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It’s such a double standard in country music. I mean Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and all of those guys, god knows what they did back in the day. If a woman did it, you were never accepted or forgiven but if it was a guy, they could write a song about it, it’d be huge and they’d move on. It’s quite interesting to navigate those waters as a woman in this business. ●
– – LeAnn Rimes on cheating.
All the songs have been done for a long time, and the label has had it. It’s the last album that they have of mine, so they’re trying to hold on to it as long as they can. Whenever Mike Curb decides he’s going to play fair, it will be out. ●
– – Tim McGraw on his contract-fulfilling Emotional Traffic album.
The first music I heard was country music. My father sang it for me. That’s the reason I started singing. This country album is really a throwback to what my dad taught me, and it was a wonderful, wonderful experience. ●
– – Johnny Mathis on recording a country album, Let It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville.
The problem is there’s still people out there that say because of the way I’m delivering the song vocally means it’s not country, and that’s just not true. Aerosmith sings, they’re not country. Usher sings, that’s not country. What determines the song’s genre is the content of the song. ●
– – Colt Ford tries to make the case for his countryness.
[Aldean’s] so-called “rapping” here is part of a long country music tradition. It just hasn’t been called “rapping” before. It’s usually been termed “recitation” or “spoken narrative,” and it mirrors country music’s long folk music history. […] Even strait-laced George Strait raps in “Give It Away.” ●
– – Chet Flippo thinks the spoken parts in “Give It Away” equal rapping.
It’s the worst name in the world. The only person that had a dumber name than me was the Fresh Prince. Hey, it sounded like a cool rap name when I was sixteen. But it stuck, and now it’s me. I’ll be an eighty-year-old man — “call me the Kid.” ●
– – Kid Rock hates his own stage name.
I just straight up told him, ‘Man, I’m coming out there to step on it!’ I don’t care. I know it’s your tour. You’re Toby Keith, [but] I don’t care. I’m coming out there swinging, so either stand there and get punched or swing back. It’s going to be fun. ●
– – Opening act Eric Church gets combative with headliner Toby Keith.
Why does she need a house on the West Coast? Will she be in L.A. that much? Are the bright lights of Hollywood enticing Taylor? Or is it the young, handsome actors who would love having the talented and beautiful Taylor on their arm? ●
– – Hazel Smith keeps right on getting her nose all up in the personal business of country stars.
Playing your cards too close to your chest doesn’t pay out. I feel like right now if I’ve got a single that’s exploding, easily my fastest climber, I don’t want to do something like wait and put (the album) out in the fall. It’s when you rally the troops and say, ‘Man, we’ve got to get this thing done.’ ●
– – The success of “Honey Bee” has Blake Shelton rushing his next album. Uh oh.
They definitely don’t expect me to be 29. They usually think I’m 20 or 21. That’s a good thing, though — when I’m 40 maybe I’ll look 30. ●
– – Easton Corbin on looking like a kid.
Are there times when a song is barely hanging on by a thread as far as it being ‘Country’ and you kind of stick a flag on it with a steel guitar? Yeah, that happens. I’d love to say it’s never done or that I’ve never done it, but we all have. It’s been done in Country Music since the days of Chet Atkins, when they had to compete with the sound of the day. The idea is that you’re compelling people to listen to the music. It sounds like I’m trying to justify, but the truth is, it’s the music business, and yes, we do use instruments to paint within the paint box of Country Music. ●
– – Dann Huff in an interesting article on “The Role of Traditional Instruments in Modern Country.”
I was kind of an Opry darling. I’d be called to perform at least every 10 weeks, until my coming out. Since then, I’ve not heard a peep. ●
– – Chely Wright thinks the Opry has blacklisted her because of her sexuality.
One of the tiny twigs of country music – the lifestyle celebration – has become a major branch. They’ve dropped much of the musical language of country music, but they’ve kept the crowing about tractors, beer and the rural life. Is that okay? Sure, it’s fine I suppose, but i feel like it misses one of the best aspects of this great genre — songs that are so personal and real that we all feel them deep inside. It’s something that country music does better than anything else. ●
– – Grant Langston on the recent rash of “I’m so country” songs.
Quotable Country – 05/19/13 Edition
the pistolero says
What determines the song’s genre is the content of the song.
I heard it once said that Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam” was as good a loner song as anything Merle Haggard had written. And when you look at the lyrical content, it’s true. Consider:
And the road becomes my bride. I have slipped of all but pride, so in her I do confide, and she keeps me satisfied, gives me all I need…Wherever I roam, where I lay my head is home.
Compare that with Merle Haggard:
My hat don’t hang on the same nail too long. My ears can’t stand to hear the same old song. And I don’t leave the highway long enough, to bog down in the mud, ’cause I’ve got ramblin’ fever in my blood.
So Metallica is country now? Colt Ford is an idiot.
the pistolero says
I have STRIPPED of all but pride, that is. Sorry. It’s been so long since I’ve heard that song because, well, I’ve been listening primarily to ’80s Metallica and several of their contemporaries.
Ben says
LeAnn has a point. How often do you hear someone say “I don’t listen to Johnny Cash because I don’t approve of him leaving his wife for June Carter” or “I won’t listen to Buck Owens because he was always sleeping around with Lord-knows-how-many different women”?
George Strait is a rapper? I didn’t notice. Loved the Grant Langston item.
Sabra says
She does have a point. Doesn’t excuse her, but she’s right. It’s one hell of a double standard, and not just in country music. There are plenty of people out there who make an evolutionary case for men cheating, ignoring the fact that a very similar argument could be made for women.
That said, I don’t think anybody could get away with living like Johnny Cash these days–even his own life has been pretty sanitized. Mainstream country musics audience bears more than a passing resemblance to the congregation of a Midwestern Baptist church.
ChurchsChicken says
I gotta give Eric Church credit – just when I think he has made all the arrogant comments one human possibly can make, he comes up with a brand new way to be an arrogant douchy douche. Honestly, I’m not a big Rascal Flatts fan but I give them credit for firing Eric Church from their tour. It almost makes up for “Bob That Head.”
the pistolero says
Oh, and…
Even strait-laced George Strait raps in “Give It Away.”
Methinks Chet’s definition of “rap” is different from, well, pretty much any accepted definition of the musical form in its history. But I guess that’s really all you can do when you’re trying to justify country music’s slide further into mediocrity and irrelevance. I shudder to think of how many people will give such credibility just because of who’s saying it.
Rick says
Vince Gill took a fair amount of crap for dumping his wife Janice to hook up with Amy Grant while she dumped her then husband Gary Chapman as well. My respect for Vince and Amy as individuals really took a hit on that one, and Amy’s personal life as a “Christian testimony” crashed and burned. Why LeAnn ever married that gay looking dancer in the first place is the real question.
Maybe if Chely promised not to bring up any of the lesbian stuff and sing her older material the Opry might let her back on the stage. Nah, come to think of it her recent announcement she’s getting married to another gal probably put a nail in the coffin on that idea. I just can’t see the GAC Opry Live camera flashing to her happy bride in the front row…
Since Grant Langston started doing Sarah Palin jokes during his act I’ve quit paying any attention to what he says about anything (ie I’m highly allergic to libtard humor.) I will still see him perform though when its free! (and it usually is here in his home base of LA)
Is Hazel Smith in competition with Alison Bonaguro to see who can make the most inane and idiotic comments about country artists? I’d have to say they are probably tied at this point…
I’ve seen Chet stretch ideas to the credibility breaking point before, but his rap comparisons are truly foolhardy. Has he joined in the “Who’s The Biggest Pinhead” competition with both Alison and Hazel at CMT? They need to check the ventilation in that building as excess carbon monoxide might explain what’s going on in the editorial offices…