Thought I'd Seen About Everything

Maybe we thought that with 2020 gone, 2021 would bring a return to some kind of normal. Maybe that was too much to ask!

Tim McGraw called it a “sad day.” That may have been the biggest understatement of 2021. Music Row was abuzz on January 6th when news broke of the Capitol invasion in Washington, DC. Stars called each other, but few likely dared to say much. Too hot of a topic.

Politics remains largely a whispered subject in Country music. Stars on both sides remain quiet, not daring to say anything public that would hurt the career. That status remains the smart play.

You’ve got to wonder if all of this will affect the music. Songwriters would have to be really shut off to not soak in the vibe of the last three days.

Meanwhile, the Morgan Wallen “Dangerous” album is out, complete with his fight with Walmart over an alleged leak. Morgan pronounced, “I don’t shop at Walmart anyway!” He does find a way to make the news.

The Barry Gibb Nashville duets album is out now too, and is a great compliment to the HBO documentary on the Bee Gees. Unless you have forgotten, Barry bought the Hendersonville, TN lake home of Johnny and June Cash. Hours before moving in, the home burned to the ground. Barry stayed in Miami.

Luke Combs started the year thanking fans for buying his music. Can’t go wrong saying thanks. Luke is one of those stars keeping most of his crew on the payroll during the pandemic.

The last year phenomenon of Dolly Parton being in the news every day is still happening in 2021. Now, Dolly has made the news for putting a song in a glass box at a hotel at Dollywood. It’s a CD (complete with a CD player) and can’t be opened until 2045. Dolly has the best PR people I’ve ever seen.

The question remains in early January: When will the concert season ever begin? The answer is the same as it was in October: Who knows?

Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center says it will begin giving 1,000 COVID-19 vaccinations a day, and that will happen soon. Still, it’s going to take a long time for enough people to get vaccinated that full-blown concerts can take place.

I think we all still see that light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is that on Wednesday, that light was a train.