> Americana ain't happening until it can
> cross artists like Mandy and the Derailers over to other formats. We've
> been through this before. Americana won't be a REAL format until it has
> quite a few influential major market stations playing the music
> 24-7.
Let's see. It ain't a REAL format until it has a bunch of major market
stations playing the music 24/7, but it ain't happening until it's a minor
league of farm teams for other formats. If there's some logic or
consistency to those views, it's pretty well hidden. FWIW, my vote's for
the real-when-it-has-big-stations-24/7 one, though even that has some
weaknesses, as evidenced by the occasional disparity between airplay and
album sales (like, f'r instance, of The Mountain, or What I Deserve, or Trio
II).
As Tiffany pointed out, being on a "non-Nashville" label is the least of
Barnett's problems when it comes to country radio, which is not synonymous
with Nashville, or even the "Nashville machine"; the geographical
knee-jerking gets really tiresome. Country radio isn't based in Nashville,
and neither are the consultants who are shaping programming decisions. It
doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the "Nashville machine" has put
out some great country music that hasn't been able to break country radio
(The Key has generated fewer Top 10 singles than any of Gill's previous MCA
albums, to take only one obvious, familiar example), it just takes someone
with normal knees.
BTW, can someone refresh my memory as to which cut from I've Got A Right To
Cry was the first single/video shipped to country radio, CMT, etc.?
Jon Weisberger, Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger
