Collin Raye: Country Has Become “Dumbed Down”
Country music artist Collin Raye’s career accomplishments can fly under your radar if you’re not careful, because he was never as flashy as some of his contemporaries like Garth Brooks. But with sixteen #1 hits and five platinum albums earned after becoming a solo artist in 1991, Collin Raye is a more decorated artist than most.
The singer recently released a memoir called A Voice Undefeated, and in the book he speaks candidly about his detest for what is currently happening in country music. “They’ve largely abandoned the reality-based moral message for the common man that made country music a strong cultural force for good,” Raye says, and then continues to say how he’s worried some of the most gifted people in Nashville are watering down their talents to appeal to the lowest common denominator just to sell records.
In a recent interview with Fox News (see below), Collin delves even further into his dissent about the direction of country music.
I’m passionate about it because I love our genre. I got into country music not to make a buck. I did it because I love it … I grew up at a time when Merle Haggard was writing stuff like “Mama’s Hungry Eyes” and “Sing Me Back Home”. Kristofferson was writing “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and “Me & Bobby McGee” and stuff like that. It was poetry. Country music has never been about the chord progression or the complexity of the music. It’s always been about lyrics and stories, and real life slices of life. And the one common thread has always been poetry. It’s like American Shakespeare in a way, and that’s what it’s supposed to be. From Hank Williams, to before Hank Williams on up, that’s this beautiful thing we all love so much, and so many of us got into the business knowing we could never be as great as those guys, but we always tried to live up to that standard that they had set.
And I’m really depressed in how it has dumbed down to basically a one-dimensional “Let’s party in the truck, gonna drink some cold beer!” There’s so many of those, and I’m not begrudging anybody their living. It’s not really the artists I blame, and it’s not the songwriters I blame because they’re just trying to make a living. It’s the gatekeepers quote unquote that we used to have in Nashville which are the label heads who used to decide what was good enough to put out and what was not. And now they’ve just totally given into that.
Collin Raye is not known for traditional country music, but for very contemporary-sounding country, including some music that made use of keyboards and synthesizers. But the lyrics still achieved a standard that is virtually vacant on today’s country radio.
The topic of Collin Raye’s book also raised eyebrows on Clear Channel’s syndicated morning program The Bobby Bones Show in late March. Bobby Bones, while professing his fandom for Collin (they’re both from Arkansas), diagnosed Collin with “old man syndrome” for criticizing current country music. “Luke Bryan—you can see things you shouldn’t be able to see on Luke when he dances because his pants are so tight.” Bobby Bones said. “And that’s not trashy, that’s juts how he does it … That’s just the culture now … It’s called old man syndrome. It’s that group going to the next group.”
Or it speaks to the steady decline of culture that Collin Raye seeks to raise awareness about with his comments; a decline that has seen the general erosion of the value of country music to deliver something more than catchy lyrics and an infectious beat.
the pistolero
April 13, 2014 @ 6:45 pm
I’ve seen comments to this effect before from Collin Raye, and to be honest I was more than a little bit cynical about them considering his recorded output. I thought at the time that he was just bitter because, as I put it elsewhere, his own gravy train got derailed. And I told my wife that it was funny that he mentioned Haggard and Kristofferson considering he’d never done anything approaching that level of greatness.
That said, he pretty much nailed it. And Bobby Bones can go fuck a running chainsaw.
Janice Brooks
April 13, 2014 @ 6:50 pm
Colin did cover Dreaming My Dreams
Eric
April 13, 2014 @ 7:34 pm
“And I told my wife that it was funny that he mentioned Haggard and Kristofferson considering he”™d never done anything approaching that level of greatness.”
I find it irritating that every time an artist declares himself/herself to be on our side, so many of us thank that artist by insulting him/her.
the pistolero
April 14, 2014 @ 5:02 am
Sorry you feel that way. I just call it like I see it. But he himself in a way has insulted classic country before:
“I think a lot of people are going back to thinking country music is ”˜dumb,”™ the way they did prior to those days when Garth and everyone was doing well.”
There’s a lot of ”” for lack of a better term ”” not dumb that falls under that umbrella, and you know it. It may have just been him going back to his own era, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. If this is any indication, I may well have been wrong. And I am perfectly willing to admit that.
Andrew
April 14, 2014 @ 10:49 am
He’s saying public perception was that it was dumb, not that it actually was dumb.
Chris
April 14, 2014 @ 3:24 pm
Mindless lyrics used to be limited to pop and rap but bro country lyrics make them look smart. Now that the lyrics in many “country” songs actually are dumb it seems like the “dumb” perception is worse than ever. Does anyone care?
Josh
April 13, 2014 @ 6:45 pm
I think Bobby Bones has asshat syndrome.
Noah Eaton
April 13, 2014 @ 6:46 pm
What Raye said! =(
Janice Brooks
April 13, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
Raye was not quite to the level of Garth and Billy Ray but he did show his moves ala Tom Jones in the video for I Want You Bad. I have his first 3 albums and like the 3rd the best. as for my station playlist I’d say Collin yes, Garth and Billy Raye no.
Noah Eaton
April 13, 2014 @ 6:55 pm
With regards to Bobby Bones: his latest comments, along with revealing previous statements by Scott Borchetta with regard to how he believes country music is: “Whatever fans of country music listen to and like. It”™s younger. It”™s youth.”…………….only reinforce how the gatekeepers Raye alluded to have essentially turned their back (overall) on listening demographics 40 and up.
The median listening demographic (I concede I can’t retract my footsteps and locate the initial demographic source) used to be 42, I believe, as recently as the turn of the decade. Whether it has plunged measurably since then is uncertain, but what is certain is that the gatekeepers are fixated on catering exclusively to the teenage-through-30 demographic. It’s “Never trust anyone over thirty…………well, unless the artist i question bends over backwards and impersonates youth culture well!” all over again! -__-
In the long-term, this is inevitably going to bite them back, mark my words. No business model fixated exclusively on a singular demographic is sustainable in the broader sense. My fear is that it’ll splinter the genre to the breaking point and kill a lot of careers that didn’t deserve to end abruptly.
Janice Brooks
April 13, 2014 @ 6:58 pm
I think it already has
Josh
April 13, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
Hey not everyone in the 18-30 demo likes the crap that gets played on the radio. I’m 21 and I loathe Luke Bryan, FGL and the other pretty boys masquerading as country music. Give me Sturgill Simpson and Kacey Musgraves. That’s real country. Then again I’m an outlier.
Noah Eaton
April 13, 2014 @ 8:47 pm
I regret, and apologize, if you got the impression I was singling out everyone within that age-range. I, myself, am 30 years old and so would be on the cusp of that demographic, after all! -__-
Josh
April 13, 2014 @ 9:16 pm
It’s cool. I just hate being part of the demographic that is feeding the pop country monster and you feel the same. I’m hopeful this is just a fad and that country can retain it’s true image. All we can do is support the real country music and not buy the crap plaguing the air waves. And let’s hope Bobby Bones gets canned as soon as possible 🙂
Adrian
April 13, 2014 @ 11:18 pm
It’s hard to believe how much things have changed since 2000. In the 1990s most of the songs played on country radio still sounded country, with the exception of a few female crossover artists. Back in those days “young country” meant Garth Brooks. And some of the songs released during the 2002-2004 period were downright traditional by today’s standards.
I agree that country radio seems to be giving up on older listeners. They are also giving up on introverts who prefer songs that are not loud, not overproduced, and not about parties. I think this reflects shortsightedness among music executives. It is much easier to get a short term #1 hit by selling to the young party crowd e.g. extroverts in their teens and 20s, because they have a strong herd mentality. But those listeners are fickle and jump from one fad to the next. The introverts and the older fans are more loyal.
Noah Eaton
April 14, 2014 @ 12:03 am
For much of the previous decade, I can recall the “Alternative”/Modern Rock Tracks format, and the Active Rock formats, being mostly interchangeable with no clear contrast drawn between each respective format.
At the time, both formats were playing, predominantly, a lot of corporate MOR rock acts in the vein of Linkin Park, Incubus, Three Days Grace and Seether. Granted each of these two formats had acts that only appealed to one or the other (namely acts like Gorillaz, 311 and the Killers for Alternative, and more heritage-leaning acts and tried-and-true legends on Active Rock)…………..and yet when it came to more current acts, you could rarely tell the two formats apart. “Post-grunge” dominated both, which later devolved into “cock-rock”.
Then, Alternative underwent a sea change and, while it remains a format in a bit of an identity crisis, it nonetheless contrasts starkly with Active Rock in its current incarnation. And, indeed, so many of the acts peppering Alternative playlists are decidedly “introvert-friendly” I suppose you could say by your definition/description of it in that they are, if not necessarily lo-fi, nonetheless largely eschew bombast in favor of more understated sounds and eclecticism.
Active Rock, meanwhile, sounds much the same as it did a decade ago. Acts like Three Days Grace, Shinedown and Avenged Sevenfold are STILL running the roost and are basically being treated as the new heritage acts of the format. Even Korn are enjoying a radio renaissance there.
*
Who knows when Country radio will have a similar realignment to “Alternative” radio circa 2010 A.D.
Bear
April 14, 2014 @ 4:29 pm
I point to Shania Twain as the harbringer of this demon. I believe she was the first to release two version of the same album one “country” one “pop”. Her pop album did SO well that everyone quickly saw dollar signs but decided it was too much work to produce two version so they just went the pop direction and cut out the less marketable country album.
On another note I just Kathy Mattea and she commented about how the CMA’s are now a circus with pyrotechnics and very little music. Great show and whatever pop-country she put out back the 90s she’s a class act as far as I’m concerned her last two albums were stellar!
Charlie
April 14, 2014 @ 9:12 am
18 to 49 is the prime advertising demographic. Rare indeed is the entertainment outlet that gives two monkey turds about anybody 50 and over.
The ‘suits’ in country media have been making a concerted effort to pick up the younger listeners that have been abandoned by the downfall of rock music. If they don’t market to that youth market, those kids are just gonna go all Bruno Mars on us. So they feel they must try something–I just wish it was something else.
If the median age is really 42, then I can guaran-damn-tee you they are doing all they think they can to drive that number down.
Golddust
April 13, 2014 @ 7:10 pm
Obviously Bobby Bones missed the whole point of what Collin was saying about the depth of the songs and thinks he was talking about tight jeans and going shirtless? Not a surprise.
Gena R.
April 14, 2014 @ 7:30 am
When I read BB’s comment, my first thought was, “This guy needs to be bitch-slapped.” Not sure he’s worth the trouble, though.
Canuck
April 13, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
It’s hard to argue with Collin Raye here. I didn’t mind his stuff, but he was a blip on the radar of country radio in the 90’s. I wouldn’t turn his music off if it came on the radio, but I also wouldn’t go seek out one of his albums, either. That being said, at least he has a sense of the folks who laid the groundwork for him, and has paid homage to them, much more than any number of current artists have done.
For Bobby Bones to call Raye’s valid criticisms “Old Man Syndrome” speaks to his reluctance to bite the corporate, nucountry, tailgatin’, six pack drinkin’ hand that feeds him. It’s much easier to throw out a term like that (“Old Man Syndrome”) than to actually have meaningful dialogue about the underlying issues in country music songwriting currently.
Btw, Trigger: “his detest” is grammatically incorrect – “about how he detests” would sound better!
Trigger
April 14, 2014 @ 11:01 am
I would hardly call 10 nominations for Male Vocalist of the Year a blip on the radar. I think it would be more fair to call his career “overshadowed.”
Golddust
April 13, 2014 @ 7:14 pm
I have to admit, I did like Collin flashing his hands around as he sang his “Let”™s party in the truck, gonna drink some cold beer!” song. Pretty spot on impression of the wannabes nowadays. 😉
Chris
April 13, 2014 @ 7:23 pm
On the money! Sadly there is no standard anymore. What gets me is the guys who went bro country were selling great before they sold out to pop and rap. No need to sell out and destroy the entire best genre and radio format for some extra pop sales and because some gatekeepers think they are rock stars and don’t appreciate or care about country music. One FGL is enough.
So only old men like country Bobby? One concert I went to had a bunch of kids in the audience, many under age 10, and I was surprised they all knew all the lyrics and sang along to a 1993 country song that is pretty much a classic.
Eric
April 13, 2014 @ 7:38 pm
How many people in the audience were in their teens or twenties? I saw quite a few from that demographic in the George Strait concert that I went to.
Chris
April 14, 2014 @ 8:00 am
Many and every country concert I’ve been to has many people of all ages, mostly teens to 30-40s I guess. This was a small show for a new pop country artist and it was impressive that the youngest kids there knew and sang a 1993 country hit song with no pop, rapping, synthesized music, or copycat party lyrics. Here’s another example with a different artist covering an older country classic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVKMj928IDk
I wasn’t there but you can hear many young people (mostly 20-somethings I’d guess) singing along. Also that was a country radio event so I assume many of their listeners were there.
https://www.facebook.com/events/102511543169450/
Bro country guys cover pop and rap songs at their shows. Come on people, where’s the respect and tributes for country artists and music?
Nick Brown
April 14, 2014 @ 9:34 am
I remember reading a concert review late last year of Florida Georgia Line. The review stated that it was a pure rock concert and hip hop type of show, with FGL doing covers of rock, rap & hip hop hits. Not once did they cover a classic country song or even try to introduce it to their audience.
These are the acts that need to be shown the door, if they want to be rock or hip hop or rap, I have no problem with that, I just have a problem with artists pretending to be something they are clearly not.
Adrian
April 14, 2014 @ 9:00 am
Eric, it seems very surprising to find many young people at a George Strait concert, especially in the bay area. I’d guess that most George Strait fans are over 40, typically conservative people from rural areas and the south. George himself is 61.
Nick Brown
April 14, 2014 @ 9:37 am
Like I stated in another topic, went and saw George Strait in Hartford Conn February 2013, the crowd was mostly young people in there early to mid 20’s. They had a great time. Strait was onstage for 3 hours that night.
Eric
April 14, 2014 @ 1:07 pm
I was surprised too. The number of young women seemed especially high, and they definitely made their presence known by dancing as ostentatiously as possible!
Nick Brown
April 14, 2014 @ 5:50 pm
My friend and I were 5 rows back from the stage, our seats were about 15 feet from the guard rail where Strait comes off stage. A young lady (23 years old) who sat beside me commented all evening how great looking Strait is at his age, when the show was over and Strait was walking off stage, as he approached the spot the young lady was sitting, she jumped up and almost got over the guard rail before security got to her. She wanted him bad, and on top of that, she was very attractive.
Sir Topemhat
April 16, 2014 @ 2:50 pm
One FGL is too many! -_-
ShadeGrown
April 13, 2014 @ 8:20 pm
I don’t share this opinion of his completely… the instrumentation and rythym is a big reason I listen to this style of music. There is alot of soul to be heard in good country music and not just during the vocals. This opinion of Collin’s is a big reason why I never listen to the radio under any circumstance. He’s right about alot of the lyrics turning to shit but he helped kill the other half.
Gena R.
April 14, 2014 @ 7:24 am
“Country music has never been about the chord progression or the complexity of the music. It”™s always been about lyrics and stories, and real life slices of life.”
A bit simplistic, but I certainly agree about the lyrics. As a young teen getting into country in the early ’90s, most of those songs were like my window to the adult world, its disappointments and modest pleasures. Little if any pandering to the young-‘uns with party-all-the-time anthems.
As for the music, while country does have certain aspects of its sound that make it distinct from other genres, I think what Collin meant was that country is less about innovation and experimentation — playing around with sound for its own sake — than rock or (to a lesser extent) pop, and more about using the music simply to serve the lyrical content. (For the record, he was never one of my favorites, but I did like a few of his songs — such as “Love, Me,” “Little Rock,” and “I Think About You” — and I could see where he’s coming from.)
Chris
April 14, 2014 @ 8:29 am
Even if you hate Collin’s music it speaks volumes when a very pop country artist like him speaks out against bro country, which is far more pop and rap with overproduced synthesized music and beats completely replacing country instruments, generic copycat pop/rap music and lyrics all about the same thing (partying), and rapping. Bro country is a bash on country that says country isn’t good enough so we’re going all out pop and rap. Country/pop and country/rock is far more country than bro country, which isn’t country at all.
Sir Topemhat
April 16, 2014 @ 2:58 pm
Bro-country is just shiot. Country + rap = crap. -_-
Clint
April 13, 2014 @ 11:27 pm
This is coming from the guy who sang about a “Little Red Rodeo”, so he’s another hypocrite. Besides, his argument is backwards anyway. Country music IS a certain sound. Poetic lyrics and good storytelling don’t make it Country.
Trigger
April 14, 2014 @ 11:09 am
I don’t think that Collin was trying to make some firm point about how there’s no sound equivalent to country music whatsoever, I think he was trying to make a broader point about the lack of substance in the genre lyrically, and insulating that point by pointing out that many different sonic influences have gone into making the sound of country music from the very beginning, so that is not the specific issue he is raising.
What happens every single time someone brings up that country doesn’t sound like country anymore? We hear about how they said that about Patsy Cline and Eddy Arnold and on an on with boring arguments about how “country music must evolve” and it’s “always been pop.” By zeroing in on the lyrics, Collin is making a point that can resonate more universally. He’s also making a point that DOESN’T render him a hypocrite, because most of his songs did have lyrical substance, even if they didn’t match up with the traditional style of country sonically.
Scotty J
April 14, 2014 @ 11:28 am
One of my pet peeves about ‘our side’ of this discussion on the current state of country music is the absolutism of so many people. The ‘if it ain’t like ol’ Hank it ain’t country’ argument bugs the hell out of me. I think country music is at it’s best when it has a broad base of music stylings while staying within the traditional parameters of the genre. Look back at any of the best eras of country music and you see many pop country stars like Cine and Arnold in the 1960s or Mandrell in the late 70s early 80s.
But now the thing is we don’t have that broad base AT ALL. I could live with some Lady Antebellum or Keith Urban or even Luke Bryan if they were balanced out by more substantive and more traditional artists.
This really is the crux of the issue for me. Market to the kiddies if you must but to just disregard the traditional fan base of country music is so short sighted.
Acca Dacca
April 14, 2014 @ 2:01 pm
That’s my problem with this argument as well. I’m not a traditionalist but I’m certainly not a modernist, either. But at least all of the “country music must evolve” people can agree on what they think and have a logical, if not sound, argument. I’ve not met two traditionalists that can agree on when country “went bad” or who’s the real deal. Just like that guy up top insinuating that Collin Raye’s music isn’t much better than what he’s criticizing. So, let’s get this straight: someone’s on your side and you’re still going to stick the knife in them? And people wonder why traditionalism is a mostly minority concern in country music.
Clint
April 14, 2014 @ 6:24 pm
You ARE a modernist. As president of the Big & Rich fan club, the inventors of C-rap, you are most definitely a modernist.
And Collin Raye is not on my side. He is not, nor has he ever been a traditionalist. Truth be known, he’s probably a Rock n Roller at heart.
Clint
April 14, 2014 @ 6:12 pm
One of my pet peeves is when people use extreme hyperbole to make their point. Who said it had to be ol hank? Colin Raye was Pop when guys like Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Lawrence were big.
Scotty J
April 14, 2014 @ 6:40 pm
I wasn’t even referring to you I was commenting on Trigger’s comment. But you do see comments on here often about how something isn’t ‘real country’. I’ve seen people here claim that George Strait and Alan Jackson aren’t country.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
TX Music Jim
April 14, 2014 @ 1:10 pm
Trig, you sir are on a roll lately. I agree Collin was speaking to the lack of lyrical substance and depth not how tradtional the music itself sounds. Never was much of a CR fan but “Little Rock” was one of hte better written songs from that era for sure. I’m 47 years old maybe I do have “old man syndrome” but so what most anybody that thinks things through logically should realize Bro country is sub par lyrically. My local sports station does a weekly segment were they make fun of the latest bro country by pointing out how many seconds into the song before beer, girls, trucks etc or mentioned. It’s becoming fashioable to make fund of this crap in many circles these days !
Scotty J
April 14, 2014 @ 1:26 pm
Ha! That new Cole Swindell song has to be it. After the musical intro about the third word is tailgate followed by something about moonshine or something.
Clint
April 14, 2014 @ 5:58 pm
He was not trying to make a broader point. He was strategically speaking about lyrics because he knows he was murdering Country Music in the 90’s with Pop songs, granted, a few of which had good lyrics. I was turning the radio off on this guy back when he was popular, and I’m not a senior citizen. A 4/4 shuffle with fiddles and steel about trucks, beer, and girls is a shitty Country song. On the other hand, there are Pop songs with good lyrics. Right now, the radio is nothing but shitty Pop. The music isn’t Country or lyrically deep.
Acca Dacca
April 14, 2014 @ 7:06 pm
You ARE a modernist. As president of the Big & Rich fan club, the inventors of C-rap, you are most definitely a modernist. And Collin Raye is not on my side. He is not, nor has he ever been a traditionalist. Truth be known, he”™s probably a Rock n Roller at heart.
Pardon me, I was actually talking about the commenter by the name of the pistolero that first commented on this article. As to the nature of my own feelings on country music, I don’t think you’re giving me my due credit. Yes, I’m a fanatical fan of Big & Rich and given that I didn’t mention them here, you’ve no doubt read some of my comments elsewhere. But just because I like B&R doesn’t mean I’m a modernist, nor that I want everybody else’s music to sound like them. In fact, I DON’T want ANYONE else to sound like them. Their whole mantra is a combination of genres, not trying to be “hip” in an apologetic way like FGL, Jason Aldean or Luke Bryan. I want to hear the twang in a song, trust me, and I have an affinity for a well-told lyrical story that hasn’t been gratified in years since the radio has devolved into party song anthems. Liking one modern/mainstream act doesn’t make me a modernist, nor does it mean that I align myself with the other side. Hell, I’m a regular reader of this site. Do you think I come here just for kicks? And don’t most readers here like at least one mainstream artist? I’m not particularly fond of Miranda Lambert or Kacey Musgraves (for various, specific reasons), but are those people that do modernists as well?
I don’t consider myself to be a modernist or traditionalist because I’m aware that I’m decidedly in the middle of the road when it comes to my wants and desires for the country music genre. I want good lyrics, interesting musicianship, authenticity and most of all, TWANG. I hate bro country and pretty much all of the peddlers of it without question. But, I like Big & Rich and don’t try to hide it, but they aren’t bro country, don’t make laundry list songs and always include fiddles, banjos and some slide guitar in their songs. I don’t mind if my country music has a little bit of pop in it as long as it’s still decidedly country in format. Collin Raye, I would say, is very much country pop and I wasn’t insinuating that he was a traditionalist. But when it comes right down to it, most traditionalists probably want substantive music as well as traditional music. Well, a lot of his songs had major substance, even if they didn’t sound all that country.
Chris
April 15, 2014 @ 8:18 am
“And Collin Raye is not on my side. He is not, nor has he ever been a traditionalist. Truth be known, he”™s probably a Rock n Roller at heart.”
If you’re against country or “country” acts or radio going or selling out to other genres, especially pop and rap, and bad lyrics and synthesized overproduced music replacing traditional country instruments, then Collin is on your side no matter what kind of country you like. Ok you’re a traditionalist. There are mainstream country artists cutting traditional and traditional leaning songs with traditional influences. Bro country has none whatsoever. Its influences are pop, rock and rap and it doesn’t even do those well. The more bro country, the less traditional and other types of country artists record and millions of people hear on radio = bad for the future of country music. If Jay-Z, Lady Gaga or Katy Perry speak out against country going pop and rap (bro country) they are on our side. Even one artist who may have been forced to make bro country spoke out against it.
Tom the Polack
April 14, 2014 @ 6:01 am
Mr. Raye said a lot of truth, but I can’t agree with this sentence: ”Country music has never been about the chord progression or the complexity of the music. It”™s always been about lyrics and stories, and real life slices of life.”
Nowadays country or better to say ‘country’ is lacking traditional sound. As Justin Tubb used to sing in his protest song against 1980’s pop -country: ‘What’s wrong with fiddles and steel’. Without use of the traditional instruments we can’t even speak about country music. That’s all.
Trigger
April 14, 2014 @ 11:15 am
I understand what you’re saying, but fiddles and steel guitar are not chord progressions, they’re instruments. What he’s taking about is that blues music for example usually works within a few very rigid chord progressions. That’s what makes it blues music, is the chord progression. Much of jazz works a similar way. Even punk music has mostly a similar chord progression, and it’s one very similar to reggae, and that’s why punk and reggae blend into ska so easily.
Country however, has never had a pre-defined chord progression. Instead, it borrows a lot from the blues, but not always. If there was one defining chord progression formula for country, it would be that it’s very simple compared to other genres—the whole “three chords and the truth” model. That’s what Collin meant when he said there wasn’t a “complexity” to it, but the weight in country music was in the words.
Ed
April 14, 2014 @ 1:41 pm
I think the point of Bobby Bones’ comments was simply that many people don’t just like one kind of music anymore. They listen to country, rock, pop, rap. The old model of these independent pillars of genre that are impermeable to other influences is going out the window. If a current country artist grew up on Garth Brooks and 90s hip hop, why are they not allowed to integrate the two in their music? After all, they are artists and should be able to make what they want. Since much of the audience is evolving to be similar, it’s not surprising that young listeners are attracted to music that integrates their favorite sounds (even if that means crossing over genres). A true artist will make what they want to make and leave it at that. Genre is a stupid concept. Like what you like and let others do the same!!
Jack Williams
April 14, 2014 @ 2:24 pm
I listened to Bobby Bones comments. As far as I’m concerned, he was just being a flippant ageist clown. When Bones talked about the new country artists stars, he didn’t even talk about their music. He just taked about their clothes. Shallow. And suggesting that all of the old guard, including Johnny Cash, was dismissive of Randy Travis when he started out seems highly unlikely.
Sir Topemhat
April 16, 2014 @ 3:34 pm
Mixing Garth Brooks with 90’s hip hop sounds like the formula for a shit and vomit smoothie. -_-
Karl
April 14, 2014 @ 6:36 am
At 52, I’ve already seen (heard) many musical styles / genre’s come and go. New Wave, Disco, Prog, Classic Rock (Zep, AcDc), Folk-Rock, etc. Each one of these specific styles dominated the charts for a time. That time is gone, just as 90’s style country is gone.
Each of these was targeted at the teens, tweens and twenty somethings. Just as the new FGL, Juke Bryan style is now doing. It will remain, for a while, and then pass, Then something else, just as pointless will take it’s place, marketed to the teens tweens and twenty somethings. Complaining that it exists is as useless as complaining about the weather.
“Old Man Syndrome” is a stupid remark, and will hasten this particular styles demise, but only because it was spoken in public. Nobody wants to be told that they dont matter anymore.
markf
April 14, 2014 @ 9:05 am
Unfortunately, disco has never gone away.
It just changes its name.
I remember listening to the Dick Clark show, kids rating songs.
“I give it a nine cause it has a good beat and you can dance to it”
Now I think it might be called EDM.
It’s the same crap.
markf
April 14, 2014 @ 9:05 am
(responding to Karl)
Karl
April 14, 2014 @ 9:39 am
Excellent. Disco (BeeGee’s Donna Summer, etc) is dance music, and so is EDM (Daft Punk, etc) but they most certainly do not sound alike, or appeal to the same audience. Much like 90’s Country and 2010’s country, there’s almost nothing in there that resembles each other, except titles “Dance” or “Country”.
The one common thread is that they are marketed at the same target audience. The younger crowd, that spends their money on entertainment rather than schools mortgages, and family. The target audience of Disco, are now the “Old Farts” to the edm crowd. And the 80’s 90’s Country audience is now the “Old Farts” to the FGL, Jason Aldean crowd.
When your chosen musical style passes into being yesterdays style where the Old Guys listen to it, not the kids, your genre is dead. And no amount of complaining is going to bring it back to the top of the charts.
At 50+, I know I’m not going to be the target, and I’ve got to seek out what I like on my own. Its not going to be the hit on the radio, or TV shows.
kay
April 14, 2014 @ 8:48 am
Love what Collin Raye said. I have always loved country music but I do not like the way it is changing If artists want to be pop etc why don;t they just go there if they want to play and sing with Nelly and Kravitz etc go to their music dont bring them here. I know artist have to do what they have to do to survive but sure wish someone would bring real country back like George Strait and Conway etc I personally am tired of country radio thinking the only music out there we want to hear is Luke Blake FGL and Miranda I’d rather listen to some Scotty McCreery Frankie Ballard Dustin Lynch etc Guess Ill just have to keep the cd’s in the car.
MJBods
April 14, 2014 @ 9:06 am
I have a lot of respect for Collin Raye. He comes across as genuinely concerned about country music.
bob
April 14, 2014 @ 9:22 am
Is Collin’s comment, “It”™s the gatekeepers quote unquote that we used to have in Nashville which are the label heads who used to decide what was good enough to put out and what was not.”, essentially correct? Are the label heads deciding what gets played? As one who remembers the “payola” scandals of the late 50’s, early 60’s, I’ve often wondered about the process of getting a song onto country radio. I would not be shocked if a bit of currency changed hands.
Andrew
April 14, 2014 @ 10:51 am
Payola does still exist, they just can’t be as blatant about it as they once were.
Bob Phelan
April 14, 2014 @ 1:06 pm
At our NSAI meeting this week, some fellow songwriters who were at Tin Pan South in Nashville this month had some interesting things to say about what they saw and heard. The most interesting to me, was that during a Pitch-to Publisher session, one of the Publishers said “Thank God, I went a whole day and didn’t hear one single “Bro-Country” song…”. BUT: There were also publishers there who were only interested in the same old Bro-Country garbage. This being said, I guess the tide might slowly be turning on the publisher side of things, but the Label heads are still the ones making the decisions on what gets produced/released and what doesn’t. Until that changes, we are stuck with this stuff.
Camie jo
April 14, 2014 @ 9:28 am
We’ve been introduced to many visionaries…but their visions are deferred and unheard.
Don’t buy the dumbed_ down_one_ directional versions and they will fall by the wayside.
Michael
April 14, 2014 @ 2:06 pm
Collin may not be be playing traditional country but he sure has a lot of respect to it. What Collin’s complaint here has more to do with the quality of the lyrics being dumbed down. Musically as a music fan (i love a little bit of everything. i judge a song i like based on it’s quality rather than the genre it belong. in country, i could like an Eddie Noack or a Hi-Flyers or Ernest Tubb or a Garth Brooks or Luke Bryan song without a hint of irony), I always go to something with soul. Sure Luke Bryan has some good songs but unfortunately those weren’t singles and if that would be released as singles it sure wouldn’t be on top nowadays.
As a listener I did notice this on country mainstream. From Luke to Jason to Justin to FGL and their contemporaries, the non-sense soulless songs are the ones that being played over and over. Might have something to do with the new radio demographics. I don’t think music fans who really care about music still listens to the radio. That leaves us with the soccer moms and culture savy zombies who only care what’s “cool” or mainstream joggling he radio (and TV) dials. I could be wrong though. Just an opinion.
Sir Topemhat
April 16, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
Michael, I think you’re right.
Bear
April 14, 2014 @ 4:39 pm
Also as another aside, maybe it is just the Bay Area but I saw Rosanne Cash in SF last week and the audience was like a bunch or corpses. She tried hard to get the engaged and dancing and singing along… They didn’t even join in with her on her cover of ‘Ode To Billie Joe’! I was baffled and kind annoyed but I danced my butt off and shouted and scream and sang along. Poor Rosanne looked like she was on autopilot because the audience was giving her no direction to go in. She did a smokin’ rendition of an Ernest Tubb tune as well burned up the stage.
As I said I saw Kathy Mattea also recently. That audience was slightly better, they sang along at her insistence and she took requests and the audience just felt more awake, not much more mind you.
I have experienced this a lot recently at shows so with all the moanin’ going on about country music’s direction, at least around me they don’t seem too jazzed about the “classics” either. Maybe the audiences did love it, I don’t know, I just felt zero energy from the people around me.
Matt
April 14, 2014 @ 6:57 pm
“It”™s not really the artists I blame, and it”™s not the songwriters I blame because they”™re just trying to make a living. It”™s the gatekeepers quote unquote that we used to have in Nashville which are the label heads who used to decide what was good enough to put out and what was not. And now they”™ve just totally given into that.”
I’ve been saying something similar for a long time. Honestly, I don’t mind an occasional party anthem or novelty song. Hell, even Johnny Cash had “A Boy Named Sue.” The problem is when those party anthems become the rule instead of the exception.
"Big Rig"
April 16, 2014 @ 9:49 am
The fact that Collin Raye was/is not “traditional country music” or even “honky tonk” (to differentiate string-band country music from electric-guitar country music) is actually immaterial to the truth of what he said.
Collin Raye may have been a “new guy” or a “modernist” in his brief heyday, but he understood then, as now, where the music came from and what was important about it. The moral, social and even religious way of life that was experienced by and championed by the greats of country music was the bedrock of their greatness.
Fact is, I could go play a country bar, honky-tonk or even a Texas Roadhouse restaurant TOMORROW and no one would bat an eye if I brought Hank, Buck, Willie and Jones to the party in my set list along with good Gospel songs and some patriotic anthems. Hard-working, decent people understand, embrace and celebrate those things when they are authentically represented in song.
Only shallow, short-sighted asshole kids from the latest two generations (or their parents who refuse to grow the hell up) are so enamored with the drinkin’, partyin’, southern-doofus caricatures that pass for “new country” or “bro country” or whatever the hell it is. It’s dumb-ass frat-party music with the lyrical IQ of a cabbage.
The kinds of people who made Tammy, Loretta, Dolly, Porter, Hank, Buck, Johnny, Willie, Merle, Jones, Strait and so many others the stars they were are the SAME kinds of people who make up what is great about our music and our nation today. They’re decent, honest, family-centered, God-fearing men and women who can relate to one another’s struggles, passions and joys. REAL country music brings the WHOLE spectrum of our lives out for people to share in, and there’s damned fine picking to boot. Long live the people’s music and God bless America.
Sir Topemhat
April 16, 2014 @ 3:47 pm
Amen Big Rig! God bless America and God bless you too!
Janice Brooks
April 16, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
I’m about a third of the way through this and it was hard to put down. Can’t wait to see how he handled the changes of the mid 1990s
Applejack
April 17, 2014 @ 8:23 pm
Hey, I noticed that the website Taste of Country responded to Colin Raye’s statements with a short article and video called “Quit Complaining About Modern Country Music.”
Here’s a link:
http://tasteofcountry.com/encore-quit-complaining-about-modern-country-music/
“The larger point is that what makes good country music is subjective. Is a song a bad song because you don”™t like it? More often than not the hitmakers of yesterday who whine about today”™s country, sound like they”™re squeezing sour grapes. For every Collin Raye, you”™ll find two vets like Ronnie Dunn and Kenny Rogers willing to defend the modern country sound.”
It kind of shows how clueless these country PR websites are.
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