Friday Night Party: A Treatise on Country Music

Recently, my cousin Eleanor invited me to attend a country music concert at K-State with her.  She invited me since I'm one of her only "country music" friends.  As we were driving to the concert she said, "I'm so glad you were up for going to a concert spontaneously".  I replied, "You invited me 4 days ago. I don't think that qualifies for spontaneity."  We walked up to the arena where the concert was taking place-- it was actually the rodeo arena since they had to move it indoors because of weather but I thought it was somewhat appropriate to hold a country concert in a venue that smells of cattle.  As we walked up we saw the line curled clear around the block and we both decided that standing in line might be the most exciting thing we did that week.  Neither of us get out much.  Luckily we made it in and there were still some seats left.
The opening band was The Jared Daniels Band-- possibly lacking some creativity there.  They were a group of former K-State students who have moved to Nashville to get into the country music industry.  The headliner for the evening was Dustin Lynch.  I had never heard of him until the week of the concert but later I realized had was familiar with several of his songs.  The video below was probably my favorite number of the evening that The Jared Daniels band preformed.  It is also a good review in Kansas geography.

 

Just a few posts ago I talked about how I am a sensory avoider and going to this concert was a good example.  Luckily our seats were terrible so that meant no one was sitting next to us and there was plenty of room without people constantly bumping into you.  For the most part I am not a concert goer because : 1. the musics is too loud, 2. I can't understand the lyrics because the music is too loud and I have issues with being able to decipher what lyrics are on a good day due to hearing issues, 3. In addition to excessive people (touch), and sound, concerts usually have lots of distracting lights.  All of this is a sensory avoider's nightmare.  Despite this we had a really good time.

Now I am going to venture into my thoughts and opinions on the current trends in country music.  This is either the blessing or the curse of blogs is that as a person with no credibility what so ever about a topic I can give my opinion to whoever reads this blog without them even asking for it.  Eleanor called me her country music friend since during college we would often chat about our favorite country music songs- usually selected due to the quality or originality of the lyrics.  Over the past 5 years my enjoyment of country music has dwindled.  While listening in college the songs I liked told a story of everyday life.  Some of my favorites include Garth Brooks' Unanswered Prayers, Phil Vassar's Love is a Beautiful Thing, and Brad Paisley's Waitin' on a Woman.  (Please account for the fact that I was a sappy college co-ed who liked love songs with happy endings.)  As a kid I didn't listen too much country but always heard it described as the book of Job set to music-- you lose your job, truck, wife, and dog all in the same day.  I feel like current country music is out of touch with its rural roots.  I would call it more of redneck music since very few talk about anything in regards to rural life besides the occasional dirt road.  In my own informal poll the most popular words in current country music is "Girl", "Party", and "Friday/Saturday night".  I know very few farmers or ranchers who would refer to their significant other as "Girl" and a good number of Friday and Saturday nights are spent in a field somewhere-- which isn't necessarily a party.

If you made it through reading my rant then you have arrived at the critical review of the history of country music (according to Wikipedia).  Country music began in the southeastern US-- not Midwestern roots but probably a little more on the redneck side by nature.  There are 6 generations or stages of country throughout its history (over the past 90 years).  It began as hillbilly music from the Appalachian region.   The next generation was when country music became popular in films (Gene Autry) and Roy Rogers) and radio shows like The Grand Ole Opry. After WWII it morphed into more bluegrass and gospel style.  In the 1960s rock music threatened traditionalist so folk music became more popular such as John Denver's works.  However, rock began to influence even country music, examples including Elvis and Johnny Cash.  The decades of the '70s and 80s brought on what is called outlaw country (think Willie Nelson) and truck driving country-- this is where trucks and love began to mesh in country lyrics. In the 1980s FM radio made country music available in a wider area so the style evolved with those who listened.  AM stations continued to play the classic country and FM stations adopted the more rock-pop-country  (termed "New Country") similar to today's country.  One of the big names associated with this change is Garth Brooks, as well as George Strait, Shania Twain, and the Dixie Chicks.  With the dawn of the new millennia artists started crossing over between genres-- Kid Rock and Bon Jovi had some country hits, Taylor Swift had some pop releases.  Within the past 5 years (the time period where I feel country has taken a turn for the worst) rock is an even bigger influence as well as rap (country rap is known as hick hop in case you are interested). In fact there is even a specific subtype for the country songs I mostly dislike-- bro-country, "a genre noted primarily for its themes on drinking and partying, girls, and driving". (Once again, wikipedia is my primary source).  I think this is an example of the population becoming less rural and having difficulty associating with lyrics about a women thinking your tractor is sexy, so country themes have shifted from rural topics to more blue-collar, working class, and further tailored specifically to listeners between the ages of 18-25.

So one of the reasons I still listen to country even though there is a lack of sappy love songs with happy endings (although I no longer have to live vicariously through a country song since I have my own love story being played out right now), is that Arthur can't stand country so I always make sure to leave the radio in his car tuned into country after I drive it.  Omnia Vincit Amor.