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.
I’m a city boy, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and I love a lot of classic country music— Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Delmore Brothers, Patsy Cline— stuff that today usually gets called “Americana.” Contemporary country music, not so much, but I do like Rosanne Cash, Patty Loveless, Alison Krauss and Lucinda Williams.
PATSY CLINE DIED!?!
I’m not saying I could do any better but frankly, I don’t bother turning on the radio most of the time and haven’t purchased music for about 5 years.
That is not good for the industry.
Alan Jackson sings some great country music, though.
Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Johnny Horton, George Jones and excuse me for forgetting to mention any mainstays, perhaps Loretta Lynne too, if anything, country went through a real golden age with the likes of these. Numerous other artists can be mentioned but I was trying to recall the real giants post-Hank Williams.
People can talk about Waylon, Willie, Conway Twitty, they definitely have their place as well.
Sounds like the crowd at a T. Tex Edwards concert...
http://www.reverbnation.com/ttexedwards
Although his music is country, not rap, white rap, etc. unless you maybe count old white "rap" found in country songs like "One Piece At A Time", "Smoke That Cigarette", "Wabash Cannonball", etc.
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It’s formulaic. Just like wrap but with a fake twang.
I think Jimmie Rodgers was also paired up with the Dixieland Jug Blowers on a Victor recording as well.
Fascinating era, when it comes to music. So much variety, and wild-and-woolly experimentation. The musical changes between just two and three years throughout the decade of the 1920s were massive.
Hell, DISCO is still around.
I guess you could consider “Big, Bad, John” a rap song.
Not you, but authors like the one of the original article- I mean “critics”, yeah. I loath writers who gripe about how things used to be better in general, and in regards to the arts in particular. Those who can, do, those who can’t teach, those who can’t do or even teach write criticism.
There’s plenty of good music these days, just not on mainstream radio.
Just don’t listen to the radio. Plenty of outstanding music out there but you have to go find it as none of it is played on the radio anywhere.
Yeah. They call it Americana now.
“Hell,DISCO is still around.”
Staaayiiing aliiiive !!! I actually liked disco and The BeeGees.
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BINGO!
Tommy must have gotten guitar lessons straight from God. Catch him every time he comes around. Transcends any label description (oh, yeah he has a great music ministry, too).
Garth kind of died on the second album for me.
Not counting prior to mid 80’s since I liked most of them, I also liked Mark Chesnut, Tracy Lawrence, Diamond Rio, Shenandoah, Wade Hayes, Chris Ledoux, Tracy Byrd (not watermelon crawl though), Zone Jones, Rick Trevino, Patty Loveless, Gary Stewart, old Reba, and Toby Keith (Blue Moon and before). Some of the artists, like Garth, made it on their first one or two albums then sold their soul to make pop sounding crap and dropped their country sound (Lonestar comes to mind).
Was never an outlaw fan. Traditional country and western swing for me.
About a decade ago I started downloading some of the old radio CW and R&R classics I used to listen to in the late 50s. The only TV station went off the air at 10:30 p.m., so the only alternative for late summer nights was SuperStation AM radio.
I have collected about 300 of the old favorites in MP3 format. Now, when I get a tad nostalgic, I just load a few of them into the audio player, lean back, relax and enjoy.
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