Click the bullet after each quote to visit the original source.
And I dare say that if it’d been, I dunno, Toby Keith who’d criticized the president instead of a trio of women, things would have gone down a lot differently than they did. A lot more slack, and a lot fewer playlists, would’ve been cut. ●
- – Remark from David Cantwell in an interesting Kansas City Star (“that’s what I are”) article on gender in country music. Think he has a point?
Q: Do you remember your first time in Nashville?
A: My first time here, it was on my 17th birthday, and it was when I signed my record deal. ●
- – Jennette McCurdy on her long road to country stardom.
I can’t listen to music while I’m doing something else. Well, unless I’m working out. But I, like, fall off the treadmill all the time if I’m listening to something that I like too much. My life conforms to music, not the other way around. ●
- – Chris Thile isn’t big on passive listening.
People have so many things going on in their lives now, Rhett says, that they don’t have the patience to wait too long to get to the hook in a song. And that’s why “Beer” is his favorite current hit.
“In four lines, you are nailed,” Rhett says. “They said three lines describin’ what he’s not good at. But he goes, ‘I’m pretty good at drinkin’ beer.’ You don’t have to say another word. I mean, the song’s over with at that point. You’re just repeatin’ yourself at that point. Troy Jones absolutely nailed, nailed, nailed.” ●
- – Meanwhile, Rhett Akins loves “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer,” citing its repetitiveness and modest demands on listener attention as positive traits.
The first time I started writing with him, I threw out an idea to him. He said, ‘That’s cool for, like, Rascal Flatts or somebody, but man, I want to write a country record.’ From the beginning, he drove it. He was like, ‘No, I’ve been wanting to make a country record for years.’ ●
- – Frank Rogers on Darius Rucker, who evidently doesn’t recognize Rascal Flatts as country.
I think she’s the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century. You can’t talk me out of it. ●
- – Jack White on Loretta Lynn.
The Bellamy Brothers Remember Their First Time ●
- – I’ve never been as scared to click through to an article as I was when I saw this headline. Awkward.
I still believe that there are a percentage of people out there that want to… hear the investment the artist makes. And I still believe there’s people out there that want to hear the record, what they’re doin’ and what they’re sayin’. And, I know I do. I mean, do I buy songs off iTunes? Yeah. But I still want to hear some people’s records that are comin’ out this year. ●
- – Kenny Chesney, whose own new album is quite good with the exception of tracks 1-3 and 5-10.
Q: Has John Rich offered any parenting advice on fatherhood yet? Will be a little baby MuzikMafia forming anytime soon?
A: Oh, I don’t know if I’m taking parenting advice from John Rich! [laughs] I’m not getting his son and my daughter together for any playdates any time soon! I know John, know him for a long time, and I don’t know if I need his kid terrorizing my daughter! ●
- – James Otto is smarter than he looks. Right, Holly?
In some ways it’s all just one record, but one is a shorter version while the Target version is the full album. If people get the shorter version and love it, maybe they’ll want to hear some more songs. ●
- – Keith Urban on releasing Get Closer as a half-album everywhere but Target. Blech.
Little teacups, a Geisha doll and a crystal ball that looks like a fortuneteller’s. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve wanted that crystal ball — so my mom gave it to me and I let her keep one of my Grammys. ●
- – Taylor Swift on what she took from her parents’ house for her new apartment.
What’s really cool about it is when you listen to, for example, the Everly Brothers, you don’t know which one is singing which part. It’s almost like one voice coming out of two people and creating this really eerie, parallel movement, and that’s what we do just on accident. I could never sing like Carrie Underwood. I could never be the next Martina McBride. What we do is just what we do.
When people ask us, “Well, who’s the lead singer?,” we tell them, “There’s not a lead singer.” I can’t be a Secret Sister without her. It’s the way the two voices match up and move that makes the sound. ●
- – Secret Sister Laura Rogers on sibling harmony.
One of the highest compliments we got was from Jason Owen [former head of publicity for Sugarland's record label, Universal Music Nashville]. He wrote us an email that said, ‘You guys are going to win an Oscar for this video and, unfortunately, Jennifer’s not going to get a date because no one’s going to go with her since she did such a convincing job of being a crazy person.’ [laughs] I loved doing it. And, I loved actually seeing Kristian acting in this. It felt like the first time he threw his hat in the ring and did some acting. I loved it. ●
- – Jennifer Nettles on the “Stuck Like Glue” video and Kristian Bush’s acting debut, which involved occasional background shots of him doing nothing.
My favorite moment was someone dared me to play a little prank on him. So in the scene where he shows up at the dressing room door, and he’s standing there, they dared me to instead of acting surprised … I had something on under it, but just to take that robe off and be like, ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’ The look on his face was priceless. You never know with hotshot people like that, but he was so cool about it. He was not expecting it at all. ●
- – Katrina Elam on ‘pranking’ George Strait on the set of Pure Country 2.
Now when you discover music, you’re discovering it on demand. And pretty much (with) every way you can discover music on demand … they all have one attribute in common. They all start at the very beginning, zero seconds. Which doesn’t sound foreign, because of course everybody listens to a song from the beginning of a song, but it’s actually a new concept when it comes to the music discovery process.
A large portion of people will make a decision on whether they like the song or not in the first 10 seconds of listening. It makes the first 10 seconds of a song crucial. ●
- – Jay Frank, senior vice president of music strategy for CMT, on music discovery.
Q: How competitive is Nashville for a songwriter these days?
A: It’s one of the hardest times to get songs on a record because every artist is writing their own songs. I heard in the ’90s there were thousands of writers getting their songs recorded but now it’s in the hundreds. But if you’re good enough and get songs on a record, you can make a good living for yourself. ●
- – Singer-songwriter Matt Jenkins, with something of a follow-up to Hillary Scott’s comment from last week.
A 47-year-old man was punched in the face by an unknown man after making a derogatory comment about country music when a country song was played on the jukebox at The Cottage Bar, 7865 W. 159th St., around 12:21 a.m. Oct. 9. A 30-year-old man who got involved was also punched in the face and required stitches. The attacker left the bar with two other men and a woman before police arrived. ●
- – Just for the record, I was nowhere near Tinley Park, IL, on October 9.
I don’t want them to develop just one taste [in music]. I want them to feel the power in country (music) as much as they feel it in Justin Bieber. ●
- – Michelle Obama on her hopes for daughters Malia and Sasha. Tell you what, let’s meet the Obama girls halfway by making country music sound as much like Justin Bieber as possible.
Quotable Country – 09/19/10 Edition
A freelance writer and humorist with an abiding love of country music, C.M. Wilcox's cutting, clear-eyed take on the genre has drawn the attention of Country Weekly, The Washington Post, and The Tennessean in the years since he began this site. C.M. lives near Sacramento and can be reached by email at CMW (at) countrycalifornia.com.
I think my favorites this week were Rhett Atkins (In the “Are you serious?!” category, and Laura Rogers in the “Oh, that’s interesting” category.
I am also innocent in the Tinley Park incident. It reminds me of one time when a friend of mine said that country music was “gay.” I’m still friends with him today, but at that moment, I could’ve popped him.
I want to know what song it was.
So country music is happy? I think Martina McBride might agree with that sentiment!
And I dare say that if it’d been, I dunno, Toby Keith who’d criticized the president instead of a trio of women, things would have gone down a lot differently than they did. A lot more slack, and a lot fewer playlists, would’ve been cut. ●
- – Remark from David Cantwell in an interesting Kansas City Star (“that’s what I are”) article on gender in country music. Think he has a point?
Was it their comments about the President that caused the DIxie Chicks to lose their fanbase and be cut from play lists OR the fact that they said they DID NOT WANT TO BE PART OF THE COUNTRY MUSIC GENRE ANYMORE?!?!!?
People conveniently forget the rest of the story. The girls created their own situation in saying they did not want to be part of the country music genre nor did they want to have as fans the people who would have Reba or Toby Keith CD’s in their disk changer in their cars.
When people took them up on their request to not have those people as fans and not be part of the country music world, then all of a sudden it’s all about them not having freedom of speech? Hummmmmmm.
A case of “Be careful what you wish for…you just might get it!”.
No, it was the comments about the president. The country music remarks came after the removal from playlists, etc.
I love how this topic still gets people worked up more than seven years after it happened. Why aren’t people angry about The O.C., Evanescence or the Lindsay Lohan version of Freaky Friday (all from 2003) instead?
Why aren’t people angry about The O.C., Evanescence or the Lindsay Lohan version of Freaky Friday (all from 2003) instead?
I laughed.
I love how people like to revise history when it’s convenient for them. We all know that the Dixie Chicks were struck from country radio playlists as a direct result of their comments regarding President Bush. Likewise, we all know that people ran over piles of their records in protest of their comments regarding President Bush. People have varying opinions on whether or not the reaction was right, but up until now, I haven’t seen anyone try to argue that those consequences weren’t directly related to Bush comments. Additionally, Michael is correct that their comments regarding country music fans was a direct reaction to the fact that they weren’t being played on country radio any longer and that many country fans had made it clear that they were no longer welcome in country music…due to their remarks regarding President Bush.
…And very funny, Michael.:)
Well if Darius is as much of a poser as Eric, I guess I have to modify my screen-name (but just for this post). However, I won’t stoop so low as to write Jamey’s Johnson (which of course would be referring to the outboard motor company) on my screen name. That would be immature and definitely not funny at all.
As I said earlier, that “Smoke a Little Smoke” song is actually growing on me. Its heresy to say that, I know, but its true.
So if Darius Rucker wanted to record a country album, what happened? God knows none of his singles were any different from anything else being played on country radio; “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” is a particular offender to my ears, as it fits right into that whiny girl-man subgenre (right up there with “Mr. Mom” and that damned sippy cup song).
I keep hearing about how authentic that dude is, but until he puts out something that doesn’t sound like he’s still Hootie, he’s as much of a poser as Eric Church.
I like how Eric Church has become the standard by which we judge how much of a poser someone is. ChurchsChicken did it recently with Jamey Johnson, too. Always amusing.
I like how Eric Church has become the standard by which we judge how much of a poser someone is.
He makes himself such an easy target.
BTW, I Googled “Smoke A Little Smoke” and found a YouTube video for it, just so I could make a fair assessment of the song. I remain unimpressed.
Sabra is pretty much right. I’m not sure what sets Rucker’s music above Rascal Flatts, except that he doesn’t over extend his voice as LeVox does and he tends to stay away from dramatic, eighties electric guitar solos. His lyrics/themes are pretty much the same though.
Yeah, there are a lot of awesome eighties electric solos, but I’m referring to the cheesy ones, which what RF seems to like to insert into their music.
I’m wondering why I should give 1990s also-ran Rhett Akins’ opinion any credence whatsoever.
Haven’t you heard? He’s like the new Harlan Howard: “Put a Girl In It,” “Gimmie That Girl,” “Farmer’s Daughter,” etc.
No, no I hadn’t heard. Carry on then. ;-)
Seriously, I didn’t know he’d written those songs. (The fact that he did explains a lot, though.) I’ve disconnected myself from modern country that much, It strikes me that I’ve been defending Darius Rucker way too much to my wife as of late…it’d sure be nice if he did pony up and record some music that’s reminiscent of his stated influences.
(I love ’80s electric guitar solos, though….in ’80s metal, not country. Real metal, mind you, not that schlock from Poison, Bon Jovi, Warrant, et al. Metallica, Queensryche and Iron Maiden are where it’s at.)
You are like one “He likes Patsy Cline!” away from the couch, dude. F’r reals.
Two albums into his career, and the countryiest-sounding thing that Darius Rucker has ever recorded is that Burger King commercial jingle. I’m starting to think he may be less than sincere about his love of country music.
Q: Has John Rich offered any parenting advice on fatherhood yet? Will be a little baby MuzikMafia forming anytime soon?
A: Oh, I don’t know if I’m taking parenting advice from John Rich! [laughs] I’m not getting his son and my daughter together for any playdates any time soon! I know John, know him for a long time, and I don’t know if I need his kid terrorizing my daughter! ●
- – James Otto is smarter than he looks. Right, Holly?
If that last line is for me, I want to know who the person doing the asking is because I am getting the impression that they are trying to put down the appearance of my most favorite singer! To me, James couldn’t look more PBS: Precious, beautiful, & smart…or sweet whatever I want that S to stand for!!! (big smile)
God bless you and James always!!!
Holly in East Tennessee
<3
What does that mean?
God bless you always!!!
Holly in East Tennessee
Rhett Akins’ comments on “Pretty Good at Drinking Beer” describe the typical “AirHead Country Radio” listener in a very direct and succint manner! Good job, Rhett. Now, get back to writing more of those vapid, mediocre, “10 second hook” ditties you execl at!
So, I wonder if the Katrina Elam prank on George Strait was filmed as an Out-take or deleted scene? I sure hope so!
Its nice to read Matt Jenkins is still in the game. His major label singles were top notch but his indie CD release was very meager in comparison. A short snippet of Matt performing live was the best thing I saw on the two episodes of the Fox reality series “Nashville” that got aired.
The harmonies of The Gimmick Sisters are fine, its just their vocal qualities I find a bit lacking as their voices are a bit “soft” for my tastes. Oh well…
Hows the new James Otto song “Soldiers and Jesus” doing on the charts? I just looked at mediabase and don’t see it in the top 40. Maybe i missed it. Is it anywhere near the top 40? Is it still gaining or is it DOA or what’s the deal? I liked Groovy Little Summer Song but not this one. Jesus isn’t my cup of tea. Hoping for something better from James in the future. He has a nice voice.
“Soldier & Jesus” is currently at #50 on the Radio & Records list. Every day I have been hitting a page like this one: http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/7/stationplaylistrequest.asp?format=C1&c_let=WIVK for every station on this list: http://addboard.mediabase.com/ReportingPanel.asp?format=C1 in hopes that it helps James move up further. If more fans did this, maybe his songs would be given more time on the radio. Hitting them stations only takes me an hour each day, but every little bit helps! (smiles)
God bless you and James always!!!
Holly in East Tennessee
“Yo-da-lee-da-lay-lee, you outta see my car.”
Just wanted you to know that at least one person appreciated the Roger Miller lyric after the first quote.
In some ways it’s all just one record, but one is a shorter version while the Target version is the full album. If people get the shorter version and love it, maybe they’ll want to hear some more songs.
I just noticed the guts of this quote. So, if we pay for the 8-song album and love it, then we can go to Target and pay for the full length album in order to hear the other songs? Thanks so much, Keith Urban. Glad you’re all about the fans and all.