!
August 24, 2017 @ 7:28 am
The reason women artists receive little airplay as opposed to the 90’s and early aughts is because lots of Countryboppers are lining up to buy “Body Like A Backroad” and dreaming of being Sam Hunt’s girlfriend.(Incidentally,July 6 was my 64th birthday!!!!!)