Members of Luke Bryan Camp Mad Over George Strait ACM Win
At Sunday night’s 49th Annual Academy of Country Music awards, George Strait walked away with the evening’s top prize; the coveted Entertainer of the Year award, 25 years after he first received the award in 1989, and arguably the first time in 25 years a traditional country music artist has received the distinction. As “King George” has been wrapping up the final legs of his farewell tour, capping off a historic, Hall of Fame career that has seen 60 #1 hits, 33 Platinum records, and over 68 million records sold, the country industry has been giving him a symbolic standing ovation by bestowing him with some of the industry’s top prizes.
Read: Saving Country Music’s Official 2014 ACM Awards LIVE Blog
However some apparently are not happy about it, especially in the camp of the 2013 ACM Entertainer of the Year, Luke Bryan. With the fan voted dynamic of the ACM’s Entertainer of the Year, it has made it necessary for artists to lobby for fan’s participation, and none lobbied harder than the reigning ACM Entertainer. Luke Bryan and his camp put out an entire series of vote-getting videos leading up to the ACM’s of Luke crashing parties (Luke’s latest album is called Crash My Party), including a birthday party, a wedding, a baby shower, and a girl’s night. The series of highly-produced videos that clearly had a large advertising budget behind them was capped with a very emotional, tear-stained plea for Luke Bryan votes, showing his inner circle erupting in his dressing room during Luke’s 2013 win, and his parents crying about how much the award meant, especially in light of the passing of Luke’s siblings.
All of the other candidates, including George Strait, released videos asking for their fans to vote for them as well, but none put out even close to the effort of Luke’s camp. The result was both a very financial, and very emotional attachment to Luke Bryan winning Entertainer of the Year in 2014. As the Luke Bryan camp looked at it, it was theirs to lose …. and they did. And then emotions ran over.
Twitter blew up with angry Luke Bryan fans, the majority of which did not see George Strait as an “Entertainer.” That’s how Luke Bryan’s merchandising manager saw it (a spot once held by artist Cole Swindell), and his tweet Sunday night in the aftermath of the Entertainer announcement sparked off a Twitter storm, with many Luke Bryan fans agreeing, and many traditional country fans coming to King George’s defense. “It’s called Entertainer of the year on ho’s your career … Unreal Acm’s! Not an entertainer,” said Luke’s Merch manager Hunter Jobes.
Hunter Jobes since deleted the tweet, and deleted his account.
Many others parroted the idea however, while others asked how there was any way Luke Bryan could lose a popular vote over George Strait with the type of social outreach Luke has compared to Strait—the same exact concern that was raised by Taylor Swift fans in 2013 when it seemed clear there was no way they could have been bested by the Luke Bryan camp. Neither side likely took into consideration that there is an industry vote that is also tabulated in the results, though the ACMs will not publish either the results of the fan vote, or the formula with which the eventual winner is found through to help alleviate some of the anger and misunderstanding the fan votes result in.
The fact that so many can’t see George Strait as an entertainer despite his historic, Hall of Fame record and career speaks to the widening cultural gap in country music. For many years country music’s traditional country fans have said there’s no respect in the new generation for the artists that came before and made it possible for an artist like Luke Bryan to be bestowed untold riches through the country music institution. And last night, in a wave of emotions, the true colors of many of country’s new generation shined through.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 10:40 am
As an aside, if you watch the video in the article, you’ll notice that the announcement for Luke Bryan for Entertainer by Shania Twain is abruptly cut off. That’s because she called him “Luke Bryant,” very likely because Shania had no idea who he was.
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/2013-acm-awards-flubs-follies-funny-moments
James C.
April 7, 2014 @ 2:32 pm
Who is Luke Bryan? Never heard of him. Couldn’t carry George’s jock strap. Stop whining.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 2:54 pm
I love how feigning to be uninformed is becoming the new way to claim moral high ground.
bobsled
April 8, 2014 @ 10:59 am
First time I’ve agreed with you in awhile.
This new generation of immature young adults who think it’s cool to be as hateful and smart ass as possible behind their computer screens.
“Luke who? Never heard of him.” – – How does pretending you’re woefully ignorant make anyone other than yourself look ridiculous? Why not just say, “Luke Bryan couldn’t hold George’s jock strap” without pretending you live under a rock? I don’t like the Kardashians but I don’t say “Kim who?” when there’s more couldn’t-give-a-crap-less news articles about them each day. Like it or not, you know damn well who Luke Bryan is.
Sonas
April 8, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
babsled, it’s sarcasm, lighten up! Take a look! He got 38 likes, one of which is from me. Loved his comment. I turned my back on country music when Shania Twain became a superstar. If it wasn’t for Trigger I would never have heard of Luke BRYANT or none of these bubble gum machine artist that appear to be so popular. I stopped listening to pop country way before I knew of this site.
Doc
April 10, 2014 @ 6:55 am
suck it up fans of thomasLuther. have some class and acknowledge true talent as opposed to this hippie pan flash pop culture koolaid you seem so willing to drink.
Nanette Siemer
April 7, 2014 @ 11:35 pm
Sorry traditional country fan here. Luke Brian only sings for the teeny boppers. I go along w/ James C. Brian couldn’t hold Straits jock strap.
Nanette Siemer
April 7, 2014 @ 11:39 pm
If Luke Brian actually said the following, “Oh, let the old King of Country fart have his due!” Bryan said. “Because come next year, we”™ll be startin”™ a decade-long dynasty, man!”
LUKE BRIANS CAREER IS OVER
Nona Kaenel
April 9, 2014 @ 9:33 am
OK I really don’t know who Luke is and don’t care. George is true country and a REAL cowboy. No baggy jeans – he fills out his Wranglers well. No plastic cowboy hats – he wears the real thing. No nasal singing voice – he has a real voice. He is pure class – you won’t catch him making out with some tramp.
Shay Dorsey
April 12, 2014 @ 1:14 pm
In response to the cry baby Nashville Pop Country Rap Crap people that are crying for not winning the EOTY award…here is a blurb that I took off of Wikipedia that describes who beat you out….{Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014. He has been nominated for more CMA and ACM awards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist. In 2009, he broke Conway Twitty’s previous record for the most number-one hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart when his 44 number one singles surpassed Twitty’s 40.[3] Counting all music charts, Strait has amassed a total of 60 number-one hits, breaking a record also previously set by Twitty.}…Now go put that in your “Dixie cup” and drink it while sitting on your tailgate as your girl is two stepping with me to the COUNTRY MUSIC sounds of George Strait…ok I’m done.
CJ
April 26, 2014 @ 2:00 am
You’re missing the point 100%. The award was for entertainer of the year. The award wasn’t for who has the most legendary career. George shouldn’t have been a nominee in the first place. It was BS for Luke, Miranda, Taylor & whoever else to have them up against someone who’s been selling records like crazy since before most of them were born.
Eli lockE
November 5, 2014 @ 10:27 am
i dunno, I saw George play staples center, and I can tell you right now that the sold out crowd had Hell of a time. I’d say it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
lucy
April 23, 2014 @ 4:16 am
George Strait also won the Ranker´s Choice for Best World Singer!! Vote here in the new ranking!http://trnk.in/bestsinger
CLO
May 30, 2014 @ 10:02 pm
First off it is called respect, for a relatively new artist to disrespect a legend will get you nowhere in a hurry! George sold more albums and had more #1 hits than Luke Bryan will ever sale. The bottom line is that ETOY goes to gross concert sales(Not who YOU think is the better entertainer) and George’s farewell tour has set records that maybe the young Luke can hope to match someday when he retires! By the way I don’t recall Jr having to campaign to win the same award 5 yrs in a row? He let his ticket sales speak for themselves!! That is it, good night!
Phil
July 5, 2015 @ 6:12 pm
Stop Trolling.
Trigger
July 5, 2015 @ 7:02 pm
Phil,
You have left over 50 comments here. My comments sections are not for you to go down and harassing every single commenter who left a comment well over a year ago. This is a dead article, and a dead issue.
Phil
July 6, 2015 @ 12:00 pm
Dead Issue?! Here’s An Idea: If You Don’t Like Something Then Don’t Listen To It.
Noah Eaton
April 7, 2014 @ 10:48 am
Bryan himself needs to make a statement in response to this mess, and fast.
As atrocious as most of his music is, Bryan doesn’t strike me as that type who will stoke these kind of flames (aside from the fact it would make bad public relations for him and his management team).I mean, could you imagine Bryan saying something along these lines:
*
Earlier today, Bryan was available for comment.
“Oh, let the old King of Country fart have his due!” Bryan said. “Because come next year, we’ll be startin’ a decade-long dynasty, man!”
*
Still, I can’t recall a classless response from within any entertainer’s management team with regards to EITHER the ACMs or the CMAs as far as I can ever recall! =/
Chase
April 7, 2014 @ 10:53 am
I think all of the fame has gone to his head.
Noah Eaton
April 7, 2014 @ 10:56 am
Well, sure.
The point is, I just don’t see Bryan parroting his disgruntled fans’ accusations. That’s the kind of sore loser demeanor you expect from a washed-up has-been who never fully scaled to superstar status despite collecting a small handful of chart hits, or an outspoken also-ran thus far like Chase Rice, not a superstar of this youthful demographic.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 11:25 am
Just to clarify, I’m not saying that Luke Bryan put anyone up to saying anything. I really have no idea what his state-of-mind is about this. I think he’s probably disappointed, but I don’t see him trying to personally undercut George Strait.
As I tried to illustrate in this article, I think the Luke Bryan camp built themselves up for a big letdown. There were a lot of folks saying that George Strait was a shoe-in no matter what happened in fan voting. They had to at least be somewhat cognizant of that likely outcome, but the amount of effort they put out to win I think speaks to how they thought it was theirs to lose.
And who knows, maybe Luke Bryan did win the fan vote. And if he did, they have a legitimate beef. That’s why these behind-the-scenes issues matter, and why I raised them.
Scotty J
April 7, 2014 @ 11:45 am
Yet another example of why fan voting shouldn’t be involved if you are going to claim to be a legit and prestigious awards show. They need to either go all in with this and have every category be fan voted and post the tally online or do away with it all together because as it is right now this entire awards show feels rigged.
I wonder do they have safeguards of some accounting firm verifying the results like the big time (Oscars, Grammys) awards shows?
Trigger
April 8, 2014 @ 5:32 pm
My guess is this is the 2nd year in a row where the fan vote did not matter for Entertainer of the Year. So why have it? These are the types of questions NOT coming from concerned, active country music fans, but passive pop country music fans, that are eroding the integrity of the ACM’s one fan at a time.
Wag
April 9, 2014 @ 4:05 am
@ Scott J in regards to “Rigged”..
You stated it seems rigged, doesn’t that sound familiar… Sort of like the Presidential Election…
S Nestleroad
April 7, 2014 @ 6:44 pm
Did he really say that????
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 8:27 pm
Noah was being sarcastic.
Nick
April 7, 2014 @ 10:54 am
What a silly thing to say. All active, touring musicians are entertainers. Not liking his music doesn’t mean he’s not eligible for the award. Some of this new crop seem to have no problem displaying total ignorance when it come to things that don’t gratify them.
I do agree that Luke doesn’t seem like a jerk, and in keeping with that, could at least publicly congratulate George Strait on the win.
gtrman86
April 7, 2014 @ 11:01 am
Here’s the thing, Luke Aldean is just a no talent schmuck, George Strait is the real deal, todays artists are not paying their dues as they would never be able to and thanks to legions of brain dead fans they continue to have successful careers, unforunately this is a good hard case of seperating the boys from the men.
Huge win for George and traditional Country fans!!!
SV
April 7, 2014 @ 10:55 am
I like LB. Dig deep into his , music and you will find some very, very good songs. My Kinda Night sucks, but George Strait has a song called “Milk Cow Blues” and that is a bad song too.
I went to a George Strait concert a month ago and it was the most entertained I’ve been at a concert all year (given we were the only people standing up the entire concert, bunch of boring people in our section) So I would have to say George Strait is clearly the entertainer of the year.
the pistolero
April 7, 2014 @ 11:12 am
but George Strait has a song called “Milk Cow Blues” and that is a bad song too
I love that song, although I do understand and respect that others might not. But to put those two songs in the same league is a bit off, IMO.
As to the topic at hand, the last paragraph of this article nailed it.
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
April 9, 2014 @ 9:08 am
I love Milk Cow Blues too! It’s great to see him getting all blues-y.
JR
April 7, 2014 @ 11:42 am
“Milk Cow Blues” is not an original George Strait song. The song was written in the 1930s and was made famous by musicians in all generations. Elvis, Willie, and I am pretty sure at some point of his career Bob Wills recorded it as well.
I freely admit that every musician out there as a song or two that isn’t good, and all of them have at least one that I can like. Typically if George Strait recorded it, it’s going to be good. And as of late, I haven’t heard a song by Luke Bryan that I like. Mainly because I haven’t bought his music and occasionally I will hear it on the radio and much like other artists, the stuff on the radio is catchy and in my opinion no good.
I say all of this because musicians like George Strait have stood the test of time and have consistently sold out arenas that hold over 100,000 people for over 30 years. Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and if they were still around Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and George Jones all have that same thing going. 50 years later people still love their music. Hell, I saw Billy Joe Shaver the other nights and his crowd was pretty large.
Me personally, I don’t think the current “super-stars” will have that. I don’t see my grand kids listening to Luke Bryan like I still listen to Bob Wills and Hank William Sr.
Congrats to George Strait, and may his music live on forever.
Philip
April 7, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
Oh come on! What fools! Milk Cow Blues is a flipping’ standard by the pioneers of Swing & Blues!
Geez.. Get a clue
Tom
April 8, 2014 @ 10:31 am
Milk Cow Blues isn’t a George Strait song, it’s an old blues tune from the 1930s that’s been covered by everyone from Robert Johnson to Elvis to the Kinks to Aerosmith. Most people who like music dig it. Most people who simply use music as a backdrop to getting high and getting laid probably don’t.
Seth Millis
April 7, 2014 @ 10:55 am
Luke’s twitter account is @LukeBryanOnline and as soon as I found this post I called his camp flat out and asked how the fans could have such a dumb reaction along with posting the link.
SV
April 7, 2014 @ 11:11 am
The worst part about this is you have people like Bobby Bonerhead backing this up.
https://twitter.com/mrBobbyBones/status/453160305132978176
I hate this fucking douchebag. He took over our local AM radio show and the backlash is ridiculous, but the station won’t even acknowledge any complaints.
SV
April 7, 2014 @ 11:13 am
I got Mr. Bones to reply to me. What an idiot this guy is.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 11:28 am
Bobby Bones is a whole other issue completely. Out of respect for some tired of seeing me harping on him, I’ve been biting my tongue. But he’s been crossing lines left and right, and someone needs to stand up to this bully.
SV
April 7, 2014 @ 12:11 pm
I’ve been going back and forth with him over his Twitter. In two Tweets he’s called me a chump and a moron hahaha. What a tool.
As for the Milk Cow reference, it’s a largely forgettable Strait song which is what a lot of Luke Bryan’s mainstream hits will become down the road, probably should have made that more clear. Dig deeper into Luke Bryan’s music from a few years back and there’s some songs that are really good that never made it to the radio.
TheShitGuy
April 7, 2014 @ 2:18 pm
Bobby Bones? Never heard of her.
NPC
April 8, 2014 @ 12:39 am
Trigger, don’t let the complaints of the few dictate what you write and don’t write. You always bring up the underlying factors that most people are completely unaware of; you are the literal New Media of country music. Bobby Bones is the face of Big Radio consolidation, and people need to know why their stations are being transformed from local fixtures into corporate sinkholes. As much as some people complained about Taylor Swift articles, Bobby Bones’s total apathy towards the legacy and substance of country music is an even more serious threat. Perhaps the 50% ratings declines across Cumulus stations are also happening to Clear Channel stations.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/04/03/Clouds-Over-Cumulus-Radio-Ratings-Plunge
Matt B.
April 7, 2014 @ 11:11 am
Given that he didn’t comment when his song was called the worst ever, don’t expect anything here. His label? Maybe. But I doubt it. But this guy likely was or will be fired.
Michael
April 7, 2014 @ 4:25 pm
Or maybe he already has a top 10 single. The Luke Bryan Merchandise Manager is the quickest way to become a top pop country star. Just ask Cole Swindell.
Matt b.
April 8, 2014 @ 1:23 pm
Swindell went to college with Luke Bryan.
Micahel
April 8, 2014 @ 1:33 pm
Swindell was also Luke Bryans merchandise manager before he started his “music” career.
Ballgame
April 8, 2014 @ 2:24 pm
Well, if Jobes gets fired, then maybe you should go apply for the job since it’s a guaranteed avenue to get a record deal and subsequent number #1 song. Some of you folks are so damned shallow despite thinking you are so damned smart, it’s downright comical. Go ahead, get that application ready!
Michael
April 8, 2014 @ 3:08 pm
I’d rather have a job cleaning outhouses then take a job where I’d be forced to attend Luke Bryan concerts.
Kelcy Salisbury
April 7, 2014 @ 11:16 am
To the poster above who said “Luke doesn’t seem like a jerk”…
I’ve met Luke & was forced to work pretty closely with him & his crew for a couple of days a few years back (2009 or 2010) for a festival type concert. He was an obnoxious, entitled douchebag the entire time, treated all the other acts involved (they were all “red dirt” type acts, Luke was only there because the beer sponsor insisted that Pat Green wasn’t mainstream enough to headline) like dirt, complained about everything, and then played the absolute worst set of the day. Drunk, tone deaf, offensive to families with kids, completely obnoxious. He hit for the cycle that day. In fact, a large percentage of the crowd left long before his set ended. As one father said on his way out “I can’t believe I bothered waiting in the rain with my kids for this crap. The openers were way better.” (may not be word for word but it’s close.) Take away Luke Bryan’s light show, smoke machines, backing tracks, etc & there is absolutely zero substance. I’m not even going to get started on the way he treated the volunteers working the catering tent.
The capper on the day was when he came on stage (drunk), immediately following Jason Boland & The Stragglers & shouted “are you ready to here some real country music yet?”, followed by the band launching into an AC/DC cover while he dry humped every piece of equipment on stage and spilled whiskey on the security guys. Real class act. Real entertainer.
I’m all for giving somebody the benefit of the doubt, but in this case it seems like the people working for him feel that it’s ok to spew this kind of nonsense because within their camp it probably is perfectly ok.
The sad part is that the guy had a tiny bit of actual talent & even had one reasonably ok single early in his career. Not great but not bad (We Rode In Trucks). Now he is nothing but a complete joke to anybody who even likes music (if you’re a fan of synthesizers, autotune & lip syncing I guess it doesn’t much matter) or any serious musician. The man has completely sold his soul (assuming he ever had one) for fleeting popularity in the internet age. More than likely his 15 minutes will be up soon & a decade from now he will be viewed as an unholy Billy Ray Cyrus/Nickleback combo that nobody will admit to ever having liked.
Finally, I put my real name on here, so all his fans & employees can come at me with it if they like. Truth is Luke Bryan is quite possibly the worst “artist” to EVER become a star, and there’s quite a bit of competition.
gtrman86
April 7, 2014 @ 12:40 pm
Thank you for sharing your experience, it sounds just as awful and even worse than one would have imagined.
Nick
April 7, 2014 @ 1:57 pm
Wow. I stand corrected.
If that’s the case, one has to wonder if he knew/ wanted those tweets out. The people responsible seems like they’re a couple degrees separated from him, which would bode well if the backlash got out of hand.
If he’s in any way responsible, it would be a shame to see such childishness.
Ryan
April 7, 2014 @ 2:19 pm
Great insight. If Luke Bryan or any of these new “country stars” had integrity, class, or any respect for the genre whatsoever, it would shine through in their music (and they likely wouldn’t be in Nashville). As someone in the 18-25 demographic, it astounds me just how many people in my age group think these idiots in pop country make great music. Better yet, people spend hundreds of dollars to attend their shows and still come away praising these clowns. How anyone could like the garbage coming out of Nashville today is beyond me. And I agree it’s sad LB completely sold out. He is one of the few in the pop country scene that really has pretty good vocal talent.
Ballgame
April 8, 2014 @ 2:29 pm
Now anyone that reads this will accept this as the truth. And that is sad as knowing him all my life, I know it couldn’t be further from the truth. I understand I’m fighting a losing battle here, but this is pretty damn sad. Oh well, carry on.
BwareDWare94
April 8, 2014 @ 3:21 pm
It may not be truth 100% of the time and you may be blinded by the fact that you’ve known him, but as a concert worker I will flat out tell you that it’s well known that while he can be nice he can also be the world’s biggest asshat. At my venue, we had an old security guard who was letting people in and out backstage, and the story goes that Luke just flipped his shit when the guard asked to see credentials. As if an old man was going to have any clue who Luke Bryan is. That security guard has died now, and he was a fantastic individual who was just doing his job, and your buddy Luke supposedly threw a 15 year old’s hissy over it.
Now, Luke Bryan is also known for walking around at WeFest (“country” festival near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota) and hanging out with fans, playing beer pong, etc. He’s known for being a nice guy, in that context.
There’s no denying that he has human tendencies, but his bad days, as I’ve illustrated and the poster above illustrated, aren’t things that you can forgive so easily.
How fucking insulting can you be to follow Jason Boland and say “You ready to hear some REAL country?” Are you fucking kidding me? Jason Boland has more talent in a fingernail than Luke has in his entire body. For one thing, Boland truly HAS that golden voice that so many people think Luke has.
lori
August 23, 2014 @ 3:35 am
Luke Bryan is a whine à . Luke have. you ever heard of Clint Black he was like you praising other artists while his big ego found ways in his interviews to pats his own back you singers suck.
Applejack
April 8, 2014 @ 3:36 pm
All I will say is, let’s not be too quick to cast aspersions on Luke Bryan. I know that cognitive bias tends to make people accept the information they want to believe and block out any evidence to the contrary. I’ve read several comments now commenting on whether or not LB is a good guy, and I tend to want to believe the negative stuff, probably because it would be so convenient to go ahead and believe the guy whose music I dislike is a low class jerk of a human being as well. But I just don’t know. I also know that some of the artists who are praised on this site have acted in similar ways at times. Jason Isbell used to be a 24 karat alcoholic. He got drunk, went on Twitter, and publicly insulted Dierks Bentley, calling him a “douche,” as I recall. Anyway, whether or not LB is a swell guy, i don’t think he is personally responsible for what his associates post on the internet.
Kelcy Salisbury
April 10, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
To be fair, my opinion was SOLELY based off of ONE day that I would certainly hope wasn’t his norm. As a person I’d like to & do believe that day to not be his norm. As an artist, I don’t know that a case can be made in his defense unless he was identifying as pop, which would be more accurate.
Rachel L.
April 7, 2014 @ 11:20 am
Luke: “I base my career around what the fans tell me. I always have done that. If the fans didn’t like a song I quit playing it”
So he’s admitting that artistry and following your heart mean nothing to him. Why can’t more people see through him and realize that he’ll do anything for fame. And to all the brats taking to social media to complain that Luke didn’t win; Country Music for decades was supposed to be a genre where parents didn’t have to worry about what their kids were going to hear on country radio or see at a country concert. It is a disgrace to see what Country Music is becoming when not many of the artists have an ounce of class. You never would have caught Alan Jackson, George Strait, or Vince Gill behaving the way that Luke Bryan, Eric Church, and Jason Aldean have. It boggles my mind that any decent parent would take their child to a Luke Byran show. Heaven forbid they take their children to see someone with talent, class and respect. No let them take their kids to see a male stripper, who has admitted he will do anything to achieve fame.
Kyle
April 7, 2014 @ 12:24 pm
Not disagreeing or agreeing with any of the stuff you just said but Alan Jackson was a drunk for quite a few years and during that time cheated on his wife quite frequently, the media back then just wasn’t what it is now so it wasn’t it the news as a headline every day of the week
I do agree however that artists need to stop saying “i make music that my fans like”….in all seriousness, fans don’t know shit these days and it really just consists of kids that just started liking country music and act like they know everything about the genre, if every artist made music the way the fans wanted then their wouldn’t even be country music anymore because the fan base is just filled with a bunch of dumbasses who don’t know anything, and it’s depressing. I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, some of these older artists (Strait, Jackson, Tracy Lawrence, etc) need to have their own labels and be apart of making country music country again, much like what Ronnie Dunn is doing. I do believe it’s starting to go back in the right direction but in the blink of an eye it can just fall right back off the cliff
Rachel L.
April 7, 2014 @ 1:03 pm
I do remember hearing about that, but Alan did fix his marriage and is still with his wife. I mainly was referring to the fact that Alan, George, Tracy, Vince, Travis Tritt, Marty Stuart & others never would have been so arrogant and disgusting to the point that you had to fear how they would act in concert. Last year one of Kenny Chesney’s shows in the New England area turned out to be a disaster because the parking lot was trashed, people were arrested, videos were put on YouTube of the fighting and Kenny never had the decency to release a statement apologizing for his fans behavior. Eric Church is another example. He has stated in interviews that he thinks it’s awesome to see people having sex and fighting during his shows. I’ve seen videos of Jason Aldean cussing up a storm on stage encouraging his audience to get as drunk as possible so they will not hear how bad he sounds because he’s drunk himself. And now we have Luke Bryan dancing like he’s auditioning to be a Chippendale’s dancer.
Fayettenam Brad
April 8, 2014 @ 6:12 am
I watched the video…that move where he ran his hand down hisself in a kind of gawky stripper fashion? I felt like laughing and barfing at the same time. Gotta admit he’s the first to evoke that kind of response. Troubling.
My 20 something son will never give up on trying to play some current low budget rap in the car and hope for my approval. When I kindly tell him I don’t get it, crappy beats, talking about drugs, the same boring refrains repeated ad nauseum, his last response is usually, “making that money though”. It says it all. That’s what it’s all about.
Fayettenam Brad
April 8, 2014 @ 6:16 am
And I could have said “big budget country, crappy beats, talking about trucks, the same boring refrains repeated ad nauseum”
kingfish
April 8, 2014 @ 9:09 am
“Alan Jackson was a drunk for quite a few years and during that time cheated on his wife quite frequently”
I’d like to request that Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, and the rest of the pop country crowd cheat on Alan Jackson’s wife.
Tom
April 8, 2014 @ 10:40 am
It actually scares me to see how many women – many of them in their 40s – encourage their young daughters to listen to Luke Bryan. Most of his songs are pretty much date rape tutorials. Do they not care about this? Or are they just so busy thinking about screwing him that they don’t listen to the lyrics?
Synthetic Paper
April 8, 2014 @ 2:32 pm
The thing about letting fans dictate the songs … yes! I HATE that about music in general, but when I “came back” to country music, so to speak (at least to paying attention to the currently popular stuff) I was just amazed at how absolutely un-artistic the mainstream stuff is. They don’t care what songs they are singing. They don’t care about the music, or the lyrics, or if they have to try (poorly) to rap. All they care about is “The Fans”. Do “The Fans” like it? They are producing a product, that’s all it is. They are McDonalds, making fast food “Music” for the lowest common denominator. It’s all about the money and the fame, there is no music, nor artistry there anymore. It’s disgusting.
Carrie Anne
April 8, 2014 @ 9:43 pm
I agree to a point, but I think we forget that while music IS art, it’s also how these people make a living. It’s their job…and the fans are really their customers–or the boss, depending on how you look at it. I don’t necessarily think we should attack an artist for a comment about playing what the fans like.
That being said…I have listened to some songs with my jaw on the floor, in complete disbelief of the crap coming out of the speakers. (Tim McGraw’s latest and whatever the FGL/Luke collaboration is called comes to mind)
I think the big issue–and Trigger has addressed this quite a bit recently–is with media conglomeration, programmers, and the loss of local flavor in radio. I don’t think we should get angry at artists for doing what they can to make a buck. (or a million) I don’t like it, but some people do. But why can’t good artists be played along with this pop country laundry list bro crap? Instead of playing Luke or Jason or FGL every hour,–how about replacing some of those slots with Brandy Clark, Ashley Monroe, Turnpike Troubadours, etc?
Trigger
April 8, 2014 @ 10:05 pm
This is my take on the whole “play what the fans want to hear” quote.
I am of the opinion that there’s not enough leaders in country music right now. Everybody is following. The “Entertainer of the Year” ideally is the one that is leading the genre and setting the pace of what is relevant in a given year. Good musicians play songs that appeal to people. Great musicians MAKE people appreciate what they’re doing with their leadership, innovation, creativity, and charisma. There’s nothing bold about modern pop country. They think mixing in rap or EDM is being bold, when really it’s the safest thing you can do. You don’t ask your fans what’s cool as a musician, you show them what is cool. You define what is cool. Unfortunately, Luke Bryan doesn’t do that.
Camie jo
April 7, 2014 @ 11:20 am
No class.
There are so many unworthy heirs to the Country tradition.
Considering the way the new kids on the block inadvertently lampoon and nearly diminish Country, this is nothing less than a travesty.
RockyMtnGal
April 7, 2014 @ 11:21 am
We all know what Luke and his so-called “fans” can do with their angry tweets and rude comments.
Rant Bellen
April 7, 2014 @ 11:22 am
George Strait has a song called “Milk Cow Blues” and that is a bad song too.
– Milk Cow Blues is a traditional cover of a tune dating back to the 1930’s, so not really a fair comparison
the pistolero
April 7, 2014 @ 11:48 am
Yup. George & company got it off an old Bob Wills record, and Merle Haggard did a great version of it as well, under the title “Brain Cloudy Blues.”
Kev
April 8, 2014 @ 12:18 am
Bob Wills recorded “Brain Cloudy Blues” a couple of times, he also recorded “Milk Cow Blues”. Different lyrics, very similar tunes.
Camie jo
April 7, 2014 @ 11:31 am
George Strait is a beautiful man, always will be.
TX Music Jim
April 7, 2014 @ 11:40 am
Pure ignorance of course George was going to win ! He is George this is his last ride and there will never be another career like his ever. These people that say these things do not have a clue. God help us because afrter George who ? Thank God we have a strong independent music scene out there to give is alternatives !
the pistolero
April 7, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
afrter George who ?
In a just an sane world, the answer would have been “Alan Jackson.” There is no good reason whatsoever that Jackson should not have been a hit maker for at least another ten years. Not one.
TX Music Jim
April 7, 2014 @ 1:53 pm
Could not agree more but for reasons I do not understand mainstream country radio has choosen to not feature Alan like they have in the past. They should because Alan could have lots more hits to come but it does appear sadly that his push from the Nashville machine has been halted.
Brian
April 7, 2014 @ 3:50 pm
Couldn’t agree more. I have no idea what Alan Jackson did to fall out of favor with mainstream radio. His last two albums have been great, maybe that’s the problem, but I thought he would be like George and always played on the radio. Hell even when he released that song that I thought radio would like “long way to go”, it didn’t even chart very well and I thought that was kind of a fun song. I think George is gonna be the rare one, because he built such a machine up when it came to radio. Even when George released very average songs they went to #1.
jonathan c.
April 7, 2014 @ 4:29 pm
I think when Alan Jackson stopped his song on the awards show and kicked in to Choices because they shunned George Jones sparked the beginning of the end of Jackson getting a bunch of love from the “country music” establishment.
Applejack
April 8, 2014 @ 12:49 am
The “Choices” thing happened way back in 2000. Jackson has had nineteen top 20 hits since then. I think radio companies care about making money, probably couldn’t care less about Alan’s feelings toward the CMAs.
Radio has probably stopped playing him because he’s considered old, and his music doesn’t fit the juvenile bro-country demo corporate radio is chasing. Clear Channel / Cumulus radio programming department couldn’t give a hoot about who is next in line as elder statesman of country music, or anything else. Music business is shaky, radio is declinnig, and they are clinging to power, trying to wring water out of a dirty old rag. Bro and pop-country is a profitable niche at the moment and they think they can’t risk playing a song by an old timer or the kids will flip the station or plug in MP3 player.
BwareDWare94
April 7, 2014 @ 11:59 am
So many people don’t realize that being an entertainer isn’t about running around on stage and shaking your man ass so all the tone deaf jailbait and cougars in the crowd go wild. Granted, in Luke’s case I probably shouldn’t say “tone deaf” because while he’s releasing awful music he is a fantastic vocalist. Either way, he only has to run around because his music lacks integrity and substance. Luke’s antics are essentially the Sodium Nitrite that allow his music/processed meat product to continue to look fresh and appetizing. Without the antics, he’d just be up there singing dumb songs and people would be wondering if they should take him seriously.
The funny thing about Luke Bryan is, and I’ve worked spotlight at one of his shows so I’ve seen him live…he barely moves when he plays his good songs. He doesn’t have to. Thy have substance.
George Strait doesn’t need to run around stage or have any pyro. His music and his voice command your attention, and his performances are captivating. That’s what music with substance will do. His impact on other artists is fascinating. Eric Church, a much talked about artist on this site, opened for George Strait not too long ago, most notably in KC. Instead of his amped up, pyro ridden, obnoxious band show, Eric played by himself, switching between guitars. Not only was it significantly better than a show than his band could have put on, it drew parallels to George’s style, and allowed the King’s influence on a younger artist to show through.
The idea that you need to run around like an idiot shaking your ass in order to put on a good show is fucking dumb.
the pistolero
April 8, 2014 @ 10:51 am
The idea that you need to run around like an idiot shaking your ass in order to put on a good show is fucking dumb.
BAM. That right there. I said it elsewhere, and I’ll say it here:
George Strait is “not an entertainer”? What the fuck ever. I hate to break it to assholes like Hunter Jobes, but there are a lot of us out there who don”™t have any more use for the dancing chicken than Dusty Chandler”™s preferred audience did in 1992. And whether or not Strait”™s Entertainer of the Year award was gotten by the sympathy or sentimental vote, the facts pretty much speak for themselves ”” 30-plus years of playing packed arenas from coast to coast, right up to the present day. When Luke Bryan pulls that off then we can talk. Until then Hunter Jobes and his ilk can just sit down and shut up.
Like fan
April 8, 2014 @ 12:48 pm
If George was or is so great why did it take 25 years to win it was because he is retiring I don’t care wht nyone says
Trigger
April 8, 2014 @ 1:26 pm
Actually it didn’t take him 25 years to win it. He won it 25 years ago, in 1989 as well.
BwareDWare94
April 8, 2014 @ 3:02 pm
Think about how fucking hilarious it is that you wanted to post as “Luke Fan” but couldn’t even do so without a typo. Oh my goodness, I’m just rolling. What a wonderful indication of what it takes to be a hardcore Luke fan in the first place–gulliblility, easily satisfied, and irritable. We’re calling out the 30 second sex that is Luke Bryan’s music, and you know we’re right. That’s the beautiful thing about bad music. At that point, it’s no longer an opinion, it’s truth. Luke Bryan’s music is mostly bad. Get over it.
Camie jo
April 11, 2014 @ 10:16 am
That was as useful as springs on a ballerina’s shoes.
Camie jo
April 11, 2014 @ 10:18 am
My comment was for Like Fan.
Chase
April 7, 2014 @ 12:34 pm
I think someone should tell him that shaking his ass, laundry list songs and incorporating rap into his songs should not make you the ACM entertainer of the year.
The0ne
April 7, 2014 @ 12:43 pm
Maybe his camp is upset he wasn’t part of the “cowboy rides away” tour.
http://tasteofcountry.com/george-strait-cowboy-rides-away-tour-guests/
Shows how much the artist that joined George appreciated getting to share “his” stage. Also the crowd sounds plenty entertained to me?
Joy Dragland
April 7, 2014 @ 12:43 pm
Ugh, really Luke Bryan? George Strait has more talent in his pinky than you have in your entire body AND your band and managers’ bodies combined, actually throw in your fanbase’s bodies too! By the way, I find your “entertainment” anything but. Country girls shake it for me is about as entertaining as watching paint dry and is about as talented as a frog that can hop. I’m glad that the right ENTERTAINER actually won this year, which usually doesn’t happen anymore.
Charlotte
April 7, 2014 @ 1:32 pm
What people forget to remember is who can sell out a concert in 9-10 mins…. King George… Just because he doesn’t shake his butt does not mean he does not entertain!!! Get over it!!!
Acca Dacca
April 7, 2014 @ 1:40 pm
Though I don’t want to, I really must point out one slight: you and many others claim that younger fans don’t have respect for the music that came before them. That’s correct, in a lot of cases. But it’s equally correct that older fans don’t have respect for what’s come after them. Sure, you can go with the cop out that the “newer music is terrible,” but when it comes right down to it, that’s only an opinion and nothing more. The first requirement of all art forms is to bring the one experiencing it joy, at least for those on the outside. You’ll find no argument from me that Luke Bryan, FGL and the like make some really annoying music, but this site promotes much of the same behavior that Trigger is criticizing these LB fans for. The only difference is that he’s defending traditional country and criticizing the newer country performers, so that makes it “okay” right?
That said, I really can’t believe these fools are saying that George Strait isn’t an entertainer. WFT? The fact that he beat out all of this new blood when every other country singer his age is retired or relegated to playing county fairs is a testament to the fact that he IS in fact an entertainer, and a legendary one at that. What an idiotic statement.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 3:18 pm
That’s a fair point. But to get respect, you have to give respect, and you also have to earn respect.
To me, the root of this problem was giving Entertainer of the Year to Luke Bryan in 2013. It should have gone to Taylor Swift. Not my choice obviously, but she was the one with the biggest sales, and the most votes (likely). Instead the country music establishment decided they needed to anoint another superstar franchise. The award meant more to Luke’s career than it would have anyone elses. And now he, or his camp, feels entitled. That is the difference between the younger and older generation. Waylon Jennings never even gave a shit about awards.
emliza
April 7, 2014 @ 4:52 pm
Isn’t EOY selected by fan votes?
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 5:15 pm
It’s complicated. They promote it as a fan-voted award, but the industry has a say so in a formula that has not been made available to the public. Here’s a more detailed explanation.
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/why-the-best-fan-vote-for-the-acms-is-no-vote-at-all
Enjoy Every Sandwich
April 7, 2014 @ 3:47 pm
I’m one of those older fans. For many of us, the issue isn’t just that we don’t like the music. Popular music has a lot of stuff that I’m not fond of, but I’m generally not going to criticize it. If, as you say, it makes some folks happy who am I to find fault?
With this “new country” we have a different problem: they seem to feel that the only way they can prosper is to push aside and denigrate traditional country music and its fans. They’ve pretty much run us off the radio, on the grounds that their product is superior and “more relevant”. We’re just old farts and jackasses. So even a lazy old guy like me is going to react to that.
I embrace new music that’s good, particularly when the artists and their fans refrain from pissing all over me. I’m funny that way.
Brian
April 8, 2014 @ 4:44 am
This is a good point, but I also think at some point you have to eventually say that something has totally crossed a line and is not country. I feel that I am one of the most mainstream people around, who also loves traditional country. I have around 30 Kenny Chesney songs on my iPod, so I’m not someone who dismisses everything current. The thing is a song like ” Anything but Mine” tells a story and has a feeling to it that I can appreciate. Something like “This is how we roll” has nothing to do with country music. I might as well play Snoop Dogg and say its country and then tell people how the aren’t open to pushing boundaries. There is a reason we have different genres and to an extent, an artist needs to try to respect that genre in some way if they want to earn respect.
Mark
April 8, 2014 @ 9:08 am
I would mostly agree here in that there are some old-school country fans who’ll thrash newer acts without giving them the time of day – and more than a few attacks on the fans of mainstream country, both for justified and unjustified reasons… that is, if you only consider mainstream country.
The one great thing I love about this site is that Trigger will go a step further and dig up newer/younger acts and give them the praise they deserve, even if mainstream radio won’t do the same. Furthermore, as much as Trigger does give bro- and mainstream country a thrashing, for the most part he does acknowledge quality when he hears it (although I’m still waiting on that Eric Paslay review… damn that self-titled album was so solid…)
Tom
April 8, 2014 @ 10:48 am
It’s not so much about not liking the newer music, it’s the complete lack of variety in the new music, couple with the complete abandonment of anything resembling country music. I could actually listen to a song like “That’s My Kind of Night” if it weren’t for the fact that it was exactly the same as pretty much every song he’s released in the last couple of years.
BSMITH
April 7, 2014 @ 1:46 pm
Get over it Luke, If you would have started at the same time as George, you would have never made it in country music, the only reason you are making it now is because you are selling pop music to preteen gurls, yes gurls with a u like you sing it !
Topher
April 7, 2014 @ 1:58 pm
The complete lack of respect is a serious cause for concern. It’s George Strait! How did you think this would play out?
Hank
April 7, 2014 @ 1:59 pm
I’m 24 years old and I saw George Strait live for the first and last time in March. That man entertained me like no other. Screw the poor saps that think Luke Bryan is a good entertainer. That is all.
goldencountry
April 7, 2014 @ 2:10 pm
This was on the comment section of the video of George winning on you tube
she is a swifty
This is really hard to believe this was not vote fraud.
like come on, Strait has more fans than Taylor, Luke
or Miranda …Twitter predicted Luke or Taylor, this
has to be total bot voting …LOL, LOL, LOL total joke
plus old people don’t vote online, sorry mom,dad :)
LauraJean1962
April 7, 2014 @ 5:30 pm
Hate to break her heart but George’s fans aren’t all that old. Some of us don’t even use walkers or drool on ourselves! 😉
Kylie
April 7, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
And some of us are just teenagers with actual tastes in music 🙂
Sharon
April 7, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
I am surprised with the outburst. I feel Luke and his campaigning team are sore losers. There are so many people who still looks upon King Strait with high regard. I went to his concert early this year and screamed my heart out. It was an emotional time for me being able to watch him live and I think he deserves this award very much. People tend to forget sometimes that Traditional Country still rock and for those people like us, we would still vote on a daily basis just to see him win.
Shelly
April 7, 2014 @ 2:55 pm
I just don’t get it. I LOVED country music until it became just a boring rehash of 70’s soft rock with a twang. I suppose for kids who don’t know any better, it’s okay, but not here. Even when I have TRIED to listen to a country station lately, it’s like they play the same old song over and over and over, ad nauseum. Nashville (well, all of them, I guess) finds someone who sells and then that’s ALL they want. Nothing original unless it’s been done before. George Strait EARNED this award. He DESERVED this award and all the pissing and moaning from a bunch of whiny assed, snot-nosed kids isn’t going to change that.
Ryan
April 7, 2014 @ 3:13 pm
Couldn’t agree more with the last paragraph of this article. The cultural gap in country music is widening more & more with each passing day. A majority of these Luke Bryan fans coming out the woodwork about this probably didn’t even have clue who George Strait was before last night, and their head would probably spin if you asked if they know about George Jones, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, etc.. The audience being catered to now simply does not give a damn about respecting the genre or honoring what the all-time greats have worked to uphold. That being said, what else would you expect when traditional country music gets replaced with music written to entertain teenage girls and wannabe country boys?
But all in all, congrats to George Strait! Always has been one of my favorite artists. May real country music live on!
BassManMatt
April 7, 2014 @ 3:29 pm
Personally I am just thoroughly amused that Bryan & Co. actually did a video/ad campaign to fish for votes! Is this standard practice, do others do this? I don’t usually follow these awards shows.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
Every one of the candidates made videos, but usually they’re no big deal. Mostly they’re thrown together, and are for core fans and industry. The fact that the Luke Bryan camp made five videos, with plots and actors and settings, including the last one which is borderline creepy obsessive, really speaks to how much they wanted it. That in itself seems disturbing. I would think that these artists should find other things to be fulfilled by than phony fan-voted awards. When your music doesn’t offer any fulfillment, I guess that’s the path you choose.
I don’t think Taylor Swift is bent out-of-shape about this at all. This was her video, and it was probably put together by a Big Machine intern in a afternoon. Luke’s videos probably had a 6 to 7 figure budget. It also didn’t get nearly the amount of views or the media push Luke’s did.
Fayettenam Brad
April 8, 2014 @ 6:21 am
Going for the sympathy vote is always in poor taste.
Canuck
April 8, 2014 @ 6:12 pm
Re: Luke Bryan’s video
You can polish a turd, but at the end of the day, it’s still a turd.
Nick Brown
April 7, 2014 @ 4:06 pm
The first time I herd George Strait was in 1987, I was 7 years old and he sang All My Exes Live In Texas on an award show. After that I was severely hooked to Strait’s music, for me nobody else has came close to him even to this day.
I was able to get to see Strait perform on February 23rd 2013 for the first time in Hartford Conn. A lot of that crowd was people in there early 20’s. I sat in a section that was mostly people 10 years younger than me and they would sing along to songs like Honky Tonk Crazy and Amarillo By Morning. Songs that Strait had out ten years before they were born.
I remember leaving the show and I over herd a lady say “Sure was a lot of young people in the crowd, and they say that the younger generation doesn’t want to listen to this type of country music, guess the experts are wrong”.
I do know quite a few young fans that are trying to get good seats threw ebay to go see Strait at his second last show in Foxboro Mass, May 31st. These are fans that can’t stand today’s country music.
Tom26
April 7, 2014 @ 4:56 pm
I’m 21 years old and love George Strait. Got a little tired of the radio and downloaded a bunch of greatest hits albums from GS. Since then I’ve loved listening to his catalog. I still enjoy a lot of pop country, especially during tailgates and such. But I still always come back to his stuff and never grow old of it.
PS- George Strait pandora is a fantastic station for picking out good songs from brad, kenny and the likes.
Ranger
April 7, 2014 @ 5:36 pm
It doesn’t get any better than 80’s/early 90’s George Strait, in my opinion, especially if Dean Dillon was involved in the song writing. You can put those string of hits up against just about any other run in country music history. Maybe I’m biased because that’s the time frame I grew up in, but damn I wore that GS box set out.
emliza
April 7, 2014 @ 4:32 pm
I think it’s odd that people follow the tweets of an artist’s merchandising manager.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 4:49 pm
It was reposted by Clear Channel super DJ Bobby Bones who outed him. He certainly wasn’t on my radar until last night. Then again, Luke Bryan’s merch manager seems to be a proving ground for pop country talent because that’s where Cole Swindell got his start.
emliza
April 7, 2014 @ 5:41 pm
One instance doesn’t make a trend.
Trigger
April 7, 2014 @ 6:50 pm
At the same time, this is probably not some lackey making minimum wage. Merch sales for an artist the size of Luke Bryan can number in the millions, and the head of merchandising for any big franchise star is an important post. Does that make Luke Bryan accountable for the things he says on Twitter? Of course not. But I do think it speaks to a deeper sentiment, and that is why it is noteworthy.
J CASH
April 7, 2014 @ 4:45 pm
It is sad to see that we have come to admire someone like luke bryan…….I think he will be surprised at how many people will turn against him for his rude remarks of another entertainer…………I for one do not have to wait till next year to stop listening to him….it started last night.
LauraJean1961
April 7, 2014 @ 4:54 pm
I have been a George fan since I was a little girl, and that’s been quite a while! His music his class and his style are tops! Seeing him ride a horse to the stage on a video just blew this country girl away! Luke wouldn’t know a real rodeo if it bit him in the ass, let alone be sober enough to ride a horse in to the stage! His fans would startle the poor horse and make it toss him off! But the rudeness and arrogance are what blows me away! That crap is not what country music is about and they need to start getting it out of Nashville and getting country back to country! If they want pop starts then make some pop stars! Let’s get country back to what it needs to be!
henslayer
April 7, 2014 @ 5:00 pm
If Luke Bryan was ugly or overweight we would never even be having this conversation…if women did not find him attractive there is no way in hell he would be in the position he is today. Nobody would want to see a fat man in skinny jeans dry humping his mic stand while singing laundry list songs that are either about banging sloots in a truck or down by the river. Merica
Dana M
April 8, 2014 @ 12:31 am
That doesn’t explain Jason Aldean who isn’t much of a looker.
Nick Brown
April 8, 2014 @ 4:18 pm
I’m sure Luke Bryan thinks Jason Aldean is a looker.
Cowboy Joe
April 8, 2014 @ 11:45 pm
Thank you for mentioning this. Jason isn’t a songwriter, his voice is painfully nasal, the arrangements and production on his records are dull, loud and bland, and he’s not even handsome. Please explain his success!
Bob Phelan
April 9, 2014 @ 6:14 am
OK, granted; The conglomerates are marketing looks to the horny young girls, no doubt about that. But even as a traditionalist, I have to admit that even alot of the classic singers of the past were not exactly lookers-but they still made hits and got airplay. John Conlee was pretty chubby, Ray Price wasn’t exactly a magazine model, Johnny Paycheck kinda looked like something from Lord Of The Rings,etc. But it’s not just limited to Country…Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler are testiments to that. Looks should not matter. It’s the music that counts.
I ‘d like to think that Trigger’s site is about music content, not looks. Let’s talk about the music, not what someone looks like.Times have changed, and we are going to have to wait for the pendulum to swing back for the music to correct itself.
Cowboy Joe
April 10, 2014 @ 4:25 pm
I don’t disagree. I’m just trying to figure out how a guy like Aldean got famous when he lacks any of the qualities of Luke Bryan, shallow or otherwise. I dislike Luke a great deal, but he makes a good contrast with Jason within the world of modern mainstream country music.
Luke cut his teeth as a songwriter, does possess a decent singing voice and has several physical qualities that a majority of the heterosexual female population find appealing. Johnny Paycheck may or may not have been equally ugly, but there’s no mystery as to why he succeeded: talent.
Jason Aldean remains unsolved.
Wendy Davis Maass
April 7, 2014 @ 5:13 pm
I don’t believe it for one second. Luke Bryan is not that shallow and he had said how he admires George Strait . People are not happy unless they are creating DRAMA . I love them both .
LauraJean1963
April 7, 2014 @ 8:03 pm
This is Luke’s quote, no one is making it up.
Earlier today, Bryan was available for comment.
“Oh, let the old King of Country fart have his due!” Bryan said. “Because come next year, we”™ll be startin”™ a decade-long dynasty, man!”
Cowboy Joe
April 8, 2014 @ 3:15 am
You are mistaken. A commenter on this page made that up. As a joke.
emliza
April 7, 2014 @ 5:38 pm
I’m not a fan of Bryan’s by any means, but it appears some on here think that Luke dissed George and he didn’t. He cites George as an idol since he was a child just like most of the other singers in the audience last night – young and old. I don’t think he should be held accountable for something the guy who sells his t-shirts said. I also think it’s smart if he doesn’t make a statement. By making a big deal of it, the tweet becomes the story and detracts from the person who received the honor. I’m willing to bet that Bryan was very happy for George and agrees he deserved that honor.
Add Bobby Bones to the drama and all the more reason to let it go.
Linda
April 7, 2014 @ 5:48 pm
I enjoyed much of the conversations on here. Many different views & thoughts. But in regards to the Kenny Chesney fan mess after one of his concerts; he is not one who does a real drinking promotion as strong as others; yes he enjoys a good party & good time at his shows; but he should not have to apologize for the idiot fans who take things to the extreme & have no sense of class or responsibility. And these types do this at other type of concerts as well. I have been to shows where artist’s promote no drinking & it does not matter…drunks are every where & feel they have that right to act stupid. Rounding out: LB will NEVER be in the same class as George or the true country artist’s that came before him.
Tom26
April 7, 2014 @ 8:42 pm
Thank you. It happens more at his shows than others because he tours football stadiums rather than amphitheaters but he’s not really at fault at all. And honestly, this whole complaining thing all happened because of the Pittsburgh show- I haven’t heard any of the others being newsworthy bad. (I saw him in NY and our parking lot wasn’t too bad at all relative to football games they have there).
He could win brownie points for sending a message to the fans but it doesn’t make him a bad guy for not.
Leather Telecaster
April 7, 2014 @ 6:04 pm
I am so out of touch with this stuff, and I am glad.
Somebody tell me something bad about Tulsa.
Congrats to G.S.
I just learned that Dale Watson is playing at the Hill Country BBQ in June.
Now THAT is something that interests me.
I’ll even buy Luke ryan a ticket.
Peace
L.T.
PB
April 7, 2014 @ 7:42 pm
It sounds like Luke isn’t much of a gracious loser. https://www.facebook.com/bjklgbdgblkdjdldj
dave
April 7, 2014 @ 9:00 pm
I think I’m going to listen to some George on Youtube….
Rambler
April 8, 2014 @ 12:50 am
Damn, I think these guys got so used to being nominated and winning awards that they can’t seem to accept loss…. man up Luke!
Bob Phelan
April 8, 2014 @ 5:28 am
I am going to sound like an old grampa fart, but hey, that’s what I am… As I see it, one of the issues of the modern day is that Twitter, Facebook and the like allow people to instantly speak whatever idiocy they want to without any real ramifications. Before all this social media came along, if you wanted to say something snotty, you had to say it to someone’s face, and you knew you were taking the chance that you might just get knocked on your ass. Boy, do I miss the old days!
Leather Telecaster
April 9, 2014 @ 5:58 am
Agreed wholeheartedly, Bob!
When was the last time you saw a good one on one street fight? Most kids nowadays don’t know how to make a fist.
That being said, I never post a message that I would not be able to convey in person.
That should be the law of the land…
Bob Phelan
April 9, 2014 @ 6:21 am
Thank you for your reply.
You will notice that I use my true and real name, and I do not use a false screen name. That is my character and always will be. I don’t comment often but if I have something to say on a site, I am willing to stand behind it.
Matty T
April 8, 2014 @ 7:08 am
First off, it seems to be a major conflict of interest to have both of the hosts nominated for that category. Secondly, I hardly consider George Strait to be classic country music (I really only like one of his songs) and, as someone put it to me, “watching him perform is about like watching paint dry”, he’s still had a historic career and I’d rather him win it than any of the other hacks in the category.
Tom26
April 8, 2014 @ 7:20 am
Wow. 1 song? And you read SCM?
Matty T
April 8, 2014 @ 2:39 pm
I almost didn’t justify that comment with a response, but I’ll say this: Yes, 1 song because I’d rather listen to country music done properly by truly classic artists like Hank Snow, Dick Curless, Red Sovine, Hank Williams, The Carter Family, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, etc.
Ranger
April 8, 2014 @ 5:09 pm
You might like “It’s Not Right But Lefty’s Gone”. It’s a nice tribute to Lefty Frizzell that GS has on one of his albums.
Matty T
April 8, 2014 @ 5:16 pm
I’ll check it out, thanks.
Tom26
April 8, 2014 @ 10:45 pm
I honestly think the only people other than you who believe George Strait did not do country “properly” are the people who follow Florida Georgia Line and Brantley Gilbert on twitter. No worries at all if you enjoy the classics and not GS’s stuff, but it’s pretty closed minded to say he did not do country music properly.
Nick Brown
April 8, 2014 @ 10:34 am
When I drove 800 miles to Hartford Conn a year ago to see George Strait, I took a guy along that had seen AC/DC, Rolling Stones and GNR. After the show was over he said “Best show I’ve seen in years, if Strait’s close by again next year, I’m going again” He already has tickets for George on May 31st.
If Strait’s show is indeed like watching paint dry, then explain how he is able to sell out stadiums in his 60’s. Almost 35 years after his first single. It doesn’t happen by accident.
Bill #2
April 8, 2014 @ 7:24 am
If this is what country music is coming to, stop the world and let me off.
Steve
April 8, 2014 @ 8:51 am
Will Luke Bryan still be enough of a force in country music to be nominated for or win an ACM award 33 years after HIS first hit? I doubt it.
kelly
April 8, 2014 @ 8:59 am
I will admit that I have been a big Luke Bryan fan from the beginning of his career I actually live near the town he grew up in, all that changed for me after I went to one of his Farm Tour concerts that he does mainly here in South Ga. which is supposed to be for a good cause. I ended up leaving before the concert was even over I was pushed around & nearly trampled by a bunch of young underage drunk half dressed obnoxious girls pretending to be country who obviously have never been taught to act like a lady or have any manners what so ever! Funny thing is Luke is actually a couple of years older than me I feel as if he is going through a major mid life crisis while the world watches! It’s actually sad to me he does & did have the potential to be a good country singer some of his earlier songs were not that bad he needs to at least have some sort of apology or comment on the actions of his merch. manager that had no business putting his two cents on something that had nothing to do with him anyway!! In my opinion Luke needs to seriously stop with the skinny jeans teeth whiteners & all the dry humping & focus more on saving what is left of his career by using his talents! George has stayed a classy man throughout his career focused on true music & that’s why he deserved to win!!
Jenna B.
April 8, 2014 @ 11:57 am
Well Kelly sorry your experience sucked!! I myself have been to a Farm Tour concert as I am from S. GA myself (KIND FUNNY HUH?) and yes he does those concerts for a good cause to help raise money college students of rural farm families it’s a way he gives back but what does the crowd have to do with Luke’s performance was he drinking & acting obnoxious I haven’t seen him do that & I have been to three of them. Not starting a argument just trying to give the poor guy some credit he seems to be an easy target to get picked on hope you understand. I am a huge fan of many traditional artists many Luke has stated himself have influenced him let this guy have his fun he has not ruined anything & why apologize he didn’t say it!!!
kelly
April 8, 2014 @ 12:41 pm
Because I’m disappointed that he sold himself out when he could have been better than that & known for more than just some dude that shakes his ass & has a blinding smile along with a spray tan. As far as his concert yes he did drink onstage he also twerked was singing “wop” which is a popular hip hop dance & telling the crowd to shake it like Rhianna & Beyoncé. I was disappointed I came to see a country singer. I think he is trying too hard to be Mr. Cool & fit in some thing most Legends of true country never had to do. He needs to stop I don’t dislike Luke nothing wrong with having a good time either but I think this has gotten to his head a little too big it reminds me of the New kids on the block/ Backstreet boy era which is sad because he could have followed his own path not the mainstream path and as far as what some guy who sells T-shirts says it really does not matter he deleted it anyways. I’m sorry that’s just my opinion no offense taken! Congrats to King George by the way.
Mike
April 8, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
Well, Jenna B. Maybe if he does not want to be an “easy target” then maybe he needs to start releasing better music. It is a pretty solution to that problem in my opinion. Bryan is capable of making good music, he just needs to start doing so and quit all that teenybop music mess.
Jenna B.
April 8, 2014 @ 1:02 pm
That is totally your opoinion dude! Whatever Im just looking out for this guy I feel bad for him sometimes I happen to like his music but people are different with different tastes of all sorts of things music especially Luke has worked hard and paid his dues too or else he would not have made it at all. Oh and like I said Kelly sorry it sucked for you I thought he did great just having fun & interacting with the crowd:)
Mike
April 9, 2014 @ 1:56 pm
Well, Jenna, as an educated man who looks at all things logically and with reason, I am simply offering a logical solution to your dilemma. You are angry that people like me “make fun” of Luke Bryan because of the music he makes. Well, there is a very simple solution to that. If Mr. Bryan sees the error of his ways and begins to make good music like I know he is capable of doing, and quits making songs for soccer moms and teenyboppers, then people like me will stop making fun of him.
If he continues down the path of recording poor quality music, wearing jeggings, and dry humping his microphone stand like a orangutan on meth, then we will continue to make fun of him and call him out for the clown he makes himself out to be. This may come as a disappointment to you, but I am sorry. You cannot have it both ways.
Laura
April 8, 2014 @ 9:39 am
Alright enough is enough with this. I’m so sick of people saying the younger generations have “no respect for traditional country music.” This is bull. I have seen about 10 times as many people complaining about “my generation” as I have of anyone bashing traditional country. News flash: all genres of music evolve over time. All of them. Just because some people like new, modern country music doesn’t mean we don’t like or respect traditional country. That’s what I grew up with, and I love it. But I also listen to and enjoy modern country music. Hate me for it all you want, but there are many others who agree with me. Yeah Luke can be classified as pop country. No, selling out shows doesn’t automatically mean he’s a great singer. But people at his shows have fun. If people are having fun and enjoying themselves, isn’t that what music is about? If you’re going to say “Luke Bryan doesn’t sing real music” well what do you define as real music? If a song or an artist or concert makes me happy, that’s what I’m going to go to, and listen to. Traditional AND modern. I’m also really disappointed to see so many people hating on Luke. I’ve never seen Luke disrespect anyone. He is so appreciative to his fans, and extremely thankful for how far he’s gotten. His band and crew have only had good things to say about him. I’m a fan and I will continue to be. And as for the Traditional vs Modern country- I’ve always loved Traditional country music. The only thing that bothers me is the closed minded-ness of so many people, and how my whole generation and those who listen to modern country as well are assumed to hate and disrespect it. It’s unfair.
As for the comment, obviously that was a stupid move by Hunter Jobes, but you can’t take that back on Luke. He doesn’t have control over every single person that works for him.
the pistolero
April 8, 2014 @ 1:06 pm
News flash: all genres of music evolve over time.
Aaaaaand again, why does this “evolution” ALWAYS have to be away from the music’s very identity?
courtney
April 8, 2014 @ 1:31 pm
there’s a fine line between progressing with the times and following trends. what makes people like George strait different is that he knew the balance between being modern and still maintaining his style. I used to like Luke Bryan because of songs like welcome to the farm and rain is a good thing. in just a few short years he totally changed. just like Blake Shelton did. they fell to the trends and not just in an experimental way but in a this is what’s selling so I’m gonna go where the money’s at way. and the one big issue that really bugs me about it is the attitude that this music cultivates. it’s arrogant and shows no integrity. the people at these concerts ain’t a bunch of hillbillies there for a rowdy good time, they’re there to see and be seen. I was 8 months pregnant at a Chris young show and the “never seen a days work” cowboy booted kids there were too busy snorting prescription drugs and dry humping each other to notice they were bumping into me and a couple other unamused girls. and when Chris young sang about Conway twitty he actually stopped the show to explain who Conway was because nobody cheered or showed any sort of recognition to the late singer. country is drawing in a crowd of self entitled and self absorbed “here for a good time respect for others be damned” fake rednecks.
nobody here accused Luke of bashing George strait but instead they were here to shed light on the kinds of people who did, the kinds of people luke Bryan attracts. not all of his fans are like that but obviously there are a lot who are. it’s like you’re known by the crowd you associate with
kelly
April 8, 2014 @ 1:38 pm
Well Said!! The point I was trying to make earlier.
Courtney
April 9, 2014 @ 6:43 am
thank you! I read yours right after I posted it and thought I was being a bit redundant
Jenna B.
April 8, 2014 @ 10:55 am
Geore Straight is a great singer always has been but I’m sorry Luke is too just because his form of entertainment isn’t what you may like does not give people the right to bash him call him names or criticize everything that he does. I do love this website but belittling Luke because of something that HE DIDN’T EVEN SAY makes it just as bad as the guy who said it!! Why not just be happy for George’s win call the right one the idiot for making a mistake & get on with it! I believe that Luke is in reality a nice guy who is just having fun with his success while he can he is not the Devil of country or a big horndog drunk as what jealous people try to make him out to be!!! He is a fantastic entertainer that happens to be good looking which some people can’t stand but so is George so why not the criticism on him?? Enough with it already!!!Geez!!
Mike
April 8, 2014 @ 12:49 pm
You are right. Luke Bryan is not the Devil of country music…..His music is not cool enough for Satan’s high standards!!!
Jenna B.
April 8, 2014 @ 1:19 pm
Hahaha!! Good one you got me!! Luke Bryan is cool to me so that’s all that matters just like many other great artists you don’t have to like him just why is Luke always the one people poke fun at? I don’t see where he has ruined anything just has his own style it may not be for everyone.
Mike
April 8, 2014 @ 2:20 pm
Why do people always poke fun at Luke Bryan? Maybe it is because he is a 38 year old man thinking he is a 20 year old frat boy. Maybe because he releases abominations of songs mistaken for country ones. I could name some more reasons if you like. But bottom line up front? If luke Bryan does not want to be made fun of, then he needs to stop releasing monogenre teeny bop crap.
JC
April 9, 2014 @ 9:10 pm
Geore Straight is more better then Like Bryant
Camie jo
April 8, 2014 @ 10:57 am
This isn’t about young or old. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a comment on here about the “younger generations having no respect for traditional country music”.
It has nothing to do with being jealous of youth…or peeps of a certain age. Age is meaningless.
Country music is timeless and ageless. When we recall her past glory, we want to forget progressive country with little substance and lots of reliance on auto-tools and overworked voices.
Jessie
April 8, 2014 @ 12:35 pm
Luke said after George’s name was announced as he looked at Blake “Our Hero Won” Luke has not done any bashing…but I think he needs to address his fan base and tell them to calm down.
MH
April 8, 2014 @ 12:56 pm
How quickly you Luke Bryan fangurls forget:
http://mykisscountry937.com/luke-bryan-drunk-tweets/
kelly
April 8, 2014 @ 1:54 pm
Wow! What a jerk!!
Courtney
April 9, 2014 @ 6:41 am
that actually really cracked me up. it definitely shows that he’s about a cocky s o b and has got a long fall off that horse coming but the comment about red lobster was pretty funny
Jenna B.
April 8, 2014 @ 12:56 pm
Luke never would bash him he has said before he influenced him Luke is not the bad guy just a guy trying to make it in this business. I am a fan sorry just like I am a fan of George & others.
Micahel
April 8, 2014 @ 1:54 pm
Lets not allow a tweet from a merchandise manager overshadow the fact that George won entertainer of the year. That’s the most important thing here and it is a good step forward for the cause of saving country music, Luke Bryan and everything else is just background noise.
Trigger
April 8, 2014 @ 2:10 pm
I agree, and said as much in my live blog about the ACM, and that is why I also started this article off with a paragraph on just how important the win was.
Ballgame
April 8, 2014 @ 2:02 pm
This is such a poorly written piece that I can’t believe that I am actually responding to it. The implication that Luke Bryan was upset with the fact that George Strait won Entertainer of the Year could not be further from the truth. Did he want to win the award? Sure he did; so did three others that were unsuccessful. But I guarantee you that he was genuinely happy for King George. Sure, his merchandise manager made an ill-timed tweet, even if he is entitled to his opinion, just as you are yours when you bash Luke Bryan and artists like himself on this website over and over and over and over. By the way, what does Cole Swindell have to do with any of this? What an over the top, piece-of-shit, pot shot. How you have managed to turn an ill-timed tweet by an employee of Luke Bryan into some sort of message that Luke Bryan ferreted out on his own through a back channel is busch league at best. Carry on with the hate though, guys.
Trigger
April 8, 2014 @ 2:08 pm
Though I can’t speak for how Luke Bryan felt about George Strait’s win, I do feel like I went out of my way to distinguish that this is not aimed directly at Luke Bryan himself.
I apologize if you feel this article was poorly-written, but that in itself doesn’t change anything that happened. I was attempting to paint a broader context for why people in Luke Bryan’s corner are angry about the George Strait win.
unorigami
April 9, 2014 @ 4:11 pm
Dude, you shouldn’t have to apologize. I didn’t read the article as an attack on Luke Bryan himself, and you’re certainly not responsible the bizarre follow up comments by readers any more than Bryan is responsible for his fans or his merchandiser.
I enjoyed the continuing reinforcement at how ludicrous Nashville is, though – it provides a lot of unintentional laughs. I figure nobody should ever knock you for whatever music turns your crank, but you really shouldn’t attach significance to such a bunch of gladhanding fakes with sharpened fangs, the better to rip out your throat when the opportunity arrives. The old guys were just as ambitious as the new crop, but nowhere near as feral, or aw shucks phony.
CAH
April 8, 2014 @ 4:42 pm
I haven’t listened to Luke Bryan, because I can’t get past the pretty-boy image he tries so hard to project.
When I hear the faux country/bro country tunes (usually, at college football games which believe in sensory overload and not letting you watch the game in peace), the lyrics are usually witty and the chicks on the videos are hot, but the whole thing looks like a highly canned product emanating from Music Row and not something coming from the performer’s heart.
And the main thing I have like about country music (including roots and folk music) for the last 40 years is the authenticity of its lyrics. They tend to resonate deep inside me.
I also like rock, but with a lot of bands, I find myself marveling much more with respect to the musical capabilities of the artists and the tunes themselves than their messages.
From what I read on this site, the lyrics of the new pop country songs seem to focus on a lifestyle that is quite similar to mine (at least as it relates to the farms, trucks and guns – not the hell-raising parts of the lyrics, although I certainly did that nonsense as a young man).
I don’t fault these folks for chasing the dollar.
If they didn’t go to such extents to appear so polished and cause their concerts to be like Altamont, I might be inclined to buy their music.
When I do (usually, by accident, seeing a new artist I believe may be the type of country music I like – e.g. Jerrod Neiman or Brantly Gilbert), I am invariably disappointed.
Canuck
April 8, 2014 @ 6:21 pm
George Strait = craftsmanship in music
Luke Bryan = craftsmanshit in music
There is a distinct difference here.
the pistolero
April 8, 2014 @ 8:24 pm
Well done, Canuck. Well done, indeed. 😀
Canuck
April 8, 2014 @ 6:25 pm
Luke Bryan’s “crew” seem to have the intelligence of one of the cow patties found on George Strat’s farm. You know, the farm run by REAL cowboys.
Canuck
April 8, 2014 @ 6:26 pm
Whoops! Autocorrect! George STRAIT’s farm! Don’t I look like a Luke Bryan roadie now! Der!
MUSIC Fan
April 8, 2014 @ 7:43 pm
I have read every comment here and felt the need to add my 2 cents. Ha! I am 37 yrs old and was raised on traditional country. My first love? Willie Nelson. Was a huge Barbara Mandrell fan when I was 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. Still love them both! Then I found Bon Jovi at 12 years old and the world stood still. All these years later I can say I love all kinds of music. My iPod has all the above mentioned plus Hank Sr, Conway, Loretta, Cash, Alan Jackson, T Graham Brown everything Grorge Strait and Alabama has done, Brooks and Dunn, Reba. But also everything Bon Jovi has done, Guns n Roses, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones etc. It also has all of Luke Bryan’s CD’s on it, Kenny Chesney, LOVE Chris Young, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean etc. Broadway musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Memphis. I love music in general. I have seen over 300 concerts in my life of all genres. The best country acts live? George Strait, Brooks and Dunn, Rascal Flats and LUKE BRYAN. Best overall?The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and George Strait. I respect the music, I respect the fans of each and every individual artist, I respect that the world moves forward but also stays the same at the same time.
I understand I am considered part of a disrespectful, lazy, selfish generation, but some of us will work hard to keep old traditonal country alive while still enjoying what some artist of today are producing.
Ballgame
April 8, 2014 @ 8:20 pm
And THIS GUY gets it. Thank you. I just don’t get the hate. Thank you very much for your comment sir.
Applejack
April 8, 2014 @ 10:23 pm
I really don’t think anyone is saying that you’re not allowed to like music from different eras simultaneously. Have you poked around on this site? It is literally filled with reviews from new and emerging artists, right alongside stories about classic country artists.You said: “some of us will work hard to keep old traditonal country alive while still enjoying what some artists of today are producing.” That is a great attitude to have, and it seems like it could practically be the motto of this website. Personally speaking though, I think you and I would reach different conclusions about which new artists are worth listening to.
I also don’t think anyone is telling you that you can’t like both country and classic rock, which I think is pretty common, or that you are not allowed to get enjoyment out of Luke Bryan’s music. If you get joy and pleasure out of Luke Bryan’s music, then have at it hoss, as Waylon might say.
But ultimatley, I think you have to realize the type of website you’ve stumbled onto. It is literally called “saving country music,” so of course you can infer that the guy who started it and probably the people who read it feel that country music *needs* to be saved in some way. Luke Bryan is arguably the hottest artist in mainstream “country” music right now, and he is making music that is far afeild from country music in any traditional sense, so it is not surprising that people here would be criticizing him. If you went on a website dedicated to preserving the roots of National League baseball, it wouldn’t be surprising that the people there aren’t wild about the designated hitter rule.
Finally, I can only speak for myself, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with anybody’s generation. But I do think that mainstream radio has failed the current generation in many ways, because it plays a very narrow selection of songs and artists, and does not give people much variety, or many options to choose from, among other things. And peronsally, I don’t dislike Luke Bryan’s music because he’s a newer artist or because he mixes musical styles. I just think his music is uncreative and shallow, and that it is inappropriate for the genre it is being marketed it in. That’s my 2 cents.
BwareDWare94
April 9, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
You want to call yourself a music fan, but in defending Luke Bryan you’re essentially defending an artist we can equate to processed food products. They may satiate your hunger but are lacking in true quality.
Strait Country 81
April 8, 2014 @ 11:37 pm
Strait had 60 number 1 songs at 60 & Luke at 60 ani’t gonna have anything but depends that are full of shit!!
Camie jo
April 9, 2014 @ 8:16 am
Cute is everything.. 😛
You are correct, if he wasn’t cute – we wouldn’t be bumping our gums about it.
We don’t carry on about Gary LeVox’s nice bod.
Camie jo
April 9, 2014 @ 8:40 am
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Are women in country getting the short end of the stick?
LUKE BRYAN : “It”™s disappointing that it”™s so tough for a female artist to break. I don”™t know really the demographics of why that is and what makes that so tough on women. I don”™t know. I don”™t know why that”™s so tough. I do think it sucks, but I don”™t know what I can do. I mean, it”™s a weird phenomenon. What”™s funny is that the majority of listeners are females, but then you”™d feel like they would want to hear women too. I guess I didn”™t give you at all an answer, but I just feel like I don”™t know what can be done to solve it. I think historically it”™s always been that way a little bit. It feels like now is the toughest time ever for women, but I would imagine it”™s always been pretty damn crummy.”
Yeah.
“Overall in country, it”™s a different deal because it”™s tough for a girl to, at the age of 16, start hitting the honky tonks. It”™s just”¦ [sighs] that the landscape in the minor leagues for women are tougher in country. My radio tour, back when I was singing two shows a day, I”™d have to wake up, throw on a hat. A lot of times girls, you know””it”™s just a tough time for girls to pull off those early days and radio tours, too. And I don”™t want anybody calling me saying, “Why are you saying girls aren”™t tough enough?” But I”™ve thought about it a lot and why it happens, but at the end of the day, I can”™t put my finger on it.”
But why wouldn”™t they be able to do that? I”™m not following.
“In my opinion, the girls that make it, man, they can wake up early at 5 a.m., throw a hat on, roll into a radio station, hang with the guys. They kind of have to be able to hang with the guys but also be feminine and pretty, and it”™s just a tough dynamic when you talk about that aspect. It”™s nothing that””there”™s probably not even any merit to what I”™m saying, but it”™s just stuff I”™ve thought about through the years. I remember waking up, and you know, hell, I”™d hop in the shower quickly. Some girls on radio tours, it will take them two hours to get all dolled up to do three songs for a radio guy. They do two hours worth of glam. I mean, It”™s tough, you know?”
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
April 9, 2014 @ 9:02 am
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m a die-hard Strait fan. And I’m definitely not a Luke Bryan fan. But after reading this article about how much money and effort Bryan’s fans and manager put into promoting Bryan to win, and then to read how they reacted to Mr. Strait winning, wow. I didn’t think it was possible but I now have even LESS respect for the ridiculous Luke Bryan!
L. Frmbwk
April 9, 2014 @ 11:06 am
Ok if you don’t like Luke Bryan or any other artist like him or anything for that matter then who cares you don’t like him, how about focus more on uplifting on the things that you do enjoy or have preference for & keeping the tradition alive but I know I know only response I will get is that’s all that is played, he’s a douche, blah blah etc…Save country music yes!!! Country is the best in my book but all the fussing & negativity about who’s right and who is real and who isn’t doesn’t help keep country alive. Hate me comment what you want but I happen to be a fan of Luke Bryan’s if you think his music is crap then ok whatever but I don’t including millions of others who are fans of his of all ages that does not mean we do not enjoy all country music or that we are fake! A lot of his fans are happy for George Strait’s win including Luke himself I am sure! But like someone commented earlier he does seem to be the one targeted for the most criticism not just here but several places, bashing him & making nasty jokes about him & his style that you might not agree with is getting a little ridiculous it doesn’t matter what he does either people are going to look for something he has done wrong. Media can twist things around to make what someone said into worse that what it is why try to ruin someone’s career that you have never even met? And as far as the comment made on twitter it does not involve Luke he made is own opinion Luke Bryan is his own person! I’m sure I will be reprimanded after I post this but I really could care less Luke shouldn’t either people will always throw rocks at things that shine! Keep traditions alive & celebrate them promote them but understand that there is room of all types of music in each genre; music is for enjoyment there is enough negativity going on in this world.
Mike
April 9, 2014 @ 1:45 pm
“Hate me comment what you want but I happen to be a fan of Luke Bryan”™s if you think his music is crap then ok whatever but I don”™t including millions of others who are fans of his of all ages that does not mean we do not enjoy all country music or that we are fake!”
Actually, that is exactly what it means…You are fake, with your bro-country/soccer mom/teenybop crap Bryan and his ilk put out!!!
BwareDWare94
April 9, 2014 @ 2:03 pm
I can’t get over how hilarious it is that 9 out of 10 Luke backers in this thread can’t even construct sentences. How indicative of the overall intelligence of a fan base. Dear lord, that post was so hard to follow I’m surprised I made it all the way to the end.
Here is the problem with Luke: adding pop and hip hop elements for the sake of capitalizing on current trends that negate any country tendencies he might otherwise have. Crash My Party is NOT a country album. It’s all 3-4 minute pop songs with hip hop beats and crappy lyrics. In order to try fooling people into thinking it’s a country album, there are repeating second-long steel licks in each song, along with a bit of banjo here and there (that sure didn’t help “That’s My Kind of Night,” did it?). It’s not really country. It’s something else hidden inside “country” packaging.
He’s obviously aware of it, and he knows that real country fans know he’s just in it for money. It’s not about music, and that’s the fact of the matter.
Defend him all you want and call us haters but there are people out there who actually have GOOD taste, and while you may not be one of them, many of us are.
Courtney
April 9, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
there ain’t any need to start attacking people’s intelligence on here. I might not care for Luke Bryan and much of his fan base, but that don’t mean I’m going to try to insult them over something as meaningless as grammar on the internet. it’s plain arrogant and it makes me mad that I have to share an opinion with you
SS
April 9, 2014 @ 1:56 pm
George Strait is PURE country which is more than I can say for some of the so-called country singers today. I don’t even recognize country music anymore. I love listening to George sing. He absolutely deserved this award, but I am certainly mystified by those who not only think someone I have barely heard of should have won, but are disruptingly vocal about it. This Luke guy should tune up his sorry losers because they are making him look terrible.
countryfied
April 9, 2014 @ 2:55 pm
Unbelieveable! Saying King George is not an entertainer is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in country music. Hunter Jobes screw you and your classless, no respect for country music tweet! George has been an entertainer for decades since before your ass was born. This was probably his last shot at winning and everyone with any sense knew it was his win, same as the CMAs. Have you been living under a rock? Did you completely miss the CMAs a few months ago when he won EOTY? You were expecting different a few months later? Even if George got zero votes I bet the ACMs would have given him the win from the industry vote. Luke and the others should not have bothered with EOTY campaigns this year, complete waste of time. Luke needed this win like he needs another beer, tailgate and big black jacked up truck. He’s selling tons of music and tickets.
It amazes me how greedy some fans and camps can get, bitching after their favorite artist wins more awards than they have shelf space for and makes $100 million while better artists can’t even get played on country radio and win one award. Luke should fire this Hunter douche if he hasn’t already but I guess we’ll see him getting a record deal and releasing a big dumb bro country single soon like Cole.
Camie jo
April 9, 2014 @ 5:33 pm
I’m not bashing Luke. We’ve already discussed how cute he is.
Dr. Phil had a PR expert on today, with tips how to deal with bad press.
10 Commandments of Public Relations
Howard Bragman, Vice Chairman of Reputation.com, has been doing public relations for more than three decades and is one of the nation’s best-known “spin doctors.” Below is information on his 10 Commandments of Public Relations, taken from his best-selling book, Where’s My Fifteen Minutes?
All press is not good press.
Bad press is bad press. It’s often sensationalistic, inaccurate and vindictive. Even the most seasoned celebrities don’t like to deal with it. You can’t avoid bad press, but you can be such a wonderful person that the press isn’t quite so eager to tear you down.
Perception is reality.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that the masses would let the truth get in the way of a good story. Your life must go through the media filter and what remains is neither the whole truth nor nothing but the truth. Yet, it is your truth, and that is the baseline that has to be worked from.
Create a brand.
What are your attributes? Who is your target audience? How loyal are they? The goal is to become multi-faceted, full of positive attributes, and a magnet for respect, fans, work and lucrative commercial endorsements. It”™s hardly enough to do one thing well anymore. The secret is to make that brand something based in reality. A phony baloney image won”™t have legs.
The truth seeks its own level.
There are no secrets anymore. You can run, but you can”™t hide. That sword is dangling over your head and is ready to fall. It may not do irreparable damage, but it will require some catharsis in order to get beyond it. We call it youthful indiscretion, a lapse in judgment or an effect of bad times. Whether or not it’s a speed bump or a roadblock is often dependent on how one addresses it.
Energize a base.
Articles don’t just land in a newspaper. They have to be pitched to a specific writer and targeted for a specific section. To succeed, you need to work backwards from your media targets and from your base. A target group can be as small as three or as large as a billion. You just have to define it by looking inward. These are the groups that likely gave you your start and these are the people who catapulted you into the mainstream.
The media will not wait for you.
Play offense, not defense. The job of the interviewee is to proactively impart his messages throughout the interview. If you don’t have any messages, then you don”™t have anything to say, and you shouldn’t be doing the interview in the first place. It’s that simple. We go by the premise that contemporary media can absorb three or four messages in a session ”” certainly no more and oftentimes less.
There is no wall between public and private.
To be a proper celebrity, you need to go to events; not because of the shrimp ”” because of the press line. It’s not enough to have the press come to you. You have to walk the line.
The medium is still the message.
Now, more than ever, Marshall MacLuhan resonates. Remember who you”™re talking to and who their audience is. You can”™t afford not to. Everyone thought that the Internet would change everything. As it turns out, the Internet is to information what cotton candy is to food. Increased speed has resulted in more incorrect information. Stick to media that are good for you.
You can go home again.
You can come back, and we loved you all along. Act like you never left. This is the new thing. In marketing terms, we call it ‘pre-promoted’. For your return, the audience has some starting awareness, some loyalty, and this momentum just needs to be redirected a bit. It saves on marketing costs and gives higher awareness levels than someone just starting out.
They’re only building you up to knock you down.
If there”™s anything we like more than creating unreachable icons, it”™s knocking the tar out of them and bringing them down to our level, or worse. It”™s almost impossible to recover from the big one. The best defense is a good offense. Build up a reservoir of goodwill with the public and the media through your many generous and caring acts. Live your life like someone”™s watching, because they are.
Camie jo
April 10, 2014 @ 9:19 am
Live your life like someone’s watching, because they are.
Today, on my AM dial, a chamber of commerce spokesman said 93% of the people will reject an ad printed in the newspaper.
He said that same 93% will believe what is written in a blog.
Why? Because no one is being paid for their comments. Negative or positive, people believe it.
If you are good to your fans, crews, and most importantly….young kids__building a reservoir of goodwill with the public…aka George Strait.
People will treat you like they treat George Strait….with the utmost respect.
Charles Murphy
April 12, 2014 @ 10:24 am
The only thing I have to say after reading all this is, If Luke was smart, he would’ve already fired the merch guy and issued a statement (disclaimer) saying that he merch guys comments in no way show his opinion and respect of George Strait, as well as the award that King George was presented.
That is all.
GSfan4life
April 24, 2014 @ 4:31 am
George Jones has a song….”Who’s gonna fill their shoes…”..There is a nice trail leading from the classics of that my father listens to, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams, Earnest Tubbs, Johnny Cash, Mel Tillis, Charley Pride, Waylon Jennings…to George Strait, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Brad …..to ???? ???? ???? ????, still waiting for someone to stand up and fill these shoes…. as much as I like LB, Jason Aldean, Eric Church…I don’t define them as “country”…. I do have hope for Justin Moore…
Joe
July 6, 2014 @ 9:50 am
Luke Bryan is a special case. He has fragmentary pieces of his music that I truly would like to enjoy but he can never put it together in a tolerable format. I have been out of touch with radio for awhile. It was just the other day I heard “drink a beer” for the first time. Of all of Luke Bryan’s most recent hits, this one insulted me the worst. Why? Because it had the potential of being something more than his usual short-sighted songs.
This was a song about death, something deep that most adults could relate to emotionally. The song has a decent rhythm and the vocals to it are enjoyable in my opinion. It was actually making me somewhat reflect, something a song on the radio has not done in years. I take the bait and what happens? He ends the chorus with the stupidest line I could ever think of. “and drink a beer”. Really? I bet most people on this site could come up with a better end to the chorus within 5 minutes.
It was like leading me on a journey, blindfolded, speaking to me about tranquil mountains and streams alongside lush pastures. Then you take the blindfold off, and now I know we have arrived at a gas station bathroom with crap on the floor.
Seriously, I don’t know who wrote the song but they murdered any timeless or deep quality it had in it. With a simple line that kept the meaning of the song on death and reflection not on freaking beer like every other forsaken song on the radio made by these panty-waists, we could have believed (even if falsely so) the writer actually did have an IQ larger than his rime size.
Orl
August 7, 2014 @ 12:16 pm
I think that people who voted just got worn out by Luke Bryan overkill, didn’t care for Taylor or Blake Shelton’s overwrought antics on The Voice versus his music performances, so they went for George Strait for Entertainer of the Year. Most of those cats now were young or little when Strait sold out tours and had hits in the 80s and 90s. So it’s fair to award it to the one who did it first. I think blame should go to Luke’s manager for getting too worked up in his campaign to get him to win. Granted Luke’s not going to win it every year, and Luke’s manager should have known that! Luke’s a good artist, but he needs a decade or so of hits to catch up to King George, who is true to himself with his music!
David Hedrick
July 3, 2020 @ 10:05 am
It all comes down to Great, well crafted, memorable country music that stays with the listener long after the song is over!!!!! Non of this “New-breed” shit is even worth listening to twice!!! I’m a long time Country singer/guitarist who has been performing for many years in Honky thinks, in and around Texas, doing mostly covers and a few originals. It never fails, the older tunes get better response and pack dancefloors, whereas, the bubble gum shit songs fail miserably. I really tried to work in some of the new crap, but so disgusted with it, I couldn’t remember lyrics or really even wanted to. Not to mention losing crowd attention and dead dancefloor!!! God bless the great country tunes by Great , well mannered , deserving country artists, ie, strait, Haggard, Jones, HWSR, HWJR, Whitley, Waylon and many more!!! Long live REAL country!!!