Darius Rucker Knows Why Country Rocks
The May issue of American Songwriter magazine is out, and it has Dierks Bentley on the cover. That alone is worth the trip to wherever cool magazines are sold. But inside, there's also a very nice story about Darius Rucker's successful approach to songwriting. The online excerpt has quotes from Rucker like, "You can have a great beat in pop music and say almost anything over the top and have a No. 1 hit. 'Who Let the Dogs Out,' you know? You can't do that in country music. In country music, if you don't have a song that's touching that 34-year-old mother of three, then you're just not gonna have a hit." Amen to that. Interestingly, the same American Songwriter writer also says, in another story, that "today's writers tend to write on the inspiration that gave them the first draft of the song. Perhaps they feel that tinkering too much deprives the song of the electric spontaneity that gave it its birth." Not sure if that's a jab at Rucker, other country songwriters or just a stream of consciousness rambling on his part.
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hotelmotel says:
True, you can have a hit with “Who Let the Dogs Out” but you can also have a hit with “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “Marry For Money,” “Some Beach” or all sorts of other tunes that say something “over the top.”
There are novelty songs on all sorts of stations on the dial.
kaye says:
Oh and so many of the ‘novelty songs’ are just plain fun!
The three off the top of my head when you mentioned ‘novelty’ were…of course these aren’t played much anymore..too old and out-of-date, I guess!
PURPLE PEOPLE EATER
DOES YOUR CHEWING GUM LOSE ITS FLAVOR (on the bedpost overnight)
THE STREAK
Lewis Garner says:
Alison,
I have a song that fits the bill, but unless your in the system, you don’t have a chance. Go to myspace/songwriterlewis and listen to “A Child’s Prayer” and you’ll know that Darius could have a number one song. It is so powerful, but no one wants to hear the facts.
Dierksfan says:
As soon as I heard Dierks was on the cover, I ordered the magazine from the AS website! Can’t wait! It’s about time they recognize Dierks for his songwriting talent!
RedMaZ says:
Sorry but, I have to disagree that Rucker knows why “country rocks” as it were. This blog is quite disturbing, full of inaccuracies and contradictions.
cover says:
loved dierks on the cover!!!!!!!
dierks and his band kick a$$!!
Otmane says:
News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick exercptDierks Bentley and Maxwell Wireimage Samsung and AT&T are doing their part to keep the summer hot with the continuance of their Samsung AT&T Summer Krush concert series. The limited engagement tour puts some of the hottest acts on stages all around the country. It kicked off in Seattle with an electrifying show by Daughtry and moved along with San Francisco, Dallas, and New Orleans being treated to The Offspring , Montgomery Gentry , and T-Pain respectively. Dierks Bentle