Country Universe – A Country Music Blog

Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number

Monday, November 9th, 2009

While Taylor Swift mania continues to grow, there’s another impressive accomplishment being achieved by two veterans of country music on the opposite end of the age spectrum.

Contrary to what is commonly believed, there has always been a ceiling on how old you could be and still get country airplay. This year, both George Strait and Reba McEntire have been working steadily to shatter that ceiling.

Take a look at the age of country legends when they earned their most recent top ten solo hit:

1. Eddy Arnold, 62
2. Kenny Rogers, 61*
3. Conway Twitty, 58
4. George Strait, 57
5. George Jones, 57**
6. Marty Robbins, 57
7. Willie Nelson, 56**
8. Ray Price, 56
9. Reba McEntire, 54
10. Waylon Jennings, 53
11. Merle Haggard, 52
12. Alan Jackson, 50
13. Charley Pride, 50
14. Johnny Cash, 49
15. Ernest Tubb, 49
16. Ronnie Milsap, 48
17. Loretta Lynn, 47
18. Webb Pierce, 46
19. Garth Brooks, 45
20. Dolly Parton, 43**
21. Hank Williams Jr., 41
22. Tammy Wynette, 40

* Kenny Rogers was the lead singer for his final top ten hit “Buy Me a Rose”, with harmony vocalists Billy Dean and Alison Krauss credited on the single

** George Jones, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton returned to the top ten in later years through duets with younger artists

It’s also worth noting that Alan Jackson, at 50, isn’t too far away from passing several legends on the list.

So George Strait remains in heavy rotation at the age of 57, outpacing all but three stars in country music history. Among the ladies, McEntire is a full seven years older than her nearest competitor Loretta Lynn was when she enjoyed her last top ten hit.

Thoughts?

Wade Hayes Six Pack

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

He could’ve been – heck, still could be – one of the genre’s great traditional vocalists. The depth of his baritone was matched by its nuance, making Josh Turner sound like an amateur in comparison. Here’s hoping he’ll resurface sometime soon, since he could blow most of today’s young guys out of the water.

“Old Enough to Know Better”
from the 1995 album Old Enough to Know Better

A twenty-something anthem that exudes youthful energy.

“I’m Still Dancin’ With You”
from the 1995 album Old Enough to Know Better

It doesn’t have quite the elegance of “In Between Dances”, but his spin on dance floor loneliness is still effective.

“Don’t Stop”
from the 1995 album Old Enough to Know Better

This is the blueprint for all those country romance numbers that Dierks Bentley and Billy Currington are known for today.

“What I Meant To Say”
from the 1995 album Old Enough to Know Better

Hindsight’s 20/20 as Hayes looks back alone.

“The Room”
from the 1996 album On a Good Night

The single biggest mistake that Sony made with Hayes was releasing “Where Do I Go to Start All Over” instead of “The Room” as the second single off of his sophomore album.  This song practically completes the trilogy begun by George Jones with “The Grand Tour” and “The Door.”

“The Day That She Left Tulsa (In a Chevy)”
from the 1997 album When the Wrong One Loves You Right

Hayes’ last big hit was also his best, as he gropes with realizing that his lover has left him because she’s pregnant with someone else’s child. (“I guess she though the truth would end up driving me away. She was wrong, but I never got the chance to say.”

Rick Trevino Six Pack

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

The nineties brought some artists who never became full-fledged stars, but were a heck of a lot more than one-hit wonders, either. One of those was Rick Trevino, who showed great promise with a solid gold-selling debut album. Though he strayed too far down the radio fodder road with his next two projects, that approach still produced a #1 hit in “Running Out of Reasons to Run.”

As is often the case with the young stars of the nineties, his more recent work has been strikingly compelling, even though radio hasn’t played it. Here’s a good sampling of underrated artist Rick Trevino.

“Just Enough Rope (Bilingual Version)”
from the 1994 album Rick Trevino

Trevino’s debut single is best heard in both of his native tongues.

“She Can’t Say I Didn’t Cry”
from the 1994 album Rick Trevino

His breakthrough hit has him sounding wiser than his years.

“Doctor Time”
from the 1994 album Rick Trevino

A barroom anthem worthy of Chesnutt, if not Jones.

“Looking For the Light”
from the 1995 album Looking For the Light

The male version of “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye.”

“Bobbie Ann Mason”
from the 1995 album Looking For the Light

Trevino’s grades suffer due to too much female distraction.

“Separate Ways”
a 2007 single release

One of country music’s finest divorce songs, sung from the perspective of an adult child worried about repeating his parents’ fate.

Sawyer Brown Starter Kit

Friday, August 14th, 2009

My favorite band of the early and mid-nineties was Sawyer Brown. Former Star Search winners, they had a decent run of hits in the eighties, though their early albums are legendarily awful. But they found their artistic voice when lead singer Mark Miller began writing with Mac McAnally. Many of their biggest and best hits were written by one or both of them.

The end result was that Sawyer Brown became one of the only country acts that broke out in the last few years of the eighties to actually become far more commercially successful in the nineties.

Ten Essential Tracks

“The Race is On”
from the 1989 album The Boys Are Back

So much of their eighties work was disposable, but there’s a surprising charm to this revved up take on the George Jones classic. Even the Possum himself was a vocal fan of it.

“The Walk”
from the 1991 album Buick

This powerful single kicked off a string of five excellent singles that established Sawyer Brown as one of the strongest voices in country music.

“The Dirt Road”
from the 1992 album The Dirt Road

After a single that explored the major milestones of a father-son relationship, they followed with one about the life lessons taught in between those milestones.

“Some Girls Do”
from the 1992 album The Dirt Road

Finally, they find a way to be upbeat and fun without being goofy.

“Café On the Corner”
from the 1992 album Café On the Corner

The band reaches their creative peak, bringing the different faces of the early nineties recession into vivid focus.

“All These Years”
from the 1992 album Café On the Corner

This sparse ballad documents what is perhaps the most awkward conversation ever between husband and wife.

“Thank God For You”
from the 1993 album Outskirts of Town

A tongue-in-cheek list of thank yous aimed toward those responsible for the good life the man is leading.

“Hard to Say”
from the 1994 album Outskirts of Town

Plenty of clever wordplay is neatly embedded into a catchy melody.

“This Time”
from the 1995 album Greatest Hits 1990-1995

The lead single from the band’s second and far stronger hits collection features one of their most rootsy arrangements.

“(This Thing Called) Wantin’ and Havin’ It All”
from the 1995 album This Thing Called Wantin’ and Havin’ it All

A tent revival morality tale that still sounds relevant today.

Two Hidden Treasures

“Outskirts of Town”
From the 1993 album Outskirts of Town

Put this slow and simple portrait of country life up against all of the overblown party anthems that have dominated the radio this decade, and it quickly becomes clear what a parody of itself country music can become.

“Another Side”
From the 1997 album Six Days on the Road

A tale of two brothers on opposing sides of the Civil War. It’s far more poignant than you’d imagine.

Mark Chesnutt Starter Kit

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Back to the Nineties continues with a look at Mark Chesnutt, one of the strongest traditionalists to break through in 1990. He won the Horizon Award in 1993 while he was riding a streak of three consecutive #1 singles.

Chesnutt’s greatest commercial and radio successes came early on. His first three studio albums went platinum and his fourth went gold. He’d earn an additional platinum record with a hits collection assembled from those sets.

While he remained a consistent presence on radio for the entire decade, his sales tapered off. His last big hit was his 1999 cover of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which went to #1. In more recent years, he’s limited his covers to The Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Rich.

Ten Essential Tracks:

“Too Cold at Home”
from the 1990 album Too Cold at Home

Chesnutt’s first twelve singles reached the top ten, starting with this pure country hit that finds him hiding out in a bar on a sweltering summer day. “It’s too hot to fish, too hot for golf, and too cold at home.”

“Brother Jukebox”
from the 1990 album Too Cold at Home

He’s still at the bar for this hit, his first to top the charts. This time, the woman has left him, and his only family left are the jukebox, wine, freedom, and time.

“I’ll Think of Something”
from the 1992 album Longnecks & Short Stories

A bone-chilling cover of a very old Hank Williams Jr. single. His nuanced vocal digs deeper than Williams did on the 1974 original.

“Bubba Shot the Jukebox”
from the 1992 album Longnecks & Short Stories

This was one of the first singles forced by radio, as unsolicited airplay pushed it on to the charts while MCA was still working “I’ll Think of Something.” Songwriter Dennis Linde also penned Chesnutt’s #1 hit “It Sure is Monday.”

“Almost Goodbye”
from the 1993 album Almost Goodbye

It begins like a domestic epic worthy of George Jones, complete with the swelling of the strings for heightened emotional effect. But cooler heads prevail as they realize how much they’d have to lose if they said the word goodbye. After all, “Sometimes the most important words are the ones that you leave unspoken.”

“I Just Wanted You to Know”
from the 1993 album Almost Goodbye

One side of what must be an incredibly awkward telephone conversation, with the woman’s implied silence at the other end of the line making things just a little more uncomfortable.

“Goin’ Through the Big D”
from the 1994 album What a Way to Live

The nineties equivalent of “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft.)”

“Trouble”
from the 1995 album Wings

Covering Todd Snider. The coolest thing that Mark Chesnutt has ever done. “A woman like you walks in a place like this and you can almost hear the promises break.”

“It Wouldn’t Hurt to Have Wings”
from the 1995 album Wings

Essentially the title track to Chesnutt’s finest major label album, it was also the set’s only big hit.

“Thank God For Believers”
from the 1997 album Thank God For Believers

In a decade that brought several powerful new perspectives on alcoholism, this was one of the best, as the man who struggles with his addiction can’t believe the strength and the faith of the woman who stays beside him.

Two Hidden Treasures:

“Strangers”
from the 1995 album Wings

Take your pick from this album – perhaps you’d prefer “As the Honky Tonk Turns” or “King of Broken Hearts” – but my favorite is the closing track, where strangers that meet in the evening will be strangers again the next morning.

“A Hard Secret to Keep”
from the 2004 album Savin’ the Honky Tonk

This is the best moment of Chesnutt’s strongest album, the independent release Savin’ the Honky Tonk. It’s an album that more than lives up to its title, especially on this tale of cheater’s paranoia.

Traditional Country is a Link in a Long Chain

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

The following is a guest contribution from Scott O’Brien.

“But someone killed tradition. And for that someone should hang.” –Larry Cordle & Larry Shell, “Murder on Music Row”

Dan Milliken’s recent post got me thinking: The country music I grew up with is nothing like the music on country radio today. If I turned on today’s country radio in 1988, I might not realize it was a country station and keep right on flipping. Back then, Randy Travis and Keith Whitley’s traditional twang ruled the airwaves. Today, they are dominated by the giggly teeny-bopper ditties of Taylor Swift and the boy band sounds of Rascal Flatts. Did they get away with murder on music row? Well, let’s start by briefly uncovering country’s traditional roots.

What is traditional country music? Is it simply anything from the past? That seems too broad; Shania Twain wasn’t traditional. Anything that isn’t pop? Maybe, but that is still a rather wide and subjective net. To me, traditional country music is honky tonk music. It heavily employs steel guitars, fiddles, and forlorn vocals. It moves at a slow pace. There are no drums or electric guitars. The songs typically deal with heavy topics such as heartbreak, cheating, or drinking, with a ballad here and there. In most cases, the goal is to induce pain. Not bad pain, but the therapeutic empathy that tugs your heart and helps you through your personal struggles. The patron saint of traditional country is Hank Williams. Hank’s first disciple is George Jones. Jones’ first disciple is Alan Jackson. The traditional template is supposed to help us decipher what is country and what is not. After all, what makes country music country if not fiddles and cheatin’ songs?

These days, traditionalists have a legitimate beef. When you turn on the radio, you don’t hear much steel guitar. Instead, you hear what might pass for 1990s pop, replete with fluffy repetitive lyrics, catchy drum beats, guitar riffs, and sex appeal. We aren’t preserving country music when the CMT Music Awards feature the B-52s and Def Leppard in lieu of John Anderson and Charley Pride. Was there a tribute to recently deceased traditionalist Vern Gosdin? No way. Do today’s artists “tear your heart out when they sing”? Not a chance. Is Keith Urban going to fill Conway Twitty’s shoes? Not a prayer. You know we are in trouble when pop-infused zipwire-flier Garth Brooks sounds more like Merle Haggard than today’s stars. Heck, just listen to Taylor Swift’s latest album. If that is country, I’ll kiss your ass. Nashville, we have a problem.

But let’s not go off the deep end just yet. Maybe traditionalists are thinking about things too narrowly. Country music is much more than Webb Pierce’s raw steel guitar-laden crooning. It always has been. Going back before Hank to the First Family of Country Music, the Carter family sound was an amalgam of several different sub-genres including Appalachian old-time, folk, and gospel. Jimmie Rodgers, the Father of Country Music, blended elements of jazz, gospel, old-time and blues to create some of the first country sounds. Marty Robbins played just about every musical style conceivable. Traditionalist hero Elvis Presley sang rockabilly. Johnny Cash had similar beginnings and even years later there was nothing “traditional” about his trademark up-tempo bass beat. Waylon Jennings’ music incorporated Buddy Holly’s rock-n-roll rhythm; he even wrote a song about how un-Hank-like his music was. Merle Haggard’s Bob Wills-inspired Bakersfield sound used amps and electric guitars. Even 1980s ACM Artist of the Decade Alabama shunned the steel guitar altogether and typically sang up-tempo, feel-good music. Yet these names are among the most venerated by traditionalists. What gives?

The problem is that traditionalists aren’t even sure what traditional country is. If it includes all artists who sold country records without crossing over to pop, the label is not very helpful. If it is strictly honky tonk, do we really want a bunch of Hank Williams clones? As great as he was, we surely do not. There has to be some updating – just ask Alan Jackson, who has innovated the traditionalist motif without sacrificing his authenticity. The genre has to evolve or it risks becoming boring and repetitive. Waylon Jennings understood this well (“It’s the same old tune, fiddle and guitar/Where do we take it from here?”). Hank Williams’ own son realized it too after trying for years to replicate his father’s sound. His song “Young Country” directly attacked the tradition-or-else mentality: “We like some of the old stuff/We like some of the new/But we do our own choosing/We pick our own music/If you don’t mind, thank you.” He is right. Why draw lines? Strict uniformity is not desirable in any genre, particularly country, whose trademark is its diversity of influences, instruments, rhythms, voices, song topics, and stories.

So what should define today’s country music? It should pay tribute to the past by incorporating and updating its unique fusion of diverse influences. It doesn’t have to be strictly “traditional.” But country music needs to capture the sentiments of rural and working class America. It needs to cover painful topics like drinking and cheating. It needs to tell colorful stories. It needs to tear your heart out sometimes. It also needs to make you feel good sometimes. What it shouldn’t do is become pop music. When country is indistinguishable from Top 40, it loses its soul. Unfortunately, this has happened with the Keith Urbans, Rascal Flatts, and Taylor Swifts – all talented artists to be sure. But country artists? Not so much. Still, there are old warhorses like George Strait who carry the torch and newcomers like Jamey Johnson who give us hope that country’s soul will stay alive and well.

The Few Remaining Icons

Monday, June 29th, 2009

I’ve heard it said so many times in the past week: the death of Michael Jackson is my generation’s equivalent of the Death of Elvis Presley. (I can only assume that makes Kurt Cobain our Janis Joplin?)

He was a controversial figure, to be sure, and much like Elvis, a tragic figure even before his tragic death. Being a music fan first, I lost interest in Jackson a long time ago, simply because he’s made so little music in the past two decades – a mere three studio albums in more than twenty years.

But there’s no doubt that he’s an icon, the embodiment of the MTV age and the breakdown of barriers between pop, R&B and dance music.  Who does pop music have left that’s in the same league? Only Madonna, but since she’s still very much at the top of her game and is anything but a tragic figure, don’t expect the mourning for her to begin any time soon.

But pop music isn’t the only genre running low on icons. What country acts remain that could garner significant coverage upon their death? Johnny Cash’s death made the cover of Time magazine, an honor usually reserved for former Beatles members. CNN broadcast live from Tammy Wynette’s funeral back in 1998.

In contrast, Waylon Jennings and Porter Wagoner, two legends and Hall of Fame members, made barely a ripple in the national news media. It’s easy to imagine the same fate for George Jones and Merle Haggard, two country music icons that have never been nearly as popular in the media beyond country music.

Who are the icons in country music that could command the same attention as Wynette and Cash, or perhaps even Jackson, when their road comes to an end?

Say What? – Bob Lefsetz

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Anyone who reads Bob Lefsetz' “The Lefsetz Letter” knows that Lefsetz is a fairly new country music fan, but a passionate one all the same.  I frequently disagree with his current assessment of country music, particularly country radio (although recently  he has clued in to its frequent vapidness and monotony), but he's a fantastic voice out there championing country music.

In a recent letter, he made some interesting statements about his desired role for the future of country music (i.e. the classic rock of the future). After approvingly citing the recent Newsweek article which bemoaned the current state of country music, Lefsetz stated:
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blockquote>Country used to have an edge.  My buddy Pete Anderson would love to bring it back.  But I’m thinking we’ve just got to move the needle a little bit, and suddenly we’ve got the rock business we used to have, the one that triumphed in the seventies.

He went on to state:

If they just took off the cowboy hats and lost the banjos they’d be closer to Lynyrd Skynyrd than Dolly Parton or George Jones.  When are the country acts going to go after their rightful audience, boomers who lived through the seventies and younger people who want melody!

***

The future is in country, or something quite like it.

It’s not the final resting place for has-beens like Bon Jovi or wannabes like Jessica Simpson, but a phoenix ready to rise if it’s taken seriously, adds a bit of true cred, emphasizes electric guitars and is willing to have an edge.

As fans of country, new and old, how do you feel about this assessment of the future of country music?