What Makes It Country Music?
The age old debate rages on; is this country music or isn’t it? As a music journalist, I receive a lot of great independent music, some of it dubbing itself country; but upon first listen, it clearly is not. Which necessarily leads to the question; what is country music? Is it the pedal steel, banjo and fiddle taking front and center? Is it the lyrics? The story matter? The clothes? The hat? The accent? Where the artist is from? Is it all of these? None of these? What makes Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Faith Hill or Reba, country? If we put a buckle and boots on Jason Adamo or Keaton Simons, could they be country?
Give a listen to Lee Gibson or Johnny Orr . These all ring country to me, at first note.
Here at TNBTA®, we support indie music, which I have said time and again, is not a genre of music, but a work ethic; artists doing it without the assistance of a major record label, but doing it nonetheless. They are touring, producing videos, and recording music, meeting us their fans and supporters. So for us, this means, we happily receive music in all genres, as long as it is independently created and produced. My question, as editor of the site; what makes country music, country? Leave your thoughts below–and I’ll be sharing them in the future, as we share more independent country music.
I think genre should be a descriptor, with the understanding that the word is not the actual. A pointer may be a better word. With so many artists growing up on a massively wide variety of music, often artists will have 3, 4, or more sub-genres they describe themselves as. “Country, Americana, Rock n’ Roll, Blues” may describe some artists.
Also, each of us form an idea in our minds of what a particular genre is. Metal fans, for example, can be very hard headed in this regard. You could be a blackened death metal act who just sacrificed your bassist on stage and there would still be critics who say “not metal”.
Sometimes if an artist is too mainstream, they come across as soulless and aren’t seen as part of their chosen genre as a result. Some pop country artists are seen more as opportunists than real country musicians, and this is where the argument comes in.
As long as the artist is forthright in their promotions and self-description, meaning don’t pretend to be “the real deal” when you’re more image conscious than content, it’s all good. There should be honesty.
I like this question because I submitted to perform at a club that could plainly read all of the accomplishments that we’ve had over the years, who we’ve opened for, and who has worked with us, videos we’ve done and so forth… They then asked to see a setlist. I knew what the outcome would be once I sent it but none the less I did so reluctantly. After recieving it he declined to have us in his club because we aren’t country enough. This moron has no idea how we perform these songs. I’ve heard a bluegrass band do “Jump” from Van Halen with banjos and fiddles and such. Were they not country because of the song title and content? NO!Is Carie Underwood’s new song “Blown Away” country? no not really. Country today is really just good ole rock-n-roll. The only thing stopping Edwin McCain from being country is that he doesn’t label himself to be. He’s make a friggin killin if he did. Darius Rucker did it. Hell, Colt Ford labels himself country and he’s a rapper… A redneck rapper, but none the less, a rapper with a cowboy hat on. I don’t know what makes something country, I just know I love it just the same.