JCHPlay Somethin' Country...
November 21st 2007 02:25
Dierks Bentley once said, “Country music has always been the best shrink that fifteen bucks can buy.” So what is it about the Nashville Sound? More specifically, it is the smooth vocal, subtle string background and beguiling chorus that comprises of the vast amount popular and contemporary country music.
The key difference for me between country and many other genres is the emotional experience that you take away after listening to a particular song and the way that it can haunt you. While songs such as Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” do not necessarily evoke this sensation, the genre has this innate ability to draw me into a different world. The first time I heard Emmylou Harris’ “Boulder to Birmingham”, I felt the pain and despondency not only within the lyric and melody, but within the vocal performance of Harris herself.
My first emersion into the world of country music was in late 2002 when I went to stay with friends in Denver, Colorado. Now, from an Australian metropolitan middle class upbringing, statistically, I was unlikely to have ever relished or even heard of country music outside of the likes of Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes’ “Can’t Fight The Moonlight”. But to my own amazement after hearing Tim McGraw’s album, Set This Circus Down, I was pleasantly taken aback. I was shocked that I was able to appreciate and enjoy a unique style of music that I had never bared witness to. From that moment on, my musical world was changed.
Upon my return to the shores of Australia, I was then able to discover classic Nashville artists such as Patsy Cline (whose version of “You Belong To Me” still moves me), Tammy Wynette and Eddy Arnold. These artists followed the so-called formulaic style of country, which I mentioned above: the smooth vocal, string background and catchy vocal chorus. Waylon Jennings once called the Nashville sound nothing more than “the same old tunes, fiddle and guitar”. Numerous arguments can be made to support this claim though I will not attempt to do so at this time.
With that said, we are once again beginning to witness a cross over of country to pop. Artists such as Taylor Swift and former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood are once again bridging the gap between country and the pop world. The genre is no longer considered to be unadorned hillbilly music dealing with subject content of alcohol and heartbreak (not that there is anything wrong with music about alcohol and heartbreak). I dare anyone to listen to Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss’ “Whiskey Lullaby” and tell me they didn’t get chills from that record. The presence of Kelly Clarkson at the ACM awards, performing duets with Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire and the attainability of Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” demonstrated to many of my close friends that the genre is not simply the stereotype that we were brought up to believe in.
Contemporary country music, which follows the so-called Nashville formula, is culling various stereotypes while also advancing from the traditional sound of country music. Consequently, it is also breaking down the modern theory that music has to be about sex and revelry. More importantly, I’d like to think that country music is bringing back what the backbone of music is or at least should be: the art form of songs and songwriters.
The key difference for me between country and many other genres is the emotional experience that you take away after listening to a particular song and the way that it can haunt you. While songs such as Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” do not necessarily evoke this sensation, the genre has this innate ability to draw me into a different world. The first time I heard Emmylou Harris’ “Boulder to Birmingham”, I felt the pain and despondency not only within the lyric and melody, but within the vocal performance of Harris herself.
My first emersion into the world of country music was in late 2002 when I went to stay with friends in Denver, Colorado. Now, from an Australian metropolitan middle class upbringing, statistically, I was unlikely to have ever relished or even heard of country music outside of the likes of Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes’ “Can’t Fight The Moonlight”. But to my own amazement after hearing Tim McGraw’s album, Set This Circus Down, I was pleasantly taken aback. I was shocked that I was able to appreciate and enjoy a unique style of music that I had never bared witness to. From that moment on, my musical world was changed.
Upon my return to the shores of Australia, I was then able to discover classic Nashville artists such as Patsy Cline (whose version of “You Belong To Me” still moves me), Tammy Wynette and Eddy Arnold. These artists followed the so-called formulaic style of country, which I mentioned above: the smooth vocal, string background and catchy vocal chorus. Waylon Jennings once called the Nashville sound nothing more than “the same old tunes, fiddle and guitar”. Numerous arguments can be made to support this claim though I will not attempt to do so at this time.
With that said, we are once again beginning to witness a cross over of country to pop. Artists such as Taylor Swift and former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood are once again bridging the gap between country and the pop world. The genre is no longer considered to be unadorned hillbilly music dealing with subject content of alcohol and heartbreak (not that there is anything wrong with music about alcohol and heartbreak). I dare anyone to listen to Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss’ “Whiskey Lullaby” and tell me they didn’t get chills from that record. The presence of Kelly Clarkson at the ACM awards, performing duets with Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire and the attainability of Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” demonstrated to many of my close friends that the genre is not simply the stereotype that we were brought up to believe in.
Contemporary country music, which follows the so-called Nashville formula, is culling various stereotypes while also advancing from the traditional sound of country music. Consequently, it is also breaking down the modern theory that music has to be about sex and revelry. More importantly, I’d like to think that country music is bringing back what the backbone of music is or at least should be: the art form of songs and songwriters.
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