Country Music Listing Confusion....?!

[jchitty]

Quote:Wow, I don't believe that my malcontented nature has created such discussion. A few clarifications are in order, however...I believe that the current state of a segment of the Nashville recording industry is to market to demographic groups outside the conventional country audience. I'm not knocking everything in Nashville or I wouldn't be here. Also, I don't like music written by commitee, which is the typical pop-country song. A few people with a 9 to 5 downtown sit down in the morning and read a memo from the Executive Vice President of Crappy Music that says we need a song of the subject A for artist B that runs 3 minutes and 55 seconds, because we already have the video, and we need it by Friday. Go to work. File a TPS report by noon.Furthermore, yes, I'm joking about "brushing my tooth" and trailers, etc., but I've been hit with all that kind of b.s. by playing music that has subject matter involving certain things that my type of people enjoy, which certain non-native Nashville types don't even understand, like hunting, 4-wheel drive trucks, car racing, etc. Because someone enjoys what may be stereotypical diversions does not make them everything the stereotype is.The South has evolved, but cosmopolitan? I sure as hell hope not. I'm doing everything I can, anyway, to keep it from becoming that. Cosmopolitan implies "multi-cultural", a code word for the denegration of the indigenous culture in favor of something from outside. The end result is the demise of the culture.Birmingham, AL may have a Starbuck's and Nashville may have a Nordstrom's, but any good 'ole boy worth his salt hasn't spent $5 for a latte or let his woman spend $500 for a pair of shoes. The "diverse" population from California, New York, and Miami are the demand for that crap. BTW, I could afford to buy a $5 cup of coffee and a $500 pair of shoes, but I get a 10 cent cup of coffee from my coffee maker, and I got a $100 pair of Dan Posts from French's Boots. Who's the dumbass?A final thought, if I had the opportunity to completely inundate the public with a song, like they do on pop country radio, by playing it twice an hour every day, all day, while they're all listening to a radio station at work and can't get up and change the channel, I could make them like almost anything. I have no payola money, however, that stuff is expensive...Multiculturalism, eh?So I'm guessing you don't care for Cowboy Troy's new song, "Hick Chicks?" Great blending of rap and country....I like it anyway. "Hey all you rednecks, Dixie Divas and you Southern belles..."

[jchitty]

Quote:Scenario for new artists: The CEO (C1) of a radio conglomerate is playing golf with the CEO (C2) of a large music distributing company; the latter says, "hey I've got some product (artists) I want to release, ramp up, and into your pipeline. They have a good product, packaging is on par, early testing has been favorable." C1 says, "run 'em by my people, we'll give them some rotation and we'll see if they float or sink."The music "magically" emanates from radios in various markets and if the phones don't ring, the songs sink, no matter who the artist is. The folks in the biz have been around long enough to have a pretty good idea of what a potential hit should sound like -- before they roll the dice. This is why Faith Hill, Tim McGraw sift through thousands of songs before cutting the Crème de la Crème. The market dictates what gets played over and over again. Occasionally the golf outing results in Kid Rock in the country rotation. They laugh and lick their wounds at the next outing. As for country music...BLUE WATER COUNTRYYou know I love Sweet Home Alabama, Texas two-step and anything TennesseeSo don’t cha get it wrong, when you hear this song Heck, it’s all country music to me.Don’t cha’ think you’ll find, north of that Dixie line, there’s a whole lotta down-home folk,And we like our country music laced, with a little bit a rock and roll.ChorusTo see the Northern Lights come out and dance all nightThere’s only one place you can go…Blue Water Country – ch-ch-chillout to a major degreeBlue Water Country – it’s all good up in the country Man I love the Grand ol’ Opry, the Ryman is a place to see.But I can recall Sunday morning radioand show called Renfro ValleyAnd there was Porter Wagner and young Dollyon the Wagon Wheel.Later on, it was Lightfoot and Seeger singin with a blue water country feel.ChorusBridge: Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago, Milwaukee -- and Green BayNew York, Detroit, Saginaw, Mackinaw…Soooo, Saint Marie!Well by now you might be getting my snowdrift don’t think I’ve left any doubt.I’m sayin’ it doesn’t matter,where you come from, people,to love what country music’s about.Look at all them snow birdsThey fly down to Nashville Sweatin’ bullets in their new cowboy hatsUp north we like to ch-ch-chillWith a country song’but we do it in our stocking capsChorus bgcole 2007Great points all around, BC. And man, the lyrics you've posted to your song here are killer as always. Nashville is a big tent...there's room for everyone. Quite honestly, I love traditional and neo-traditional country the best.....so jimmynashville and I have the same tastes most likely, but I've warmed to modern country over the past few years....and that is what the market seems to be demanding. There are times I think some (but not all) modern country is crap too, but who am I to dictate what folks listen to? It's a challenge to write for this new market as well.You can still find great traditional country music out there, music being put out by new country singers and groups.....it might not be all over the airwaves, and you have to do a little searching, but it's there, so there is something for everyone.

[jchitty]

Quote:It's funny that you mention "Picture". I've been thinking about posting a bunch of songs that would probably get rejected on the spot by a publisher or screener but were successful. That post would just be for fun, not to say people should expect to write songs like that and make it. New writers should always go with the odds in their favor especially when it's a million to one to start with.My guess is that a professional would say that the lyrics to "Picture" are not believable. These two people love each other so much that they sleep with everything else in sight? Now, maybe you could say that in the life style of a male star on the road, it might be plausible (regardless of your moral opinion)- that is frequently how they act. But add to it the woman who loves him so much she is also sleeping around? No chauvinism intended, but I don't think this reflects how (in general) people act. CaseyI hate to say it because I have great respect for Sheryl Crow's and Kid Rock's work, but "Picture" was just not a good song, imho, no matter what genre they tried to release it in. And as much as I like the Eagles, they have a new song out on CMT (even country radio stations are playing it) called "How Long."The Eagles have to be one of my all time favorite groups, but this song just isn't cutting it.

[bc]

Dusty,I wrote that song over ten years ago in reaction to some of my friends in nashvegas trying to tell me that only southern boys could write southern rock style stuff that was real. That ticked me off, as I was raised poor on a dirt farm and had been steeped in all forms of country, western and folk pickin' all my life. Of course I submitted to TAXI many times for high bar country with no forwards. Listed it for film/tv and "bang" a forward-- no deal yet. It's been sitting on the shelf, so I hauled it out and with what I've learned from TAXI critiques, I did a quick rewrite (today) of the lyrics. It's still not high-bar material, but it's a personal portrait and will "hang" in my gallery Old lyric northern country rock version:http://www.paintriver.com/allprpwebmp3/ ... ntry.mp3bc

[og]

Quote:Quote:It's funny that you mention "Picture". I've been thinking about posting a bunch of songs that would probably get rejected on the spot by a publisher or screener but were successful. That post would just be for fun, not to say people should expect to write songs like that and make it. New writers should always go with the odds in their favor especially when it's a million to one to start with.My guess is that a professional would say that the lyrics to "Picture" are not believable. These two people love each other so much that they sleep with everything else in sight? Now, maybe you could say that in the life style of a male star on the road, it might be plausible (regardless of your moral opinion)- that is frequently how they act. But add to it the woman who loves him so much she is also sleeping around? No chauvinism intended, but I don't think this reflects how (in general) people act. CaseyI hate to say it because I have great respect for Sheryl Crow's and Kid Rock's work, but "Picture" was just not a good song, imho, no matter what genre they tried to release it in. And as much as I like the Eagles, they have a new song out on CMT (even country radio stations are playing it) called "How Long."The Eagles have to be one of my all time favorite groups, but this song just isn't cutting it.Absolutely 100% to both. I think "Picture" is just a bad song from the get-go, and "How Long" sounds like ridin' the fame-train. To backtrack just a tad, I was thinking today that "Singer/Songwriter" is more of a job description than a genre. John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Aimee Mann, Teddy Thompson, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Shawn Colvin, John Hiatt, Johnny Cash, Ian Anderson, Gordon Lightfoot, Frank Zappa, and a host of others all fit the title. Which flavor of S/S do you want?

[bc]

Dude, -- You must be a city boy. No country boy or girl I know would make stew out of BACK STRAPS! That's un American. BTW, there are lot's of racist Yankees that would love your song, except for the untrue part about Yankees saying you're broken men. The civil war was a heinous power struggle - unnecessary, yet, inevitable. I think you have to separate the metro-centric culture from the rural culture and then you'll be closer to the kernal. I've spent a lot of time in Atlanta. Have you ever driven on I-75 during hot 'lanta rush hour? Big city folks are quicker to be impatient, flip the finger etc... When you have 100's of thousands of people in close quarters, the old saying "familiarity breeds contempt" comes into play. The problem with my broad brush opine is that I paint over a lot of very nice people. Just my .02. Now out to the outhouse to use some Cheryl Crow paper best,bc

[jchitty]

Quote:Great, the "New South"! I'm only 30 years old and it's always just been the South to me. I have no problem with country people wherever they come from, either, hell, Lefty Frizzell's tune "Saginaw Michigan" is one of my favorites. He was from Arkansas via Texas, but the sentiment is still there. A lot of folks from these parts moved to the industrial centers of the upper Midwest back in the 1950s and 60s, then came back in retirement bacause they never forgot that they're hillbillies. (Johnny Cash, "One Piece at a Time"). They instilled those values in their kids, too. Hank Jr. says it best, "We're from north California and south Alabam', and little towns all around this land..."There's only one South, though, and those that are ashamed of their heritage because they're afraid it will make them appear uneducated or unsophisticated to others need to take an inventory of themselves.Now that people are posting songs, however, try this one out, I anticipate a large number of flat out pissed off attacks for this:CONFEDERATE SOLDIER copyright 2006 (not that it matters ;})V.Confederate soldier, tell me where have you goneConfederate soldier, you left your people all aloneConfederate soldier, now they spit upon your graveConfederate soldier, they made the Southern man a slaveChorus/tag:But I can hear your voice, it's whispered in the windSome of 'em say that you'll be coming back againV.First they told you that your mind was full of hateThen they made you pledge allegiance to their stateBack then they burned your home and they left you there to dieAnd now your sons are educated with a lieC.But I can hear your voice, it's whispered in the windSome of 'em say that you'll be coming back againV.Now it's time for us to change what they have doneTo build a nation that will be there for our sonsWe're not the broken men the yankee says we areWe're brothers in arms each time we raise the Stars and BarsC.And I will speak your voice, I'm screaming in the windTo let them know that we'll be coming back againYes, I will speak your voice I'm screaming in the windTo let them know, I know that this time we will win...I know, screener man, it's too repetitive. Plus it'll make anyone in the music business run the other way, fast! But it'll shore rile up a hell of a lot of folks!Put that in your "New South" pipe and smoke it. Wash it down with your latte. Out in Weatherford, TX, Fentress County, TN, and Moultrie, GA it suits 'em just fine...BTW, I just killed a deer with my pickup truck last Sunday, so I butchered it up, fresh, and I have a pot of stew on the stove right now containing its backstraps. That's not tongue-in-cheek either. It's roadkill-in-the-freezer...Jimmmy, you don't wear those laced up (red shoe laces) combat boots, shave your head and wear red suspenders do you? Or maybe a white hood with eye holes cut out of it? BTW, Dusty, I actually wrote 'Vegetable Garden' three months ago. Thanks for asking though.

[sgs4u]

Quote:Jimmmy, you don't wear those laced up (red shoe laces) combat boots, shave your head and wear red suspenders do you? Or maybe a white hood with eye holes cut out of it? Chits,That's exactly what I was thinking. Jimmy just seems ready to fight with anyone in the world, that doesn't like his choices. Reminds me a bit of the rednecks my Dad used to have to throw out of his bar. They usually had deer blood all over em too. I love dear meat, too, but not when I kill it with a car. Then it's just poor Bambi. Can you say something 3 times that rhymes with J? And do we feel safe even bringing it up? Yeah, Jimmy the South's Gonna Rise Again.

[matto]

Oh boys and girls you are on THIN ICE now... beware the wrath of Jimi ...and I mean Jimi not Jimmy

[bc]

No disrespect to our web mistress, but she's the least of my worries. I've been married to "Carolgene" for 31 years. Don't incur the wrath of Carolgne!! I call her, "she who must be obeyed." Or just "she" for short By the way, do you have ice in LA ? bc