2013 CMA Awards Recap

It was that time of year again. The time when mainstream country fans get all excited to see their favorite stars on tv, and the time independent country fans make the gut wrenching decision on whether or not they want to watch and see just how far gone the music they love has gotten. This year, contrary to my expectation before the show, was actually not quite as bad as one might expect. It had its moments, but overall it seemed to be a step in the right direction. Let's do a run through shall we?


The Bad:

The first song.
 -The night kicked off with Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line singing a mash-up of "That's My Kinda Night" and "Cruise." Filled with plenty of trucks, hot girls, and rapping, both songs probably earned a spot in the 'top 5 worst country songs that ever existed' list, what a great way to start "Country Music's Biggest Night." The sound quality for the performance was awful, it was almost as bad as the amount of skinny jean wearers and pelvic thrusts that happened on that stage. Within two minutes of the show's beginning, the traditionalists watching would be screaming into a pillow waiting for it to end while jabbing forks into their eardrums and eyeball sockets. The good news is that was the worse part of the night.

Bro-hug 
-Hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood's monologue was actually quite funny this year. They started with a song about all the recent feuds going on in country music. Of course they mentioned the recent fight between Zac Brown and Luke Bryan. Zac called Luke's new song "The worse song he ever heard" many people agreed with Zac and his opinions on the state of country music, but, both he and Luke bro-hugged it out to show they are still buds. Rays of sunshine darted through the dark storm clouds and the country music land remains feel good, happy and perfect.

Florida Georgia Line win "Single Of The Year" and "Duo Of The Year"
- Fueled by frat boys and Walmart moonshine, it seems like these ultra douchenuggets can not be stopped. However, since "Cruise" is the "most successful country song ever," this was not a surprise.

Kacey Musgraves' "Follow Your Arrow" gets bleeped
-Luke Bryan can say he has "real good feel good stuff" in the back of his truck. Blake Shelton can say "Make-up sex" in "Mine Would Be You," but Kacey can't say "joint?" Puuuuhlease!

Eric Church sings his new song "The Outsiders"
-I don't care how "country" a song is as long as it's good. Rock and country are usually a great combination if it's done well. This song is just a mess. I usually like Eric, and I still do think he is one of the most unique, most promising males in mainstream country music, but this song just doesn't do it for me. It seems like he is trying way too hard to be be a rebel.

Taylor Swift wins Pinnacle Award
-This somewhat new award is given to a singer who has had more success than anyone else in country music and who is currently at the top of the mountain and can not get any more popular. The only other person who won this was Garth Brooks in 2005. Many will say that Garth is the reason country music turned into something other than the music. His stage antics and mainstream appeal led him to receive the amount of popularity he had. Unlike Taylor Swift, his music was still country for his time though. Taylor is a pop singer, no questions asked. Does she really deserve such a huge honor in country music? It's very unlikely any real deserving artist will ever win this award.

P. Diddy was a presenter
-I don't know what was worse, him being there, or me not being slightly surprised.

Kelly Clarkson was nominated for "Best Female Vocalist"
- That just goes to show how few women there are in mainstream country. There are a lot of women out there that actually make country music that deserve it. Why couldn't that nomination have gone to someone like Ashley Monroe or Kellie Pickler?

Blake Shelton wins "Album Of The Year"
-Blake's "people" sent every radio station voter a vinyl copy of his latest album Based On A True Story. The record had a smartphone scan code so you can scan it and a virtual arm would pretend to play the record so you can listen to a vinyl record from your phone. They knew the voters would be intrigued by the new product so they would have to listen to the album. When it came voting time they would remember that Blake sent them a cool vinyl and vote for him. It's been done a lot before, but how sad is it that you need gimmicks to win an award. If you were looking at album substance, concept, originality, or just good music it would be near impossible to say Blake should have won. Based On A True Story definitely is not based on a true story. He didn't write any songs and almost every single song is super pop with cliche country buzzwords. It is his worst album in my opinion. Kacey Musgraves' Same Trailer Different Park should have brought this one home.

Some singers got to sing multiple songs
-There definitely is not a shortage of good country music out there. Why did Carrie Underwood get to sing a long medley? Why did Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line each get to sing twice when Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Jr. and Loretta Lynn are all here. Maybe next time bring one of them in to country up the place a little bit. Or you can use the opportunity to promote some good lesser known artists who are making good music. Really though.

The Good:

Kacey Musgraves
- Just in general, other than the bleeping out, her performance of "Follow Your Arrow" was great, we need more songs like that. The big shocker was when she beat out Florida Georgia Line for "best new artist." It was great to see her nominated 6 times, that was as many times as Taylor Swift. Even though she got snubbed in the other categories it was great to see her win one, I'll keep singing her praises because she deserves it!

Chris Stapleton sings with Luke Bryan
"Drink A Beer" shows that Luke Bryan is in fact capable of making good music. The song was written by Chris Stapleton who was also there to play guitar and sing with him in his performance. Chris has been writing songs for a long time. He was in bluegrass band The SteelDrivers for a couple years but is now signed to a major record label and has a great first single "What Are You Listening To" that is being virtually ignored by mainstream radio. This was great exposure for him.

Vince Gill & Alison Krauss sing "Red" with Taylor Swift
-I'm sure the motive behind this was to prove that Taylor still has some country credibility now that she went total pop. That fact and her horrible vocals aside, this performance was pretty cool. Vince and Alison got to sing a verse alongside mandolin god Sam Bush and other bluegrass players. If there was no Taylor this would've been even more great.

Dave Grohl and Zac Brown collaborate

-Drummer for Nirvana and the founder of The Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl proved my hatred for cross genre collaborations on the CMAs wrong. This wasn't a Ludacris and Jason Aldean type thing. Zac Brown Band debuted a new song while playing with the rock legend. Southern rock at its best. 

Kenny Rogers gets the "Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award"
-Kenny Rogers sat on stage while others sang him his songs. Jennifer Nettles, Rascal Flatts, and Darius Rucker all sang his monumental hits until he joined in for "Islands In The Stream," as did the rest of the audience. The tribute really did a great job showing songs that were milestones in his life.

Country music hall of fame inductees get honored
-Kenny Rogers, Cowboy Jack Clement, and Bobby Bare all recently got inducted into the country music hall of fame. Bobby Bare made a surprising appearance at the CMA's. He probably regretted coming a few minutes in, but hey it was cool. He was a quieter, lesser known outlaw and he deserves to be in the hall of fame. Cowboy Jack Clement passed away in August but he still got recognition. It made me happy to see that.

George Strait wins "Entertainer Of The Year"
-A 60 year old guy beating a bunch of the skinny jean boys was unlikely but George Strait took this one home. This was unquestionably the biggest shock of the night. George is about to start the next leg of his farewell tour. Since it's his last year to be nominated everyone must have agreed to send the country king off right by giving him one of country music's biggest honors. Seeing him up there was one of the greatest moments of the night.

George Strait & Alan Jackson perform a tribute to George Jones
-The best moment of the whole show was during this moving tribute to pay respect to George Jones. I was expecting a medley but a solid cover of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by the last two pioneers in mainstream country was good enough for me. George Jones was always outspoken about the state of country music up until the day he died. He always said how it lacks heart and it just isn't country music anymore. Seeing George and Alan singing the song that defined who he was with his wife standing in the audience and the crowd singing along, it just seemed right. I think somewhere there is hope. Seeing people react so greatly made me believe that. Just two guys up on stage singing a good country song, nothing fancy just guitars and soul. Why can't it just be like that. George would have wanted it that way. I think we owe it to him.

Are Mainstream Country Stars Happy With The State Of Country Music?

When it comes to mainstream pop country, a question I always wonder is if the singers are really happy about the so called "evolution." I don't mean happy because it makes them a lot of money, I'm talking truly proud of the state of country music today. Many of them don't care about upsetting the traditionalists because they just want to make fun music that appeals to a large audience. That's fine up to a point, but you can't tell me some of these singers who claim they are hardcore country fans are actually proud of the fact that they cater to the needs of teenage girls instead of preserving the genre. This so called "fun music" is all that is on country radio. It's not exploring a variety of new sounds or some crap they call it because every song on the radio is the same thing written a million different ways. Some singers just take their paychecks and shut up about it, but recently these outspoken few have had enough rapping about trucks songs and said publicly what thousands of real country fans have been thinking for the past two decades.

Kacey Musgraves in American Songwriter:

"My voice is undeniably country, and I love country. Do I love what it’s turned into? No, not all the way. It’s a little embarrassing when people outside of the genre ask what I sing and I say country. You automatically get a negative response, a cheese factor. My favorite compliment ever is when someone says, “I hate country music but I love your music.”

Again, this time in GQ Kacey said what many songwriters these days need to hear.

"Anyone singing about trucks, in any form, in any song, anywhere. Literally just stop nobody cares! It’s not fun to listen to."

Alan Jackson in The Baltimore Sun:

"Right now, it seems like it’s gone. It’s not that I’m against all that’s out there. There’s some good music good songwriting and good artists out there, but there’s really no country stuff left. It’s always been that constant pop-country battle. I don’t think it’s ever going to change. What makes me sad today is that I think the real country, real rootsy traditional stuff, may be gone. I don’t know if it’ll ever be back on mainstream radio. You can’t get it played anymore."

Gary Allan got asked if he thinks Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood are country artists in an interview with Larry King:

“You know, I would say no. I would say they’re pop artists making a living in the country genre. I also feel like we lost our genre. I don’t feel like I make music for a genre anymore, and I did, you know, 15 years ago. But I think since the Clear Channel’s and the Cumulus’s and the big companies bought up all the chains, now it’s about a demographic. You know, so they've kind of sliced everything up, feeding it to the public in demographics. Like if you want to get to the young kids, you put it on the alternative station. We've sort of ended up in this… we’re nicknamed the soccer mom, like 35 to 45 year-old woman I think is what our demographic is. So it’s very different. You used to be able to turn on the radio and you knew instantly it was the country station just by listening to it, and now you've got to leave it there for a second to figure it out.”

Zac Brown on Luke Bryan's new single and the current state of country music on a Canadian country station:

"I love Luke Bryan and he’s had some great songs, but this new song is the worst song I’ve ever heard. I know Luke, he’s a friend. ‘My Kind Of Night’ is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. I see it being commercially successful, in what is called country music these days, but I also feel like that the people deserve something better than that. Country fans and country listeners deserve to have something better than that, a song that really has something to say, something that makes you feel something. Good music makes you feel something. When songs make me wanna throw up, it makes me ashamed to even be in the same genre as those songs."

"If I hear one more tailgate in the moonlight, daisy duke song, I’m gonna throw up. There’s songs out there on the radio right now that make me be ashamed to be even in the same format as some other artists. You can look and see some of the same songwriters on every one of the songs. There’s been like 10 number one songs in the last two or three years that were written by the same people and it’s the exact same words, just arranged different ways."

"What we do is not necessarily traditional country, but we play all of our own instruments, we write the best songs that we can, and we put harmony on the songs, we have a real band…a lot of it’s just about subject matter. We really write about real life, songs that come from life and our heart. To me country music has always been the home for a great song."

We aren't talking about what people say in the underground roots world, because artists say things like that every day. These are bold statements from artists who have found success from the modern country circuit, and that really says something. The fact that successful mainstream singers want to keep fighting to save country music from extinction makes me really excited for the future. There are always going to be the ones who say country needs to evolve and making music with soul and depth will only bring it to a downfall. That's partially true. If a roots movement came about country music wouldn't be as popular in the mainstream, but who cares? Country music isn't popular now, pop music disguised as country is. It's like these so called professional songwriters sit around in an office building and have a contest on who can write the most ridiculous song, it's disgusting. What's even worse is they trick people's minds into believing their dumb song about a tailgate party is good music. Someone out there just has to stand up and say no, enough is enough we aren't taking this anymore. I think it can happen. Zac, Kacey, Gary, Alan, and others proved that no matter what, there will always be people out there who still genuinely care about the music. If anything ever changes that's what it has to be about, the music. There's a thing as enough effing money and as long as people keep fighting for real music anything can happen. Singers should be proud to associate with the music they love. Country singers shouldn't feel ashamed to be country singers, and that's the bottom line.

Girls Are Taking Over Country In 2013

It seems like all the guys in mainstream country are off in truck land. They may think they're "outlaws" with their ripped jeans and wallet chains but it seems like the ladies of country are the ones keeping the traditional country sound alive. Here are some of the top female artists to watch out for, all of them have new records out this year.

Holly Williams-
Just because she is the granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr. doesn't mean she will make super twangy honky tonk music to follow in his footsteps. I think she is receiving the amount of success she is because she just does her own thing. She has a very soft Americana sound with many country elements, vivid story-like lyrics and a beautiful voice. Her album The Highway was one of the best albums of the year so far.


Kacey Musgraves-
Kacey is unquestionably one of the best things mainstream country has got going for it. Same Trailer Different Park was one of, if not the best mainstream country album of the year. It seems like every hit country song today is about fun times and partying. Kacey sings songs that are darker and a whole lot deeper than the country pop stars. I'm pleasantly surprised that the mainstream country fan base likes her as much as they do. 




Ashley Monroe & The Pistol Annies-
Ashley's album Like A Rose and the Pistol Annies' Annie Up all sold a decent amount of copies, nothing groundbreaking, but still good. The reason is because people know Miranda Lambert, so they support the Annies as well, and guess what? Both albums were country, really good country, and get this, people bought it, and they liked it! Ashley, Miranda, and Angaleena are an example of how accepting country fans would be of a change. There were rumors this year of a Pistol Annies break up because of cancelled tour dates. I think they are all just busy doing their own thing right now. Ashley just recorded an album, Miranda is working on a new one, and Angaleena is working on hers too, which according to her Twitter will be "some good old fashioned country music." Together or apart, the girls can each bring a lot of good into country today.


Amanda Shires-
You can call her Americana, rock, folk, country, whatever, Amanda is the perfect example of someone who doesn't need to be labeled. I don't care how country it is as long as it's good. That is how I feel towards most things. Days when music is becoming so repetitive and unoriginal, music like hers really stops you in your tracks. Her songs are like dark poetry and her voice perfectly fits it. Her album Down Fell The Doves is another one of the best things I've heard this year. It's not country in a traditional sense like Ashley Monroe's is, but it is so good. Her incredible fiddle playing and other country elements always push her music into the country genre, and I will gladly accept that.

CMA Fest: The Good And The Bad

Tonight was the annual "Country's Night To Rock" on ABC which is just footage from the CMA Fest in June. It always lives by its name too. When they say "Night To Rock" they literally mean let's try to find all the washed up rock stars we can in order to make this as "uncountry" as possible. Besides a few exceptions that was exactly what it was. Instead of giving country music a night to make country music on national television they have to make it a rock star extravaganza, to appeal to the masses probably.  In case you missed it or more likely chose not to watch here's the rundown. Oh and if any mainstream rock singers want a night to "country" let me know because I would totally be interested in watching that.


The Bad:

- Carrie Underwood opened with A Guns N Roses song
Yes, that really happened.




- "Cruise" 
was performed

- The reigning "Entertainer Of The Year" sang a rap song
It saddens me what Blake Shelton has turned into. He claims he's a huge "Traditional Country fan" yet he has no problem with ruining the genre he says he loves.

- "1994" 
was still relevant when this was shot.

- Taylor Swift sang 3 songs
Everyone claims she's "not country anymore" but "Red" sounds as "uncountry" as everything else out there.
She sang her first hit "Tim Mcgraw" to try to prove the fact that she used to be country back in the day. I mean of course she "used to be country" she name dropped Tim Mcgraw, a huge classic country singer.
Then she sang "Highway Don't Care" with you guessed it, Tim Mcgraw. Hashtag snoozefest.
Oh yeah why does she get 3 songs again?

- Lenny Kravitz 
 was there.
(They didn't show the part at the end of this clip where he flipped off the audience for not knowing his songs though. Darn)




- Kid Rock
was also there.

- Lady Antebellum
sang "Downtown." I'm guessing it was bad. I missed most of the performance because I had to explain to my Dad that this was shot 2 months ago and Hillary Scott was not "repregnant."

- Kelly Clarkson sang her new song
Apparently she thinks she's a country singer now.  

- Sheryl Crow
also thinks she's a country singer now.
She sang "Soak Up The Sun" her old pop/rock song and "Easy" her new "country" song. There was no difference in the sound, and that's a problem. Don't give me the country music is evolving crap because it isn't. It's 90's pop.

- Luke Bryan
sang twice

- Jake Owen continues to sing barefoot
He is just waiting for Kenny Chesney to retire so he can be the new king of "beach country music."

- "Pontoon" came back
That was so last year people. *Shakes head in disgust*


The Good:

-Miranda Lambert 
Was her good usual badass self.

-Kacey Musgraves
delivers the best performance of the night with "Blowin Smoke." I like that song a lot but if she releases "Silver Lining" "It Is What It Is" or "Follow Your Arrow" especially, I think she would finally get the recognition she deserves.



- Eric Church stays true to who he is
Even if who he is is an asshole.

- Little Big Town's "Your Side Of The Bed"
was good but was later ruined by the singing of "Pontoon."

- I saw a couple banjos
that's always good

- There were no actual rappers there
which was also very good, and a little surprising.

- Since this was shot before the release date, Luke Bryan didn't sing his new single "That's My Kinda Night" 
I think that was the best part of all.