Posted on 05/20/2014 8:58:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I’ve complained about the state of modern mainstream country music for a long time now. And clearly, I’m not alone. Singer-songwriter Collin Raye, one of the top country artists throughout the ’90s, recently took to Fox News to air his grievances at the state of country music today.
As a platinum-selling country music artist and, more importantly, a lifelong fan of the genre, I’d like to send out this heartfelt plea to the gatekeepers of the industry:
Enough already.
I’d like to think that I am expressing what nearly every artist, musician and songwriter (with perhaps a few exceptions) is thinking when I contend that the Bro’ Country phenomenon must cease.
It has had its run for better or worse and it’s time for Nashville to get back to producing, and more importantly promoting, good singers singing real songs. It’s time for country music to find its identity again before it is lost forever.
[...]
Disposable, forgettable music has been the order of the day for quite a while now and it’s time for that to stop.
Our beautiful, time-honored genre, has devolved from lines like, “I’d trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday … holding Bobby’s body next to mine,” and “a canvas covered cabin, in a crowded labor camp stand out in this memory I revive. Cause my Daddy raised a family there with two hard working hands….and tried to feed my Momma’s hungry eyes,” down to “Can I get a Yee Haw?”
And the aforementioned Truck! “Come on slide them jeans on up in my truck! Let’s get down and dirty in muh truck, doggone it I just get off riding in muh truck, I love ya honey, but not as much as muh truck!” Oh and we can’t leave out the beautiful prose about partying in a field or pasture.
He goes on to lay the blame at the feet of the label honchos rather than at the artists or songwriters. “They have the power and ability to make a commitment to make records that keep the legacy of country music alive, and reclaim a great genre’s identity.”
Raye has a point. Here’s Exhibit A: “Cruise,” by Florida-Georgia Line, which spent an astounding 21 weeks at #1 on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart.
Modern country music has become so formulaic that some wags devised a web-based Bro Country Song Inspiration Generator. For the most part, the poetry and beauty that have been hallmarks of the genre for so long are missing from mainstream country today, with a handful of exceptions, such as Zac Brown Band, The Band Perry, and Miranda Lambert.
The real Nashville could take a cue or two from the fictional Nashville. Most of the songs on the hit ABC series fit the mold of the country songwriting tradition - heartfelt and often poetic. And, though actors who just happen to sing populate the cast (with some of the best Southern accents in the business, I might add), these folks know how to interpret a song well.
Take Sam Palladio, who plays up-and-coming songwriter Gunnar Scott. The British actor/singer wraps his amazing voice around “It Ain’t Yours To Throw Away,” a beautiful tune co-written (in real life) by the great Pam Tillis:
In another clip from a concert special, members of the cast perform “A Life That’s Good,” which has become an unofficial anthem for the show, along with the songwriters:
Collin Raye has a point. If industry executives treated their talent as artists rather than as commodities and their music as art rather than as products, country music would improve. The next Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton are out there for discovery, but they’re taking a backseat to the “Bro Country” movement. I’m afraid one day we’ll look back at these last couple of years as a low point in country music.
Similar questions have been being asked since the 2nd generation of the Grand Ole Opry members took to the microphones/stages/radios/records.
Similar questions were being floated 40 years ago.
Similar questions were being floated 20 years ago.
Sadly, music of all genres are suffering this fate. It is all prepackaged and sound-alike. There is no balance of art and money, it’s all about money and it’s killing music.
similar questions have been asked since Isaac Watts started writing hymns, and musical instruments were allowed in worship services... and likely, before that :)
Having abandoned a nearly lifelong affinity for country music with the advent of Garth Brooks, I have no idea what the “Bro’ Country phenomenon” is.
Would someone care to define?
gee just country music?
it’s the whole darn culture and all it’s movies, TV and music, dance, clothes.. in all it’s forms.
We used to be the Greatest Generation, we beat the Nazis.
Now it’s just full of narcism.
liberal democrats.
they would sing rap just as soon a country or western
Today? Today??? Country music has not been right since Patsy Cline died!
Similar questions were floated last week...right here...with this same article.
Very little contemporary music, from any genre, ‘trips my trigger’ these days. Country included.
For me, I think its the lack of great, unique voices...probably a byproduct of the reality that music stars today have to look good for the camera, even more than sound good.
And technology simultaneously makes up for vocal shortcomings (auto-tune) while emphasizing shortcomings in the looks department (HDTV). So, more than ever, we get really good looking people who are adequate singers.
I mentioned this on the other thread from last week. If you watch a re-run of Hee-Haw, or a musical act from the Ed Sullivan Show, etc....the performers are ‘naked’. There is very little to back them up - no earpieces helping them out, no synthesizers, no auto tune, sometimes no music. They had to be very good, or they would be exposed.
So I agree a lot of today’s music is fairly bland....or at the other end of the spectrum, deliberately strange to get attention.
The fans are strangely tattooed morbidly fat people with weird hairdos who like to do drugs, ride big motorcycles dripping with fringe, and generally look like they are on their way to a felonious Hall'o'ween Party. L'il Abner on LSD and Steroids.
It was more like "Country Music" when the fans and Hank Williams did not look as if they belonged to some alien species, as do today "stars" and their "fans."
Today's country music is a commercially contrived 'white rap' sort of artifact and does not spring from anything genuine.
You’ve got so-called female “country singers” dating Kennedys, for crying out loud.
And the same questions were asked of rock music 20 years ago, and 40 years ago.
The problem is that now I’m asking those questions instead of defending the genre. I’m not getting old, the modern music is crap. Really, it is.
“Rock n Roll’s been going downhill ever since Buddy Holly died.”
I thought rap would last about 6 years or so and fade away. It has been going on for 3-4 decades now.
Long ago I said that MTV killed music. Any a$$—— with a video camera could get on MTV. The great bands died and it became all about the vocalist. Back in the day when I could still jump, the best music came from bands that played together for year, were serious about the music, and usually had some sort of musical education.
Now all the good musicians are just session players, and it’s all about the money.
MTV killed music, American Idol made damn sure it stayed dead.
I LOVE the show “Nashville”. The music and the performers are terrific! The special Nashville, a behind the scenes show about the music and song writers and colaberations, was a great show/episode/special.
REAL country, absolutely.
Patsy Cline, the greatest female voice in country music.
Jim Reeves, the greatest male voice in country music.
I still listen to many songs by both.
I was thinking more of John Bonham and Keith Moon...
colaberations = collaborations
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