There is no better example of just how damaging a mischaracterizing article can be to an artist than the “Rolling Stone” cover story that came out about Eric Church in the summer of 2018. And in this instance, it came in the form of a puff piece feature, not some attempted take down of Church.
On Sunday morning (1-8), the country music internet was all abuzz from a story in TMZ about Morgan Wallen pouring a drink down the front of the blouse of a woman at a Nashville bar. The incident allegedly happened Friday night, January 7th, at an unnamed bar on Nashville’s Lower Broadway.
Over the Christmas/New Year holiday, Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” set a rather landmark achievement by becoming the first radio single in country music history to spend 10 weeks at #1—a record that despite the song’s country lyricism as a heartbreak drinking song, can only be regarded as dubious.
Zach Bryan is currently crossing the final frontier yet to be conquered by an artist not groomed by Music Row. We’re speaking of course about country radio. For months now, Zach Bryan’s single “Something in the Orange” has been either the #1 most streamed song in all of country music, or #2 or #3.
Finally. 14+ years into a 10 year town, and Hailey Whitters is receiving the attention from the mainstream of country music that many fans, critics, and prognosticators have been saying she deserved many years ago, wishcasting her as one of the future bright stars of the genre if she was just given a chance.
The Pill. THE PILL! Even before the unfortunate passing of the great Loretta Lynn on October 4th, there was nothing that exposed one more as a political apparatchik larping as a journalist within the country music space than shoehorning a reference to Loretta Lynn’s “The Pill” into your misguided think piece.
Zach Bryan is arguably the 2nd biggest thing going in all of country music at the moment behind Mullett Boy, but of course you couldn’t tell that by piping up your country radio, unless you have one of those cool radio stations in your area that actually play what they want. But all of that might be changing.
During its first week of “adds” as they say in the radio business, Drake Milligan’s “Sounds Like Something I’d Do” came in at an impressive #2 in country this week, with 26 official adds according to Mediabase, and 33 total stations showing commitment to the song. This is an extremely positive sign.
When Jamey Johnson stood on the stage Friday, August 12th in Lincoln, Nebraska, and barked profanities at the local radio station KX 96.9, he wasn’t just angry they had used “his” stage to promote their station, he was venting the pent up frustration many independent, Red Dirt, and Texas music artists feel.
A 7-year-old song receiving some 95 million streams in a year is quite remarkable. But as we’re seeing all across music and country music specifically, consumers who are just not connecting with new music today are finding favor with the back catalogs of artists that sometimes they’re just discovering.
Yes, just a day after Saving Country Music posted a long-winded rant about why trying to court mainstream country radio is a fool’s errand, not one, but two interesting anomalies have popped up on the format that are worth remarking about, and keeping a close eye on.
In 2015, we couldn’t imagine artists not supported by mainstream country radio selling out arenas, and minting multiple Platinum singles without the help of Music Row. Here in 2022, Tyler Childers is considered one of the top artists in the entire country music industry, and now we have Zach Bryan.
Sunny Sweeney is starting a new gig. And don’t worry, it doesn’t mean she’s ending her old one as a badass performer of country music. Getting ready to release a new album on September 23rd called ‘Married Alone,’ this week Sunny Sweeney also launched a brand new radio show on Sirius XM.
For going on five years now, Jaime Wyatt has been one of the most important and entertaining artists in all of independent country music. Her 2017 album ‘Felony Blues’ about her time in a California State Correctional Facility was one of the best releases of that year.
Another major market in the United States will no longer have a major country music radio station. New York City lost its final station in October of 2021 when WNSH 94.7 Nash FM switched formats. Now the San Jose-based Country 95.3 KRTY has been sold.
There was a pretty catastrophic oversight by both the ACM Awards and Amazon in their streaming awards show experiment, and one that alienated the most key demographic for a presentation such as the ACM Awards: country fans who live in the country.
Not only did Morgan Wallen make the $100,000 donation, the singer also toured the location that opened in 2019, and the museum was given the opportunity to, “share our mission with Morgan as he was eager to learn more in a sincere effort to grow.”
If you feel like you’re experiencing déjà vu with Gary Allan lashing out at country music’s radio system, it’s because you’re more dialed into the doings of country music than the writers over at Rolling Stone. Yes, we have been at this exact spot with Gary Allan before.
For 21 years, the Country Music Critics Poll published in Nashville’s alternative newsweekly the ‘Nashville Scene’ has been one of the leading indicators of critical consensus about a given year’s songs, albums, artists, and performers in the country music space.
These are pop stars using the country format for attention and notoriety. And no different than Bebe Rexha, Gwen Stefani, Pink, and other pop stars who collaborated with more native country acts and usurped attention from country’s women, their appearance on country radio is problematic.
Maybe pigs can fly. Maybe monkeys will fly out of Mike Myers’ butt. And maybe mainstream country radio will play Cody Jinks if it’s just given a chance, or a choice. The effort to bring Cody Jinks to the mainstream country airwaves has already born fruit.
Like so many media outlets native to the print realm, Rolling Stone has experienced hard times over the last decade-plus while transitioning to the digital world, and also trying to evolve beyond their original baby boomer readership. Rolling Stone is still one of the most recognized media brands in music and culture, but what it’s […]
I know what you’re going to say. “NeW yOrK CiTY!” like that guy in the old Pace Picante Sauce commercial. Or if you pride yourself in having any sort of semblance of taste, maybe you’re wondering why anyone in 2021 would still be listening to mainstream country radio at all.
Instead of doing the actual work to truly verify whether the donations had been made by Morgan Wallen, and/or being patient enough to wait until the information could be fully revealed, ‘Rolling Stone’ ran with the working assumption that the donations weren’t delivered at all