Author Archives: Madison Comstock

About Madison Comstock

is a freshman Public Relations major at the University of Texas at Austin. She was born and grew up in Dallas, Texas. Currently, as well as during high school, she was always going to country concerts to two-step with her friends. She is a huge fan of all types of music, including country, and artists like George Strait, Tim McGraw, Johnny Cash, and Josh Abbott Band.

Country Songs from Movie Soundtracks

After watching Country Strong, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, again for my Country Music Experiences project, my obsession with the movie’s soundtrack quickly came back. I love all the songs so much, particularly “Give in to Me,” “Coming Home,” and “Me and Tennessee.” It got me thinking, what are some other great country songs that came from movie soundtracks? After looking through my music, I found a lot that I love that I didn’t realize or forgot were from movies. Here are some of my favorite country songs that come from movies.

I love this song because it showcases Gwyneth Paltrow’s surprisingly amazing voice. Before seeing Country Strong, I had no idea she had such a great voice and was capable of singing a ballad like this one. It’s a beautiful song, and in the movie, it is Paltrow’s Kelly Canter’s final performance before she commits suicide. I would like the song on its own, but the context in which it is performed in the movie gives it a more special quality, because of the emotion with which Paltrow sings.

This is another song from Country Strong that I really like, and it is a duet performed by Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund. It is a love song, and is sung with a lot of emotion. In the movie it is the beginning of the twos’ characters finally getting together after tension throughout the whole movie, so it is a great song in the context of the movie.

This is a song released by the Charlie Daniels Band in 1979, but was also featured in the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy starring John Travolta. I have loved this song for a long time, because I grew up listening to it because my dad loves it. I had no idea it was in Urban Cowboy until we watched it in class, and that adds something to the song because I can see how people would dance to it at rodeos and dance halls.

This is a duet by Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix from the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line of a song that Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash sang often. I really like their cover of it, it is more upbeat and fun the original, and I really like Reese’s voice as June. When reading the comments on YouTube, I found that some viewers even like this movie version more than the original.

Finally, I really like Blake Shelton’s cover of Footloose from the 2011 version of Footloose. His voice is deeper than Kenny Loggins’s original recording of the song, and since Shelton is a country superstar this was a hit song. This version of Footloose is much more current and country than the original song from the 1984 movie, which makes it better in my opinion.

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Filed under Lists, Movies and TV

Madison’s Country Music Experiences

 

This semester, I did four country music experiences around Austin, Texas. I went to the Eric Church concert at the Frank Erwin Center, took a selfie with the Willie Nelson statue, watched Country Strong, and watched the ACMs. Throughout this semester, I have learned so much about country music. Before this class, though I am a Texas native and lived my whole life in Dallas, I knew virtually nothing about country music, and did not consider myself a big fan of the genre. However, now that I have taken this class, I have a huge knowledge of artists, songs, tropes, themes, instrumentation, and much more, which has made my like Country Music a lot more. Doing these experiences has also made me appreciate country music a lot more because it’s more than just a genre of music, it’s a culture, and these experiences helped me realize that.

This semester, I did four country music experiences around Austin, Texas. I went to the Eric Church concert at the Frank Erwin Center, took a selfie with the Willie Nelson statue, watched Country Strong, and watched the ACMs.
Throughout this semester, I have learned so much about country music. Before this class, though I am a Texas native and lived my whole life in Dallas, I knew virtually nothing about country music, and did not consider myself a big fan of the genre. However, now that I have taken this class, I have a huge knowledge of artists, songs, tropes, themes, instrumentation, and much more, which has made my like Country Music a lot more. Doing these experiences has also made me appreciate country music a lot more because it’s more than just a genre of music, it’s a culture, and these experiences helped me realize that.

This semester, I did four country music experiences around Austin, Texas. I went to the Eric Church concert at the Frank Erwin Center, took a selfie with the Willie Nelson statue, watched Country Strong, and watched the ACMs.
Throughout this semester, I have learned so much about country music. Before this class, though I am a Texas native and lived my whole life in Dallas, I knew virtually nothing about country music, and did not consider myself a big fan of the genre. However, now that I have taken this class, I have a huge knowledge of artists, songs, tropes, themes, instrumentation, and much more, which has made my like Country Music a lot more. Doing these experiences has also made me appreciate country music a lot more because it’s more than just a genre of music, it’s a culture, and these experiences helped me realize that.

https://storify.com/madisoncomstock/madison-s-country-music-experiences

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Filed under Austin, Class work, Reflection, Storify

Older Artists Releasing New Albums

While doing my album analysis essay on Willie Nelson’s most recent album, Band of Brothers, released in 2014, I noticed a phenomenon in country music of older country stars releasing albums later in life that perform extremely well on the charts. Band of Brothers was one such example: it was released in 2014, and was his 67th studio album. It was also only his third album to ever crack the Billboard Top 10, debuting at #5, and #1 on country charts, his best debut performance in 28 years. So why was this album so popular? One reason is that it contains mostly Nelson-penned songs, something his other recent albums haven’t contained, so this could appeal to his loyal fans. Another reason is young people: people who may have not heard his music before are hearing it now on these later albums, and liking it and buying it, making Nelson reach a whole new fan base.

Dolly Parton's Blue SmokeAnother example is Dolly Parton, and the release of Blue Smoke, her 42nd studio album, in 2014. This album performed amazingly for a Dolly solo album. It was her first top 10 solo album ever, had the best first week sales of all of her solo projects, and it was her highest Best Country Albums debut, debuting at #2. The album got critical review too, with critics raving that she just gets better with age. Unlike Nelson’s Band of Brothers, Blue Smoke is a traditional Dolly Parton album, with both upbeat songs and ballads, dealing with love and heartache. So why did it perform so well? Part of the reason is that lately in Parton’s albums, she has kept the whole album focused on one sound, and in this one she mixes genres, like she used to. She puts a lot of heart and soul into the album, and many critics agree that it is her best album in years, with nothing really new coming from Parton, but the songs being solid and just nice to listen to, which is probably why it performed so well on the charts and got such great reviews.

Johnny Cash's American VFinally, Johnny Cash is much different than these two. Towards the end of his life, he began releasing a series of albums called American III, IV, and V, that included covers of popular 20th century rock songs. He sang them in a very stripped down style, and though old and sick, his voice still sounds great and as deep and soulful as ever. He recorded these albums because he knew he was dying, and wanted to record some more before he was gone, giving the world a few last great albums. Indeed, American V was a posthumous release, released 3 years after his death, and it reached #1 on the Top Albums and Top Country albums. This could have been a reason for its popularity, as well as the covers of songs that people know and love. His version of Nine Inch Nails’s “Hurt” won a MTV Music Video Award for Best Cinematography, which made the album appeal to a younger generation that watches MTV. He also won a Grammy for Best Country Male Vocal Performance for another song on the album “Give My Love to Rose.” All of these factors contribute to why his album was so popular, because winning awards and charting high all add visibility to Johnny Cash, who people my age might not have known about if not for these immensely popular albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc

There is a string of older artists releasing new albums in later life, and them charting very well. We don’t really know why, but doing so has proven a very smart career move for these three that I have talked about. They all enjoyed great album sales, and a lot of increased publicity, and interest by young people who might not have listened to their music otherwise, deeming it music their parents listened to. Releasing these albums keeps them fresh and relevant to everyone, new fans and old.

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Filed under Classic Country, Country Symbols, Countrypolitan, Outlaw, Reviews, USA

Religion in Country Music

Carrie Underwood recently won a Grammy for her song about baptism and keeping the faith, “Something in the Water”, solidifying country music’s relationship with Christianity even more. Underwood often sings about her faith: her debut single was “Jesus Take the Wheel”, which was another huge hit with audiences. She is a prime example of a country music star that rose from humble beginnings to fame, albeit through American Idol, but has kept her morals about her. She often cites her religion and devotion to God in her interviews and songs.

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood

But why are country music and Christianity so tied together? I think it is because of the genre’s connection to the South, which is the Bible Belt of America: an area where religion is deeply engrained in many aspects of life. Country music markets itself as being the music of the people, and most Americans, particularly in the South, are religious, so this music speaks to them. Another reason is that country artists are usually normal people who are authentic, and fame doesn’t really change them a lot. So if they were just southern religious people before having hit songs, then they still will be once they are famous. Unlike artists like Katy Perry, who were raised religious but shed that part of her life in her songs, artists like Carrie Underwood continue to integrate her faith into her multiplatinum songs to show her fans she is still the same Oklahoma girl that won American Idol.

Some country songs deal with faith directly, while others sing about faith in more subtle ways. They sing about the values of Christianity, like when The Band Perry sings in “Better Dig Two” about a girl fully committing herself to her husband by saying she’ll only wear white on her wedding day to him. Other artists sing about their wives of many years, like Brad Paisley’s “Then” exemplifying a healthy marriage, songs that are a far cry from other genres, which have songs about promiscuity and adultery. This way of putting religion in songs is definitely more common because sometimes audiences don’t like songs with strong religious references, to which Carrie responds “if you don’t like it, change the channel.”

Country music is by no means gospel or even music that would fit in the Christian genre of music, but in many songs there are religious themes due to the close spiritual ties between the genre and the church. Many artists glorify God overtly in their songs, such as Rascal Flatts with “Bless the Broken Road” and Big & Rich with “That’s Why I Pray”, while others sing about exemplifying His teachings in songs. Due to country’s roots in the south, it and religion are definitely linked.

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Filed under Reflection, USA, Women

Nashville Country versus Texas Country

My roommate is from Nashville, and I’m from Dallas, so when we moved in together, I thought we would be listening to the same country artists. But after a few days of her not knowing some of my favorite artists, such as Josh Abbott Band or Turnpike Troubadours, I discovered that there is a huge difference between Nashville and Texas country music.

Nashville artist Tim McGraw

Nashville artist Tim McGraw

Through asking her a couple questions about what she thinks the difference between the two is, I found a couple key differences. Nashville country is going more pop and mainstream, probably because artists that aren’t country also live and record there. Consequently, Nashville country is more electric than Texas’s, and my roommate also identified that there is a different beat to the songs, possibly because of more of the electronic feel of the artists. Nashville also has a lot of very well known artists, ones that everyone, even people who aren’t into country, know, such as Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Luke Bryan. Here is an example of a Nashville song that is definitely more appealing to the masses.

Texas country, on the other hand, is much more instrumental. Most songs or bands have a fiddle, and it’s more traditional and has stayed instrumental, not really conforming to the changing to pop that Nashville country has evolved to. Texas songs have more conservative elements and motifs, and I think this is because artists in Nashville are celebrities, and celebrities are traditionally Democratic, while in Texas the majority of the population is Republican, so the song elements are more conservative to appeal to the masses. Some artists are nationally known, such as George Strait, but others, like Pat Green or Casey Donahue, are very famous in Texas, but most people from Nashville, like my roommate, had never heard of before.

Texas artist Pat Green

Texas artist Pat Green

Both have similarities, such as the instance of themes such as beer, God, and trucks, but in Texas it feels more authentic, because these artists are not national celebrities and are known to be down-home country people that drink beer, go to church, and drive old trucks. Texas country is simpler than Nashville country, because the Nashville artists are trying to appeal to the whole country, while Texas country is trying to appeal to a smaller group. Texas country also sings about Texas a lot, as evidenced by this Josh Abbott Band song.

I personally like both styles of country music, because I am the type of person that really enjoys variety when I listen to music, but I know that some people prefer the traditional country of Texas, and others prefer the more mainstream, pop-radio friendly country that some artists in Nashville are producing. Some people find Nashville music not country anymore because it is so pop, and this is why many people turn to Texas music for the well known, stereotypical country sound.

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Filed under New Country, Texas