A football BLOG points out everything wrong with ... modern country music

Modern, mainstream country is not as "real" as rap. Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy Projects. Lil Wayne grew up in Hollygrove, possibly the worst of all New Orleans neighborhoods.

Kenny Chesney did not attract women driving a tractor, then somehow miraculously show up on Caribbean shores singing about "sun-tan lotion."

 

I don't like Kenny Chesney because that's all he can do is that beach thing that Jimmy Buffett wore into the ground 20 years ago.

Maybe I should have said that country had its heyday during my lifetime in the early 90s. Sorry, I own every Garth Brooks album that he's produced and one of the major highlights of last year was finally getting to see him in concert.

I appreciate the old stuff because it's led us to where we are. I think whether it's real or not depends on the person. Rap isn't real to me because, um, hello, I just moved to Kentucky from Kansas. My entire family is like a lineup of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. The country music is what is real to me because it's music of the country.

And when I say pop, I'm referring to Britney Spears and anything they put on MTV.

 

I grew up in a rural Southern town of 6,000, and Vince Gill for dang sure wasn't the "music of the country." There may be plenty people where I'm from who listen to artists like him, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, etc., but everybody knows the real country singers are Willie, Waylon, Merle, DAC, George, Jerry Reed, Hank Jr.

You may not be able to relate to rap, but that doesn't mean that none of it is real. We listened to underground Houston rap and New Orleans stuff almost as much as we did country growing up. And as weird as it may seem, we could definitely relate to some of it.

 

Anyone trashed Dierks, they go through me.

 

I'm glad you announced. I would hate to be friends off. I hope that never happens.

 

You like Dierks?

 

No. I'm sorry.

 

IJAG, here's a peace offering, though. One of the top 10 songs of all-time. Picture reminds me of one of my three favorite locations on Earth.

 

I disagree about the early 1990s. To me that was a great period of country music. I always preferred Clint Black (Killing Time) to Garth Brooks, Vince Gill's When I Call Your Name is a classic, I was into Mary Chapin Carpenter, Brooks and Dunn (their first album was great, but they've been coasting since), Radney Foster, Trisha Yearwood, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Asleep at the Wheel, BR5-49 - the singer-songwriters. I like Shania Twain, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, but their rise pretty much put a stake through the heart of country music. Even Martina McBride has more going on than most female singers. When I heard how hard she had to work to get country radio to play "Independence Day" because station managers worried that it would offend their listeners, I figured the format was doomed. I can't think of a single "great" country song that was written in the last 15 years.

 

Mary Chapin Carpenter's song "Down at the Twist and Shout" is awesome. Asleep at the Wheel has some good stuff. Only swing I can tolerate.

 

Good to see some love for Asleep At The Wheel and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

To me, the Old 97's, Joe Ely, Dwight Yoakum, Steve Earle....that's country music today.

 

W/R/T rap not being "real":

A lot of famous rappers (think Jay-Z, Fiddy) started out poor, went through tough times, had issues with drugs and violence, got famous, and got rich. What do they rap about? Let's see...starting out poor, going through tough times, issues with drugs and violence, fame, and being rich. I fail to see how this isn't "real."