finding something to like about this summers Country music
I do drop some music posts into the enlightenedconflict site mix typically as i hear the music (unplanned and I just want to write about it). I noticed I haven’t included any country music for awhile. Not for lack of interest. I wanted to. But frankly I haven’t heard anything worth writing about.
So I had a long business drive in the car and set my mind to using the entire drive to finding a country song. Think 4 hours of shifting the radio dial to country station after country station. Not exactly bamboo shoots under the fingernails but apparently given the current state of country music on air it did feel slightly like a 4 hour death march of Bataan. My overall conclusion is that there really isn’t a lot of good original country music happening at the moment.
I found myself cringing over lots of songs about drinking over breaking up, crying over someone in the hospital and bad lyrical rhymes (“whiskey frisky” comes to mind as the hugest offender).
And the biggest bad song offender?
“A little more country” (c’mon).
Ok. its not a really really bad song. Maybe disappointingly massively mediocre. But it has been written and sung 1 million different times and ways before.
Hey. I like country music. I just like good well written music with well crafted lyrics (without a boatload of false rhymes or forced rhymes).
Well. All that said. I did hear several really nice songs I hadn’t heard before.
Kenny Chesney salvages a mediocre song by incorporating Grace Potter as a duet partner (and I love Grace’s voice).
Kenny does crank out a nice little easy listening song called “somewhere with you.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n56hFE9Aquc
Zac Brown Band uses Jimmy Buffett perfectly to make an okay song really good (maybe because it actually would have been better as a Jimmy B song than a Zac Brown song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJbG7256ZLY&feature=related
Some guy named Eric Church sings a really really good song called “Homeboy”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiWNs3BsJCY
it is the kind of song Keith Urban should have recorded but it is really good.
Speaking of good ole Keith. First. One of the most underrated guitar players in the music business. Plays a really good guitar. Clean and distinctive and great mix of chord & nonchord playing. Second. He is married to Nicole Kidman who I have had a crush on since Days of Thunder. Third. He just sings a damn good ballad. “With You” is his latest example” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3TWpWf798s
And then there is Lady Antebellum’s newest single, Just a Kiss, off their upcoming September cd represents the best of what Lady A is all about … a sweeping ballad and duet between male & female voices:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_yTphvyiPU
lastly.
A catchy little song called “you lie” from a band I had never heard of before – The Band Perry. Overall I would say it was the best radio driving song I heard. The video is HORRIBLE. But. If you close your eyes (or just hear it on the radio) it is a sticky little song.
You Lie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCwLsXZnFl4
Beyond that?
Well. It was a very long trip of bad (or disappointing) country music. I think someone new has to step in and refresh and challenge what’s happening in the genre. They need a Dixie Chicks like challenge. Even Tim McGraw kinda redefined some things when he came onto the scene. But hey, that’s me.
I’m going to see Kenny next friday & can’t wait, his live show is amazing..
ZBB’s latest album is good all the way through, as is Brad Paisley & Jason Aldeans.. Lady A never disappoints and you may even like Blake Sheltons “Honeybee”, its catchy 🙂
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh … i am wandering into dangerous ground when discussing country with you. this post is probably a precursor to a larger thought i have had about country music. its biggest issue is that too many of the artists dont write their own music. therefore when singing someone else’s stuff no matter how much they sink themselves into it … it isnt theirs. and it loses some soul and heart. Kenny? there is hope for him if he can break out of his rut (comfort zone) and write something different. Zac Brown? there is also hope there. i dont like the cd as much as you do. it sounds like a typical 1st cd to me. good because they have been on the road and worked out all the kinks and whatever. and it bothers me that some of their best is duet (which implies it is better written for someone else). but my hope for him/them is they seem willing to incorporate some other genres into the writing style. anyway. i still believe country music is in a rut. in an hour of listening on a radio it is difficult to discern differences with an occasional ‘hey, that was good.’ hence my post. in the end? i will keep listening.