The Revolution Rolls On
Maybe too much.
I get emails for people upon occasion saying “Yeah, I hate pop country too, but who cares? Just don’t listen to it if you don’t like it. No need to make such a big deal about it.”
Artists who criticize radio/Nashville country like Hank III and Dale Watson also get criticized, as if their criticism is because they haven’t been able to make it in the business, or that its just a bit to draw attention to themselves.
But to us REAL country fans we see the destruction of things we cherish all around us. It isn’t hypothetical. We do not sniff around in the trash cans of pop country to find its problems, we mind our own business as either casual or hardcore music fans, and we feel like pop country day by day is encroaching on the things we love.
Am I being overdramatic? Maybe. But I’m thinking about the Texas songwriters or the traveling bands out there with amazing talent, that you and me will never hear because they have to struggle in obscurity.
A few weeks after I started Free Hank III, I was contacted by a DJ of a local, independent country station down in the Hill Country of Texas named Big G. I have met so many amazing people through this thing that I feel honored and privileged to call “friends,” and he is one of them.
Big G helped spread awareness about what Curb Records was doing to Hank III, and I became a huge fan of his show. He even interviewed Hank III for over an hour one night. Since his show is in the middle of the night, I never get to listen as much as I want to, but when I do it gives me faith these is still hope out there for REAL country. I even added his independent country station Revolution FM as sponsors for freehank3.org and savingcountrymusic.com.
Well unfortunately around Xmas, Revolution FM decided there was no money in the REAL country market, even in one of country’s strongholds, the Texas Hill Country. So they decided to change formats to Clear Channel-style classic rock, running the same “Journey-O Styx-wagon” tracks that have been run into the ground for years on stations all across the country.
I saw this bulletin from Big G last week:
A shame…With the death of Revolution FM, gone to Classic Rock, (and the listeners and advertisers have grown exponentially) and, of all things, a benefit for Hank Moon because he lost his job,.Poor Hank, maybe he can get a stimulus from “The Big O” . Quit yer bitchin’ and go get a job. Grab your bootstraps, man! Then pull them up.
Thank you Clear Channel for screwing up American Radio, not just in Texas.
I suppose the recession has finally hit our corner of the world. BUT, have no fear, Big G’s Texas Roadshow is STILL here bringing you tried and true Texas music. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, too many Texas artists were reaching for the “brass” ring they started out avoiding, and their music, and fan base have suffered. Then it it snowballs – if radio stations are not supported, formats will change. Something that started out so cool has gotten rather stale, for the most part…
However, you can still hear the “real” stuff on KOOK 93.5 midnites, and soon to be back streaming on the web at revfmradio. com at the same time…
No offense to classic rock, it has it’s place in the world. But that place can be found at nauseum all over the dial.
It is a good thing The Roadshow has survived, for the most part at least, but this is an excellent example of what is happening all around the country, and it has hit right here at the heart of Free Hank III. Even in a smaller market like Kerrville, TX, independent radio is not safe.
Sure all of us in the know have podcasts and online networks to help us find the music we like, but there is not bigger ambassador for music than the old-fashioned radio.
Slowly but surely radio is becoming all the same, no matter what station you listen to or where. It seems like eventually we’ll just have one station with one type of music. The superstation with the super pop genre.
Sorry, but the choice between Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers, is no choice at all.
And if that makes me a whining, out of touch, stick in the mud redneck with a closed mind, so be it.
Luckily the Roadshow rides on for now, and so do I, until the tide turns.
PS: Big G has a great article up in the latest Hill Country Happenings with Ray Price (on page 8).
© 2025 Saving Country Music
February 9, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
Damn fine write up Triggerman! I’ve had a problem posting to the myspace blogs for a while now, and hoping it gets fixed soon.
We had an ice storm come through here that also knocked me out for nearly a week. One thing that happened was I actually watched a television lol. I admit I wandered onto one of the country video channels and suffered through too many songs to mention. I’d like to know what the song with the lyrics “swing batter batter swing” have to do with even pop country, let alone country? I was at a loss for words.
February 9, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
Triggerman… yet again you write a great blog about “the real world”. The reason that pop country fans think that we are overdoing it is because THEY HAVE NO IDEA what is really out there. We know what is out there and we no the difference between REAL country and POP country. I have had this discussion many many times and its still the same basic idea… we shit on Tim McGay and Taylor (I would fuck her though) Swift… is because they are shoved down our throats… we have to go to little dive bars or drive 4 hours to see one of our favorite bands… all because Nashville doesnt want to support the TALENT that is out there. Because 23year old Janet or 40 year old Debra long for the hot sexy stud who wiggles his ass and has that cutie smile. They have no idea that what they are listening to in their CD players is COMPLETE PROCESSED MEAT.. cleaned up and made perfect by a board of buttons and knobs at the studio. I wanna hear grit.. I wanna hear pain.. I wanna see that tattoo covered chick in the front row sweating her ass off and getting into the music. REAL country isn’t what is causing us to look like we obesses about bashing POP country…. its the ignorance of Janet and Debra not knowing whats really out there and what real music sounds like. ALot of times I put out a show and think… what difference is it making anyway.. but then I get an email from someone saying, “I have never heard that artist before. It kicked ass! I am going to go find whatever I can of that person.” then I realize that is what I do IBWIP for… same reason I started it almost two years ago… so people could find out about music that they didnt know was out there…. oh ya and by the way… PEE-A-VISION will be streaming LIVE Thursday FEB 12th at 8pm (CST). Head over to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ibwip to check it out. We will also be releasing EP24 on the 27th of FEB. Thanks again Trigger for giving us a place to share our thoughts and love for the real stuff.
February 9, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
Thanks J DUB, I was wondering where you went. You aren’t the only one with problems posting on MySpace. You comments are always welcome here.
Great thoughts Blake (IBWIP). I’m glad you wrote all of this stuff. As I was writing this blog I felt like people may feel like they are getting beaten over the head with all this anti pop country stuff, but I would’ve never wrote it if it wasn’t for revolution FM tanking. I am glad there are people out there that feel as passionately as i do about this, and even more, that they are willing to do something about it like IBWIP.
February 9, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
I have to say that I am kind of glad pop country is out there. It enabled me to turn off the radio and start looking for the real music no one knows about. I would not know about IBWIP (by the way, waht time is it on for the west coast?, Bob Wayne, Split Lip Rayfield, .357 String Band, Casey & the Moonshine Band, and all the other great ones out there if I hadn’t turned off the radio!
February 9, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
Interesting perspective.
February 11, 2009 @ 10:46 am
The problem with pop country music is not linked to a particular sound or style, but rather heterogeneity. In my opinion, there is nothing inherently *wrong* with country music that veers more to the contemporary style. The problem is that people at the labels saw this sound making money and like sheep all of the artists had the same sound. In a healthy country music industry there will be Tim McGraws and Rascal Flattses, but there should also be Hank IIIs and Willie Nelsons. On the radio, on TV, etc.
We pretend like this is a new problem, but it is a revolving cycle of conformity that occurred in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and still continues today. If it is healthy for Hank III to populate the punk/country border, then it is just as healthy for Rascal Flatts to populate the pop/country border. Both bring in new fans to the genre, and who knows, maybe that kid that thought Rascal Flatts was cool gets a chance to listen to George Strait. He thinks George Strait is really cool and then he gets a chance to listen to George Jones, who he thinks is the coolest of all.
I enjoy your blog and I just wanted to share my $0.02. While most pop country is not my cup of tea either, the problem is not the artists at the edges of the spectrum – it is the size of the spectrum in the first place.
February 11, 2009 @ 11:15 am
Excellent comment man, and you are completely right. Pop has its place in the world, and even in country. The problem is everything sound the same, and the lack of variety is killing the genre, or turning it into a subgenre of pop rather a genre into itself.
Great stuff man and thanks for reading.