Welcome to Nashville, Jessica Simpson
Bravo to the Tennessean’s Beverly Keel for her “Open Letter to Jessica Simpson” regarding the latter’s sudden discovery of country music and her newfound burning desire to cut a country album. Writes Keel, “We take our country music and its heritage very seriously around here. I didn’t take kindly to your lack of preparation for the Dolly Parton tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors. I found it unprofessional and disrespectful and was bothered that you wasted a spot that had been denied to many worthy country singers.” Well said.
I was quite impressed by Simpson’s unnamed “friend” who told People, “She’s prepping for her new album….She’s spending time there [Nashville] and figuring it out.” Let me know when you get country music all figured out, darlin’. Shouldn’t take more than a week or two, I reckon. By the way, dear readers, did you happen to catch Simpson in that rollicking laughfest Dukes of Hazzard so-called movie? Was she portraying a country singer or some kind of bimbo or just what was the deal there? I couldn’t quite figure it out. But she was there. No doubt about that.
Someone should keep a running count of all the pop, rock, and otherwise singers who show up in Nashville every year and proclaim “I’ve always been country” and announce their immediate availability as country singer. Why is it that it’s always singers whose careers don’t seem to be on the upswing? I would call them “carpetbaggers” but that would be demeaning to the real carpetbaggers, who were deadly serious. Let’s just call them what they are: opportunistic arrivistes. Bless their hearts.
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OutlawSteph says:
Amen Chet. Heck, I’ve been a country music fan since Jr. high school which was about 20 years ago for me. I don’t have it figured out yet. I’ve just discovered the Delmore Brothers and Don Reno. Jessica can join my beginners banjo class if she likes with me and two middle aged guys.. everyone has to start somewhere.
ajfan4life says:
Alan jackson said it best in Gone Country. When the pop scene ain’t working, they all eventually go country. Look at them boots, back to her roots, etc. Go Chet! Go Beverly!
carol says:
Just what we need…another pop singer ” loser “, who can’t make the scene anymore, to slither over to country…YUK………
B.W. LaRoy says:
I think she’ll be just as welcome as all of the other people who have done a one-off country record in Nashville. She’s just as pearly white looking and sounding as the rest of them. But hey Chet…maybe she and Bon Jovi will do a durge duet and run away together to raise children in Oklahoma or something really…country! B.W. LaRoy
Parker says:
Way to put it Mr. Flippo !! I look for your blogs and reviews(of REAL country singers) because you always seem to nail it. My wife and I love to support new country stars and watch their hard work and resulting success. When I see and hear(painfully) someone who butchers the art and gets attention that should (in a perfect world) go to someone who is out there every night singing in a bar, I want to hit something!! Thanks for putting my frustration into words!!! And keep your reviews of new people coming. One of my favorites started because of one of your reviews!!!
Gary Allan Divulges Songwriting Tip From Harlan Howard — The 9513 says:
[...] Flippo gives kudos to Beverly Keel for her open letter to Jessica Simpson, questions her role in the dreadful interpretation of Dukes of Hazzard for the big screen, and has [...]
CF says:
Very well said, Chet. I can’t believe I never knew about this blog until now but I’m glad I finally checked it out today - lottsa interesting stuff here! Will definitely check out all the other entries.
http://www.icfmusic.blogspot.com/
Rukiddingme says:
Ok, so are you kidding me? Seriously folks, when you have songs like Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, Swing, and Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy you truly cannot look down on your nose at the Pop singers to come flooding in. You set the standard, don’t chastise them for rising to the occasion. I mean, really, when you cross the city limits your teeth darn near begin rotting immediately with the Pop sounds being produced out of Nashville. Let’s not be hypocrites. Let Jessica have her chance at Nashvegas.
blondebombshell says:
I tend to agree with RUKiddingme. Nail hit directly on the head. Too much overproduced pop coming outta Nashvegas these days. I don’t think Jessica’s album will be worth crap but let’s see what she can do. Maybe she’ll remember more words to her songs than her sister did. Better yet, when she can’t make it in Nashville, maybe she’ll come running to the Texas/Red Dirt scene and grace our ears *insert eye rolling smiley* with her ‘talents’….one can only hope right?
Emily says:
I agree with Rukiddingme. Country music isn’t really serious and if it is, its about life experiences. Country singers are usually the nice and down to earth singers, which Jessica is. Shes a texas girl whose father was a minister, how much more country can she get? I think she would be a great country singer. People go to country music because they are the nicest and the most caring. Chet, you just have previous oponions of Jessica so you are not open to being a country singer. Who knows, this could all be a rumor.
Tammy says:
Having attended the CMAs where I had great seats to view all the celebrities in attendance, I was dismayed to see Jessica Simpson one of the few who did not acknowledge her fans when she left her seat during a commercial break. Even mega-star Nicole Kidman had the graciousness to stop, smile, and wave to the crowd. If Jessica is going to survive in Nashville, she had better get some manners and a little Southern charm.
crystal hurd says:
hi jessica your beautiful gurl!!! i am such a huge fan i wish i could meet you!!! I finally meet Brent Keith in Cuba ohio he is from Blanchester Ohio thats where im from. I wish i could meet you to but now i live in cuba ohio.!!
your fan
crystal hurd (lol)!!!!
Je$$ica’$ $upport: It’$ all about the $$$$ « StarCMC’s Enemedia Roundup says:
[...] gotta know that pics of her with the troops would do her good with the Nashville crowd. As Chet Flippo at CMT’s blog put it, Someone should keep a running count of all the pop, rock, and otherwise singers who show up in [...]
rhondabug says:
OMG! What is wrong with you all? Jessica is a real person with real feeling. Jessica has a great voice…maybe if you “loser” would just let her get the album finished brfore saying stuff you would see it for yourself! All of you that write this bad stuff about others is what is wrong with this world today…you run your mouths about everyone and don’t take care of your own problems. I feel bad for you and your kids…if teaching them to be like you!
jessica simpson new country music says:
[...] Simpson&8221 regarding the latter&8217s sudden discovery of country music and her newfound bur…http://blog.cmt.com/2007-10-23/welcome-to-nashville-jessica-simpson/trackback/Around the Web: Jessica Simpson&39s Gone Country - CMT.comIt&39s jessica Simpson&39s new county [...]
Kimmy says:
I heard a clip of her upcoming song “Come on Over” and I LOVED it! I have to be honest - I didn’t care for her as a pop singer, but now I can’t wait to hear this country album!
skot says:
i agree with y’all, alan jackson knows what he is singinag about in gone country… it just goes to show that all the crap on the radio sucks and country is the genre that makes sence anymore, i hate obama and i hate hip hop.
texasgal says:
Im a big fan of for “real music”, pretty much anybody that has graced our ears from nashville is manufactured, Shania being one of them, being from Texas we have our own Red dirt music seen so i pretty much know what real music is, and Jessica sounds nothing like the electronic music that Shania has produced on every album she has recorded, and all the cheese crap from Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney, talk about manufactured crap!!! Im not a huge fan of Jessica but I am from Fort Worth and have known of her from the very first time her first single hit the radio, and i have kept up with her just because she represents Texas, i have met her and shes a really down home Texas girl, and she is very PROUD of her state, so please give the girl a break, and quite comaparing her to all the other studio produced stuff until you hear her album, which Willie Nelson helped her record and hes no joke, hes one of the greats… so please keep your opinions to yourself until you hear what she has to say!! I think that she has finally found her nitch!
texasgaltoo says:
I have heard the single and I have an opinion. It is awful.It is not as awful as I was expecting (based on all the breathy pop stuff she’s done), but “not as awful as expected” is still awful. And it is not country. I am assuming Jessica’s handlers think that this is the best song from the album or they wouldn’t have led off with it. If that is the case, then the rest of the album will be awful manufactured crap like this single. To put Jessica’s name in with Kenny, Shania, and Alan takes a lot of nerve… to say this desperate-for-attention no-talent is better than Kenny, Shania, and Alan is insane. As for Willie Nelson helpeing her…even the greats can make mistakes. Just because somebody is from Texas and proud of it does not make them a great country singer. Isn’t she from Richardson, TX? That’s hardly the “country”. It’s a suburb of Dallas-pretty much where lots of city slickers live. I know…I’m from Texas too.
TexasGuy says:
Being from Texas doesn’t make you a country singer. If it did, that would be a surprise to Edie Brickell, Vanilla Ice, Janis Joplin, Buddy Holly, Blind Willie Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top (to name a few.)
Just because Tommie Lee Jones, Farrah Fawcett, Matthew McConaughey and the Owen Wilson (to name a few) are from Texas didn’t make Jessica Simpson an actress, either.
Jessica Simpson was a reality show star a few years ago, and was once (I understand) an obscure, aspiring pop star. That’s it.
Come home to Texas, Jessica. You’ll blend right in at the mall and in a week or two, nobody will even recognize you. Please don’t subject us to the embarrassment of a contrived, phony country album. We’re just not that into you.
Gisele says:
I just heard “come on over”…..Jessica….you made the right move….love your tone; and country music is your genre!!! Bring it on….
jayne henry says:
Oh my God! When I heard about this ridiculus album coming out I litteraly cringed!! I’ve been listening to country my whole life as far back as Hank Sr. And I’m only 19. I know country when I hear it. And I damn sure know a washed up pop star who cant make it in Hollywood so she poses as a country singer but fails miserably to even sort of convince anyone. What a discrace and a slap in the face of country music!!! I hope Nashville drops her right on her polished a** next to a dumpster in the slums of California where she belongs, AFTER she apoligizes to country music for smeering its good name! Matter a fact’ next to her failed cosmetics line and “nails on a chalkboard” “come on over” single. I’m praying for a revival in country music. Jessica “Poser” Simpson is the Armegedon of it.
jessicafan says:
give her a break . . . i think she has a beautiful voice and is sooo country. she doesn’t have that annoying twang that most people who aren’t into country can’t stand . . . maybe she will make country a little more popular and remove some of the “redneck” reputation it has always had . . .