The Usurpation of Country Music

Another rant, this time on behalf and in defense of my beloved country music.

Yes, I am a country music fan. My tastes don’t extend quite back to Patsy Cline, or early Johnny Cash, or Mel Tillis or George Jones. I’m more of a “new country” kind of guy. I liked Garth Brooks in his day; I like Alan Jackson, George Strait, Reba McIntire, and I’m a huge fan of Gretchen Wilson, Toby Keith, and Kenny Chesney. Martina McBride and Brooks & Dunn, and Sugarland also make regular appearances on my playlists.

But lately, there has been an influx of singers into the country world that really bothers me. Jewel is not a country singer. Ashley Simpson (*hack-phooey!*) is not a country singer. John Mellencamp (who I actually enjoy) is not a country singer. The Eagles is not a country band. Darius Rucker (the former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish) is not a country singer. But they’re all putting out country-sounding records now, and it really bothers me.

I know what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it, but it still bothers me. They all want to sell records, and there is no “adult contemporary” market anymore, not like there was in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. But there is a “country” market that is alive and well, and these folks are just trying to find a place to sell their records. So they “cross-over” into country. But, for me, country has a certain meaning, and a certain sound, and a certain history, that these posers don’t really have any connection to, and never will.

Gretchen, Toby, Kenny, Alan, George, Reba — they all have real roots in and a legitimate connection to country music. When any one of them sings a song about drinking, or heartbreak, or happiness, or family, or love, or humor, you can feel and hear the connection to “country.” But putting a fiddle or a Dobro guitar into a song doesn’t make you a country singer, doesn’t make your song a country song, and doesn’t give you any country credibility.

And I hate to see outlets like CMT on television, and satellite radio, wasting valuable air time on non-country acts, simply because they have a recognizable name, at the expense of legitimate country acts that could benefit from the exposure they might get if I didn’t have to waste time watching Jewel videos and listening to Ashley Simpson songs. It stinks, and I don’t like it.