This Is Where Country Music Has Gone To?

Jelly Roll Drops and Shatters His First CMA Awards Trophy After Winning Best New Artist (msn.com)

Country music is NOT rap!! Then again, as I say "welcome to 2023 and beyond".

 

Country isn't Country any more. Much of it is Rock, or as you said, Rap--which may be poetry but it isn't music.

 

Jelly Roll...??????

 

Oh, and now I see what the issue really is. Love the pearls with his outfit.

 

If you mean tattoos on his face, hands, knuckles and arms...........yes, that is an issue. But the bigger issue is, he's a Rapper, which has absolutely no place in country music. At least that's what the older generations think.
This is the reason why Alan Jackson and George Strait done the song, Murder on Music Row.

 

I haven't been a country music fan since the 80's, so I don't even recognize any of the "new generation" country singers. Appears that I'm not missing anything.

 

We pretty much stick with any country music from 2000 and earlier. But, anything after 2000, most likely we don't know or care about. Most of the artists we know from back then, and have CD's of their music, are either retired or close to it, like Travis Tritt, Terry Clark and others. Luckily, we have a SiriusXM station that plays the songs we like.

 

I can only shake my head.

 

When they took the western out of country and western music, it when downhill. Like all music, it evolved into what made the promoters the most money.

I was never a fan of the sad tear jerking songs about divorce and cheating. Teddy Bear by Red Sovine cannot be considered singing since it was narrated, but considered country because of the story. I can't stand to listen to it, even though it has a good story. I had rather listen to Little Jimmy Dickens singing "Mountain Dew."

Another decline of the country sound was the omitting of the steel guitar. Another decline was lead guitarist quit playing meaningful notes based on the melody, and went for rock style "shedding" because of the appearance of technical difficulty. The thing about much of the country lead guitar today is the rapid repetition of notes and the dependance on electronic processing. It is more like the modern blues or rock.

Think of the old Merle Haggard songs. I can identify "Mama Tried" by the first few guitar notes, do dat do dat dunt ta.

Old square dance music is considered country, perhaps the roots of country. Think about the callers. It was rapping of a sort.

The way a county singer dresses, makes no difference to me. Remember Ray Price dressed in a suit and tie. Then we had Porter Waggoner that dressed in what some considered top notch western, but it sure wasn't anything like the real cowboys of old. Looking at him made me gag.

I don't listen to the modern stuff and that goes for all music. I am selective about the old these days. I love the happy and funny songs. Life is too short for sad bar room jukebox hangover stuff, new or old.

 

CMA is Country Music Awards, Not Country and Western Music Awards.
Reba McEntire on the Voice explained as much when she said that as a 5th generation rodeo woman, she knows the difference between what is now known as Country as opposed to Country and Western music.

 

I assumed that most folks knew that it was once called country and western music since it had both the Appalachian roots and Western American and Mexican roots. The recording industry changed it to just country in 1949, but even into the 60s AM radio stations still went by country and western or C&W.

Singers like Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Ray Price, Johnny Rodriquez, Reba McEntire, and most singers born and raised in the west, had roots more in the western and sang that style rather than what was called country that came from bluegrass Appalachian music. It was originally called country and western, to overshadow the term "Cowboy" music for western and "Hillbilly" music for southern. By the 70s, the only time I remember hearing country and western or just western was for dance classes.

Interesting that most dance instructors advertised as western (not country) dance classes and the competitions were also labeled Western Dance Competitions, but the music they dance to was called country.

Yes, I know it is called CMA and that award ceremony was started 1967.

My point is that when they lumped the "cowboy" western style with the "hillbilly" southern style they opened the door to inclusion. Cajun music like Doug Kershaw, was called country, and guys like Jennings that rocked it up, were called country, but were best described as western country rockers. That is why Jennings and friends were known as the Outlaws. Kershaw to me is a Cajun singer ... period. He transcends country. Now even rappers are considered country.

Also interesting is that many of the hard core bluegrass players don't consider themselves country, but Allison Krauss is called a Bluegrass-Country singer and player. I guess the bluegrass singers and players held their ground for their unique identity and didn't cave to music genre socialism like the western country singers did.

Reba was raised on an 8,000 acre Oklahoma ranch and was a barrel racer. She went to the National Rodeo Finals in Okla City with her dad a, champion steer roper. She was recognized by Red Steagall in 1974 singing the National Anthem at the finals. She is now considered the Queen of Country Music. I still think of her as country and western.

Concerning the OP, I agree that modern country music has little in common with its roots, either Western or Appalachian.

 

And listen, you can actually understand the words he is singing.