Nashville’s Most Famous Songwriter Signs Off

Kris Kristofferson has retired. A movie star, award-winning recording artist, Grammy Lifetime Achievement honoree, and what a life story! His son John is taking over the family business, and maybe what a great film his life story will make one day. Kris’s story is uplifting and inspirational for any musical dreamers out there.

Kris is just one of the dozen or so Classic Country stars winding down their very long careers. But Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn are still putting out music, and God bless them for that. The six and seven decade-long stars were and are survivors.

This week, the owner of the great Texas honky-tonk The Broken Spoke passed away. Mr. James White was 87, and George Strait praised him for trying to keep the spirit of the honky-tonk dancehall alive. George was an unknown when The Spoke and Mr. White gave his Ace in the Hole band a chance. The Spoke is still on South Lamar near downtown Austin, surrounded by tall, imposing condominiums. Hopefully it will keep doing what it’s been doing since 1964.

Keeping traditions alive in 2021 is difficult. Go find your favorite bar from the ’70s or even ’80s! Newspapers have all but fallen, as social media gets more controversial. TV is standing on shaky ground too.

The Coronavirus has slammed the brakes on the “it” city of Nashville and all of its booming entertainment venues. The guard has changed. Country music styles are in flux. The big question moving forward is: What role does tradition still have in tradition-steeped Country music?

The clothes, the hats, the broken heart love songs … are they still relevant? Hearts will always get broken, but will the honesty of a Country song still be consolation?

Larry King was the last great multi media talk show host. Tim McGraw wished this week that someone would do a show like Larry’s where you could get to know people in the public eye better. These combative talk shows or total fluff interview shows are the WWE of media. Clown shows. Hannity and Combs, “Crossfire,” both balanced and fair. Traditions lost in 2021.

So how does Country music stay in some kind of definable lane? The instruments? Style? Sound? Subjects? What is Country music in 2021? When you can’t play Alan Jackson or George Strait on a Country formatted station, where is that ship headed?

We are a month into 2021. The virus and controversial politics still top the news, wherever you might find your news.

Morgan Wallen is the star of the year so far. Great start with two of the year’s four weeks at #1 on Billboard’s all-genre album chart. Listen to that double album, there is truly something for everyone on it. Maybe that’s the answer: George Strait-ish Country next to the other tradition-bending music. More of what we heard in 2020.

Back to where we started: Is a career like Kris Kristofferson’s even possible these days? Probably, and it will be equally amazing when it does.