You Actually LIKE That Stuff?

This week marks my 15th anniversary in Country radio.

Prior to 1988 I had worked exclusively for Rock stations, mostly as a DJ playing music we now call “classic rock” … Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, the Who, the Beatles, the Eagles, ZZ Top, Foreigner, etc. Next, I worked for a radio station playing what broadcasters call Adult Contemporary music, which is basically pop music for boomers. At the time, these were Mix and Soft Rock stations playing Phil Collins, Gloria Estefan and Whitney Houston.

By 1991 I was Assistant Program Director, but that summer the station made a big format change and I was phased out. In order to stay in the Maryland area, I chose to temporarily make a living out of part time jobs. One of my targets for employment was the Washington DC country music station because they were hugely successful. I wasn’t sure I’d like the music, but the pay was good and I knew I could fake it if I had to.

It only took a year for me to become a big country music fan.

Yes, I actually love country music. I still like rock, Motown, blues, swing, classical and about five rap songs, but country music is now my favorite. It is usually simple, real and direct. Some of it is fun, some serious, some frivolous, some deep and intense. Rock tends to be observational. Country is mostly about feeling and it’s usually from the heart. Strip away the twang and bad grammar from a country song and you’ve got a three-minute slice of real life. Ain’t that the way it oughtta be?

Country music is on my mind today because I watched an hour-long TV show about Martina McBride on the Biography Channel, followed by a program about Shania Twain. And I realize I now know enough about the genre and these two performers to understand how different they are and how much they represent the wide range of styles and song content that can be called Country Music.

Martina’s background is small-town Kansas and she sings mostly songs of real-life scenarios. Love, children and family, homelessness, domestic violence. She is rooted in country, having first played in her dad’s band. She went through a rock phase during the Pat Benatar era in the 80s, but her entire recording career, which started in 1991, has been firmly planted in country. Even the pop crossover hits she’s had began their life on country radio. Her 2005 CD “Timeless” consisted entirely of classic country songs she grew up with.

Shania’s background is small-town Canada and hers is a hard-luck story; but her music is much more slick and “produced.” In fact, her husband (and producer since her 2nd or 3rd album) is Mutt Lange, whose early successes included very produced rock bands like Foreigner and Bad Company. Shania seems “made up” to me, aloof, not especially real in spite of her very real hard-luck background. I often joke that her dozens of hits are really just two songs, one fast and the other slow, with interchangeable lyrics. But a large chunk of country music fans embrace her style and there is just enough reality and fiddle to classify it as country music.

I’ve met Martina. She is very popular but is still down-to-earth and sometimes visits radio stations and plays small venues. Three years ago, she played a live, on-the-air concert for our radio station to an audience of one hundred invited guests. To my knowledge, Shania hasn’t been in a radio station for 10 years and rarely plays for less than 20,000 people. Both are mothers, but I just can’t picture Shania changing a diaper.

Many Boomer and Gen-X Country singers have the same music background I do. Garth Brooks grew up on Billy Joel and Kiss. Travis Tritt grew up on Lynyrd Skynyrd. Two surviving Skynyrd members are now in Country Music and known as Van Zant. At least three of Kenny Chesney’s hits reminisce about rock radio from the 70s. Rascal Flatts’ latest hit is a cover of Tom Cochrane’s “Life Is A Highway.” Bon Jovi had a #1 Country Hit this year, a duet version of hit rock hit “Who Says You Can't Go Home” with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles trading lead and harmony lines.

Country songs still do have the stereotypical themes and images: lyin’, cheatin’, dyin’, drinkin’, pickup trucks, dogs, patriotism and blue-collar jobs. But contemporary themes are represented too: domestic violence, two-income parenting, the Iraq war, cell phones and the internet.

As long as I’m proselytizing … check out the Country Music Association Awards show on Monday, November 6th on ABC. You’ll see the whole spectrum of country music sounds and styles.

Go ahead and explore your inner hillbilly.