It Takes An Artist

Full Tom Petty Interview from Rolling Stone
c/o Jude Cole Music.com

I understand what Tom Petty is saying (article) and don't entirely disagree with him. If you're old enough to remember what is now classified as 'vintage country', you realize this genre doesn't exist anymore. Then again, neither do a lot of vintage sounds.

The first real country music identity crisis began in the mid to late 70's, and by 1980 things had gotten equally homogenized in Nashville.

Acts like Eddie Rabbit, Crystal Gayle, Oak Ridge Boys and oh so many others were basking in the glory of the country charts while true fans like myself were bouncing from this aberration to the one happening in pop music with Disco.  Dance music had such a profound affect on classic rock that even The Rolling Stones,The Eagles and Rod Stewart had to modify their singles to stay relevant. In their defense, I use these bands as examples to artists I work with to show how their survival skills kept them alive. They permeated thru decades of musical change, altering at least part of their sound to fit onto radio playlists. They were wise enough to know that if it wasn't heard somewhere, it wouldn't matter anywhere.

Back to Nashville, enter Ricky Scaggs. He broke onto the scene in 1981 with the album Waitin' For The Sun To Shine and made Nashville feel as conspicuous asPoison must have felt when Nirvana released 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. With songs like 'You May See Me Walkin' and 'Cryin' My Heart Out Over You', he reminded a city of country music makers that they were heading in a dead-end direction. It resonated. Soon after this release, country studios began dusting off the pedal steels and mandolins and signed a lot more twang and a lot less Barbara Mandrell.  Ultimately by the early 90's they were back on track with Randy Travis, Vince Gill, and Dwight Yoakam.

So there were complaints about the state of country ala Petty's before; but it wasn't until someone brave and tasteful enough came along and made the right record that change actually occured.

Taylor Swift has been monumental in receding the classic sound of country but she's not the instigator. This is a process, and there were many before her like Faith Hill & Martina McBride to Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley. There seemed to be a distinct indigenous sound that made you big in Nashville, but once you crossed over you made a deal with the devil and came out the other side of the meat grinder with a little less accent, a little more Madison Ave., and a lot more smug: think Dixie Chicks. They were the most beloved country act of 1997 and with each album progressively turned into the most politically outspoken, musically confused trio who had seemingly long forgotten their base or couldn't wait to run from it.  Oh it's their story and they're sticking to it, but my hunch is if they could go back in time, they'd probably opt out of NY & LA.

So TP's right, country has become pro tooled, pop-ified and watered down. But then again, hasn't everything? When I began touring as a guitarist for Moon Martin in 1978, we'd play cities like Dallas and Montgomery and man, you fucking knew you weren't in Kansas anymore. It was like playing in another country! Nowadays tho, you got your Barnes & Noble, got yer Pottery Barns and Gap Kids, Starbucks... why leave home when every city looks and feels exactly the same? Consequently every singer is starting to sound exactly the same. Ten gallon hats don't compensate for real artists with real songs... sorry.

No Tom Petty drawls out there anymore. No Stevie Nicks nasal poetry. There's no longer a Springsteen, New Jersey or Rickie Lee on 'smack' street. Gordon Lightfoot = Canadian.  James Taylor = New England, Frey; California, Henley;Texas, Greg Allman and Ronnie Van Zant were guys you'd want to drink and get into a parking lot fight with, and Willie Deville was pure Spanish Harlem.

What happened to the personalities, the dialects? What happened to the potpourri of influence from the world of American music? It was rich because it wasn't too aware of it's competition. The regional successes made the audience peer in, not the other way around.

One day some day, a new artist will emerge and resonate with something poignant and change the rules... but as always, it takes an artist.