It really almost seems like the age old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did country’s increased popularity lead to more and more pop influence in an attempt to continue to grow the audience? Or did continued pop influence increase its popularity and make country music “cool”?
Posted by: Cobra I realize what my small numbers of readers are thinking right now. Why the hell am I reviewing a song from 1981? Call this less of a review then and more of commentary on the fact that rarely, if ever, has an old song been as relevant as this song is now.
It really almost seems like the age old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did country’s increased popularity lead to more and more pop influence in an attempt to continue to grow the audience? Or did continued pop influence increase its popularity and make country music “cool”?
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Posted by: Cobra Yesterday, via his website, Tim McGraw released the artwork and tracklist from his September 16th album “Sundown Heaven Town.” While two tracks from the album have already been released as singles, the abysmal “Lookin’ For That Girl,” and the much better “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s,” and a few other tracks have had public performances live (“Shotgun Rider” and “City Lights”) this is the first announcement of an official tracklist.
““This album is very encompassing of everything that I’ve done in my career,” McGraw says of his new album. ”I think it’s a good microcosm of what my 20 or so years in music have been, in a lot of ways. You can certainly hear parts of my career throughout all of these songs, as well as the future and where my music is headed. To me, the title of the album is all about that time where you stop doing what you have to do, and start doing what you want to do. ” (Ref 1) They always say not to judge a book by its cover, and the same probably goes for not judging songs by their titles. But while they can sometimes be deceiving (see Luke Bryan’s “Drink a Beer” for example, the sole quality single release so far off of his current album), titles can often tell you a good amount, as can the featured collaborations on an album. Posted by: Cobra The latest song from emerging Nashville-based artist Mitch Rossell is “God, Girls, and Football” off of his album I Got Dressed Up For This. This is a song somewhat reminiscent of Kenny Chesney’s “The Boys of Fall,” but focuses less on the actual game and more on the life that the game represented.
The song has that small town feel that has become a running theme in mainstream country music. However, Rossell seems able to follow the old literary rule of “show don’t tell.” Instead of spending three and a half minutes bragging about his small town roots, Rossell shows us through the lyrics what life was like. The song in the chorus discusses the three things that are important: the titular God, girls and football. But the verses spend most of their time focusing on the friendship that being part of a team brought. Posted by: Cobra I recently got blocked from posting comments on a “country” music website. I think what happened is a bunch of other commenters reported me as spam, simply because they didn’t like reading the truth.
What did I say on this website that was so bad? I said that Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line are not country, and not only that, they are pure crap. I said that not only is Taylor Swift not country, but that she can’t sing a note without auto-tune. I referenced the fact that 90% of what is played on mainstream country radio is crap while amazingly talented artists like Hayes Carll, Wade Bowen, Sean McConnell, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Randy Rogers Band are virtually, if not entirely, ignored. But the millions of people who pack the concerts of Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, and all these other poser-wannabes don’t like to be told that the music they listen to isn’t what they think it is. Posted by: Cobra As if Jake Owen’s “Beachin’” wasn’t already as crassly Kenny Chesney wannabe to begin with, now it’s turned into a Florida Georgia Line Kenny Chesney wannabe amalgam of something so commercial and pandering that it might make one think it’s nearer to election season that it actually is. Come on, Jake, you’re better than this. Remember when you put out songs like “Startin’ with Me,” and “Don’t Thin I Can’t Love You”? Even “Alone With You” was a good song. We know that you have talent. There’s no reason to resort to this. Halfway through a song in which Jake is even trying to rap his way through the verses, artists T-Pain and Mike Posner join in with their own auto-tuned rap/singing. If you’ve heard the “Cruise” remix from Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly, you’ve really heard this song as well. They don’t really differ in any significant way. Especially since both are worth turning off about ten seconds into the song once you determine what it is. If there’s one thing fans of real country music can be thankful for with regards to these country-rap remixes, it’s that at least it’s songs that we don’t want to listen to in the first place that are being remixed. That’s largely because artists consistently making real country music wouldn’t sell out their songs to rap remixes as they know full well that rap and country do not go together. Perhaps even the artists who do resort to these remixes know the songs that are being remixed are loathsome to country music to begin with and that further damage to them won’t really affect them one way or another. I probably would have given the original version of this song at least a star and a half, but this is just pitiable. 0 stars. Posted by: Cobra “Hick-Hop” is a term that should offend even those who are fans of that genre of music which is called a sub-genre of country.
A group of people could argue for hours as to the quality of the music and its legitimacy in the country music world (here’s a hint: it has no legitimacy to country music). However, given that the mainstream considers it as such, it warrants discussion as to how insulting the term is to country music fans. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “hick” is defined as “A person who lives in the country, regarded as being unintelligent or provincial,” with its origin being “mid 16th century: nickname for the given name Richard” (Ref. 1). While the origin of the term is that of simply a nickname, the term, as slang, has never had any history. Compare that to the word “redneck.” While the term “redneck” has come to be somewhat of a badge of honor among many mainstream artists, it has somewhat of a similar meaning to hick. Oxford Dictionary defines redneck as: “A working-class white person, especially a politically reactionary one from a rural area” (Ref. 2). Not only does the definition make no comment on the intelligence of the subject to which it is applied, its origin is also nowhere near as offensive. The origin of “redneck” is “from the back of the neck being sunburned from outdoor work.” Posted by: Cobra Taste is opinion. Genre is fact.
This is something I’ve said on various comments boards before to individuals with an all-inclusive view of music. Most of these people brush it off and disregard it. “Who are you,” they ask me. “Who are you to say what is country and what isn’t?” Who I am, I respond is someone with enough respect for country music to not lump anything and everything into the genre. Music, like many other things, is an art form. And art has different sub-divisions. One wouldn’t call Picasso an impressionist—he was a cubist. And one can’t say that “Frankenstein” is a serial romance, either. It’s a Gothic novel. And no one would call Yanni a rock-and-roll musician either. It simply doesn’t fit the category. That’s how I respond to questions of “who are you to say what is country and what isn’t?” I respond by saying the very thing that I said at the beginning: taste is opinion but genre is fact. This is something that spreads across all music, not just country music. I’m a country fan; it’s my favorite musical genre, it’s the genre I most relate to, and it’s the genre where I find the most music that I like. But I like music that isn’t country as well; and when I do, I don’t purport to call it country simply because I like it. And just because I’m not a fan of something, I don’t presume to dismiss it as “not country” either. Let me provide an example of each: there is an acoustic-pop artist that I absolutely love named Graham Colton. He’s got some great music, and his album “Pacific Coast Eyes, Vol. 2” is among one of my absolute favorites. I don’t pretend that it’s country though simply because it’s music that I like. And thankfully, the music doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not either. Graham knows what it is, and the music knows what it is as well. Similarly, I respect Zac Brown Band as a country group, even though I’ve never really connected with or been a huge fan of their music. While their songs have been hit-and-miss as far as my taste goes, it doesn’t change the fact that their music falls squarely within what is clearly country music. The image at the start of this page is Sam Hunt, a so-called “country” singer who represents the absolute worst of what mainstream country radio has to offer. (Though ask me again tomorrow and my opinion on who makes such a representation might have changed. The industry seems intent on outdoing itself nearly every day in that regard.) I had to suffer through a performance of his when he opened for David Nail, an artist I really like and really wanted to see live. Why the label thought these two would make a good pair in terms of Sam Hunt opening, I do not know, but Hunt’s performance was nothing short of offensive to country music. Simply believing that any music is country simply because that is how it is marketed to us takes on an all-inclusive view of country, and really, an all-inclusive view of music in general. Such views seem to have affected the country genre the most; but this is something that ends up diluting genres down so that they become meaningless. “Country,” “Rock,” “Jazz,” “R&B” all lose their meaning when music becomes mislabeled in such a way. And when these genres lose their meaning, the sound that makes them unique will sooner or later disappear entirely. It will become a single genre of music which essentially all sounds the same. I know I can’t be the only one who sees this as a bad thing. Posted by: Cobra To review a new Dwight Yoakam song and be unbiased is a daunting task. Dwight’s new single, “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” a cover of the CCR song, is the first off of a new album due out later this year. In a day when country radio is mainly a hodge-podge, a song like this will unlikely garner much airplay in the mainstream. Part of me wants to say that if we’re going to get a cover song, there’s a lot of great classic country songs out there that Dwight could’ve covered. Another part says that Dwight has put out more than a fair share of pure covers albums, and as good as they are, having waited two years for new music from him, I’d really love to hear something new and original. Still, another part of me knows that if an artist can take a classic rock song from CCR and make it sound authentically country, then I’m perfectly fine with that. And if one were to put together a list of artists who can do something like that, Dwight Yoakam would be sure to be near the top of such a list. Dwight Yoakam not only manages to make this song sound authentically country, he does it in his own trademark style and makes it sound as honky-tonk as almost any other song he’s put out over a thirty-year career. Dwight’s voice is as distinguishable and unique as you’ll find, and he makes his version of this song his own. Still, I’m more than ready for his new album with new original music. Posted by: Cobra For the past two to three years now, "bro-country" has dominated the airwaves and become the dominant force in mainstream country music. Debate all you want on whether or not it really is country music or not (you won't get me to say that it is), but industry executives and marketing professionals have thrown it into our culture and told us that what it is. And radio has bought into that whole-sale and if you spend any time listening to mainstream country, those songs have become inescapable.
As a result, many artists have been ignored. Great Texas Country artists are barely known at all by those who listen only to radio. And the trend has pushed aside legacy acts like Alan Jackson, who, despite still making high quality music that remains rooted in traditional country, hasn't had a true "hit" in several years now. Other artists who four or five years ago had bright futures, like Josh Turner and Easton Corbin, are also ignored, in favor of more and more songs about trucks, Friday night tailgates and girls with painted on blue jeans. And with George Strait retiring from touring, it almost seems like all hope in mainstream country music is lost. Then the official announcement of Garth Brooks' comeback came, and suddenly a beacon of hope is on the horizon. See, it was one thing when Garth's comeback was an idea--a perception, a possibility. "Bro-country" artists could do whatever they wanted, their labels would support them, their managers would support them, and fans would support them. Hell, many young people probably didn't know much about who Garth Brooks is, aside from hearing "Friends in Low Places" at a wedding reception. But now Garth's comeback is a reality. A tour is set with a definite start date. An album release date is planned. And as that date gets closer, marketers of some of today's biggest acts are going to be scrambling to figure out what to do. It's been 13 years since Garth retired, and while he's done some Vegas shows and released a few songs since then, by-in-the-large, he hasn't been the mainstream force he once was. Solely by his own choice. Now, all of that is going away. It's going to be forgotten, and Garth is going to be back. Garth is in a prime-position to provide some much needed hope for country music. He's got the advantage of being a newcomer without actually being a newcomer. He's returning to an industry he once dominated, primed to dominate it again after a 13 year break. To many young fans unfamiliar with his music, he'll be new and refreshing. To the young-but-not-as-young fans, it's a return of one of the best performers and country singers ever (or at the very least, one of the best the 80s and 90s had to offer). And to those of us in our early late 20s and 30s who can't stand the direction country music has taken, he represents a potential return to the last time mainstream country was almost completely country with as little pop influence as possible. And he's flat-out said that he's not going to be making "bro-country" music. And taking all of that together, these "bro-country" acts are going to have to find a way to compete against a veteran who is going to be bring on, what to many will be, a "new" trend. Many might fade into the recesses of our memory (Florida Georgia Line, I'm looking at you and hoping this is you). Others might return to a time when they actually made good country music (come on, Luke Bryan, you had such potential before you sold-out). Still others might have their labels realize they have to make better choices as far as their singles go (say what you will about some of Jason Aldean's singles, he has some damn good album cuts...if he focuses more on those, he might gain some of my respect back). And most of all, hopefully, hopefully, HOPEFULLY, we won't have truly good artists like Tim McGraw feeling they have to keep with current trends and record, much less release crap, like "Looking For That Girl." Garth's return provides the hope we need. Hope is a good thing, especially in the current state of mainstream country music. And maybe I'm getting my hopes up. But unless he really screws it up (and that would take a lot), there is no way Garth's return can be a bad thing. |
LINKS
Here are some links to other pop culture websites and blogs worth checking out:
- Saving Country Music - Country Perspective - Farce the Music - Country Exclusive - This Is Country Music - Country Music Minds - Matt Lynn Digital Pop Culture Potpourri Writers
Cobra is a Human Resources professional from the Greater Cleveland Area with a love of good country music and a disdain for pop, rock, and rap mislabeled as country music. His favorite artists include (but are not limited to) Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers Band, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Turnpike Troubadours, Hayes Carll, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Trisha Yearwood, Dwight Yoakam, and Johnny Cash Archives
December 2017
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