Why Country Music Is Sick in 2015
I don’t need a workup from Dr. Scratch-N-Sniff to know something is seriously ill with country music here in the first quarter of 2015. We’re not talking about the worn-out complaints about how pop country sucks and how Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line don’t belong. Take all of those concerns and put them to the side for a second. I’m talking about the once high-flying country genre that this time last year everyone was touting as the most dominant format in all of popular music, and how it now seems to be on this extended losing streak that has it perched precariously balanced on the edge of a cliff, threatening to fall off into the popular music abyss vis-Ã -vis the early 80’s.
This is what a site like Saving Country Music and other pontificators have been preaching against ever since Bro-Country took over the genre starting sometime in 2012, setting country up for a precipitous fall once the sugar high of the craze wore off, and country music’s much-coveted 18 to 34-year-old demographic moved on. Making it worse, Taylor Swift leaving the genre also took a massive amount of listeners and revenue away from the format, swinging those people back to the pop side of the popular genre pie chart.
But all this is good for a fan of country music that hates Florida Georgia Line and Taylor Swift, right? Finally the Bro-Country trend has undeniably ebbed, and Swift is finally calling a spade a spade. This is what we wanted, correct? That all may be the case, but all this downward trending could have an impact on artists that weren’t part of any of these ill-conceived “country” music trends to begin with, but may become the inadvertent victims of the end results.
Country music is in the midst of an identity crisis, and a serious ratings slump. This is what happens when you don’t build sustainability into your business model, and instead tie your saddle to wild-assed, uncontrollable trends that put you in a constant boom and bust cycle resulting in many broken bones, bad decisions, and lost opportunities. Where Bro-Country was bucking high nine months ago, now country music is face down in the muck, and many of the plans to build new infrastructure for the genre and support a crop of rising new artists are being put on hold because of a lack of revenue and attention.
The numbers couldn’t be much worse for country at the moment. That coveted 18 to 34-year-old demographic that was sketching Swiss Alp-style mountains on the country music Richter scale when Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” was setting records and Bro-Country was riding high? They now have dipped into red ink. It has been one downward-trending month after another until now the recent Nielsen Audio country radio numbers at an 8.6 share are the worst 18-34 rating since January of 2013. Historically these numbers still aren’t terrible, but a two-year downward trend is still a very bad sign.
And as we saw in the end-of-year numbers for 2014, country music slipped 16.6% annually—not so exceptional because of declining sales in music overall, but Taylor Swift’s move from country to pop accounted for a huge portion of that declining percentage, while pop was the only genre in 2014 that actually registered increasing sales because of Taylor Swift’s participation. But it wasn’t just in sales that Swift’s negative impact was felt by country, “but also radio and televised events — is weaker without her,” says Billboard. When you lose the biggest artist in all of music, that means less ears and eyeballs for everyone, including the young women of country looking to replace Swift. Though we’ve seen country radio mostly respect Swift’s pop move, that’s also why we’ve seen so many country music news and entertainment outlets continue to run Taylor Swift stories—because she delivers consumers.
So why is all of this important to, let’s say, fans of upstarting country females like Brandy Clark and Holly Williams, legends like Dwight Yoakam and Merle Haggard, or newer artists like Sturgill Simpson? Because without all the money and resources flowing into country music, the desire to sink capital into new infrastructure to open up emerging avenues for music to be heard is extremely limited. When resources are tight, it’s every man for himself.
The narrative heading into 2014 was how country music was expanding exponentially because of all the interest in the genre. People and Rolling Stone both opened dedicated country music divisions. Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia)—the largest radio station owner in the United States—was betting big on syndicating their Bobby Bones morning show coast to coast, and starting a dedicated iHeartRadio country music festival in Austin. Cumulus Media—the 2nd-largest radio station owner in the United States—was expanding rapidly into the country music space with their NASH-branded radio programming and side products like restaurants and clothing. Country music was going to be the way for old media to meet the new paradigm.
Some of this still may come to pass, but now there’s just not as much to talk about in country music, and there’s less eyes and ears looking to consume that media. That fickle, pliable demographic of 18 to 34-year-olds has moved on, because they weren’t really country music fans to begin with. They were just chasing what was popular at the time, and since what brought them to country in the first place wasn’t substantive or sustainable, they washed out with the tide.
So ideas to expand the amount of avenues for country music worthy of a wider audience, like the country radio format split that was all the talk this time last year, seem dead in the water. With dwindling listeners already, country music has no desire to start splitting the remaining demographic down the middle. Though in the end being able to offer a product that appeals to a wider audience, with one side of country specifically designed to reach out to that 18 to 34 demo, and the other more catering to 25 to 54-year-olds seems like a good solution, this idea doesn’t seem to be on the mind of radio programmers and major label executives.
They seem more invested in turning their numbers around the easy way by chasing the next hyper-trend—very likely Sam Hunt and the similar doppelganger-style copycats we’re already beginning to see emerge. This will only continue the boom-and-bust cycle for country music, instead of implementing long-term solutions to attract more loyal country listeners—ones who will stay with the format for the long haul. By splitting the format in two to deliver a more dedicated form of what both sides of the country music divide desire, country music could grow along two different fronts, while having less conflict between the two sides.
Country music is at an important crossroads. And no matter how much pontificators peck away at keyboards about what to do about the genre’s ailments, it’s going to take the action of the individuals in charge to craft long-term solutions to insulate country music from the manic depressive economic mood swings, and build a more sustainable future that delivers fulfillment for all age demographics. If splitting the format is not in the cards, how about making a format everyone can enjoy together, regardless of age?
But doing nothing doesn’t seem like an option. Plunging country music into another half-decade-long dark age, or an even worse dilemma like the one facing rock music, seems to not be in anyone’s best interests. Sam Hunt and EDM-style “country” just seems like an excuse for listeners to turn the channel to a format that sounds more like that, robbing country radio of additional attention. If you live by the 18-34 demo, you die by them. And by not building sustainability into your business model, you make yourself susceptible to adverse trends.
The problem with country music is not a lack of talent or appeal. It is getting the genre’s most talented artists and most appealing music to the right people in an increasingly-crowded marketplace. It seems like offering listeners more choice might be a more viable long-term option.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:01 pm
I view this trend as a net positive.
First, losing the bro-country fans is the absolute best thing that can happen to country music, for obvious reasons.
Secondly, crisis conditions might lead the industry to take more risks in order to revive itself, mainly by just throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. This could serve as a great opportunity for thus far marginalized artists such as Brandy Clark.
I see some clear parallels to the economy here (although of course boom and busts in the music industry are nowhere near as damaging to regular people as economic cycles). It took the Great Depression for the nation to realize that the only way to build a stable economy was through broad-based prosperity rather than concentrated wealth. It took the Great Recession for the nation to realize the wisdom of why Wall Street was regulated in the first place and how short-sighted it was to dismantle those regulations. Similarly, from a conservative perspective, it took the stagflation crisis of the 1970s for the nation to realize that fiscal irresponsibility and excessively loose currency are unsustainable in the long run.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
These cretins do not care about the traditions of the genre, they simply covet wealth and power. I know what that is like… That is why there are no actual country singers, radio show hosts, or label executives. They believe the only people who listen to real country music are elderly people, and there is nothing to gain from that. They say the genre is evolving when it is clearly devolving. It is just an excuse made by people who do not care about the genre so they can continue to destroy what it is supposed to be so they can chase hyper-trends and make more money. I see this kind of thing every day in my dimension…
March 10, 2015 @ 12:22 pm
Businesses only care about profit. This is why the downward trend is such a good thing: by hitting the industry’s profits, it may just force the industry to change its ways.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:45 pm
‘Businesses only care about profit’
And they always have. What has really changed in many industries is a much stronger emphasis on short term profit. Get it now and worry about later, later.
March 12, 2015 @ 1:13 pm
I like businesses who care about putting out a good product the best.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:18 pm
As I have mentioned before, though, country music will never die out like rock. The reason is that rock, like all other forms of pop, is generational (i.e. based in time), whereas country is regional (i.e. based in space).
Rock was specifically the soundtrack of people born from the late 1930s to the early 1970s (i.e. late Silents, Boomers, and early Gen Xers), and once the second half of Generation X started to come of age in the early 1990s, rock began a fast decline.
The country genre, on the other hand, is based on a specific Southern and rural identity that will last permanently, even if the sound that defines the genre will shift over time.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
You do not have to be from southern North America to like country music. I am the ruler of Latveria, a small European country, and I love country music. REAL country music, not this mindless insanity! I actually live in a seperate universe from yours, I am just such a genius that I am able to communicate with you from another world.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:28 pm
Hmm, is Latveria close to Latvia? If so, do they also speak a Baltic language? 😉
March 10, 2015 @ 12:41 pm
Actually, Latveria IS Latvia. Latvia is just a shortened version in your world.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:59 pm
Yes, but you also wear an iron suit that probably enhances the reception of your transistor radio and allows you to pick up 1000 watt AM stations from rural Arkansas that still feature Hank Williams in heavy rotation.
I’ll bet you just don’t like modern country because the guys in FGL remind you of Reed Richards and Benjamin Grimm.
March 10, 2015 @ 4:51 pm
No, Tyler Hubbard and Bryan Kelley are far worse than them, and that is saying A LOT. Neither of them are stretchy or rocky anyway. Though I do think Blake Shelton may be Red Skull in disguise. Redredredredredredredredredneck! Red Skull is the only person (besides me) who would write a song glorifying the coloration of their own neck! Come on, show some dignity!
March 11, 2015 @ 11:47 am
I think they should all pull a Susan Storm Richards disappearing act.
I have a feeling that I’ll be chuckling about the Red Skull line for several days.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:46 pm
But if country music completely abandons its original identity, what is there to insulate it from a similar fate as rock and roll? Some give credit to rap metal as the downfall of rock.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
Rap metal could not have been the source of rock’s downfall. Rock began a precipitous decline in the early 1990s as hip-hop/electronic began to gain popularity fast (just compare the Hot 100 songs from 1989 with that from 1991 to see what I mean). This was well before rap-metal existed and ironically coincided with the rise of grunge. Even in its heyday, rap-metal was fairly marginal in terms of radio play and sales.
If anything, one could argue that grunge contributed to rock’s downfall by making the songs too esoteric and inaccessible. There are parallels here to jazz, which also gained significantly in sophistication during the 1950s just as it began to fade from the mainstream.
March 10, 2015 @ 1:02 pm
If I remember correctly Linkin Park had the biggest selling album of the year twice with separate records. And Limp Bizkit sold large quantities at their peak. Some of what you say is likely correct but rap/metal was not marginal by any standard.
March 10, 2015 @ 1:32 pm
Faith No More’s “Epic” came out in 1989. The single went Gold and the album was certified Platinum. They did the Red Hot Chili Peppers before the Red Hot Chili Peppers sounded like they now sound, which is really crappy rock/rap with mostly nonsense lyrics…
March 10, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
I just checked out Linkin Park’s discography. Going by radio play, the only song of theirs that even reached the top 10 was “In the End”. Furthermore, their debut “Hybrid Theory” album was released in 2000, by which time mainstream rock was already in a terminal state.
As for Limp Bizkit, they made far less of a dent on radio than even Linkin Park.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:20 pm
Eric you said sales were marginal and Linkin Park sold huge amounts. Also you are missing the point that Mike made below that Billboard chart rules meant that any song not released as a single were ineligible for the Hot 100 so just going by that paints an incomplete picture.
Plus you are making disputable claims about when rock started it’s decline and then using them as facts to prove your argument.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:30 pm
Scotty,
The point is that even the songs that were released as singles generally did not reach the top (or come close).
This is something that I realized recently, actually. My memories of 90s music from growing up in the Seattle area (the capital of alt-rock) at the time, along with reading a whole bunch of music blogs, had led me to believe that grunge and post-grunge represented the top tier of popularity in the 90s. Therefore, upon recently researching the Billboard Hot 100 for each year of the 90s, I was quite shocked by how early and fast hip-hop/electronic took over.
Perhaps the most surprising discovery was in finding out that “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, the seminal rock song of the early 90s, only reached #6 on the charts. This leads me to believe that the supposed popularity of alt-rock in the 90s is very much overrated, and that alt-rock was, broadly speaking, a niche genre.
March 10, 2015 @ 5:13 pm
And neither did most of the iconic rock songs of the sixties and seventies by acts like Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Doors and on and on. Using pop radio to decide these things is really stupid.
I lived in the Seattle area all through the 90s and was in my twenties so I remember all this very well and all of the big 4 (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains) would have had many more Hot 100 hits but the vast majority of there songs were not released as singles. I bet ‘Last Kiss’ is Pearl Jam’s biggest Hot 100 hit because ‘Even Flow’, ‘Better Man’, ‘Jeremy’, ‘Daughter’ were never released as singles.
And of course this has absolutely nothing to due with this article so I’m not sure why this matters.
March 11, 2015 @ 12:09 am
Radio is a great way to judge the musical tastes of the younger audience. Album buyers tend to be several years older than the target radio audience, hence the overrepresentation of country music and older forms of pop music in the album charts.
Prog rock was primarily a British phenomenon, and it was never that popular among the broad cross-section of young people in the US. Both disco and punk were created basically to cater to the US audience disaffected by prog rock.
March 15, 2015 @ 12:29 pm
Linkin Parks debut Hybrid Theory was the highest selling album of 2000 selling over ten million units as of 2010 and peaking number 2 on Billboard 200
Source:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Theory
March 10, 2015 @ 1:34 pm
You’re likely on to something, though using singles charts from this era isn’t especially useful as many hit songs were never released as singles in the 90s to boost album sales – in addition, this was the era where radio formats became increasingly niche oriented – top 40 became almost exclusively a dance format in most markets.
It wasn’t until the 2nd half of the decade when Billboard got around to correcting for these trends, thus you have aberrations like no song from Pearl Jam’s “Ten” having charted in the upper 1/2 of the Hot 100, despite that album achieving diamond status.
March 10, 2015 @ 1:38 pm
Yep the best example of this is ‘Don’t Speak’ by No Doubt which never appeared on the Hot 100 because it wasn’t released as a single but if allowed to chart it may have been one of the longest reigning #1 hits of all time.
March 10, 2015 @ 1:56 pm
The nature of dance music itself changed sharply during this period. During the 1980s, most dance-pop featured a solidly rock sound, with rock drum beats, electric guitar, and synths resembling guitar. As the 90s dawned, though, the hip-hop sonic structure and eventually electronic beats took over the dance scene.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:02 pm
I would also argue that the separation of radio into niches occurred precisely because of the new divide between older/whiter rock fans and younger/blacker hip-hop and electronic fans. One could say that the niche radio concept marked the defining feature of the transition of the mainstream from rock to hip-hop/electronic that began in the early 90s and finished in the late 00s (when rock radio essentially died out from the pop charts due to the aging fan base).
March 10, 2015 @ 10:22 pm
Ugh. THe 90s killed a lot of things. I think it all went south when Cobaun killed himself and Biggie and Tupac died. Musicians got really jaded and the way things were changing and this left the door open for no talents like Britney Speares and the Boybands to waltz in and show you can can Million and do nothing but look pretty. And Shania Twain showed us all that if you make the same record twice for different markets the records execs will find away to make one record and sell it to two markets. I know music has always had trash but the 90s really did suck. I was in JH & HS for most of it and really but end of the decade top 40 was a mess of garbage. I know I’m being hyperbolic and that some good came of the decade (I think Bjork is a fine example of artistry from that period) but really it just blew chunks.
I remember reading quotes from musicians even current musicians of the period talking about the state of music (mainstream music) being quite poor compared to when they grew up.
And as I’ve said before I think all major genres are suffering the same hyper trends and gimmicks and fads. This site focuses on country music but Rocks site, hip-hop, dance music sites, hell even salsa sites all bemoan the demise of their genres to watered down mainstream music for the masses. So I think the way to fix this is to educate people about music and the history of it just like we do with English making people read the great novels in school people should be forced to listen to the great albums in school.
March 10, 2015 @ 11:40 pm
“Great album” is a very subjective idea.
Furthermore, teaching people a form of art in school does not mean that they will become fans of it. If anything, the students may come to view that art form as even more “uncool”. Your literature example serves as a great point here: even though people learn about great literature at school, very few people actually become literature fans at heart in today’s world.
Here’s an article from NPR explaining how jazz education has not actually resulted in more jazz fans:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2012/05/03/151962816/if-not-jazz-education-what-will-rebuild-jazz-audiences
March 11, 2015 @ 10:08 am
Well I agree “Great Album” is subject as is the great novel. And I not really concerned with getting masses of students to on board, I know most of my peers hated Shakespeare. But I when I was force fed it I liked it and hated Old Man and the Sea which others liked. To me it is not so much about forcing them into something as it is about exposure. I was never told in HS the poetry was an option in creative writing so I actually found English horribly boring to me writing essays about what a tree or fish symbolizes despite the feeling that I loved creative writing. But when I got to JC and discovered poetry I found my niche.
So in the end I think exposure is key so kids see the wide variety of options out there. Being a musician doesn’t mean just being a singer or pop star or rapper. You can be a session player or a songwriter or any number of things but if young people are mainly getting there notions of what music can, is, and should be from mainstream media we are doomed IMO.
March 11, 2015 @ 10:42 am
Also this doesn’t explain why jazz is still hugely popular in Europe and Japan and many of the various types are popular. Many US jazz artists choose to live there because the audiences are bigger. And funny enough here in SF where they have the much lauded SF Jazz Festival (which ironically killed one of our greatest jazz clubs) had the likes on Rosanne Cash, Bela Fleck & Abigail Wasgburn, Maceo Parker, Gal Costa, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops… So if we are being willy-nilly with the term “jazz” and simply invite anyone who wants to play (I should note Rosanne Cash commented on the strangeness of being invited to play a jazz festival) then we start having problems. It is the same in country music where I believe the lack of education with regards to what country music is and it’s various sub-genres is what has led to all this nonsense about the evolution of music. I always say kids can’t like something don’t know exists and if “the elders” don’t pass it on and show it them then how are they gonna to know it’s out there, outside the few like who have a curious questioning nature and seek what came before.
March 11, 2015 @ 4:20 pm
Well, I think that music history classes should be offered as electives in middle and high school.
Nonetheless, given the significant level of classic music that exists on the radio, I think that the kids know of its existence. They just do not like it that much or consider it as their own group’s music.
March 11, 2015 @ 9:29 pm
Yeah lots of Classical available here so I wonder why some are drawn to it and others are not. I am leaning towards the idea that if you expose them early like I was it may catch their ear in a different way. Though this explains very little as to how I came to like Jean Shepard as my entire family loathes that kind of country yodel twang. But maybe it’s in the blood. I don’t know I’m just saddened that the culture and history is being ignored and lost in the mainstream avenues.
March 11, 2015 @ 7:57 am
Prog rock was primarily a British phenomenon, and it was never that popular among the broad cross-section of young people in the US. Both disco and punk were created basically to cater to the US audience disaffected by prog rock.
I was a teenage rock fan in the ’70s and I can attest that the big British prog rock bands (e.g., Yes, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, ELP, Genesis) were among the most popular acts among US rock fans. For example, I saw Yes at Madison Square Garden in ’78, where they had at least three sold out shows. That’s mainstream success.
Punk was a grass roots rock movement by rock fans who were left cold what they saw as “corporate rock” (prog rock and also stuff like REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Foreigner). Also, I doubt many people disaffected by prog rock became disco fans, as they would have been listening to rock radio to start with (not much of any prog rock got played on pop radio) and rock radio listeners tended to hate disco. That’s probably one thing prog rock and punk fans could agree on.
March 11, 2015 @ 8:01 am
“grass roots movement”, not “grass roots rock movement”
March 11, 2015 @ 8:51 am
Yeah you are right it’s kind of funny to be lectured by people who were not even born about what was popular or how popular something was. The acts you mentioned as well as others like Led Zeppelin sold tens of millions of albums and they weren’t all bought by 30 and 40something year old people. It was a different time and to try to force theories onto it based on current trends is just plain silly.
March 12, 2015 @ 10:03 am
damn. Someone give this Eric guy a radio show! He needs a taller platform.
March 12, 2015 @ 1:33 pm
Thank you very much, Jamo!
Unfortunately, though, I am far too busy in my current line of work to run a radio show. Furthermore, I don’t talk nearly as well as I write; I tend to speak in a fast and flat style.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:40 pm
Rural? Yes. Southern? Not specifically.
Just because no one says “& Western” anymore, doesn’t mean that aspect of the genre doesn’t exist. While the popular form of the genre might have fetishized the South, it doesn’t speak for the entirety of country music.
Country =/= Southern
Or is someone going to try and tell me with a straight face that guys like Merle Haggard, Chris Ledoux*, or Corb Lund aren’t real country because they’re not from the south? Or that the Bakersfield sound is illegitimate because it started in California?
*Yes I’m aware that Ledoux was born in Mississippi. His father was stationed there in the Air Force. However he spent the majority of his life in Wyoming, and his music reflects this.
March 10, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
I share your appreciation for the western aspect of “country and western,” but don’t discount the genre’s Southern roots either. The “hillbilly music” from which country music was primarily derived was very much a Southern phenomenon. And it was the migration of country folks from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and various Southern states that led to the country music culture on the West Coast.
However, I think good country music can come form any region. I just get my dander up when I feel like people are discounting the South’s cultural contributions, especially when it comes to music.
March 10, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
Absolutely! Couldn’t agree with ya more. Chris Ledoux is one of my all-time favorites and the West is responsible for some damn fine Country music, some of the greatest I’d say, but this genre’s cultural and musical roots are from the Southeastern United States. No way around it.
I reckon us Southerners are just proud folk. I figure we annoy the piss out of others as much as we won’t shut up about it.
March 11, 2015 @ 8:50 pm
I went to Chris leDoux’s concert back in 1995 in Gridley, California and it was great!
March 12, 2015 @ 3:32 pm
I’m not discounting Southern roots at all. I’m saying that the South is not the end-all be-all of country music, and that listing off Southern tropes as shorthand for “country” has become contrived and boring.
We can trace roots of country music all the way back to Ireland and Scotland if we really want to follow the line back far enough.
March 12, 2015 @ 3:46 pm
Country music is really an amalgamation of Scottish/Irish music with African-American music (e.g. the banjo), with Texas country containing additional flavors of Mexican and German classical music. It represents the type of melting pot culture that is only possible in America.
March 11, 2015 @ 2:56 am
I actually agree with this, and I probably could have phrased it better in my original comment. Though it is based in Southern culture, country music represents a broader rural American identity.
March 11, 2015 @ 9:21 am
“Though it is based in Southern culture, country music represents a broader rural American identity.”
Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say too. I agree with that.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
I can’t help but wonder if a reincarnated orm of the mythoogical being Medusa, or a gang of hypnotists, are governing Music Row at the moment.
Remember when you decried the death of “Bro-Country” last year? Well, I think we are also witnessing a nasty secondary infection of it in full swing…………….and it’s arguably worse than the first time around because it is now also infecting generally more reliable artists like Gary Allan (who just released the worst single of his career with “Hangover Tonight”), the Eli Young Band (who just released the atrocious “Turn It On”) and even Reba McEntire to an extent.
Meanwhile, Clear Channel’s “On The Verge” is still settling on catapulting some of the worst candidates into the exosphere: most recently this week with pushing Michael Ray’s gawd-awful debut single “Kiss You In The Morning”: which is one of the most aggressively bro releases yet.
*
I personally am inclined to second Eric’s sentiment that this hemorrhaging of audience, however, may be exactly what this format needs…………IF we learn more that the audience most abandoning the format were never fond of country music in the first place and only came for the bro-country tailgate party beginning with Jason Aldean; after feeling off-guard with the decline of Nickelback. In fact, when most music historians look back on this era, I’m sure they’ll juxtapose it from country music itself and consider it more a rain shadow that eclipsed it.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:36 pm
My concern though Noah is that they just take the core for granted and instead will try to push a slightly different product in an attempt to keep that young demo. You see all the time where some business takes for granted there core customers in an attempt to woo some new group and in the process it fails at both pleasing the base and reaching a new group.
Then when you throw in the fact that many country music execs actually kind of hate country music and all it has stood for you get this mess.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:50 pm
No doubt there’s still some Bro-Country leftovers still out there, and I suspect they will never go away completely. But what is dominating the charts is Sam Hunt and more adult-contemporary/R&B stuff. Program directors seemed to speak out at CRS that they’ve moved on from Bro-Country music.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:28 pm
One of the major differences now as opposed to other down times for the genre is that the people in charge mostly don’t come from a country music background. I saw a quote from Becky Bremner who is a long time country PD in Seattle and is now a consultant that pointed out how so many of the people in country radio have come from other formats and in fact aren’t really country music fans. So when things start going bad they don’t have that core country music sense that many in the past have instead they have a pop or rock attitude which often is to look for the next hot trend and then when that fails they do it again.
Sadly I’m VERY pessimistic about the future of mainstream country music quality wise.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:33 pm
Country radio might also be reorganized if the genre keeps losing money. Maybe those pop/rock people will be replaced with long-time country fans (one can always hope…)
March 10, 2015 @ 12:40 pm
That would be great but as Trigger pointed out you don’t often see genres split in downtimes because who wants to split a smaller pie. What really might be happening is radio execs may be accelerating the move away from radio as the traditional base of country music. So in an attempt to grow they may be killing themselves.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:30 pm
“This is what we wanted, correct?”
I may only be speaking for myself, but no; this is just what we predicted. We knew it would end badly. It’s not that we wanted some disastrous crash; we didn’t want to start down this path in the first place. Alas, here we are.
And while we’re on the subject of where we are, where are all of those wankers who were telling us that this was so great because country music had to “evolve”? Evolve where, straight into the grave?
As others have said, we can only hope that this will give us a chance to start over. It’s not as if real country music talent doesn’t exist. We just have to find the path.
March 10, 2015 @ 12:49 pm
I think any genre that puts all of its eggs in the “younger audience basket” is asking for trouble. Young people are fickle and get bored quickly. They like what is trendy. I do think that country music’s puppetmasters are trying to surge in a new batch of younger pretty boy artists (lookin at you Michael Ray) to try and see who can be the next Luke, Jason, whoever, minus 15 years, to try and hook the younger audience again. 40 is OLD to teenage girls and both of these guys are knocking on its door and they are going to start losing some younger fans soon because most younger females don’t think men their dad’s age are sexy. Also have you seen Aldean lately? Rough.
The problem is, alot of these guys that had the staying power to start, alienated their “older” (I’m the same age as Jason and Luke) fans when they started singing stupid, immature, bullshit songs about topics that they should have outgrown years ago, so we don’t want them back either.
Now I don’t think that either of these guys are going to be forced to play bars anytime soon to feed their kids, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the ones that sold out to bro country try to rein it back in and win their earlier fans back because, like it or not, we’re the ones here to stay, not the fickle youngins, so someone had better start catering to us.
March 10, 2015 @ 5:54 pm
“I think any genre that puts all of its eggs in the “younger audience basket” is asking for trouble. Young people are fickle and get bored quickly. They like what is trendy…..”
BINGO ….it ain’t rocket science
March 15, 2015 @ 12:24 pm
And then there are 13 year old guys like me who love classic country as well as SOME MODERN ACTS like Eric, Sturgill(even though some classify him as classic my opinion is 1990+ is modern) and Dierks
I also hate all that popular crap music and junk
The only rap I like is Christian like Lecrae
And I greatly prefer rock and metal \m/
March 10, 2015 @ 12:51 pm
If Bro-Country & Taylor Swift are/were the jewels in the chest of country music, that certainly says a lot for country music! If because of them, the up and comers are being relegated as 2nd class citizens with no backing from a label, maybe country music has a lot more problems then we can see or hear! I miss country music, not the music they call country today, but real country music! I am open and have hope that country music might come back to it’s roots! I’m also pretty sure the crap they try to force feed me on FM radio is something I will never listen to again! Whatever happen to 3 chords and the truth?
March 10, 2015 @ 12:54 pm
“That fickle, pliable demographic of 18 to 34-year-olds has moved on, because they weren”™t really country music fans to begin with.” Bingo. And it’s such a short-sighted, cynical way of doing business. (Obviously there are legit country fans in that age group, but they’re not the ones buying the FGL crap.) i mean, I still listen to the same country music I did when I was 18. It’s real music, music that transcends fickleness and trends. It still speaks to me. It’s why someone like me who grew up with Alan Jackson and Clint Black is still here today, trying to give a damn.
I just hope this’ll somehow all come out in the wash. Country won’t be the “it” thing anymore, but it’ll go back to doing what it’s always done: sustained itself by appealing to people who actually like country music. That sounds so simple…
March 10, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
I just wonder 20 years from now how many people will be playing “Best Of” collections from Aldean, FGL, Luke Bryan and company? I always keep some Hag, Paycheck, Waylon and Cash on my ipod. That stuff never gets old. In 20 years will so called country fans still be playing “Burnin’ It Down”, “Cruise” and “Boys Round Here” reminiscing about what master pieces they were? Or will they be abandoned totally for the pure cheese they always have been? I grew up in the 80s and I think of how much of that music that was pushed on us as cool back then is realized for the total crap it was today. Will it take the near death of the genre to wake up the industry? Personally, I say let’s start rooting for all those “Underdogs” out there and maybe we’ll see a revolution in country music!
March 10, 2015 @ 2:07 pm
Yay, MTV and CMT announced massive layoffs today and tomorrow. Not that either of those have anything to do with music.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:11 pm
This is a symptom of TV behemoths failing to adapt to the Internet era.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:13 pm
Probably because Viacom keeps upping their price and more and more local cable companies keep dropping them so they have to be losing viewers. We lost all Viacom stations several months ago with Suddenlink.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:08 pm
Country music has cancer. We need to get rid of it with radiation to get Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, and Chase Rice out of country music forever.
March 10, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
It indeed has cancer, but Chase Rice and FGL aren’t the ones that need to go…Chase Rice actually is a great country artist, his singles aren’t but if you get his albums you’ll see what I’m talking about. artists like Sam Hunt, Little Big Town, Lady A, Chase Bryant, Lee Brice, and Cole Swindell are the ones that are bringing down the genre. While i’m a big Jason Aldean fan, I think he is to blame for the state country music is in now because of “Burnin It Down”….a song that you (strangely enough…) never hear played on radio anymore.
March 10, 2015 @ 8:26 pm
Maybe I should listen to his earlier albums.
March 10, 2015 @ 8:36 pm
like Jason Aldean too But I can’t stand Burnin’ it down” neither and I also like Luke Bryan too but I don’t like few of his songs.
March 11, 2015 @ 3:29 pm
Oh yeah I forgot Jason Aldean “1994” I don’t like that turd of the song.
March 10, 2015 @ 10:33 pm
My God, you say the stupidest stuff.
“It indeed has cancer, but Chase Rice and FGL aren”™t the ones that need to go”¦Chase Rice actually is a great country artist.”
Thank God you’re not at Country music’s steering wheel cause you’d drive us into an oncoming semi thinking it’s the light at the end of the tunnel.
Uhhh, the shit you say literally makes me face palm.
Chase Rice? Ain’t he the one who’s responsible for “Ready, Set, Let’s Roll”?
If so, I don’t care if his album is the next “Red Headed Stranger”; I ain’t forgiving him for that turd.
This is COUNTRY MUSIC. Not fucking rap, not techno, not R&B, not whatever urban genre you want to shove onto it, not some place where you can try some weird social experiment and have Southern White Boys throwing around Ebonics that Lord knows they didn’t use when growing up in there conservative Christian upbringing. Good Lord the shit you say upsets me.
Please go fuck up some other genre and leave our beloved Country music alone.
March 10, 2015 @ 10:49 pm
Thank you Joshua R
Florida Georgia Line and Chase Rice both need to go. I do agree with you. I like real country music not fake country music.
March 10, 2015 @ 11:47 pm
Yea, no problem bud. I’d elaborate further but I’m in desperate need of sleep.
March 10, 2015 @ 11:54 pm
I agree with your musical point, but please try to hold a civil conversation instead of delving into personal attacks.
March 11, 2015 @ 1:16 am
You’re right.
Politically correct America demands that we all be cordial to one another no matter how ill conceived and preposterous someone’s opinions are.
Trigger, if you need to remove my response to Summer Jam, I’d have no objections
Summer Jam, I honestly apologize if I personally attacked you in anyway.
Though, I stand fast in my position that Florida Georgia Line is nothing more than a tawdry, garish, third rate excuse of a musical duo, certainly not a Country music duo, and unquestionably not a Country music duo with any substantial talent.
May I recommend “Murder on Music Row” by George Strait and Alan Jackson to you.
I must try and go to sleep now.
March 11, 2015 @ 1:54 am
Not “political correctness”. Just basic, old-fashioned human decency.
March 11, 2015 @ 2:58 am
thanks for being sensible, Eric. this guy is always replying to nearly every post I make on this site, flipping out about my opinion and telling me why “I’m wrong”. it’s annoying. I’d like to post here without being attacked or followed, I enjoy this site.
March 11, 2015 @ 2:55 am
Real mature post there, Joshua. Stop getting bent out of shape over my opinion.
March 11, 2015 @ 8:24 am
I apologize. I’ll just refrain from replying to you in the future knowing that we fundamentally disagree.
March 11, 2015 @ 11:44 am
Many many current country artists have GREAT substance-driven tracks on their records…tracks that never see the light of day ( Chris Young , Joe Nichols , Tim McGraw , Corbin , Josh Thompson -who is WAY under-appreciated by radio-Wade Bowen , Garth , Miranda , Kasey , Sara Evans )….endless list . These artists /labels insist on releasing the ‘nursery rhymes’ to the masses instead of standing by their guns and releasing GREAT songs..terrific arrangements and lyrics with substance . WHY ? Because radio and labels want a young impressionable audience who would have difficulty appreciating a great lyric . In another time , that Great lyric was the salvation for this industry as the fan base was a more mature , life-experienced listener …focused and familiar with what made COUNTRY music country music from lyric to instrumentation to rhythm. ITS ABOUT THE SONG . THIS is why Kasey Musgraves writes Merry Go Round and with hardly ANY airplay it connects like gangbusters . It’s REAL to more people and timeless in sentiment .
As with pop music years ago , many artists would record and /or cover the same great song in the country genre because people were buying the SONG . Most folks had no idea what the artist looked like , how old they may have been , whether their ball cap was on backwards or not . It was THE SONG lyric they related to . The good or even great songs are getting NO exposure whatsoever comparatively . A label or artist will ALWAYS reply to a songwriter that they are looking for ” something different …fresh” and then release the same bushel of songs as they did last time out …generic music , generic lyric , generic singer(s) until that ONE great song like MERRY GO ROUND makes it through the walk of fire . Suddenly the door is slightly ajar and a few more squeak through . The glut of half-written , generic -sounding , one-note-themed lyrics is overwhelming …..and yet they keep coming . It is too much for any serious or even casual listener to wade through and unfair to force them to . The music industry has got to give people something worth their while and their investment of time and money and fan loyalty OVER THE LONG TERM . And that’s, quite simply , GREAT songs that stand the test and will be recorded again and again . NOBODY is going to cover ANYTHING by the Kruise Kids or Luke Bryan or Taylor Swift or Urban or Chesney… EVER ! They don’t record GREAT material …..they just don’t . Its Macdonald’s music for the moment and for fist-pumping at a concert for a season or two . Until the industry understands that they are undermining themselves and their long-term success with crappy material , nothing will change and yes …people will be layed- off and the industry will attract another type of ” artist” or ” entrepreneur” ….one who has NO soul or integrity or history with the music ….no understanding of the emotional value it needs to hold to garner long-term support by a fan and ensure success . I have YOUNG songwriting students who have indicated they don’t even listen to country radio any more and instead have looked to the indie ( pop ) markets for writing inspiration and something fresh …Hozier , Ed Sheeran , Vance Joy etc. At 15 and 16 , even these students have outgrown the white noise of the mainstream “country” genre . SIXTEEN and they get it already ! They are emotionally moved by other options . Country radio is one big advertisement for the SAME product over and over and over in a world where there are unlimited options IF the options include a GREAT song . Enough .
March 10, 2015 @ 2:11 pm
I respectfully disagree with the premise that bro country is dying. Jason Aldean topped the charts with a My Kinda Party Remake. Thomas Rhett topped the charts with a straight up disco song. Luke Bryan topped the charts with album filler. Sam Hunt topped the chart with a twangless bro song.Florida Georgia Line topped the chart with the biggest abomination in country music history. That is, until Take Your Time tops the chart. We have gotten to the point that Gary Allan. THE Gary Allan who called out Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood as pop stars, has released a bro song. The Eli Young Band, natives of that anti-Nashville hotbed called Texas, have released a bro song. Even Ashley Monroe released a boring pop song. Bro-country is far from dead, as Michael Ray waits in the wings. I perceive Sam Hunt, on account of his ability to form coherent sentences within the standards of standard American English, will be more than a passing trend. Sturgill’s third album can’t come soon enough.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:15 pm
I do agree with you there will be more bro-country in the years to come.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:24 pm
Just because music is bad doesn’t mean it’s Bro-Country. I don’t consider Sam Hunt Bro-Country. There’s nothing “Bro-Country” about Ashley Monroe’s new single. Thomas Rhett’s single has some minor Bro-Country elements to it, but it’s more in line with the R&B Sam Hunt style if anything. As Luke Bryan has pointed out himself, a lot of his songs aren’t Bro-Country, it just happens to be that some of his biggest hits are.
There was bad pop country music before Bro-Country, and there will be bad pop country afterwards.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
I referred to Monroe’s song as pop country, not bro country. I should not have lumped it in with the rest to make it seem as if it is. Second, Rhett’s song is bro country if I have ever heard it. It deals with a familiar theme of drivin’ around with your girl; it even mentions “get[ting} drunk on [her] no alcohol.” Leave the Night On is a brainless party song that FGL could have cut. To the extent that he isn’t bro country,he is, as we know, much worse.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
The tough times for country music in the 80s spawned Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Travis Tritt, Marty Stuart, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, etc. I have no idea if the industry is poised for a resurgence such as that one. It’s a ray of hope. But country is the new pop/rock, unlike 25 years ago. The death of top 40 rock left a void that country gladly absorbed over the years. So country as a format became a bad imitation of the two holes it was trying to fill. Maybe we just let it die so that it be re-born. Or maybe just let it stay gone. Every man for himself might be the most viable quality control.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
Country music is not sick, it’s dead. Bury it. There is nothing to split or anyone left to market different radio formats to; we’re just the last ones left behind to turn out the lights.
For the first time, I have tangible evidence. In 1999, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel released a terrific Bob Wills tribute album, “Ride with Bob.” The album roll called then current radio hit makers – Reba, Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Dwight Yoakam, Lee Ann Womack, Clay Walker, Mark Chesnutt.
Last week, Ray Benson and Co. released another volume in the Bob Wills tribute – “Still the King.” But, 16 years later Benson couldn’t turn to country music radio to fill out its roster. So like a refugee or pilgrim, Benson set out for the promise land and found Americana. Besides Brad Paisley and George Straight, the album is absent of any current country music hit-makers and is made up of Americana stalwarts The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Pokey LaFarge, Buddy Miller, Carrie Rodriguez, something call the Quebe Sisters, and Amos Lee.
So in a span of a short 16 years, Bob Wills is no longer an influence to the artists being played on country radio. Seriously though, can anyone imagine what an atrocity Sam Hunt, FGL, or Cole Swindle singing a Bob Wills tune would be? This coupled with the fact that country music best album of 2014 – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music – was sheltered in the Americana genre at the Grammys, I’d say it’s time for Trig to rename SCM, Relocated to Americana Music.
March 10, 2015 @ 3:00 pm
Hoptowntiger94,
Bob Wills is still the King!
March 10, 2015 @ 3:53 pm
Country music may be sick, but Americana is anemic.
March 10, 2015 @ 6:12 pm
I used to feel the same way. Americana is were country artists like Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell went to retire and a dumping ground for undefined genres. But if someone asks me today what kind of music I listen to, Americana (Strugill Simpson, OCMS, Otis Gibbs) is a better description than country music (Sam Hunt, FLG, Luke Bryan).
March 11, 2015 @ 6:38 am
Fair enough, hoptown.
I was thinking in terms of commercial visibility.
Also, I just don’t think Americana is going to be the true successor to country music (if that’s what it’s trying to be) because of its cultural and political exclusivity, and its musical inclusivity, if that makes any sense.
I think you make an excellent point about the Bob Wills tribute albums though. That is a very telling illustration of the degree to which mainstream country has come unattached from its roots in the last decade and a half. It’s hard to imagine FGL, Sam Hunt, or even Luke Bryan performing old Bob Wills tunes with any degree of credibility, ain’t it?
March 16, 2015 @ 11:12 am
What do you mean by cultural and political exclusivity? If anything it’s more inclusive to differing ideas.
March 10, 2015 @ 2:56 pm
EVERYBODY THERE IS ACTUALLY COUNTRY MUSIC BEING PLAYED ON COUNTRY RADIO
A Thousand Horses is the closest thing to country I’ve heard in awhile
There new song Smoke is a little mainstream lyrically but don’t be fooled
There new album Southernality, expected on iTunes June 9, has 3 other songs ready to buy
Travelin’ Man
(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial
Back To Me
If you want awesome country, southern rock, and real accents
Check these dudes out
March 10, 2015 @ 3:22 pm
Trigger, you wrote that the ratings declined for corporate country radio. Is there any way to find out how the Sirius country stations are doing in their ratings? I understand that Sirius radio is a very small drop in the bucket ratings-wise compared to free radio, but I am kind of wondering if their ratings have held steady or dipped as well.
March 10, 2015 @ 4:25 pm
I don’t know that SiriumXM offers ratings. The only metric I’ve ever seen from them is revenue and subscribers, which both have remained pretty steady for quite a while. Since they don’t exist on public airwaves and don’t really have any competition, I’m not sure why they would offer ratings. In the end, ratings are used to set advertising rates. And since SiriusXM has no advertisers, I’m not sure what the point would be.
March 10, 2015 @ 5:01 pm
Thanks for the reply Trig. I recently became a Sirius subscriber and I forgot that they don’t have advertisers. I just know that they do have some great country ( and I do mean COUNTRY) stations. So far, it’s been worth the price.
March 12, 2015 @ 7:02 am
One thing is a given,SiriusXM has a lot of listners.A lot of Country websites have posts from listners who listen to “Willies Roadhouse”.
And,a lot of people are listening to WSM on line,or to a station that plays real country that streams on line.
March 10, 2015 @ 3:34 pm
Man, every time I see that photo pop up on this site, a little piece of me dies. It always makes me wonder though, if he even knows who that crown represents. Seeing how it represents a real artist, not a photoshop artist, I’m guessing NO.
March 10, 2015 @ 5:03 pm
I still can’t stand his damn comb-over.
March 11, 2015 @ 3:46 pm
Heavy is the chest that sports the crown…
March 11, 2015 @ 5:51 pm
I heard Sam Hunts new single today for the first time. Lord have mercy is it awful. I didn’t even know who it was when it first came on so I wasn’t biased, just disgusted.
March 10, 2015 @ 4:16 pm
On a completely unrelated note, my cable company now offers a Nash TV channel On Demand. I was curious, so I checked it out. Mostly a little Carrie and A LOT of Bro country.
March 10, 2015 @ 4:22 pm
Bad country music is EDM country, bro country, pop country, and rap country or country rap.
country rap which it don’t belong:
Colt Ford
Big smo
The Lacs
Colt Fords compadre
Some of Jason Aldean rap crap
Luke Bryan Rap/pop
March 10, 2015 @ 5:11 pm
Pop country is a very vague term. It is important to specify what type of pop we are discussing. By the broad definition, pop country has existed ever since Western swing.
March 10, 2015 @ 10:37 pm
I think he was referring to Country Pop (Country influenced Pop music).
March 10, 2015 @ 4:26 pm
I haven’t read the article yet (and probably won’t have a chance to until tomorrow), but I just wanted to throw out some props for the Animaniacs reference in the first sentence!
March 10, 2015 @ 4:38 pm
How are Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line considered country anyway? They both are not country even Chase Rice for all people. Country Music is in a hospital and a victim of life circumstances.
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, SAM HUNT, and CHASE RICE are prime suspects.
March 10, 2015 @ 5:49 pm
“……18 to 34-year-olds has moved on, because they weren”™t really country music fans to begin with. They were just chasing what was popular at the time, and since what brought them to country in the first place wasn”™t substantive or sustainable, they washed out with the tide.”
This says it all Trigger ….you summed it up with one line .
They catered to a fickle, non-country youthful demographic and everyone KNOWS the iPhone 3 or 4 is yesterday’s news once the iPhone 5 ( or next trendy replacement) is available to that demographic .
March 10, 2015 @ 5:55 pm
Things need to fall apart before country can rebuild. I will draw parallels between the bro era and the grunge era.
*Grunge was one of the biggest “fads” rock music has ever experienced. It produced megastars. Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album went 13xplatinum, Nirvana’s “Nevermind went 11xplatinum. Pearl Jam has had 9 albums reach the top 2 on the Hot 200. Nirvana has sold 75 million albums worldwide. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Bush and Candlebox also scored multi-platinum albums. Don’t let people tell you grunge made rock unpopular, grunge was huge.
* Grunge didn’t fall apart until the artists fell apart. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana killed himself in 1994. Pearl Jam quit touring from 1994-98 due to a Ticketmaster dispute. Layne Staley of Alice in Chains had stopped performing live by July of 1996 due to his substance issues. Soundgarden broke up in April of 1997.
*Between ’94 and ’97, grunge’s “big 4” had all stopped touring and mostly stopped making music. This left only the second wave of grunge bands to try to keep the music alive but they failed to produce successful sophomore albums. Thus, grunge died by about 1997.
*This needs to happen with the bros. If Aldean, Bryan and FGL fall apart, the fad will die. The second wave bros will disappear shortly after.
*I’m not saying they need to die, they just need to lose popularity or stop touring or something.
March 10, 2015 @ 6:45 pm
My friend Sylvia and Robin said Luke Bryan “That my kind of Night” is country. It is not country in a long shot.
March 10, 2015 @ 10:40 pm
Not by a 100 country miles.
March 11, 2015 @ 2:35 am
In other news, sky blue, grass green.
The music biz is always going to chase the next great thing. Why wouldn’t they want to break some new artist, who they are paying jack squat, and collect all that lovely money?
Developing artists means paying artists. They don’t want to do that.
Running the industry in a ‘sustainable’ way would mean less money in the labels’ pockets in the long term.
‘Sustainability’: Make a little money, make a little money, make a little money…
‘Boom/bust’: Make gobs of money, make a little less money, make gobs of money…
Point being the cycles have come and gone in the past, and will come and go in the future. You can’t please all the people all the time, so the plan is built-in: lure back that wider, 18-34 demographic every time they lose them, no matter what different kind of stinkbait they have to use to do it.
March 11, 2015 @ 2:47 am
Yes, but developing an artist more also would result in a longer productive career for that artist, resulting in more profit for the industry. Think of it as an investment, similar to the role venture capital firms play in developing startup tech companies.
March 11, 2015 @ 7:42 am
Whenever I hear the 18-to-34 demographic mentioned, I have to laugh a little bit because I have witnessed firsthand how they will literally listen to anything that’s spoon-fed to them via radio.
I’m 19 and live in rural Kentucky, so most people my age are still burning country radio up and digging the hit makers like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Florida-Georgia Line and Sam Hunt while they have their pasture parties on the weekends. However, I live in the next county over from Sturgill’s hometown and a few counties over from where Sundy Best originated, so they get played on local radio quite a bit and you wouldn’t believe how much these kids go on raving about them.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they are getting good country music to their ears somehow, but it just cracks me up how they all act like Sam Hunt and Sturgill Simpson are both great country artists because they are what’s considered “cool” around here, whenever they are indeed opposite ends of the spectrum and only one of them should ever have “country” near his name.
Luckily, myself and a few others know the good music from the bad and we try to get it to as many people as possible. I guess maybe in 10 years when they can still play “Living the Dream” or “Mountain Parkway” and enjoy them while laughing at the likes of “Cruise” and “Leave the Night On”, they might finally realize that “cool music” doesn’t necessarily equate to good music.
March 11, 2015 @ 9:57 am
Very interesting post.
This is even more evidence that roots-oriented country *can* be successful among mainstream music listeners, and that radio programmers’ platitudes about “we just play what the people want to hear” are hogwash.
I’m sure regional pride is an important factor in Sturgill’s popularity in Kentucky, but I can’t help but wonder what would happen if mainstream radio stations across the country threw Sturgill on the playlist next to Jason Aldean and FGL. I honestly think a lot of the bro-country dudes would think he’s cool and “totally badass.”
Kind of like how crap-rock listening dudes are also into The Black Keys or “Seven Nation Army” or whatever.
March 11, 2015 @ 12:28 pm
There is no doubt that regional pride plays a role in Sturgill’s popularity here in East Kentucky, but I’m like you in the sense that traditional country can be successful amongst the newer, EDM-oriented country and bro-country. With my generation, it’s all about whatever they are being told to listen to or what is the latest fad, whether it be honky tonk or hick hop.
I mentioned my friends and I trying to get better country music noticed by our generation and I actually have a funny story about it that shows how young people will chase whatever trend is hot at the time. My brother and I are huge Alan Jackson fans so he decided to grow a mullet to honor him (yes, really). Most people wouldn’t dare wear that hairstyle today, but he did and because he is a local basketball star, he was a sensation and definitely a crowd favorite. He’s been interviewed by all kinds of media outlets locally and across the state about it and when they ask him why he done it, he says in honor of Alan. The next thing you know, every other high schooler around here is trying to grow a mullet and they’re all tweeting AJ lyrics, talking about how awesome he is. At least we got good music to them somehow.
One thing I do appreciate about my neck of the woods, though, is the balance we have on our radio. We are a small town and the local DJs get to choose what gets played. You may hear a Florida-Georgia Line song, but it’s usually followed up by Sturgill or Vince Gill. There are also weeknights dedicated to nothing but bluegrass music, as well as nights dedicated to country music pre-1980. I heard Ronnie Milsap’s “I Got Home Just in Time to Say Goodbye” playing the other night. Definitely makes me appreciate where I’m from.
March 12, 2015 @ 11:53 am
Man, that’s hilarious about the mullets… and very telling too.
And Kentucky local radio sounds great. Hardly any DJs get to program their own segments anymore. Count yourself lucky!
March 17, 2015 @ 12:42 am
“With my generation, it”™s all about whatever they are being told to listen to or what is the latest fad, whether it be honky tonk or hick hop.”
You nailed it Cooper . This really does seem to be the story everywhere . If you wanna be considered hip , cool , trendy , you go with the flow . I mentioned recently that our local DJ’s seemingly overnight started using trendy , ‘street’ lingo ….they were suddenly VERY young sounding and ” all about ” whoever was the latest ‘hip’ bro act they were playing. I’m convinced it was the result of a company meeting suggesting that they get on board with that very young demographic they are chasing . A few familiar long time voices were let go …or otherwise lost in the shuffle and voila ! we got ourselves a full-fledged pop (country) radio station that rarely plays anything over a few years old .
March 11, 2015 @ 12:56 pm
I do miss Alan Jackson, Joe Diffie, Mark Chesnutt, and all 80’s and 90’s country radio.
March 11, 2015 @ 2:23 pm
Early 80’s Country radio was pretty pedestrian (still not as bad as today though). Of course there were gems though. There always are.
But yes! Late 80’s and early 90’s Country music was absolutely terrific for the most part.
March 11, 2015 @ 4:41 pm
Ditto. Some early 80s country-pop music of that period was quite good, though, due to the musical beauty of 80s pop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Uu7QWdR-A
Nonetheless, most of the country music from that era still featured the rather boring Countrypolitan sound.
To me, the neotraditional era of the late 80s and early 90s represents the greatest sonic period in the history of country music. The lush music featuring the ideal combinations of acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, with some soft rock instruments thrown in the mix, was unbeatable.
That era also produced some of the greatest vocalists in country music history: Randy Travis, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Patty Loveless, Alan Jackson, Pam Tillis, Mark Chesnutt, and many others.
March 11, 2015 @ 5:46 pm
I agree that some of the 80’s country pop was good. I’m a firm believer that just because it is country pop doesn’t mean it is bad. Look at Earl Thomas Conley for example. There isn’t really anything country about the actual music part of his songs (at least his hits for that matter), but the lyricism and foundation of his songs are solidly on the country side. If only all country pop was like ETC’s.
I also agree that the late 80’s/early 90’s was the best sonic era of country music. Neotraditional country is my favorite subgenre solely because of that style and those artists you mentioned. Hopefully we can have a similar movement like the Class of ’89 in the near future before things get worse.
March 11, 2015 @ 8:41 pm
Country Music between 1985-1997 was my favorite era.
April 8, 2015 @ 11:59 am
Pete Marshall,
You need to check out ‘The Time Machine’ on Pennsylvania’s Country Leader I-105 WIOV on Saturday night’s from 6pm til midnight. Host Jeff Werner does an EXCELLENT job with the show every week and he plays country music from as far back as the 1940’s up to the mid 1990’s. And he does just play the run-of-the-mill classic country songs that we’ve all heard (although still great songs), he plays a lot of songs that didn’t go as high on the charts throughout the decades of the classic country era. For example, here are some rarities that he’s played on the show from week to week:
-Pake McEntire – Savin’ My Love For You (a top 5 hit for Reba’s brother in 1986)
-C.W. McCall – Old Home Filler-Up an’ Keep On-a-Truckin’ Cafe (a top 20 hit in 1974)
-John Wesley Ryles – Louisiana Rain (top 20 hit in 1988)
-Chris LeDoux – This Cowboy’s Hat (top 70 hit in 1991)
Those are just examples of the kind of rare ‘hits’ that Jeff plays on his shows. AND it’s a local show, not a national one, and Jeff plays what HE thinks his good and he loves to take requests. Here is the link to listen to the station: http://player.listenlive.co/26741/en/songhistory
Again the show airs every Saturday from 6pm to midnight. I recommend that everyone gives the show a listen and email Jeff a request. His email is: jeff@wiov.com
March 12, 2015 @ 3:24 am
Nothing brings waves of commenters out on this site more than a missive decrying the fate of mainstream country — how radio or festivals or the grammys or the CMAs are being ruined by pop-bro-crap.
The real story is how Sturgill or Isbell have built really powerful — and commercially successful — careers in entirely new ways that can serve as a model for other *artists* to emulate….meaning they are commercially successful creatively meaningful for the ARTISTs and not for institutions like radio or record companies or Nashville. In the age of the Internet who gives a f*ck if those institutions fail and why bother decrying their struggles when they’ve never really cared about the struggles of the true artists you are aiming to support in the first place?
March 12, 2015 @ 6:20 am
I want to listen to some good ole country music instead of this crap that they play on country radio these days. I wish they play some good ole George Jones, Merle Haggard, Waylon, Willie, Tanya Tucker or maybe Mark Chesnutt, Alan Jackson, Clint Black and Brooks & Dunn. Instead of playing Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Chase Rice and other so-called country artists. I don’t like neither rap and pop music they make me puke, and I don’t like it in my country music either.
March 12, 2015 @ 8:16 am
One thing I noticed from a growth based perspective is the growing number of versatility in the ‘types’ of fans that are seen at Sturgill Simpson shows now. I saw, hipsters, hillbillies, bros, and hippies all at 9:30 club show. Speaks to his reach, but unfortunately no one under 25 attends these shows much to our chagrin.
March 12, 2015 @ 10:57 am
You should have seen his Brooklyn show.
March 12, 2015 @ 11:39 am
Huh. I can’t speak for Sturgill’s fan base overall, but I personally know several young millennial-age fans.
March 13, 2015 @ 7:23 pm
Garth Brooks started the illness of country music.
March 14, 2015 @ 2:05 am
You don’t like Garth Brooks’ music?
March 14, 2015 @ 11:23 am
I like his music but I don’t care for him
March 14, 2015 @ 12:38 pm
Lol, yup, same here. I love his music, but he’s kind of abrasive sometimes.