James Stroud Starts New Label, Calls It Stroudavarious, And Signs Willie, Worley, and Lorrie

Favorite album so far this year: Another Country–Tift Merritt.

I have a question about the Blake Shelton thing. They release 2 singles from a record with fantastic album tracks and then they record “Home,” tack it on and then choose not to release one more single from the record? Lunacy. I guess it boils down to being a product of the pre-Scott Hendricks regime at WBR. My guess is Hendricks hated the A&R of the “Pure B.S.” record. It’s sad because “Back There Again” is a great song.

@Stormy Funny you mention her. I ran across a photo on flickr the other day of her and went to her myspace. Really liking it!

I’m looking forward to Boland’s new album. His last one was so-so and I’d like to see how well written this one will be.

Also, a vote to Emmylou Harris’ All I Intended to Be.

Ironically, it’s BRADY and “posted” should be “posting.”

Yeah..I got called after I wrote and posted before previewing. I wonder if Brady did the same.

Sam: You can listen to some tracks from the new Duhks cd on their myspace. Gotta say, not liking the new drummer.

Chet Flippo sucks. First of all, the whole “lame country that is overly concerned with crossover appeal and commercial success runs in cycles, don’t you remember Urban Cowboy and the Nashville Sound?” argument is ridiculous. Exactly how long has this cycle been going on? Are we supposed to think that Garth and Clint Black were part of some kind of golden era that preceded this slump?

But even if the overly commercial music has consumed more or less all of the 90’s and 2000’s, it can still be just like the Urban Cowboy and Nashville Sound phase right? Theoretically it could have been, but in reality it hasn’t been.

The difference is that although you had your Mickey Gilleys or your Olivia Newton Johns, you also had your George Jones and your Merle Haggards. Sure there was a ton of pop-country, but it lived on the radio right next to legitimately great country music.

Flippo’s list, I suppose, is supposed to represent the equivalent strain in today’s country music; and it’s a pretty telling list.

Alan Jackson and George Strait have proven themselves to be about the two most boring stand-ins for Haggard and Jones that you could imagine. The Randy Travis, Patty Loveless, Marc Chesnutt, and Willie Nelson record wont be allowed anywhere near country radio and will be for all intents and purposes “underground”, and Sugarland (really Chet?) is a pretty abysmal representative of artistically rather than commercially driven country music, this is the “we sing with Bon Jovi” band Sugarland right? (and Sugarland as “folk-country” Chet Flippo? really?).

But he does offer up some new artists who are going to be given mainstream pushes that he looks towards as the crop of authentic music that stands as a counterweight to the “country-rock, crossover music and cotton candy” - Ashton Shepherd, James Otto, and Jamey Johnson.

Ashton Shepherd is much heralded as this big concession to traditionalists because her point of view is rural rather than suburban and she has a thick accent, but everything I’ve heard from her is at best 90’s faux-traditional country, at worst it’s Jo Dee Messina material. She may go on and get better, but right now I don’t think she can be counted as a substantive counter-weight to Julianne Hough.

James Otto is about as pop-rock country, crossover, and cotton candy as anyone can be. What exactly makes him more authentic than say Steve Holy or Jimmy Wayne? From all the tunes on his myspace he sounds like John Rich meets the Goo Goo Dolls with just a touch of Colin Raye 90’s schlock thrown in. He’s not especially awful, but to my ears he is just not any sort of encouraging counterbalance.

and I am probably in the minority here, but I wasn’t blown over by Jamey Johnson’s “In Color”. Does it reference the human experience and at least attempt to offer an insight? Sure, but why is that sufficient these days? Is it a great song? Does it live in the same world as “Sunday Morning Coming Down” or “Mama Tried” or “Angel Flying Too Close to The Ground” or even “One Dying and a Buryin’” or “Wine Me Up” or “Copperhead Road” or “The Grand Tour”? Like his tune “The High Cost of Living”, “In Color” references topics that would provide the opportunity for artfulness, but he doesn’t address the topics especially artfully (plus he loses major points for that ridiculous guitar solo in “In Color”).

Chet Flippo can try to convince himself that carrying water for CMT doesn’t make him part of the problem. He can pretend that there is precedent for country music’s quality to be this compromised. He can try to retain cred by turning up his nose at Michelle Branch. But the fact is that in no other era of country music would Ashton Shepherd, James Otto, Sugarland, and Jamey Johnson have been considered occasions for celebration rather than tolerable mediocrities.

Chet Flippo sucks.

Wow Ben, tell us how you really feel! So, given your opinion on Chet, who are YOUR current favorite artists making music. Are ANY of them relevant outside of Texas or alt-country scenes? Just curious.

Ben, I actually agree with much of your above comment, and I can understand having high standards for country music. But I’m sorry, not many songs of today, regardless of who they are from (”nashville” or not) can stand next to the great classics that you have listed. I would hardly suggest that be the barometer for what is considered great today, or your cd case will be woefully empty. The use of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (among others) as an example of what today’s music should resemble artistcally in order to be called great is misguided, as those songs are great due to their singular, unique and rare excellence. If more songs from any era where to “stand next” to those examples, there would be a crowd at that high-level and, would mean that maybe a song such as “Mama Tried” really isnt so great, if so many other songs can be so closely compared to it artistically.

I got the digital version of Jamey Johnson’s album when it came out and enjoyed him down at the Riverfront during fan fair. I just wish someone at Universal would finally get his website up and rolling. It still has ‘coming soon’ since May on there! I keep hearing about shows and stuff, but you can never find out anything about them. PR on their end sucks.

I really enjoy Ashton Shepherd’s new album and I was rather shocked by how young she is. Give me Ashton over any American idol or screechy young teenage voices any ole day!

Don’t forget the Grascal’s new album. I’ve got to run to the store to grab that one.

I’ve seem to enjoy George Strait’s latest album more and more. You can never go wrong with a GS album :)

John, I agree with you completely. We should hope that any music “aims” to reach such lofty heights. That is far different from expecting it to “succeed” at reaching those heights, and if a song fails to reach such a level, then it can not be considered “great”??.

Rick - I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t see how “Taking Off This Pain” or “Sounds So Good” has any more depth than ‘Better Things To Do” or “Boy Meets Girl,” and I guess it seems to me that Ashton’s music sounds like 1995-era Terri Clark.

I think both Shepherd and Terri Clark are talented and they produce acceptable music. But neither seems like the savior of country, nor has either produced anything somewhat classic.

Worley will get back on radio with the new label, watch.

Benefit of going to Belmont = I’ll get CMT again.

Leeann - I’m with you. (I like Shepherd too, just not ready to declare her the next Wynette).

I wasn’t clear, but I was trying to get at the way she is marketed. Some of her press seems to portray her as the savior, the genuine article, et cetera. A few reviews seem to go easier on her work because she is allegedly authentic. She’s good, but that kind of billing nobody can live up to.

Also, Mark Chesnutt’s early press was like that too. MCA never forgot to tell you that George Jones said Chesnutt is “the real deal.” I like Chesnutt a lot, but he wasn’t a savior.

Anyhow, I hope Shepherd does well, and I’d much rather hear her on radio than Rascal Flatts. I

That’s an interesting question: Has country music been “saved” by one person at any point in its history?

Rick: Emmylou kicked the door open for Randy.

ben,

how does it feel standing in the middle of the shop surrounded by tons of broken china and realising a few things had better not been smashed?

Ben,

Sounds to me that you like a portion of the popular country music of a particular era, and it’s not this one. Jones and Haggard grew up in a specific culture with shared influences, and their music showed it. Someone at the time could have said they were watered down Lefty, Hank, Acuff, Wills and Monroe, and Jones especially got blasted regularly back in the ’70s and ’80s for modern production touches (especially on albums he made with Billy Sherrill, which I happen to love). There were plenty of fans in the ’60s and ’70s who thought all the country music of that time sucked compared to that of the ’40s and ’50s, and so it goes. I’ve come across comments from the ’30s and ’40s where someone argued that anything with vocals on it wasn’t country music. Things evolve, you know, and there will always be people who don’t like the direction they go.

As for Flippo, disagreeing with his tastes and comments is fine, and you can use whatever term you want to denigrate him. But I don’t doubt his sincerity in naming current acts he likes today, and I don’t think he’s in any way a corporate shill. Does he know what his boundaries are at the job he’s been given? Sure he does. But I think he’s genuine about what he says within those boundaries.

Personally, I agree with him a lot more often than I don’t. I like a lot of what Sugarland does, too, just as I like a list of other current acts you may not, including James Otto and Jamey Johnson (I like some songs on his upcoming album ore than “In Color,” but that’s not really the point.) I’m not going to give up my collections of Jones and Haggard, and I’m pretty close to a completist on them, except for some of what Jones has done in the last 18 years or so. But I think “Drive” and “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” are as good as “Mama Tried” and “The Race Is On,” and I play my mixtape CDs of Jackson and Strait as often as I do those I’ve made of Haggard and Jones, etc. No one’s paying me to say that, and I don’t think Flippo would alter his opinion to fit some idea of what he thinks his bosses want him to say, either. You seem to believe that the only people with good tastes are those who share YOUR tastes. I’ll refrain from saying that sucks, but it’s a pretty limited view of people who aren’t you.

M.C -

that was certainly a well reasoned and restrained response to what was admittedly an aggressive comment from me and I applaud your graciousness..

but I think you’ve got me wrong right up front.
“Sounds to me that you like a portion of the popular country music of a particular era, and it’s not this one. Jones and Haggard grew up in a specific culture with shared influences, and their music showed it. Someone at the time could have said they were watered down Lefty, Hank, Acuff, Wills and Monroe”

You make it seem like I’m some kind of 60’s honky tonk purist, which is not the case. It’s true that what I really dig is a portion of the popular country music from an earlier era, but the era is roughly 1940-1990. I know that whenever someone claims they don’t like country music today it’s easy to respond that “well you don’t like Big and Rich, some people didn’t think Johnny Cash was traditional enough” but I think it’d be pretty tough to say I have a restrictive view of country music.

Some people may have thought Jones and Haggard were watered down Hank and Lefty, but I celebrate both pairs of artists equally. I dig Gram Parsons and the Louvin Brothers. Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, and Lyle Lovett. Johnny Paycheck and Waylon Jennings. Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Hank III and Moot Davis. It’s not about the sounding strictly like 60’s honky-tonk or the amount of strings on the record, or whether a fiddle is used. It’s about the ethic of country music songwriting, which I think has been foregone.

also
As for Flippo, disagreeing with his tastes and comments is fine, and you can use whatever term you want to denigrate him. But I don’t doubt his sincerity in naming current acts he likes today, and I don’t think he’s in any way a corporate shill.

again, I appreciate your graciousness, and I get that saying “Chet Flippo sucks” is impolite, but I’ll stand by it and I’ll tell you why.

In his role as editorial director for CMT.com, Chet Flippo is perpetuating the myth that this “slump” that country music is experiencing is a normal part of it’s history rather than an unprecedented event.

He may be sincere in his appraisal, but if that’s the case than (in my opinion) he is an untalented music critic, and sucks. Harsh? I guess, but as the writer who helped bring Willie and Waylon to the mainstream, he should know better than anyone how far off-track top 40 country music is today.

The other option is that he is insincere, that as editorial director for CMT.com, he needs to pretend that his employer viacom is not cannibalizing country music and to do so he needs to pretend that some portion of mainstream country music is equally as good as the best of mainstream country music in earlier days. By claiming there is nothing wrong, and by asserting that we should be happy with Ashton Shepherd and James Otto as stand-in’s for Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, or Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle, or Patsy Cline and Buck Owens, or whoever (my point is that there was no real scarcity of great artists), Chet Flippo is lying in order to make it seem like he is not part of the problem. That would make him suck.

And also, I know there’s a sense of “well he has to feed his family too ya’know”. That may be so, but he doesn’t have to do it by being a music critic. I don’t think that art critics should lie in order to feed their families. If they can’t feed their families by being as honest and uncompromising as the art their should be praising, then they need to get another profession.

Also, I’m not crazy about the fact that Flippo doesn’t allow comments on his blogs or accept emails. As probably the highest profile country music critic out there he should be more confident than any of us in dealing with feedback and criticism.

You seem to believe that the only people with good tastes are those who share YOUR tastes. I’ll refrain from saying that sucks, but it’s a pretty limited view of people who aren’t you.

yes and no. Obviously I think I have good taste and that I know what I’m talking about. Otherwise I’d really have no business writing reviews or articles on country music. Also, naturally I don’t think that everyone has good taste in music and I allow for the fact that a lot of people have bad taste. Does that make me suck? I don’t think so but you are welcome to your opinion.

but as far as demanding people share my taste, I don’t think that’s fair. I know some people who live and breathe honky-tonk and if it’s not Buck or Wynn or Faron playing a shuffle it’s not their cup of tea, but I don’t think they have bad taste. Some people don’t care for Townes or Billy Joe, they don’t think they are good enough singers and they don’t like their progressive songwriting, it’s not their thing. I’ve never been a big bluegrass guy, but I don’t think people who like bluegrass have bad taste.

But yes, I think that the people who think that Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban and Brad Paisley deserve their spots as the biggest country music artists walking the earth today have bad taste, but its not because it’s not my taste (which is to say I have no arbitrary prejudice against them), it’s because, for multiple reasons, I think overall their music fails as country music, and that it does so rather spectacularly.

Ben–Thanks, and I’d say your response was gracious and well-reasoned too. No hollerin’ this time!

I also appreciate the explanation of the music you like, all of which I like, too. I still think Flippo is a sincere writer and saying what he feels. I think it’s possible to write for corporations with a vested interest in a topic and still create honest and worthwhile journalism. If I was judged by every boss or corporation I’ve accepted money from, I’d have a lot of shit to scrape off my shoes.

To me, though, t’s too easy to brush off opinions or point of views you don’t agree with as being bought or being insincere. Viacom hired Flippo because he’s considered a writer of integrity, and not just because of his resume. There are plenty of old Rolling Stone writers who lost touch along the way, but I don’t view Chet as one of them. He often makes it clear he still loves older music, and music outside the radio mainstream, but he also looks for music within the format that he enjoys. As he should.

I also still feel that it’s possible for a knowledgeable and passionate music critic to realize that just because he or she doesn’t like certain artists or trends, it doesn’t mean those who enjoy the work of those artists and trends have bad taste or even less developed or informed tastes. I’m not just saying that because I like artists you find lacking or mediocre, but also because I respect the differences of opinion I have with those who enjoy music I can’t stomach and find artistically or intellectually lacking.

Each of us has distinct cultural signifiers that leads us to like what we do, and I don’t believe it means one person’s tastes is automatically better than another’s. It’s just that they respond to something for entirely different reasons than I do.

I may not find anything valuable in Rascal Flatts and Rush, or Alabama and Air Supply, and I may think there are artists I find over-rated, from Ryan Adams to Eddy Arnold to Dale Watson, but that doesn’t mean I think those who get immense pleasure from those artists suck. I just think they’re coming at it from a different angle than I am. I also realize there’s music I enjoy that is amateurish or excessively polished, but there’s something in it I like. As much as consensus counts, among critics just as among fans, it’s the individual response to something I find most interesting.

I’m all for strongly stated opinions. But the more strongly you state them, the more room there is for disagreement. That’s one of the reasons I like coming here and like reading what you write, even when I disagree enough to respond.