87841 - Country music

[Cognoscente]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/87841/

Frère had some good points but didn't really touch on the history of the genre. The struggle between what's perceived as "legitimate" country and "pop" country has been going on for the entire history of the genre. I don't think authenticity has played more of a role in any other pop music genre other than hip hop.

Country started out unambiguously as the music of poorer, outsider artists. Hillbilly, boogie-woogie, and bluegrass music was based on English and Irish folk music brought over by immigrants. Add jazz influence, and you get swing. Add latin influence and you get honky-tonk. Add gospel, and you get the first strains of what would be called country-western. It was music by and for poor folk in the depression era. I think everyone respects that kind of music, even if they aren't fans. Pop music has always felt more "authentic" when it's lo-fi and written and performed by underdogs, even if that is part of the "package."

The beginning of the backlash was planted in divergence between the Nashville sound and the Bakersfield sound in the late-50s and early-60s. Nashville artists became a dominating influence on the genre, and the big artists there were 1.) enormously commercially successful and 2.) very polished. Big string sections, formulaic songwriting, etc. That branch of the genre morphed into the "countrypolitan" sound, and later mixed with soft rock to become pop country, with all the cliches you associate with it. In contrast, the "Bakersfield" artists reacted by drawing on rockabilly influences, favoring steel guitar, and using stripped down production rather than lavish polish. That branch evolved into "outlaw country" and later, southern rock and alt-country.

The backlash against country music, as I see it, is mostly against the formulaicness and success of the pop side of country. Because while artists that come from the outlaw subgenre are mostly lauded among critics and fans of other genres... it's the pop artists that have consistently been the most financially and commercially successful, for many decades now.

Finally, if anyone is interested in examples of terrific modern country, check out Jason Isbell (and Drive-By Truckers, the band he was in before), Kacey Musgraves, and Sturgill Simpson. And for that great "Muscle Shoals" space between roots rock and old soul/R&B, check out Leon Bridges.