New Country Music
Wow what a sad state the Country music genre is in. It’s all about money and not about staying true to the roots of the music and culture of the parts of the USA that country music was forged in. People that made country music a genre in the first place, actually “lived” the life that the sing about. That authenticity is what made the music so appealing. Peers could relate and others could simply appreciate the stories and songs. Today, most of the “Country” music stars are not even from the country. I live in Nashville and have met many country music industry writers and performers. Many and I do mean MANY are not from the south, didn’t have a horse or a truck, wasn’t divorced and didn’t lose a job at the mine. They are everyday people from around the states that want to be a famous Country Music artist. So they move to Nashville, adopt a fake accent that sounds like everyone else’s fake accent (yes, most are fake), buy the right clothing and write songs that they think the labels want to hear. They write their clever little plays on words and try to stick every idea they can squeeze into a single song so that something, even if just one part, appeals to anyone. They put so much weight into the clever tag line that they forget to actually write an authentic song. Then to top it all off, the songs get recorded by the very same handful of musicians. So all the music sounds the same. Same guitar licks, same, steel guitar, same vocal harmonies, same everything. The music is so NOT country and it has been this way for so long now that people think Taylor Swift is “Country”! People have forgotten what real country music is. Kenny Chesney is not Country music. Alan Jackson is. Big & Rich was not country music but John Rich is. Real country music is a simple song with a simple melody that means a lot to the writer and performer. What we have now is a pile of crap. I huge collection of songs forced on us by record labels that want to make as much money on an artist as they can as quickly as they can. So they push a hook for a week or two and make a few million. Then the song is long forgotten. They move onto the next flash to try and make money on. What happened to the good songs that stick with us for a lifetime? GONE! I have been listening to Country music my whole life. Now I find myself saying, I don’t like country music. Actually what I should say is that I don’t like the current drivel they label as country music. I still love the real country music. I hope that sometime soon, some people will start writing and performing real country music. Damn the record labels, damn the money and do it for the love!
