Welcome to my new blog, ‘My Kinda Country’. Why am I doing this? Well,
I love country music and I enjoy writing so it seemed natural to combine those
two things together.
Why ‘My Kinda Country?’ Well, country music is a broad church these
days – broader than it’s ever been and I have my views about it much like
anyone else into the genre. So the things I’ll write on here will be my perspectives:
you won’t all agree with all of them and I don’t expect you to. I just hope
that I am able to write in a way that prompts thought, debate and discussion
rather than outrage, argument and misery!
So, to start us all off, a few initial thoughts.
We were a last minute addition to the bill, which, aside
from us and a few solo acts/duos playing with backing tapes, was essentially all
real old-school country – no drumkits, traditional music from the 40s, 50s,
etc. The audience obviously matched that kind of vibe, and to be fair, it was a
big crowd. It was really interesting and great fun playing for them. We went
down well! We apparently had more line dancers than any other act of the
weekend (apart from the disco) and afterwards a few commented that we were ‘a
breath of fresh air’ amongst the admittedly excellent old-school acts. Most people
stayed and, judging by the increasingly loud applause, were generally won over
by our set, while a handful of others (a very small minority) apparently left because
we ‘aren’t country’ or they ‘didn’t like the drums’, etc. Now, I should point
out here that we tailored our hour-long set so that it was largely 90s
classics, with a few current tracks thrown in, so we weren’t really pushing the
boundaries, but it was interesting (and not at all unexpected) to hear the range of views. Ultimately,
the key question seems to be, were we ‘their kinda country?’ For some, yes we very
much were, for others no, we certainly weren’t. And that’s pretty much where
the idea for this blog came from.
Unsurprisingly, I have my own views about what is or isn’t my kinda
country. I came to this music from being a fan of classic rock and AOR in the
80s, so I have always liked my country with a pop-rock vibe. I’m not overly
fond of most very traditional early stuff, although thanks to my late Mum, I do
enjoy a bit of Jim Reeves and Don Williams, plus a bit of Johnny Cash. But
overall, my kinda country is acts like Little Big Town, Sugarland, Keith Urban,
etc. It also isn’t acts that are heavily influenced by hip-hop/rap, by modern R&B pop or
EDM, although there are always exceptions. However, I do think I know a great song when I hear it - a song that combines
a killer hook with cool lyrics and great instrumentation, where an emotional
response of some kind is created immediately by the song. Even if I don’t like
a song, I can often see past that. I’m gonna work hard to ensure that it’s this
kind of approach that you’ll see when you read any reviews, etc, that I might post.
First up, either later today or over the weekend, will be a review
of the new Phil Vassar single ahead of his UK tour in April…
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