the gender differentiation in pop country these days is sort of bizarre. the two are stylistically distinct. bro country is about the most cliched, repetitive, and formulaic moment in the whole history of the music. amazingly, maddie and tae's 'girl in a country song', attacking the whole thing, itself went to #1, and got played a million times between two of the songs it was ridiculing. meanwhile, the queen of country miranda lambert is working in a pretty traditional vein, with great songs and singing, and there's a wave: ashley monroe, kacey musgraves, brandy clark, and a number of others whose work is personal, original, and traditional all at once. believe it or not i think one of the reasons that country has been dominated for the last year or so by the bros is just that a lot of these female people were between records: just a kind of coincidence.
on the other hand, bro country has made me a bit desperate for something listenable. so i'd like to draw your attention to three fairly-veteran performers whose work is too trad for the formula, but who also have had some commercial moments and could have more in the inevitable traditionalist retrenchment to come.
one of these is josh turner. he's been around awhile, and charted some singles. he's got a great, very low, country voice that is the opposite of, you know, david nail or deircks bentley, calling to mind randy travis (and in general, the way i think about these guys is as revivalists of the late-80s/early 90s revival). also he's fundamentally wholesome: he likes to sing about monogamy instead of jack daniel's and ass. maybe you think that's doofy, but i am mightily tired of substance abuse and random sex. sometimes it's hard to tell the fun from the degradation and death.
[that one's for jane irish.]
remarkably, a few years ago, turner charted with a straight-up gospel song, 'long black train'.
alright let's try dean brody, a guy from canada who had a bit of a nashville run, and then got extruded, possibly as insufficiently bro. what a lovely singer and songwriter, though. at another moment, his work would be extremely commercial. but his last couple of canadian albums aren't even on itunes.
my actual favorite in this little group, though, is billy yates. he has an absolutely classic country voice (keith whitley is the reference). he is a magnificent songwriter (remember george jones' 'choices'?). his career arc is a little ridiculous: some hits as a writer, and 'big in europe'. he ought to be an opry star and an aesthetic spearhead and a beloved american icon.
he's got a great new album (these old walls), and i'd like to embed the title cut and 'just a scratch', but they're not even up on youtube.
