Your Take: How Far is Too Far?

All I know is their cover of “Irreplaceable” was turned into something that sounds pretty country to my ears. I could care less what somebody covers, I guess, as long as it’s a good cover. I don’t even always care if it sounds country. I don’t like their cover of “Love shack” though. They make it too showy while the original is just unadulturated fun.

Nothing is too far. Pushing boundaries is fantastic. The problem is that too much of what passes today as “pushing the boundaries” is actually an artistic retreat.

I agree Jim Malec that country music or what passes for that on the mainstream is an artistic retreat.

Here is Martina Mcbride’s trying to explain the sound of current country music ( source: Nashvillegab)

You know, it’s funny to me, there are so many people out there who gripe and moan and groan about the direction country music has taken lately, but the people who live it and make a living from it seem to spend the most time defending it. It seems that more and more interviews have country stars defending and trying to explain why country music isn’t just twang and fiddles and sad songs and trying to explain why we should embrace all different country sounds.

Martina McBride is the newest star to take up the cause. She talked with Straight.com and tries to give her take on why the sound of country has changed.

“I’m a big fan of ’80s rock music,” says the singer, who counts working with Pat Benatar as one of the highlights of a career that has also generated nine gold albums, five number-one singles, and enough industry awards to fill a long-box Ford.

“Country music is so much different than a lot of people have the stereotype of it being, you know,” she continues, on the line from Music City. “A lot of artists and producers and musicians who make country records grew up listening to all kinds of music….People tend to think of country music as being about a certain thing or a certain kind of style, and it’s really much broader than that.”
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I dont agree with Martina that the direction mainstream country is taking, is breaking stereotypes about country music or that the appeal of the format is being broadened.Not surprised to hear this from her coming tough.
Top 40 and the big award shows ignores many great music, simply because the format has been heavily narrowed down in sounds and influences. And whats wrong with the sound of fiddles in the first place?

If it is done right, I do not care who covers who.
When Conway Twitty was on the Warner Bros. label, he had hits in chronological order from the Pointer Sisters (Slow Hand), Bette Midler (The Rose), the Eagles (Heartache Tonight), and the Commodores (Three Times A Lady). He made all of those songs HIS OWN!
Now, to fast forward into more recent times, we had Mark Chesnutt covering Aerosmith (I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing) and Sara Evans covering Edwin McCain (I Could Not Ask For More). BOTH country versions worked in this case as well as Jack Ingram’s version of the Hinder hit Lips Of An Angel.
We are currently experiencing a shift in country music where those who are having top tens were born in the 1970s and 1980s (with some in the 1950s and 1960s). Those artists grew up with country-pop and country-rock sensibilites.
I DO NOT want a country artist to just cover anyone’s song just to appeal to a certain demographic (those mostly under 25). Especially if it will do damage to their career. It could be seen as pandering to a certain section of country fans who appreciate the broad spectrum of music their favorite artists grew up on.
I DO think it is healthy for a country artist to be brought up on more than one kind of music. It makes them appreciate country even more!

I don’t agree with the premise that just about anything can be turned into a Country song.

Some of these musical hybrids just will not bear fruit, sorta like trying to breed a robbin with a vulture, it would be a sterile excersize at best. Worse case, it would be productive or a monstrosity were it to succeed.

As for Martina, now I am convinced that she has a philosophical resitance to adopting a more traditional sound in the future. Sad, I guess the Timeless Martina is gone forever.

There are very few real country artists today, George Jones, George Strait, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackon to name a few. Most of what you hear today should be called pop country. They need a new category at the country awards shows to reflect that. So I could care less what Sugarland covers, to me their not pure country.

Sugarland makes the transition well. The biggest of reasons being that they are walking the line of what country music is. Some may even call them pop. …To add to Baron Lane; Johnny Cash’s American 4 recordings were mostly covers all off which were great. Rick Ruben knew the boundaries of who Johnny is and exploited every inch.

I really don’t want to hear rap songs by anybody.

I think my biggest issue with ”pushing the boundaries”, by Sugarland specifically, is that it really just makes it very transparent as to how much country music they actually like. I think the fact that you never hear some of these people covering country music at all is indicative of the fact that they don’t actually like country music. Just the same as most of the people I know that are in the industry don’t particularly care for it either. I don’t have a problem with a country artist covering a pop song. There is a video on youtube of Luke Bryan covering One Republics “Apologize”. He does a decent job of it, and it shows that he doesn’t keep himself in a little box. However, his actual music demonstrates that he has listened to country music before, so it doesn’t bother me quite as much. On the flip side, I don’t know much REM, and for a short time, I thought that “Night Swimming” song was a Sugarland song I hadn’t heard of…because they play that kind of music everyday.

Exactly. I’m lookin’ at you, Jessica Simpson!

I think artists should work on getting their own sound figured out and perfect before they start bouncin’ all over the place doing covers of everybody. Everyone knew who Johnny Cash was and what he usually sounded like before he cut the American Recordings stuff, which is part of the reason why it worked. A changeup isn’t very effective until you’ve established your fastball.

Happy Birthday George Jones!!! 78 years old and still doing it. He gave Jimmy Fallon a stuffed possum on Fallon’s show last night.

I am a huge Country fan – have been since I was a kid. So I understand this debate and yet always find it ‘funny’ (for lack of a better word) how Country seems to be the one format always debated whether or not it is what it is :) But I enjoy the covers even if they cross genres. Like someone mentioned, Conway did it years ago with ‘Three Times A Lady’, etc. Country changes through the years and moves towards pop than to Country and so forth. But there’s still something special about the music even when it’s not strictly a Country song. I think the fact the Country embraces pop and rock at times is cool.

Also, pop does occasionally cover country songs too. I shudder to recall All 4 One’s take on a couple of John Michael Montgomery tunes in the 90s.

There’s so many darn Skynyrd references in today’s country music it’s ridiculous. What about The Flying Burrito Brothers Huh?

“I never understood covers that try and sound exactly the same. What;s the point?”

To pay homage to the brilliance of the original. Like, what would be the point of doing “Farewell Party” if you didn’t go for the high notes at the end the way Gene Watson did?

As far as “pushing boundaries” goes, it’s good to have some artists in a genre doing it, not so much to have everyone giving it a try. I’ve never understood why anyone would think that each artist in a given field needs to take the same approache to balancing tradition and innovation.

My take is that Top 40 mainstream country has already pushed the boundaries way too far into the realm of mediocre rock-pop commercial crap! I hope they keep pushing the boudaries so far out the whole industry winds up falling off a cliff like a bunch of lemmings. With all that “young/modern country” rock-pop crap way off in another marketing sphere, the name of “country music” could be reclaimed and applied to material worthy of the title once again!

Jim Malec said: “Nothing is too far. Pushing boundaries is fantastic.” Hey Jim, that sounds exactly like what Obama is always saying behind closed doors about the restraints the Constitution imposed on the Federal Government…

here’s a cover of “I’m Every Woman” done by current country-pop star Taylor Swift. I don’t think this was suppposed to be leaked, as it’s a demo from very early on before she ever had a record deal. I think it’s interesting it’s the most country thing I’ve ever heard from her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjH2g_P-Yc8

The demo isn’t very good, and except for the banjo in it, I wouldn’t regard it as very country either

I don’t know…I mean it just seems to me like Country Music always seems to be about 20 or 25 years behind the times when it comes to breaking new ground (at least what gets played on mainstream radio). Back in the 90’s Country Music seemed to be stuck in the early 70’s soft rock phase, and now it’s in the 80’s pop/rock phase (except Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown Band who seem to be stuck in the Jimmy Buffett timezone…I guess Country music was lucky it skipped the disco era). I guess Grunge and Hip/Hop rap is next. Although I’m waiting for the Hard Rock “Hair Bands” to make a comeback in Country Music. Just kidding.
Anyway, I think the better question is, what is too far when other genres cover a Country song? I think a good example is Adam Lambert’s cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire on American Idol (even though it was also done on another show before that as well). I just know a lot of Country Music fans weren’t necessarily happy about it, and it seemed to be a slap in the face to the genre. Especially since the theme of the show was Grand Old Opry night.

I have no problem with anybody covering any song, as long as it works. I’ve seen country artists make Sweet Child O’Mine work (I’m not talking about Carrie Underwood) as a country song, I’ve seen The Who cover Ring of Fire and Walk the Line. It’s more about the style they perform them in. I’ve seen Bob Dylan songs turned full on bluegrass and it works great. I’ve seen country songs turned into a synthpop numbers that made me want to shoot small kittens. Depends entirely on the situation.
One of the best Johnny Cash covers I’ve heard is Pearl Jam’s version of 25 Minutes To Go.

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJhfD77QOLY is a cover of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxDVc80Z3FI

Worst, ok, that’s a matter of opinion. “Sells out?” Phooey.

I guess I really didn’t answer the question. I would say it is fine to experiment with any song, but the artist covering it, the time, and place, and audience, and situation/reason it is being covered in the Country genre are also important factors as to whether it is acceptable or not. How good or bad the actual cover is would then be subjective to the listener so long as all those factors were taken into account.

“Although I’m waiting for the Hard Rock “Hair Bands” to make a comeback in Country Music.”

Van Zant?

I think Joe South (who wrote “Rose Garden) who resent terribly the thought that anyone considered his song, or Lynn’s rendition of it, as disco

Yeah, I don’t see the “Rose Garden”-disco connection. Now, on the other hand, “Double S”…

A good cover is where you make the song your own. Social Distortion turned “Ring of Fire” into a kickass punk song. Likewise, The Gourds make “Gin and Juice” into something I want to hear. The problem is when you cover something and you either treat too reverently and making it sound like the original, or when you change it beyond all recognition. A pop travesty that comes to mind is Madonna’s “American Pie.”

I was gonna say…”Rose Garden” came out in 1970. I don’t think the word disco had even been invented yet…at least not as a genre. Although didn’t Martina McBride cover that song as well?

Yes, she did.

To Idlewildsouth, Razor, and Noeller : I share your frustration with many of today’s mainstream acts and agree with you all the way. Now, if an artist actually proved to be a country singer through his/her own material, I’d be cool with a non-country cover here and there. However, that has not been the case most of the time.