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Boot-scootin' Barbie

By Tater Barley Banks | Posted Under Comment Diversions | Comments (41)

taylorswifta.jpg

As 63 Eyes, the band played grungy-punky original songs for fun.

As Triple Shot, the same three guys played country covers to pay the rent.

Often, Triple Shot would, with a wink, open for 63 Eyes, and it was through bills like this at the club that, while I still couldn’t pick Keith Urban or Tim McGraw out of a lineup of one, I came to some appreciation for country music. (Brad Paisley I might guess right, but only because the homeboy represents.)

Old-school country, that is. Willie Nelson and “Whiskey River” and “Rocky Top,” and the saddest song ever written (and I will brook no dissent here), “He Stopped Lovin’ Her Today,” not that country-pop crap. (And speaking of brook, I don’t know where Garth Brooks fell in that line, but I enjoyed the hell out of a Brooks concert I saw on TV many years ago anyway.)

Like many people my age, I have an inherent distrust and suspicion of The New! and The Hot! when there’ll never be and CAN never be another Aretha or James Brown or Hank Williams or Hendrix or … so what’s the point? But that doesn’t mean labels and the programmers and the public will ever stop trying to hype The New! I don’t especially resent that until they try to foist some teenage prodigy on us, someone with the life experience of a fruit fly. “She/he is mature beyond his/her years!” Well, if it’s maturity I want, then I’ll pay attention to someone who is, you know, actually mature.

I always invoke the “dog walking on its hind legs” principle of prodigies: It doesn’t have to do what it does very well, it’s simply amazing that it can do it at all.

To quote a certain group of 1960s rock and roll prodigies: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which brings us to Taylor Swift.

I had (thankfully, I imagined) never heard and never wanted to hear a Taylor Swift song. Why the hell would I? It’s not exactly aimed at my old-man demographic (though the lecher in me thinks she’s kinda purty).

And then the other night, channel-surfing, I stumbled upon E!’s version of “Behind the Music” and couldn’t stop watching her story. The snippets of songs they played sounded like the icky country-pop I had figured they would, so I didn’t go running to the record store — do they still have those? — but if Paisley and McGraw say she’s a song-writing genius — and they did — well, how can I argue? It’s also hard not to root for somebody who knew exactly what she wanted to be when she was 10, and was driven enough (and, I suppose, lucky enough) to make it happen to an astonishing degree of success in less than 10 years.

So while I still have nothing but disdain for her music, dammit, now I like her.

And I hate that I like her, but secretly I hate that I hate that I like her …

Ahem. Where is this diversion going? Oh yeah, three directions. You can:

1. Describe at unconscionable length your secret love for or open loathing of country music.

2. Tell us about someone whose work you hate but who you really kinda like and hate yourself for liking.

3. Explain why we need The New! anyway. (Movies I excuse, because you always need new young people to play young people. Can’t keep coasting on playing a teenager forever, can you, Lindsay Lohan?)


To suggest a diversion idea or leave Tater a fan letter, you can reach him by email.









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Comments

Hey, I watched that special too! (I was at the gym. I know you like that kind of detail.)

Also, I like Taylor Swift, but I'm getting kind of tired of her being EVERYWHERE. And that 'relationship' with Jake Gyllenhall? So fake.

Posted by: TWoP_Fan at December 11, 2010 4:33 PM

I kind of have a turned around issue no 2 with Depeche Mode. I like their work but I loathe them as a band. They are one of the most sterile and boring sounding 'genuine' bands out there. However, they write good songs.

Which is why every cover version of a Depeche Mode song is better than the original.

Posted by: FabMax at December 11, 2010 4:36 PM

Katy Perry

Posted by: futuredirect at December 11, 2010 4:42 PM

Aw hell. He went and mentioned George Jones on this cold and gloomy day.
Where's my whiskey?

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at December 11, 2010 4:45 PM

Oh, how I loathe country. Words like "honkytonk" and "boot-scootin'" make me want to drive a nail through my eardrums. I can grudgingly respect old country but have no love for it.

I'm a devout contrarian, so any time I catch myself liking something that's widely popular, it pains me ("F*** You" indeed, Cee-Lo Green...but you're so damned catchy...).

That said, a person's musical selection will stagnate without a little injection of "the new" every now and then. The old favourites risk wearing thin and losing their magic, like a much-loved stuffed animal from your childhood. The hard part is finding a good source of new.

Posted by: meaux at December 11, 2010 4:52 PM

I love Eminem the way that I love Jack in the Box tacos.

Posted by: tiki at December 11, 2010 5:00 PM

Modern country music sucks - I call it pop music with a twang. I like real country music and southern rock, which sounds like country music. I blame Garth Brooks (who's decent but spawned the entire mess) and Mutt Lange (for the horror that is Shania Twain, as well as a bunch of pop/hair metal crap).

Posted by: Three-nineteen at December 11, 2010 5:04 PM

Why do we need the New!? Because we're sharks, we have to feel like we're moving forward even if we're going in circles. We have to make new shit even if its just a new version of the old shit, and all the stories have been told. If we stop, we die

Posted by: JR at December 11, 2010 6:01 PM

Josh Groban. I do not even kind of like his opera/pop whatever the hell it's supposed to be. But he's just so affable. He was funny on Glee, and when he was on Never Mind the Buzzcocks he took all the abuse with great good humour, happily made fun of himself and was actually rather impressive in the intros round.

Posted by: NoDice at December 11, 2010 6:15 PM

I like Rihanna. There you have it. I've bought a couple songs on iTunes, but can only enjoy them at the computer, since I can't bring myself to put them on the iPod. Because there's a chance somebody'll stumble across it.

Posted by: Skitz at December 11, 2010 6:18 PM

Oh, Skitty, NOOOOOO.

That said, I don't hate John Mayer and I've developed an affinity for exactly one Maroon 5 song, "Sunday Morning." However, I thought it was Jamiroquai the first time I heard it, so that might not count.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at December 11, 2010 6:30 PM

I won't say I despise country music (I save my irrational hatred for the Miami Fucking Dolphins), but I loathe it openly. Most C&W is saccharine, heart-tugging bullshit.

Joke: What happens when you run a country song backwards? Answer: You get out of jail, your wife comes back to you and your dog comes back to life.

Back in 2002 a C&W Christmas song made the rounds. My wife (a/k/a The Evil Succubus) insisted I listen to it. It was a song about a little girl who was abused by her father and abandoned by her mother, and the cumulative effect was to make susceptible minds go suicidal. I, on the other hand, only wanted to get extremely stabby on the assholes who wrote, sang and distributed this load of steaming unwashed tripe.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, who do I dislike but secretly like their work? Lady Gaga. Can't really stand the sight of her - she looks like a cross between Madonna and Marilyn Manson, and she constantly seems to have the "Hey! Look me over, I dare you!" thing going on - but her music has a nice beat, and I can listen to it without developing a brain aneurysm.

And for the third bit, I can understand why we want The New, because we've been conditioned to want innovation. Everything has to be New and Improved (What was everything last year? Old and Lousy?)

Posted by: The Wanderer at December 11, 2010 6:44 PM

The New!, as you called it, is essential to the evolution of music. If we never had The New!, in history, we wouldn't even have music. From what archaeological and historical research has discovered, within the idiom of Western music, the few societies that developed instruments are all societies that fell. Most notable in this distinction are the Greeks, who we have discovered records of their instruments but, sadly, have no hard evidence yet as to what their music sounds like. The Donald Duck/Golden Mean special lied to you--we don't even know how tightly the string was tied to get a grasp of range on that one-stringed lute.

Going beyond those initial assumptions, if we never had The New! in the idiom of sacred music in the West, formal, respectable music would not have gone past Gregorian chant. As much as I enjoy a good choir of men singing meticulously notated Latin-language melodies with no accompaniment or harmonies, such music had significant limitations. If music never encountered The New!, none of us, outside of the most devout Catholics who dedicated their lives to service in the Church, would even have music.

Not to bore anyone any further, but Western music as we know it would not exist without the evolution of sacred music, as the vast majority of the great (another debate for another day, that categorization) composers of the Baroque and Classical periods--Bach (the God of music theory, as only Bach can do no wrong in the world of traditional music), Mozart, Brahms to name a few--had to earn their livelihoods writing for different cathedrals, courts (where they presented all sacred music for masses in the courts), and churches throughout Europe. This afforded them the opportunity to develop such revolutionary concepts as "songs" and "popular music."

Going into a more modern presence in America, without The New! in the previous century, we would have no Rock, no Country, no R&B. We wouldn't even have the greats of Tin Pan Alley or Jazz beyond a basic swing or rag. Sure, Country-Pop crossover might seem annoying, irritating, and soulless now, but so did all these other new forms of music. Not everything sticks (oh, madrigals, Robert still loves you), but what does stick forever influences the musical landscape that you enjoy.

Posted by: Robert at December 11, 2010 7:16 PM

I like a lot of C&W, although it won't be familiar to most people. Uncle Tupelo, the Avett Brothers, Dwight Yoakam, Robbie Fulks, Son Volt, Buddy Miller, and so many others, are artists worthy of respect. C&W is a diverse genre, just like soul, and while there is a lot of dreck (unlike say, hair metal, where everything's genius, or the singer/songwriter field, where no one's ever shallow and self obsessed), there's lots and lots of great stuff out there.

Besides, most of Johnny Cash's output was in the country field.

Posted by: alone in the dark at December 11, 2010 7:17 PM

During the worst summer of my life, I got fired from the ice cream stand (turns out you CAN'T get away with moving the letters on the sign above the window so that the summer special is a "hot dong and cock") and took a job as a waitress in a one-restaurant town. The speakers played country music over and over and over until my ears bled. The popular song that year was "Don't Take the Girl" by fuck-if-I-know-who. All I know is that Johnny's daddy took him fishing and OH MY GOD I'M STILL NOT OKAY WITH THIS SONG. ALSO, FANCY IS A FUCKING WHORE!

I now have to leave an establishment if "modern" country is on the radio.

However, from my dad's love of "classic" country, I learned to appreciate musicians like Johnny Cash, The Band, etc.

I have to assert, though, that "Long Black Veil" is the saddest song ever.

Posted by: idgiepug at December 11, 2010 8:28 PM

There is certainly excellent Country music. I'd point people to Lyle Lovett or Cowboy Mouth. There is also great classic country, even if the singer is repugnant-see below.


....Well a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song
And he told me it was the perfect country and western song
I wrote him back a letter and told him
It was not the percfect country and western song
Because he hadn't said anything at all about mama
Or trains or trucks or prison or gettin' drunk
Well he sat down and wrote another verse to the song and he sent it to me
And after reading it I realized
That my friend had written the perfect country and western song
And I felt obliged to include it on this album the last verse goes like this here-

Well I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in a pickup truck
She got run'd over by a damned old train


Posted by: Mrcreosote at December 11, 2010 8:37 PM

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band is one of the three best concerts I've ever seen. Just awesome.

Posted by: alone in the dark at December 11, 2010 8:49 PM

I like Ke$ha. She's out and out trash and unashamed of it.

As far as coutnry goes, Reba McEntire did a mean cover of If I Were a Boy. There we go.

Posted by: Brooks at December 11, 2010 8:51 PM

I think we need the New! because it can bring us back to the old... I love classic country, and I think the Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert and the Band Perry are bringing us closer to its roots than Kenny Chesney.

Posted by: capricornia at December 11, 2010 9:10 PM

Three-nineteen puts it best for me, but "The New!" and "evolution of sacred music" that Robert describes is a much more personal approach that kind of rankles me.

The 'Country & Western' tag was a misnomer from its very inception, with the likes of Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Eddy Arnold unfortunately being characterized as such artists- the more accurately descriptive 'Country Music' eventually replaced that term by the early 70's, but it took a hoard of artists like George Jones, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson and many others from the 50's and 60's to finally get that 'Western' shit dropped. This music is called 'Classic Country' today, and is as apt a description as 'Classic Rock' or 'Classic R&B' or even 'Classic Rap', because a) it's considered "old," and therefore automatically accepted as deserving of the 'Classic' term; b) their origins are self-defining and provide a template for which to measure or compare all other subsequent artists & musicians who attempt to make music that falls under the guidelines of how 'Classic' music of any form can be comparably attributed to; and c) terms like 'Traditional Jazz', or 'Old-Time Gospel' necessarily separate the roots of any musical form from the derivative and mostly-unrecognizable bastard adaptations that have mutated from these 'Classic' original works in the years between their early definition to what we hear in 'popular' music today.

While current music format labels like 'Alt Rock', 'Grunge', 'Techno', 'Emo', 'Hip Hop', 'Contemporary Jazz' and 'Today's Country' or 'New Country' are trying to re-define the original music for a younger audience, aligning themselves with these established, legitimate musical forms, which nonetheless allows artists like rappers Run DMC, the 'Father of Bluegrass' Bill Monroe, straight-Country Johnny Cash and Raggae Legend Bob Marley to be indiscriminately included as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for chrissakes', well - how much legitimacy should be allowed any one organization or 'authority' to be so all-inclusive in their individual opinions of what constitutes music they subjectively declare is a part of, or descendant from, or innovator of any singular musical style as these 'experts' choose to categorize it?

I don't listen to radio PERIOD, except for that irritating alarm my wife insists on being woken up to every damn morning, which she has set to a 'Today's Country' station. When that sucker comes on playing a distorted electric guitar break with a pounding backbeat resembling a lame Def Leppard riff, I choke back the bile forming in my esophagus that this extraordinarily inane combo of slickly-produced 'hard pop' with a (questionably) 'Country-sounding' lead vocal and lyrics that would have shocked the hell out of Patsy Cline or that naughty young Brenda Lee, and they was some hot & nasty bitches in their day.

Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Trace fucking Adkins - they're about as far removed from 'Country' artists as Justin Bieber is to--

well, MUSIC for one thing, 'manhood' running a close second.. oh hell, time for another Dilantin

Posted by: Ben Helphil at December 11, 2010 9:29 PM

My sister was a great influence on my musical tastes when I was growing up. She introduced me to modern and alternative rock, even leading me to listen to the stacks of LPs that had been stored in the basement by my ex-radio-DJ parents.
Then, one summer, she went to camp and came back with a case of Shania Twain. Stupid songs about tractors being sexy and horses and thunder and friends in low places, ye gods.
I couldn't follow down this path. And I've never forgiven pop country for taking my sister.
Right now, Taylor Swift is infecting someone you care for. Help as much as you can -- play them some Ike Reilly Assassination, make them a half-pony-half-monkey monster, get them stoned and make out to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-IX".
If Toby Keith appears on their playlist -- leave. You can't do anything more for them.

Posted by: Jim Doggie at December 11, 2010 9:48 PM

At the moment, I can't think of anything. I'm not particularly fond of country music either. Unless it's Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash or something.

But I really can't stand Taylor Swift. Or Carrie Underwood for the matter. Or freaking Sugarland...if that's the name.

Swift really pisses me off. I just find it strange to write and sing songs when you were like 14 when you're over twenty.

Of course I've never looked into anything past that, but whatever. Sing about something else please.

I will admit, that I liked her a lot on her episode of CSI.

Oh no. I got it. I really like Lady Gaga. Shower in my guilt and shame.

Posted by: Candee at December 11, 2010 9:54 PM

I think my frustrations are that she is simply that, a glorified songwriter who requires autotune to give a performance. She has little talent as a singer. Anyone remember her shitastic duet with Stevie Nicks of Rhianna from the Grammys? Who sounds bad alongside Stevie frickin Nicks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn1XTUyzBB0
Just plain awful. I feel bad for Stevie even watching it now.

I think her talents as a songwriter are wonderful but why does she get fame and wealth over any of the other songwriters?

I agree with capricornia in that there is new sound that is truer to country's roots than the pop wave that has been hitting country hard - though I think Kenny Chesney is a completely different kind of country altogether - Carribean Country.

Loved it how Miranda and Blake Shelton swept the CMA's and though Swift performed she didn't win shit.

Posted by: TVConnoisseur at December 11, 2010 10:03 PM

thanks to mr creosote and alone in the dark for mentioning Lyle Lovett before I could.

If all you know of him is marrying Julia Roberts, go take a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMhaehb5AnE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCOEne9eocU

Posted by: mswas at December 11, 2010 11:04 PM

I was one of those kids, "Country music?? I hate country music. My parents listen to that crap", and I had a similar opinion of classical back then.
Then my brain matured. (kids are stupid.)

I like old-school country... the stuff my parents listened to.
Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, George Jones, and the other country-folk of that era (Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, to name a couple more).
I like a good bit of the newer stuff, too.
I love me some Judds. Reba is cool. Tanya Tucker (rawr)...
Clint Black, Blackhawk, Diamond Rio, Restless Heart... and there are a few others that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

Hank Williams Jr. makes my ears bleed, though. Most especially on Monday nights...

I don't begrudge Taylor her success, but her music just hasn't caught my ear.
Of this new New! bunch, I like Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert.

It's been a while since I've listened to Country with the focus I devoted to it from the late '80s to the late '90s, so I'm not extremely familiar with who else is New! today.
The New! never really outshines the Old stuff, but occasionally a worthy new face/voice arrives on the scene, imbued with some of the Old Gestalt. That's how things go.

Posted by: Rykker at December 12, 2010 3:56 AM

It's good to know that Music History, as taught in accredited colleges and universities across America, is now a personal approach to the subject. I can put it in vague, apply your own interpretation terms if it's less offensive.

Music needs The New! because The New! is what forces the artform to evolve with time. If there was never innovation courtesy of The New!, music would be a very humble thing for a very specific purpose with no variation and minimal access. Thanks to The New!, we have any type of music you choose to seek out in a record store basement, unbiased by the garbage filtered through the radio station for evil commercial gain.

I hope this was less offensive than the history of music.

Posted by: Robert at December 12, 2010 8:29 AM

My country music taste is defined in broad terms by my ex and the ilk she grew up with and returned to. If they like it - if it's on CMT and the radio - it's shit to me. If they don't like it or understand it, I love it. This has led to some painful discussions with my 11 year-old son, whom is unfortunately being raised in their faux-southern shit-kicking environment. He still doesn't understand why Big & Rich is not only banned in my house, but a beating offense. (The discussion about how the ex and I found any common ground will have to wait for another day)

I find Ke$ha oddly, disturbingly interesting. It's possibly because I identify with her apparent intelligence & ability to be almost innovative and good, and then exposed as a second rater next to attention sluts like Lady GaGa.

I don't know that we need need the New! per se, but that it is a essential component of the system that exists is obvious. Even if humans stopped aging for a time and there wasn't a fresh batch of teens every 5 years, I think there'd be New! because we'd get bored with art that didn't change.

Posted by: idiosynchronic at December 12, 2010 10:54 AM

Drive-By Truckers.

Thanks for listening.

Posted by: , at December 12, 2010 11:52 AM

I always considered country music failing and backwater until the day Johnny Cash did "Hurt."
Seriously. I don't even like NIN, but God, man. The man in black deserves honor.

And I hate U2 for being wimps, whiny, overarching, and self-obsessed, but admittedly, they are well-oiled machine.
But surely they pocket SOME of Live Aid.

Posted by: EZissou at December 12, 2010 4:06 PM

I went through a country music phase a while back, The Mavericks, Dwight Yoakum, Kelly Willis, solo John Doe, I love k.d. lang too, so alt country I guess. My brother-in-law could be classified as kinda alt country or punkabilly musician too and I really like his stuff a lot. You can't beat Johnny Cash or Patsy and the whole Nashville scene and anyone who claims not to like it is probably lying.

I think THE NEW! is the only way to go. I can not stand to hang out with people my own age and listen to them discuss how awesome Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd and Jimmy Buffett and Boston and Bon Jovi, blah blah GAH! My musical tastes have continued to change and evolve and yes, I do still listen to the Smiths, the Boo Radleys and Lush, but I'm just as likely to be listening to Robyn or Daft Punk or Imogen Heep when I listen to Pandora at work.

Posted by: Mrs Smith at December 12, 2010 4:45 PM

1) I grew up listening to a lot of country and miss the 80s and early 90s stuff I used to love. Garth Brooks is just a great entertainer. Old Faith Hill, Reba, Restless Heart, Clint Black, Tanya Tucker...loved it all (well, almost all). I also grew to like what most call alt-country. I listen to that almost daily. But I despise almost all the new stuff. Today's country music seems to be a celebration of ignorance. Ugh, it makes me want to replace all their huntin' rifles with prop guns without telling them as a mass-scale practical joke. And as for Taylor Swift, a customer of mine complained to my boss after she overheard me telling a coworker how much I disliked her and everything that the New! country music stood for. Before that it wasn't personal, but now I reeeeeally hate her.

2) I own three Rascal Flatts CDs. I really have no excuses.

3) We need the New! because there's always going to be something great to come along. Some of the old wasn't that great, and we only remember the great.

Posted by: Austin asking for trouble at December 12, 2010 7:12 PM

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is definitely the saddest song ever. I remember hearing it when I was very young, and I had no idea what it meant that they placed a wreath upon his door. Damn, to have that innocence back.

1) I grew up listening to country because a) I'm from the south and b) there really is no b. My first concert was Kenny Rogers/Sawyer Brown. But then I rebelled in late-elementary school and went the pop/"rock" route - Bon Jovi, Poison, Debbie Gibson. I dipped back into country in the late '80s/early '90s right before it became huge again, and since then have a fondness for old country (George Jones, Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose with Jack White was fucking sublime, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty), and no interest in new country at all.

2) I have a like/hate thing with Faith Hill. I think she has a great voice, and her first song "Wild One" was my anthem in high school. However, most of the crap songs she's put out since then make me cringe. But when I hear "It Matters to Me" or "Cry" or even that awful "Breathe" you better know I'm going to sing the shit out of it at full volume. The only exception is "There You'll Be" since the first time I heard it was the day of my grandfather's funeral almost a decade ago. Instead of singing along, all I can do is curl into a ball and cry when I hear it.

3) Fuck The New. Once all the old timers are officially gone, we can all just listen to Kenny G until the world ends. It's not that far away, or so I've heard.

Posted by: Lou at December 12, 2010 8:20 PM

There is plenty of awesome NEW stuff going on with country in the more indie scene - Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Neko Case...and the Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons are doing some interesting stuff with the genre too.

Posted by: homeslice at December 13, 2010 12:51 AM

Kris Kristofferson, FTW.

I don't know if he should be C&W, Classic, or just be labeled as Sheer Badass...because anyone that freakin' handsome, with those beautiful blue eyes, that raw voice, and the heart and soul of a gifted poet deserves worship.

And a Rhodes Scholar to boot! Smart and gifted equals a lifelong crush and total admiration.

Long live 70s-style "country"!

Posted by: latvianluck at December 13, 2010 10:01 AM

i appreciate country, although I can't legitimately call myself a fan. I don't seek it out, and my family never listened to it so I admit, I am not familiar with a ton. However, what I've heard, I can appreciate, some old and new.
That being said, I'm sick to death of HEARING about Taylor Swift. I don't care what her music is like, her name is starting to sound like gibberish to me, like when you say a single word over and over until it loses all meaning.

Posted by: Whorish Mouth at December 13, 2010 10:28 AM

'Like many people my age, I have an inherent distrust and suspicion of The New! and The Hot! when there’ll never be and CAN never be another Aretha or James Brown or Hank Williams or Hendrix or … so what’s the point?'

This is wrong. Musicians are just people and people haven't really changed that much since these guys were popular. What has changed is the way music is presented and consumed. There are plenty of people/bands around now that are great and will probably be considered legendary in retrospective, you just have to look properly. Also, Taylor Swift isn't one of them.

Posted by: Steph at December 13, 2010 1:22 PM

I love old country, pretty much all the big names people have dropped above. Big Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Elvis, Patsy Cline fan. I don't have more than a superficial understanding of the genre, though--I haven't delved deeper than those big names, so I couldn't really call myself a country music fan.

As for modern country pop artists, I have liked some stuff from the Dixie Chicks, I love Leann Rimes' "I Need You" (it's the best song EVER to belt in the car), I went through an obsession with Faith Hill when I was about fifteen, and right now I'll admit I like some Taylor Swift songs. "Tim McGraw" is a pretty astoundingly good song, especially when you learn she wrote it when she was 13. Same goes for "Our Song". Her album Fearless was full of really well-constructed, if vapid, pop songs (with the exception of "You're Not Sorry", another great song, although she blows on the vocals). Her song "The Best Day", about her mom, chokes me up even on my most cynical of days. I appreciate Taylor's good attitude and work ethic and find her generally harmless. HOWEVER: lately I'm finding her more and more immature, her newer music is consistently terrible, and this fake relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal makes TomKat look level-headed and genuine. So, I'm pretty mixed on Taylor right now and couldn't offer a concrete "like" or "dislike" opinion.

My person I hate that I love... this is big, this is embarrassing... sigh... Miley Cyrus. I CAN'T HELP IT. Her music is CATCHY. Ridiculously so. If I'm flagging at the end of a workout, "7 Things" or "See You Again" or "Start All Over" unfailingly pump me back up. "Nobody's Perfect" perks me up after a hard day at work. "When I Look At You" is my current belt-your-heart-out-in-the-car song. And I generally find her charming in interviews, and on red carpets, where other people find her obnoxious. I certainly don't think she dresses well, I think she'll probably careen off a cliff of trashy ala Britney any month now, and I think she's uglier than my dog's butt, but in all other ways... gulp... I kind of love her.

Plus, she sort of earned my lifelong love with the whole youtube dance-off a few years back. That was hilarious.

Posted by: heatseeker at December 13, 2010 2:21 PM

I gave up New! country music the same time I gave up pop, rock and anything else that started requiring the singers to be models. Models are good to look at, not to listen to. Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Shannoying Twain, etc - all good to look at - not so good for listening. You wouldn't buy a SI swimsuit catalog starring Aretha Franklin or a sexy calendar featuring George Jones with his shirt off so why would you buy a music album based on the singers looks.

And yes, I am from Mississippi, I have a momma, an immediate family member in prison, a dog named minnie pearl (with the appropriate hat), and mrcreoste is the only one here who doesn't have to call me darlin', darlin.

Posted by: Phat girl at December 13, 2010 2:34 PM

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is indeed a sad song, but it didn't make me actually tear up like "When the Roses Bloom Again" as sung by Laura Cantrell did.

I like a lot of old country - Flatt & Scrugs, Patsy Cline, Hank Sr, and then individual songs like "Long Black Veil". I listen to country from the 1920's also, but it's not my favorite.

I wonder why Taylor Swift gets more backlash for being young than Tanya Tucker or LeAnn Rimes did? Can't think offhend of any young male country singers that made an impression, except for Elvis Presley.

Person whose music I hate but who I kinda like - Britney Spears. Although I have a set of artists whose CDs I always buy but never listen to - like Juliana Hatfield.

Posted by: Pat C. at December 13, 2010 2:37 PM

"... why would you buy a music album based on the singers looks."

Boy, am I guilty of that. Going back at least as far as Annette Funicello - by her own admission not a singer. But why do I do that ? Partly to look at the album photos - mostly to be a soundtrack for daydreams. But I can't speak for other fans - I'm definitely atypical.

Posted by: Pat C. at December 13, 2010 4:38 PM

Nice blog subject. thanks for letting me add something!

Posted by: heartbeats by lady gaga at December 23, 2010 7:02 AM