Last week, this article about Taylor Swift’s crossover success got me to thinking about not only Swift, but other country stars who have met with major success in pop and adult contemporary markets. It’s a mixed bag among the genre’s most steadfast supporters, while we welcome all the new listeners and fans to the format, somehow it would just be sweeter if they’d been wooed over by more traditional sounds. Which begs the question, ‘Are these fans of middle-of-the-road-country really going to be interested in the roots of the genre’? And if they’re not, how does bringing pop fans over with what are essentially pop songs broadening country music’s fan base?
Quote from DJ: J.D. Greene, KISS, FM – Pop/Rock Station
“I think when it’s all said and done, Taylor will always be a country artist, … I don’t think she makes music saying, ‘This can go to the Top 40.’ I think she’ll still make her country songs, and they’ll find a way to get it onto the Top 40.”
… the same could be said for Shania Twain, who made country music, even though aimed at crossover success was rooted enough in the genre that it was justified in calling itself country and also presented the assumption that Twain would turn with the tides if the genre went back to a traditional sound again, like the sweep in the late 80s …
Turn all this into a discussion about what the readers think about Swift’s roots in country music, and those in general whose music is decidedly aimed at being crossover, with a sort of country influence.
- Perhaps best summarized by the pop-country and country-pop tags. Country-pop is the sort of country made by Garth Brooks, Reba, and even Brooks & Dunn and George Strait, whose music is pretty much rooted in the traditional but has strayed far from it at times, but kept its identity as nothing but country, while other artists like Shania, LeAnn Rimes, Swift, etc. have based their music on pop and added enough country elements to earn the pop-country, keeping just enough of its core sound to be known by the surname of the genre.
I’m not one to question the motives of anyone, especially someone who seems as genuinely honest and endearing as Taylor Swift, but I have to wonder about her roots and her plans for the future now that she’s a bona fide pop star. Will she continue to release songs to country radio and pop radio simultaneously? LeAnn Rimes tried that with spotty success. Or will she decide the country market isn’t for her and forge ahead a pop princess?
J.D. Greene, of Minneapolis’s KEEY-FM, which programs country, and formerly a DJ for a pop/rock station thinks Swift’s heart and roots belong to country, saying, “I think when it’s all said and done, Taylor will always be a country artist, … I don’t think she makes music saying, ‘This can go to the Top 40.’ I think she’ll still make her country songs, and they’ll find a way to get it onto the Top 40.”
The same could be said for artists like Shania Twain, who made country music, even though aimed at crossover success, was rooted enough in the genre that it was justified in calling itself country and also presented the assumption that Twain would turn with the tides if the genre went back to a traditional sound again, like the New Traditionalist sweep in the 1980s. Hey, we can all dream, can’t we?
Other artist have started their careers with very traditional records and then reached for crossover success. Lee Ann Womack and Sara Evans fit that bill, and to a lesser degree Rimes, but her pop aspirations were pretty clear early on. Womack has since come back to the fold. Her most recent two albums have been an ode back to the classic country sound. There’s also those who’ve yet to come back - (Twain, Evans, etc.) Though in fairness, Shania could still come back with a very rootsy record and surprise us all.
So what do you think about country artists aiming at or achieving crossover success? Should it be an accident – a testament to the power of the music’s universal appeal that non-country audiences are interested? Or should singers actively pursue airplay on outlets outside the country genre?
My thoughts on crossover are perhaps best summarized by the pop-country and country-pop tags. Mind you, these are only my personal definitions for the terms, and I encourage you to draw your own by listening to these and similar artists. Country-pop is the sort of country made by Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, and even Brooks & Dunn and George Strait, whose music is pretty much rooted in the traditional but has strayed far from it at times, but kept its identity as nothing but country. While other artists like Shania, Sugarland, Swift, etc. have based their music on pop and added a few country elements such a barely audible banjo in the chorus or a steel guitar buried in the mix, to earn the pop-country tag, keeping just enough of its core sound to be known by the surname of the genre.
Right now, pop-country seems to be the hot ticket, with Swift as its leader in sales, airplay success, and on the road, so it’s only natural that so many are jumping on the bandwagon. But will these artists stay with country music for the long haul?
Jeremy Mulder, another country radio DJ – at Pittsburgh’s Froggy 104.3-FM – reiterates “Swift is absolutely a country star and has not tried to be a pop star. She might not have the twang of classic country, but she has boots, a cool dress, a guitar and a story to tell.
“Country music is known for telling a story,” Mulder says. “She’s definitely not singing about her bling bling. … She wrote songs about her life on her guitar, and people relate to her. And that’s country.”
Do you agree with J.D. and Jeremy? Do you think artists like Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and those in general whose music is decidedly aimed at being crossover, with a sort of country influence, have their roots in country music?
Will they return to country as their permanent home or will they reach for the heights of a crossover career?
What you’re saying…