‘Country' artists coming out of the woodwork
Published Tuesday July 8th, 2008
Kings County Country
SUSSEX - During the last Valley Jamboree in Sussex, Jack McAffee performed Murder on Music Row, a song about the sad state of modern country music and the way country has drifted towards pop music. New Brunswick's The Divorcees also sing about keeping country pure on their East Coast Music Award winning CD You Ain't Getting My Country. One song on that album states that it isn't country when you put fiddles in a pop song.
There has always been tension between ‘pure' country and the merging of country and pop/rock. There have always been pop artists like The Eagles and Linda Rondstadt who have crossed over to country charts. The blur between the two styles is especially strong now with so many artists trying to cash in on the steady market that country music provides. Rockers Bon Jovi, John Mellancamp and Kid Rock are aiming songs at the country fan base. Folk singer Jewel and pop star Jessica Simpson have gone country.
Darius Rucker, the former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, even has a song on the country chart.
Some of the unlikeliest country may be coming from artists like Cowboy Troy, who, backed by Big and Rich, tried to merge country with rap. The latest rap/country merger comes from hip-hop star Snoop Dog with his country-tinged song My Medicine. An ode to his marijuana use, Snoop likely isn't impressing country fans, despite cameos from Brad Paisley and Willie Nelson in the song's video.
The trend has gone the other way too, with country artists picking songs off of the pop chart and making their own versions. Conway Twitty did this with The Pointer Sisters soulful Slowhand. Emmylou Harris did her own version of the Donna Summer disco song On The Radio. The trend carries on today with Blake Shelton currently at the top of the charts with his version of jazz singer Michael Buble's Home.
Bluegrass versions of rock songs are also common. Dolly Parton has done her interpretations of Soundgarden and the Led Zeppelin rock classic Stairway to Heaven. Another bluegrass artist, Elizabeth Cook, has done a version of Sunday Morning by influential alternative band The Velvet Underground.
One of the most successful and acclaimed mergers of country and pop/rock was the combination of the late legend Johnny Cash and hip-hop producer Rick Rubin. Cash put his own touch on songs by artists such as electronica group Depeche Mode and industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails.
It seems that any song can be country if someone thinks it's a great song. So what makes a great song?
Randy and Cheryl Currie, with Colleen Bannister, perform in an acoustic trio as Marshall's Hill. With three voices, a guitar and no bells and whistles the song is important.
Cheryl feels that the lyrics are important because she likes to be touched personally. Randy likes a song with emotion, how it makes the listener feel.
Carmen Cruickshank said a great melody is important in a song and Norma Smith feels the story the song tells is important.
"It's a combination of a toe-tapping beat and something you can have fun with," said Anna-Marie Burke, who sings with Lost Highway. "Something you can make your own."
Like Parton and Cash, if the song isn't country, make it your own. But rapping will never be country, no matter how you serve it up.
Congratulations to Gary Morris Entertainment for the great Canada Day show. It was good to see so many young performers have a chance to show their talents. It would be nice for Sussex to have a well-designed permanent stage for outdoor shows through the summer.
Odds & ends
Norton's Phil O'Donnell has reached country music's peak. The song he co-wrote for Montgomery Gentry, Back When I Knew It All, rocketed to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Song chart. O'Donnell previously hit number one as a co-producer on Craig Morgan's That's What I Love About Sunday.
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