Posted on 03/25/2002 9:19:56 AM PST by southern rock
The Country Music Country Radio Ignores
By NEIL STRAUSS
WHEN a dark horse, the roots-music soundtrack to the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," won the top honor at the Grammy Awards last month, there was a clamor in the press room. Country music might never be the same again, the critics and journalists said. After all, besides albums by Glen Campbell and Bonnie Raitt, no recording that had anything to do with country had ever won the top Grammy Album of the Year. And the competition, especially U2 and Bob Dylan, had been fierce. So as the performers who appear on the soundtrack a rag-tag winner's circle if ever there was one streamed backstage into the press area, they were all asked the same question: Will country radio start playing traditional country music now?
There have been reasons to think so. The Grammy success of "O Brother" (a total of five awards), the album's subsequent No. 1 ranking on the Billboard chart (above Brandy and Alanis Morissette) and its impressive sales of 4.4 million copies have all seemed to send a message to the country music industry.
Well, the album did send a message, and that message has been received and marked: Return to Sender.
"We operate in country within a box," said Luke Wood, the president of Lost Highway Records, which released the soundtrack. "And you can run up in the corners of the box, but if you get outside of it, the gatekeepers don't like it. A few radio programmers said to the record labels after the Grammys: `Don't get any ideas: we're not going to start playing Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek because of this.' "
For several years there have been growing tensions surrounding country radio, now the top format on the air. Roughly 19 percent of the stations in the United States play country - 2,100 broadcasters out of 11,000. That's nearly double the number dedicated to the second-most-popular format, talk radio. Yet most of country's classic artists and styles have been getting short shrift on the air and, consequently, from the Nashville music industry. As a result, Johnny Cash records for a rock label, Dolly Parton is recording bluegrass for an independent label and many other pioneers and talented newcomers can't get a decent record contract.
As it stands now, the success of "O Brother" may be the worst thing possible for the future of country music radio, and thus country music. Because despite the album's successes commercially and critically, many people in the industry say that its impact will be slight. And if "O Brother" won't change it, nothing will; if nothing will, then mainstream country radio is truly doomed.
"Sadly, radio did not embrace any of these people before the Grammys, and they're not embracing them now," said Eddie Stubbs, the announcer for the Grand Ole Opry and a D.J. on Nashville's WSM-AM, one of the few commercial stations playing a wide range of country. "It's a disgrace. The industry is deciding that it doesn't want to give the music a chance."
If there's one culprit in the current state of country music, it may be Crest Whitestrips. Yes, Crest Whitestrips, the new dental whitening system. Because when you point a finger at Crest Whitestrips, you're pointing at Procter & Gamble, the product's maker and one of the largest purchasers of radio advertising time. And the major advertisers are the people who really control what you hear on the radio, especially country radio.
"Contemporary country radio is targeting young adult females," said Paul Allen, the executive director of the Country Radio Broadcasters, a trade association. "Now, why would you want to target them? Because that's what advertisers want. The young female adult is oftentimes a mom. She influences 90 percent of all the buying decisions in the household; she's a generation X or Y consumer, and not brand loyal. That's a very influenceable and key demographic to go after."
Thus, because of Crest Whitestrips and the machine behind them, not just country radio has changed; country music has changed, too. More than any other genre, country is a fine-tuned jingle. Most songs are written by a cadre of writers - some geniuses, most hacks - many of whom excel at finding universal emotions and translating them into greeting-card poesy. When it comes time for most stars to record a new album, they go shopping with their managers and record-label executives for hits. Thus, such artists are better able to roll with changes in taste, style and national mood. Ten years ago, Travis Tritt's biggest hit was "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)." More recently, his comeback hit was "It's a Great Day to Be Alive." Only those who don't listen to country radio still think the music is about beer and heartbreak. Today, the men are singing love songs and apologies to women while sassy women are singing about dissing the men.
"They've relegated the country station to super-serving that one demographic," said Mr. Wood of Lost Highway, who describes that audience as women 35 and over. "It's exclusionary in a sense. It forces us in Nashville on the creative side to be conscious of how narrow that audience is, so it makes it tough to make a record that will appeal to men and not women."
His point is not that country should be a man's world, but that it should be for everybody. Most other styles of music - pop, urban, rock, easy listening - have split into multiple formats, each serving a different sliver of the musical pie. But this is not necessarily a good thing: listeners have much broader taste than radio programmers, advertisers and record-label executives tend to believe, or else there's no way to explain the success of "O Brother." But fragmenting the country format is better than leaving it as it is. As country itself has shifted from rural working-class music to a pop soundtrack for the suburbs ("town and country," as the former Capitol Records president Pat Quigley called it), a large audience is finding itself largely ignored by radio. Some hope that traditional country artists as well as songwriters like Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell and just about everybody on the "O Brother" soundtrack will find a place on air if a format called Americana takes off.
"If rock can have classic rock and hard rock and soft rock and alternative rock, why can't we have country and Americana?" said Steve Gardner, promotions manager at Sugar Hill Records, home to Dolly Parton, Nickel Creek and much bluegrass. "Surely there's room for that. I mean look at the Grammys, you have Lucinda Williams winning best rock song, Ryan Adams nominated all over the place, Dolly winning another Grammy. It's happening out there."
But others are skeptical. Mr. Allen of the Country Radio Broadcasters said it's unlikely that an alternative country radio format will be successful anytime soon. "The only hope I see for an additional country format developing is if advertisers can find that the demographic it would deliver would be attractive," he said.
The odd thing about country radio is that it is not even doing that well under its existing rules. At its peak in the mid-90's, according to Mr. Allen's estimates, 12 percent to 13 percent of the radio audience listened to country; now it's around 7 percent, despite being the dominant format in terms of the number of stations. And, detrimental as the process of consolidation has been to the quality of radio programming, it's actually been the corporate bosses who have been telling the programmers and consultants to loosen up. At a recent seminar on country radio in Nashville, Larry Wilson, the president of the radio conglomerate Citadel Communications, told broadcasters to take more chances with the music and pay more attention to the needs of the local audience. And a top executive at the radio monolith Clear Channel Communications recently told programmers to re-examine "Man of Constant Sorrow," a song from "O Brother," to see if there is some way to take advantage of its popularity.
TWO weeks ago, Lost Highway re-released "Man of Constant Sorrow" as a single. The response from radio, said Michael Powers, the vice president of promotions at the label, has been encouraging. Seventy-four stations are now playing it, though some as infrequently as once a day. But, it appears to be an exception, a fluke, to many in the country music business.
Arbitron, not long ago, issued a report on what women want from country radio. And, according to the ratings service, most women do not what to hear radio programming that is not family-friendly. In addition, it continues, "even though women are heavily pressured for time and responsibility, they remain optimists. So, don't play to the negatives." Compare those findings with the most popular songs from "O Brother" - "Man of Constant Sorrow" and "O Death" - and ask, Who is country radio going to listen to: Arbitron or the Grammys?
"The recording academy recognizes the work of its artists and their music, from the standpoint of art, which is considerably different from what country radio is about," said Mr. Allen of the Country Radio Broadcasters Association. "Country radio is purely about mass appeal music, and it has some very defined limits because there are some very defined demographics that the owners are tying to find through that music. Where the Grammys are about art, country radio is about the Benjamins."
In this sense, country radio is a microcosm of the entertainment industry, in which art is controlled by commerce and corporate committee. But if "O Brother," which far outsold Garth Brooks's latest, doesn't bring in enough $100 bills to nudge the business to expand its scope or take chances (besides, say, putting the occasional old-timey music break in a country pop song), it seems that nothing will. Several years ago, Larry Cordle, a bluegrass musician, released a song called "Murder on Music Row," criticizing just this. "The almighty dollar/ And the lust for worldwide fame/ Slowly killed tradition/ And for that, someone should hang," he sings. In a reference to Hank Williams, he continues, "Ol' Hank wouldn't have a chance/ on today's radio/ since they committed murder down on Music Row." George Strait and Alan Jackson agreed with him enough to record the song, which, like "O Brother," was applauded but ultimately changed little in the industry. "My worst fear is that this `O Brother' thing is going to turn into just a fad," Mr. Cordle said. "Without the support of mainstream radio at some point, I just don't know where we're at."
Thus, because of Crest Whitestrips and the machine behind them, not just country radio has changed; country music has changed, too. More than any other genre, country is a fine-tuned jingle. Most songs are written by a cadre of writers — some geniuses, most hacks — many of whom excel at finding universal emotions and translating them into greeting-card poesy. When it comes time for most stars to record a new album, they go shopping with their managers and record-label executives for hits. Thus, such artists are better able to roll with changes in taste, style and national mood. Ten years ago, Travis Tritt's biggest hit was "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)." More recently, his comeback hit was "It's a Great Day to Be Alive." Only those who don't listen to country radio still think the music is about beer and heartbreak. Today, the men are singing love songs and apologies to women while sassy women are singing about dissing the men.
Says it all. Not that I'm a fan of bluegrass, but I think they should bring back the booze and truck songs. Why aren't young men considered a target demographic for country music. It's kinda sad.
The ironic thing is the ignored music is better and it is actual country music.
The stuff on the radio isn't for the most part.
I'll keep listening to Jimmie Rodgers, Carter Family and Hank Williams. I've never been interested in modern country music much. But the old stuff is my favorite.
Unless the FCC has made it prohibitively expensive, it seems like the obvious choice.
Golden Age of Country had some great lyrics:
"When the phone don't ring you know is me".
The only genre that's close to true to the real roots of country is "alt.country". In my words, it's where R.E.M. meets Merle Haggard. There is tons of great country music out there; you just can't hear it on the radio.
Think about it. Last month, Waylon Jennings passed away. In tribute, the only songs our local schlock-country stations could find to play were "Mamas don't let your babies..." and the theme from "The Dukes of Hazzard." Sickening.
But true. When's the last time anybody's heard a Merle Haggard or Johnny Cash or Tom T. Hall song on the radio? It doesn't happen, and it's a damned disgrace. The fact is that today's "country" music is nothing but bubblegum pop with a steel guitar thrown in.
I think the best one-sentence summation of the state of country music was made by the greatest songwriter in America, Mr. Steve Earle: "Shania Twain is the highest-paid lap dancer in America."
'nuff said.
Have you heard Hank Williams, III? Sounds so much like his grandfather it's scary. Good, if not great, songwriter, too. I highly recommend his new album, "Lovesick, Broke and Driftin'".
And this is supposed to represent a change? Country music has always been a factory putting out slick songs performed by slick studio musicians with the spokesmodel/singer up front pretending to strum a guitar while wearing a big hat. The memorable talents--Hank, Willie, Merle--were exceptions, not the rule.
I also think it is a mistake to link bluegrass so directly with "country" music. It's rural, and has some similar themes, but bluegrass music is traditional music, with ties to celtic ballads, fiddle tunes--reels and hornpipes--and to folk songs at least as much as it has ties to country. Bluegrass puts a much greater stress on instrumentalism than country, which is primarily vocal. Bluegrass stresses 3 and 4 part harmonization whereas country typically features a lone vocalist. Bluegrass is acoustic music, wheras country is typified by electric sounds--reverbed vocals and pedal steel guitar. Bluegrass lives on standards. Country lives on hits.
Seems to me the comparison makes sense to an urban person, but to a music fan, I don't think the comparison is so apt. They both come from Nashville, but that is a recording and distribution matter, not a creative one. Just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Country Music TV (CMT) and local C&W stations seem inundated with Faith Hill and other girlie videos/music. In fact, it is so bad that one local station recently held a "Faith-Hill-free weekend" absent of all Faith Hill music.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's because men's buying decisions are less influenced by advertising, and/or men don't make as many buying decisions as women.
Of course there's another possibility. Commercial radio is all about getting advertisers to pay for commercial time. The music is just the bait to attract listeners to the commercials. I personally switch the station when commercials come on far more often than my wife. If that's a wider pattern among men, it could definitely make advertisers prefer to target female listeners.
I did. I heard Cocaine Blues.
I'm not much of a consumer though. I can't remember the last time I bought a new album.
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