To Be Or Not To Be, That Is The Question

Quoting Shakespeare and it’s just the 2nd week of 2022. Already this year an Americana artist has stirred the Morgan Wallen pot, and The Tennessean is trying to connect the dots between a controversial past president, an A -list country singer and decades of conservative rhetoric/racism.

Personally, I would rather talk about how much I like Parker McCollum’s newly Top 10 song, “To Be Loved By You.” That’s the direction this wagon train should be heading in, singing about love and not division.

On the Grand Ole Opry and Wallen, he sang his duet with budding star ERNEST about a flower shops and defeated love. Attention K Mart shoppers! Morgan Wallen is here, and he’s not going anywhere but up.

The effort was made to punish him and it was successful. The effort by a few artists to cancel him failed. Game over.

If the mistake is made to keep banning him from award shows, etc., enough. If he gets nominated for something and the voters say yes, he’s in. No more interference. These award shows are on shaky ground in the first place.

The cancel culture curators are being called out on a daily basis now. Steve Harvey is the latest. Stand up comedians are afraid to work. Ring doorbell surveillance of drunks screaming in the neighbor’s yard was a great grab, but big brother watching your every move is a touchy foundation.

I saw a streaming service list of Country music’s hottest acts. Don’t trust it. Not sure why, but fake news is everywhere. You just feel the bias leaning in one direction or the other.

There is a narrative these days in everything, from the top down an objective. It’s way too obvious. People have caught on.

Let’s make a late New Year’s resolution to play nice in 2022. Stop trying to cancel people you disagree with.

Country music is a big place. There is room for all the voices you can’t seem to fit on a limited radio playlist. The streaming and the internet in general open up a very large playing field.

We all have friends who love musicals, and we have friends that hate them. Like Opera, don’t like Opera. Love Rap, hate Rap. Love Bluegrass, hate Bluegrass.

Good, don’t listen to what you don’t like. That’s always worked for me.

Eminem is a white American rapper with 500 million YouTube subscribers. I am proudly NOT one of them. But I wish him well. Hope he gets to 600 million without my ears, but I don’t want him to stop.

The great thing about music is its variety. We all have our own personal playlist. Respect that.

Politics is a very dangerous place for an entertainer to dwell, right or left. Ideally, you want everyone to purchase your product, not just red states or blue states or whatever.

If you do plant your public political flag that is your right. We have fought wars to defend that privilege. But don’t be shocked by consequences. Just know playing to only the base is a losing formula.

Let’s make the music great. Respect tradition while moving the ball down the field. Control your PR and beware of social media. It’s a two-headed, dangerous snake. You must play it like a steel guitar. Ever tried that instrument?

Happy 2022. Let’s stop brainwashing and fighting.

Write great songs, not trite songs. Raise the bar. Make your momma proud!