'He is angry at the country music establishment, and Americana’s inclusiveness is a distraction from Country’s failure' - such a GREAT takeaway from this speech - it is one I have reflected on regularly, and have had mixed feelings about - and I just love how you framed it here. Thanks for your writing!
Thank you. I think it's unfortunate that, on the surface, it sounded like an attack on Amerciana; but I think it's really just that simple. He wrote it all down - he might have been (OK definitely was) a little overserved at the time, but he knew exactly what he was doing and meant it.
Bottom line for me as a country fan, all niche-genre weed-picking aside, is that for decades, whether you loved it/hated it/were indifferent to it, if you heard a country song while walking through the grocery store/pharmacy/wherever, you didn't have to turn to anyone and ask, what kind of bizarre form of music is this? Of course, it was country music. It was country when it was the Carter Family & Jimmie Rodgers, it was country when it was Johnny Cash & George Jones, it was country when it was Alabama and Ronnie Milsap. Obviously there was some sonic evolution along the way, but it didn't make the music unrecognizable. One could be forgiven for watching the parade of face-tatted dudes in t-shirts rapping in autotune about their tractors these days being called "country" and wondering if the entire genre has lost its rabbit-ass mind.
I can't help but wonder if the Uncle Tupelo's and Jayhawks of yesteryear that were relegated to the no-depression/alt-country bin wouldn't have seen more fruits from their labor if Americana were as entrenched in the industry in their day as it is now.
Thanks, Mike. I think the answer to that question is "absolutely." I was around for that era, I made an album in 1996 titlted Caledonia (out on platforms under my name) that was embraced by the "alt-country" underground of the time - that was a very small ecosystem. I remember that the tip of the iceberg artists, notably Lucinda Williams (Mary Chapin-Capenter covered Passionate Kisses in 1992) and Ryan Adams (Tim McGraw covered When The Stars Go Blue in 2006), had their first real inroads into commercial country as songwriters. Thing is, it wasn't even conceivable that something like Son Volt in the early 90s would crack mainstream country, even though it was some of the best country music of the era. It's taken not only a long time, but a complete breakdown of the media ecosystem to change the mindset that leads to that sort of bizarre result.
Ugh...I'd blocked RA from my memory, but he was an important bridge in all of this...if only his sense of humanity was half as good as his work. Agreed about Son Volt, and loved Caledonia Ieven if I was a decade late to that party)...thanks John!
'He is angry at the country music establishment, and Americana’s inclusiveness is a distraction from Country’s failure' - such a GREAT takeaway from this speech - it is one I have reflected on regularly, and have had mixed feelings about - and I just love how you framed it here. Thanks for your writing!
Thank you. I think it's unfortunate that, on the surface, it sounded like an attack on Amerciana; but I think it's really just that simple. He wrote it all down - he might have been (OK definitely was) a little overserved at the time, but he knew exactly what he was doing and meant it.
Bottom line for me as a country fan, all niche-genre weed-picking aside, is that for decades, whether you loved it/hated it/were indifferent to it, if you heard a country song while walking through the grocery store/pharmacy/wherever, you didn't have to turn to anyone and ask, what kind of bizarre form of music is this? Of course, it was country music. It was country when it was the Carter Family & Jimmie Rodgers, it was country when it was Johnny Cash & George Jones, it was country when it was Alabama and Ronnie Milsap. Obviously there was some sonic evolution along the way, but it didn't make the music unrecognizable. One could be forgiven for watching the parade of face-tatted dudes in t-shirts rapping in autotune about their tractors these days being called "country" and wondering if the entire genre has lost its rabbit-ass mind.
I can't help but wonder if the Uncle Tupelo's and Jayhawks of yesteryear that were relegated to the no-depression/alt-country bin wouldn't have seen more fruits from their labor if Americana were as entrenched in the industry in their day as it is now.
Thanks, Mike. I think the answer to that question is "absolutely." I was around for that era, I made an album in 1996 titlted Caledonia (out on platforms under my name) that was embraced by the "alt-country" underground of the time - that was a very small ecosystem. I remember that the tip of the iceberg artists, notably Lucinda Williams (Mary Chapin-Capenter covered Passionate Kisses in 1992) and Ryan Adams (Tim McGraw covered When The Stars Go Blue in 2006), had their first real inroads into commercial country as songwriters. Thing is, it wasn't even conceivable that something like Son Volt in the early 90s would crack mainstream country, even though it was some of the best country music of the era. It's taken not only a long time, but a complete breakdown of the media ecosystem to change the mindset that leads to that sort of bizarre result.
Ugh...I'd blocked RA from my memory, but he was an important bridge in all of this...if only his sense of humanity was half as good as his work. Agreed about Son Volt, and loved Caledonia Ieven if I was a decade late to that party)...thanks John!
Glad you dig it! I can't help thinking if Ryan launched his career as a 20-year-old in 2023 he'd be a whole lot bigger than he was 25 years ago.