The Editorials

What Is Country Music?

Written by Jeff Krasky

It’s a question that everyone has pondered throughout the last ten years or so. It’s something that will continue to be debated for years to come. You’ve got country music which is laced in steel guitar, country music which is so pop you would have a hard time telling it apart from the newest Britney Spears record, and then you have alt. country which brings a raw rock and roll feel to the music. There really is something for everyone in country music today.

It’s unfortunate that country music radio doesn’t feel the same way about country music. It seems to feel that there is only one type of country music. That being the light pop that artists like Shania Twain and Faith Hill has been putting out on their last couple of records. Not that there is anything wrong with that. There are countless people who enjoy their music. However, it looks like the pop ride is over for both of them with their last albums not doing as well as previous records. My main problem with this type of music is that actual pop artists do it better. On top of that pop music fans tend to move onto the next big thing every other week. You might get bigger sales initially by crossing over but you’re also going to alienate some of your country fans. When the pop fans move on what is the artist left with? It’s a very delicate balance to try and achieve; something I don’t think we’ve seen happen yet. However, no one can doubt the extreme talent of mainstream artists like Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.

For the traditional country music fan there are luckily still some artists recording this type of music. You just won’t hear it unless you go looking. Commercial country has done a very good job of making sure you don’t ever hear from these people on the airwaves. People like Danni Leigh and Rhonda Vincent are turning out great traditional flavored country and bluegrass. Even Reba’s new single has kind of a bluegrass backbone and it’s one of the most added singles on radio right now. I was hoping with the success of “Oh Brother” that we would see more of a blend of styles on country radio. This would be a benefit for everyone but it hasn’t happened.

Then we’ve got the booming alt. country genre. If you’re looking for hot new artists doing cool new things alt. country is the place to be. Just look at Tift Merritt and Kathleen Edwards for classic examples of this new sound. Then you have the veterans like Kelly Willis and Lucinda Williams who continue to turn out “album of the year” quality releases every time they make a record.

Which leads us to September’s featured artist Amy Grant. I will no doubt get e-mails from people asking why we decided to cover a pop artist on Women of Country. Firstly, she’s an instantly recognizable figure in the country music world. She’s also a great singer songwriter. But on top of all of that I challenge you to tell the difference between the new releases from our “pop country” artists and the new Amy Grant record. The point being that country music has definitely moved full force into the pop world and now they need to compete with established pop artists including the likes of Amy Grant who has just put out another rock solid record. Come to think of it, a Sheryl Crow feature isn’t out of the question either.

In short, it’s a good time to be a country music fan. There are all kinds of styles of music that fall under our “country” heading. I just wish that country radio and Nashville itself would wake up and allow all kinds of country music to coexist. There is room for mainstream country, traditional country, and alt.country on radio and it would only be a good thing for all the fans out there to be able to hear all this great music that is being made.

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