Mailbag: Where can I find country for people who hate country?

You can’t help it if she kinda makes a man wanna be a miniature horse.

We got a letter a couple of weeks ago from a gay gentleman railing against “I’m Still a Guy” for being homophobic. I just don’t hear that. It’s anti-metrosexual, but (unless I’m missing something) not anti-homosexual.

Your link to “So Small” karaoke just makes it more clear that over the last ten years, country music has added a lot of instruments and layers to its songs, but with all the musical depth, it’s added no substance. It’s just a lot of instruments playing at the same time, with little to no cohesiveness.

Q. What is Kenny Chesney’s “Shiftwork” song about?
A. About 4 minutes 29 seconds too long.

Oh, and while I’m on a roll, I liked “Last Name” better when it was called “I Don’t Even Know Your Name”.

Chris N.

yeah but what problem does it have with metrosexuality? He’s not saying that he’s against it because it’s vain and shallow, or that it’s exclusionary because people who are working to make ends meet can’t afford all the grooming, dieting, exercise, fashion purchases that go into being a metrosexual.

The song is against metrosexuality because it’s feminine, that’s it. The song is saying “the only true guys” are guys like me. So unless a gay guy is just like Brad Paisley’s character in the song (gun toting, violent, sexually aggressive, unsophisticated, etc etc) then he isn’t really a “guy” or (because Paisley doesn’t differentiate) a “man”. Since the stereotypical gay guy, or the pop culture form of a gay guy, isn’t that way, I think that it’s fair to say that the song is broadly anti-homosexual.

But I agree that, for what it’s worth, they leave themselves more than enough wiggle room to say “no, its against men who take on any ‘feminine’ qualities whatsoever. It just so happens that wanting to have sex with men is feminine, that’s all.”

“How to look like Tiffany Falon?”
If you ever find an answer, please, call me. — Matt

Man, I’d settle for looking at Tiffany Falon.

Chris N,

totally dude, I’m certainly not saying that gay guys aren’t “men” or aren’t “masculine”. But the metrosexual thing is pretty heavily associated with “queer eye for the straight guy” and the term itself is a play on homosexual meant to associate the two.

Naturally I think that Paisley’s definition of a “guy” and masculinity is way too restrictive (”you may see art, but real guys only see porn” whatever) but let me ask you, do your gay friends, or any gay guys you know, or any guy characters in television, books, or film that you know of meet Paisley’s definition of a “guy”?

I don’t know any guys period who meet Paisley’s definition to a T. Certainly not any guys I want to hang out with that much. I don’t think the song is homophobic so much as real-person-phobic.

but does she look so good now that she popped out that kid with the absurd name —

I havent laughed this hard in days — where do these people come from???

Yeah Dan, I’m with you!

I dunno, I’m just not buying the anti-homosexual argument and don’t see what’s so polarizing about the song. A work of art it is not, but it isn’t completely ignorant or phobic, either. It’s an obvious perpetuation of stereotypes and definitely not something to get up in arms about. It even acknowledges the stereotype that men like that are comparable to cave man and he’s just saying, “Hey, it’s who I am.”

While we’re on the subject, though, check out the Snickers commercial that got pulled for being “homophobic.”

damn you! I was looking to make that joke, but couldn’t find the right turn of phrase. “real-person-phobic”, well done.

Hey, if you can’t take the heat…

Just kiddin’. Thanks for the props, and I really enjoyed your Carrie joke in the post, if it’s any consolation!

“Do your gay friends, or any gay guys you know, or any guy characters in television, books, or film that you know of meet Paisley’s definition of a ‘guy’?”

Not really, nor do any of my straight friends (or me, for that matter). Which takes us back to Dan’s point.

Peter: Are you that guy who keeps tapping me on the shoulder and running away?

“its more a representation of what all guys wants to be”

really??????

Not my style, Stormy - I’m likely the one who keeps looking at you and then looking away when you look back LOL

And didn’t she cowrite “I Told You So” with Bruce Traywick?

I would like to hear a song written entirely by Carrie Underwood. Including her in songwriting sessions with top writers so she can make comments or add a line here or there doesn’t tell us how much of the end product is her contribution. Heck, I bet you if I were in a songwriting session along with Jeffrey Steele, Sally Barris, and Brett James collectively “we” could come up with a hit song if Carrie would sing it for us….

1)Taylor Swift comments hilarious!

2)the Rascal Flatts comments also HILARIOUS!

3)Also “What is Shiftwork about”
About 3:29 too long ROFL!!

Most of the so-called co-writes involving the recording artist are little more than an attempt to beef up the artists royalties at the expense of the actual songwriters. This is an ancient practice (Elvis never actually wrote or co-wrote any songs either) but nowadays the artist sits in and adds or changes a word or two in order to claim the co-writing credit, whereas in Elvis’ day they simply added his name to the credits

Most of todays’ songs have little memorable about them, other than the production and that’s because too many of them are committee-written

Well, Matt, if you happen to be hinting at Chris Cagle, Scott Hendricks, apparently, didn’t even like the songs on which Cagle contributed ideas, since he advised him to stay away from his own songs for his current album.

Leeann,

Ding! Ding! Ding! He was also targeted to hit #1 when he got charged with assault and some stations stopped spinning the song.

Stephen H,

It was a combination of both. But since it’s cleared up, I think he might win back some ‘favor’ if he releases the right song from the album.

The late Fred Rose had a lot of co-writes and he probably could have claimed co-writing credt on many more songs, especially a lot of the Hank Sr classics.

Then there is the story of a Tammy Wynette classic D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Bobby Braddock wrote the words and a melody. Later, Tree song plugger Curley Putman made a few suggestions for the melody and Braddock insisted that Putman share the royalties, calling his original melody “goofy” and insisting that “The song never stirred up that much interest until Curley made those changes, and what he did just really brought it to life.”

Of course Curley Putman was more than a mere song plugger, having already written “The Green Green Grass of Home”

“[The meaning of "Better As A Memory" is that] the idea of loving the narrator will always be more powerful than the actuality of doing so”

What a coincidence; I was just thinking the other day that “Better Than A Memory” is a great idea for a song that doesn’t quite hold up in actuality (although that’s more because of the lyrical choices than the conceit). So it’s a song about being better as an idea that is itself better as an idea. Kind of like how Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” doesn’t have any examples of actual irony…kind of? Hopefully someone else hasn’t already made this observation about the Chesney song; that would just crush me.

Advertising is supposed to cost money, dude.

Great, a country-punk band featuring one of Buck’s sons that sounds like it will be a cross breeding of Buck, Hank III, and Black Flag! Should be one of the more unusal bands to ever grace the stage at the Crystal Palace. Alcohol sales will surely spike that night! (lol) All those words and no mention of Red Simpson or Trout’s Bar in Oildale. Hmmmm………

Chris, speaking of money, I’ve renewed my subscription to “(Airhead) Country Weekly” because you are a cool guy! Well, that and the article on Fred Eaglesmith, Star DeAzlan’s chile rellenos, and especially the photo of Danielle Peck on the inside of the last page……(lol)

In response to the headline question “where can I find Country for people who hate Country?” I am unable to understand the response of “Top 40 “Airhead” Country Radio. — Brody (courtesy of Rick)” since that is EXACTLY the type of cuntry most people hate. I hated cuntry until a couple of years ago when 92.5 KZPS started mixing Outlaw Country young and old into the mix and I’ve been a fan ever since (of Outlaw Country, not KZPS, they lost their way, listen to KHYI instead). My point is I have 2 friends at work who used to hate cuntry but now 1 is a fan of Hank III and the other is a fan of Shooter Jennings because I exposed them to the good stuff and not the “Top 40 “Airhead” Country Radio. — Brody (courtesy of Rick)”

Brody, Rick… that crap doesn’t do anybody any good

rhh

that is baffling. that is like saying that “i like tequila as long as there is no alcohol in it…”

I actually get a lot of the other side: “Well I like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, but I don’t like the Tim McGraw/Kenny Chesney stuff.”

I really pissed off the Carrie Underwood fans by turning all the people they assumed hated country (because they didn’t like Carrie) onto country.

Leeann, your husband is a “true country” fan but not an “airhead country” fan, thus the confusion if he thinks country music is defined by the craptastic stuff that dominates Top 40 country radio these days…

I’m excited! I just checked the calendar for Sarafi Sams and in the coming weeks they will be featuring 1100 Springs, Deke Dickerson, Bob Schneider, The Knitters, Dave Alvin, Peter Case with the Hacienda Brothers, and Mike Stinson among others. McCabe’s Guitar Shop features a lot of great Americana artists, but Safari Sam’s is the spiritual successor to The Palomino! Now such a line up would be a yawner in Texas, but this is LA for goodness sakes!

I’ve heard people say a million times stuff like ‘I love Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, but I hate country music’. They don’t seem to realise that’s like saying ‘I hate the blues, but I love Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters’.