The Good, The Bad and The Country

10:37 AM
On a Sunday
Orlando, FL

     I was in Washington DC a few months ago and I took an Uber to get me from one part of town to another. As I was riding with my driver, I noticed that he had the Spotify service in his car where riders could play their own music in his car. I asked my driver what he thought about this relatively new feature and he said that he absolutely loved it since it exposed him to music he would normally never listen to.

     I was intrigued by his statement and asked him what was some of the music he was exposed to through this new feature.

He was exposed to traditional video game soundtracks (scores). [Shimomura]

He was exposed to non-traditional video game soundtracks. [Meguro]

He was exposed to complex and abstract hip hop. [Bavitz]

He was even exposed to 90s emo. [Kinsella]

There was no shortage of music that my Uber driver was exposed to. But I was curious. There had to have been something that he didn't like. He told me he's been using this feature ever since it was implemented and he's appreciated just about every single piece of music he's been exposed to.

So I told him "There just has to be something you don't like. One of your riders has to have put on something terrible that you just couldn't stand."

And he replies with "There's no such things as terrible music. Except country music. No one wants to listen to country music."

Sadly, before we could continue this conversation, I arrived at my destination and I said good-bye to my Uber driver. (Thanks Trevor! I hope I can run into you again sometime!)

That experience will always stick with me. And I don't know if it's because my Uber driver was incredibly social or because DC traffic was awful and we filled it with conversation but that ride is easily one of the most vivid memories I've ever had.

And it got me to thinking...

Why do we hate country music?

Country music is always cited as one of two genres people tend to avoid when talking about their musical interests (the other being hip-hop). But why? Statistically speaking, it's still one of the most successful genres of music in America.

I've been a classical pianist for over twenty years and I've been an avid consumer of music for about that long as well. I've been exposed to all types of music from interning at NPR and I've stumbled across some really interesting fringe genres of music that traverse the furthest ends of the spectrum of what is considered "music". For the sheer volume of music I listen to (as in two dedicated 1TB hard drives just for music) I actually don't mind country music. I own quite a few country music albums as well. To say that I enjoy country music isn't that far of a stretch.

But I'm very particular about the country music I listen to. Simply put, I'm not a fan of modern country music. Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, and Jake Owen aren't for me but I know that other people enjoy them.

In recent times, I've come to realize that I'm a bigger fan of bluegrass and alternative country than I am modern country. It's not the question of authenticity but rather it just feels more natural. It's just genuinely feels more country.

One of the biggest country songs of the past few years was Luke Bryan's "That's My Kind of Night."

Despite the song's success on country radio and crossover radio, it was panned by critics for it's generic lyrics and mountain of cliches. It relies on typical country cliches such as beer, trucks and catfish so that it can still be marketed to country radio. The faint banjo also means that on a technical level, this is still country music.

On the end where the bluegrass grows is "Wait So Long" by Trampled By Turtles.

And here is where the differences start to show.

The biggest difference here is the complete lack of electric instruments and it lends itself to my personal belief that country music became what it is when electric instrumentation became common. Or to be less kind, electric instrumentation ruined country music.

One of the most well-received country music albums in (somewhat) recent times was the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers' film "O Brother Where Art Thou". Critics mainly praised the authenticity, production and adherence to traditional country. And it's a damn good album.

And there we are again with the complete lack of electric instrumentation.

I don't know where country music will be ten years or twenty years from now. But all I know is that the moment the average listener hears a banjo, their first instinct will be to pedal faster.