> Well, well, well....maybe if they started playing folks like Dale
> Watson, The
> Derailers, Duane Jarvis, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Rosie Flores, Kelly
> Willis, Jann Browne, Heather Myles, Mike Ireland, Lucinda,
> Lauderdale, Cisco,
> The Hollisters, Buddy Miller and Steve Earle they'd get those
> listeners back.
>
> .....just a thought!
And a nice one, too, but also a questionable one. These folks are already
on the air in many major markets, and they have albums out, too, yet they
don't, with the occasional exception, seem to be drawing listeners and
buyers in the kind of numbers that mainstream country radio is looking for,
and it was getting away from, not moving toward, the twangier stuff that
brought a lot of listeners in in the first place; why would moving toward it
bring those people back now?
I frankly think that what's happening is that the novelty factor is wearing
off for a lot of the newer country listeners, and they're off to look for
the Next Big Thing without much concern for whether it's labeled rock or pop
or something else again. I haven't seen even a whisper of a desire for
twangier, more hardcore country stuff in the coverage of the CRS that's been
posted here - and in fact, the positive references to "outlaws" merely
underlines the point, as the musical content of The Outlaws boom of the 70s
consisted in large part of "breaking the rules" and "taking risks" by
bringing more rock influences into the country mainstream.
The best thing that can happen to country music right now is for the
audience to shrink.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
