The Decline of Country Radio
For the most part, I have little patience for individuals who exhibit unmitigated scorn for popular music. There’s something uniquely arrogant — yet also cowardly — about dismissing all hit songs as some kind of opiate for the masses. Nevertheless, in the past several months, I have become increasingly disenchanted and unsatisfied with mainstream country radio. Understand my perspective: I did not discover country music through Haggard and Jones or even Jackson and Strait. Country music has been “contemporary” ever since I’ve listened to and enjoyed it, and that’s why I’m quite concerned that my dissatisfactions are genuine and well-founded. I’ve also determined that, mirroring my dissatisfaction, country music radio has declined significantly in the past year, at least with respect to the criteria that I outline below.
In a comment on my recent post on “The Imagined World of Country Music,” Andrew wrote:
I could be completely wrong here, but I’d be willing to bet that most people listen to country music for one of two reasons:
1.) As a form of escapism to listen to songs where people sing about things (the listener) actually believes in, and away from much more controversial lyrics in other outlets, or
2.) Their everyday experience is as straightforward as most country music is (you are straight, and you believe in God).
His comments inspired much thought about the nature of music itself and exactly why I dislike the current radio product. At least for me, music is ultimately more emotive than experiential. I “identify” with traditional “drinking and cheating” songs, despite the fact that I’ve never done either one for two reasons. First, I appreciate the artistic merit of a well-crafted and genuine piece of work. Second, I can somehow identify with those songs on an emotional level despite the lack of common experiences. I’m able to be emotionally affected by the reality of a well-crafted song despite not having experienced that reality myself.
I think today’s songs have become much more experiential. Ironically, they’ve accomplished this by abandoning most of the genre’s traditional narrative elements, which is why I think that many current radio hits are of low quality.
I’ve described many current radio hits as “slice of life” songs that I find very uninteresting, and I think that the embrace of this structure has accelerated greatly over the last year. On a superficial level, I find these songs uninteresing because they simply don’t parallel my life experiences. I don’t have a family so I can’t identify with a guy who sings about how much he loves his wife. I’m not a teenage girl so you won’t see me praising the latest Taylor Swift single. And I’m not old and cynical enough to look back on my youth with any form of nostalgia, so I don’t identify with all the nostalgic songs that we’ve been hearing lately.
However, my having personally experienced a song’s subject is not prerequisite to my enjoying that song. My objection to these songs is that they posses no element of artistry beyond their ability to evoke personal memories, thus more or less necessitating that the listener is willing and able to identify with the song in some sort of experiential manner. I addition to diminishing quality and universality, this has the effect of rewarding lazy songwriting. Since the experience itself is all that matters, the song’s narrative structure, the novelty of its descriptive and approach and even the hook itself become secondary if not optional. The result is lyrics that sound like lists that simply attempt to encompass as many life experiences as possible.
This change has sacrificed many of the elements that make songs memorable and artistic. If country songs were photographs, listening to current radio fare is like flipping through another family’s photo album. I suppose that I might find the little boy building a sand castle to be interesting and emotional if he were my own son, but everyone else is just looking at a picture of someone else’s kid.
I think that this is also why we’re seeing a dramatic increase in “happy” songs on country radio. If you’re going to write a song that does nothing except evoke personal memories, you might as well make those memories happy ones.
I don’t intend to tar all of modern country music with the same brush or pretend that every artist and song currently on the radio are awful. Artists like Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Sara Evans and (usually) Brad Paisley release interesting, well-crafted songs that are anchored in tradition and exhibit strong vocal performance. Among those that receive less radio airplay, Miranda Lambert and Ashely Monroe are probably the two most talented young females in the genre. However, the talent of many of these artists would be less noteworthy if their contemporaries were more capable.
My ultimate fear is that country music is embracing an audience composed primarily of casual music listeners instead of music fans, people who play music in the background at work or in the car and like being able to say “that happened to me once” about a song that they’ll forget next week. There’s nothing wrong with this kind of music and I don’t resent the artists who record it or the people who listen to it. However, I don’t think that it will be able to maintain the popularity and identity of America’s most listened-to genre, and I certainly regret that radio talent hasn’t been more courageous in recording more of the excellent material that must be out there somewhere.
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- Steve M.: I love my vinyl records still. It may be an acoustical trick, but it has always sounded warmer and has ...
- stormy: Realtalk: Yes, because the radio is such a cutting edge and effective way of marketing your music.
- stormy: 35 and actually music sounds better on vinyl. To bad its hugely unportable and easily breakable.
- Lucy: OMG Jon, apparently you have no concept of the word 'opinion'. In case you haven't noticed, K used the words ...
- Steve M.: Because I thought the lyrics would work better with a sparser, slower tempo. And don't be a jackass.
- Jon: @Steve M. Because sad songs are supposed to be slow and draggy? And since you've crossed the line ...
- Jon: OMG, Lucy, I totally read, and this is what I read: "I would hope that the legacy of a great singer ...
- Steve M.: "So it’s unfortunate that the lyrics are pure schlock." That to me is just pure gold analysis. I actually think the ...
- Jon: Well, geez, the answer to the title question is pretty damn obvious, and it's been the subject of about 1,000,000 ...
- Steve M.: I am guessing those of us you are complaining about being too old are old enough to have actually taken ...
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July 19, 2007 at 1:38 pm Permalink
Damn! This is good stuff. More like this, please.
July 19, 2007 at 2:27 pm Permalink
When Kris Kristofferson growls the lines “You see, the devil haunts a hungry man / if you don’t wanna join him / you got to beat him / I ain’t sayin’ I beat the devil / but I drank his beer for nothing / then I stole his song” from “To Beat the Devil”, I get fired up. I want to kick the devil’s ass, and I think this goes back to what you were talking about when you referred to the narative elements of a song. When Kristofferson tells the story he makes you feel like you could easily be the main character of the song.
Ultimately, I believe it all comes down to authenticity. Chet Flippo writes more eloquently than I:
Today’s radio artists are too concerned with their image and reputation to be authentic and thus fans are defecting to the “less distinguished” alt-country/Texas country/Americana genres because they live and breathe authenticity, they’re the guys (and gals) who aren’t afraid to break from the mainstream formula and actually make the listener feel instead of just hear.
This all comes off as scattered thoughts, so I’ll finish up with one more quote relevant to the discussion of mainstream country: “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” – Bill Cosby
July 19, 2007 at 7:08 pm Permalink
A lot of people complain about the lack of authenticity of today’s country, but I’m not sure if that’s the real problem. There’s an article that I’m going to highlight in my country music literature series soon that argues that Nashville has been “fabricating authenticity” for the entire history of the genre. While I don’t agree entirely — having lived the songs one sings is probably what distinguishes legends from merely great artists — I’m not going to pretend that all good, traditional country music is “authentic” and all of today’s music is inauthentic. Authentic music can be remarkably uninteresting: I don’t doubt that Jake Owen has gotten the tingles watching a woman untie her bikini top, but that doesn’t make the song any better.
This discussion is perhaps best saved for when I highlight the article in question, but I think that a lot of current artists are just worse at faking it than the traditionalists were.
July 19, 2007 at 7:15 pm Permalink
Country radio has never been my primary source for discovering country music that I like, and that’s probably why I’ve been able to remain a fan for 16 odd years. I got into country music through CMT, back when it played 24/7 videos, and I didn’t really have a concept of what was a hit and what wasn’t. I did listen to some country radio, back when NYC had a station, but hell, that station played The Mavericks and Kim Richey.
Eventually, living in Nashville for four years and having friends in the industry give me promo CD’s replaced video outlets, and for the last six or seven years, it’s been the internet where I discover music.
There really are very few artists that I’m into that weren’t at least popular at one time, though I guess my tastes do lean towards the critically acclaimed stuff. I do tend to like things that end up on top ten lists and get Grammy nominations, and there are some mainstream acts doing very well today that don’t do much for me. Looking at the rotation of country radio, and the songs they play to death, I do believe I’d learn to hate the genre if I had to listen to those songs over and over again.
July 19, 2007 at 8:19 pm Permalink
Great article Matt…
I don’t know that experiential songs in and of themselves, are necessarily the problem with country radio. Those songs can be very effective if they are sung with conviction (see most songs written by Eric Church). I think the much bigger problem is that cliches have become much more common recently. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a generic song on the radio about overcoming great odds (Lonestar) or someone’s high school football team winning states, I could probably retire (pardon the earlier cliche).
I agree with you completely about being able to identify with the songs (even if you’ve never experienced it) makes them much more enjoyable. That’s what makes country music so great!
July 19, 2007 at 9:29 pm Permalink
I think authenticity is a bogus issue. My Dad was raised on a farm (then fought in WW2). Songs about rural settings were authentic to him, but movie cowboy songs (which he enjoyed) were terribly inauthentic. I was raised a suburbanite, a generation removed from the farm but aware of what small farm life was like. The music that moved me was more suburban although with themes that resonated throughout life
I think it is completely unrealistic to expect today’s singers, three and four generations removed from the farm, to sing songs about missing ol’ Bossie. Most of those who do try overly rural themes sound phony.
Even those singers who do come from rural backgrounds don’t come from the “12 acres and a mule” type of farming of my forefathers – most of them are “agri-business’ or small town. That’s beter than okay – I wouldn’t wish the hard life of my grandfather and my father’s early childhood on anyone
Admittedly, there are a lot of vacuous lyrics out there but that’s always been the case – has there ever been a dumber “serious” lyric than “15 Years Ago” or “He Stopped Loving Her Today” ? Not to mention “Company’s Coming” or “Whoa Mule Whoa” !
Where country music has lost track of itself is in the instrumentation and rhythms. Guitars are mostly way too loud, singers mixed back in the mix, and worst of all DRUMS. Remove the drums (or rhythm track) from most of today’s music and you are left with NOTHING, no melody, no harmony, just the lyric, whatever it might be.
I think Chet Flippo’s article on todays CMT is exactly on point – the music will survive. If you think that Rascal Flatts is bad, at least you can be greatful that Country music didn’t completely lose its bearings like R&B did and morph into something as perverse as funk, disco or hippety-hop !
July 19, 2007 at 10:16 pm Permalink
Andrew: Eric Church’s singles fall on both sides of the line I’ve described. “Two Pink Lines” was great. While it was very experiential, it was well-constructued and hillarious. Perhaps because many people have experienced a pregnancy scare, Church and cowriter Victoria Shaw felt liberated to actually tell a story with their lyric rather than take the increasingly common approach of just throwing out adjectives and anecdotes about unplanned pregnancy until everyone has something to latch onto without much thought or emotional committment. Regrettably, this is exactly what “How ‘Bout You” and “Guys Like Me” do. I don’t have a skoal ring in my blue jeans or wear my boots to church, and because all Eric does is state those little facts about himself, the song is stupefyingingly boring and rather meaningless.
Paul: Good points. I agree that authenticity is not particulaly important in assessing a song’s merit, but I certainly don’t believe that it’s unimportant the an artists’ motivation or the identification of listeners with the material.
I’m more of a lyrics guy than an arrangement/instrumentation guy, but I’ll admit that I’m much more receptive to songs that “sound country,” i.e. have the features that you mentioned, and enjoy this material much more than pop-oriented songs that may be very well written.
“Vacuous” is a difficult term in this case, as so much of the meaning of an ambiguous or simplistic lyric is derived from the vocal performance. It’s easy to take a bad song, put it in the hands of a great singer and then claim that the meaning they unearthed was there all along, just as it’s easy to take a good song, give it to a poor artist and claim that its an example of declining songwriting. I disagree with you about “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (though admittedly Bobby Braddock has made comments that suggest that he doesn’t think it’s his best work), but, regardless of the merits of the lyric, Jones’ vocal performance elevates it to a level all of its own. Perhaps many of today’s hit songs would sound much better in the hands of more capable artists. Many of the most heartwrenching songs in the genre’s history are remarkably simplistic and straightforward; perhaps its the accompanying simple vocals and instrumentation that make them so powerful. At any rate, I might be criticizing a few fo the classics if they were released today.
July 20, 2007 at 4:54 am Permalink
Matt, I completely completely – Ella Fitzgerald made many classic recordings of dumb ditties (although her recordings of better material are even better). Fred Astaire didn’t have a great voice, but the great songsmith Cole Porter always said that Astaire was the best interpreter of his songs
For me, it is about the singer and the sound; it takes both. Jones was not the first singer to tackle “He Stopped Loving Her Today” , but the earlier Johnny Russell recording misses the boat completely. If George Jones had recorded it with a reggae beat nobody would remember the song at all – the sound would be wrong
July 20, 2007 at 7:50 am Permalink
Paul, I don’t see how you can pass authenticity off as a bogus issue one minute then come back and say that it’s unrealistic to expect today’s singers to sing about the farm because it comes off as phony. Would it not sound phony because it’s unauthentic?
July 20, 2007 at 8:35 am Permalink
What does “authenticity” even mean? Authentically what?
Also, I’d love to hear George Jones do a reggae album.
July 20, 2007 at 9:02 am Permalink
Most of my favorite artist cannot be found on maintstream country radio. Darlye Singeltary, Ken Mellons and Jamey Johnson ( neither of whom currently have a record deal), Kevin Denny, Jim Lauderdale, and so on. They are hard core and true country singers. I happen to still love those old cheating and drinking songs. Songs like Borrowed Angel and Loving on Backstreets. I understand that todays artists are recording what they must to make any $$$ in country music, but I support the ones who have stuck to their country roots. Like Singeltary says ” I still sing this way, the only way I know, straight from the heart a litte through my nose” I enjoy the dialouge here…
July 20, 2007 at 9:14 am Permalink
People singing about how they sing, or what they sing, or what they don’t sing, is a pet peeve of mine. Just sing a damn song and stop telling me how you’re going to do it.
That’s not to take a shot at Daryle, whose new record I like despite having a cover that appears to have been designed by Glamour Shots: http://www.amazon.com/Straight-Heart-Daryle-Singletary/dp/B000MEYJ4W
More generally, country artists spend too much time singing about country music itself. It’s veering into postmodernism at this point. If a thing is only about itself, is it about anything at all?
July 20, 2007 at 1:15 pm Permalink
Calling disco, funk and hip-hop “perverse” is as musically ignorant as calling country music “inbred” and “backwoods.”
July 20, 2007 at 1:23 pm Permalink
Chris’ point about post-modernism is an interesting one– entirely too many recent radio hits reduce to lists of obvious points-of-reference divorced from any actual context or demonstrable knowledge of what’s being referenced. It isn’t a particularly noteworthy achievement to know who Johnny Cash is, for as much lip-service as he gets from these would-be “artists” and CMT– it’s not like he’s obscure. Thing is, there aren’t (m)any current radio stars whose own material demonstrates any real knowledge of what, exactly, it was that made Johnny Cash such a monumental figure both within and beyond the country genre. They can name-check him all the livelong day, but nothing in their own material actually deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. In that way, it’s truly rare for a current mainstream country act to pull off any kind of successful post-modernism; instead, they’re more like the musical equivalent of Doogal– making free-floating references straight out of a Country Music For Dummies primer because they literally have nothing of their own to say.
There are exceptions within the mainstream, of course, just as there always have been and always will be. And I can’t speak for the audience who listens to country radio– I checked out years ago and refer to the internet (this blog and Kevin’s have become invaluable resources in that regard) and the occasional check-in with CMT / GAC to find contemporary country acts worth following, and I absolutely believe that the work of artists like Gary Allan, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, and Julie Roberts holds up well in the company of the “non-mainstream” artists on my iPod playlists– but I also don’t really get this line of reasoning:
“I could be completely wrong here, but I’d be willing to bet that most people listen to country music for one of two reasons:
1.) As a form of escapism to listen to songs where people sing about things (the listener) actually believes in, and away from much more controversial lyrics in other outlets, or
2.) Their everyday experience is as straightforward as most country music is (you are straight, and you believe in God).”
I’ll leave the escapism bit for another time because that’s a much longer rant, but I fail to see how point #2 in any way relates to the current climate in popular music. It’s not like Adult Contemporary radio plays Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Rufus Wainwright, Morrissey, and Patrick Wolf on a loop all day, or that modern Urban radio stations are dominated by songs that advocate secular humanism.
July 20, 2007 at 2:51 pm Permalink
I made an interesting point! Woo hoo!
July 20, 2007 at 4:44 pm Permalink
Even though the listerer might not have experienced the exact story being relayed by the country artist, the themes are universal and therefore still relevant to life. Everyone’s life. Fear, heartache, vengeanceit ’s all there in all it’s booze-soaked glory.
Grand themes like good vs evil can come in many narratives. God and the Devil, Luke and Darth, Batman and the Jokerthe enjoyment is putting the theme in an interesting context and make the familiar surprising. This is hard and the greats are rightly honored as such because they accomplish this really HARD THING!
Nashville’s Music City does what all mass production factories dothey take shortcuts. Sure many a great songwriter slaving in one of the publishing houses has probably written a modern day “I’m So Lonesome I could Cry” but when Nashville gets done with it, and Toby Keith records it ends up as “I’m so Awesome I could Fly.”
July 20, 2007 at 4:47 pm Permalink
Chris, I think you might have just coined the meaning of the term meta-country music.
July 21, 2007 at 12:03 pm Permalink
Well said! I couldn’t agree more. Even though, I can personally relate to Bucky Covington’s top 10 hit, because I’m old… I don’t relate to it on an emotional level… it’s just “hey, I remember when we didn’t have to wear bike helmets… cool!” (though my mama never smoke and drank while she was with child). Big deal, a list is a list. Any housewife headed out to buy groceries can write a list (not to denegrate housewives). The writer of Bucky’s song need not even be born early enough to have experiences from the early 80’s… he/she need only do a Google search. Yawn. I thought we were headed back toward more honest country a couple of years ago but now we’re just headed to sugarland.
August 9, 2007 at 4:48 pm Permalink
I was fortunate to have listened to country music my entire life. I’ve watched country grow and change. If you listen to some of the current artists who have actually been around awhile there have been changes in there style of music…its seems to be leaning more towards pop (Tim McGraw and Faith Hill for example). There are artists that I thought fell off the map (Tracy Byrd). LOL, they are too country to be played on “country” radio! Two of the best artists out there right now are Brad Paisley and Gary Allan. Brad Paisley is absolutely brilliant ( I would highly recommend Time Well Wasted and 5th Gear). Because Gary Allan falls into the “too country” category good luck hearing him on the radio. My local stations won’t even acknowledge that he a new single out. Thank God for XM radio.
The authenticity of the older music had everything to do with heart and conviction when it was sang. Merle Haggard definitely sounded pissed off when he was singing Rainbow Stew. You could hear his envy of the people on the train when Johnny Cash sang Folsom Prison Blues. Could you hear the heartbreak in George Strait’s voice during Today My World Slipped Away? Songs must be brought to life. They must be believable what ever the subject is. It’s heart and conviction that’s missing from a lot of today’s country. The sudden influx of “overcoming obstacles” type of songs don’t have that. If they are not believable they will not be remembered no matter how well arranged they are or how well the song may have been written. Take a listen to Alan Jackson’s “Three Minute Positive Not Too Country Up-tempo Love Song”. Describes country radio pretty well.
One more thing… How did Keith Urban get classified as country?
August 9, 2007 at 5:39 pm Permalink
Urban is classified as country because the natural evolution of the genre has brought him there.
Genre definitions are arbitrary and assigned by humans, and it’s ridiculous to expect any musical style to remain contained within them.
So many people talk about how country isn’t “country” any more, but the same argument can be made (and is made) against modern pop. Over time, there occurs a shift in most musical styles, not just one.
As far as the lack of authenticity in country music, I think that’s a valid point, and when I review albums or singles, authenticity is one of the primary attributes I’m listening for.
A great deal of the decline in authenticity has to do with shifting cultural values–first, many of our parents or grandparents, who lived in rural communities, small towns, etc, have moved to more urban or suburban areas. The lives we lead now are very, very different than the lived they lead 20, 30, 40 years ago. And as our needs and lifestyles change, so does what we look for in music.
When you have kids, you don’t keep the convertible, you buy the Minivan, right?
What we’re talking about now follows the same principle and that, because music isn’t just a series of sounds we listen to, it is a social experience.
In the same way (and second) we’re living in an age of connectivity, and the social lines that used to divide us are much more difficult to find than they were previously. Gone are the days of being mentally, educationally, emotionally limited by your small town–now we have the world at our fingertips, and we encounter numerous cultures on a daily basis.
Most importantly, however, the music environment in most places around the United States does not cater to country music. There are few venues where country music is played live, so there are few places where country music is heard live (within the community), and this creates a developmental gap. Artists don’t just sit down and write a song because they are blessed with some God-given talent (although that’s a sweet sentiment). It takes a lot of practice and refinement of skill and craft, and if you don’t have a place to do that, to perform, to learn from and compete with your peers, it’s not going to happen.
So, what this leads to are semi-manufactured acts.
We demand country music, so the industry is going to provide that. At the same time, we see most potential country musicians (who think that country music is ONLY what’s on the radio) moving to Nashville–because that’s pretty much the ONLY worthwhile place to play country music (sure, there are some others, Austin, for example. But these are exceptions to the rule).
What you end up with, in these cases, is an artist who isn’t really developmentally ready, and who isn’t making the music that he or she WANTS to make, that he or she has already been making for years. You end up with an artist doing exactly the opposite of the…the genre defines the music, as opposed to the music defining the genre.
So, if you ask me, “Is Keith Urban country,” I’d say yes (if for no other reason than you cannot logically classify him as anything else–he most certainly isn’t a pop artist), but that he’s not an all-encompassing definition of the genre.
September 7, 2007 at 11:35 am Permalink
Wow guys – These comments are awesome to read. I just discovered this site thru CMT’s blog page, and was poking around. I love to “listen” to conversations about a topic I enjoy, especially between those who know more than *I* do.
I agree totally about the “bubble-gummification” of country radio. Ever since Rascall Flats got into a Disney Movie, it’s been downhill from there. When the same demographic is mined for sales of both “Hannah Montana” and big name country acts, there’s a problem.
I rarely listen to my country radio station anymore, and have decided to change their call-letters to “WWTorCS” – What Would Toby or Carrie Sing? Altho, I do like Toby’s new one, durnit – just when I was really disliking him! LOL Also, I can’t stand songs like “guys like me” or “different world” – they’re inane and don’t inspire me. Then again, I love “Nineteen Somethin’” because I was THERE! LOL
For me, as a music fan (new to country by about 5 years), I like songs that inspire me to be a better person, or just make me feel good about life. I think fun songs are great (“Save a Horse”, “Brand New Girlfriend”, “Summertime” etc), and we should keep ‘em, but like you’ve said, too many shortcuts are taken to keep the product “homogenized”. (If it worked for him, it’ll work for me…) I feel that Country Radio (especially ClearChannel) is complicit in this because of their focus groups and surveys. Plus, they’re afraid that if the songs sound too different from each other, listeners might change the channel before they can hear the noisy car dealer ads. (no, I’m not spending my money on satellite) I’m VERY fed-up with radio conglomerates right now.
Plus, I think “Nashville, Inc.” sees it’s star on the rise as a place to do business and being in favor with a large swath of the country, and doesn’t want to take any risks. Controlling the process, from discovery of the acts to production of albums and tours, keeps things “safe”. (thank you, American Idol)
Personally, I’m a major Keith Urban fan so Jim, I loved your review of “Everybody”. Talk about “emotive singing”.
Is Keith Urban “country”?? He would say so. Dann Huff said in a recent GAC interview that Keith understands more about the genre than he (Dann) does. Country artists of every stripe and generation praise his talent and knowledge of the genre.
Is Keith’s new album more pop than country? Certainly, but that doesn’t mean I love every song just because it’s Keith. And I don’t feel that an artist on a “country” label should be contstrained by the opinions of those who wish for a resurgence of the Jones/Haggard/Jennings/Alabama era.
I think what makes Keith “country” is his ability to write about universal themes without forcing them down your throat or relying on specific personal experience to explain them. Isn’t that what most of these comments are about? Keith doesn’t have to inventory his personal posessions, or tell you where all his exes live in order to write (or effectively sing) an enjoyable or inspiring song. Very few of his songs since his 1999 solo debut have been “story” songs (or “slice of life” songs as one of you called them).
Also, Keith usually refers to himself in the songs, as opposed to telling a story about “someone else”. THAT, to me, shows “authenticity”. I despised “Jesus take the wheel”, not becuase it was hallmarky and sappy, it was and I hated it for that, too, but mainly because it was not a “personal experience” song. (heaven forbid the princess have an unplanned pregnancy) I feel that if a singer can sing a song about him/herself, then that makes the difference for authenticity’s sake.
Jim, your last comment about Keith not being an “all-ecompassing definition of the genre” is great, and the greater concept is that COUNTRY MUSIC is the broadest genre there is. It is broad enough to include Ricky Scaggs and Keith Urban, Johnny Cash and Tim McGraw, Patsy Cline and Shania Twain. From the point of view of this fan, country radio leaves a LOT to be desired. It should be reveling in the variety and boasting about all the great artists of every nuance of the genre that they play. Instead, they choose the pre-packaged, homogenized, ClearChannel-stamp-of-approval stuff and miss out on a LOT of the good stuff.
October 26, 2007 at 12:41 pm Permalink
Realizing in a couple of posts I did, it is NOT the artists that are the problem. It’s the radio stations beating to death a handful of songs by a handful of artists. I’m not a fan of Keith Urban but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t talented and someone else’s cup of tea. He deserves the success he has. Sometimes I wonder if I could have been an Urban fan if they weren’t playing him so much. I am a fan of Carrie Underwood but after hearing “Before He Cheats” on every local radio station (including rock) 6 times in the span of a few hours, I needed a break from her too. At some point I realized I needed a break from Clear Channel before I ended up despising each artist in heavy rotation. Listening to XM radio gives me exactly the variety that I’ve been looking for. At first I was against it too, but decided I would rather pay for something I enjoy than be stuck listening to Clear Channel for free. Cross (X) Country has introduced me to some artists I would have never heard before (Jason Eady, Renegade Rail, John Hiatt, Randy Rogers and Chris Knight). You are right, for a genre that has so many nuances and such a broad spectrum to pull from why is Clear Channel limiting its audience to one very basic flavor? There’s no way I’m looking for a resurgence of Merle Haggard, George Jones and the like, that time has passed and music has progressed. Still, why can’t they be recognized? If an older artist releases something new can’t it be added to the rotation? What about the hits? If you listen to a rock station you are just as likely to hear Nickelback as you are Black Sabbath or Pink Floyd. If Ozzy releases something new you’re going to know about it. They embrace their roots while country music pretends to celebrate them and country radio shuns them. Another thing that bothers me are the very talented, but lesser known, artists who are actually writing some big hits for big name artists but they are ignored. Listen to the original, you know by the person who was feeling it, and see if you don’t find the authenticity we know is missing from country right now…
December 4, 2007 at 12:10 am Permalink
The Texas music scene is where it’s at. Song writers like Jason Boland still write songs that have substance and meaning.
December 4, 2007 at 9:11 am Permalink
Most painters are not reknown for their rendering of another artists work.For me,music reaches even deeper.I appreciate those that sing what they write and I call them artists.The rest,as talented as they may be,are singers and painters.I don’t think any of Rembrandt’s art was signed by some other artist.I guess that’s why he is referred to as one of “the Masters”.I have found much authenticity in Texas/Red Dirt music.I can tell by listening that it is not the “low hanging fruit” and surely not crafted by a formula.Three rhyming words and a easily recognized “country” term,i.e.;moon,june,spoon….uh….tractor!Doesn’t
qualify as songwriting in my book.That’s all I got to say ’bout that.
January 31, 2008 at 10:03 am Permalink
I think you also need to take a look at radio listenership overall. Who is still listening to terrestrial radio actively (or passively), and what are those listeners looking for? Because the one thing we know radio airplay is based on is callout research. There is very little independent thinking at radio these days. There are a lot of corporate mandates, making it harder for regional singles to go national, or for any unorthodox song to make it through the gauntlet.
Artists’ reactions to trends in radio differ, but Country artists generally want to please their audiences… and they can’t do that unless they have the opportunity to get heard on radio.
May 24, 2008 at 12:19 pm Permalink
I would disagree with the Taylor swift comment. You have never just started dating someone and wanted to spend large amount of time with them and feel likes its going somewhere. Another one would be after a breakup see ur ex with another person and thought about revenge. Or like someone but they dont think of u like that at all. Her songs are relate able to many more people.
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