Tag: country music
Nanci Griffith’s Lone Star State of Mind
The Texas-born singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith’s voice is an “acquired taste,” as one critic put it after Griffith’s death two years ago, at the age of sixty-eight. To me, Griffith’s idiosyncratic sound—coquettishly girlish, aggressively dulcet, almost lamblike in its high, warbly register—is as comforting as a home-cooked meal, but that is likely because I acquired a taste for Griffith’s singing before I knew that it was a niche pleasure. My mother played me Nanci Griffith records from the time I was
Country Music Is More Popular—And More Angsty—Than Ever
Country music, the century-old genre of nostalgia, tradition, and twang, has never been more in style. Last week, for the first time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the three most popular songs in America were country songs. One explanation for the milestone is that the genre’s artists and audiences are finally leaning into streaming: This year, country has experienced a 20 percent rise in listenership, a surge outpaced only by those of Latin music and K-pop.
But
Emily Nussbaum on Country Music’s Culture Wars
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Last month, the country singer Jason Aldean released a music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” a song that initially received little attention. But the video cast the song’s lyrics in a new light. While Aldean sings, “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road
Emily Nussbaum on the Culture Wars in Country Music
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Last month, the country singer Jason Aldean released a music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” a song that initially received little attention. But the video cast the song’s lyrics in a new light. While Aldean sings, “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road
Reader Views on Press Coverage of Race
“Most of the time, I don’t think that negative reactions to observational, non-prescriptive pieces about race are the fault of the author,” one reader argues.
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
In a previous newsletter
Kyle Richards producing documentary on ‘friend’ Morgan Wade
Kyle Richards’ friendship with Morgan Wade is only getting deeper.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star is working on a documentary about the country singer, TMZ reported after the duo were spotted filming at Belly Up in Aspen, Colo., Sunday night.
Audience members at Wade’s concert were asked to sign releases allowing the footage to be used in a production, according to the outlet.
Richards is reportedly an executive producer on the project in addition to appearing on camera.
How Jason Aldean Explains Donald Trump
The commercial success of the country star Jason Aldean’s ode to small-town vigilantism helps explain the persistence of Donald Trump’s grip on red America.
Aldean’s combative new song, “Try That in a Small Town,” offers a musical riff on the same core message that Trump has articulated since his entry into politics: that America as conservatives understand it is under such extraordinary assault from the multicultural, urbanized modern left that any means necessary is justified to repel the threat.
In
Tracy Chapman and a Country-Music Controversy
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Question of the Week
What is the most constructive way for the press to cover race if its objectives include accurately informing citizens about the past and the present––no matter how awful or uncomfortable––and refraining from framing the news in ways that are needlessly polarizing or
‘Citizen Cash’ Shows the Other Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash, so the standard line goes, was a man of many parts. “There was no one single Cash,” the scholar Leigh H. Edwards has argued. “He was always multiple, changing, inconsistent.” He was both “Saturday night and Sunday morning” is how the rock journalist Anthony DeCurtis put it; he was a “walkin’ contradiction,” Kris Kristofferson, Cash’s sometime collaborator and running buddy, sang in a song.
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