Jon persists in comparing Shania Twain (who does have a brother named
Mark, by the way) with the 70s Outlaws:
> > Let's see. Artist A has essentially mediocre success using
> producer-determined/arranged material, fights with his label in order to
> record the stuff that *he* wants to, rather than what the label has stuck
> him with in the past, wins fight, hits it big with crossover appeal.
> Artist B has essentially mediocre success using producer-determined/arranged
> material, fights with her label in order to record the stuff that *she*
> wants to, rather than what the label has stuck her with in the past, wins
> fight, hits it big with crossover appeal.
>
> Looks like a pretty close resemblance to me on a pretty important level.
>
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, Jeff Wall is channeling through my keyboard; I
can't stop him: On an even more important level -- relative suckage --
Shania's got the 70s Outlaw Country artists beat all to hell.
Naw, that was me, not Jeff. What I'm trying to say -- the relative merit
of the music (which is all a matter of taste) isn't addressed on any
levels in your comparisons about how each of these artists, or group of
artists, dealt with the "industry." If Shania was a duck quacking, and
she'd gone through some of those fights for freedom with the Nashville
establishment, that wouldn't say a damn thing about quacker's merit vis a
vis Waylon, Willy, Jerry Jeff, etc. I think your comparative points are
instructive, but of limited utility, when we're trying to gauge to what
extent rock influences have eroded or heightened the quality of country
music. It depends on the influence. Quality is subjective, but to deny the
lack of differences in quality is lunacy. -- Terry Smith
