Ok, yesterday I found a song from Ashland Craft. I have been listening to some of her other -

[The Polack MSgt]

Songs after work today. Anyway, hear me out.

Some of the pop country themes and cliches that I ridicule (probably way too often TBH) make their way into her music too.

But I don't mind that shit with her as much as I would if it was an artist that didn't strike me as genuine...

By the way, Ms. Ashland strikes me as real.

Really real - for real, as my niece recently said to me. So, in a way this brings me back to yesterday's question.

If there are country artists making songs like this, why are radio programming guys playing songs that are basically weak-ass rip offs of songs like this?

[Docreed2003]

1. Hank Williams was once ask what it took to make good country music

"In a word...sincerity"

It may be an overused trope in "pop country" but if it comes across as believable and real, then that's what matters. Where current pop country fails for me is listening to the same bs beats, with synthesizers instead of drums, and some random dude who looks like they walked out of a cologne commercial in a flannel shirt singing about "dirt roads", their "pickups", without any sincerity or believability.

Edit to add this: I had to somewhat laugh at my complaint about lack of drums, considering there was a time when drums were largely frowned upon in the country music world...Hank famously avoided drums on his music because of this

[highplainsdem]

3. Wondering which artists you particularly had in mind here:

Where current pop country fails for me is listening to the same bs beats, with synthesizers instead of drums, and some random dude who looks like they walked out of a cologne commercial in a flannel shirt singing about "dirt roads", their "pickups", without any sincerity or believability.

We can probably blame music videos for the emphasis on looks. Some artists manage to break through still without looking like models, but in general, good looks help more now than they did 50 years ago and earlier (though looks always helped to some extent). Blame MTV and its copycats.

As for authenticity -- some blues purists in the '60s probably thought a lot of the younger blues-rock bands then weren't really authentic. Especially the REALLY young ones with kids (like Paul Rodgers and Steve Winwood) who managed to sound like much older American blues singers. But those kids loved the music, and they found a wider audience for it.

I do hate completely phony artists, of course. But I've actually heard people say that John Fogerty shouldn't have created the type of music he did because he was from Berkeley. Which is so wrong, since music can cross ANY borders.

[Docreed2003]

4. Hank's quote is often misunderstood

If you look up that quote I mentioned from Hank, it's easy to see how people have missed what he meant because he goes off on a bit of a tangent about common people and their struggles contributing to country music. I don't think one has to necessarily be from the Bible Belt to understand, appreciate, and play good country music. Fogarty and Keith Richards and Steve Ray and others were able to capture their sounds and be successful because they came to the music from a place of sincerity and respect. What pisses me off in the majority of "pop country" today is the total lack of sincerity and appreciation for what came before. Most of the current pop country acts are really just pop marketed to a country audience in my opinion.

[highplainsdem]

5. Thanks for explaining! And I agree completely about artists who don't understand and respect the

type of music they're doing.

[highplainsdem]

2. She's very good. As for radio -- the programming guys are playing it safe.

But she did get national exposure, being on The Voice and making it to the top 10 there. And she has that upcoming tour where she's even opening for the Brothers Osborne at a couple of shows.

It can just take a lot of time.

Posting videos with Dwight Yoakam last night reminded me that he'd had a hard time getting attention, when he started out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Yoakam

When he began his career, Nashville was oriented toward pop "urban cowboy" music, and Yoakam's brand of hip honky tonk music was not considered marketable.

Not making much headway in Nashville, Yoakam moved to Los Angeles and worked towards bringing his particular brand of new honky tonk or "hillbilly" music (as he called it) forward into the 1980s. Writing all his own songs, and continuing to perform mostly outside traditional country music channels, he did many shows in rock and punk rock clubs around Los Angeles, playing with roots rock or punk rock acts like The Blasters (Yoakam scored a small video hit with his version of their song "Long White Cadillac" ), Los Lobos, and X. This helped him diversify his audience beyond the typical country music fans, and his authentic, honky-tonk revivalism brought rock audiences closer to country music.[7]

Yoakam's recording debut was the self-financed EP Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., on independent label Oak Records, produced by lead-guitarist Pete Anderson. The record was later re-released by Reprise Records, with several additional tracks, as Yoakam's major-label debut LP, 1986's Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.[8] The record hit the market during a sea change in country music: the urban cowboy music was out of style, and neotraditional music based on classic styles, such as Yoakam's honky-tonk-inspired music, was now in demand. The LP was a breakout hit and spawned his first two hit singles: "Honky Tonk Man", a remake of the Johnny Horton song, and the title track "Guitars, Cadillacs." His stylish video "Honky Tonk Man" was the first country music video played on MTV. The follow-up LP, Hillbilly Deluxe, was just as successful. His third LP, Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, included his first No. 1, a duet with his musical idol, Buck Owens, on "Streets of Bakersfield". 1990's If There Was a Way was another best-seller, selling more than two million copies. It earned double-platinum status in the US and produced five top 50 singles.

In 1993, Yoakam released his most successful album to date, This Time, which reached triple platinum status.

Most "overnight successes" are working hard for years before they finally get the attention they deserve.