"What The Heck Happened to Country?" and similar comments

I googled the phrase "who sings melody in Somethin' Bad" today and didn't get my question answered, but found my way to a country music website called savingcountry.com (personally I can't figure out in the chorus whether Carrie or Miranda is singing lead. I think it's Carrie, but I'd like to know for sure.) This was the article I found.

Granted, I did not see Miranda and Carrie's debut performance of "Somethin' Bad," but I love the recording and the music video.

No, the song is not "full country." It does not say, "girl," "truck" or "beer". So, what's wrong with that? It is in the nature of human evolution that music will evolve as well. That's how a show like CMT Crossroads came to be.

Country artists are not just influenced by other country artists. They are influenced by rock stars, rap artists, pop singers; just as rock stars, rap artists and pop singers are influenced by country artists.

Look at pop for a moment, just as an example. Pop music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and now the 2000s and beyond all sound different. The 60s brought us girl groups and the wall of sound, the 70s brought singer/songwriters, the 80s brought the synth and new wave bands, the 90s brought boy bands and the 2000s brought trashy auto tuning. Music is constantly evolving.

Pop music is not the only music to evolve. Rock has also changed dramatically over the years, from Beatlemania and the Rolling Stones, Psychedelic Rock of the 60s, Hair Metal in the 80s, Punk Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative. How would we have any of theses subcategories and genres if everything stayed the same?

So, if other genres can evolve, why must country stay 100% exactly the same throughout time?

No, these are not the days of Hank Williams, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline and Jimmie Rodgers. We live in a different time. We're no longer in the heyday of Kiss and Poison either, or NSYNC, or the Supremes or the Ronettes. Just as popular artists change, the music they perform changes as well.

It's not particularly selling out. Every artist is entitled to try new things. Will some of them be complete misses (like Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," that shouldn't have been labeled country at all, or Jason Aldean's new single "Burnin' It Down," which is very clearly auto tuned)? Of course. That's in the nature of taking a risk.

Will some things boom? Things like Colt Ford or Florida Georgia Line's style of rap country? Absolutely. I hate rap music, I avoid it when I can, but I am a huge Florida Georgia Line fan. I am a fan of their interpretations, their personalities, and their style. I don't listen to rap but I listen to them. It's a prime example of how different styles can transcend genre lines.

Every song isn't going to talk about losing your girl and driving off in your truck, drinking a beer or stomping in mud. In fact, every song shouldn't. If every song talks about exactly the same thing in different words, the entire genre loses its originality.

Last Fall, Zac Brown attacked Luke Bryan's new song "That's My Kind of Night".

I tend to both agree and disagree with Zac Brown.

I disagree with him when he says it's "the worst song he's ever heard." It's not country. It's rock/hip-hop based. It was released under country because the rest of the "Crash My Party" album can be considered country. It's not the worst song in the world though. Please Zac Brown, go listen to a Justin Bieber song and get back to me. The song is catchy, it's fun to dance to and to scream at the top of your lungs at a Luke Bryan concert (which I've had the pleasure of doing twice, and once with my best friend!).

Here's where I agree with Brown though. It hits all the buzzwords of popular country.  Truck, pretty girl, hot self, beer, tailgate... we're hitting all the bases here.

We're trying to cater to a drunken 20something hookup demographic with these types of songs, which are far from older country songs about falling in love, being down on your luck and what have you. They're selling. Look at iTunes, look at filled concert venues.

Here's the thing. THATS OKAY. If Zac Brown wants to write songs about going on vacation, a good girl leaving or authentic southern living, great. I'll probably buy his stuff. If Luke Bryan wants to contract someone out to write songs about beer and tailgates and moonlight, great again. I'm definitely going to buy his stuff until he starts becoming auto tuned or he stops being completely adorable, whichever comes first.

Point being here, if I like the song or if I like the artist I'm going to buy the music. It doesn't matter to me if I already have ten songs on my iPod that say tailgate in them.  If Luke Bryan releases another and I like it, I'll get it. I didn't download "Burnin' It Down" when it came out because it sounded auto tuned to me. I've stocked up on every Miranda Lambert song I can find after seeing her live two or three weeks ago and just loving her.

It's personal preference. That's what this comes down to. My Luke Bryan and Zac Brown Band live (almost) side by side scrambled in with Kiss and Def Leppard and Richard Marx and Disney Songs with the occasional Usher song thrown in.

If you don't like the song, don't buy it, don't listen to it on the radio, don't watch the video. Don't trash talk an artist because they're not performing what YOU think they should be performing. Go find someone who is performing what you'd like to listen to.

With that I say, go ahead Miranda and Carrie and Blake and Luke and Jason. Keep making music that you like. Florida Georgia Line and Eli Young Band and Zac Brown Band: keep supplying us with party country/rock/rap, slow love songs and country twang harmonies. Eric Church, I don't support your support of marijuana but please keep singing songs about "guys like you" and hometowns and roller coasters.

To anyone that feels the need to criticize music, what made you an expert? Music is an art like anything else. Let it be and find your niche and don't be afraid to explore other genres, you just might surprise yourself.