Our group started this blog as a way to address one of the gaps in the mainstream music press’s coverage. That gap is the country music genre.
We are constantly bombarded with the top 40, the pop/rock, the popular music, but we believe this type of music is not the most interesting aspect of contemporary music out there. So by creating this blog we hoped to address the issue that country music is not publicised in the ‘popular’ music community. It’s a huge industry, so why isn’t it generally covered in the top 40, Video Hits, or on popular music stations such as NXFM? Why is it only well known within its own industry and community?
Country music is full of passion, humour and a good story. It is made by good old fashioned hard working, and generally middle classed people. It’s not this computer generated repetitive style of music that is normally on the countdowns. Its made by real people, who can actually sing. How do we know that? Well because country music is played in pubs and in parks, by someone with and old acoustic guitar and a dream. It isn’t a socialite or an actress who wakes up one day and decides to make a recorded because they are bored. Its real. The emotions are real and the stories are real. So why do we keep falling for the world of the manufactured music? Well quite simply, we are told to. Its hot, its new and its plastered everywhere. We don’t have a choice in the matter. But for reasons just like this, I argue that country music can pull us out of our consumer driven rut and back into the world of the real. Country music is a world where you can sing about beer and driving a truck and its OK to do so. Its fun. There is nothing to prove. Just as long as you have a catchy song that people can enjoy you have achieved your ultimate goal.
Sure, there are those lucky few country music artists who do make it into the top 40 countdowns, but they are rare and far between, and that’s not good enough. A genre that has so much passion and such a huge following should be provided to everyone. Yes it has its very own television stations etc. but not all of us have pay TV, and I would say that country music is for the average Joe, and what average Joe can even afford pay TV?
One thing I have learnt about country music though, is it seems to be stuck in a catch 22. In order to be publicised and actually earn money the song needs to be poppy enough to fit into the top 40 and mainstream countdowns however, within the country genre, when a song is poppy and moves away from the distinct deep country twangy sound, the artists are ridiculed and considered sell outs, or worse, glorified ‘lap dancers’ (as discussed in Ryan’s article “Lap Dancer or Hillbilly Deluxe? The Cultural Constructions of Modern Country”). So there lies the problem. Either the country music artists stay true to their country roots and end up poor and relatively unknown, or they become famous and well off ‘sell outs’. There is a thin line that the country music genre is straddling. No wonder its difficult for the country genre to break into the mainstream.
Although our arguments is that country music is under publicised and that more people should be given the opportunity to hear it, I do realise that music is in the tastes of the individual. As discussed in one of our class readings, “Fast or slow, country or pop, jazz or blues – Louis Armstrong (or Duke Ellington) expressed the universal truth. There are only two kinds of music: good and bad. Roger Rollin has added his own corollary to that judgment. In matters of aesthetic decision, only the ear of the beholder is relevant.” (Cooper, B. Lee,1997, “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me: Reflections on the Evolution of Popular Music and Rock Scholarship”, Popular Music and Society, Spring http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2822/is_/ai_20633221 ). So although we believe country deserves a wider audience, we cannot force it upon others, but instead we educate those about what else is out there.
Throughout writing this blog I have learned a lot. I have learned not only how under appreciated country music is in the mainstream, but I also learnt how huge it is on its own, which makes my first observation even more baffling. If it is such a huge genre, why aren’t we given more opportunity to it? Personally, I think this blogging form is a great way to reach people and spread the country word. We have had comments from random other bloggers and people seam to be either engaging in our ideas or at least reading them, so I think we have somewhat achieved our goal. Now if we could only get the word out to the wider community.
Country music is a great genre, and the more I have researched it the more I have been pulled in and the more I love it. Not just for the music but for the atmosphere and the general mood the genre brings. It has a real country quality. You feel like the people singing are not some super huge megastar but your next door neighbour. Someone you can go and visit on a Sunday afternoon for a beer around a camp fire. Its laid back, relaxed and care free, like there are more important things to life than high powered stress. To me, country music shows an ideal world, a community where you are not lost in the hustle bustle of life but where you have time to stop and appreciate the finer things.
I really hope that through this blog, we have shed some light on this relatively hidden genre. It’s a genre that everyone should experience and I hope that we have helped to do that, or at least give some more information on the genre so you may understand just what you are missing by not giving it a go. It’s a genre that can really change your perspective on things, and isn’t that what everyone needs now an again?
So spread the word, and join the country music world. Until you do, you wont know what you have been missing!
Jacki Tipton, signing off.
Thanks for reading!
