When I was at Telluride, I posed this question to my friend and fellow festivarian: “If you could book your own festival, who would you get?” Almost instantly, she decided on a ’80s country music theme, and I was immediately interested. Since we were just sitting around waiting for a band to start, we decided to go ahead and build the schedule. Here’s what we came up with:
I swear I can remember the concert. I can hear the commotion, the noise and who could forget the music? I even remember dancing. I was kicking my feet from side to side. In fact, I was dancing with my mother. I just know I was. I remember it like it was yesterday. It’s no wonder that every time I go to a honky-tonk, I request an Alabama song. It was one of my first exposures to music and I’m proud to say, country music. It was my first concert.
What do Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Dolly Parton and Vince Gill have in common (other than being country music superstars)? They were all members of 4-H, and are now featured on a special compilation CD called Clover Country: Songs From Famous 4-H Alumni. Other former 4-H members who contributed songs to Clover Country include Sugarland, Johnny Cash, Alabama and Luke Bryan.
Garth Brooks had his share of critics when he went stratospheric in the early ‘90s, but there’s no doubt that he brought more fans (and money) to country music with his larger-than-life personality than anyone else before or since. When Brooks was at his peak, artists who can’t even get a record deal today were routinely selling albums at gold and platinum levels. As one artist skyrockets, all the others get a boost, and that means good times for the whole music industry.
As a member of Alabama, Randy Owen racked up some major career accomplishments, including sales of 73 million albums, dozens of No. 1 singles and, ultimately, membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I thought about that Friday night (May 16) in Las Vegas while he was performing a free concert at the Fremont Street Experience, but I also kept thinking about something else: When talk turns to country music’s most significant vocalists over the past 30 years, why isn’t his name mentioned more often? Read more…
Kenny Chesney might pull down the entertainer of the year trophy at Sunday’s 43rd annual Academy of Country Music Awards for the fourth straight year, tying Garth Brooks for the second-longest run in history. Rascal Flatts might well nab its sixth consecutive honor as top vocal group, tying Alabama for the all-time mark.
Living in downtown Nashville, it’s not hard to find something to do on the weekends, or any night of the week for that matter. I think sometimes I take for granted the fact that I live in the heart of Music City, a stone’s throw from the Ryman Auditorium and mere blocks from some of the world’s greatest honky-tonks. So, last weekend, my friends and I ventured out for a Tennessee Saturday night and some live country music.
I was plowing through a cold, hard rain on I-81, somewhere around Staunton, Va., when an oldies station decided to cheer me up by playing “Convoy,” C. W. McCall’s rollicking tale about outlaw truckers. The song was a big hit in 1975-76 and eventually made into a movie. The element that gave “Convoy” its appeal was the nation’s fascination at the time with CB (citizens band) radio, a device that enabled motorists to chat with each other as they traveled the highways. It was a godsend for truckers and an irresistible gadget for everyone else. Naturally, it spawned its own colorful vocabulary, which McCall used with Olympian skill and fluency.
Listening to McCall chatter on, it occurred to me that country songwriters, singers and fans are never indifferent to new technologies. They may embrace them, reject them or make fun of them, but they’re never indifferent. Think back a few months to Brad Paisley’s triumph with “Online,” in which he lampoons the poor soul who uses the Internet to turn himself into a virtual superman. It fit neatly into country’s grand tradition. (Actually, Paisley was a relative latecomer to the topic. Cledus T. Judd spotlighted it in 1998 with his “First Redneck on the Internet.”) When cheap and portable fax machines began popping up in the early 1990s, Hank Williams Jr. responded to the craze with “Fax Me a Beer.”
In the late 1940s, Red Foley, among others, began viewing the nascent technology of television with considerable alarm, as well as down-home humor. Foley’s “Television” brands the intruder as “the devil’s doin’,” and announces flatly, “it’s got to go.” Radio seemed to be accepted as a more benign — even a divine — influence, as witnessed by the oft-recorded “Turn Your Radio On,” which counseled “get in touch with God, turn your radio on.”
The telephone, the phonograph, the atomic bomb, the answering machine — country music had songs to address each one and help usher it into our daily lives. Of course the invention that never stopped giving lyrical inspiration, especially from the 1940s onward, was the jukebox. As late as 1990, Alabama scored a No. 1 with “Jukebox in My Mind.” Now we carry around our own personal jukeboxes. They’re handy, but they have no romance. Who wants to sing about i-Pods?
Last week I was cooking dinner at my friend Hunter’s new condo and we decided the most tedious thing about moving is unpacking CDs. Especially in this digital age, there’s just no point in keeping a disc for one or two songs. You probably won’t regret selling it, or giving it away. Speaking of that, Hunter said he’d just put a playlist together of his favorite “songs of regret.” By then we were feeling warm after a few glasses of wine from Kix Brooks’ winery, so I thought maybe something a little more upbeat would have been better, but my unspoken rule is — his house, his music. (If you come to my house for dinner, be prepared to listen to a lot of 80s country, and you better like it.)
First was Alabama’s “Lady Down on Love,” about a woman who’s unfortunately back in the single life. In today’s country music, she would grab her girlfriends and they’d burn up his trailer or go to Tunica or something, but back in the day, heartbroken people drowned their sorrows (and regrets) in the bars. From there, we said “Awwww” over the first few notes of “I Told You So” by Randy Travis, “Always on My Mind” by Willie Nelson (which is not romantic, people!) and a few chestnuts by Mark Chesnutt. I’ve always been a fan of Mark Chesnutt’s early stuff, and when you listen closely, you’ll see that “I Just Wanted You to Know” and “I’ll Think of Something” fit perfectly in this list.
The only new song was Sugarland’s “Stay,” and I think the reason it’s resonating with country fans is because almost no current country songs offer any sort of conflict, and conflict is the key to any interesting story, whether it’s a novel or a song. I particularly hate songs about how someone is from the country, and that they also like the country. Give me something devastating, like George Jones‘ “Choices” or Patty Loveless‘ “Here I Am.” Some of these regretful songs I haven’t heard in ages, like Vern Gosdin’s “Do You Believe Me Now” or Sawyer Brown’s “All These Years.” But I still knew the words.
Being a traditional country fan, I feel lost in my generation sometimes because I don’t know the difference between Radiohead and Oasis, and never bought Nevermind. That’s OK. I don’t have regrets. Well, actually, thanks to my friend’s playlist, I do.
I have a small stack of country Christmas CDs that I always pull out on Thanksgiving morning, and that’s pretty much what I listen to until I put up a new calendar. Luckily, those old-fashioned songs have moved into the digital age, making this the most wonderful time of the year for a holiday music mix. Do you hear what I hear? You can, if you track down this playlist:
“Christmas in Dixie,” Alabama
“A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Alan Jackson
“Shimmy Down the Chimney,” Alison Krauss
“Feliz Navidad,” Billy Joe Shaver
“Rockin’ Little Christmas,” Carlene Carter
“Frosty the Snowman,” Dan Tyminski
“Silent Night,” Dolly Parton
“Light of the Stable,” Emmylou Harris
“Merry Christmas Strait to You,” George Strait
“Silver Bells,” Joe Nichols
“O Holy Night,” John Berry
“The First Noel,” Josh Turner
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Kelly Willis
“My Holiday,” Mindy Smith
“O Come All Ye Faithful,” Patty Loveless
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Raul Malo
“O Christmas Tree,” Rhonda Vincent
“Christmas Time is Here,” Shawn Colvin
“Two-Step ‘Round the Christmas Tree,” Suzy Bogguss
“Making Plans,” Tim O’Brien
“The Christmas Song,” Trisha Yearwood
“All I Want for Christmas is You,” Vince Vance and the Valiants
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” Wynonna
I know you’ve heard these songs many times, many ways, but these are the renditions I prefer. In particular, Kelly Willis’ version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has just the right twinge of sadness – but not as much as the original version. Next time you complain about Christmas, remember that opening line. May your day be merry and bright.
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