Post by Jesse on Apr 5, 2019 14:28:12 GMT -5
I wrote this after watching bits and pieces of the 2018 CMA festival on AXSTV last Sunday.
CMA Fest and the state of Country Music in general
I had the CMA Music fest on the TV this Sunday as I was doing my various Sunday chores and "catch up" work around the house. While mostly background noise, I couldn't help but get drawn into it at certain times, sometimes for better, usually for worse. I developed some pretty strong opinions on the event and decided to jot some of them down.
Now, first, let's address the elephant in the room: This is mostly Pop music. Not really Country by any common definition of the genre. The older I get, the more I feel like the two old guys on Hank Williams Jr's video for "Young Country": Constantly scowling and grumbling that "That ain't Country!" And, let's be honest here, to a certain extent Country has ALWAYS had a certain degree of Pop music to it. I grew up on Country music and listened to the "Weekly Country Music Countdown" religiously for much of the late '70's and '80's. Some people have this nostalgic vision of Country radio back then being some sort of Honky-Tonk safe space where you turn on the local Country station and hear a constant barrage of George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Reed, Hank Williams Jr, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard and the like. It was NOT. Oh, you could hear them plenty, but you had to put up with a good dose of vanilla Pop-ish tunes to get to them. The difference was that, back then, it was '70's and '80's Pop with a twang as opposed to the '90's and '00's Pop with a twang that we hear today. So, I'm not a total fuddy-duddy about today's Country music being a combination of '90's Boy Band and '80's Arena Rock sung with a twang and (sometimes) a banjo or steel guitar in the background. However, while the Pop element to Country music when I grew up was around 50%, I'd say today the Pop element in Country is in the 90% range +/-.
Now, with that said, there were a few good acts here that stuck out. Luke Combs was pretty good with a bit of a '90's Country sound. Midland was also a bit retro, reminding me, somewhat of the band Shenandoah. Jon Pardi, vocally, sounded like Randy Owen of Alabama and his songs weren't too bad. Chris Stapleton certainly brings back the ol' Honky-Tonk sound. But these were few and far between. Dierks Bently I usually like, but his song was kinda lame. Keith Urban, likewise, blended right in with all of this "new Country".
I dunno, I hate to trash the artists showcased on CMA Fest in general because these ARE very good singers. They are singing songs written by professional Nashville songwriters and it's all good. I'm not gonna say it sucks in general, but it was all very bland and uninteresting. I mean, they dusted off Dwight Yoakam and brought him out to play his 30 year-old hit "Fast As You" with Dierks Bently and I couldn't help but wonder how many of these new songs anyone is going to give that much of a shit about in 30 years. I certainly didn't hear anything. George Jones once sang "Who's gonna fill their shoes?" and I'll be damned if I heard anything that's going to be the next "He Stopped Loving Her Today". There was no "I Walk The Line", "Coal Miner's Daughter", "Family Tradition", "Friends In Low Places" or "Fast As You" to be heard there (well..... except for, y'know, when they played "Fast As You".)
Which brings me to another observation: The crowd was way too into it for what it was. Really, who gets excited for a Nila Wafer? And that's what most of this was: the musical equivilent of a Nila Wafer. Good, but who cares? As I said, it was all fine and good, but if the crowd got that excited over these flavorless tunes, they'd likely shit a brick if Blackberry Smoke or Shooter Jennings hit the stage with some of their offerings.
So, is it all a conspiracy? I'm not sure, but there has to be better and more distinctive Country music being made today than what was on display Sunday afternoon. Kane Brown supposedly held the #1 spot on all 5 Country music charts (not sure what "all 5" are) and he was one act that I thought flat out sucked! Are we really supposed to believe that Country listeners heard Blackberry Smoke's "Best Seat In The House" last year, but preferred Kane Brown? I doubt it. I'm guessing they were never given the choice. I mean, how is it that Blackberry Smoke had a #3 Country album last year without any charting singles unless somebody is fixing the game? Just from a business standpoint, I would think radio programmers would look at how well Blackberry Smoke is selling albums and want to add, at least one of the singles to their station's playlist. I just find it tough to believe that Kane Brown and most of the other stuff I heard on the CMA Fest was really the best focus-tested material out there. As I said, beyond Kane Brown (and maybe Sam Hunt), the songs played weren't overly bad, they just weren't overly good either. Very few instant hooks, catchy choruses or memorable guitar licks. But, yet, the stadium crowd was loving it and singing along to damn near every lyric. So how does that happen? It's gotta be repetition. Dick Clark once said that you cannot play a bad song enough to make it a hit. I think that is generally true, but one can certainly play mediocre songs enough times to make a hit out of them. And through repetitive airplay, these mediocre songs are becoming hits. Big hits! Because these folks, I guess, only get their new music via the radio. Well, (another food reference... you can tell where my mind is) if you feed people a steady diet of pizza, and ask them what their favorite food is, the answers you get will only be a type of pizza. And pizza is good, but it's not filet mignon. And we're looking at a population that doesn't even know what filet mignon is as there's much great Country music out there that simply does not get commercial radio airplay. Why? That is the question.
Sorry, kind of a random stream of thoughts here, but am I wrong? If you are into today's Country music, I'm not out to trash it. But if you have some favorite songs from the last few years of Country music, let me ask you something: Did you instantly like the song(s)? Or did the song(s) grow on you as you heard them over and over again on Country radio? I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, it's just a thing. I happen to have many personal favorite songs that got that way through repeated plays. However, the older I get, the less time I have for that and the more I seek out "instant classics". Songs that don't need to grow on you, they instantly attach themselves to your ear, you mind, your soul, your heart. They are out there, and in all genres. I didn't hear any Sunday.
