TTTMS #9: People Who Go Indie and Start Sucking
Things That Threaten My Sanity: People Who Go Indie and Start Sucking
Losing a major label record deal can be a mixed blessing. The heartbreak that accompanies the deferred dream of stardom is often balanced by the hope of finding greater artistic freedom outside the confines of the big label machinery. After recovering from the initial disappointment of being dropped, many artists go on to record some of their most honest and vital work.
That’s what happened with Jamey Johnson, whose 2006 debut on BNA scarcely hinted at the revelatory That Lonesome Song, which Johnson self-released late the following year (his short stint on BNA by then already a distant memory). In fact, that home-brewed sophomore effort was so good that it won Johnson critical acclaim and a new major label deal with Mercury in 2008.
For every story like that, though, there’s a story of things heading south when an artist goes indie. Consider Clint Black, whose 2004 Equity debut (after more than a decade on RCA Nashville) took his already spotty, largely self-penned catalog to hitherto unknown lows. Or Buddy Jewell, who was a solid up-and-coming star on Columbia Nashville before becoming a shrill voice for love-it-or-leave-it nationalism on My Little Jewell Music. One more? Toby Keith, whose Show Dog stint has revealed the extent to which the Big Dog Daddy’s personality and musical sensibilities are best buried beneath layers of focus groups, overbearing producers and people willing to boss him around. Was the guy who gave us “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and “Who’s That Man” just a Nashville factory creation? Whatever. I want him back.
The anti-establishment revolutionary in me has long held that sometimes the smartest thing a middling mainstream favorite can do is get off of a major label (willingly or otherwise) and take a long, lonesome walk toward self-discovery on the indie road. But sometimes that’s not how it plays out once the ties are broken.
Prefer email? Nothing wrong with that!
I’ve think you’ve hit on something here, these people were lame beforehand, that’s why they are only lamer when removed from the people whose business it is to make sure their lameness doesn’t limit their mass appeal.
I mean, 90’s country is the music of my childhood, and its nostalgia and all that, but so, so, so guilty pleasure. So does it surprise me that Clint Black, Toby Keith and Buddy Jewel need people to limit how boring they are or screen out the radical elements of bad taste inherent in their music?
Of course not, at their best they were only superficially appealing in a mass market kind of way anyhow. Still good, kinda sorta in a questionable way, but Pizza Pockets are good too, and if the guy who invented Pizza Pockets was like “hey man, I’m done with this corporate food stuff, man, I’m starting a restaurant!” How great do you really think it’s going to turn out?
So basically, yeah, if they are boring and half-awful on a major label, chances are they will be the same as an indie. Johnson is the exception (if you’re willing to grant that the record was a good one) that proves the rule.
My theory is that once an artist who’s had a few hits goes indie, he or she has to make a choice whether to keep trying to get on the radio or not. If the answer is yes, pretty much the only way to do that without major-label money is to put out the dumbest, most crass, pandering piece of crap you can dream of.
Of course it rarely works. It seems like the best way to get attention on an indie label is actually to make a really good record. But whatever.
Good points, CMW. I liked Clint’s and Toby’s early work, so I can’t agree with you there, Ben. I think Patty Loveless and Kathy Mattea are good examples of artists who have put out even better records since they’ve gone to small labels.
For every naysayer, there are those who enjoy seeing what an individual can create without the “limits” put upon them by those who can’t so they teach…
I have heard great praise for Clint Black’s work on his own label and Toby Keith’s latest release, “That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy” has been critiqued as possibly the best CD of his career. So I guess it all goes back to individual taste…or the ability to be a hater hidden on the web.
I’ve heard great praise for lots of things, but that doesn’t make them great or even good. Great praise is great praise, not absolute proof of quality. Take it or leave it (I’m choosing the latter).
Preferring one part of an artist’s catalog to another does not a hater make; in fact, that’s a fairly nuanced perspective. A hater would blindly hate everything about an artist, which isn’t what I’m doing here at all.
In short, no.
I would guess its most singer-songwriter type artists that need a guiding hand to help them do their best. Whether it be a truly fine producer or an A&R type with great taste in music, these types of objective 3rd parties can help guide the artist to produce better music. Left to their own devices the artists can become self indulgent and lose perspective and turn out material they personally love which lacks market appeal. Once artists accustomed to a support network at a big label get dropped they lose the experienced guiding hands and have to go it alone out of financial necessity. My expectations for indie albums are typically far lower than what I expect from a decent size label for this reason. It’s always truly surprising to stumble across an indie debut by an unknown artist like Shannon Mock that is more musically satisfying than most Nashville big label releases.
Most reputable reviews that I’ve read of Toby’s latest album say that it’s the best album that he’s put out in awhile. I have not read any reviews that have claimed that it’s the best one of his entire career, though those may exist.
I think Clint started to slip way before he went to Equity. His last two or three albums before D’lectrified got mediocre reviews, and “When I Said I Do” was a mistake even if it gave his wife a #1. I think Toby has kind of mellowed since signing to Show Dog. Maybe too mellow; every time I hear him in an interview he drops his voice to the lowest register possible and apparently doesn’t even move his lips.
Lonestar definitely improved after exiting BNA, mainly because that also meant the loss of Richie “Am I cocky or what?” McDonald. I bet the sippy-cup version of Lonestar wouldn’t have even touched “Let Me Love You”.
It’s hard to generalize – some indie labels such as Heart of Texas put out consistantly good albums – Ferlin Husky, Leona Williams, Tony Booth and Johnny Bush are artists on the label who all had major Nashville success. Of course this label specializes in actually issuing real country music, a genre seldom heard on the radio these days
I love Heart of Texas, Paul. Definitely a godsend for those of us who enjoy traditional country.