Tag Archives: good mainstream songs

Commentary

Random Thoughts of the Week: The Top Five Signs of Hope for Mainstream Country

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2015 has been the year of the sellout in country music. The two most disappointing sellouts of the year for me were easily the Zac Brown Band and the Eli Young Band, the former with the release of the EDM single “Beautiful Drug” to country radio, and the latter with the terrible single “Turn it On” and the subsequent EP, as well as the horrible “country remix” of “Honey, I’m Good” with Andy Grammer. Keith Urban was a close third, using his talent to give us the brilliant “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” a song that personally pisses me off about as much as “Kick the Dust Up” because Keith Urban knows better. Easton Corbin used his George Strait-esque voice, previously used for “A Little More Country Than That,” to record an album full of bro country pickup lines. Brett Eldredge, though never really carrying a torch for traditional country, was never really working aginst us until his recent r&b album Illinois. Danielle Bradbery has remade herself into a wannabe pop star for the sake of reviving an already struggling career. Even the legendary Alabama sunk to the low of releasing “Southern Drawl,” a desperate attempt to be cool that failed in every respect, coolness especially. And now, Eric Paslay’s new single, “High Class” seems to have finally pushed everyone off the deep end with its blatant metro-bro bullshit lyrics and style–and this coming from the person who obviously knows better, as “She Don’t Love You” so effectively proved. In times like these, people start saying we should forsake country altogether and start calling ourselves Americana fans, that we should just surrender our beloved “country music” to these sellouts, country carpetbaggers, and metro-bro douchebags, and go listen to Americana. They say that all hope for “country” as we knew it is lost.

Well, here are some signs of hope, in no particular order of importance.

Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley is not selling out, as his latest single, “Riser,” has proven. I will be incredibly shocked if he succumbs to the trends, as he has no reason to. He has found the perfect balance between quality and airplay and doesn’t seem to care that he often does not get the recognition he deserves. He has made quality music throughout his career and has no reason to change that now; he’s found a formula that works for him even in this country radio climate.

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood is not a traditional country artist, but she’s here because she defines what actual pop country should sound like. She takes the best of pop and country and blends them well, offering songs that both display depth in storytelling and are radio-ready. Although I was not as impressed with her new single, “Smoke Break,” as many, it certainly does not follow the current trends, and her new album, Storyteller, could be a factor in turning back the tide of mainstream country music to a real pop-country sound–what we have now is straight pop poorly disguised and incorrectly labled as country.

Cam

True, Cam has only given us two singles and an EP so far, but the reason she’s in my top five signs of hope for mainstream country is that On the Verge supported her. Her first single, “My Mistake,” was a nice pop country blend, but “Burning House,” the sponsored single, is a completely acoustic, traditional country song. The fact that this program supported an artist like that signals change. Cam’s debut album cannot come soon enough!

Chris Stapleton

Some would argue whether Chris Stapleton is mainstream, but I don’t see why. He’s on a major label and has even received some airplay. Traveller is nominated for Album of the Year by the CMA, and Stapleton is nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year. Stapleton with three nominations is a sure sign of hope.

Maddie & Tae

I have written a lot about these ladies, but I’ll say it again–they can bring those that think “country” = Sam Hunt and Kelsea Ballerini back to country. Radio has actually given them a shot. They’ve proven they’re not afraid of fighting for country; they’ve spoken out against drum machines and their debut single was “Girl in a Country Song.” The fact that Scott Borchetta and Big Machine are behind them and that they’re actually getting played is a huge sign of hope.

Despite all the selling out, there are still a lot of reasons to hope for mainstream country, perhaps now more than ever. More and more independent artists are seeing success in album sales that mainstream Nashville can’t ignore. Country legend Merle Haggard, a name-drop in many of today’s songs, is openly speaking out. Represented above are established artists and newcomers alike, fighting for real country music. I didn’t even mention Mo Pitney, Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves, Jon Pardi–the list goes on. Not to mention Tim McGraw’s new album will unashamedly be titled Damn Country Music. I wasn’t thrilled by the lead single, but the album title certainly intrigues me. The point of all this is that mainstream country is far from hopeless–in fact, after years of fighting, we are finally seeing numbers on our side, artists speaking out, and more traditional artists being signed and getting airplay. In short, although it is happening slowly, we are seeing results. Why should we give up now? The day we leave our own fight and run to Americana is the day that country music will be lost.

Tomato of the Week: Jamie Lin Wilson

I featured her friend and fellow Texas country artist, Courtney Patton, last week, so this week, I am covering Jamie Lin Wilson. Check out her full article on Female Friday!

Random Country Suggestion: Randy Rogers Band–Burning the Day

A great album from one of my favorite Texas/Red Dirt bands.

Listen to album

No non-country suggestion, just go listen to these glaring signs of hope.

Reviews

Single Review: Dierks Bentley’s “Riser”

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Rating: 10/10

As a fan, Dierks Bentley has always been one of my favorites. He seems to really care about his fans and the quality of music he releases. This is why “Drunk on a Plane,” a “radio-ready” novelty song, was still miles better than much of what you will find on mainstream radio. Dierks is somewhat underrated in my opinion, but that doesn’t seem to bother him, and he still continues to release great music. His latest single, the title track from his album Riser, only reinforces this; he has chosen quality over airplay once again.

“Riser” is about a man who is strong enough to protect and provide for his woman. He says, “If we ain’t got no money, I can make it,” “I’ll pray until Jesus rolls away the stone,” etc. In short, this is the kind of narrator I can connect with in a song. This is a real person speaking of real love, not some guy trying to get a girl to hook up with him on a tailgate. “An army couldn’t keep down my desire”–that is a classy line, and I don’t hear anything about sugar shakers. It also paints life as it really is–“The hard times put the shine into the diamond, I won’t let that keep us in the ground.” From listening to country radio these days, I would think life didn’t have hard times at all. It sounds like one cornfield party after another, with a “house party” every now and then to mix it up.

As far as instrumentation, it’s a good balance between being radio-friendly and being traditional. I hear beats and steel guitars–who knew you could have balance in this world? Mainstream country artists, take note: this does not sound like Hank Williams, and it is getting a ten from me. Dierks Bentley seems to have figured out how to connect with both sides. This is what happens when you care about your fan base and the quality of your music. “Riser” is the best song on country radio right now; let’s all hope it has a nice long chart run and gives Dierks Bentley another #1 hit.

Reviews

Single Review: Jana Kramer’s “I Got the Boy”

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Rating: 9/10

It’s not every day that a good song cracks the top thirty on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, so now that one has, I feel it deserves to be reviewed. Jana Kramer has flown under the radar somewhat, and although she has broken the airplay barrier, she has not had consistent chart success. Her debut single, “Why You wanna” hit No. 3, but since then, she hasn’t had one single crack the top twenty. Enter her latest effort, “I Got the Boy.”

“I Got the Boy” features a more traditional sound than most of what we’re hearing on mainstream radio. In fact, it’s even different among the current list of women getting airplay lately–there’s Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town’s 80’s pop/soft rock “Smokin’ and Drinkin’,” Kelsea Ballerini’s straight pop “Dibs,” and Carrie Underwood’s pop rock “Little Toy Guns” (that’s nothing against “Little Toy Guns,” as that was actually a great song.) This is more similar to Cam’s “Burning House” and Maddie & Tae’s “Fly.” The acoustic guitars blend nicely to make this something I could picture playing on the radio ten years ago. In other words, it sounds modern without taking the giant leap that the last few years have introduced. The instrumentation also allows the listener to focus on the lyrics, which is something that I have said many times is a lost art in country music.

A song like this especially benefits from the traditional arrangement because it tells a story. Jana sings about seeing a “picture in the paper” of her high school boyfriend getting married to someone else. She recalls how she knew him when he was young and fearless, with “fake ID’s to get into those Spring Break bars.” Now he has grown up and is “cleaned up with a haircut, nice tie and shoes.” The song talks about how the man has changed so much, and Jana reflects, I got the boy, and she got the man.” She does not seem to be jealous of the other woman; it’s more of an acknowledgement that each of them got to have a part of the guy’s life that the other will never experience.

The only drawback with this song is the vocals. Sometimes it seems like some of the words are forced. That seems to be true in most Jana Kramer songs, and I have actually never liked her voice until this song. This is easily my favorite song she has ever done, and I hope it stays around on the charts for awhile.