Monday, July 11, 2011
"Country" singers who just really aren't "country"
Granted, I don't listen to much country (country western?) music but I hear some, anyway, and have to say, the conclusion has to be made that some of these singers--some of the biggest moneymakers, too--just absolutely aren't "country". They're about as country as I am. The ones that come to mind are, first and foremost, Taylor Swift. Puh-leeze. She MAYBE put out a song that was country some time ago, at the beginning of her career---and I like her music and voice, don't get me wrong--but this very successful kid is just all pop, that's all there is to it. Keith Urban is number two on the list. Again, strictly pop. Who are we kidding here? Next up? Darius Rucker. Absolutely. These people are as "country" as Michael Buble'. Sure, we should have seen this coming, what with country music going mainstream but my point is, let's just call these people what they are and that is "pop singers," based on the "pop music" they put out. The pretending just kills me.
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When I lived in Nashville, I would annoy people by telling them that a song written last night by a millionaire in a cosmopolitan city ain't a country song. A country song is usually song by a poor, old woman usually in a capella falsetto (no electric guitars).
Cliff and I are REAL country fans. I have a Pandora station that features country singers from the 50's through the 90's; he has XM radio in the shop and leaves it on "Willie's Roadhouse". Also music from the 50's through 90's. We don't listen to new "country".
While I don't care where someone grew up, I agree that country has become pop with a twang, and maybe a steel guitar. It also bothers me that so much country is obviously and poorly electronically processed--A flat chest is a bigger problem than a flat voice, the voice can be fixed with AutoTune. Singers cost money, so let the engineer create 'harmony' after the singers have left.
But image has been a problem for as long as I've been listening--Janis Joplin would never been a success today.
While I agree, for sure, it's beyond image, too as now you have to either be "pretty", if a female or perceived as "across the board handsome", if a male. I think that's what you were saying, though, with the Janis Joplin mention. As "unpretty" as she was, I think you're likely correct, she wouldn't have become successful if around today.
Janis Joplin likely would have had regional success or coffee shop success but not wide ranging success like she did.
Listen to the Eagles, especially their early stuff. In today's segmented music scene, I am not sure they would have the broad audience they ended up with, nor would they have been permitted to grow and change in their music.
The music scene just wasn't what it was, even as recently as the late 1980s and early 1990s. That was when there was some of the best country tunes were released, not coincidentally.
Thanks for the post--I am a music lover and enjoy thinking and talking about it.
I don't know though, the Eagles? They seemed to evolve with time and for their audiences. Who knows? Maybe they'd have made it and maybe they wouldn't.
And you're certainly welcome for the post on music. It's just something that has sat on my mind for some time. It's not that they're bad, per se. It's just that they ain't country. At all.
But, given the comments above, note that they're all good looking. Yikes. Any more, it's not enough if you're talented. You also have to be physically attractive, to boot.
I have heard before and after recordings-you do not need much vocal talent if your recording engineer is talented enough.
But how many generations have had this same conversation, except about different eras in music?
No, sorry, it's a different conversation, at least for me. I'm not saying it's new so I don't like it. I like some of these very artist's work. It's that it's not country, period. It's just pop, going under cover, by another name. It's not the genre it says it is.
What I don't like is how obviously twangy they talk. I've lived in Texas all my life, grew up in a rural mid-sized town and even my ag teacher didn't have that strong of a twang.
Also, I know a morning show personality for a major Dallas country radio station and he sounds very twangy at work....not do at home:)
Yes, that whole, phony, country twang drives me wild. Apparently, it can work for people at times.
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