The Old Guys Just Keep Rolling

Add one more to the list saddened by the closure of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. Add to that the shrinkage of music life on Music Row, and the fact that few historical markers exist where famous music industry buildings once stood.

Thanks to all who saved RCA Studios A and B!

You can get carried away with saving history, but boomtown BNA feels very different these days. Leave it at that.

Old buildings aren’t winning these days, but the senior class -- 50 plus years -- are going strong. King George Strait will play to around 80,000 at RodeoHouston, with tickets going for $500 to $900 on aftermarket sites. The Bellamy Brothers just keep rolling, and God bless Willie Nelson playing with George in Austin next month.

The classic rock band Journey booked 72,000 at RodeoHouston, and The Rolling Stones are booking two months of shows in Europe in June and July.

The 57-year-old Craig Morgan is on a “Survivor”-like reality show, “Beyond The Edge” with Lauren Aliana in Panama.

Obviously, an audience exists for Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, the Oak Ridge Boys and stadium dweller Garth Brooks. The question is how can radio just play the new kids with a slight splash of 54-year-old Keith Urban, and very few others.

Top 40 added all ages at the height of the tight playlists and fast rotation. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin got in.

Country music has always had a wide age range for its artists, and respected the older artists too. Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe didn’t enjoy much airplay either. Just saying, 2022 looks different.

Streaming is drowning all in its path. Shouldn’t broadcast radio follow the SiriusXM path of multiple types of Country stations?

Morning drive’s audience has been disrupted. Podcasts and everything else have taken some thunder.

Is a format impossible that plays Parker McCollum’s #1 song and then plays “Ocean Front Property?” Dierks Bentley, the other night at the rodeo, played “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” the ZZ Top evergreen. The audience loved it!

An Alabama great hit followed by Cody Johnson, Willie singing a drunk song followed by Miranda Lambert/Elle King would be fun, or Brad Paisley’s “Alcohol.” I could go on all day. There has to be a way to play the best of Country, especially in drive times, maybe any time.

A shame that radio can’t reflect, and the city of Nashville can’t protect, the software that created Music City USA. It’s not “Computer City USA,” or “Salesforce USA.” Music and education built this town, the schools and the evolution that created a revolution on 16th Ave.

Some organization needs to step up, and go to the state since the city seems incapable of preservation. Radio needs to take some chances. Stop voice tracking everything and get out among the people again.

Get a domed stadium and fill the hotels so the powers that be can be happy, and rediscover the DNA that made Nashville the coolest place that it is. Professional sports are dessert. Music and the arts once made Nashville “The Athens of the South.”

From Henry McRaven’s book “Nashville”: “Just as Athens, Greece, was recognized centuries ago as the center of learning, so Nashville was accredited from its very beginning as a community where the attributes of learning and the appreciation of the fine arts were reflected in the leadership of its men and women in all walks of life.”

Music made by some not very educated people at times mixed with some great, educated business people built a great place. Getting the mix right on the radio and in life around Middle Tennessee is sorely needed.