Kellie Pickler's Country Roots May Start to Show
This is for all of you roots-country folks who claim that country isn't very country anymore -- that it's too pop, too slick, too whatever. Kellie Pickler's about to change the way you think. About her, anyway. She told MTV News that her next album will be more country than her first two albums. "It's very country. I'm kind of going back to my roots. I grew up listening to more traditional country music: Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Tammy [Wynette], Dolly [Parton]," she said. And she said she's writing for the album as well, which should be out in the fall. With her back story of being raised in Albemarle, N.C., by her grandparents because her mother abandoned her when she was two and her dad spent most of his time in prison, surely she has some good material to pull from.
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countryiscool says:
I can hardly wait to hear the hecklers now. lol I love Kellie, I think she is fresh, funny, and I love her songs & videos. She is great in concert too, very entertaining.
James says:
Love you Kellie! So does everyone here in Albemarle!
rosyz says:
I like Kellie. I cant wait for her new album.
solongsowrong says:
You really don’t pay much attention, do you Alison? It’s not the Roots fans that say Country isn’t very Country. We know where to find Country music that is Traditional. It’s the Mainstreamers who won’t look any farther than their FM radio dial, who do all the complaining. I know I’ve never said one word against her or her music… but whether I like her music or not, I’m not going to sit thru hours of Pop Country music I don’t like, just for the chance to hear a few artists I may like. So no matter what direction her music goes, I’m not going to hear it if it’s still played on Pop Country radio, unless I make it a point to hear it by other means.
Telling her story to MTV news, isn’t the place to pick up Roots fans, so that doesn’t sound like the direction she’s going, in my opinion. Case in point, is she going to be Roots Traditional like James Hand and Elana James, or more Pop Traditional like George Strait and Allen Jackson? Big difference, you know.
I wish her the best, but her music isn’t played on Roots radio, so it’s not the Roots fans who are going to make or break her. That’s up to Mainstream radio and her fans, to say if they like what direction she goes. If they don’t.. welcome to the reality of the Pop music Industry… she’ll be yesterday’s news.
fluffy says:
let’s hope when she says it will be country , that it is real country music and not the stuff trying to be passed off on radio these days as country music, I can think of alot of names for today’s so call ” country music ” , and it sure ain’t country, for some reason the record label think if they say it is country music or put the word country in it , that makes it country music
yeah right says:
Good Luck, but doubt very much if she grew to country music when she was a teen.
I know I can’t listen to her singing to screechie and nasally!
I wishe the feel sorry for me would not always be included in her blogs. Get over it, there are people worse off then her, from bad situations, it just a ploy to get more fans!
Steve says:
Looking forward to hearing it! Kellie is a sweetheart!
flower says:
kellie is awesome i am so glad she has decided not to be like pop taylor swift…
the other day i was talking to a friend and she was like oh i love that new pop song fearless. i was like the do u mean the one by taylor swift…and she was like oh yeah her…i was like she is a country artist and she was like oh i didn’t know that i thought she was pop
True story….
merlefan49 says:
While the artist Kellie listed are country they aren’t really root country.
FAYE says:
I LOVE KELLIE PICKLER,AND I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO HER NEW COUNTRY ALBUM.IN MY OPENION THIS IS WHAT SHE SINGS BEST.YOU GO GIRL,BRING ON THAT NEW COUNTRY ALBUM !!!! I CAN NOT WAIT TO HEAR IT.I WILL PROBLEY BE ONE OF THE VERY FIRST IN LINE IN MY HOME TOWN TO GO BUY IT.KELLIE PICKLER IS ONE OF THE VERY BEST!!! LOVE YOU GIRL!!!!
thirteen is a lucky number says:
It doesn’t matter what Kellie sings - I will listen and probably buy it.
Angela says:
Why would roots country fans claim that country isn’t country anymore? or too pop or too slick? That makes no sense! They are fans of traditional country for cryin’ out loud! That kind of country still sounds country, and it’s not “pop” or “slick” either! It just country music. What an ignorant statement
aceinthehole says:
Lol. She hasn’t recorded anything country yet, so we’ll see what her definition of her country roots is.
Kristy says:
Flower said, “kellie is awesome i am so glad she has decided not to be like pop taylor swift…
the other day i was talking to a friend and she was like oh i love that new pop song fearless. i was like the do u mean the one by taylor swift…and she was like oh yeah her…i was like she is a country artist and she was like oh i didn’t know that i thought she was pop
True story….”
Hahaha well, Flower you know what? Same thing happened to me but it wasn’t Taylor Swift they were talking about it was Carrie Underwood and ‘Cowboy Cassanova’ and it was being played on the top 40.
True story…..
Kristy says:
Also you best remember the highest charting song Kellie has to date is a song co-written by Taylor Swift and vocals and video inculded Taylor.
Ahem. Another case in point is, it’s the only award Kellie is up for also.
I am So Cute says:
actually both pop country fans and roots are narrow minded.
pop country fans for never goin beyond the dial of their mainstream pop country radio or cmt or gac and for roots music fans for not giving good music from the pop country camp a chance. for them its more of how u build up us an artist and not whether the song can touch ur soul or not :-)
mary roberts says:
boy you say kellie is screechie how can yuo stand to listen to taylor? how is it so hard to think she listened to country music when she was small. when my daughter was two that’s all she would listen to.
solongsowrong says:
There’s a lot of truth in what you say Cute, and those that are the worst, are those who complain about what they listen to, but still are so narrow minded they won’t even acknowledge that other forms of Country music exists. They just wallow in their misery.
But the difference is, for me anyway, I gave Pop Country a chance for many years. It wasn’t until artists like The Flatts, Sugarland, Underwood, and company came along, and finally made me realize that Mainstream Country wasn’t something I could relate to anymore. With any new artist that comes along and I give a listen, it doesn’t take long for me to see that I don’t relate to them either. I like the Roots music, because that is what excites me.
I admit I do have a problem with the Mainstream music Industry in general, and how they treat artists when popularity begins to fade, but I have nothing against the Mainstream music or the artists themselves, and encourage everyone to listen to what they like. Pop Country just isn’t something I like though, and as I get older, even anything that has to do with Pop Culture at all, becomes more and more irritating.
Being narrow mined or just showing my age, call it what you want, but Mainstream Pop has long since passed me by.
solongsowrong says:
Good point, Robert B. about the Roots publications. I’m sure if Pickler was going Roots, that would heve been a better route to go. From what I see and read here, she will clearly still be hawking her music in the Pop world of Country. The only fans that it will make happy, are the Pop fans who still consider themselves Traditional, and those who like Country music, no matter what format it follows. It’s a coin flip on how her fanbase will react.
solongsowrong says:
I’m typing and I can’t shut up.
Ya’all says:
Kristy - Totally agree with you!
Robin says:
Kellie didn’t say she was going to put out a “roots” album. She said “I’m kind of going back to my roots”. She is “KIND OF” going back to “HER ROOTS” in country music which she identified examples of (Merle, Dolly, etc.).
Dolly was the queen of contemporary popular country in her hay day. Think “Island in the Stream” and “I Will Always Love You”. I’m not sure how “traditional” Kellie’s next album will be, but her first two were “AS” country as Dolly. Kellie’s voice puts a country touch on anything she sings. She has a natural twang to her speaking and singing voice and while she’s not George Strait (neo-traditional), she’s certainly more traditional already than Kenny Chesney.