Tag: HITS

Today’s Mainstream Country Music

Without question, many of today’s mainstream stars are a giant improvement over the mid-2010’s A-listers. As I write this, Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Megan Moroney, and Zach Top are all up there on the Top 40 chart, which is a clear step up from the bro-country and boyfriend-country days. To add onto the good news, some artists who never would have gotten a chance at radio are putting up numbers and having an opportunity to showcase their art to a vast audience. Muscadine Bloodline had the most added song on radio with “10-90” just last week, Koe Wetzel (yes, not traditional country but still a unique and authentic style, and certainly someone outside the industry) had a number one with “High Road”, and Parker McCollum carved out a nice niche on radio, which is very exciting considering his wife claims the Limestone Kid is fully back . I know I mentioned him already but I’d be remiss not to give Zach Top another huge shoutout. No one, and I mean no one, has been able to see the commercial success he has while sticking to his guns with a 90’s country sound. That’s no small feat in an industry not long ago captured by snap tracks, hip-hop bass lines, and sugary, unfulfilling lyrics. But… there’s still work to be done. https://twitter.com/WhiskeyRiff/status/1857894013824589994

Dylan Scott’s Top 10 Singles

Before we move on, let me clear the air here… I don’t have anything personal against Dylan Scott. In fact, his song “Makin’ This Boy Go Crazy” helped me woo over my now wife back in the day (yes, I was that kid in college with a guitar but hey, the ring on my finger proves it worked). I’m sure Dylan is a fine guy to hang out with and I will not make any assumptions about his character or any facets of his life other than the music he makes. With that being said, I opened my inbox this morning to a Dylan Scott press release. The subject line got my attention because truth be told I hadn’t listened to a Dylan Scott song in years… “Multi-Platinum Artist Dylan Scott Remains A Force At Country Radio With Two Singles In Top 10” The press release went on to say he’s the fourth most played artist at country radio so far this year and that his 2024 album Livin’ My Best Life (Still) was his highest charting project on Billboard’s Top 200 , containing six gold or platinum singles and 4 number ones. Let me get this straight… Dylan Scott, 11 years removed from “Makin’ This Boy Go Crazy” and 8 years removed from his self-titled debut album featuring “My Girl”, “Hooked”, and “Crazy Over Me”, is still dominating country radio? Okay, maybe he pulled a Chase Rice and decided to forgo the advice of his label and make some quality music with deep lyrics. It’s possible, right? Let’s take a look at his current Top 10 songs and see for ourselves:

“This Town’s Been Too Good To Us”

Gave us that hilltop place to park
Gave us them girls that stole our hearts
Gave us them bucks up on the wall
The way we live, and the way we talk
Gave us state that senior year
Them country stores to buy that beer
A place to go nobody knows
When you take it in and you take it

Slow like that river rolls
Where that green grass grows
I can’t explain
Ah, it’s something ain’t it

Not a great start… Lots of cliches, mentions beer and a random spot in the country where you can park and get naked, of course says he won a football state championship (which I can neither confirm or deny with a few quick Google searches), and obviously has a line about talking with an accent.

Throw in the fact that this was written by 5 (yes, five) fully grown adults who make their living as professional songwriters and it’s pretty clear to see this is yet another example of generic, vanilla, radio filler-noise that’s so universally applicable no one actually relates to it. What about the other song? It’s not exactly his, he’s a feature, but if his PR team counts it than so do I:

“Boys Back Home” w/ Dylan Marlowe

Yeah, here’s to the boys back home
Drinking dirt road beers on a Friday night
Yeah, I’m wishing I was with y’all
Singing them old songs
Trucks circled up ’round a farm fire (let’s go) Those are literally the opening lines and you don’t need me to break down why I hate it… Trucks, dirt roads, beer, singing old songs (even though they’d never be caught dead “Crankin’ Hank”), a bonfire at a farm… Is this a Florida Georgia Line parody? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ggP9L89qlk

Country Radio Has Much Better Options

Typically, I wouldn’t be upset by this. We know the Nashville machine’s core competency is churning out bland but hyper-palatable songs that background listeners don’t mind hearing but the industry itself has shown a willingness, heck even an excitement, to begin playing real country artists that make emotional, specific, and moving music. The Red Clay Strays were nominated for CMA Vocal Group of the Year. Flatland Cavalry was nominated for ACM Group of the Year. Sierra Ferrell is opening for Post Malone, Stephen Wilson Jr. has independent and mainstream fans alike obsessed with his sound, Tyler Childers cracked the Top 40 for the first time (somehow) with “In Your Love” and has an entire catalogue of songs that people need to hear. Hailey Whitters unfairly disappeared from radio after “Everything She Ain’t” ran its course, heck even Zach Bryan has a bunch of great songs past “Something In The Orange” and “Pink Skies”, and those are just some of the artists that Nashville has flirted with in the past. Throw in the slew of artists that clearly would fit on radio if given the chance and the fact that Dylan Scott remains a chart-topping fixature turns into a cruel joke. Are we really going to pretend that 49 Winchester, Colby Acuff, Maggie Antone, Randall King, Wyatt Flores, Silverada, Kaitlin Butts, Charles Wesley Godwin, or Sam Barber wouldn’t explode (even more) if the masses were given a chance to hear their music? You could forget all about the cheesy, cookie-cutter songs that have long been synonymous with country music if anyone of those artists (or tons I didn’t mention) had a real chance. I get it takes awhile for large ships to alter course, but it seems like if the country music industry really wanted to go back to the days where the radio actually played good music, they would prioritize playing good music on the radio. Availability isn’t the issue because if there’s one thing I’m certain of in today’s country landscape, it’s the existence of an overwhelming amount of incredible music. https://twitter.com/WhiskeyRiff/status/1869791166721601628

Do Better, Country Radio

Honestly, good for Dylan Scott. The man has earned generational wealth for his family, is married to his high school sweetheart, and looks to be an incredible father to his three children. It’s not his fault the industry tries to standardize every artist into a radio-friendly bucket… he simply played the game and won. And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… hard to blame him. It’s honestly almost impressive that he’s been able to maintain such great radio relevancy with a sound that still sounds straight out of 2014. My gripe is not with Dylan Scott but the industry that promotes him. Music, and all art, is supposed to reveal the most human parts of us all, dig deep into the unspeakable, and help us realize truths that were there all along but we couldn’t see. That’s not to say there’s no room for fun, happy songs; there certainly is. But when seemingly everything is a cliche about getting drunk in a truck bed, it’s easy to follow the logic which leads us to a land of nothing beyond the surface, and a population of frustrated, uninspired people. Dylan Scott remains a force at country radio… it’s way past time we give more complex artists a chance to be a force for good. https://www.instagram.com/p/DFLe718yXyr/ If you haven’t watched yet, check out The Red Clay Strays NPR Tiny Desk Concert . Hands down, it’s one of the best that’s ever been released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ3Pusp6R_s