The Pot Is Approaching The Boiling Point

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Maybe the boiling point came quicker than expected. Required homework assignment ... from the New York Times, a well-written article on the current state of Country music ... or close enough ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/arts/music/country-music-opens-its-ears.html

...and another little bit of Summer reading ... some smartly crafted reviews of artists at the Bayou Country event in Baton Rouge over the Memorial Day weekend...

Here is an accurate view of Eric Church's well-received set ... the writer, Keith Spera, painted an excellent picture..

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2014/05/eric_church_sang_of_sin_salvat.html

With that all as a setup, let's get into CMT Awards and CMA Musicfest week ... right now I am most curious about the Thursday 9am

event with Alan Jackson.. Alan at 9a? A news conference? What in the world is this about?

I first was worried we would be going into another George Strait news conference about retirement. I don't think so ... George rides off into the sunset June 7th, an event I still don't understand. The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney all still going strong, so why retire? Just don't understand the concept.

Now onto the real reason for Alan's news conference. Here is where the trains are coming into the station on the same track.

Is Alan signing with Scott? If you read around the trades and fan press, it sure sounds like it. The stars of the last 25 years still feel they have some bullets left in their guns.

Are the fans of Country music all enthusiastic about the Bro Country movement? No...

It started with Taylor and the teen girls and everyone worked through that. Then you had more and more folks hitching on to the Taylor fans who were growing into college girls. Kaboom ... Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean ... The Georgia boys and yes,the Fla Georgia boys. The Country world made a lot of acts feel very out of style in what seemed to be a flash...

The under 30s and the over 30s have never been good at living together ... especially in the arts.

Corportate radio consolidation and the push to add more network shows and less local. Big changes and audience shifts ... Add streaming ... lower CD and download sales ... $3 billion purchase of a streaming service head phone maker by Apple. I cant keep up.

What do the fans want? The teens and early 20s are happy as can be ... see Bayou Country Festival.

But what about the over 30s? This is where the disgruntled live. Are they the future?

Garth is coming back ... Alan signs up ... a dozen ... two dozen other hitmakers ready to have a modern Classic Hits format? Hmm...

Is this good or bad? Depends on who you talk to.

Radio people ... record people have their agendas ... The fans .. .just depends on the age.

Content ... Is every night prom night? Get drunk night? Can we have any more drinking songs? This, as much as anything, has become a laughing stock. Trucks and drinking and that Southern lifestyle subject matter. It seems to be what the public wants so, hey, give the people what they want!!

In 2014 you have sat radio and every other kind of radio ... TV ... social media ... it's insane. You can find your music. Just have to look ... but the system was ... you heard it on the radio, then everything started from there.

The world has changed? Has it?

Are the Bro Country fans loyal radio folks?

So ... the highly popular Country format radio stations

With pod mentality are going to split their audience ... and I am well aware this has happened in many markets already. And the race is on...

It feels like the Top 40 versus Hot AC/AC battles of long ago ... It may be the answer but something about all this feels like a divorce...

I like both kinds of Country music in this battle ... I like Luke Bryan and I like Alan Jackson. I think the world has gone nuts myself...