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Neotraditional country

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Neotraditional country (also known as new traditional country and hardcore country[2]) is a country music style that emphasizes the instrumental background and a traditional country vocal style. Neo-traditional country artists often dress in the fashions of the country music scene of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, George Strait, Randy Travis, and Toby Keith are commonly associated with this style of music.[3] Western music performers of neotraditional style music often emphasize their heritage genres, examples include those associated with the late Al Hurricane in New Mexico music,[4][5] and modern honky-tonk bands like Midland in the Texas country music scene.[6][7]

Discover more about Neotraditional country related topics

Country music

Country music

Country is a music genre originating in the Southern and Southwestern United States. First produced in the 1920s, country primarily focuses on working class Americans and blue-collar American life.

Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire

Reba Nell McEntire, or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed "the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot. She is an actress in films and television. She starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a clothing line.

Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson

Alan Eugene Jackson is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for performing a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country", as well as penning many of his own songs. Jackson has recorded 16 studio albums, three greatest-hits albums, two Christmas albums, and two gospel albums.

Patty Loveless

Patty Loveless

Patty Loveless is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first few releases were unsuccessful, she broke through by decade's end with a cover of George Jones's "If My Heart Had Windows". Loveless issued five albums on MCA before moving to Epic Records in 1993, where she released nine more albums. Four of her albums—Honky Tonk Angel, Only What I Feel, When Fallen Angels Fly, and The Trouble with the Truth—are certified platinum in the United States. Loveless has charted 44 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including five which reached number one: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", "Chains", "Blame It on Your Heart", "You Can Feel Bad", and "Lonely Too Long".

George Strait

George Strait

George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for igniting the neotraditional country movement, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. His influential and record-breaking legacy of his pioneering neotraditionalist country style has garnered him the title of "King of Country Music."

Randy Travis

Randy Travis

Randy Bruce Traywick, known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor.

Toby Keith

Toby Keith

Toby Keith Covel, known professionally as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He released his first four studio albums—1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin', plus a Greatest Hits package—for various divisions of Mercury Records before leaving Mercury in 1998. These albums all earned Gold or higher certification, and produced several Top Ten singles, including his debut "Should've Been a Cowboy", which topped the country charts and was the most-played country song of the 1990s. The song has received three million spins since its release, according to Broadcast Music Incorporated.

Al Hurricane

Al Hurricane

Alberto Nelson Sanchez, known professionally as Al Hurricane, was an American singer-songwriter, dubbed "The Godfather" of New Mexico music. He released more than thirty albums, and is best known for his contributions to New Mexico's unique style of Spanish music.

New Mexico music

New Mexico music

New Mexico music is a genre of music that originated in the US state of New Mexico, it derives from Pueblo music in the 13th century, and with the folk music of Hispanos during the 16th to 19th centuries in Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

Honky-tonk

Honky-tonk

A honky-tonk is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano used to play such music. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many eminent country music artists, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Horton, and Merle Haggard, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.

Midland (band)

Midland (band)

Midland is an American country music group formed in 2014 in Dripping Springs, Texas. The band members are Mark Wystrach, Jess Carson, and Cameron Duddy. Through Big Machine Records, the band has released two EPs, their self-titled EP and The Last Resort. They have released three studio albums, On the Rocks, Let It Roll and The Last Resort: Greetings From, which have accounted for seven charted singles on the Billboard country chart: "Drinkin' Problem", Burn Out", "Make a Little", "Mr. Lonely", "Cheatin' Songs", "Sunrise Tells the Story" and "Longneck Way to Go". Midland's musical style is known as neotraditional country.

Texas country music

Texas country music

Texas country music is a subgenre of country music from Texas. Texas country is a style of Western music and is often associated with other distinct neighboring styles, including Red Dirt from Oklahoma, the New Mexico music of New Mexico, and Tejano in Texas, all of which have influenced one another over the years, and are popular throughout Texas, the Midwest, the Southwest, and other parts of the Western United States. Texas Country is known for fusing neotraditional country with the outspoken, care-free views of outlaw country. Texas Country blends these sub-genres with a "common working man" theme and witty undertones, these often combine with a stripped down music sound.

History

Neotraditional country rose to popularity in the mid-1980s, a few years after the so-called "outlaw movement," a previous "back-to-its-roots" movement, had faded in popularity. Neo-traditionalism was born as a reaction to the perceived blandness of the mainstream country music at the time, which had been influenced by the rise of the "urban cowboy" fad. New (or "neo-") traditionalism looked to the elders of country music like Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Kitty Wells and George Jones for inspiration, and was a precursor to the more general categorization known as new country. The creation of neo-traditionalism was also done in contrast to the more pop-oriented acts of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Ronnie Milsap and Anne Murray, along with the flood of former pop acts (see B.J. Thomas, Billy Joe Royal, The Osmonds, Bill Medley, Dan Seals, Exile and Juice Newton) switching to "country" to revive their careers.[8]

In 1981, George Strait had made his musical debut with the album Strait Country. The album was based on an approach towards traditional country music and its subgenres of honky tonk, Western swing, and the Bakersfield sound. The album was considered a sharp contrast to the then current trends of country music, at the time relying on the "urban cowboy" country-pop scene.[9] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine observed:

And that's the genius of Strait Country—it showed how it was possible to be planted firmly in traditional country yet flexible enough to play softer stuff without losing that hardcore stance ... by blending the hardcore honky tonk, Western swing and Bakersfield country with a few melodic ballads that weren't designed for the barroom, he set the template for years and years of modern country.[9]

It is with Strait Country that George Strait is credited with starting the neotraditional movement.[1]

In the early 1980s, Ricky Skaggs, a picking prodigy who took his inspiration from Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley (Skaggs was a Clinch Mountain Boy as a teen), began making music that he believed brought country back to its roots; Skaggs' style drew heavily on country's bluegrass vein.

Another neotraditional country artist was one of Skaggs' friends and former band-mate, Keith Whitley, who focused largely on countrypolitan ballads. After his success with "Don't Close Your Eyes", Whitley was said to be a promising new artist; however, in 1989, he died of what was officially listed as an alcohol overdose at the age of 34 (this diagnosis has since come into dispute). Despite his death, Whitley's sound remains influential among country artists. At that same time, artists like Emmylou Harris, John Anderson and Gail Davies, whose hits included re-makes of songs by Ray Price, Webb Pierce, Carl Smith, The Louvin Brothers and Johnnie & Jack, set the tone in the late '70s and early '80s. Following that, Randy Travis, Patty Loveless, and The Judds used vintage musical stylings, covers of classic country material, and carefully crafted vocal delivery to help bring New Traditionalism to the vanguard of country music for a time. Some of the last top-10 hits from a number of classic country stars (such as Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, George Jones, and Don Williams) came during the neo-traditional boom of the late 1980s and into 1990.

As the mid-1980s approached, the pop country of the early 1980s was rapidly falling out of popularity as the Second British Invasion and MTV revolution took hold of American pop music, and country music sales overall had fallen to levels not seen since disco.[10] The promotion of traditional country sounds was in part a retrenchment to appeal to the base of country music fans who remained loyal to the genre.

Neo-traditionalism, to a certain extent, fell out of favor in approximately 1991, when Billboard removed record sales from its country chart[11] and a new brand of popular country music exploded into mainstream popularity, led in large part by Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, and Reba McEntire (who merged neotraditionalist styles, with stadium rock-influences). Despite this shift, of the acts that were still popular in the 1980s, more of the neo-traditional artists survived the shift into the 1990s than did those who did pop country in the 1980s tradition; Travis, Keith, Strait, McEntire, Loveless and newcomer Alan Jackson stayed true to the neo-traditional sound and continued to have mainstream success alongside their newer, more pop-oriented rivals.

In 2000, Strait and Jackson, both of whom remain popular as of the early 2020s, recorded a song titled "Murder on Music Row" which spoke directly to the rift between neo-traditionalists and pop-country musicians. The lyrics include scathing criticisms of the Nashville establishment such as "Someone killed tradition, and for that, someone should hang." Strait revisited the topic in his 2016 song "Kicked Outta Country," which noted that history was repeating itself at the time as artists like Strait were being marginalized just like artists such as Merle Haggard and George Jones had been in 1991. Jackson made similar remarks in his own song "Where Have You Gone," released at the same time as Strait's, remarking in an interview that he hoped that younger country musicians would embrace the traditional sound because as it stood, "country music is gone and it's not coming back."[12] Travis rebutted that he and his wife were actively promoting younger traditional country artists.[13]

Discover more about History related topics

Ernest Tubb

Ernest Tubb

Ernest Dale Tubb, nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music.

Hank Williams

Hank Williams

Hiram "Hank" Williams was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 55 singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached No. 1.

George Jones

George Jones

George Glenn Jones was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", as well as his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bill Malone writes, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved." The shape of his nose and facial features earned Jones the nickname "The Possum". Jones has been called "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music" and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013.

Anne Murray

Anne Murray

Morna Anne Murray is a Canadian singer of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1979.

Billy Joe Royal

Billy Joe Royal

Billy Joe Royal was an American country soul singer. His most successful record was "Down in the Boondocks" in 1965.

Bill Medley

Bill Medley

William Thomas Medley is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers. He is noted for his bass-baritone voice, exemplified in songs such as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Medley produced a number of the duo's songs, including "Unchained Melody" and "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration".

Dan Seals

Dan Seals

Danny Wayland Seals was an American musician. The younger brother of Seals and Crofts member Jim Seals, he first gained fame as one half of the soft rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley, who charted nine singles between 1976 and 1980, including the No. 2 Billboard Hot 100 hit "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight".

Exile (American band)

Exile (American band)

Exile is an American band originally formed in 1963. In the 1970s, they were known as a rock band that had a major hit single with "Kiss You All Over" in 1978. After several lineup changes, the band was re-launched as a country act that achieved additional success in the 1980s and '90s. J.P. Pennington is the only current member of the band remaining from its early days.

Juice Newton

Juice Newton

Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categories – winning once in 1983 – as well as an ACM Award for Top New Female Artist and two consecutive Billboard Female Album Artist of the Year awards. Newton's other awards include a People's Choice Award for "Best Female Vocalist" and the Australian Music Media's "Number One International Country Artist".

George Strait

George Strait

George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for igniting the neotraditional country movement, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. His influential and record-breaking legacy of his pioneering neotraditionalist country style has garnered him the title of "King of Country Music."

Honky-tonk

Honky-tonk

A honky-tonk is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano used to play such music. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many eminent country music artists, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Horton, and Merle Haggard, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.

Bakersfield sound

Bakersfield sound

The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield was the first subgenre of country music significantly influenced by rock and roll, relying heavily on electric instrumentation and a strongly defined backbeat. It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. The Bakersfield sound became one of the most popular and influential country genres of the 1960s, initiating a revival of honky-tonk music and influencing later country rock and outlaw country musicians.

Source: "Neotraditional country", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 19th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neotraditional_country.

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References
  1. ^ a b Dicaire, David (August 18, 2008). The New Generation of Country Music Stars. McFarland, Incorporated. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  2. ^ Moore, Bobby (May 26, 2021). "The Soapbox: Country Music is Dead? We Didn't Know It Was Sick!". Wide Open Country. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  3. ^ Thompson, William (2014). Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi:10.4135/9781452283012. ISBN 978-1-4522-8303-6.
  4. ^ Cruz, Isaac (August 5, 2022). "Isotopes holding Al Hurricane tribute night". KRQE NEWS 13. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Matlock, Staci (November 15, 2022). "Al Hurricane, 'Godfather of New Mexico music,' is leaving a legacy". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  6. ^ Karlis, Michael (September 9, 2022). "Nelly, Midland, Gary Allan added to San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo musical lineup - Concert Announcements - San Antonio". San Antonio Current. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Liptak, Carena (November 29, 2022). "Toby Keith Hopes to Get Back to Performing After 'Debilitating' Cancer Battle". Taste of Country. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  8. ^ Tribe, Ivan M. (2006). Country: A Regional Exploration. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 14–17. ISBN 9780313330261. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  9. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Strait Country". AllMusic. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  10. ^ Gerald W. Haslam; Alexandra Russell Haslam; Richard Chon (1 April 1999). Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California. University of California Press. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-520-21800-0.
  11. ^ "R&B Enjoying Rare Dominance Over Rap". Billboard. 24 April 2004. p. 68. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  12. ^ "ALAN JACKSON: 'Country music is gone and it's not coming back'". 18 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Randy Travis Sets Alan Jackson Straight About Today's Country". 23 May 2021.

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