Is Eric Church Trying Too Hard To Be A Rebel?

I have said before that Eric Church is one of the best artists in mainstream country, and I'll still stand by it. He always had a rebellious attitude so he fit right in when music row started the new fake "outlaw" bit. I'll admit unlike his friends Jason Aldean and Justin Moore, he does actually make unique, non-safe music that isn't poppy and doesn't talk about trucks. The thing is it isn't always country either. It doesn't have to be super country to be good, but to make music that isn't country at all and get it played on country radio isn't fair. Even the pop country truck songs try to hide a little steel guitar or something to make it somewhat fit the genre it's in. With Eric's new song "The Outsiders" there is little to no effort in trying to make it a country song. It is just a rock song put into country because Eric is known as a country singer. It is probably just to draw attention to him because his new album is coming out and he needed to do something really different to get noticed. He has every right to try new things and experiment with his music, but like in the case of Taylor Swift's music, country isn't the place for it.



It would be one thing if the song itself was great, but it really isn't. It is different, I think that is the word that describes it the best. I would rather listen to it than a lot of things on the radio, but that isn't saying much. I don't hate it but I don't like it either. The thing is, I think he is trying way too hard to be different. He wants to come across as this rebel outlaw badass, I get it. This song is just an anthem for his crazy hardcore fans who need something to fist-bump the air and shout along to. It's like a musical pep rally to get everyone in the crowd riled up. What exactly are they "outsiders" from though? Eric is one of the top 5 male vocalists in country music. He obviously has mainstream appeal and that's because a lot of today's country fanbase is made up of these rebellious, super tough-guy guys that are "tough" just because they drink, smoke, and fight. That's not really an "outsider," just a guy who wants to be "cool." Shooter Jennings (who doesn't even refer to his music as country) made a way more legitimate country sounding song called "The Outsider." The meaning is different but the theme is the same. In Shooter's song, the "outsider" is someone who tries to live as free as they can because they think differently than what others tell them to think. Critical thinkers, protesters, conspiracy theorists, etc. You can compare it to Waylon fighting for creative freedom over his music or Johnny Cash wearing black to remind everyone that the world isn't perfect. Those kind of people who break the rules for a purpose are the real outsiders, not some stoned Eric Church fan.



Then comes this song preview for a new song off Eric's album called "Waiting On Me To Cross That Line." It is so good. It sounds like his older and more country sounding songs. He kept the rebellious theme going but in a way that sounds natural and a lot less forced. See it just proves he can combine all of the aspects of a good country song and tell a story to make something I'd be very interested in listening to. If a single like this could catch onto the radio it would be great. If he can do it right I do think Eric Church can help spin country music in a different direction. Not by songs like "The Outsiders" but by songs like this. Is he trying to hard to be a rebel? Yeah maybe, we will find out when his album is released in February, but he has a vision and he knows what he's doing. If any dominating male in mainstream country can change things, it's him. Not because he has the best voice or wrote the greatest songs, but because he is the only one who is brave enough to do it.

Is Eric Church Trying Too Hard To Be A Rebel?

I have said before that Eric Church is one of the best artists in mainstream country, and I'll still stand by it. He always had a rebellious attitude so he fit right in with music row's new fake "outlaws." I'll admit unlike his friends Jason Aldean, Justin Moore, etc. he does actually make unique, non-safe music that isn't poppy or talk about trucks. The thing is it isn't always country either. It doesn't have to be super country to be good, but to make music that isn't country at all and get it played on country radio isn't fair. Even the pop country truck songs try to hide a little steel guitar or something to make it somewhat fit the genre it's in. With Eric's new song "The Outsiders" there is little to no effort in trying to make it a country song. It is just a rock song put into country because Eric is known as a country singer. He has every right to try new things and experiment with his music, but like in the case of Taylor Swift's music, country isn't the place for it.

The song itself isn't all that great. It is different but

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.

New Music Off New Albums You Should Buy

Canadian Singer-Songwriter Lindi Ortega just released Tin Star, her fifth full length album this month. She has a voice that mirrors the women pioneers of country music and songs so good that it would make those Nashville office songwriters hang their heads in shame. The title track tells the life of a struggling independent musician trying to survive in the treacherous depths of music row.“Like an old tin star, I’m beat up and rusting lost in the shining stars of Nashville, Tennessee.” This song broke my heart, I hate how it has to be this way. When indie artists write songs like this, the point isn't to make you feel bad for them. Their songs about their struggles trying to find a place to fit all come from the fact that they are slowly accepting the unfortunate truth of the life they are trying to lead. Success should be based on talent and passion for your work, it's just not, but no matter what the world tells you, you just got to keep going. “If the music wasn’t running through the blood in my veins, I might just walk away, but the music keeps on running through the blood in my veins, and it just makes me stay" Talk about passion. 



I'm sure you've heard the song in the Chevy Silverado commercial sometime this year. "Strong" was sung and written by Will Hoge. After the nationwide publicity of that song he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. His most recent album Never Give In was released this month. He is nine studio albums in and just got his first number one hit ("Even If It Breaks Your Heart" recorded by The Eli Young Band) after 15 years in the business. It just goes to show that if you're determined and you stick with it, you never know what can happen. What happened here is great music that is starting to turn some heads around.




After writing for credible country artists today like Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, Brandy Clark just released her first album 12 Stories last week. If you like Kacey you will love Brandy Clark. Stylistically, their songwriting is quite similar. The topics tend to lean on the darker side, middle class life, small town lies, addiction, and a whole lot of truth. We need powerful women like her to teach a thing or two to these guys who rule the country charts. 







Punk rock country folk americana, whatever, Austin Lucas defies 
genre lines and does so greatly. This album Stay Reckless is not your typical americana album, even though he is often put into there. It's sad when you need it to be, happy when you want it to be, it's heartbreaking and uplifting, it's country and rock and roll. It's a lot of things and that's why I like it.  

Chase Rice? Seriously?

Warning: This is a rant. 

One of the co-writers of "Cruise," country music's "biggest song ever" is now here and ready to prove to the world that not only can he write ridiculous, immature, frat boy country songs, but he can sing them too. His new EP titled Ready Set Roll already reached number 1 on iTunes. It was his second release after his two previous records Country As Me and Dirt Road Communion. Obviously you already know what you're getting into when you're listening to this, but his EP is honestly one of the worst things I've heard ever. Every single song is a stupid party anthem or one about a truck. It's pop, it's rap it's anything but country. You know what? I don't even want to call it pop or rap because it's offensive to the true fans of those genres. What it is, is bad sellout music, that's all. Songs like these are by guys who want nothing more than a year or two of money and fame until they are forgotten and never heard from again. They don't care though, they probably already made enough money to last them for years. Who cares if it's ruining a genre, who cares! I'm sorry you can call me an elitist music snob if you want, but people like this don't deserve the attention they are getting. I am a teenage girl and I can tell you I have written songs that are way more mature and have more depth than anything that comes out of this guy's mouth. In a song called "Party Up" (Featuring Colt Ford, of course) there's a line that says "Sip a little whiskey c'mon baby kiss me. Lemme get a drip of your frisky gypsy." What? There's another song that makes a seemingly obvious sexual advance "Girl when you gonna let me put some country in ya?" I can just hear the teenage girls screaming waiting to get some "country" in their oblivious selves by this ultra douchenugget. Then there's another song called "Look At My Truck." Look at it! LOOK AT IT! Do I fit in with your crowd now? DO I? Can't you see how country I am? I got this huge lifted truck covered in mud, I am the superior! I am the countryest of all countrys! I am so sick of this crap. I don't know why people still buy into it. Then there is a song about beer, the "best beer of his life" apparently. Two other songs about driving around with a hot girl in a truck. He tries to keep it all hip and modern by adding cool little vocal effects, hip hop beats, and by rapping the verses, but he fails tremendously. This album is not even just a shame to country music, it's a shame to all music. It really sucks but country is only getting worse. This is not musical evolution this is bad, soulless, stupid music. The new rapping trend is kicking in full force, and since it continues to do so well the end looks to be further and further down the road. It seems that there are a fewer number of people staying true to themselves each year. My hope is that people get sick of this stuff soon and real music can have a chance once again. 

Album Review: "Brothers Of The 4x4" by Hank 3

Many look at Hank 3 as one of the founders and as the king of underground country music. Even though this album didn't come close to beating some of his previous albums like Straight To Hell or Lovesick, Broke and Driftin' he still should be looked at as one of the front runners of real, modern country music. I was a bit turned off at first to this album because of the name "Brothers Of The 4x4." My first thought was "Oh no truck songs!" Although it does get repetitive he does sing about the rebellious country lifestyle in many of his songs like he did in his previous albums. Things like driving trucks, hunting and drinking all come up, but unlike the mainstream country songs he proves you can sing about those things and make genuine country music.

The biggest problem I had with this album was the fact that it was just too long. There are 16 tracks; most of them are in the 5-6 minute range, but some exceed 7 or even 8 minutes. There were so many verses and instrumental breaks that could have been shortened and would have improved some songs greatly. Other songs shouldn't have been there at all. This easily could have had fewer, shorter songs and could have been one of his best albums. Songs like "Hurtin for Certain," "Held Up," "Lookey Yonder Commin" were just there to fill up space. I could have done without them. The 8:34 opening track "Nearly Gone" was really good. I barely even noticed the fact that it was super long, but the effect on the vocals took away from his voice and signature yodel. Lyrical content was also a big problem, the excess filler tracks made many themes seem overdone. You won't go to 3's music for deep inspirational songwriting. The music is what makes you love it most of the time.

The sound of this album is as country as country gets. It's pleasing to the ears of those who love real country music. He does have a lot of outside sound effects and instruments as well though. There's everything from vocal warps to metal drum fills. His metal influences are okay because unlike the pop ones used in pop country, they're for originality, not mainstream acceptance. There are songs like "Possum in a Tree" that sound like they could be on a Hank Sr. album. I tend to favor the slower, more traditional leaning songs anyway. "Deep Scars," "Loners 4 Life," and "Farthest Away" were instant hits for me. Slow songs with a good beat and a fiddle and banjo make my heart happy. I think lyrically those were probably the best and the ones that hit closest to home. "Ain't Broken Down" was also one of my favorites. A sped up version of that song called "Broken Boogie" was also included and I actually like the more intense faster one better. Would he benefit from another producer and a co-writer? Maybe, but I respect him unbelievably for wanting to make all of his records on his own. He loves and believes in the music he makes and creates something that is truly his, nothing like anyone has ever done before. Some people may love it, some may hate it, but I am glad to have it in country music.

Essential Tracks: "Loners 4 Life" "Broken Boogie" "Possum In A Tree"
Rating: B+

Two For Tuesday: Guns 10/1/13

Take a look at all the mainstream country songs that talk about guns. That's because they know typical conservative country fans will fight for gun rights, especially in the times we live in today. Most of the time the gun songs are all flag waving 100 percent pure American redneck songs. They really don't say much other than give people a reason to stand up and shout "Merica" real loud then shoot off a few rounds and drink a beer. On the flip side of that there are gun songs that justify their use because of the troubled society we live in.

Justin Moore- "Guns"

It's not the fact that I disagree with his views in this song, because I don't. I just think songs like this show the true ignorance of mainstream country singers and fans. He talks about how crazy it is that people want to take away guns when you can buy them at Wal-Mart. Do you really think people want to take away the cheap shotguns from Wal-Mart? Of course not, that's not the problem. There's no purpose, no solution, no answer or justification for the problem he arose. The thing with this song and others like it, is that it's only purpose is to rile up Justin's super redneck fanbase. The concert crowd will belt along to this song because guns and America, hell yeah!

Jackson Taylor & The Sinners- "Old Henry Rifle"

Instead of just blurting out cliche patriotic lines, this song actually has a point. It talks about American pride from a viewpoint of a person who is fed up with the government, society, and everything in general. It's about holding your ground and standing up for your rights and trying to keep America from heading to a complete downfall.