A couple of things about the quoted Flippo passage, the first of which is
that this:
> The producer as king -- that fuedal notion was
> shattered. Country artists gained control over their own record sessions,
> their own booking, their record production, everything else related
> to their careers, including the right to make their own mistakes..."
is, I think most everyone would agree, sadly dated <g>.
More to the point, though, is that when he says that the Outlaw thing
> ...came to represent a real
> determination by a handful of artists to bring country music into line
> with the rest of the musical world -- artistically as well as financially.
what that meant from a musical point of view was, among other things, the
incorporation of rock and rock-related influences into the music. That's
the irony of trying to frame Jennings et.al. as conservators of "real"
country music. In the terms Flippo's talking about, Shania Twain is a
direct descendant of sorts from the Outlaws, struggling with the
powers-that-be at her label in order to make the kind of record *she* wanted
to (with Any Man Of Mine), incorporating contemporaneous extra-country
sounds and attitudes - which is a notion I don't have much trouble with,
actually, but I suspect others might <g>.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
