Comments on: Jumping Ship: Reflections on Americana Music

By: Amazace

Amazace — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:03:58 +0000

Where do I start? With quotes such as, “The artistic haven they set out to build has ended up to be nothing but a ghetto where old acts go out to pasture, and new acts lanquish as non-starters” and “If the AMA cares about the future of Country Music as much as they care about their own self interest, they would immediately try to re-integrate Americana artist back into the Country Music mainstream”. First of all you seem to think that Mainstream Pop music is the pinnacle of success. I, as an Americana fan don’t. I see it as a road leading to, and a breeding ground for greed and manipulation. I don’t see music legends and established artists once again connecting with their roots as out to pasture. I see it as maintaining their musical integrity, after maybe some clouded years of misjudgement. Also, If it wasn’t for these new “non-starters” the roots of not only country music, but all music would be gone. You certainly are selling off a lot of great artists with talent and a love for the music because they’re not Mainstream. Pop music is not a specific genre, it’s an industry, and if Americana re-integrated itself into Pop Country(or Pop Music in general), it would no longer be Americana Music now would it? I’m not going to speak for the AMA, but as an Americana music fan, I care about maintaining the integrity and the roots of music based on the tradition of many genres including Country Music, and not on how many spins it received in a day, or how many units it sold in a year. I accept Mainstream Pop music for what it is, as do I accept Americana Roots Music for what it is. I know what they both represent, and I prefer to support, promote, and defend Americana Music.

By: Jimmy's Ghost

Jimmy's Ghost — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:50:01 +0000

Sorry – that should be real country

By: Jimmy's Ghost

Jimmy's Ghost — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:49:16 +0000

Ryan Adams is all hype… It’s what people who don’t really know what really country sounds like, think is good alt. country or Americana. Another, self obsessed drunken writer… That’s original.

By: Stormy

Stormy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:53:34 +0000

Hollerin’ Ben:
You can’t consider music the same way now that you did even 5 years ago. We all have millions of song at our finger tips and personalized walkmen that can hold hundreds of them at once. Radiohead broke some serious ground this year, and once that ground starts to be tilled you are going to see both the tradional album format and traditional radio go extinct. This is going to be disappoint for some of us because albums are such a satisfying format, but it will also bring us closer to the glorious day when Ryan Adams’ whole existance will be simply sitting in a studio recording and releasing music 24/7.

By: Ruby

Ruby — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:22:24 +0000

Main stream country is all about pop music and payola, and nothing about country . Most country stars want to sound like Britney or some rock band, the main stage at Stage Coach in Indio CA was witness to that. They even had that awful rap country group , whatever they name is, when sadly Alt. country stars like Mike Stinson, Rancho Deluxe, and Alt. bluegrass like Cliff Wagner from Next Great American Band go largely unnoticed. In an industry that is losing $$ every day , mainstream country and rap are the only paydays left, maybe… Americana and Alt. country don’t have the exposure or the bucks to pay off the radio goons to play their music..Sad but true.

By: Razor X

Razor X — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:37:06 +0000

Hollerin’ Ben said: “I do presume that at some point, someone would break through. I don’t think that country music is lost yet. I don’t think it’s time to abandon country to the carpet-baggers and profiteers.”

Maybe it is time to abandon it, at least temporarily. As long as there is money to be made from marketing pop music as country, Nashville will continue to produce it. Leave them to it, and when things collapse completely — and eventually they will — the real country music artist can come back and start putting the pieces back together. In the meantime, Americana at least gives these artists a venue where people who are interested can find them.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:14:21 +0000

It depends on how you define “country music”. Since there wasn’t much if any difference between mountain folk music and early rural stringband music. Alma Gluck’s Carry Me Back To Old Virginny” dates back to 1915 and there were some rural recordings from before then and nemrous “pop” singers who sang songs that became part of the country canon.

By: Peter Durward Harris

Peter Durward Harris — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:35:07 +0000

Paul W Dennis – you say “The country tradition stretches back to the dawn of recorded music”.

No it doesn’t. Recorded music started in 1890 (if not earlier). The earliest country recording dates back to 1922, when Eck Robertson recorded for Victor – more than 30 years later.

By: Redneck Jim

Redneck Jim — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:01:14 +0000

The problem is that in the main country music is now seen as bland, scmaltzy sentimental crap, McDonalds music by numbers for the white trash generation; while Americana is seen as original, rootsy and cool, shot through with quality. Ladies and Gentlemen, on the one hand I give you Garth Brooks; on the other I give you The Felice Brothers. Doesn’t take a genius to work it out does it? Stop whining, and start addressing what is wrong with country music.

By: Baron Lane

Baron Lane — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:18:25 +0000

Ben, I agree with you, but I think you are blaming the victim here. The doors are being shut tight by the Nashville machine not the artists that dare to challenge the status quo. Aside from the R&B example I think that rap (another music rooted in working class story-telling) big tent approach to genre’s (crunk or Dirty South, East Coast, West Coat, Gangsta) is more like Americana, all strains make the breed stronger. The test-lab of Americana might influence Nashville, but with their track record I wouldn’t bet on it.

Instead as kids that love rap/metal/emo gets older and settle down they will be more attracted to Americana and alt.country and the money will follow.
The Drive By Trucker’s latest release debuted at #37 on the Billboard 200.

Is it platinum? no, but in this world where the labels are becoming less significant for smart young bands I think there is a chance for more modest success and much, much better music away from Country Music Inc.