Despite video evidence to the contrary, and no evidence whatsoever in the affirmative, multiple media outlets continue to report that Dolly Parton pledged her support to the Black Lives Matter movement—meaning the political movement—as opposed to saying in a simple colloquial exchange that the lives of black individuals matter.
This week, Maddie & Tae’s “Die From A Broken Heart” finally made it to #1 on the country radio charts. It is a major accomplishment, and a long-fought battle for a song that was originally revealed to fans all the way back in the fall of 2018, and not released as a proper single to radio until May 6th, 2019.
The term “Stan” was never supposed to be a term of endearment, or something to be proud of. Taken from the Eminem song “Stan” released in 2000 about an obsessed Eminem fan who ends up killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend after going off the rails, it doesn’t exactly paint an enviable picture of next-level fan loyalty.
From Taylor Swift’s recent surprise album ‘Folklore,’ the most folkish or “country” song from the collection called “Betty” is being sent to country radio as a proper radio single. It was sent officially to many radio affiliates on Thursday (7-30) after numerous stations were already playing the track.
“Hey, so what does everyone think about American politics?” That’s basically the anthill you’re kicking over whenever you invoke the name of the Dixie Chicks, even though their music was never really that political, and the polarization of their name was more due to misunderstanding and hysteria
Over 112 artists and counting have been confirmed as victims of a sweeping intellectual property theft by having their recordings directly stolen and repurposed by fake artist accounts operating on all major streaming services, including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google Play, YouTube, and others. The theft includes at least 831 songs.
On NBC’s ‘The Voice’ Monday night (10-28), a contestant named Jake Hoot performed Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” as part of the singing show. Taylor Swift, who was acting as a coach on the episode, even remarked “I love Jason Isbell,” when Jake Hoot said he was covering “Cover Me Up.” It’s more evidence the song has become a standard.
But what Kalie Shorr has also done in Open Book is what every true artist wishes to do whenever the make a record, which is capture raw emotions in bold strokes that resonate deeply with an audience and connect us with our shared humanity. But just like the career of Kalie Shorr, the question is, “Who is the audience?”
If you’re a country music fan and are disappointed that your favorite artist didn’t get enough screen time in the Ken Burns film on country music, well guess what, your favorite genre did, and by the most revered documentary filmmaker of our time, and before rock n’ roll, pop, the blues, soul music, or hip-hop.
“What is this?!? Taylor Swift ain’t country, and the Dixie Chicks are commies!” Yeah yeah. Roll off it. We can be adults here and discuss a Taylor Swift song if it’s deemed interesting or necessary. And in the case of “Soon You’ll Get Better,” there are a few interesting country music tie-in’s worth discussing.
The Country Music Antichrist Scott Borchetta is hellbent on world domination ladies and gentlemen, and in the process expect him to pull country music in the pop direction more than ever before. In an interview, he downplayed Luke Combs and Kane Brown, while touting Thomas Rhett as the only true 20-something headliner.
Scooter Brown of the country and Southern Rock outfit the Scooter Brown Band appreciates your passion, Swifties. But he is not the droid you’re looking for. So please stop sending him wishes that his penis fall off and his kids go blind, because he’s got no business with that dude Taylor Swift is beefing with at the moment.
You’re a music fan. And sure, you know a little something about labels and producers and how all this stuff is necessary to get the music to you. But it so quickly gets bogged down in minutia and detail, does the sale of one huge music company to another really affect you, or affect the music in some significant way that you should care?
Many pop artists want to be included in country these days through collaborations or remixes to skim some of those fans off for themselves. But country music should be careful of continuing to allow this to happen. The music world was much better when pop was too sugary for country, and country was to corny for pop.
Ahead of the release of a new album entitled Western Stars on June 14th, Bruce Springsteen has made available the song “Hello Sunshine.” Despite the sunny disposition of the title, it is a moody, introspective, and dare you say country-sounding tune that is enjoyable on its own, and gets you excited.
When you hear certain albums from some of country music’s mainstream performers, it’s patently clear to large portions of the audience that these albums aren’t pop country, they’re just pop, period. But in the pop world when artist dabble in country influences, they tend to be more honest about how the end result is still pop.
Jason Aldean will receive the Dick Award for the Decade from the ACMs come April—“Dick” being for Dick Clark, who this decade award was just renamed after, and who luckily is dead so he doesn’t have to see his name besmirched by being associated with the likes of Jason Aldean.
This song doesn’t belong anywhere near country music, and neither does Maren Morris. “GIRL” capitalizes, underscores, bolds, and bolsters this blatantly obvious and unequivocal conclusion, leaving no room for discussion or argument anymore.
There is no way to sugar coat it for Scott Borchetta, Big Machine Records, and the two one-way streets just west of downtown Nashville known as Music Row where the heart of the country music industry resides. Taylor Swift leaving is huge. But she also leaves behind a legacy of how women can still succeed in country.
Despite the reporting of multiple websites to the contrary, Taylor Swift is indeed registered to vote in the State of Tennessee in the upcoming midterm elections, Saving Country Music is able to independently confirm. “I can absolutely confirm that she’s registered,” says Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins.
Isn’t celebrity pop culture influencing voter habits how we got here in the first place? If you’re waiting for marching orders from your favorite pop star to figure out who to vote for, you’re uniquely unqualified to be voting in the first place, just as most pop stars are uniquely unqualified to be attempting to advise the public.
Kane Brown and Luke Combs couldn’t be more different. But they are both a new style of country star who made their ascent into mainstream stardom 100% during the streaming era, and due to the streaming era specifically. Last week, both artists announced their own arena tours.
Just like Lady Antebellum, Sugarland should have been relegated to the graveyard of failed country music franchises, if for no other reason than the respective members were actually much better in their off season solo projects than the sum of their parts ever were together. But in an industry that is empty of new ideas and interested in squeezing money from whatever crevice possible, no franchise is off the table for resurrection.
We’re supposed to be avoiding discussion of Taylor Swift in country music. That wasn’t just the hope of traditional country fans who were glad to see her finally come out a few years ago and say that she wanted to be considered pop and pop only henceforth. That was the wish of Taylor Swift herself and the entire point of her “I’ve gone pop” declaration.