I've been thinking about Country music these days. I just did an interview with Tex Troester of The Groovy Rednecks and he voiced what I've heard over and over, (and said over and over) that modern Nashville Country music isn't really country music. It has been lingering in my mind and so I had an experience hot on the heels of that interview that really turned me around and gave me some insight.
I was in a diner and there was no one else eating but me. They had a TV on turned to some channel that plays country music videos, and the waitress was clearly a fan. After watching her mouth the words to a few songs I finally said to her, "Can I ask you a question? That sounds like rock music to me. What makes it country music to you?" and see said:
"It isn't the music that matters anymore, it's what they're singing about."
Lightning Bolt - BAM!
Wow. I think I get it.
So, the fact that the music has none of the musical traits of country music is barely even noticeable to modern country music fans. No fiddles? Who cares? A music that is VERY reminiscent of 80's rock....doesn't matter. Because the thing that attracts them to it is a celebration of a political philosophy, a lifestyle, habits and preferences. And when you listen to this music that's exactly what it does. In fact, Supermodel bassist Josh Fleeger and I often make up modern country songs when we're traveling. They all go something like this:
"I like my baseball cap. I like to drink cold beer. I watching football games, no lazy city-boy here."
It's just about imagining what you think a rural guy likes to do and then parroting it back. If you think I'm making this up, here is a snippet from a song performed by Jason Aldean and written by Big and Rich and Vicky McGehee called, "Hicktown"
"Little Jimmy Jackson is jackin' up his Bronco.
He's gonna lay a little rubber later on at the truck pull.
An' all the girls are getting' pretty... they're sprayin' on the White Rain.
Yeah, they're gonna get a rowdy tonight down at the football game."
and so the people who hear this scream, "WOOOOOOOOO! That's what we do!"
So, this how it is these days...and another part of this is making a big deal out of being from the country, and making a deal negative deal out of people from the city.
from the same song:
"We hear folks in the city party in Martini Bars,
An' they like to show off in their fancy foreign cars.
Out here in the boondocks we buy beer at Amoco,
An' crank our Kraco speakers with that country radio."
"their fancy foreign cars"? Where do the people live that Jason is singing about? Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords are the best selling cars in America...all over America. What's going on here?
It strikes me as good old fashioned Red State/Blue State trash talking. Only I can't imagine a pop or rock song with "Blue State" lyrics like,
"We hear folks in the country party in rundown bars,
An' they like to show off in their broken-down domestic cars.
but here in the city we buy scotch at Whole Foods,
An' crank our iPods with those citified blues."
Pretty silly, I know. So, the country songs love to rave on about "Out here in the country..." and "Them fancy city girls..." and the other side has nothing to say.
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One of the reasons I prefer the old country is that generally it's about people and their stories. It's about "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "Big City Turn Me Loose and Set Me Free". Hank Williams didn't sing about America kicking another country's ass with fighter planes. He sang about his broken heart.
Country music's strongest suit has always been the human element that is common in all of us. It's universal. It isn't us and them. It was often about the rural life, but not in a way that tore down the other side. At least that's what I thought....and then I remembered Hank Williams Jr, who I have always loved.
Hank Junior....with his "Country Boy Can Survive" and "Dixie on My Mind" which has the classic line referring to the North, "If this is the promise land, I've had all I can stand. Wish I was down in Houston town tonight." This is late 1970's music and Hank was all about us versus them. He even has a song complaining about a gallon of gas costing $1.10. Not everything Hank does ages so well.
THEN I remembered Merle Haggard, my precious Merle. What the hell was "Okie from Muskogee" except an anti anti-Vietnam song. "You don't love it, leave it.!" Now, I went to see Merle recently and he mostly apologized for that tune. Saying that it doesn't reflect his viewpoint, but maybe's that's even worse. He was just pandering to get a hit. Say it ain't so Merle. However, it's clear that the business of Us versus Them songwriting isn't a new trick. And I suppose pandering to an audience with "I like to drink cold beer" isn't a new trick either.
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So...there it is. One of the tiny twigs of country music - the lifestyle celebration - has become a major branch. They've dropped much of the musical language of country music, but they've kept the crowing about tractors, beer and the rural life. Is that okay? Sure, it's fine I suppose, but i feel like it misses one of the best aspects of this great genre -- songs that are so personal and real that we all feel them deep inside. It's something that country music does better than anything else.
