Saturday, April 16, 2005

Is Country Music Producing The Next Era of Great Songwriters?

I was having lunch in a restaurant recently that was playing country music nonstop.

I enjoy all music styles and genres while having written a song for every style of music I have probably heard.

But what caught my ear most of all was the high level of songwriting that I heard being played.

Many people who grew up listening to Motown and R&B cannot stand the R&B that is often played now or found within videos.

There are a few bright lights of real music found in artists such as John Legend, Smokey Norville, and India.Arie to name a few.

I even like and appreciate the artistry of Alicia Keys but her second album/CD totally eclipsed for the better her first CD which won several Grammys. I believe that the Clive Davis machinery really kicked into overdrive and India.Arie got shut out while having a better album.

The neosoul movement leaves me at the bus stop for the most part. The wannabe eclectic but eccentric passion is just a little too phony for me.

Live performances really provide the measurement system for me these days.

But what I heard from the country music being played indicated that the real passion these days is to be found within country music.

Sure there are few syrupy songs that made me wonder if Babyface was now writing country music along with Brian McKnight, Lionel Ritchie, and Stevie Wonder, but all in all, I will be turning on a country music station if I am ever within an area that is killing my ears otherwise.

I really like Tim McGraw after hearing a few of his songs. I will admit that he never really appeared on my radar screen until I understood his duet and video with Nelly. I thought that it was actually Nelly singing in a spoken style;)

The new passion of country music is the real why I selected Tim McGraw and a few other country artists for my online radio station at:

http://launch.yahoo.com/lc/?rt=0&rp1=0&rp2=1222751154

No comments: