Category Archives: Country Subgenres

by | September 12, 2015 · 5:00 pm

What’s Your Weekend?

Up to this point, I have been going to school my entire life. From lower to middle to high school and now college, I have always tried to identify myself with the institution I am a part of at the time. There has been no school that I have been more connected to and now happy to be involved with besides UT. Since I can remember, I have dreamed of being a University of Texas student, wearing burnt orange on game-day at DKR, joining a sorority like my mom, learning more than I could ever imagine scholastically, and living in Austin, Texas. In every single one of those aspects of this new college life I am living, I have had close encounters with country music. At tailgates before games, country music is always on the loud speaker. When I am road tripping with my sorority sisters, the playlist we make is always an assortment of our country favorites. Walking from class to class, I can usually squeeze about three of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs in, and that is why I sometimes take the long route on purpose. And of course, Austin is known as a musical hub for artists of all kinds, but especially country.

My passion for UT and the Texas Longhorns started on the steps of my Aunt Pearl's house in Austin, Tx in 2000.

My passion for UT and the Texas Longhorns started on the steps of my Aunt Pearl’s house in Austin, Tx in 2000.

Despite all of these wonderful aspects of the college community I have entered, there are definitely times when I feel challenged. School work can pile up faster than I ever imagined, the stress of finding a real job one day always seems to be looming in the all too near future, and honestly some days are just plain hard. Weekdays can seem endless sometimes, and a weekend break is all I can think about to motivate me or at least remind me of why I do love this place so much.

The song “Crushin’ It” by Brad Paisley reminds me so much of how I feel sometimes while I am in college. The song starts with Paisley saying how nice it would be for some reassurance from others or overcoming a dry spell. For him, his weekend is his opportunity to kick back and enjoy the smaller things that he appreciates. Weekends are his comfortable constant in life. Despite the problems he deals with during the week, he knows that eventually his Friday night and beer will be there for him. In the same way, the comfort of country music and all the aspects that I love about the University of Texas community are “the weekend” in my life that make me feel like I am “crushin’ it” too. It’s about looking forward to what you know you love and embracing every aspect of those things.

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Filed under Blog Post 1, Country Pop, New Country, Reflection, Texas

by | September 11, 2015 · 11:00 am

Music to Helicopter Parents’ Ears

For me, the country music craze started around 6 or 7 years ago when I was in middle school. I attended a private Catholic school from age four to fourteen. Over the years, I came face to face with the definition of helicopter parenting. From monitoring their kids Facebook’s to their text messages, these parents knew and controlled every aspect of their child’s lives.

A huge thing that these parents were against was today’s rap and pop music. The constant cursing- these kids weren’t even allowed to say “fart”, mind you- and drug and sexual references led these parents to hide this kind of music from their children’s innocent little ears. Here’s where country music- a genre constantly referencing God and promoting Christianity- comes into play.

I really didn’t notice the growing popularity of country music in my friend group until I joined my private school’s basketball team in sixth grade. The team parents set up a carpool system to divide up who would take all of us to get an after school snack before practice or who would drive us to the away games. I ended up spending a lot of time in my friend’s parent’s cars through this and in turn, led me to spend a lot of time listening to country music. Who knew “She’s Country” by Jason Aldean could be considered a warm up song?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZLUohDCGo

Of course, even country music features songs that could be deemed inappropriate, but the drug and sex references are considerably less frequent in country music than in pop or rap songs. It also helped that these parents had the uncanny ability to filter the songs that came through their car speakers.

Personally, my parents never really controlled my life like some of my friend’s parents. My parents had me when they were older and just weren’t interested in spending all of their time monitoring my life. Granted, they still forced me to add them on Facebook and weren’t into me watching R rated movies, but they never looked at my phone or told me what music I could or couldn’t listen to. Because of this, I had no idea all parents weren’t the exact same way. In fact, I had never really heard country music before (outside of Robert Earl Keen or the Dixie Chicks) until my friends’ helicopter parents were constantly driving me to sport practices.

At first I absolutely hated this genre. I hated being forced to listen to it even more, especially since it wasn’t even my parents forcing me to listen to it. I went from hardly ever being told what I could or couldn’t do by my own parents to being forced to listen to a certain type of music by my friend’s parents. But I quickly got over this, mainly because the country music fad literally took over my private school. Our school dances featured country music more than any other genre. Imagine jamming out to “Big Green Tractor” at your eighth grade dance- I mean how much “jamming” can you actually do to a song about riding through a cornfield on some guys tractor. But we somehow found a way, and my love for country music grew quickly.

Today it’s pretty much all I listen to, and when I hear those old Jason Aldean songs I soft smile at the thought of middle school and my friends’ crazy parents. The parents have lightened up since then, but country music stayed with all of us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9jqNCAOisc

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Filed under Blog Post 1, New Country, Reflection

by | September 10, 2015 · 5:00 pm

Like Father Like Daughter

It surprises me sometimes just how much my family influences my opinions and attitudes. Growing up I had my fair share of “I will never do that to my kid” moments, but recently I have begrudgingly realized that I am the spitting image of my parents. Their influence, especially my father’s, has carried over into my tastes in music. As an eight-year-old kid I craved the moments we would go driving on rural country roads because it meant my dad would let me sit in the front seat. He would pop his favorite CD of easy-going music in the radio and sing along to Jimmy Buffett with the windows rolled down. This was the kind of music he referred to as “the best stuff on earth,” and I could not agree more. As a child, I had no idea what a “margaritaville” was, I just knew that I liked the sound of the steel drums and thought the singer was overreacting to the loss of a salt shaker. Soon I found myself knowing all of the words to the songs on the CD and loving it.

It wasn’t long before my dad exposed me to a slightly different type of music. This time the acoustic guitar was the star and the songs described the exact country roads we were driving on. Kenny Chesney was the first country artist I was introduced to, and he remains to this day one of my absolute favorites (he even pays homage to the great Jimmy Buffett in his hit “How Forever Feels“). His down-home lyrics and nostalgic sound make even the most unsentimental listener wistful for the past, a characteristic I find to be especially important in country music.

The song I think best reflects the role my family played in developing my taste in country music is “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” by Alan Jackson featuring Jimmy Buffett. And no, not for its literal meaning, but rather for the way it makes you feel like you don’t have a care in the world. When I hear the hints of island sound, it reminds me of the breeze blowing through my hair as I listened to Jimmy Buffett in the car with my dad, and of course Buffett’s vocal cameo in the song only makes that memory stronger. I also appreciate how the lyrics create a sense of total relaxation. The line “The sun is hot and that old clock is moving slow, and so am I” makes the listener feel warm and stress-free as if they themselves were in margaritaville.

All around, Alan Jackson is an amazing artist and holds a special place in my love of country music. His classic sound has inspired me to listen to older country stars in a time when pop-country is pervasive throughout the genre, and he reminds me to always stay close to my roots. His was the first country concert I ever went to, and on top of it all it was one that I was able to attend with my dad. So I guess no matter how hard I might try to refute it, my parents do have some good taste.

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Filed under Blog Post 1, Classic Country

by | · 7:00 am

A Classic American Love Story: How Country Music Stole My Heart

Prior to my college career, I had little interest in country music. Aside from my brief two-week phase in middle school, country music was never my music of choice, and at times, I even cringed when I heard it.

Britney-Spears-Cringe-FaceUpon entering college, I immersed myself in a culture so enthralled with country music that it was abnormal to NOT have it playing at events. Bar-B-Q’s, two-stepping date events, Midnight Rodeo, and football tailgates are just a few of the places that I have been exposed to the genre that captures the true meaning of southern pride.

Zac_Efron_Grilling_-_NeighborsBeing in a sorority—a sorority at The University of Texas in Austin, which happens to be the live music capital of the world—has fed my passion for country music, but what ultimately marked my change in spirit was working as employee at a small boutique. I spend hours on end working away in that little store, and most of the time, we have the radio set to country stations. It’s relaxing, enjoyable, and fits in with the desired dynamic of the store.

The first time I worked at the store, I remember hearing the whiney sound of some country song and thinking how much I wished I could control the station and change it to an indie or pop station. After a couple of weeks, it still did not sit right with my ears, because I felt as if it all sounded the same.

wonka-eyerollOften what can define our taste in music are the people we surround ourselves with, such as our friends and family. That is why it came as a surprise to me when I realized that I was beginning to enjoy some of the more popular tunes found on various country stations. One such song that remains my favorite is “Like a Wrecking Ball” by Eric Church. His music as a whole is well written and has an almost retro sound. It was then that I truly began to appreciate country music.

bale1Some may contend that contemporary country music can hardly be placed under the genre of country, because it has been so highly influenced by popular culture. I have found that modern country music has helped me slowly integrate older music into my life, and I have begun to fully appreciate its value.

giphyIn the end, I am thankful to my boss for introducing me to such an amazing genre of music, and I cannot wait to continue to learn more about it through this course.

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Filed under Blog Post 1, Class work, Country Pop

by | September 9, 2015 · 5:00 pm

It Must Be The Little Things

Everyone can agree that peer influences get to just about everybody. Who hasn’t heard from their parent’s “If your best friend (insert relevant name here) jumped off a bridge, would you too?” And while many people might not be prone to bridge jumping, there are definitely things one would do just because they took note of who else was doing it around them.

The home stretch of the teenage years is upon those in college. And though there are the occasionally murmurs of “I’m not ready to grow up”, or “I want to be young forever”, it’s not that hard to unite together in remembrance of some awkward, strange, and overall laughable teenage memories that have shaped each and every person into who they are today.

Being 19 years old does still categorize me with all other teenage girls, but I’m not ashamed.

Teenage years are pretty horrendous, especially for girls. From boy problems, to friends, school, sports and everything else in between, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in what everyone else around you is doing or saying. This makes focusing on bettering and truly becoming you much harder. Because of this “tunnel vision”, as sung by Justin Timberlake, it wasn’t hard to jump onto the country music bandwagon. Watching older girls go to country concerts and dress up with all of their friends and then post endlessly about it on all social media outlets, inevitably lead me to believe country music was “cool”.

Having limited access to downloading music because of pretty strict parents made my country music bingeing consist of mainly Taylor Swift (no complaints there), Eli Young Band, and Miranda Lambert.

Now I will not argue about whether or not Taylor Swift should still be considered a country artist, for that you can refer to CBS news. However, I will defend Taylor’s first singles from when she was up-and-coming.

Taylor Swift has accomplished and will continue to accomplish many musical feats, but what she is most well known for is writing songs that are relatable for teenage girls. One that brings me back almost all the way to pre-teen Alyssa is “I’d Lie”. It was the first song I listened to when I got a car at age 16, and easily is my absolute favorite throwback song to play on road trips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCuzMK3pXck

Because country music was introduced to me through Taylor Swift (try not to cringe) and a few other bands/artists during my teenage years, I view the genre as youthful and playful. Hearing those country songs on the radio that talk about boys, friends, school, sports, and everything in between, never fails to remind me of high school friends and finding myself.

Country music as a whole has the power to influence every listener differently, no matter the age or gender. One can say that it can’t be put into a specific box. As society grows and transforms, so does country music. Whatever way country music makes you feel- it is catchy, and therefor a prominent and influential  genre. All genres have this potential, but country music hits it right on the nose.

The little things in life can have a much bigger impact on one than might be led on, and I am living proof of that. And on top of that, peer influences during teen years are so weighty. They affected the type of music I listened to, and still listen to, to this day. Makes you wonder what other influences have done and/or will do?

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Filed under Blog Post 1, Country Pop, Women