>In a message dated 3/13/99 9:59:01 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
><<(from Rolling Stone Online)
>
>HEADLINE: Steve Earle Battles with Identity Crisis
>
>Ever since Steve Earle released his first Bruce
>Springsteen-meets-Hank-Williams album thirteen years ago, the Nashville
>rebel has always been a little bit country and a little bit rock & roll.
>Earle's debut, *Guitar Town,* actually went No. 1 on the country charts. But
>subsequent releases, like *Copperhead Road,* seemed more inspired by Guns n'
>Roses than Acuff-Rose.
>
>But the question of what musical category Earle falls into recently set off
>a nasty battle between Earle's record company and the music industry bible,
>Billboard. The row illustrates just how crucial chart position is to
>business in this fast-moving business.
>
>The problem centered around the February release of Earle's latest album,
>*The Mountain.* The critically acclaimed record, which is heavy on fiddle
>and banjo, was made with legendary bluegrass five-piece the Del McCoury
>Band. In last week's issue, though, *The Mountain* was not included on
>Billboard's country album chart, even though the album sold enough copies
>its first week in stores to log in at No. 13, right between Martina McBride
>and Tim McGraw.
>
>According to Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts, the magazine's
>various chart managers have the ultimate say about which records qualify in
>the specific genres. And since Earle hadn't been on the country chart in
>more than a decade, and his record company was not promoting any single to
>mainstream country radio, *The Mountain,* despite it's traditional
>Appalachian sound, was let off the list. (That same week, the new release by
>Kelly Willis, another acclaimed singer who walks the line in Nashville, was
>also excluded from the country chart.) "We're second-guessed all the time,"
>says Mayfield.
>
>"To say Steve Earle on this record isn't country is like saying Robert
>Johnson ain't the blues," argues Brad Hunt, retail consultant for Earle's
>indie label, E-Squared. "It's just not the country schlock that Music Row
>[in Nashville] perpetuates." (Despite that hit from Hunt, when the chart
>came out, Music Row big wig Tony Brown, president of MCA Nashville, called
>Billboard to point out the Earle oversight.)
>
>E-Squared executives were upset not simply because it's an ego boost for an
>indie label to debut in the top fifteen, but because the chart can effect
>future sales. "Billboard's country chart is what major retail chains use to
>do their buying," says Hunt. "If I call the buyers and tell them the
>record's coming, the record's coming, and then they open the magazine and
>don't see it on the chart, they say you're full of shit. I had to jump on
>the phone and explain to them why the record wasn't there. [Billboard's]
>interfering with our ability to do commerce."
>
>"It seems like we're being singled out as an indie label," says Jack
>Emerson, who co-founded E-squared with Earle. Mayfield admits *The Mountain*
>is a country record and deserves to be on the chart. "There's a human factor
>involved in the charts, and humans make mistakes." But he also blames the
>label for not communicating with Billboard's Nashville chart manager to make
>sure there would be no confusion. As for the suggestion that E-Squared was
>dealt with differently because it's an indie, "that doesn't fly," he says.
>So in the Billboard country chart published for Friday, March 11, *The
>Mountain,* based on last week's sales, will debut at No. 19. (Willis' album
>is also on board, coming in at No. 33.) "Give us credit for fixing the
>mistake," says Mayfield.
>
>Not a chance. Hunt is still furious because *The Mountain* will not be
>awarded an all-important bullet, which indicates increased sales activity
>for the previous week. That's another flag that gets the attention of retail
>buyers. By definition, says Hunt, an album can't debut on the chart without
>a bullet. "But we did, because they're holding last week against us."
>
>ERIC BOEHLERT (March 11, 1999)
