The CMA/ACM does not always give George Strait the recognition/awards he deserved over the years.
If it did, he should have won EOTY, Male Vocalist over the likes of Kenny Chesney/Brad Paisley.

King George will reign longer than the above nominees.

I agree with this. I feel like there has been a growing backlash against pop country, or at least the lushly orchestrated pop country production, as the major labels have feverishly trotted out attractive young blonde women in an effort to recreate at least a portion of Carrie Underwood’s success. The result has been underwhelming from both an artistic and a commercial standpoint. The labels have also been trotting out blandly attractive males with virtually indistinguishable material in the belief that they will appeal to the 35-44 core female demo on the radio. That has resulted in a number of new males scoring top-10 hits, but has spawned startlingly low album sales.

I have to think that at a certain point, this will come to a head and the suits controlling label A&R and radio will re-evaluate. It seems to me that both radio programmers and country music listeners are bored, but no one has yet figured out what the next hot trend is going to be. In the meantime, we’re still getting overproduced mush even from Dierks Bentley, though Sugarland bucked the trend and so, too, I expect, with Keith Urban. That is, incidentally, part of the appeal of the Taylor Swift album, although her voice can’t handle the driving guitars of many of her uptempo numbers.

I’ll use that as a segue back onto topic. I can see the appeal of Fearless and I give Taylor a lot of credit for making an album that is whole-heartedly her in sound and substance. It is a fully-realized album when it comes to Taylor’s style and personality, and that is an accomplishment that several artists whom I much prefer to Taylor have yet to manage. Props to her for that. I also give Taylor credit for her conversational writing style, because I don’t think that’s easy to achieve in song.

That said, I think Fearless reveals some significant limitations. Taylor continues what I consider a deplorable habit of cribbing hooks from other people’s songs (this is a major pet peeve of mine; if you’re going to do it, I would like to see the originator credited and given a share of publishing), and she is starting to recycle her own melodies and motifs. I’m tiring of the limited topical scope of her songs. Moreover, as engaging a writer as Taylor can be about heartbreak, I find her really one-dimensional in perspective when it comes to relationships. Part of that is the low likelihood that she has experience with anything other than the thrill of a love discovered or the heartbreak of a love unrequited. Somewhat related but not totally is my sense that Taylor just isn’t very good at stepping outside of her inner life and understanding what someone with a different background or set of experiences might think. Me, I tend to look for a broader perspective and less self-centeredness from music.

The appeal of Carrie’s album for me is mostly her voice — I tend to gravitate toward artists with rich, resonant voices that can convey multiple emotions in a single trill, and Carrie has such a voice. She is still learning to use it, for sure, and while I can rationalize some of the big production choices on Carnival Ride, they are usually not the choices I would make. I enjoy Carnival Ride for its breadth of subject matter and also feel like we do get genuine glimpses of Carrie’s personality in most of CR‘s songs. But those glimpses come more from Carrie’s delivery than the song lyrics, and I would really like to see Carrie work on the lyrical specificity of her future albums. I feel like this is both a matter of writing skill/discernment and individual comfort level for Carrie.

Another thing I like about Carnival Ride is that there is a broad theme that underlies it, and it is one that parallels Carrie’s life. It seems to me that many of CR‘s songs are about contending with the unexpected and uncontrollable turns of life (the Blender review of CR had a funny take on this, calling Carrie the rare “pop star whose central belief is in her own powerlessness”). I don’t think this is a theme that was selected to guide the A&R process, rather, I think that a lot of the songs toward which Carrie gravitated tended to deal with this issue in some way. I find it promising that both of Carrie’s albums have featured some measure of thematic coherence without seeming limited in topical scope. Overall, I think CR represented several steps in the right direction for Carrie but it is a frustrating album because I feel like it underscores a lot of what Carrie can do better. For that reason, although I wouldn’t mind if CR won the ACM Top Album award, I’d prefer for Carrie to win for an album that is a better showcase of her strengths as an interpretive singer and vocalist. For me, given what I hear as the natural inflections of Carrie’s voice, that means an album featuring more pure country. And please, Mark Bright and Carrie, dial down the production from 11.

Gads, this has run long. I’ve little to say about the Strait and Montgomery Gentry albums, except that the bear/lying incident has irrevocably clouded the way I hear MG music and that the awards dominance of Strait album perplexes me. Jamey Johnson’s The Lonesome Song is the clear class of this category, in my view, because it manages that difficult task of unrelenting self-scrutiny without seeming self-indulgent or repetitive. Johnson’s vocals are more controversial than I would’ve expected, but his minimalist delivery is just right for the kind of songs he is singing, in my view, and there is still a nice resonance to his voice. I think his vocals even convey a sort of reluctant conversationalism, and that enhances his persona on the album. Moreover, the success of his album has defied label formula-chasing, and I’d love to see it recognized for that reason, as well.

For now, though, I’ll just keep my radio off and search out music that I can truly enjoy in other ways. Then again, I probably still won’t go back to radio since their playlists are so short…and I doubt that will ever change.

I will iterate, however, that I’m a sucker for a good pop country song; I just don’t want that sound to dominate mainstream country music for too long.

I like some Pop-Country, but I hate the way it’s defining the genre today, and crowding out Traditional style artists. I will listen to some of the better stuff, but will do nothing to support this trend on the whole, and everything I can to oppose it.

But as long as folks like Patty Loveless, Marty Stuart, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Vince Gill, Dwight Yoakam and Brad Paisley keep making records, Tradition is in good safe hands. Folks like these are keepers of the Flame and are always ready to educate and inspire a new generation.. And I pin a lot of hope on folks like Joey+Rory as worthy heirs to this noble cause….But trends tend to be cyclical, and I would not be surprised to see a resurgence of the Traditional sound sooner or later, and these heroic artists will deserve a lot of the credit when this happens.

As for Taylor it was a good album, but I wouldn’t classify it as country. It will be interesting to see what her team do with it when it comes to grammy submissions time. I don’t think it has a chance of being nominated in the country album category, but I think has a big chance of not only be nominated but winning the best pop album category.

I can see how Carries album was nominated, it did have 4 number 1’s. But it if wasn’t good enough to be nominated last year I don’t think 4 number 1’s suddenly makes it a higher quality album.

I don’t much like it, which is why I turned off my radio about five years ago.

I personally think they’ll give it to Strait. It’s already picked up the CMA and Grammy award so I don’t see them overlooking it for another album this year.

As far as this whole Taylor conversation goes, I think it’s very clear that Taylor is trying to crossover. I can’t seem to find a station that isn’t playing her songs. Everyday on XM and I can switch from Highway 16 (or the Highway) to Nashville and hear a Swift song and then I can go to the pop stations and hear the same song. I’m a bit of a fan, but I’m getting a bit tired of hearing her on EVERY single radio station. I agree that the pop remixes are very unnecessary. I’ve only heard a few but the only one I’ve liked is the remix of “Teardrops on my Guitar.” The rest I’ve hated. I don’t think she should be marketed as a country artist because she clearly isn’t…anymore.

At the same time, I think everyone has to get used to the fact that traditional country is fading out. I know a lot of people, me included, hate to admit that it is going away but there’s really nothing that can be done. We can either learn to like/love the new pop-country (I already love most of it) or just turn off the radio and continue listening to those traditionalists’ albums that get released on independent labels because I don’t think they stand a chance at radio now unless they’re named George Strait or Alan Jackson. It’s just inevitable that the new pop-country will be considered “country” music…whether we like it or not.

Taylor Swift is talented. Deny it, but you have to admit, this girl has got at least some sort of songwriting or performing skills to at least some degree.

I think her pop mixes are very unneccesary and I’m a huge Taylor fan who has loved Taylor the day I saw her in a sundress singing about a favorite country song at a Brad Paisley concert. I wish her newer album was a bit more country like her debut, but she is talented and I’m so happy for her success and I still love her as much as I did.

I don’t even think her songs need pop mixes, and i’ve barely even heard them played. They just sound TERRIBLE! But she is a great artist and is talented in at least songwriting, if not vocals.

Taylor has stated that country radio stations will always get first priority, she said they will always get the singles first, press releases etctera. However, how long country will play her songs as they get more and more pop flavored with some country influences is questionable. Taylor has a song called “Crazier” in the new Hannah Montana movie. Judge whatever by hearing her in Hannah Montana, many mature fans dont’ like all Taylor’s Disney involvement, but “Crazier” definitely is a lot less pop and has a lot of country influences (or at least judging by the sound clip, the whole track has not yet leaked).

:)

Montgomery Gentry? Ummm…what are they doing there?

Carrie Underwood…decent album….good shot I guess. It’s just an ‘old album’, if you will. Good hits, like Carrie always delivers. It’s an album that I own, but not one I’d listen over and over to.

Taylor Swift is so succesful and has achieved so much and it is so incredible. They HAD to nominate her. Plus, like the review here on Country Universe concluded: it’s a good album. Whether’s it’s a good country album or a good pop album or a mix-that’s debatable. But I think Taylor has written a great ALBUM, whether it’s a great album that should be celebrated at a country award show is my only doubt. I’d like to see her win, however I think she has the competition of George Strait (eh he wins everything), Jamey Johnson (very country and the academy changed the rules, arguably, just for him) and Carrie Underwood (she wins all the female awards, basically)

Jamey Johnson-great country album…a very strong contender if sales, radio airplay, popularity and “looks” aren’t taken into consideration too much,