Comments on: Traditional Country is a Link in a Long Chain

By: herewego

herewego — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:11:49 +0000

Doesn’t make much sense. Steel guitar, fiddle, drinking, cheating, rural, working class better stay in your traditional box and not get into mainstream radio. Just stay in your own world. If you want to hear it, just hit AOL and listen all day.

By: Michael Curan

Michael Curan — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:10:31 +0000

Atleast Rascal Flatts do cover Rocky Tops in their concerts… :-)

For me country music should put intact those rural feel when you listen to it. I can hear it on Alan Jackson as much as Taylor Swift and Emerson Drive but can’t on Keith Urban and the 80s version of Alabama and Kenny Rogers.

By: Steve from Boston

Steve from Boston — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:36:56 +0000

I gotta add my voice in support of Garth, he is not on my list of the usual suspects of those who have corrupted (or watered down) Country music either… and I agree, it’s a matter of relative perspective, and by today’s standards, his music would be a breath of fresh air.

Rodeo and Working on a Full House sound Country as can be to me. ;)

By: rajunqueen

rajunqueen — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:26:39 +0000

It’s still out there.
I think artist change and evole with the times.
And most country artist aint hurting for money and know how it is to be a working class america.
Maybe at one time the did.
but I mean did you see how alan jackson was living..

I think it should be about honesty and telling a story real meaning and feeling to it.
And where people can relate to it.
But its allright to have a little fun everynow and then.

By: Scott O'Brien

Scott O'Brien — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:33:43 +0000

I agree on Garth. As I said, he sounds pretty traditional by today’s standards — his music incorporated plenty of steel and fiddle, but there was a great deal of variance in the style of his songs. The thing about Garth that irked the traditional crowd was his theatrics, not so much his sound — though he did push the envelope with several songs. And then there was the Chris Gaines thing… But all in all Garth was a solid country artist. I own all of his records. “The Dance” may be the best country song of the 1990s.

I was a bit off in my placement of Doug Stone and Mark Chesnutt, and for that I apologize for not doing my homework. Traditionalists did thrive throughout the 1990s along with Garth. I think the late 1990s saw the demise of the so-called neo-traditionalists.

By: Paul Dennis

Paul Dennis — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:46:20 +0000

I always felt that Garth was unfairly maligned. For one thing, he always included a couple of tracks on each album that could appeal to the most diehard traditionalist. For another, he has always been a strong supporter of the Grand Old Opry.

By: Kevin J. Coyne

Kevin J. Coyne — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:36:19 +0000

Not only did Doug Stone and Mark Chesnutt enjoy their greatest success after Garth Brooks rose to prominence, but so did Alan Jackson, George Strait, Patty Loveless, Aaron Tippin, and quite a few other traditionalists. Even George Jones had two gold studio albums in the early nineties.

The nineties boom was truly amazing, and Garth was the biggest part of it. It irks me when he’s blamed for the genre going pop when it was his refusal to send his records to pop radio that resulted in the longest stretch of time in country music history when Nashville didn’t chase the crossover audience.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:26:50 +0000

Hey Steve,
Thanks for helping me prove that I’m not actually a pure traditionalist. I always claim not to be, but I think some people doubt it sometimes.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:23:52 +0000

Scott said: “I am still somewhat bitter about the lack of traditional country music on the radio. I believe that traditional country’s heyday was the middle to late1980s and the pre-Garth 1990s when artists like Mark Chesnutt, Doug Stone, and Ricky Van Shelton charted the bulk of their hits.”

I think Doug Stone and Mark Chesnutt were enjoying the heights of their successes at the same time as Garth, as Garth came on the scene in 1989.

By: Scott O'Brien

Scott O'Brien — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:15:10 +0000

Tara,

I agree with you. I think Taylor Swift is a tremendously talented songwriter. I admire and envy her songwriting ability. My critique of her is not driven by any doubts about her talent and appeal, but rather how we should classify her music.

I also don’t mean to insult soccer moms or anyone who may not be rural or working class. I certainly am neither of these, having grown up a suburbanite.

I think there is room in country music for everyone. Our society has seen population movement from farms and small towns to suburbs and urban areas. Factory jobs have become service industry jobs. Of course, with these changes will come a change in the music. I just hope that we hang on to the roots of country music so that the genre retains its unique identity and doesn’t melt into pop/rock/etc.