Is Anyone Watching the CMA Awards This Year?
It is billed as “country music’s biggest night”, and maybe it is these days. The 2008 CMA Awards take place this Wednesday, Nov. 12, this year, and will be televised on ABC.
But does an awards show which will be dominated by the likes of the soft rock-country of Kenny Chesney get us dive bar lovers whooping and hollering?
Country music has settled down in recent years, like Hank Jr.’s once-rowdy friends. Some of that, no doubt, seems to be the result of many in the country music establishment hitching their fortunes very closely to a political current and administration in Washington which has been soundly rejected by a majority of the American people. Nowadays, the prevailing tone in mainstream country music is subdued, almost the product of demoralization. Even Toby Keith is at present peddling a lot of ballads, and Gretchen Wilson, once the darling of redneck-loving men and women, has had to postpone the release of her new album until next year because its first rock-flavored single did not do well with her audience.
I’ll probably still watch it, or at least part of it, if for no other reasons than to see a couple of good performances and to learn how the powers-that-be want an officially sanctioned show to appear. There are still some contemporary country artists I can sometimes take, such as Brad Paisley, Sugarland, Trace Adkins, and Taylor Swift.
But don’t expect to see or hear much if anything at all of Merle, Willie, or the rest of the outlaws. For that, you can head down to the NYCBP 10th anniversary party this Friday, Nov. 14, at Doc Holliday’s.
But does an awards show which will be dominated by the likes of the soft rock-country of Kenny Chesney get us dive bar lovers whooping and hollering?
Country music has settled down in recent years, like Hank Jr.’s once-rowdy friends. Some of that, no doubt, seems to be the result of many in the country music establishment hitching their fortunes very closely to a political current and administration in Washington which has been soundly rejected by a majority of the American people. Nowadays, the prevailing tone in mainstream country music is subdued, almost the product of demoralization. Even Toby Keith is at present peddling a lot of ballads, and Gretchen Wilson, once the darling of redneck-loving men and women, has had to postpone the release of her new album until next year because its first rock-flavored single did not do well with her audience.
I’ll probably still watch it, or at least part of it, if for no other reasons than to see a couple of good performances and to learn how the powers-that-be want an officially sanctioned show to appear. There are still some contemporary country artists I can sometimes take, such as Brad Paisley, Sugarland, Trace Adkins, and Taylor Swift.
But don’t expect to see or hear much if anything at all of Merle, Willie, or the rest of the outlaws. For that, you can head down to the NYCBP 10th anniversary party this Friday, Nov. 14, at Doc Holliday’s.
Labels: beer, country music, dive bars
| By Eddie Goldman | Permalink 
