Johnny Cash and June Carter, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Kenny Rogers, Pat Boone… — some of the classics we grew up listening to were country! But, for the longest time, in my understanding of music, the genre of country was one person — John Denver, an Alpha and Omega of sorts; him and his song ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads'. Then came YouTube, VH1 and Hannah Montana, and country music was no longer one person with one song.
Over the years, however, with the increasing popularity of pop, rock and good girls going bad, country music disappeared. The genre became irrelevant everywhere, except at some hoedown. It was Martie Erwin Maguire, Emily Erwin Robison and, lead singer Natalie Maines, together as the Dixie Chicks, with crossover appeal into other genres, who put alternative country on the charts.
The girls, who broke through at the 1999 Grammy with the award for best new artist and two others, took country music from the American hick towns and sold it in ready-to-listen packages to everyone. Since then, some of the Grammy regulars have been Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and this year Lady Antebellum, a Grammy favourite with five awards to its credit.
“I love Taylor Swift, her songs are young and refreshing, and I think, because of her age, her songs just speak to me; they are totally relatable,” says Treasa, an 18-year-old. Swift who has been an award phenomenon since her eponymous debut won the coveted album of the year in 2008 for ‘Fearless'. She's also the youngest artiste to win this award, and it's the first solo country act too to win this award.
The old style
Keyboardist and vocalist of bands Retronome and Aurko, Uday Jose says: “I grew up listening to Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, and listening to contemporary country artistes is quite different. I miss listening to the old styles of rockabilly, hillbilly, and two-step, which were heard a lot in the old generation country artistes and especially in heartbroken blues lyrics. The contemporary, however, have their fresh new sounds with a few elements of pop and synth.”
After Taylor Swift set the ball rolling a couple of years ago, this year Lady Antebellum's song ‘Need You Now' won the pop country trio a lot of acclaim at the Grammy's. “Today's country musicians are bringing a genre of music to a generation that has quite literally sneered at it before. Taylor Swift has done some beautiful work, and has made a huge impact, but her melodies tend to be repetitive. However, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, and Keith Urban have great music and lyrics. Country music is definitely making a comeback. It's great to have my own kid listen to country without me having to sneak it on to her iPod,” says vocalist Sabrina Price.
“Country music never left, it's long been a very strong force in the U.S. pop scenario. Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift are the products of contemporary pop country, which is essentially the dilution of country's roots in favour of a more pop-driven sound. Alternative country is better represented by artistes such as Iron and Wine, Steve Earle, Conor Oberst, and maybe even the Dixie Chicks. But, pop country is here to stay,” says Uday Benegal, vocalist of Indian rock band Indus Creed.
