Quotable Country – 05/25/14 Edition

Click the bullet after each quote to visit the source.

If you don’t like it, it’s not for you. So turn it off. ●
– – Scott Borchetta to Florida Georgia Line’s critics.

The nice thing — and maybe this is just my inner feminist talking — is that Bryan’s not just all about asking women to shake around. He does do that, and fairly often, but to be fair, he is shaking right back. Amidst the chorus of that first song, he shimmied, hip-shook, audibly purred and let his hand do a lot of talking all the way down the line of his body. I’m fairly certain there were also some duck faces once or twice. ●
– – From a review of a Luke Bryan show at Bayou Country Superfest.

It’s like being a teenager, you know? You think you’re growing up and you’re happy with who you are, and then the next year you’re a different person. You might not be as proud of who you were… That’s kinda how early records are for a lot of bands, to a certain extent. I think that our first two records were a good representation of where we were at that point. ●
– – Sean Watkins on the early works of Nickel Creek.

We live in an age of irony – everyone is superior to or laughing at someone. We mistake it for sophistication, but it’s cowardice. It’s an unwillingness to stake one’s heart and mind on something for fear of appearing naive. Irony is lazy. Its point is that conviction is meaningless; its point is that there is no point. We think of it as edgy, but nothing is edgy if everyone’s doing it. The really revolutionary act is to create art that attempts to be redemptive, to stand for something, to be unrepentantly earnest. We need that art in this world. Go make it. ●
– – From Gretchen Peters’ letter to a young artist.

Legendary country duo THE BELLAMY BROTHERS have released a new music video that is pushing the envelope in terms of traditional country music. The video titled, “Boobs,” was recently filmed at a private ranch in Weatherford, Texas and features the iconic brothers, a bevy of beauties and a rapper, partying Bellamy-style.
– – Press email. Good grief.

So many people want to use music as an escape. What I grew up listening to, and the reason I love country music, is the vulnerability of allowing yourself to be weak. What’s wrong with saying, ‘I’m hurting?’ ●
– – Jamie O’Neal to Peter Cooper. She gets back to the hurting songs on Eternal, out Tuesday.

Right now, to write a country rap, it’s almost predictable. It’s more of a risk to write a traditional country song. ●
– – Hit songwriter Luke Laird. This and the next quote are from an interesting Jon Caramanica piece for the New York Times titled “Country Music Opens Its Ears.”

I get a text from Blake saying, ‘Espo, we have just recorded the sound of money, lots and lots of money.’ ●
– – Warner Bros. Nashville president on how he heard about “Boys ‘Round Here.”

It’s probably the most beautiful, horrifying ugly piece of music I’ve ever heard. The desired effect was that by the time it’s over, you’re glad. ●
– – Sturgill Simpson on “Boys ‘Round Here” his own “It Ain’t All Flowers.”

Country music may have, as Ashbrook and other commentators have said, an “identity crisis” but that’s just symptom of what it really has which is an esthetic crisis. The lyrics are laughable. The records are more compressed and congested than ever. Commerce and demographic second-guessing has grown and grown in the industry until it is not one factor but the only factor. If On Point had dug further, they’d have revealed that legions of Nashville’s real music-makers – the songwriters and pickers and even many producers and record label people – are flat-out embarrassed by the music that must get made in 2014 to get past the gatekeepers at radio. ●
– – Craig Havighurst reacts to an NPR show on the state of country music that featured John Marks, senior director of country programming at Sirius XM.

I’m afraid that country is losing its identity. I was recently told by a radio programmer – who agreed with me to some extent – “Well, it’s the biggest musical format in the world right now, so how can you argue with that?” I reminded him of when I was a kid in the 70s, someone came up with the marketing idea of pet rocks. Everybody had to have one. Just because something is successful does not make it worthwhile, and we’ve seen countless examples – well, it’s always been this way, but especially in the recent years – of stuff that was just horrible but people were buying it anyway. I’m sure the children of Israel were pretty excited about that big huge golden calf they had made, too, but that doesn’t mean it was a good thing to do. But people will always come back to the fact that “It’s bigger now than it’s ever been!” And you go, “Yeah, but what is it?” ●
– – Collin Raye is giving lots of interviews these days.

I love where country music is. I think we are in a very opportunistic position to grab hold of a new audience. Partying, sitting on a tailgate, girls in blue jeans – isn’t that real life? ●
– – Dustin Lynch.

Music shouldn’t be a competition. Talent shows are nothing new, but I’ve never seen one where the person with real talent came anywhere near winning. It was always someone who just stocked the house with more relatives. Talent shows are a joke and I don’t think they really amount to anything, but since American Idol, they’re elevated to a point where you have to notice it. The artists that are really succeeding in rock, pop and country – let’s say a Katy Perry – it’s never someone who won a talent show. It’s someone who honed their craft to some extent, got their break and came up the traditional way. Talent shows are just kind of muddying the water. ●
– – Collin Raye again, evidently looking to get beat up by Carrie Underwood fans.

Growing up, I always wished that Waylon was my dad. He was always a humble guy, although he could be mean as a snake if he felt like it. Every time I was around Waylon, he just had a way of sharing stories and giving advice. He was a very special human being. ●
– – From Hank3’s list of 10 essential country artists. He proves pretty thoughtful and articulate.

Mainstream country radio is isn’t top forty any more, it’s really top twenty. It’s [a] pretty tightly controlled format. Unfortunately, we live in a society that labels everything. The music that has come out of our region for the last thirty years or more, dating back to Willie, I guess, just kind of got labeled as a sub-genre of country music. And in all honesty, it has been really difficult to get any mainstream airplay out of that genre. ●
– – Randy Rogers on the difficulty of taking Texas Country to mainstream radio.

I was working with amazing musicians like Grady Martin and Floyd Cramer, and I started listening to them and thinking, ‘I need to learn to play melodies like they do, rather than just riffs and fills.’ The best advice I got was from Grady Martin, who said, ‘If you can’t hear and understand every word the singer is singing, you’re playing too much.’ So, less is more. I was taught by the A-Team guys to play to the song. ●
– – Harmonica great Charlie McCoy to Peter Cooper.

Honky-tonkers like me or Blake Shelton or John Rich love Conway Twitty. I mean, he’s such a big influence. He’s one of the Top 5 country singers of all time, probably. What made him great was his voice. He’s one of those guys that didn’t need to move around or have any gimmicks or gags. Everything was from (the neck) up. Just the way he held the microphone — the way he sang, the emotion in his face — was everything. The rest, you know, he didn’t worry about. ●
– – Dierks Bentley on Conway.

I’d think, But I’m not obese. I’m only a size 8. I really don’t even need to lose 40 pounds. I thought I only needed to lose like 15, but now that you mention it, dang, I do look kind of bad! Thanks for bringing that to my attention, asshole. ●
– – Miranda Lambert on being approached by weight loss companies about losing 40 pounds to become the face of ad campaigns.

Traditionally, country music is a truth-telling, adult format. I want to be a truth-teller. I always want my music to be truthful and a dark comedy. Happy and sad. High and low. ●
– – Brandy Clark.

You gotta find the humor in everything ‘cause there’s enough craziness in this world, enough stuff to drag you down, so I try to find all the positive stuff I can to lift myself as well as other people up. ‘Cause there’s nothing like a good laugh to lift your spirits, right? ●
– – Dolly Parton.

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