George Jones Rips Pop Country

George JonesCountry music legend and Hall of Fame member George Jones has come out slinging verbal daggers at pop country performers, saying “They Have Stolen Our Identity.”

Jones, who has publicly come out against pop country before but never in such blunt terms, let the gloves fall in an interview today (11-2-09) with The Associated Press.

From the AP:

“When asked about what he thought about music by today’s top country stars, the 78-year-old said while they are good, “they’ve stolen our identity.” Jones made the comment during a recent interview when asked about music by artists like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.

They had to use something that was established already, and that’s traditional country music. So what they need to do really, I think, is find their own title, because they’re definitely not traditional country music. . . It’s good to know that we still do traditional country music. Alan Jackson still does it, so does George Strait. We still have it, and there’s quite a few of us that are going to hope that it comes back one of these days.”

“How can you call that music? Now, I love music, too. I love all kinds. I really do. I’ve got Brook Benton. I like his singing. Ray Charles. I’ve got an open mind. But now, you can’t call rap, talking stuff like that, music. No, no, no, you’ve got to have another name for that.”

Yeah, I’ve got another name for that George.

To read the whole story, click here.

Nothing that George Jones said was groundbreaking, except for that it was George Jones saying it, and so people will listen. This story is spreading all across the dirty internet like a bad rash, and just like the Newsweek article from this Spring, it can only help increase awareness in the mainstream about the movement to Save Country Music.

Thanks to Jim and the Texas Two Steppers Songwriters for giving me a heads up on this story.

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