The Finale May 30, 2008

Well, well, well its about that time of the semester, everything is being summed up ready for completion. I’d firstly just like to congradualte everyone for putting in a big effort for our blog, its been quite fascinating reading everyones post and responses.

This Blog for me, like many of us is the first I have ever participated in; I have learned a great deal form this blogging activity, I never understood why people would even want to blog, now I do; it can be quiet satisfying, especially when you know your reaching the outside world. We have had some high profile comments outside our blog group, which I am still finding difficult to comprehend, I think that at the very least this indicates our blog has been a success; for example one of my blog post on the Kernaghans was commented on by Steve JW Roberts who is Lee Kernaghans Personal Assistant.

It amazes me how easily our blog reaches out to the world, the internet truly is a wonderful medium; while I have learned a great deal about country music, I have also learned some new internet presentation skills such as adding pictures and videos to posts, which I think adds an attraction factor to blog posts. This project is by far the most satisfying assignment I have ever been apart of! I has changed my perception on the Country Music Industry, and I hope what we have done will help to alter other peoples perception as well.

My Perception of Country Music Has Changed!

Previously I have been rather critical of the country genre, in one of my previous blogs ‘A different way to think about country’ I suggested that “I don’t really enjoy the sound; in fact, I would pass up listening to country music for most other forms of music”, this blog has helped to expose me to the country music scene, I have found that now I don’t mind country music so much, I am not going to run out and buy a Cd or anything, but I am far less likely to change the radio station or put in a Cd when a country music song comes on. With continued exposure to the country music genre, who knows I might even become a country music lover, but at this point I’m content that I have come to find I really quite enjoy folk country styles of music (Lisa Mitchell Inspired), I may even add some to my collection.

This blog has facilitated much learning capacity for the country music beginner,  we have brought to light so many different country related topics. My knowledge of the country industry is now much greater than the Australian country music awards and the Tamworth music festival, both which previously I avoided watching or reading about. I have even began to notice the country songs in my favourite genre, bands like Yellowcard and Panic at the Disco, have country sounding tracks incorporated on some of their albums and these to the dismay of most people that ride in my car are now some of my favourite songs.

The posts I have most enjoyed doing were the ones based on feminism in country music, music reviews and the modern cultural constructions of country music. I have been able to take a lot of information away from this blog, although our posts were not always academic, just the analysis of country music from sources such as myspace, youtube, news articles and websites has helped shape my perception of the country music genre. The combination of sources has allowed for wider audience participation, this construction of our blog has therefore supported the Country Music Industry in a postive way. I hope that now everyone has developed a far more authentic view of country music; I know that I have been able to develop many new ideas of what country should be, such as a form of expression, comedic and serious incorporated with life’s various issues, family, love, political, feminist etc… There is one thing I know for sure I’d rather be a Hillbilly or bluegrass country lover than a Lapdancer! How about you?

The great thing about this activity has been the fact that the blog will continually be exposed to the outside world but….

Just Like the final song an artist plays at a gig the blog is coming to a close… will there be an encore, only time will tell…

So for now I bid you all a fond farwell…

“Goodbye Y’all”

I sure have enjoyed being apart of this blog!

Post by: Ryan Witt

Summing it up…. May 28, 2008

 

 

For the past few weeks we have been using this blog site in an attempt to bring country music out of the shadows of mainstream music. We have been researching the genre and trying to cover the missing areas that are not shown in the media, including artists, events, interpretations of country music and the history of country music. I’m not sure how well we have educated others on this genre but I’m hoping they now can appreciate the genre for what it is. You don’t have to like it, just appreciated the talent that is involved. I know how much I have learnt from my own research and from reading the blogs from the other group members. I have always liked some country music songs but after researching and discovering other artists I have widened my musical taste.

  Radio and media has a strong power and is very influential. Before this blog page started my country music knowledge was limited to famous names including Slim Dusty, Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan and the Tamworth Country Music Festival. I now know that there are many more country music festivals in Australia, I know about Aboriginal Country Music, Hick Hop, Rock influenced country music and a range of new artists including Lisa Mitchell. The media doesn’t seem to cover the broader range of the genre and it’s a shame because as Negus (1999) stated when it comes to media ‘the tail has started wagging the dog’. The media and radio is so powerful that it has a direct impact on who is being signed to recording contracts and in many ways influences the ways in which artists are recorded.

    Ever since I wrote the blog about the cyclical changes of country music I have been thinking about the stage it is now. It was at its height in 1994 and has since been lowered on the media radar. Hopefully new technologies such as Myspace can enable new artists to start their career in the Country Music Genre and help to bring Country Music back to its height. Now that music is cheaper and easier to obtain people might be more willing to down load a country music song as it is less commitment than buying a physical album and they can give the genre a go. It is good to hear that mainstream artists are taking on a bit of a country feel in their songs, maybe this will boost Country Music’s image.

   This is my last blog as part of this assignment and I wanted to finish with a final thought: after researching the genre I don’t think it deserves to slip into ‘mainstream’ as it is fantastic on it’s own it deserves much more! Hopefully our blog site here at Country Kids has given Country Music at least some of the recognition it deserves and coverage of the areas that may have been forgotten.

 

Rachelle Fenning

 

Negus, K. (1999), ‘Music Genres and Corporate Cultures’. Routledge, London.

 

 

We’ve Done Us Proud May 27, 2008

We have put a lot of effort into bringing country out of its shadow and into a new and brighter light and I believe we have been very successful. Therefore, I thought I would do one of my last blogs on the success and progress country music has already achieved throughout the past to where it is now.

Before Tamworth got involved about four decades ago, country music was in a completely different world. There were only a few artists who ‘worked’ as country music artists. This is very different from the flourishing industry that is seen today. So even if country music isn’t as mainstream as we believe it should be, it has still made a huge success from where it originally started.

When “Country and Western” music started to emerge more, the media belittled it and people did not take it seriously. “Country music artists and writers weren’t given the recognition or respect they deserved and there was little thought given to anyone to helping new talent and building new opportunities for artists” (Ellis 2007). Since country music got this bad media coverage, it was very hard for an artist to get a gig at any club, restaurant, or bar, let alone a venue bigger than that. As well, no national event or organization brought country music together, so artists didn’t even really know each other.

Once Tamworth became involved, country music started to see changes. The first Golden Guitar Awards in 1973 brought a “powerful magnetic effect, pulling artists, fans, and media into a compact and focused environment where country music was not just a sideshow but dominated the entire scene” (Ellis 2007). This festival that started everything for country music is now rated in the top 10 music festivals in the world. A survey showed there were 75,000 visitors at the 2007 Festival and at least 31,000 of them going through the Information Centre. These numbers exclude the tens of thousands of local/regional fans who attended the festival.

From the beginning of this festival, a new country music industry grew rapidly. People, including media and record companies, started to look at country music differently and take it seriously. “By 1999, some 20 percent of adult Australians in a national survey said country music was their favourite music, while 37 percent said they enjoyed listening to it” (Ellis 2007). By this time, country music had grown from a genre that was considered a joke to a genre that was respected.

Many organisations, like ‘Tamworth Regional Council and Tourism Tamworth’ and ‘the Chamber of Commerce’, are now investing huge amounts of money into country music to keep it growing. As well, the CMAA started up because of the Tamworth people giving it a secure base to start out on and the College of Country Music is still very successful. Other small events have also flourished to help support country – Star Quest, Tamworth Songwriters Awards, Tamworth Independent Artists Recognition Awards, Country Capital Music Association Talent Quest, People’s Choice Awards, Telstra Road to Tamworth, Bush Laureate Awards, Golden Harmonicas and Golden Fiddle Awards, and many others. The Golden Guitar Wax Museum and Walk A Country Mile are exhibits that also help preserve and promote country music. Furthermore, we must not forget all the radio stations, magazines, bulletins, and internet websites that have come about for country music.

“It’s time to salute Tamworth and Australian country music. In the words of Graeme Connors iconic song which Slim sang with such feeling, “We’ve Done Us Proud!!!”” (Ellis 2007).

I was very surprised to find out that the Tamworth Festival is the biggest country music happening in the southern hemisphere and far bigger than any American event. This surprised me because based on all the research that I have now done on country music and just talking to other students I got an impression that country music was bigger and covered more by the media in the United States. As well, the Golden Guitar Awards are one of the longest running music recognition systems in Australia. It is even “acclaimed as one of the media events of the year” (Ellis 2007). However, with the festival and Awards program being so big in the world, I still wonder why country music does not get more media coverage in Australia – I still feel that it could be hi-lighted so much more.

Ellis, M. 2007, ‘We’ve Done Us Proud’, History of Country Music in Australia.

http://www.historyofcountrymusic.com.au/wevedoneusproud.html

-Natalie Boyce

Newcastle to Nashville May 27, 2008

Telstra Road to Tamworth is a national competition which has been providing an outlet for aspiring country music stars since it began in 2004. The competition traverses the nation with twenty heats in various regional locations throughout the year, coming to a close with the grand final series at the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival with the finals held at at the Toyota Country Theatre.

I first took notice of this competition yesterday when I saw a brief advertisement searching for competitors. Seeing as we have been researching Country Music I thought I would take a look at it. On the website where entry details are submitted is a video of a young man singing a song. He was the winner of last years competition and I instantly loved the song. I definatley want listen to some more of his music!!

   It turns out the guy singing the song is Morgan Evans and he is from Newcastle! Out of 700 entrants he was the winner. As part of his prize Morgan gets to record a single, perform in Nashville and produce a video clip.

Newcastle generally seems to be a very patriotic town. The radio stations, for example NXfm, are always talking about locals on television shows such as the Biggest Loser, Big Brother and Australian Idol and they will always try to get the towns support behind them. I’m sure that when Morgan won the competition it was on the local news channels and papers, but why haven’t we heard of him since?? Why aren’t the local radios getting behind him and playing his music? I really enjoyed his song and I think many other people will as well.  

Click on the link and have a listen.

Morgan Evans ‘Big Skies’

 

By Rachelle Fenning

Country Music has come a long way May 27, 2008

After reading a biography on a Country Music singing legend- Ernest Tubb I came to realize how far Country Music in relation to media exposure has actually come. Tubb was a country singer, starting his career in the 1930’s. He describes how when he first started out there wasn’t any country music awards and there wasn’t even any county music charts in the trade magazines. In 1942 a magazine called Cash Box started to put some charts in the magazine but these charts were built around songs and not recordings. A magazine called Billboard started a separate chart for country music and was a little more successful than Cash Box. Tubb suggests that the first all country music festival in New York at Carnegie Hall in 1945 was perhaps Country Music’s coming of age.

 

Ernest Tubb’s recollection of the beginning of country music exposure in magazines exemplifies how much country music exposure to the media has actually grown in the last 60 years. Even though it is still not recognized as much as it should be in todays media there is hope that it will continue to grow and become a larger section in the music media.

Rachelle Fenning

 

Plugh, R. (1998). ‘Ernest Tubb, The Texas Troubadour’, Duke University Press.

The Kernaghans: The Superstar and The Blacksheep May 26, 2008

I recently read two news articles on the Kernaghan siblings, in particular Lee (The Country superstar) and Fiona (the black sheep).

The first article was about Lee Kernaghan withdrawing from a festival at Pussycat Flats Rodeo on June 21. The reason being Lee is simply too big for the event, the area won’t cope with the number of fans wanting to see him.

The second news article also featured a Kernaghan, this time Fiona, Lee’s younger sister. Fiona is a very different to Lee; she admits that she sees her self as “the slightly weird one” in the family. The article is interesting as it depicts that even country music singers and musicians get caught up in the drug orientated stereotype that is ‘muso culture’. In that Fiona had indulging in the white power while in Nashville but had given up now she moved to a better lifestyle in Los Angles.

I thought this was interesting as I did not align country music with that type of music culture for some reason, I guess its because of the stereotypical perception that country is played in the country rather than the city. City nightlife and, rock/roll music culture must have had a significant influence. Fionas music is in the genres of country/rock/pop.

Since then Fiona has turned her life around, she suggests in the article that she like many of us were young, silly and wanted to try and do everything. She is this years Australian of the Year, the difference between these two Kernaghan’s is probably the fact that over her career Fiona has been a little more risqué releasing songs with more controversial lyrics; one line noted as an example in the article is “I cut lines on a  toilet with my credit card/trying to go numb.”

Sources:

Kernaghan Too Big for Pussycat Gig

Country’s Blacksheep Prefers Rocking to Flocking

Post By: Ryan Witt

The Country Genre – Taking the World By Storm May 26, 2008

So, we have been arguing that country music is far too under-publicised in the area of popular music, however in the last few years there has been a jump to becoming more well known. it’s a small jump, but an important one. The appeal of country music is starting to spread. And not just to the audience, but to other artists. Mainstream artists are dropping their styles and are trading their signature sounds in for a country style.

So after reading Sophie’s article about Kelly Clarkson, and Natalie’s about Beyonce, and reading the magazine article about “Selling Country To The Nation”, I thought I would investigate more into who, in mainstream pop/rock music, is influenced by country and how its beginning to branch into the mainstream, or mix into the mainstream, as one of Natalie‘s article discusses.

An example of this is with Jessica Simpson. She is recently trying to break into the country music business. Her recent CD “A Public Affair” has some of the usual poppy songs that expect from an artist such as this, however upon listening to it I was surprised at the country inspired content. Songs such as “Push Your Tush” are extremely country, this particular one even beginning with a cow bell. and since this CD there has been news that Jessica wants to permanently join sides with the country music genre. Even teaming up with Willie Nelson to do her re-make of “These Boots Are Made For Walking”, even if it was a bit of a flop.

And Jessica Simpson isn’t the only one trading their leather jackets in for a set of spurs. The 80’s rock band Bon Jovi has also joined on the trail ride. Since Bon Jovi teamed up with Sugarland, they have worked with a number of country artists such as “Big and Rich” (who they performed “We Got It Going On” with) and “LeAnn Rimes” (who they performed “Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore” with), and their latest CD “Lost Highway” is a lot more country inspired then their previous works. I have been a hard core Bon Jovi fan for quite a few years now, and I was definitely surprised at their new country spin. I would have never expected Bon Jovi to be a part of this lesser known genre. But I think this is proof at just how fun and appealing country music is. Everyone seems to want a part of it at the moment. I think country is a sort of escape from the moodier ‘Emo’ style of music that has recently been appearing. Country allows you to escape and get back to the more pure musical forms.

But its not just some of the more ‘game’ musicians that are deciding to tackle this genre, but some of the newer ‘pop’ artists too. An example is with Carrie Underwood. Generally when people emerge out of the American Idol competitions, they have been trained and moulded into going straight into the popular music industry, however Carrie Underwood went straight into the country industry. She currently had two country music albums “Carnival Ride“ and “Some Hearts”. I have to say, even though they are country music records, I actually expected them to be rather poppy because of her idol background, but surprisingly they are not. They are very true to the country genre. Songs like “Wasted”, “All American Girl”, and the slightly more mainstream and poppy “Some Hearts” (also featured on the ‘”So Country“ CD I talked about earlier) all air that distinct country sound. She has a great voice for country.

So even though the country genre has been sort of forgotten in the past, I think it is ready to become more mainstream. I think, the last few years the world has had a pretty tough time with terrorism etc, and we are all looking for an escape, something more real and down to earth and something fun. To me, that spells country, and I don’t think that I’m the only person that is feeling this way. So bring out those spurs and dust off those boots and hats, because I think your about to see come real country coverage, finally.

By Jacki Tipton

Online Downloads: Love a theme of Country Music May 25, 2008

In my various internet searches on the country music genre, have noticed one thing much of country music is influenced by the phenomenon known as love. Many country songs and artists have at least done one song about love and the influence it has on their own lives and other peoples. One of the best websites I found is ‘About: Country Music’; the site is interesting as it displays the top 20 country love songs by decade, so ideally viewers of the page can access, at the very least the names of the titles to buy or download online. The Lists go from the 2000s right back to the 1970s. You can also access a range of other cool country based stuff such as clip art, screen savers, themes, wallpapers and even artist playlists.

CHECK IT OUT!

Post by: Ryan Witt

Hip Hop Vs Country May 25, 2008

I found this odd little ‘staged’ debate between two friends. The topic is ‘which is better, Hip Hop or Country Music’; I believe country is constructed to win the debate. The Hip Hop representative does not do the genre any favours; he chooses some rather bad musical examples to support his case. The country music representative chooses some wise classical examples of good old fashioned country music. However there is one thing for certain the dancing in this clip is shameful!

In Rugby League its City Vs Country…

In this guys car its Hip Hop Vs Country

Take a look….

Post by: Ryan Witt

Beyonce going country?!? May 25, 2008

The rumor has it that Beyonce is making a country album. She performed Irreplaceable with Sugarland at the American Music Awards in 2007 (watch the performance on youtube – Click here!) and right after this the gossip started. Beyonce has always liked country music and since she was very pleased with her performance with Sugarland, she decided to try something completely different and go country. She has been in contact with Amanda Ghost (the writer of You’re Beautiful by James Blunt) in order to help her with this country album.

Throughout all of my research for this project/blog, I have seen country artists turn to pop, but never really any flow in the opposite direction – pop to country. This move by Beyonce could be a big opportunity for country music. If this album gets good reviews then it could lead to more publicity and coverage for country music. However, if it receives bad reviews it could really hurt this genre because it will further emphasis the bad stereotype country music has obtained over the years. It should be interesting to see what comes about from this album, (if it does come out).

Newsdesk 2007, ‘Beyonce country album’ Music News.

-Natalie Boyce