Entertainment Weekly has put out a list of 25 country albums everyone should hear-whether or not they like country. I think this list is seriously flawed. As a resident of THE Country Music Capital of the World, as we like to be called, no one asked for my opinion on this and I am a little miffed about it. Look, I know you are trying to appeal to folks who would not run out and buy Reba McEntire, but its also an insult to country fans to not include actual country music on the list. There is the requisite Johnny Cash, Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Dolly, Hank Williams-artists who everyone has heard of and already have mass crossover appeal in many genres.
I was psyched to see them include Miranda Lambert's Crazy Ex Girlfriend, which is AWESOME and I think she never gets enough credit. I don't know if its because she was discovered on Nashville Star or what, but I have loved her since she first came out and her second album is crazy good. I was just telling my friend and fellow country music lover Wendy how excited I was that her new single is getting played a little more around town lately. If you don't know what I am talking about, go download "Gunpowder and Lead" and see if you can stop yourself from rocking out. She's totally bad-ass.
But there is also an album by some guy I have never heard of....Robbie Fulks? Anyone? and there is also an Elvis Costello album on the list. Excuse me? Elvis Costello and no George Strait? or Garth Brooks?!?! Come on, you can't have country without those guys, and Garth had a ton of crossover success. But Country-Pop queen Shania Twain IS on the list, and while I know she is a country singer, if I was trying to encourage someone who did not like country to give us a whirl, I would never in a million years have this on my "essential" list. Guitar Town by Steve Earl IS on the list though, which is also one they got right.
At least they did not put Bon Jovi's "country" album on this list. I might have had to cancel my subscription.
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20200473,00.html
Thoughts?
3 comments:
Well, the article [i]is[/i] about "25 you need to hear," and Robbie Fulks deserves to be much better known given the quality of his music. (I think George is fabulous too, but everybody already knows that!)
To suggest or imply - as you do - that there is some kind of Leavisite "Grand tradition" of country singers that only a few should be admitted into, is a very restrictive and short-sighted way of looking at the world, never mind country music. In my opinion, Robbie Fulks is great - try opening your ears and listening to him. Why not? Scared you might like him? If you don't, well at least you'll be in a better-informed position to say why...
It is, indeed, very sad that there are so many "country" music fans who refuse to acknowledge that there could *gasp* be any other "country" music worth listening to outside of their corporate local radio station's top 10. So tell me, Avid Country Music Fan, are you aware that sales do not, necessarily, equal quality? Being very familiar with both Robbie Fulks and Elvis Costello, I can assure you that the song-writing and production quality of these two entries far outweigh any overproduced, melodramatic, and/or overplayed entry by Garth Brooks. George Strait, however, does deserve a mention, but he is an oft heard country musician hence, I suspect, his exclusion from the list. But at least I have heard all of these and can speak with an educated tongue. You might try doing the same.
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