Many country fans are in a tizzy about “new country”. They literally act like the world is ending (by the way it’s not everything will be ok I promise it’s on the internet now so it has to be true). Artists like Florida Georgia Line and Colt Ford push the envelope making many of you very uncomfortable, again I promise everything will be ok. I myself have doubted country music thinking this can’t be country, well guess what we are wrong. Now I bet your are yelling at your screen right now saying Chelsea what the Hell are you saying that country rap stuff is NOT country. Take a deep breath and hear me out.
Let’s start out with a history lesson 🙂 this will be fun.
Have you heard of Fiddlin’ John Carson? I’m going to take a guess most of you have not a clue who I am talking about, well I know he is and if you’re a country fan you should too because in reality he is as true as it gets to country music. Do you wanna know why? He is the one of the first recorded country artist. His music sounds a lot like something you would hear in Riverdance, since country music is rooted in Scott-Irish ballads. Listen to “The Little Log Cabin In The Lane” HERE
Does your favorite Tim McGraw song sound like that? Doubtful.
Let’s move a few years later (well a few decades later) to a crowd favorite Mr. Johnny Cash. Let’s face it Johnny Cash along with Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis revolutionized country music in the late 50s early 60s. Johnny Cash sung about things that you just didn’t talk about back then. In a time where gospel was huge he became an “outlaw”, the original outlaw (take that Eric Church). He also had a sound that was all it’s own. It was nothing like anyone had ever heard or would ever hear again. I’d bet many people then said he wasn’t country because of the things he talked about.
Shania Twain took pop and country radio by storm in the 90s and early 2000s, she was the Taylor Swift of her time I know I’m going to be yelled at for this…. But it’s my blog and I can say whatever I want. Now before you click off of this because you are mad at me let me explain. She was a cross over and knew it and played off of that. She knew how to play to both the country and the pop fans. “Man I Feel Like a Woman” walked a thin line of pop and country keeping both sides just happy enough to skate by being a huge hit.
Speaking of cross overs, guess what? You need them!!! Like it or not cross over artists are vital to the country music scene, it gets people to ease into country music and opens up the country music scene to outsiders. You can thank Shania and Taylor now.
Speaking of Taylor I would agree with you if you say she’s not country, we’ll expect for that insanely incredible acoustic performance of “Red” she did at the CMAs because that was pure magic. She started country and guess what? She brought SO many new fans to country music which otherwise might not have come on over otherwise, I’m looking at you teenage and early twenty year old girls.
I guess it’s time I face that stuff people call country rap. Ok ok I know this is going to be tough, but hear me out. Have you listened to the lyrics in any Colt Ford song? They are actually pretty good and follow the long country music tradition of telling a story. That to me is what country music is. It’s not the banjos or steel guitars. It’s not the twang or the fiddles. Country music is in the heart of the song. It’s the story, it’s the passion, it’s talking about things on other genre would evert touch. That’s why I love country music. Country music roots are embedded in the Scott-Irish ballads, the stories.
Country music has to evolve to survive, every genre changes. Pop music in the 80s and pop music now are crazy different too. Do you hear music that sounds like a Cyndi Lauper hit today? Nope. With society changing and as we change our music changes too. You can listen to the changes of history through the changes in music and that’s pretty beautiful don’t you think? These country artists aren’t selling out, they are telling their story making their mark on country music just like Johnny Cash did almost 60 years ago. Does this mean the “traditional” country music sound is falling to the wayside? Absolutely not! You will always have artists that keep to tradition.
So take a deep breath everything will be ok. Your country music isn’t going anywhere. Next time you hear a Florida Georgia Line song thank them because they are making country music known to people who would have otherwise not had the pleasure of hearing your favorite genre of music.
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