A lot has happened since my last post in August, beginning with the “insta-stardom” of Oliver Anthony and following through with a record-breaking cluster of country songs atop the all-genre charts.
The good news is that the stranglehold of the mainstream terrestrial radio has been broken. The bad news is that the new “avenues of success” aren’t perfect, either. Political posturing by people on both sides fueled some of the “record breaking success stories” more than the quality of the actual music. Roughly half of the US population, including the majority of rural America, which country music is supposed to represent, oppose the urban leftists who control the media, government, and entertainment industry. This backlash fueled the record-breaking rise of Morgan Wallen, the record-breaking rise of Oliver Anthony, and chart toppers like Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town.” That is great for all of them, but I’m a bit uneasy about the precedent of political commentators creating “insta-stars” or otherwise impacting music charts.
Social media, streaming, and corporate booking of tours and festivals are also major factors now. The first two of these are very heavily skewed towards the young. There are some young guys selling out huge venues that don’t sound like much to me, while better and more deserving older artists are left behind.
The CMA awards nominees were announced this morning. Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll appear to be the ones getting the big push this year – the “pimp spot,” if you will. This was also evident at CMA Fest this June. I wish both the best, but the industry mega-push for Lainey Wilson is a particularly interesting case study.
It appears that the country music industry has struggled to create true “A-list” female stars since Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert (and since Taylor Swift moved to pop). When I say true A-list, I mean able to consistently sell out large venues. For all of the years since, we’ve heard the persistent narrative that mainstream radio was to blame for this lack of success by female artists. However, we now see countless success stories by male artists who didn’t enjoy much radio support. If numerous guys can rise to arena draw level with little radio support, then what is stopping women from achieving the same?
Let’s look at some of the industry attempts to establish female superstars in recent years:
The industry handed Kacey Musgraves a whole bunch of undeserved awards. She promptly proceeded to alienate country fans with arrogance and shallow leftist rhetoric.
The industry tried pushing Maren Morris. She also takes every opportunity to attack country fans with leftist talking points du jour.
The industry tried pushing Mickey Guyton, who spent more effort calling country music racist and sexist than she did creating music or touring.
The industry tried pushing Kelsea Ballerini, who made a mockery of country music at the CMT award show.
Notice a pattern? Most country fans don’t want to pay to see spoiled brats who look down and punch down on country fans and talk trash about country people. This is common sense. If the people running a business openly hate the majority of their customers, then they deserve to go out of business.
Lainey Wilson is the latest woman being pushed as a rising superstar and to her credit, she has avoided any political posturing. Unsurprisingly, her push appears to be getting a much better reception from country fans Only time (and hopefully improved musical output) will tell how well her current push translates into selling out arenas.
The Ameripolitan Awards are returning to Austin from Memphis. Texas has made major waves lately in attracting awards shows. The ACM and CMT both moved their awards to Texas this year. The Grand Ole Opry sponsored a NextStage event during ACM week in Texas. Say what you will about awards and such, but that’s a whole lot of stuff shifting to Texas.
Sticker shock!!! It appears that more and more artists are playing larger and larger venues with higher and higher tickets. I’m too old for that crap. I might grudgingly pay more than I’d like for a very few exceptional artists or legends, but for the most part, I’m more than happy to spend much more of my time enjoying the robust tip jar circuit here in central Texas. Oktoberfest season is revving up here, too, and most Texas polka bands also know plenty of classic country and in some cases, the musicians are also in country bands. You’re more likely to hear autoharp and yodelling from them than from most “classic country” acts.
Robert's Country Blog 