Where Was The Country?

Last night I watched the 2014 CMA Awards and at the end I was left with one question. Where was traditional country music? I’m not saying i didn’t like the music I heard. I am just saying I didn’t hear a lot of traditional country music last night.

Let me begin by saying there was plenty to like about the CMAs last night. I thought Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood did a great job as hosts for last night’s show. They are cute together and were very funny. I enjoyed watching Loretta Lynn perform. She may be 82, but her voice is still awesome. It was such a treat to have her perform on the CMAs. Vince Gill is an amazing musician who absolutely deserved to be honored as he was last night. It was great to see Garth Brooks back on the CMA stage. Of course my favorite was watching George Strait perform. I am a huge George Strait fan, so seeing him perform is always a treat (although it was marred by his co-performer, but I’ll get back to that.)

I also thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the speeches were not filled with profanity. I LOVED the fact that God was credited openly and freely. It’s great to see the performers support each other when someone else wins. These are all great things about country and the CMAs. I freely admit I heard some great music last night, I can’t complain about that. But I’m afraid that interest in music as sung by George Strait is slipping away and that makes me sad.

I’m not someone who believes that all country music has to sound the same. I love George Strait and Big & Rich. I love to listen to many of the musicians that performed last night. My complaint is that most of the music seemed like it belonged on a radio station with Imagine Dragons or Kelly Clarkson (both of whom I like) rather than with George Strait or Garth Brooks. I worry that there are no new musicians coming up who are singing traditional country music and that worries me. Is traditional country going to just disappear? And where does the blame for the sound shift lie? It it with the performers or is it with the producers and labels who want to turn everyone into the next Katy Parry.

Why did we have to have so many pop musicians on the stage last night? Was there some kind of fear that ratings wouldn’t be high enough without the pop musicians? Does CBS just not like country music and wanted to make it seem more pop like? I have no idea, but I’d like to see that come to an end. On a related note, did we really need to have Eric Church perform with George Strait. I didn’t think he performed in a way that truly respected the great George Strait. Shame on him.

The shifting sound of country music is not my only complaint. What was going on with the actual sound at the show. I couldn’t hear much of what was being sung. The music completely drowned out the vocals. Carrie Underwood was belting her song out, giving it her all and I could still barely hear the song. It was true for most everyone who performed. I don’t know if the problem was at the location for the awards show or when the mixing was done for television but it was bad.

But back to my original point, the music. I think there should be room in country music for Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton. I like Luke Bryan’s music. I don’t want these newer artists to not feel welcome. However, I don’t want traditional country to be a road that leads to no awards or recognition. Watching last night’s CMAs, that’s the road traditional country seems to be on. I don’t want that to happen. I want both sounds of country music to be heard and be rewarded. Maybe we need more categories. Or maybe new people need to be involved in the balloting. I just know something needs to be done before George Strait or Martina McBrie is considered to old fashioned to be played on the radio.