The Editorials
It's Time To Get Things Back On Track
Written by Jeff Krasky
In my previous editorial (Are the Tides Changing?) I discussed how a couple of new artists were single handedly giving country radio a much needed jolt. I also pondered if Nashville and country radio were going to allow this type of change to continue. It's becoming increasingly apparent that the current glossy pop trend that country music has been on for much of the last ten years has completely run its course. Slacking sales for artists like Faith Hill, Martina McBride, and Shania Twain and drying up airplay for female country artists seem to confirm this fact. The current batch of big stars aren't selling anymore and it's time for them to reinvent themselves to keep current with what listeners are interested in hearing. I thought it would be interesting to look in on some of the biggest artists in the business and see what could be done to help them regain that standing.
Martina McBride has hands down the best voice in the business. She's got incredible vocal range and could sing anyone under the table. Yet, her last album had very few of the finer qualities that make her best work like Evolution so incredible. The songs just weren't as strong and not even an expert vocalist like Martina could cover that up. I'd love to see Martina strip back some of the gloss and go for a slightly more rough around the edges sound. Martina's music has always been glossy but not to the level of the last record and I think that is where some of the magic was lost. Just listen to this woman sing live and you will realize that she needs no studio tricks to knock you flat on your ass.
Shania Twain is one of the highest selling female artists of all time. She doesn't have the best voice in the business (in fact, it's not even in the top 10) but she does have a knack for writing incredibly catchy songs and delivering them with a superstar flare. That alone is enough to sell millions of records. Shania's last album was a train wreck covered up by a few solid singles which drove the record to another solid sales outing. This record wasn't as strong as either The Woman in Me and Come On Over and it showed with a drop off in radio play. What is the problem? She simply lost focus of her target audience. We don't need a double disc album with a rock mix of the same songs. That time could have been better spent writing songs on par with the material on previous Shania records instead of sounding like something that was lyrically thrown together in ten minutes with a bad rhyming dictionary. Shania is capable of delivering enjoyable pop country music but the songs need to be there.
The Dixie Chicks are still the greatest thing going in country music today. Their last record Home was an absolutely stunning record which would have easily gone on to be their third consecutive diamond record had their political fiasco never happened, which leads me to their inclusion on this list here. The Dixie Chicks are too important for the health of country music for them to be lost in a political shuffle. In time that will be forgotten and they will be back as strong as ever. I support their willingness to speak their minds 110% but it might be in their best interest professionally to save the political discussions for somewhere other than the stage.
I'm still not sure what in the world Faith Hill was thinking when she recorded Cry. It was a jarringly bad collection of thinly veiled pop music, and not good pop music at that. I'm all in favor of artistic expression and trying out new things musically but you have to be able to be your own editor and pull the plug when something isn't working. Faith Hill doesn't seem to be able to do that and it's starting to hurt her career. Faith Hill needs to return to basics. There is no reason she can't have another “This Kiss” and sell that kind of number of records again. She just has to remember what Faith Hill music sounds like and get back to doing what she does best. With a new album in the works here is to hoping.
Lee Ann Womack has a wonderful pure country voice. She's also shown the ability to cross over with the smash hit “I Hope You Dance” but has since fallen off the radar after her weak Something Worth Leaving Behind album. I took a ton of flack from everyone when I said the album was going to fall flat but I just had this funny feeling it was going to. It moved even further into pop territory and it didn't have the instantly gripping quality of her previous efforts. Womack is another artist who needs to refocus. You're not going to get bigger by moving more and more pop in the hopes of bigger and bigger cross over hits. You're going to get bigger by making records that your fans love and recommend to others. Lee Ann already has the winning combination of stone cold country and country pop sounds, she just has to use them.
In closing, any of the artists in this article can quickly get back to moving albums off the shelves and having a string of hit singles but they need to take a few chances and get people interested again. If anyone has the talent to make that happen it is these ladies and it's going to be interesting to see what the future holds. Next time around we will look at a group of artists that you should be listening to but probably aren't.
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