WARNING: The Roots Resurgence Will Not Last Forever
It borders on astounding how short-sighted human perception can sometimes be. In the midst of trend arches and bubbles, we convince ourselves we are experiencing the new paradigm and it will be this way forever, so much so that in the early-mid 2000’s America’s entire financial system retooled on the perception that real estate would appreciate eternally and there was no risk in interest-only loans and overvaluing property. A similar short-sighted outcome transpired with the dot-com bubble in 2000.
Analogously, in the present-day roots music realm we live in times of high cotton. With the widespread commercial success of bands like Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, and the Avett Brothers, artists and bands that for many years were pushing against stones are finally getting the recognition they deserve as capital from labels and distributors loosens, more roots music outlets open up, and promoters, booking agents, and managers look to get in on the ground floor with artists who may turn out to be the next Mumford. Some of the artists that we thought might never get a chance of making it in the music business despite their overwhelming talent are now getting signed to solid labels and showing positive signs of being able to make a fair living.
But there’s no guarantee it will be this way forever. In fact if there is any guarantee, it is the opposite, and we may already be more of the way through the roots popularity trend and its corresponding capital influx than we have time left before it peeters out, and post grad roots bands and their beards, vests, and banjos become widespread fuel for comedic fodder similar to how we laugh at the folk revival or hair metal today.
Sure, the people with roots music in their hearts will still be around, but the capital infusion caused by the popularity of roots music will not be. That is why whenever I am talking to artists, bands, labels, promoters, festival organizers, etc., I implore them to understand that these good times will likely not last, and right now is the time to make hay for the purpose of sustainability, to take advantage of the renewed interest in roots music to build infrastructure and make gains, because this opportunity may not come around again or be this fortuitous.
9 months removed from the release of Mumford & Son’s blockbuster Babel, and the focus of the music populous seems to already be shifting to Daft Punk’s influence on the EDM world, and big releases from Kanye West and Jay Z. Yes, true fans of bluegrass, Americana, real country, deep blues and folk may be more than happy to say fare thee well to the popular music interlopers who invaded their little scenes recently, but their money and interest is what could finally give some of their favorite artists and entities the support they’ve needed to find long-term sustainability.
“I think we’re already on the other side of the folk movement,” Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers recently told the Twin Cities Pioneer. “It’s certainly having a moment, and that moment will pass. … Every five or six years, the public gets tired of whatever is big. … And what happens when something is commercially viable and acceptable, people step in that aren’t inspired but are looking to make money.”
Seth and the Avett Brothers are often given credit for inspiring bands like Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers. “Art is not a competition,” Seth continues, “And the Mumford guys are big fans and very vocal about our influence on them. It’d be more difficult if they were the ones standing up saying, ‘We’ve created this and it’s ours completely.’ And I can’t exactly talk about how bad it’s been for us.”
So how are the Avett Brothers planning to weather the inevitable down tick in interest in Americana? “We embrace what’s happening in our lives to keep (the music) current,” Seth says.
Not embracing the current is what has created some criticism of the Americana Music Association, which seems to be slow to take advantage of Americana and roots’ recent revival. Though the AMA has done some nation building recently by moving their offices from Nashville to Franklin and announcing a new Americana festival, their recent awards nominees seem to hint that the organization is still somewhat too steeped in the past, without a finger on the pulse of the historic gains roots music has made in the past few years.
But whether it is the AMA, a local or regional roots festival, or an artist looking to put out their next album, they would be wise to try and take advantage of the wide eye roots music is currently being blessed with, because we have all seen the times when that eye was uncompromisingly closed.
June 26, 2013 @ 12:45 pm
Good advice!
June 26, 2013 @ 12:46 pm
Interesting Article. My thought is very simillar to what you had to say in a recent article. Regarding looking at the Texas/Red dirt Scene and it’s loyal fan base and artists giving back to those loyal fans through greater fan access and greater fan interaction with artists as a way to bulid a scene that is maintained based on loyality and not trends that come and go. There was a day mainstream country music was exactly the same way. With the Americana/roots thing having most likely peaked the way to keep your fan base loyal and large and thus keep good record and distribution deals, will be based on fostering and maintaining fan loyality. If enough people buy tickets and Cd’s and downloads etc keeping solid bookings long term will continue. While you might not always play sheds or arena’s you can play nice theaters and use package shows to still play the larger venues long term.
June 26, 2013 @ 2:19 pm
The Texas music scene (whatever that is) has done very well insulating itself from long-term trends by diversifying, just like financial advisers will tell you to do with your investment portfolio. As much as people like to make fun of how ambiguous and unhelpful the terms “Texas scene” and “Red Dirt” are, they mean something to the fans, and numerous entities have been able to work together to build long-term ties and infrastructure so no matter how the winds of trend blow, most of the artists are okay. You could also say this same system is what keeps many Texas artists from getting big like their mainstream country counterparts, but the emphasis has been sustainability and smart growth as opposed to fostering the superstar. Texas music has its warts too, especially with quality control, but compared to Americana or underground, it has been able to build and maintain to meet the needs of the music.
Something else I’ve notice in Texas music, and one of the reasons I think it has done so well, but seems to go almost unrecognized outside of the Texoma region, is because the entities that comprise its infrastructure are all about pushing the music itself, and not one particular branding of the music. This is also why the terms are so loose. I’m sure there are some exceptions, but when I look at other segments of independent country and roots, everyone wants to push THEIR term, THEIR branding, and the actual music gets lost in the shuffle. In Texas its more an attitude of “call it what you want, we don’t care. But if you like it, support it.”
June 26, 2013 @ 2:29 pm
Very true, Trig. I think they ability to not get bogged down in narrow defenitions certianly applies to Americana and roots music communities and using that” if you like it support it” mentality could be very useful going foward. The Americana association is going to have to expand their inclusion of more kinds and newer artists at awards time though. Brand loyality weather you are a band or artist or a product is damn hard to bulid but once you do is worth it’s wieght in gold.
June 26, 2013 @ 3:18 pm
Trigger, have you blogged about the venues that support the Texas music scene? I’ve learned a bit by following artists on Spotify/Tunigo, but it would be interesting to hear from you. Recently, I was passing through Austin and Hill Country thinking about the great music scene.
June 26, 2013 @ 4:42 pm
I have talked about many venues where I have been to see live shows and such over the years. If I am doing a live review, I tend to include some comments about the venue itself, and in this respect I have talked about The White Horse in Austin, Gruene Hall, Luckenbach, The Texas Music Theater in San Marcos, and many others. I have not done many specific features on venues but I’m not opposed to doing that in the future. From the beginning, I wanted Saving Country Music to have a national and international reach, and so sometimes talking about things on a local level if there is not a national impact can be a little difficult.
Texas has some great venues.
June 27, 2013 @ 6:31 am
I think the only popular music that has been with us without a break since it first showed up is disco. Different names/looks but otherwise unchanged.
Unfortunately.
Interesting article as usual, thanks!
June 27, 2013 @ 7:43 am
LOL@^^^^^^
It’s pretty true when you think about it…..designer jeans instead of bellbottoms & Molly instead of cocaine…….like you said different names / looks but same difference lol
Definitely gotta agree with this overall concept as well….it seems like the public’s attention span grows shorter every day, I think that the “EDM” (or whatever you wanna call it) is the same way – at least in the US – had it’s 15 minutes now the public’s ready to be forcefed another heaping serving of pre-programmed auto-tuned bullshit
Florida Georgia Line will probably blow the fuck up….my prediction is that they will be running (as a duo) for president within a year….
June 27, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
If the typical artists who appear on Music City Roots are any indication of where the “roots” music scene is headed, I think it will run out of steam sooner than later. The number of Old Crow Medicine Show wannabees is astounding and most of them just aren’t very good. I could easily be dead wrong though as I’m not a big fan of either the Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons, so I’m out of the loop of what younger (ie under 50 in my case) roots fans want these days…
July 2, 2013 @ 5:44 am
The tittle of you article is self-evident. No musical resurgence lats forever. So what?
The wan of Green Day and the Vans festival was not the death knell of punk.Urban Cowboy and the invention of CMT didn’t deep-six country music.
Trig, I love you man but you and Natalie Maines have something in common, You blur industry insiders with the fans and larger culture. Insiders (the AMA) re-actively use old-school practices to cull toward the popular and marketable (Mumfords, Avetts, Milk Carton Kids, Dawes) and exploit (market) to establish gatekeeper status and sell tickets to events and swank get-aways at Blackberry Farms and advertising space (Nissan)
No one that has been watching this genre seriously believe that the AMA choices are necessarily “the best” (see my Americana Music Awards Nomination Oversights – http://www.twangnation.com/2013/05/16/americana-music-awards-nomination-oversights-son-volt-the-trishas-lindi-ortega-delta-rae/) but they are key in lodging the music in the popular mind.
The audience is always going to be fickle. As long as there are people that love honest music Americana and roots music is here to stay, grow and thrive.
July 2, 2013 @ 4:13 pm
Baron, I honestly find your comment baffling. It seems to take into consideration the title, an an assumption on my predisposed biases, and maybe cursory scan of the article, but a lot of the points you make are similar to mine, and I never said or implied whatsoever that roots music or Americana are going away. In fact I went out of my way to say that they won’t because of the loyal fans that will stick around regardless of trends.
Really what this article did was take the opinions of an artist that is on the cutting edge of the Americana/roots resurgence and expounded on them.
Simply put, Americana and roots music is in the middle of a capital infusion, and in my opinion it should use that opportunity to invest in the music’s future because that capital might not be here forever. It’s not different than suggesting someone purchase a house when home prices and interest rates are low. If that is obvious to you, then I apologize for bothering you about it, but it seemed like an important point to make.
July 3, 2013 @ 12:52 pm
I get the “make hay while the sun shines” premise. A better title would be “The Root Bubble Will Not Last Forever”’ An important message for all.
Every artist, hell American, should be storing away while the settings good. Artists like the Lunineers, The Civil Wars and Mumford etc. are in a unique spot to have others invest for them. the rest would do well to get a cursory education of individual 401(k)’s as well as the economics of music rights management.
August 4, 2014 @ 12:17 pm
In this regard, I think Jason Isbell’s follow-up to “Southeastern” is a make-or-break moment for the genre. If he hits another home-run, the mainstream music system may be more ready to carry it than they did on the amazing “Southeastern.” (No Grammy nominations?! Not even for Americana?!) And if it hits that mainstream chord just right, it could propel the whole genre up, almost like Nirvana did with grunge music via “Nevermind.”