…….Did Taylor Swift receive offers from pop labels before signing to country? Or was she just an unfortunate casualty of the current state of crossover country music? Just Asking.

Also, I think that the majority of young country artists today have had at least one pop influence that they’d name as a major influence, look at Carrie Underwood (80′s pop). I think the majority of all country artists nowadays have pop artists as influences (it’s unavoidable).

The implication, then, is that Rascal Flatts astutely realized they were better off being a big fish in a little pond and that’s why they marketed their music to country. The topic of a pop artist going country is a non-issue, and for what it’s worth it doesn’t bother me in the least when an artist cuts a country album. Sure, many of them are commercially-minded efforts designed to give a boost to a sagging career but every now and again someone flexes his or her artistic muscle and turns in something great, like Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western.

And lest anyone take that to be hypocrisy on my part, I don’t begrudge Rascal Flatts for opting to take their chances as a country act instead of as a pop act. Bringing a boy band aesthetic to country music was daring and while I’ve never liked their material they’ve clearly succeeded against what I thought were very high odds. I could have sworn after hearing the first ten seconds of “Praying for Daylight” that I’d never have to hear another of their songs on country radio; I was clearly mistaken!

the way these award shows work primarily is members of the music industry vote….so if a large label like RCA throws all their votes to their particular artist-that is alot of votes and can have a impact. Its a business, not a bunch of people voting for their favorite artist. For instance, it been said over the years at the 1992 CMA Awards, Mary Chapin Carpenter’s label made a deal with Suzy Boggus’s label…if MCC label voted for Suzy as Horizon Award, then Boggus’s label would vote for MCC as female vocalist. Result was Mary Chapin having a suprise win, beating Reba and Wynonna….and Suzy Boggus winning Horizon Award in a an upset over Brooks n Dunn and Trisha Yearwood.

Travis,

Did you know that Rascal Flatts actually got offers from pop labels BEFORE they chose to sign to Lyric Street?

If they wanted to be a pop band, they would’ve taken the oppertunity to be one when it was first presented.

There’s a difference between a said artist being called “pop” while remaining in the country genre, and being a pop artist and suddenly jumping over to country music when the pop genere is no longer supportive.

If an artist has pop influnces, but CHOSE to start in country music, is it really fair to question the motive?

Tara/Dan: I misread the comment, and didn’t see the “unlike” part of it. Sorry. (:

The thing about awards is that, for better or worse, they legitimize commercial recording artists. Let’s face it: they should officially rename the Duo of the Year Award at all country awards shows to the Brooks & Dunn Award. They’re the definitive duo, and how did they get that way? In large part by having no meaningful competition during their formative years.

I don’t say this to marginalize B&D in any way; they earned every Duo award they received. Now that they’ve split and are going out as solo acts all eyes are on Ronnie Dunn; we’re so accustomed to his voice on radio that we expect him to do very well on his own. (Kix Brooks has lower expectations to meet, it seems, but a lot more room to surprise everyone.) Dunn should hold his own nicely against the crow of solo male acts today, but would he have lasted on his own, though, trying to establish himself against Vince Gill, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Alan Jackson and/or Garth Brooks in the 1990s? I think Rascal Flatts have gotten by in their era largely because the industry–lead by corporate radio owners with direct, personal ties to the Bush administration–shunned the Dixie Chicks. Had that situation gone differently, I wonder if Rascal Flatts might not still be perceived as a mediocre boy band hiding out in the country field because they knew they weren’t talented enough to hack it as a pop act.

The reason the awards matter is that they’re a barometer for our own interest in an artist. If an artist doesn’t win something on a semi-regular basis, it’s taken to mean that he/she/they aren’t quite “there.” Walk away empty-handed at a few awards shows in a row, and the public may well move on altogether. To what extent we’re conscious of this I can’t say, but it’s true. You might pay $65 a ticket to see a Male Vocalist of the Year in concert, but who’s going to pay that kind of money to see, say, Gary Allan, who has often been completely overlooked by the awards? I’d rank Allan’s material and vocals in the same league as Ronnie Dunn’s, but Dunn was part of the award winning duo of our lifetime; he’s worth $65, and Allan is not.

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As for Aldean, I am not his biggest fan, but he is selling better than any other male solo act and his singles rarely fail at radio. But for award show success, look at someone like Trisha Yearwood who was on a major label and it took her 6 years to win her first of only two solo CMAs….its all politics.