While speaking with Esquire as part of a spread about his foray into the whiskey business, Eric Church dropped what have turned out to be some pretty incendiary comments about country radio.
Along with recalling the great songs and the fond memories, it seems fitting for remember that Charlie Robison was also a fierce titan for independent country music and artists controlling their own destiny.
Watching the interview, you can feel the camaraderie among the group, and how it feels like they’re in a healthy place. This isn’t the 2010-2012 Turnpike Troubadours anymore.
Though what Garth Brooks said is 100% correct and it’s patently obvious to everyone, the fallacy of radio independence is what persists because so many are afraid to speak about it publicly.
The fact that this tribute starts off with an unheard recording of John Prine who’s been gone now for two years now speaks to just how long it takes to put something like this together. It’s also one of the multiple reasons this is not just ‘another’ tribute record. A lot of love went into this one.
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.
Well well well, it looks like we’ve got some playful ribbing out there between big country music morning radio shows. Recently, a billboard appeared in Mt. Juliet just outside Nashville proclaiming, “Go Away Big D and Bubba,” similar to previous Billboards from Bobby Bones.
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.
A Grammy Awards screening committee who must make the tough decisions of which albums are considered “country” in the ever-mutating world of popular music has deemed that the latest album from Kacey Musgraves called Star-Crossed should not be eligible for ‘Best Country Album.’
The implications here are much bigger than radio. Lainey Wilson is one of these artists that helping to symbolize a return to country’s roots in the mainstream, evidenced by her well-received new record ‘Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’.’ Hopefully this #1 is the first of many for Lainey Wilson.
So now the biggest radio personality in mainstream country—the grandiose and bespectacled Bobby Bones—who is always laboring to be the undivided center of attention, took to TikTok to say the quiet part out loud, and is now drawing the ire of many in the industry.
Like a tinhorn despot looking to consolidate power by exacerbating a minor spat into an existential crisis, pop country radio personality Bobby Bones has used the Morgan Wallen ‘N’-bomb situation to declare himself the current King of Country. No, not just the king of country radio. But all of it.
These Opry performances during the Coronavirus have held a unique gravity due to the circumstances, and you can feel that weight in each song and moment. But sticking out like a sore thumb through the process has been the presence of pop country radio personality Bobby Bones.
Celebrating Easter early, and once again offering one of the few live entertainment options amid the Coronavirus shutdown, traditional country artist T. Graham Brown, Grand Ole Opry member Trace Adkins, and Southern Gospel singer Jason Crabb will all hold forth from the Grand Ole Opry house.
Dear NFL Fans, As the true disciples and aficionados of actual country music, we want to formally apologize to you all for the bad country music and doltish characters you will be forced to endure during this week’s NFL Draft coverage. Please accept our deepest apologies.
Chris Young is the newest invitee to the Grand Ole Opry? No offense the the feather-haired one, but they may as well have invited a fern. It’s not necessarily a bad pick, but it just doesn’t elicit a change in the pulse rate enough either way to make the new invitation do what all new invitations to the Grand Ole Opry must…
I like the idea of Lindsay Ell. A badass guitar-slinging chick that can play her own leads and write her own songs is something that could really spice up the boring mainstream country music scene, and add a shot of adrenaline into the effort to give more women artists attention in the top reaches of the industry.
‘Country music’ most certainly has a definition because it means something to millions of people. They identify with it. It’s their culture. It’s what gives them meaning and fulfillment. And if lost, and even worse, impugned and dragged through the mud as being irrelevant, uncool, or unwilling to evolve, it leaves them empty feeling and hollow.
Look, is it possible for us to make too much of this situation over country music artist Lindsey Ell having a radio appearance last Friday canceled on a CBS-owned radio station because she’s in a relationship with rival iHeartMedia on-air personality Bobby Bones? Yes, it is. But I’m not sure we’re there yet.
One would be hard pressed to find another industry that is as insular, antiquated, and downright embarrassing as the one that is in charge of managing the affairs of mainstream country radio. Despite checks and balances that are supposed to be in place, the amount of backroom deals and dirty practices is unconscionable.
It was said by many after the release of Wheeler Walker Jr.’s first album Redneck Shit, “Okay, that was fun. But where do you go next?” Wheeler Walker Jr. has an entirely new album’s worth of songs. That’s what he’s got. And he’s got ’em in a pretty short turnaround, and they’re just as funny and wit-filled as the first, if not more.
Gerry House, legendary country music radio personality who helmed The Big 98 WSIX-FM in Nashville for over a quarter century, is coming back. And I hope he creams the the everloving snot out of the sniveling Bobby Bones and his wacky morning crew in the ratings.
On the Bobby Bones Show Thursday (9-15) morning (listen at the bottom), Bobby spoke to Aaron Lewis after his recent blowup at pop country artists, and what did he do? Aaron backpeddled and admitted he was playing to the crowd. Then Bobby Bones finished his segment with Aaron Lewis on Thursday by bringing up Saving Country Music in a strange context.
The reason much of country music, bluegrass, blues, folk, and other older genres are referred to as “roots” is because these vital influences to American music are the building blocks for most or all of the music people enjoy today. Before there was rock and roll, and before there was hip-hop, roots music paved the way for all popular music genres.