The Cutting Edge of Country

What is country music? I know it when I hear it ... mostly. I know what I don't like and know what doesn't feel right. It's hard to write guidelines for music.

Emails this week mostly sought to complain about the CMT awards show.

It was pure CMT, what with attitude, new faces (not old), and plenty of lights flashing and glitz. I personally don't really have a problem with all that as some purists choke on their Goo Goos.

The world of Country music is a big one. Rascal Flatts -- with their hair and pop style -- sold over 3/4 of a million copies of their new cd this week. That's fantastic and great news for those guys who a lot of people in the world of Country can't stand.

Success makes a lot of people jealous. Simple as that. Carrie Underwood falls into the same world.

Wynonna said this week that a lot of the new singers in town were rather "vanilla." I agree, but a lot of every kind of music is safe and vanilla. It makes the great ones even more rare and special.

With downloads, satellite radio, corporate radio, and 26 week chart trips for each song, things are odd these days on Music Row. The Opry is trying to evolve. The Country Music Hall of Fame is always trying to take in more money to keep from drowning. Fan Fair as a brand is still better than the CMA Music Festival. It's a crazy business.

Nothing is more crazy than the radio business as it tried to hold on to what it has in this Post Howard Stern time. Change is here. There's the firing of the jocks in SF at KZBR. The folks there said the jocks were confusing the focus. They weren't negative ... they just weren't adding anything. It's an Adult Hits format ... AC by any other name. Jukebox. Jocks were liner card readers, I bet, and Lord knows the audience can't wait to hear the next liner card.

At another SF station this week, a jock offered a reward to have a fellow air personality killed. It was a joke, BUT still. Another jock in SF supposedly was fired after falling asleep during her show. And you wonder why I say this business is in a hell of a mess! Radio shows so boring the jocks fall asleep and want to whack each other. Well it was SF. But still

Spring is here. It is a time of renewal in nature. Kenny, Tim and Faith are going out on tour again.

CMT is adding a new Bruce Springsteen song. The Nashville Star voters are kicking off all the good female singers and keeping the bad hat acts. Jocks are falling asleep during their exciting shifts. 500,000 show up for an immigration rally in Dallas. Bird Flu is found in Scotland. It's enough to make you want to hear a Country song on the AM radio.