Sharp-Tongued Criticism Has Always Been Country’s Way of Preserving the Roots
Something that even some traditional country fans don’t fully appreciate is how country music has always been about paying traditions forward. That’s what separates the genre from all the other major genres of American music.
In 1927 when Ralph Peer commenced The Bristol Sessions in Bristol, Tennessee, recording acts such as Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family and giving birth to country music as a commercial enterprise, these acts weren’t playing country music of the late 1920’s, they were playing traditionals from the 1800’s, and originals that were written and performed to emulate the traditionals. From the beginning, country was nostalgia music and neotraditional, paying the roots forward of a timeless art form with the most important element of all being preservation for the generations to come.
In the 30’s and 40’s, the big stars of the Grand Ole Opry were doing the same thing. Roy Acuff sang old Appalachian music, and Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys took the old time fiddle tunes of the Kentucky region and contemporized them to make what we consider bluegrass today.
In 1969 when Merle Haggard was the biggest thing in country music and was launching hit singles left and right, he surprised everyone by taking the time to release a 25-song tribute record to Jimmie Rodgers that took six months to make. And then the next year, Haggard did the same for Western Swing legend Bob Wills. Neither record sold nearly as well as his original material, nor did they launch any major singles for Merle. But he’d gone from a prisoner and delinquent to a superstar through the grace of country music, and he was bound and determined to pay tribute to the greats who came before him that helped make that all possible, and that inspired much of his own music.
On August 29th when Sturgill Simpson decided to twist off on the ACM’s for naming an award after Merle Haggard, some may have looked at him sideways. Why now? Why with this particular award? After all, the ACM’s were just trying to name an award after Merle Haggard in tribute. But Sturgill was just fulfilling the same role so many country artists have done since the beginning of the genre—he was standing up for the roots, and doing what he could to make sure they are being paid forward.
Many saw Sturgill’s missive as a pretty Outlaw move. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and the “Outlaws” of country music in the 70’s are given credit for bucking many of the traditions of country music that were in place during their era, but they were doing it in spite of the sedated and controlling Countrypolitan movement of the time, not the true traditions of country music. In fact Willie and Waylon made it a point to include the old-timers as part of their movement, to help preserve their music at a time when they were being shifted aside for more contemporary sounds and artists. Willie Nelson’s Dripping Springs Reunion, and the first few 4th of July Picnics in the 70’s featured performances by Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and other older country artists right beside the rowdy cowboy hippie songwriters of Central Texas, and the Nashville Outlaws.
Willie Nelson’s opus Red Headed Stranger included songs from Fred Rose and Eddy Arnold. In 1975, Waylon Jennings released a song called “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” that went to #1. The B-side to it was a song called “Bob Wills Is Still The King.”
But preserving the roots of country is not always just about paying homage. Sometimes it is about sowing disharmony or speaking out in protest to help force country music back on the right path. Music Row and the country music industry will always be about money first. It’s a business and that only makes sense. But the artists are the ones who must take the lead and reign the business in when it forces country music to meander too far away from the roots.
What Sturgill did was not an unprecedented act of rebellion, it was the solemn act of an artist doing what he thought was best to make sure the roots of country music are preserved, and was strictly in line with the tradition of country artists taking matters into their own hands. These were things that Sturgill learned from Merle Haggard personally. Merle spent the final months of his career doing two principal things in interviews: calling out the modern state of country, and praising Sturgill Simpson as one of the few left doing it the right way.
“They’re talking about screwing on a pickup tailgate and things of that nature. I don’t find no substance,” Merle said in one tongue-lashing.
Saving Country Music or some other outlet could have said what Sturgill (or Merle) said, and does on a fairly regular basis. But it’s nothing special. It’s not out of the ordinary. It’s what’s expected. That is why the effort to save country music and preserve the roots of the music ultimately rests with the artists, and always will.
Many wondered what all the fuss was about when Hank Williams III made a big stink with the Grand Ole Opry over the issue of reinstating his grandfather. Hank Williams was fired from the Opry months before his death. But what would be the point of reinstating a dead guy? One of the main issues Hank Williams III raised was how the Opry was using the name and likeness of Hank Williams without properly paying respects to him. As Sturgill said in his rant defending Merle Haggard, “Everybody on Music Row is coming up with any reason they can to hitch their wagon to his name while knowing full and damn well what he thought about them.”
Reinstate Hank was never just about symbolically reinstating Hank Williams to the Grand Ole Opry. As Sturgill points out, these institutions will use the name and likeness of these country legends at their convenience, but when it was convenient to shove them aside for new stars, they were more than happy to. That’s why it doesn’t matter how many ACM Awards Merle won over the years. It was the ones he should have won, but didn’t, and the tributes he should have received in life, that now they want to assign in death.
In 1994, when Alan Jackson showed up to the ACM Awards wearing a Hank Williams T-Shirt, Dick Clark asked him, “Here you are on television in front of millions of people. Why do you have a Hank Williams T-shirt on?”
Jackson’s response was, “Well, I love Hank, and a fan…I get a lot of gifts on the road playing, and a fan gave me this shirt, and I just saw it in the closet before I came out here this weekend and I grabbed it and said, ‘I’m gonna wear it for my song,’ you know, ‘Gone Country.’ Hank’s country.”
Later that evening for Alan Jackson’s ACM performance of “Gone Country,” he was asked to play to a backing track. Instead of acquiescing, Alan Jackson told his drummer to play with no sticks, that way the savvy viewers at home would know Alan Jackson was not being disingenuous with his performance.
Years later, in 1999, when the CMA Awards told George Jones he could only perform a shortened version of his hit song “Choices,” George walked out of the venue in protest. Alan Jackson, in solidarity, stopped halfway through his performance of his single “Pop a Top” and broke into George’s “Choices”—Jackson’s own version of protest. The song “Pop a Top” was a tribute in itself to another country legend, Jim Ed Brown, who first recorded the song in 1967.
At that same CMA Awards in 1999, Alan Jackson and George Strait performed the country protest song “Murder On Music Row.” The next year it earned the CMA for Vocal Event of the Year, and Song of the Year at the CMA’s. How did a song ostensibly calling organizations like the CMA out win two awards? It’s because George Strait and Alan Jackson were doing what country music artists have always done: preserving the roots of country by the act of protest; and because the CMA voters deep down in their hearts agreed. Just like they did when Chris Stapleton nearly swept all the major CMA Awards in 2015, despite being a virtual unknown, and receiving no radio play.
Everybody knows that most of the country on the radio is garbage. The performers know it, the songwriters know it, the label executives and DJ’s know it. But they’re powerless to do anything about it because their livelihoods depend on the harmony on Music Row remaining undisturbed. It takes someone with the guts to speak up to send country music back on the right path. But what Sturgill Simpson did wasn’t unprecedented. It was right in line with what the past legends did themselves. Sturgill learned this from Merle Haggard personally, and took it personal when he saw Merle’s name associated with an organization he knew Merle didn’t condone in his final days.
This is the battle of evermore that The Carter Family was waging to keep the spirit of the music of their ancestors alive when Ralph Peer cued up a microphone in front of them in an era when industrialization was crowding out America’s agrarian culture, and what Sturgill Simpson did when he took to Facebook to deliver a pointed missive about a legend who had taken him under his wings in his final days.
And the circle remains unbroken. For now.
Brian
September 1, 2016 @ 10:55 am
That Alan jackson moment has always been my favorite, I can just imagine what he was feeling inside the whole time singing “Pop a Top”, knowing where he was going with it. I’m sure his insides were pumping waiting to get to that moment. No matter how confident you are about doing something, when it is on a stage like that, there is a certain amount of nervous energy I guarantee you. I also love how he doesn’t sit around for applause, just walks off.
Justin
September 1, 2016 @ 1:29 pm
And this is why Alan Jackson is the G.O.A.T.
ElectricOutcast
September 1, 2016 @ 11:13 am
You know what’s funny? As a civilian whenever I speak my Outlaw mind on either Facebook or Twitter or on occasion even Planet Garth, I usually get the “Well, people’s musical tastes are gonna be different from yours.” I will admit I’ve adopted an “Everybody’s wrong but me” mentality on occasion and I’m trying to calm that down but as a consumer if I find something that sounds fucking stupid, I’m gonna flat out speak my mind on it, plain and simple.
Bertox
September 1, 2016 @ 11:14 am
Best article I’ve read in awhile. Bravo.
HayesCarll2323
September 1, 2016 @ 11:23 am
Great article
Warthog
September 1, 2016 @ 11:45 am
This is a great read, Trig. Keep it up, man.
Kent
September 1, 2016 @ 11:57 am
Nice article. But I’ve always thought it a bit naive to think that A.P collected all these
old traditional songs and recorded them just because he wanted to save them for coming generations. (Klara said something similar before they sang “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?” at the Ryman) https://youtu.be/SIcuVzFbo74?t=15s
I think it was more about making a living for himself and his family. But I guess it doesn’t matter why he did it. The main thing is that he did it. thatever the reason was. And I’m very happy he did I’ve listened to the Carter Family every now and then for over 40 years now. And will keep on doing so until I die…
Tezca
September 1, 2016 @ 1:08 pm
Maybe it was a bit of both?
Trigger
September 1, 2016 @ 1:44 pm
Yeah, I would say both. Of course The Carters wanted to make money. We all have to make money. Even preachers, social workers, everyone eventually has to bring in revenue to pay bills. But I also think they wanted to share the music of their ancestors with the world, and were aware they were one of the last links that could help preserve it for the future.
Kent
September 1, 2016 @ 2:10 pm
@Tezca , @Trigger
“Maybe it was a bit of both?”
“But I also think they wanted to share the music of their ancestors with the world, and were aware they were one of the last links that could help preserve it for the future.
Thank you. Yes it probably was… I stand corrected… :-)”
Dave
September 1, 2016 @ 12:15 pm
I just think his rant should have been at the CMAs, it seems like the ACMs have always valued Merle – just 2 years ago w/ special award for example. Country Radio is the biggest problem. I also find it funny that a “non country singer” Simpson’s own words describing himself would care so much? Seems he might have wanted recognition. Love Isbell but Sturgill’ last album while lyrically strong was no way country but much better than that bro/pop crap so I guess we will have to get a new show for that.
Chris
September 1, 2016 @ 12:31 pm
Protest against the charlatans in the commercialization of country music has long been the prevailing zeitgeist of its true vanguards.
Sturgill’s recent actions and remarks are what saving country music is all about.
This is a timely action by Sturgill and article.
andrew
September 1, 2016 @ 1:19 pm
Oh wow. Can’t say I’ve ever read a better article that summarizes whats going on. Thanks, man.
Robby White
September 1, 2016 @ 1:28 pm
I had never considered your point about Country music being born neo-traditional. However, from what I’ve read and heard about the Bristol Sessions, I’d say that’s spot on. Great observation. Great article.
Robert S
September 1, 2016 @ 1:39 pm
I don’t need award shows or any country radio station to tell me which music is worthy. I have SCM and two ears. Your work is greatly appreciated. Below is a list of artist I currently have on my best songs of 2016 Playlist. It has been a great year for country music.
2016 Playlist (150 songs from the following great Artists with new records this year):
Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, Cody Jinks, Chelle Rose, Justin Wells, Austin Lucas, Kelsey Waldon, Parker Millsap, Hard Working Americans, Jon Pardi, Jeff Shepherd and Jailhouse Poets, Nick Dittmeier & The Sawdusters, The Divorcees, Robbie Fulks, Urban Pioneers, Hackensaw Boys, Hayes Carll, Jackson Taylor and the Sinners, Elizabeth Cook, Western Centuries, Bonnie Bishop, Nathan Kalish & The Lastcallers, Sweet GA Brown, Luke Bell, The Waco Brothers, Michaela Anne, Dori Freeman, Loretta Lynn, Cheryl Desere’e,Ryan Scott,Travis, Flatland Cavalry, Brent Cobb, Lori Mckenna, Reckless Kelly, The Devil Makes Three, Mandolin Orange, Left Arm Tan, Dolly Pardon,Jack Ingram, and Caleb Caudle
RobertS
September 1, 2016 @ 2:08 pm
Wow, a poster with a similar username likes a lot of the same music as I do. Pretty neat !
Lee
September 1, 2016 @ 3:47 pm
John Moreland I suggest adding.
RobertS
September 1, 2016 @ 4:52 pm
I’m going to see John Moreland in about 3 weeks 🙂
Brock
September 1, 2016 @ 4:16 pm
The effort to save country music and preserve the roots of the music ultimately rests with the artists and always will. Absolutely
Greg
September 1, 2016 @ 4:47 pm
I agree with Dave.Many of the so-called Country radio stations,if you can call them that is 99.9 percent of the problem.This goes for both the US & Canada.(Not all stations are like this,but many of them are).
You try to call up a radio station,or write,e-mail the stations,etc,to request a traditional country song,old or new,by your favorite star,and 99.9 percent of the time they will tell you that star is too country,or whatever flimsy excuse or lie that DJ can think of to get off of the hook with the listener who called to request that song.
Plus,it because a lot of stations are playing this stuff we the Country fans don’t wanna hear,is the reason why the record companies put out so much garbage.The record excs won’t put out real Country because the stations don’t wanna play them,even though we the fans wanna hear these songs,and request them.
Thank God new CD’s by Loretta,Dolly,etc,are doing great sales wise on the billboard Country albums chart WITHOUT radio’s help,proving again we the fans do still wanna hear these stars songs.Not to mention,people like Loretta,Dolly,Gene Watson,etc,are drawing great crowds,and in many cases,selling out concert venues too.
Convict charlie
September 1, 2016 @ 5:41 pm
That is an issue with radio but not the major reason. Being 2,000 country stations in America alone give or take only about 300 or so count as reporting stations to the two major charts. Then it’s a weighted system on top of that. Major market stations make the playlist for most of the country. Why a guy like Bobby bones and the national dj’s have so much power with just a single spin. It then gets tracked to countless other stations who carry the show.
Brett
September 2, 2016 @ 5:29 am
Man, I just made a long drive on I-81 and spent a large chunk of it listening to this awesome classic country station out of Galax, Virginia. Apparently their transmitter is on top of one the mountains there, so you can get it in over a large area. The took requests, played songs I hadn’t heard in years, and never repeated. I felt like I had gone to a country music revival.
indk
September 4, 2016 @ 3:43 am
98.1 Blue Ridge. I can get it an hour and a half away in North Carolina.
Brian Ritchie
September 1, 2016 @ 5:17 pm
Larry Cordel wrote Murder on Music Row and since then, several traditional musicians have echoed his point. Interestingly, many of those same artists have come out with bluegrass records in the last few years. Chris Stapleton had his experience in the Steeldrivers, and the influence is noticeable. The musicianship of bluegrass performers cannot be discounted in making records that are both authentic as well as unique sounding. No autotune needed.
Convict charlie
September 2, 2016 @ 12:26 pm
The murder on music row wasn’t hair a statement of a song it also had to do with the real murder on music row. Had to do with the cash box charts was fixing the songs getting the top spots. One of the honest guys found out and they had him killed. It took a long time to find the killer but it came out after a few deaths of natural causes.
Rileyben
September 1, 2016 @ 5:31 pm
The Tennessean is Butt hurt over Sturgills comments. Misquoting him on moving out of Nashville and all….
http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2016/08/31/sturgill-simpsons-diatribe-forgets-nashville-nourished-his-career/89655388/
Corncaster
September 1, 2016 @ 7:21 pm
turn on a non digital car radio, what do you hear? in my neck, you get npr, a classical station, talk radio, some one-off small time operations, a couple country stations, the 80s station, and a few r&b spots at the far end of the dial
seems to me the country stations said hell, this is a wasteland: let’s incorporate everything all styles and so suck up all that’s left in terms of music on the radio
because where I live, country has no real competition
so they try to be everything
DD
September 1, 2016 @ 7:59 pm
Didn’t SS just go out of his way to emphasize that he is not a country music artist? And then release an album that’s about as country as the Lower East Side? After releasing the theme song to Vinyl which somehow managed to be worse than the series itself? Now he’s the defender of the vanguard? Maybe it’s just that his buddy got screwed and he’s pissed.
Trigger
September 1, 2016 @ 9:16 pm
Is Sturgill Simpson the ideal candidate to take this stand? Is some of what he said a little ironic, or many even contradictory? Sure. And if I had decided to take on the ACM’s for the Mele Haggard award, I would have used a completely different tact. And I’ve actually taken a different stance than Sturgill. I’ve decided that we should engage with these institutions and fight for them to become more beholden to their own charges and bylaws, and use them to promote worthy artists.
But what Sturgill Simpson did is something nobody else could do: He had an impact.
Sturgill Simpson. Sturgill fucking Simpson, dominated the news cycle this week—a week where the CMA’s announced their nominations, and the ACM’s held their annual honors banquet. He upstaged the entire industry this week. Sure, maybe someone like Whitey Morgan has more cred to tackle these issues, but he does every night when he takes the stage. If he goes on a Facebook tirade, there are plenty of cheers from his fans, but it doesn’t turn the whole industry upside down for 72 hours. That’s because when Sturgill spoke, people listened.
We can sit here and second guess Sturgill’s tact, approach, motivations, etc. all day. But the simple fact is he shot a cannon ball right in the belly of the beast and made it fall over. It’s just one tiny battle in a much bigger and everlasting war. But it was a victory. And I’ll take it.
Charlie
September 2, 2016 @ 5:52 am
When we finally do lose Kris and Willie, who will be leading us down the Highway, man?
Sturgill, Whitey, Chris, and Cody?
Is that who’s gonna fill their shoes?
Corncaster
September 2, 2016 @ 11:57 am
Sturgill doesn’t fill their shoes: he wears sneakers. Great question, though. Wayne Hancock has written some great stuff and walks the walk. And what about Dale Watson? And that lovable shitkicker Scott H Biram?
Arlene
September 2, 2016 @ 5:46 pm
With all due respect, dominating the news cycle isn’t the same thing as having an impact. He’ll have had an impact only if his rant effects even in a very small way the quality of the music included on radio station playlists, or the quality of the artists given good record deals.
Dutch
September 1, 2016 @ 10:54 pm
A very good read.
Lone Wolf
September 2, 2016 @ 1:27 am
EXCELLENT article, Trigger!!!!! This wasn’t an artist speaking out in some social issue. This was an artist taking up the torch and sword, rushing the gates and creating a bit of a stir. I applaud Sturgill Simpson for what he said. Let’s hope some others with SS’s character and musical background Do the same!
AC_86
September 2, 2016 @ 5:43 am
Superb article Trigger!!! Thank you!!!
K. SMITH
September 2, 2016 @ 7:03 am
Great comments all and great article Trigger! I feel like the commenters on this post are the true believers in real country. My kind of people. I wanna get this off my chest: some of Triggers other stories seem to bring the morons to the comment section. What I mean is we get some of the same people always “weighing in” on anything by the current crop of pseudo country hacks. These folks seem to go on and on about Hunt, Urban, Bentley, Shelton, FGL , Band Perry etc. But that’s all they talk about. It basically tells us how clueless they are and thus their postings are not relavant to most of us.
I wanna ask them, Hey moron, can you name 3 songs by Merle Travis, Joe Maphis, Ernest Tubb, Haggard, Jennings, Jones? Which Dale Watson record is your favorite and why? Who’s your top 5 steel guitar players? Name 3 songs Grady Martin picked on. Who started the Outlaw movement and why? What in your opinion was the best Outlaw album of all time? And can you answer without Google or Wikipedia any of these questions? Yeah I think we would get crickets from many of these commentors. It’s like they look right past the name of this website and feel the need to jump in and spout meaningless drivel. And then we have the race biters who always insert themselves in every story and wanna lecture us on diversity inclusion. Anyone else feeling me on these morons?
Trigger
September 2, 2016 @ 8:42 am
The readership of Saving Country Music is very diverse. Some people only come here for mainstream coverage, some only for music recommendations. Others see it more like a trade magazine. There are a lot of publicists, songwriters, journalists, DJ’s, and label folks that come here—a lot more than you might suspect. I try to offer something for everyone, but that’s why you get certain people who otherwise may not seem like they belong here showing up and commenting.
Corncaster
September 2, 2016 @ 7:37 am
I wish country radio would play short instrumentals like “Cannonball Rag” and give gentlemen pickers an occasional seat at the table. I wish we’d hear and see more Mosrite guitars. Leon Rhodes and Jeremy Wakefield should get medals for something. “If You Hated Me” by Haggard hits too close to home. We still sing Waylon and Jones because people still sing along, even if they’re not country. I’m still figuring out riffs from Dale’s “Blessed or Damned” record with Biller and Maines and think his “I’ll Fly Away” is as fine a fast two-step as ever there was.
Feeling you, K Smith. Had to get a few things off my chest.
K.Smith
September 2, 2016 @ 9:42 am
Yessss….yessss! You are a kindred spirit good sir, you actually speak the language.You actually have something to offer and it’s called Depth! Also,Understanding, a frame of reference, an intricate knowledge of the history of this music, it’s players both past and present and the ability to draw comparisons and provoke thought. I salute you!
Jen
September 2, 2016 @ 7:38 am
While I am a fan of some of today’s mainstream artists (die-hard KC fan), that doesn’t mean I like all of the music they put out. Pirate flag was by far one of the worst songs I had ever heard from the man (then came Beer Can Chicken…ACK!), and don’t get me started on Luke and Jason. I loved Country Must be Country Wide, because it was true. His others aren’t bad, but nowhere in the same league as the Hag, Willie, Waylon, George and the like. This is why I listen to a throwback station. I’m so glad we have that, here, because it gives me a chance to hear a bunch of songs I don’t hear on mainstream anymore, and some I’ve never heard. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, so I’m a fan of many of those artists from that time. I do prefer the guy singers from those days, as opposed to many of the females, save Dolly…I love her!
I just think there is enough air space for everyone, and maybe someone some day will come up with it. Why does it have to be just one era of music on a station? Why not eras of that genre?
I love most music,but I’m sick of hearing about girls in bikinis and cutoffs, getting down and dirty in the back of a pickup truck. I’m sick of guys singing about what they want to do to these girls, and am I the only one sick of hearing about beer and tequila?
As for awards, they are nothing but a glorified pat on the back for the flavor of the year! The highest paying artist (or their management/producer) gets it. I don’t even watch the award shows anymore, not just because I don’t have TV, but because they all suck, anyway. The same shitty artitsts win the awards, the same shitty artists sing live (and suck), and don’t get me started on the rap/hip hop/pop artists filling the seats (probably because most self-respecting artists wouldn’t be caught dead there, or because they don’t have enough artists to fill those seats!).
Kevin Smith
September 2, 2016 @ 9:12 am
Can I get an amen!!!???? You called it Jen
Tiffany
September 3, 2016 @ 9:00 am
I loved what you wrote, Jen. And, I do agree with what you are saying, completely. I do agree there should be air space for everyone. I find it ironic that sometimes I live stream BBC Radio 2. I know this radio station is in another country, but when i’ve listened to it, they’ve played a Chris Stapleton song then played someone from the pop genre. And, on weekends when I’ve listened to it, I’ve heard classical as well as oldies from the 50s and 60s.
It may be in this country that we get too hung up on genres. I don’t know. I, myself, wake up to an alarm clock that plays a country station. I go to work listening to classical rock station in the car. I love music and I try to be as open minded when I can, especially when an artist that I like wants to try something new. Even though here lately the artists that I like that do that(TBP, for example) it just takes away from the authenticity of the genre. And, country was the only genre was the mainstay in my house as I was growing up. Country radio was on when I would get up to go to school. Country radio was in the car whenever we went somewhere. I think it’s just the matter of evolving without losing what made that genre of music special in the first place.
Bill C. Graham
September 2, 2016 @ 8:41 am
Every now and then somebody needs to stir the stew as we pass through the kitchen of life…It’s a good thang.
Erik North
September 2, 2016 @ 11:14 am
Good healthy criticism of where the business side of the industry is taking the creative side of it has always been healthy, no question about it. By the same token, however, I would also argue that the most intelligent critiques of the business come with the acknowledgement that outside influences on the country genre exist, and have existed at least since the advent of rock and roll in the 1950s, if not before.
Should the traditional roots of country music be preserved? Absolutely, because that’s what’s so great about it to begin with. It seems to me the question is how to reconcile keeping tradition with the inevitability of progress. The ironic thing, which some have tended either to forget or dismiss, is that this reconciliation of tradition and progress has been done in country music many times before, and it has enriched the genre, both artistically and financially. Whether it has been stalwarts like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens, or younger folk-influenced singers like Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris who took a lot of great traditional and classic country songs from the past and made them relevant again, especially to their more rock-oriented fan bases, there is ample proof that this can be and has been accomplished, and it’s not hard to find out about it. Country music HAS evolved in the past while not abandoning its roots.
But this current generation of “country” artists, with the obvious exceptions that we can all name, only sees the genre in some very limited generalizations (truck tailgates; kegs of beer; hot Southern chicks; hyper-patriotic signage; the obligatory name-checking of country artists of the past); and even when they talk/rap about rural or small-town life, it feels like a come-on that basically says that it’s basically the same in all rural/small-town America, when in reality it isn’t, not even in the South. It’s really a miracle that Chris Stapleton has had the success that he’s had, because corporate radio playlists clearly work against him, and are biased for the “Bros”. But then he is an example of that reconciliation of tradition and progress that has worked in the past, and which I think can still work today.
We all know that it can.
Corncaster
September 2, 2016 @ 11:43 am
Jason Aldean has weighed in at RS:
http://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/jason-aldean-on-sturgill-simpson-merle-haggard-controversy-w437779
Aldean’s is a respectable response. As much as I like what Sturgill is up to, he sounds like a good guy who’s just had too much to drink.
Brad Miller
September 9, 2016 @ 8:18 am
I have had it with the new country. Had to write a spoof to poke some fun at it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6lI-LGkruM
Cade Menger
September 10, 2016 @ 9:39 pm
Incredibly concise, well written article. I wonder if the people buying that pop country crap will read it and understand. The Dallas Observer had an article that completely missed the point of what Sturgill was saying and tried to spin it like he was attacking Miranda Lambert. I was baffled. Maybe that writer should get a job in DC!
Trigger
September 10, 2016 @ 10:07 pm
Right now The Dallas Observer and the Houston Press have the most horrible assemblage of music writers in all of country music, including the terrible corporate music blogs that only write puff pieces for pop country artists. They don’t understand country, only that it’s popular to write about. Amy McCarthy, who is one of their writers, is so awful it’s dangerous. I can see her writing simply from the headline. I am embarrassed to be a part of the same profession.