"The World"-Brad Paisley

Yesterday I talked about why I think my peers aren't listening to popular country (or aren't even willing to try listening to it) and also I talked about why that bugs me. That part was like a depressing kids' movie about global warming, and now is the part where I come onscreen and say "But here's what you can do about it!"

Here are some reasons I think commercial country is worth sticking up for:

1) Country songs often have more lively instrumentation than their pop radio counterparts. The Nashville music machine, although I'm sure it's scary and corporate in many ways, is also full of incredible session musicians. These mandolin or banjo players, slide guitarists, etc add a life to the sound that mainstream pop and rock, which is increasingly computer-generated and auto-tuned, can't compete with. Most new music on commercial radio stations of all kinds is pretty slick in terms of production, but those fiddle solos on country records really stand out. And that is good. A great way to understand what I'm talking about is to check out both versions of Shania Twain songs. I didn't realize until recently that she put out two versions of every song on her album Up!: one for pop audiences, and one for country. These are very subtly labeled the "Red" and "Green" versions, respectively. (Maybe this is what John Edwards actually meant about "two Americas.") What's interesting to me in listening to these back to back is that, at least to my ears, the Green is so clearly superior to the other. All that's missing in the Red is some twangy guitars and fiddle licks, but it feels like the energy has been sucked out.

2) The subject matter can be surprising, and even subversive. We might think of southern/rural men as being macho, idiot rednecks, but I am amazed by how often the dudes in country songs are openly, unapologetically weeping. Much more than in pop. In Blake Shelton's "She Wouldn't Be Gone," for example, he talks about crying on two SEPARATE occasions: first in the chorus ("tears soakin' up my face") and then in a verse ("cried like a baby to her best friend"). I would argue that men are allowed a dramatic expression of emotion that we only expect from women in a lot of other types of music. Some people find country too sentimental, but I see the refusal of the genre to devalue sentiment as an impressive stand against posturing and coldness. Plus, while the rest of the music industry seems to be increasingly age-obsessed, country music is one of the only places left that deals frankly with aging and doesn't diss old people (both in the performers it celebrates, and in the lyrics to songs, like "Remember When" by Alan Jackson). And fatherhood--how many pop songs can you name that deal with that subject? Brad Paisley's "He Didn't Have To Be" is a song about appreciating your stepfather. I think we can all get behind that.

3) Country can have a great sense of humor about itself. It can have that same quality that really good Jewish humor has, the "life sucks, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with it" mindset. Compare, for example, Jo Dee Messina's "Bye Bye," in which the wronged woman sings, "Bye bye love, I'll catch you later / Got a lead foot down on my accelerator...I've got pride, I'm taking it for a ride" to Alanis Morrisette's bitter "You Oughta Know," with its considerably less plucky/spirited "It's not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me." Then there are the songs that are just ridiculous, like Trace Adkins' "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk." This song knows it's outlandish, and it just doesn't give a shit. Compare it to something like "My Humps" which is completely stupid but seems bafflingly to not know it--and worse, to miss every opportunity for fun that the concept could have presented.

4) The form allows for great storytelling and verbal creativity. Like a sonnet, a country song has its own rules and its own corresponding rewards. It pretty much always has a few verses and a chorus and a bridge, and the verses usually develop a story. A lot of people groan about the stories being too straightforward or obvious. First of all, straightforward can be refreshing. As much as we love to puzzle over what Pavement is getting at with stuff like "Magic Christians chew the rind," it can be great sometimes to be told a solid, traditional story. Note the popularity of the Harry Potter books with people of all ages and backgrounds. Another plus is that the seemingly "boring" foundation allows for the genius of the clever bits to come through. Some country songs do that cool thing of having one basic refrain which, by being altered slightly throughout the song, means a different thing when paired with each separate verse (classic example: Tim McGraw's "Don't Take The Girl"). I am pretty sure Virgil did something similar in The Aeneid, so it's legit.

5) It's not all conservative propaganda. Probably the most convincing argument against listening to commercial country is that, by doing so, you are supporting a massive right-wing evangelical hate-machine. Some of what gets played on the radio is undeniably odious. That song by Toby Keith where he goes "Cause we'll put a boot in your ass / It's the American way" is almost horrifying enough to turn a person off of music entirely. But let's not forget the Dixie Chicks, who spoke out against Bush at that concert in London in 2003. And Darius Rucker, who is black (and faces the greater challenge of being the former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish) and whose country career seems to be flourishing. And beyond these specific examples, there are the many artists whose songs are not preaching hate or intolerance, but are just about falling in love or getting hurt, just like every other song since the beginning of time. Like being a conscious consumer and not buying t-shirts from people who kill seals, it's possible to listen to country music without being responsible for any book-banning or anything. And sometimes it's ok to buy hamburger from McDonald's, or listen to an infectious and slightly more harmless song by Toby Keith like "I Wanna Talk About Me." It's a complex world, and we can't always be perfect.

Ya'll. What are you waiting for.

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