EVERY GENRE PROJECT - June 24 - Neo-Traditionalist Country
Genre of the Day - Neo-Traditionalist Country
Album of the Day - This Time by Dwight Yoakam (1993)
June 24, 2024
In no other genre is the litmus test of authenticity as pervasive as in country music. The question of what constitutes real country never dies, the debate evolving into a new form with the regularity of midterm elections. Many genres share similar concerns as to what constitutes proper adherence to its norms. Country stands out, though, because debates about the genre are like gladiator spectacles in a national arena where many defining American binaries new and old battle it out: urban versus rural, conservatism versus progressivism, conceptions of race in country music’s history that have only begun to filter into the mainstream in the past few years, dualities explored in recent efforts like Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. As one of largest commercialized and institutionalized American genres, many realities in country music’s public image exist at once: it’s weaponized, it’s misunderstood, it’s exclusionary, a pariah caught in the folds of the US’ two-party political system.
As fascinating as country’s perceived truths are, the behind-the-scenes commercial calculations at country’s beating heart (if blood was money, at any rate) in Nashville are just as gripping. One wonders if the arguments about what ‘true’ country is have ever made much sense given that the population of those living in the American country was quickly being eclipsed by the 1920s proportionally when the amount of urban-dwellers in the US crept above 50% for the first time. Damn those meddling high-occupancy buildings. Now that 82% of Americans live in cities, it’s evident that the rural, backwoods vision identified with country has, for a long time, been the object of fantasy for most of its consumers. My entry on Western music would reveal as much, Marty Robbins’ outlandish outlaw escapades illuminating country’s widespread appeal at that moment and to this day—independence, nostalgia, candid views of life on the land. Country is tied to the land, to memories, a cross-generational ode to the family and social structures that enjoy the fruits of reaching and working the land. Whether you live on it or are a city slicker, those ideas resonate widely.
So we see that the big men in Nashville have long sold a projection, as with many commercialized genres from rap to EDM, and record companies have had to adapt to the times to cherry-pick how the vision can get across to new audiences. Countrypolitan is the shining example of this pivot, bringing pop elements like smooth strings in and glazing over the banjos and fiddles too easily identified as country hallmarks as rock and roll ran laps around country’s sales in the ‘50s. It’s in the sub bass cutting across the bottom line of Morgan Wallen’s 2023 chart Godzilla “Last Night” and the hedonistic, blackout excess of recession pop present in bro-country tunes like 2014’s “Drunk on a Plane” which the only drunk person I’ve ever sat next to on a plane blasted on our near-redeye Sunday flight a few days after Thanksgiving. Safe to say it was a tough crowd.
For every time the labels try to lift lagging sales, an underbelly of musicians protest at the perceived gaudiness. Neo-traditionalist country has a starting point in time, but as long as bigwigs dissect and reconstruct country for new pop trend cycles it won’t have an end. Within itself, though, the aesthetics and musical stylings within neo-traditionalist country are vast as musicians draw upon their own interpretations of past returns-to-roots, their particular regional pulls and idols seeping into their country ideals. Neo-traditionalist country first popped up in the early ‘80s in response to forward-facing-induced stagnancy and country’s consistent failure to outsell genres like disco, seeing that the way forward lay in honoring the less-pop influenced ethos of bluegrass, honky-tonk, and the rock-and-roll infused Bakersfield Sound that was the other end of the extreme route countrypolitan had taken in the 1950s. However, they still worked in the record-selling format, smooth production ensuring that these records could not just ideologically stand tall but find success among new generations.
Dwight Yoakam was a pivotal figure in the late ‘80s boom of neo-traditionalist country, not only through his music but also as an actor in some of the period’s uptick of silver screen country tales. His crooning tenor and deft mastery of honky-tonk vowel shaping transports you through the decades like on the swinging opener “Pocket of a Clown,” its rich fiddle musically shaking the dust off of the sounds mainstream country was neglecting. “Home for Sale” brilliantly captures one of the most moving country tropes, depicting heartbreak filtered through the lens of intimate physical surroundings, a theme expanded upon in “Two Doors Down” reminiscing a romance brewed in a bar over a organ as liquid as the narrative’s escapist drinking and steel guitar. Forays into the Bakersfield Sound’s smart, era-spanning marriage of rock guitar propulsion with country themes like the hit “Fast as You” help balance out the aforementioned homages. It’s a winning set that balances the heart-pouring emotions and place-specific vignettes of traditional country with sounds that can reach across without coming off cloying like the record company execs. As recent artists like Sierra Ferrell explore and revitalize the aesthetics and musical stylings of Appalachia, neo-traditionalist country offers a perspective that well-executed country sounds that grew out of decades of rich folk tradition hold their appeal without cheapening them with clashing, softening elements and redeliver diverse manifestations of country music without the questionable politics of the establishment country scene.