Deciphering Today's Country Music: Part 1

I have no idea what qualifies as country music. Do you?

I have been confused with the essence of country music ever since high school when some people who became my best friends also were some of the people went to the free Billy Currington shows at the KY States Fair. Since then, I have seen The Band Perry, Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Rascal Flatts, Eli Young Band, and Little Big Town.

It may not be my favorite genre, but I been around it a few or so times.

I still don't get it.

When I saw the viral video called Why Country Music Was Awful in 2013 (created by Entertainment Weekly country music writer Grady Smith), I really believe that what he says makes a lot of sense. It's a male dominated genre in airplay whose lyrics are both similar and shallow. In my opinion, it is a female dominated genre in talent. Women like Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, and Carrie Underwood have the chops to takes down all the guys. I do not include Taylor Swift in that list because I still don't know how much country she actually plays anymore.

I assume the male singers are popular because men idolize them and women want to be with them. They are finding ways to pinpoint the demographic and create music distinctly for their tastes.

 But their position on these tunes reminds me of a Bo Burnham sketch. Here I will let him explain.

Both the music and lyrics of most of these men (specifically the ones in the video like Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, and Randy Houser) are vague enough to apply to most any girl. That's why I feel like today's country music is very popular to both country, rock, and pop fans. They are vague and blur the lines off different genres both musically and lyrically.

With that being said, I'll go off the topic of the video a little bit and address my confusion with what people classify as country music. The multiple country music awards shows throughout the year are exhibitions of what country fans find acceptable in and out of the country world. A fine example is the monologue of Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood when they host the CMAs.

Country Music Television though is a different story. Musicians that were presenters or performers at the 2013 CMTs included Lenny Kravitz, Seth & Scott Avett, Ed Sheeran, and Nelly. Not necessarily twangiest of people are they? Also in terms of CMT music videos, sometimes those are loosely interpreted as country. I am thinking specifically of Moon Taxi's "River Water" and The Wild Feathers' "The Ceiling." Both are very high quality songs and those are two of my favorite bands but are they country songs? And if they are country songs, are they today's country songs? It is decisions like these two that make me believe that country music isn't one genre or one idea, but merely determined by what the county demographic deems good and acceptable.

Now to address those that  oppose that country is definitely not one genre or idea. Well I would disagree. I will point out specifically country and hip hop/rap that are defined by certain values and musical characteristics. Other genres that have been given names like pop, rock, alternative, and indie are loosely based more on a philosophy, an attitude, or how the songs get played on radio. Pop, rock, alternative, and indie songs have such a wide spectrum within the genre and before country became influenced by these other genres they were their own entity with their own sound.

None of these accusations are too diminish the songs themselves that are listed here. My point is that what was country music in the past is hard to recognize by who represents the genre. If you ask anyone, they will attest that one of my favorite bands is Zac Brown Band and how much I love their concerts. But they are a fine example of the melding that occurs and I will just state it by who they cover in their shows, as cover songs are a great indicator of the influence of the band. At ZBB's show in Tulsa on December 28, they played 25 songs and 10 cover songs. The bands they covered were John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Dave Matthews Band, Guns'n'Roses, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and The Charlie Daniels Band. Now that is a wide array of artists, all likely to be received well.

I'll end this little explanation with a couple women who I believe are represented what country music used to be: Ashley Monroe and Kacey Musgraves.

I have got to be wrong in this thing somewhere so let me know what you think in the comments section or tweet to me @parasiticnoise.