Your Take: The Expansion of Country Music

That sounded wrong, refer to them as the neotraditionalists, not the pop singers. :)

oh, and i find it annoying that artists such as jessica simpson who are not country are just joining the genre for another chance of success

It’s a long standing argument with no clear answer. The expansion of the music is important but where to draw the line?

Eddy Arnold , the “Tennessee Plowboy” transitioned his music over time to where there was no trace of Tennessee twang or grit left in either his voice or musical arrangments. After 1968’s “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” there was nothing to distinguish him from any other bland middle-of-the-road pop singer. His post 1968 output was even more bland and un-country that Rascall Flatts is today, if you can imagine such a thing

Ray Price had a period of producing bland pop music before turning back to the “Cherokee Cowboy” sound that made him famous.

Even the legendary Webb Pierce produced some bland pop records although his voice was nothing but country.

Lose not hope, the next neo-traditional tidal wave is on the horizon. Patience, it’ll get here and it may be led by someone from the pop side like it was when Conway Twitty “went country”

The expansion of the boundaries of what constitutes “country music” will just keep diluting the format until the real, traditional element is erased from the genre. Its like making a soup where you add in every possible ingredient until the taste becomes unrecognizable. These newer totally pop and rock oriented so-called country artists attract fans and listeners who often hate twangy, traditional country music. Some would argue that after extended exposure on radio they will warm to traditional country and embrace it. Although this does likely happen with some listeners, I think many others just want the twangy stuff to go away forever, and I think a lot of Top 40 country radio programmers feel the same way…

The bigger issue is that many Top 40 mainstream radio programmers are intentionally looking for pop-rock artists with the broadest market appeal. They are leading the charge of those who would marginalize traditional country music in order to gain a bigger listening audience of pop-rock fans. Listeners who primarily like tradtional country are considered expendable and are tossed overboard without a second thought in order to get bigger market share numbers that determine ad revenues.

As much as I wish a “new traditionalist” movement would sweep mainstream country radio like it did in the mid 1980’s, I’m not expecting it. The consolidation of radio station ownership into the hands of large corporations in the 1990’s radically changed the dynamic between radio stations and their listeners when locally owned stations became part of corporate conglomerates. These corporations have no love of and respect for traditional country music, but they are staffed with people who love pop and rock music to be sure. These people will keep the trend towards pop-rock dominating country radio into the forseeable future.

The most frightening recent trend is artists like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood attracting new young girls to country radio. These same young gals are often huge fans of Hannah Montana who could become the biggest artist on mainstream country radio if these little girls decide to join forces. Billy Ray Cyrus’ recent top 10 single only moved up the charts when they took the original Billy ray solo version and remixed it to include Miley. Will “The Jonas Brothers” be the next Rascal Flatts? It reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw that read: “Never Underestimate The Power of a Large Group of Stupid People”…..

All genres are derivative and therefore elastic. What we think of as country music is a blend of Irish, African and Spanish influences. In other words, it’s a mutt to start with.

Some of the artists that move into country seem to be taking as much a bean-counter view of the increase in their market-share approach as they do in producing their image and music. Plotted, calculated and void of any artistic merit or passion.

Some artists, like Van Morrison and Teddy Thompson (son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson) move into country music seeming to pay respects and give testament to the work of the greats. It’s pretty easy to tell the carpetbaggers from the disciples for those that care to look. I say let ‘em come, country music is stronger than their crap and is here to stay.

Is Jason Aldean low talent? Guy, I am interested in your take on this.

No, but like a lot of things, the more popular something gets, the less quality it becomes. I worry that the same will happen with the Austin music scene, sure for every REALLY talented artist/band like Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen, Jason Boland, Drew Kennedy, Rodney Hayden, Stoney Larue, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Aaron Watson, Dale Watson, Chris Knight, Radney Foster etc. that we will start to see more artists/bands try to copy their formula and the product will be hurt in the long run. I do think the one thing that might help stop this from happening in Austin is the fact the fans tend to be VERY harsh critics and need to be “proven” that you, as an artist, are worthy of their support.

And let’s be realistic here, part of the reason, hell the only reason so many pop artists and American Idol rejects are trying to go Country is because it’s one of the few formats around today that, while still being hurt by downloading, record sales are not being hurt as much as other genres, like Pop music. Though really, that’s less fans fault (for people like myself that use itunes) and more the record companies and the RIAA being dinosouars who cannot accept the fact that demand for CD’s where, if your lucky, it has 5-6 good songs on it, is not as high as it once was.

Add to expansion one another I believe does it from the hear, Snoop Dogg…no really. On his new release “Ego Trippin” the Dogg has enlisted Whitey Ford (AKA Everlast from late the Irish hip-hop group House Of Pain, and can be heard on the opening cut of TNTs Saving Grace) to write and play guitar on “My Medicine.” Dogg even gives a shout out the Johnny Cash (A real American gangster) and it’s got chronic references then a Willie Nelson roast (which I hope happens!)

This will bring more kids to country music than anything Nashville can concoct, and it’s pretty damn good to boot.

Even though all the pros say the CD is dead, I beg to differ. You start making CDs cheaper than downloading and put more good songs rather than filler on there, you’ll see the sales go back up. Not allowing downloading is a way to go to get the profit back up too. Worked for Garth and the Eagles. Yeah, I know, I know - “but they’re Garth and The Eagles”.

I agree about Canadian country music being very good. Newcomer Crystal Shawanda has got a huge hit on her hands with “You Can Let Go”. Emerson Drive and Doc Walker are some other great bands of country music. And there is definitely some variety. Although I personally don’t like him, Gord Bamford is continually bringing new and original music. Canada has a lot of non-country talent too, such as pop rock group Hedley, and the rock band Billy Talent. It’s a wonder that so many of these talented people aren’t more popular outside of Canada.

It is true that “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” only became popular when Miley Cyrus was added to the song. But honestly, I can see why. Billy Ray’s version was completely dull and boring to me, even if the thought was nice. When Miley was added to the song, her vocals livened the song up, and made Billy’s contrasting vocals more appealing. Suddenly, I loved the song. Normally, I don’t like Miley Cyrus, but I thought this was quite good.

And you guys will probably hate me for this, because I am one of the “stupid people” referred to from the bumper sticker (don’t worry, I don’t take offense): I actually like the Jonas Brothers. I wouldn’t be sad if they became the next Rascal Flatts. But I’m like pop rock music, and that’s exactly what it is: pop rock music, so I don’t expect this kind of music will show up on the country scene anytime soon, because they are very separate genres.

I suppose you’re right. What better for a record label than to get another young act to appeal to all of the crazy teenage fans out there, someone who will partly appeal to this young audience because they are partly pop rock based. And I suppose this points directly back to the topic of our discussion. Is this what us as listeners want for country music?

I think it would be nice to have a few acts like this in country music (and we need a few males too, not just Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, not that Carrie Underwood is bad and Taylor Swift doesn’t have her moments), as long as it doesn’t compromise the genre. But I guess it depends who you talk to as to what compromising the genre really means. A lot of people might be turned off by Big & Rich and Rascal Flatts, but there are lots of people that like them too. There are lots of people who like Kenny Chesney, while others think he is dull and boring at times, and should stop wasting our time with songs like Shiftwork and get back to his memorable moments.

Kid Rock has probably turned more kids onto Country and Southern Rock than anybody else I can think of in the last decade. But then again I don’t think too good sometimes.

yes! it’s a worthwhile goal to expand country at all costs. in order to find the next genre-defining artist the industry has to test and try quite a few people (and their music). of those only a few eventually make it to the top and probably less than a handful per decade can confidently try to “fill their shoes” over time.

this is not cheap and requires reaching the biggest possible audience, which is the pop market.

if the next generation of country fans gets in touch with country music via kenny chesney, rascal flatts, carrie underwood or taylor swift so be it - i can’t see any fault with that.

some of them will not stop exploring till they reach that famous sign that says: beer, bait and ammo …and by then they are hooked.

by the way, my first country experience was when i watched glen campell singing “galveston” on an italian tv-show, broadcasted in switzerland, back in the sixties. i was a 6 or 7 year old swiss kid back then but hooked ever since.

I have eclectic tastes in music, ranging over a time span of 90 years from the 1920s to the present, and covering a variety of genres including pop, rock, jazz, soul, easy listening, folk, bluegrass and crossover classical as well as country music in all its forms. When all is said and done, my favorite of all is what we now call traditional country music. As I’ve pointed out previously, very little of it was traditional at the time it was created because country music is ever-changing. It was never a pur-bred pedigree dog - it was a mongrel from the beginning, evolving from folk music and creating its own path by the absorption of other influences. Hank Williams is now seen as the embodiment of traditional country music, but he was revoutionary in his day as you’ll realize if you compare his music to that of Roy Acuff and the others that preceded him. For a variety of reasons, I haven’t followed the contemporary scene closely in recent years. I think there has to be continuous evolution, but I just hope that country music doesn’t lose touch with its roots.

Peter Durward Harris said: ” … I just hope that country music doesn’t lose touch with its roots.”

It already has.

Thomas, it’s not dead yet but it’s definitely on life support. Have you not heard some of the pitiful excuses for country music that’s playing on radio these days?

I like a lot of genres of music. I admit that I never watched American Idol until about the 5th show of the 4th season. Something about the shy Oklahoma girl singing with the big voice, caught my attention. Then I was hooked and had to see the outcome. Even though I loved songs by Randy Travis, George Strait and Martina McBride, I never really got deep in country music until Carrie showed me through her singing how good it could be. I think she surprised a lot of Americans on that show what country was about. Everything was fine it seemed until every girl singer that hit it big after Carrie was blonde it seemed. Now we have Julianne and (cough, vomit) Jessica. Where are the new brunette singers? I can think of one power singer and that’s Ashton Shepherd. Two girls of country are going too far to pop. Jennifer Nettles..”All I want to do” is totally a pop song with a Georgia accent. I have Sugarland’s first CD. I bought the second one and was totally disappointed how “Pop” sounding it was. Only “Stay” had merit. Taylor Swift..has a MTV show? What? Oh and the Jonas brothers are doing to Pop what Taylor has done to Country, their album is swashing albums by Justin Timberlake and Madonna. Do you ever get the feeling that teenagers are running the charts? and life in general?

It’s not about the money in my opinion, it’s just an example of how much country music has influenced many different styles of music and people’s lives. Jessica Simpson is nothing but an example because she has enough fame and money as it is(where’s the need for more). She just has more control over her career than she did when she was younger(father and mainstream media). Will she be accepted, that’s up to the fans, and that’s the way it should be. Country and Gospal music has influenced every style of music since the begining of this great country. Has it changed?, yes and for the better. Because the true meaning of gospel and country has and always will be understood and appreciated by all music fans, if not, then they are more than likely angry and very judgemental. Let them come in and take a shot, and let the fans decide because i think country music lovers know what is acceptable and good.