What is good country music?

[vchimpanzee]

I'm not asking the people who are like most of the country fans on another web site I go to.

Those people claim to be country fans but say they like Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks and Dunn, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood.

I like a station in the Greensboro, N. C. market called Country Legends 98.3. I can't pick it up where I live, but sometimes I can hear it in the car, and it's very clear when I go to Winston-Salem. Not IN Winston-Salem, but on the way.

Anyway, they don't play Alan Jackson. I like Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar", "Honkytonk U", and "As Good As I Once Was" but not "American Soldier" or "Whiskey Girl" or "Stays in Mexico". I like Sugarland's "Baby Girl" but everything else they do sounds like pop or rock. I liked the Dixie Chicks when they sounded traditional. Since I don't like Bush, their comments don't bother me. I like Tracy Byrd's "I'm From the Country", "Drinkin' Bone", "Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous" and "Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo".

I liked Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places", "Long Neck Bottle" and "Two of a Kind".

What I'm trying to ask is, what qualities would make a country song good. A few of the "legends" are too pop for my taste, but the station sounds good overall. I used to be able to hear an ABC "Real Country" affiliate, but some of the songs didn't appeal to me. They weren't "country" enough. What does that mean, exactly? I only know that when I turn up and down the dial, I can't tell what kind of station I'm hearing even if I know it's supposed to be a country station in the position.

 

[KevinFodor]

Truly...honestly...that's in the ear of the beholder. No one can truly
quantify it.

What you like might not be what I like and vice versa. Many will post their "opinions" on a subject like
this, and we'll hear all the usual "Nashville sucks", "Big Country Radio sucks", "The PD's don't know what good country music is". But that's all it is...someone's opinion. And that's all it's worth.

For me, good country music is a song with good lyrics that hit the heart, compelling musicianship and a great producer behind the console. That's the one thing that makes country...even today's "pop-sounding" country better than any other musical genre...country music still knows how to write and create great songs that touch your emotions. It's the one thing pop music has lost, perhaps forever.

 

[radioboy]

I agree with Kevin. Ask 1000 folks this question and you'll get 1000 different answers.

I own an country station that plays a mix of current and classic country music. The station
has done the best in its history with the current mix.

For the classic songs, I already owned a large vinyl collection; then a fellow broadcaster, having
sold his terrestrial station, donated much of the classic country he'd retained from that station. So
it's not unusual for me to play artists from a wide range of years and styles.

Just today, we've played Merle Haggard, Sherry Bryce (she used to sing with Mel Tillis), Mel McDaniel,
Janie Fricke, Johnny Horton, Stonewall Jackson, Del Reeves, Skeeter Davis, Kathy Mattea,
Ernest Tubb, Diana Trask and Billy Crash Craddock.

However, when I added in more currents, the numbers went up, and are staying up. I like most of the songs
I play, but not all of them.

I'm a country music lover at heart. Oddly enough, country is the one format I never worked at a commercial station. So I'm just having fun now.

 

[Jay F]

Like others have been saying it's a matter of personal preference. "Good" is a subjective term, what's good to one person is bad to another.

It's country radio's job to attract as large of an audience as possible, especially in advertiser desired demographics. I would have to say country radio is doing a good job of that. In most of the U.S country is one of the top radio formats.

The composition of the country audience has shifted more female though the years (although not to the extent of AC), this probably makes the format all the more attractive to advertisers.

One possible concern is that the bulk of the country audience is in the upper half of 25-54. Country has to be careful not to age out of the money demo. I don't think this will be a problem as artists like Rascal Flatts attract younger listeners to the format. Also, some listeners switch from others formats to country when they hit age 35 or 40 as they find they can relate to the lyrics and music. It's not uncommon for someone around that age to discover that they like country music.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Obviously, there is a lot of disparity in what makes a good country song.

I can hear an ABC Real Country affiliate, an ABC Country Coast-to-Coast Affiliate, and a Jones True Country affiliate.

The difference between Real Country and True Country is pretty stark. To me, Real Country wins the "more real" battle - for example, although I loved "Boondocks" from Little Big Town, it made it to Real Country's rotation for about a week. True Country played the heck out of it, and then kept playing it as a recurrent. Also, remember Dan Seals? True Country skips it, but Real Country plays it in very light rotation. Another polarizing artist is Garth Brooks. There is no way songs like "Callin Baton Rouge" fit the traditional mold of country music.

Then again, in the 70s, Conway and Jones were pretty stark to the Louvin Bros. or Hank Snow. All of the above are almost universally considered Country legends.

What makes for good Country? If the listeners react negatively to a song (as they did to "Hillbilly Deluxe" recently), pull it.

 

[Jay F]

What did they say negative about "Hillbilly Deluxe"?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

To generalize, people said it was too much rock to be on country radio.

 

[luvhonkytonk]

Hillbilly Deluxe too rock??? Compared to what, Me and My Gang, Life is a Highway, Bon Jovi. Hillbilly Deluxe is a kickin song!

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Well, considering that our MD passed on all of those songs even as they hit #1 on the charts ...

 

[smashedcd]

my idea of good country.

willie, waylon, merle haggard, hank 3, shooter jennings, porter wagner, granpa jones, hank sr, hank jr...


my idea of bad country..


anything on your local radio satation thats new. becasue to me its not country.


the above is my opinion. so there is no need to slam me ;D

 

[JimmyJames]

A PD with the balls to ignore the charts? PTBoardop, I like this guy. Does his station stream?

 

[Jay F]

A PD with the balls to ignore the charts? PTBoardop, I like this guy. Does his station stream?

One of my all time favorite PDs that ignored (or should I say rebeled against) charts was Dene Hallam. I especially noticed this when he was in Houston. He would play reaction songs that get a lot of phones regardless if it was an unknown artist or a song doing poorly on the charts. On the other hand, he would boycott a ton of what used to be called "turntable records"...songs that get no reaction from the audience, often times follow up singles to big hits from known artists.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Hillbilly Deluxe too rock??? Compared to what, Me and My Gang, Life is a Highway, Bon Jovi. Hillbilly Deluxe is a kickin song!

I don't know what Hillbilly Deluxe means. "Me and My Gang" is an abomination, even though it includes more of the instrumentals that make a song country than anything else Rascal Flatts ever did. It is also way too much of a rock song. And "Life Is A Highway"? When was that categorized as country?

 

[vchimpanzee]

For me, good country music is a song with good lyrics that hit the heart, compelling musicianship and a great producer behind the console.

I don't really listen to lyrics, though if the song is good I might hear the lyrics. It's the instrumentals with the song, I think, that determine whether it's really country or just pop-sounding country. I know one thing: I don't tolerate loud drums, other than in traditional jazz. I started to say jazz, but I don't like drums in "smooth jazz".

One might think with the songs I've listed that I drink a lot. I don't drink at all, but a lot of good country songs involve drinking.

"Whiskey Lullabye" is one I didn't list.

 

[truthandjustice]

Hillbilly Deluxe too rock??? Compared to what, Me and My Gang, Life is a Highway, Bon Jovi. Hillbilly Deluxe is a kickin song!

I don't know what Hillbilly Deluxe means. "Me and My Gang" is an abomination, even though it includes more of the instrumentals that make a song country than anything else Rascal Flatts ever did. It is also way too much of a rock song. And "Life Is A Highway"? When was that categorized as country?


I for one find 'Hillbilly Deluxe' a great song. Its uptempo! But for heaven you sake you can be a country singer/band
& be uptempo. If you slam 'Hillbilly Deluxe' for not being true to country music for whatever reason. Then you must
include these songs that have been/are being played on country radio. Past,present,future.


Billy Crash Craddock, 'Rub It In'
Anything uptempo from Hank JR. From 1979-87. (i.e. 'All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonite')
Dwight Yoakum, Guitars, Cadillacs etc.. Or 'Long White Cadillac'
Steve Earle, 'Guitartown', 'Sweet Little-66' 'Copperhead Road'
Tommy Overstreet, 'Don't Go City Girl On Me'
KT. Oslin, 'Hey Bobby'
The Bellamy Brothers, 'Do You Love As Good As You Look'
Waylon Jennings, 'Ain't Living Long Like This', 'Can't You See' (also done by Marshall Tucker Band)
Del Reeves, 'Girl On The Billboard'
Oak Ridge Boys, 'Elvira'


And I could go on. So to say. Established country artists can't be uptempo is stupid.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

There is a subtle line between "uptempo" and "rock". This varies from person to person. For example, B&D's song Play Somethin Country is uptempo. Hillbilly Deluxe is both rockabilily and insulting.

Yes, I said insulting. That was the word that came to mind the very first time I heard the song. I didn't hear this from any listeners, but was my reaction.

Having said this, I know people who listen to country "because it is the closest thing to what Rock was when I was a kid." If Men 35-54 are a large part of my target demo, I would suggest spinning Hillbilly Deluxe.

 

[mrh1960]

Like others have been saying it's a matter of personal preference. "Good" is a subjective term, what's good to one person is bad to another.

A good country song is something that you can dance to (2step, polka and swing dance) and sing along with while your out dancin' and drinkin' with your best friends. Dancing is still a big thing for us in small town Texas...and those dance halls are where you are going to hear "good" country songs, be it classic country or the Hot 100...if the song sticks in your head the next day, and reminds you of the good times you had the night before...then its a "good" country song. Right now...that song is "Will You Go With Me", by Josh Turner...great dancing song and a heck of a song to sing along to!!

 

[RFLA]

I wouldn't call Brooks and Dunn's "Hillbilly Deluxe rocking.. I call it pop country just like most of the newer Lonestar and Rascall Flatts CDs. Rocking to me is more of like Montgomery Gentry or such. As the songs I find more "country" fans have problems with are the pop flavored songs than anything (with Rascal Flatts for example using almost the same version of their song "What hurts the most" on both country and a/c-top 40)

On the "real" country music format.. The sound is subjective to the listener. Some can say some of the newer George Strait songs have a pop flavor to them whereas others will say stone cold country.

Each person has his own ideas, and unfortunately it's hard to program for that. Yes Country is aimed at 25-54, but most stations try to do a wide variety in range of country.. Think about it, Most genres have their own groups of listeners that are narrowed down (such as new rock vs classic rock).. country music is one of the genres that is widely listened to by a large age range group... Where else can you have granddaughter and grampa listening to the same station?

But for real traditional sounding music, I agree with mrh1960 on a good dance or drinking song.

Lately, for my hard core country kicks, I find that I have to get into alternative country and singers such as Jason Boland who has songs that sound sometimes that he just came from the 70's outlaw movement.

But for me, I find I like it all new country,classic country, red dirt (texas) country, Canadian country (you will hear more traditional artist I find in Canada than in America IMO)

RFLA

 

[vchimpanzee]

Then you must
include these songs that have been/are being played on country radio. Past,present,future.


Billy Crash Craddock, 'Rub It In'
Anything uptempo from Hank JR. From 1979-87. (i.e. 'All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonite')
Dwight Yoakum, Guitars, Cadillacs etc
KT. Oslin, 'Hey Bobby'
Oak Ridge Boys, 'Elvira'

I like these. Actually, I like the bass on "Hey Bobby". I don't like K. T. Oslin as a singer.

The others I don't know.

 

[vchimpanzee]

There is a subtle line between "uptempo" and "rock". This varies from person to person. For example, B&D's song Play Somethin Country is uptempo.

I don't care for it. It probably could have been done in a way that would make it sound country.