Who Could Sue Country Music?
- In light of 50 Cent and Universal getting sued for promoting a gangsta’ lifestyle, Mike Severson asks who could sue country music for the lifestyle it promotes? “Soccer moms? Former 70’s rock fans? The state of Texas?”
- Sugarland, Little Big Town and Jake Owen all share the No. 50 song on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for a live recording of “Life in a Northern Town,” an 80’s English Pop song they performed together while on tour last fall. The song isn’t a single and doesn’t appear on an album, but the three acts will perform the song again during the CMT Awards.
- Express-News book editor Steve Bennett has a Q&A with the author of Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, Joe Nick Patoski.
Q. What was the most surprising thing you learned about Willie?
A. I learned a bunch of surprising things about Willie . . . I was also impressed by his checkered career as a door-to-door salesman. Whenever he needed to make money when he was struggling in the 1950s, he sold encyclopedias, Bibles, Kirby vacuum cleaners — whatever needed to be sold.
They were all pretty horrible gigs but they put beans on the table when music did not. He made the point to me that in order to sell door-to-door, you had to sell yourself first so you could get inside the door to sell your product. Willie learned early on how to sell himself, which helped him immensely when he had music to sell.
- Michael Corcoran explains the reasoning behind the conflicting dates for Willie’s birthday. Willie says it’s April 29th, but his birth certificate says April 30th. Be sure to check out the video interview with Patoski at the end and this excerpt, about his troubles with the IRS from, the upcoming book. The Star-Telegram has two excerpts as well.
- Shay Quillen says Taylor Swift stole the show from “the mind-bogglingly successful” Rascal Flatts at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on Friday night.
- With the success of his second album James Otto feels vindicated of his past failures. Talking about his attempt at a sophomore album with Mercury, he says:
“We cut a couple of songs at Mercury and turned them in and they turned them down,” Otto said. “They said, ‘This is the same crap you did on your first record, and we aren’t interested in that.’ And I’m like, ‘Well I’m going to go someplace that is.’ “
- Aimee Mayo says the tryouts for Can You Duet were so action-packed that her husband and Kellie Pickler couldn’t tear themselves away long enough for a lunch break. The reality competition series debuts tonight after the CMT Music Awards.
- Video of Ryan Bingham performing “Bread And Water” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. (via Galleywinter)
- The Strange Maps blog has a redrawn map of the United States with the size of each state being proportional to the number of times it’s mentioned in country music lyrics. As you might expect, Texas and Tennessee are well represented.
- Peter Cooper says reviewing a new George Strait album is like reviewing the springtime. “It’s pretty much the same thing every time, and the end result is that we’re all happier for its presence.”
- Arista Nashville threw a party celebrating Brad Paisley’s achievements in the past tens years, including: 10 #1 hits, 10 million albums sold, 10 years signed with the label and being 10th on the list for most CMA Award nominations. It would have been more tentastic had they come up with 10 accomplishments for the list.
- Brian T. Atkinson has a good Q&A with Hayes Carll for Texas Music magazine.
In “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart,” you sing about songwriters being responsible for delivering the truth. Is that your primary job?
Well, some people view it as their job to comment on society, and some are more introspective about it. I don’t know that there’s a job description for a songwriter. Some people just write songs for people to dance to because it makes them feel good. My reason’s always been a little selfish — it’s cathartic to me. It allows me to talk about what’s going on in my life and to tell stories and capture memories, which a lot of the new record’s about. Like Todd Snider says, “I’m not trying to change your mind, I’m trying to ease my own.”
- Meanwhile, William Michael Smith says that Carll and producer Brad Jones have done exactly what the label hired them to do for Trouble In Mind: “point a musical arrow at the sweet spot core of Carll’s audience and let the ripples work their way out from there.”
- CBS’s The Early Show featured Rissi Palmer on Second Cup Café where she performed “Country Girl.”
- Tulsa World has a paragraph about the contributions made by each of 2008’s National Fiddler Hall of Fame inductees (Roy Acuff, Dick Barret, Johnny Gimble, and Claude “Fiddler” Williams).
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April 14, 2008 at 1:47 pm Permalink
You ask the question, “Who could sue Country Music?”
If you are asking us to take the gangsta lawsuit seriously, which I don’t, I think that thousands of neglected children can make a case.
One of the tenants of country music is that “boys will be boys,” which seems to give men aged 18-30 a free pass in terms of irresponsible behavior. It’s ok to sew your wild oats and drink all night because boys will be boys. A man can’t help it. And no matter how stupid the man acts, a good woman will forgive and forget. She’ll also keep the kids fed somehow while Dad’s drinking up all the money.
I’ve always found those ideas insulting. If I would have made a miscalculation or two and had some kids when I was in that age range, I know that all my friends and myself would be on the job at 8 am, earning enough money to keep it all together and with that comes cutting back at night. Boring, yes but that’s life. And most of the men I know do their best at accepting responsibility for their actions.
Take, as one example, Chesney’s song called Better as a Memory. It’s nothing more than a man rationalizing away his lack of character. It’s country music (cough cough) so it’s romantic when he claims his friends are all pirates. But really, what is the difference between a pirate and a gangsta? One has a ship and the other a Hummer but that’s about it.
I dunno. I’ve never understood why country music has to romanticize the bad side of redneck life. Redneck’s fine with me and redneck is what I will always be but that doesn’t mean I have to be proud of getting fired from work every couple weeks. It’s not ok to act 16 when a man is an adult in all other ways.
April 14, 2008 at 1:57 pm Permalink
Aimee Mayo thinks I’m a jaded and miserable human being, she told me so.
April 14, 2008 at 1:58 pm Permalink
Here is the video link for Sugarland’s collaboration on Life in a Northern Town. http://www.cmt.com/videos/sugarland/209852/life-in-a-northern-town.jhtml
This song showcases Sugarland’s strongest talent which is music arrangement. They really know what they’re doing in performance. If they can handle each other, I think they’ll be stars for a long time because of this, much like Bruce Springsteen.
April 14, 2008 at 2:00 pm Permalink
Ha, Ben! I think of that thread everytime I read her name! I even thought of it when her name came up on this thread.:)
April 14, 2008 at 2:03 pm Permalink
Hey, hey, which thread was that?? I mustve missed that one??
April 14, 2008 at 2:06 pm Permalink
Kelly, I think it was the Red Umprella (Faith Hill) review?
April 14, 2008 at 2:15 pm Permalink
I actually think the lawsuit is quite interesting, worthy of being taken seriously, although note that the suit is not suing “gansta rap” for the message it conveys.
The suit is claiming that the record labels encourage their artists to engage in actual criminality (and not merely sing about criminality).
As far as I know, country labels do not encourage their stars to commit adultery, drink to excess, or what not.
By the way, this suit seems like real long shot (for reasons I wont get into here), but the Mike Severson blog describes it in a slightly misleading way that makes it sound more absurd than it really is. Even the Reuters article is a bit misleading.
April 14, 2008 at 2:23 pm Permalink
yeah, it was the Red Umbrella thread.
That was before I was a writer for the9513.com though, so I played it a little faster and looser than I would have if I were acting as an official representative of the site.
April 14, 2008 at 2:28 pm Permalink
well, my friend, it made for very interesting reading. that is my fave thread of all time (a category in the 9513 awards brady??)…
April 14, 2008 at 3:18 pm Permalink
Ok, actually read the Reuters piece this time. It’s true, record labels promote aspects of an artists life. But it still seems like a huge stretch. If this works, the Rolling Stone’s labels would be guilty of promoting illegal drug use because Keith Richards is a walking slurring poster boy.
I don’t see it happening.
April 14, 2008 at 3:22 pm Permalink
Here is a link to this infamous thread:
http://www.the9513.com/faith-hill-red-umbrella/
As for the lawsuit, if someone could file a class action lawsuit against the major Nashville labels for peddling shallow and mediocre pop-rock crap as “country music” these days I’d be on board!
Wow, Taylor Swift stole a show from Rascally Farts! That’s like totally awesome and really cool….
Speaking of the CMT Awards, the gossip fan sites are saying Miley Cyrus has strep throat and was wisked back to Nashville on a Disney Gulfstream jet. If Miley can’t co-host the CMT show with her Pa due to illness, there will be millions of disappointed tweens out there in TV land….
Funny, I thought Rissi Palmer’s 15 minutes of fame occurred back in 2007….
Nice to see Johhny Gimble is getting inducted into the Fiddler’s Hall of Fame while he’s still alive to enjoy it. Hopefully they’ll let him play some licks at the ceremony since he’s still going strong….
April 14, 2008 at 3:38 pm Permalink
I heard Aimee Mayo is filling in as co-host.
Say what you want about Mayo’s songs but I think she made her career with ‘This One’s for the Girls.’ I know people go crazy over ‘Amazed’ and it surely makes at least two legendary songs so it’s a little childish to blow her opinion off.
Then again, I doubt any of the great poets would go within a mile of a modern day Reality television show. It sucks to live in the 2000s.
April 14, 2008 at 3:41 pm Permalink
Attention readers of the9513.com
The day that I allege or concur that “This One’s for the Girls” is a legendary song, please track me down and beat me senseless.
thank you.
(with apologies to Funk)
April 14, 2008 at 3:49 pm Permalink
I wish we could choose the color of our text because I would have put a little secret line in my post that you have to roll over to see. If I had that ability, I would have predicted your response.
To use your language, ‘Dude,’ you listen to music only for yourself. Obviously, there are a lot of women out there who do think that song speaks truth. If you have a problem Ben, it’s that you think only your world is where the truth lives.
Ben, if you really do know what women will or should relate to as much as you think you do, congratulations because you are getting laid more than me, and I’m doing alright.
April 14, 2008 at 4:05 pm Permalink
Ben, if you really do know what women will or should relate to as much as you think you do, congratulations because you are getting laid more than me, and I’m doing alright.
hahah, more power to you brother.
I don’t know how worthwhile it is to go much further down this path of conversation, but I will say that there are several reasons that I detest “this one’s for the girls” and none of them have to do with the fact that the female experience is it’s focus.
There are many country songs that I’d call legendery by artists like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, etc etc that center on the female experience.
In fact, in the March roundup I reviewed a record by Caroline Herring that centered entirely on the modern female experience and I thought the record was super good.
so while I don’t think it’s neccesarily worthwhile to exhaustively debate the merits of “This one’s for the girls” here, I do want to point out that I can appreciate songs that convey truths which lie outside of my realm of experience or interest.
but it’s always good to hear that one of our readers are doing well with the ladies.
April 14, 2008 at 4:22 pm Permalink
C’mon… I don’t know what kind of games you people are playing. Nobody really liked “this one’s for the girls” did they? It always came across to me as the loudest, most annoying cheerleader in the group trying to hug the ugly kid in a photo-op. I love Martina McBride- and I think she’s recorded some incredible songs, but this is not one of ‘em. It’s one of those songs that works for the live show, but makes for boring radio. But that’s just another opinion.
April 14, 2008 at 4:42 pm Permalink
Ben, you win. Dolly Parton’s ‘Nine to Five’ totally captures the life experience of the female country fan and “Stand by your Man” says the rest.
April 14, 2008 at 4:44 pm Permalink
Ben, you win.
VICTORY!
April 14, 2008 at 5:14 pm Permalink
Off Topic: CMT music awards: Anyone know who is live blogging the show tonight?
April 14, 2008 at 5:39 pm Permalink
I’m not sure, Kathy P. I just know I have no interest in watching it myself.
April 14, 2008 at 5:54 pm Permalink
Hey Kathy, CMT actually has a comedian dude live blogging for them tonight.
April 14, 2008 at 6:09 pm Permalink
Well…I guess I broke down and flipped onto the show. I thought the opening skit was kind of amusing, if not a little too long. The cameo appearances by the presidential candidates was a fun surprise. Unfortunately, CMT always sounds bad on my TV. I’m not sure why. It always sounds like people are singing in a echoey room. I keep meaning to call the cable company about it, but never do.
April 14, 2008 at 6:58 pm Permalink
Brody - the CMT live blog is a waste. all puff, no critique. I found this gal from OK on a google search. not too bad:
http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog
April 14, 2008 at 7:20 pm Permalink
Speaking of the CMT awards, shouldn’t you guys have a live thing happening so I can mouth off on the massive suckage?
April 14, 2008 at 7:32 pm Permalink
I was liveblogging it verbally until my fiancee went upstairs.
April 14, 2008 at 7:33 pm Permalink
Who on Gods Green Earth led Miley Cyrus to believe she can carry a tune?
Where do I go to get the last 3 minutes of my life back?
April 14, 2008 at 7:34 pm Permalink
Have switched to Deal or No Deal.
ps. that Miley kid earlier was trying to be funny, but she came off as a smart mouth.
April 14, 2008 at 7:44 pm Permalink
Not that it’s saying much, but I can take Billy Ray and Miley better than Jeff Foxworthy. Then again, it’s hard for me to really take this awards show very seriously in the first place. Not to be elitest, but fans voting sounds like a bad idea, though the industry people don’t do such a great job themselves.
April 14, 2008 at 7:44 pm Permalink
Leeann - Miss the CMT awards? Miss Rascal Flatts much anticipated performance of “Bob That Head”?!?! Wow, I don’t blame you. ;)
As a female, I think Martina’s “This One’s For the Girls” is okay. My problem with it is that the cheery, perky pop production takes away any kind of staying power it might have; it just feels like fluff. Plus, any song that includes the word “spaghetti-o’s” can’t be taken seriously…
I wouldn’t be comparing Sugarland to Springsteen any time soon (or ever). I’m not a fan of Sugarland’s happy pop songs, although I understand their attraction to some. I am interested to see where they go on their next album however. I’ve heard some of their new songs on You Tube, and if I were a fan I’d be worried. Am I the only one after listening to this song? I’m okay with that, but c’mon. ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iJmHSD8VE4&feature=related
Ben: I loved that thread. No, Red Umbrella wasn’t a great song and it doesn’t make sense. You’re not really going to be careful for us now are you?
April 14, 2008 at 7:45 pm Permalink
Chris, congrats on your engagement. My wife took off the grocery store…
Cindy, I thought Miley was particularly bad as well, but Billy sounded good. I thought it sounded more inspired than the studio recording.
April 14, 2008 at 7:50 pm Permalink
Thanks! Apparently ‘Veronica Mars’ on DVD is more entertaining than my witticisms.
April 14, 2008 at 7:55 pm Permalink
Speaking of sucking…I give you Taylor Swift.
April 14, 2008 at 7:56 pm Permalink
‘Veronica Mars’ on DVD ? How drunk is she?
April 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm Permalink
Hey, is this turning into a live blog of sorts?:)
Lynn, haha about the CMT awards/Rascal Flatts. Also, I agree with your sentiments on the Martina song. I’ve eaten spaghetti-os in my poor college days.
As for Miley, it seemed as though she was trying to sound like a rock singer. Maybe it was that reported cold or something that she was getting?
April 14, 2008 at 8:03 pm Permalink
Then again, I’m really in no position to fairly comment on the show since everything just sounds horrible on this channel for me, as I lamented above.
April 14, 2008 at 8:08 pm Permalink
This circus has mostly freaks.
April 14, 2008 at 8:10 pm Permalink
Baron…yet we keep watching…
April 14, 2008 at 8:20 pm Permalink
Leeann…know thy enemy, hold them near…
April 14, 2008 at 8:34 pm Permalink
I’m a fan of both Taylor and Veronica, so I’m afraid here we must part ways.
April 14, 2008 at 8:35 pm Permalink
What veter was to end this then Underwood singing into a glittery *****?
April 14, 2008 at 8:41 pm Permalink
I don’t mind Taylor either and I know many respectable, bright people who enjoy Veronica.
April 14, 2008 at 9:33 pm Permalink
Caught the last award. Video of the Year - Our Song??? oh barf. And introducing the award, the man who immortalized “My Mazerati does 185, I lost my license now I can’t drive.” Giving an award to a 17 year old. Is there some irony there? I think so, but words fail me.
April 14, 2008 at 9:35 pm Permalink
I saw a couple minutes of the CMT awards and realized that it pretty much summed up everything I dislike about the “Country” music coming out of Nashville today.
Though Tim McGraw making dirty jokes about the Wide Open Country award on a show where the hosts main fanbase is tweens and their parents was hilarious.
April 14, 2008 at 10:01 pm Permalink
I wouldn’t be comparing Sugarland to Springsteen any time soon (or ever). I’m not a fan of Sugarland’s happy pop songs, although I understand their attraction to some. I am interested to see where they go on their next album however.
Did you even read my post? I said their strength is in arranging music. Sugarland is very strong in that department.
As to the rest who complain about CMT awards - it is being hosted by a 14 year old girl. Doesn’t that tell you who the target audience is? I didn’t watch it but the blog said that the presidential candidates made an appearance. Wow. Wowee, wowee, wowee. Earth to politicians. Teenagers cannot vote.
April 14, 2008 at 10:02 pm Permalink
I have no idea who or what Veronica Mars is.
We had Jewell, Snoop Dog, Bon Jovi, Bobby Brown, Eagles, Sisco, and whoever else I’m missing, get screen time on a country music awards show along with “Bob That Head” and “She’s A Hottie.” Wow. To be fair, there was some entertaining moments, but this is country music? It sucks that they didn’t show Jame Otto’s or Ashton Shepherd’s full performances.
April 14, 2008 at 11:52 pm Permalink
Actually, I’ll own up to being a fan of Veronica Mars (first two seasons only). Definitely more entertaining than the CMT awards!
Funk - I read your comment. You believe that due to Sugarland’s supposedly superior ability to arrange a song, they should have a career with the longevity of Springsteen’s. If and when that happens, I will bow down to you. My point was that I’m not going to hold my breath on that one.
April 15, 2008 at 12:04 am Permalink
‘Veronica Mars’ was a very fine TV show, canceled well before its time.
Taylor Swift is 18, not 17. Don’t worry, it’s my job to know these things.
April 15, 2008 at 5:13 am Permalink
My thoughts exactly, Brady. Then again, it’s not like I was expecting much from this show, anyway. So, a couple of entertaining moments is all I could hope for.
The teens can’t vote…but their parents can. Not that seeing any of those candidates on the cmt awards will do anything to persuade a reasonable voting parent.
April 15, 2008 at 8:13 am Permalink
can’t 18 and 19-year-olds vote anymore? really?
April 15, 2008 at 2:08 pm Permalink
I’m thinking that there aren’t a whole lot of 18 and 19 year-olds who love Miley Cyrus…but maybe.
April 15, 2008 at 2:13 pm Permalink
Has anyone else kept up with Adam Gregory? Watching this kid grow up in Canada, and seeing him now has been unreal.
Crazy Days, his new single, is one of my favorite songs ever. What does everyone else think?
April 15, 2008 at 4:06 pm Permalink
From the quality of the CMT awards show (and the Taylor Swift domination) I think it’s clear most of the parents of those texting teens were upstairs watching Veronica Mars. I think most of the disappointment with country music that gets expressed around here could be reduced by realizing that it is now marketed to 12 - 16 year olds. That’s it, that seems to be the truth.
Deal with it. Hey! I sound like that 8 year-old self-professed country music fan on Kid Nation!
April 15, 2008 at 4:28 pm Permalink
Nick,
I bought the first Adam Gregory record years ago and have his last Canadian effort. I am curious to see if he makes a mark stateside. His label has done well with Emerson Drive.
April 15, 2008 at 4:34 pm Permalink
The CMT’s morphed into the Teen Choice Awards…to much Miley and Taylor!
First of all Taylor S. seems like a good kid but she’s getting by on youth and looks…can’t sing a lick and talks through most of her songs. As for Miley, she came across as a smart mouthed Britney Spears starter kit! And what the heck was Snoop Dog doing there??? What really pi**ed me off was that you got maybe 30 seconds of good singers like Ashton Shepherd who could use some national exposure while artists with half of her talent got the spotlight treatment.
If y’all think CU and pop/country is bad just wait because it’s about to sink to new levels with Taylor’s bubblegum/country and Rascal’s rap/country…at least CU can sing. Guess I’ll have to find a rural Texas 500 watt radio stations with the 25 ft antenna in the pasture out behind the studio to hear some REAL country!
April 16, 2008 at 2:28 am Permalink
NorthTexas said - And what the heck was Snoop Dog doing there???
Because unlike most of the acts performing Snoop, like Ashton Shepherd, actually did a country song this year.
The problem is that people are marketed to believe that pop-country IS country music, full stop. This works to the advantage of the industry, not to the artists that don’t fit the (sugar) mold or the fans.
April 16, 2008 at 7:03 am Permalink
and i have to add that the country song that snoop dogg did this year is GOOD. it’s with folkie rapper everlast and it’s called ‘my medicine’. it’s way more country than you’ll hear on country radio. and he’s a self-described country fan. so maybe that’s why he was there.
April 16, 2008 at 7:28 am Permalink
Proclaiming Snoop’s song as more country than pop-country just shows that you have a greater affinity for rap than for pop, it’s not really saying much. How is what Snoop did any different than Bon Jovi? What’s the argument for one being more country than the other?
April 16, 2008 at 9:18 am Permalink
The Snoop track is indeed way more country-sounding than anything on the Bon Jovi record.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZFhnlz-A4PI
Given the subject matter, someone should definitely get this guy hooked up with Willie Nelson ASAP.
April 16, 2008 at 1:29 pm Permalink
Fun stuff!
April 16, 2008 at 3:23 pm Permalink
sounds pretty country to me. more so than bon jovi.
April 16, 2008 at 4:24 pm Permalink
Country or not, it still sucks.
April 16, 2008 at 5:16 pm Permalink
Brady said- Proclaiming Snoop’s song as more country than pop-country just shows that you have a greater affinity for rap than for pop…
Wrong friend-o, it just show that I have a greater affinity for a crossover artist that is playing from his heart then the variety coming out Nashville that sound like it’s created to sell feminine hygiene products.
April 16, 2008 at 5:44 pm Permalink
How is that in any way evidence for the song being more country? You just rehashed the reason for having a greater affinity for Snoop over Bon Jovi, but I just named him to illustrate a point. You can plug in any recent pop crossover artist for Bon Jovi.
April 16, 2008 at 6:07 pm Permalink
Maybe I’m slow, but I’m confused.
“…the variety coming out Nashville that sound like it’s created to sell feminine hygiene products.”
I’m just confused about the selling feminine products comparison/reference. Am I missing something?
April 16, 2008 at 8:28 pm Permalink
baron has a point. a lot of new country (on the radio, at least) sounds like tunes being auditioned for commercials (for either trucks or feminine hygiene products or caress soap or fill in the blank here). it doesn’t sound like it comes from the heart. it sounds like it was push-polled to the right demographic in order to maximize your sell count. it sounds like marketing gone steroid. but to me, the snoop dogg song sounds more authentic. he certainly didn’t do it to sell records. that’s what songs like ‘gin and juice’ are for. which, by the way, is also well-written. but that’s me. i’m gangsta.
April 16, 2008 at 8:31 pm Permalink
You know, that bass line in the Snoop song sounds pretty country to me. The I V I V is pretty traditional bass in country songs. Well, it used to be. Country ain’t just the words. It’s also the arrangements and the language of the instruments. My verdict: Snoop song–country, baby, country. And that’s cool–it’s a big ol’ open tent.
April 16, 2008 at 8:52 pm Permalink
I’ve seen homeless people pouring their heart into a song on a street corner, but it didn’t make the song sound any better. If anyone else had put this song out, authentic or not, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. There seems to be varying degrees of what is considered country, but no solid arguments for what makes the song good from a country standpoint.
April 17, 2008 at 8:42 am Permalink
What exactly does make a song “good from a country standpoint”?
I think it’s a cool track because, while previous country-rap hybrids have been basically rap tracks with country instrumentation, “My Medicine” begins with a country track and Snoop finds a way to rhyme over it. The Bon Jovi record, by contrast, is basically a rock record with some fiddle on it.
May 22, 2008 at 12:44 pm Permalink
I think the fans should initiate a class action lawsuit against “today’s country” radio for forcing us to listen to all this lousy poptry over the past several years.
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