MANAZE wrote:
so what your saying right now then there are no country music singers on country music raido today?
There are a handful of artists right now (about 8-10) that I really enjoy hearing because I feel like despite the "pop" trend, they are at least TRYING to stay true to country music and how it's supposed to sound. There are more than aren't too "poppy", but they aren't exactly traditional sounding country either. Pretty much the rest are all pop singers.
My favorites:
Justin Moore
Chris Young
Eric Church
Jamey Johnson
Shooter Jennings
George Strait
Miranda Lambert
Ashton Shepherd
Two people I can't stand people saying are "true" country singers (and I'm gonna get yelled at for this judging by the responses above) are Jason Aldean and Gretchen Wilson. Jason Aldean hasn't had a hit since "Amarillo Sky" that sounded like country, and Gretchen Wilson has never had one. Sorry, but I'd take Carrie Underwood anyday over her. Neither one is truly a country singer, but at least Carrie is easy on the eyes and she CAN sing very very well, she's just in the wrong genre.
A couple people I enjoy listening to that aren't really traditional-sounding country artists, but they haven't fully went toward the pop thing are Craig Morgan, Rodney Adkins, and yes, Jason Aldean. It's like you can tell they're trying to be country, but they're that type of "we came from a pretty average, well-off, middle class family" but they liked country growing up so they make their version of what they envision country being.
And THE THING that's killing country music, that I CANNOT stand are these fucking pop groups. I HATE RASCAL FLATTS. And now, because some middle aged suburbanite people who were born in, grew up in, and still live in NYC, LA, Miami etc buy all their CD's, there's a TON of them showing up. I'm sorry, Gloriana, Love and Theft, and most especially LADY ANTEBELLUM. They are NOT country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I'm not against some pop music in country. It's hard to generate money that keeps bringing in good artists without the exposure and the fan base that other genre's offer. I don't hate Taylor Swift, because some of the younger audience that listen to her are going to discover, say, Miranda Lambert and be turned on to more traditional country music. Most won't, but some will. The one thing she's doing that's most productive for the genre is bringing in younger listeners, which country hasn't had a superstar artist do that in quite some time. I also enjoy Darius Rucker. He obviously has roots in a differnt genre, but he can sing, and his songs are a lot about his family, love and many good values that country has traditionally focused on. His actual music is still a bit poppy, but I think the amount of fans he brings, plus his focus on values outweighs the pop stuff.
That's all JMO, but other than about 8-10 people, we are a LONG, LONG ways from days of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty and even solid country bands like Alabama, Kentucky Headhunters, or Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. There's very very few left (basically George Strait, and occasionally Brooks and Dunn, when they're not trying to make a surefire hit), and even fewer young singers coming up, which is scary. Because if the trend doesn't switch back soon (history suggests it will, as it usually does, but it still makes you nervous) we may lose what few connections from TRUE country we have remaining.
