While that was the image of country I grew up with, I occasionally found some things I would like- for example, songs like Willie and Merle’s cover of Townes Van Zant’s “Pancho and Lefty” and of course, old Johnny Cash classics.
Trends can only last so long and towards the end of 1987, the next big thing was something called neotraditional country and the biggest star was a guy named Randy Travis who sang songs like the last decades hadn’t really happened.
It’s not that much different than the current era of country radio where years of lightweight party content has given to more serious fare. As with the current environment, it doesn’t mean that I like everything on the air, but as someone who prefers the singer-songwriter style, I can find a lot to like.
I also can’t separate 1988 with it being a time that I would read copies of Country Music magazine from cover to cover at my Aunt’s house after school.
Some of the biggest stars of the day were Rodney Crowell and Roseanne Cash- who were a real life couple. Their songs weren’t that much different than Mellencamp and Springsteen who would play on the pop and rock stations.
Looking at a list of the # 1 country s in those years is revelatory. While I am not particularly a fan of all the bands of that time, it’s interesting that even some of the bigger bands of the day - the Judds, Keith Whitley, George Strait had similar neo traditionalist styles. Of course, Whitley and another huge star of the day- Ricky Skaggs came from a bluegrass background, having played together in Ralph Stanley's band.
You had plenty of artists who were born out of either Bluegrass or Bakersfield- Dwight Yoakum, Kathy Mattea and the Chris Hillman-led Desert Rose band all took the top spot at some point in those years as did some old timers like Vern Gosdin, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson who had # 1s
I would turn to the back of the magazine and a lot of times in those days, near the top was a band called Shenandoah- a band that mixed country with gospel and bluegrass. They would have four # 1 country songs in those two years and a few years later, would record a collaboration with Allison Krauss which would be her chart debut. You rarely hear about the band nowadays. (As I write this, they have just announced a new recording of their biggest hit "The Church on Chamberlain Road" with Nickelback to introduce it to a new generation).
I would say there’s two things to bear in mind. One is the fact that I am nostalgic for the music of my early teens, which is no revelation. That’s going to pretty typical of everyone on the planet. Secondly, despite the influences and a handful of truly great songs, most of the country songs of this time suffer from what I call sterile production. My preferences were always going to be rock and pop.
But I did particularly like Crowell and Cash. Crowell’s album Diamonds and Dirt had five # 1 country songs - the first album to achieve that.
Songs like “I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried” and “Above and Beyond (the Call of Love)” weren’t all that dissimilar from what Mellencamp or Steve Earle (who had jumped from country charts to a rock audience) were doing.
Although Crowell wrote many famous country songs, his chart career was as red hot as it ever was, but his time at the top ended up being short lived (he would touch the Top 20 with 4 more songs between 1990 and 1992 but no more chart toppers)
Roseanne Cash’s biggest hit was “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, a cover of a song her Dad had once did. Cash was already an established star with crossover appeal but here she was with a truly all time great song. I remember it getting some play on pop/rock stations. I had a hard time finding where it landed on the Billboard 100 but I found a mention that it only reached # 84. She had 5 Country # 1s between 1987 and 1989 (and was on one of Crowell’s # 1 as a duet if you want to say 6)
Yoakum made a big impression too. He was not quite as dominant on the charts, but a big enough star that he had two number ones in 1989 and had seven other Top 10 country hits from 1986-9 including the title track of his breakout album “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc…”. Earle had a lesser amount of chart success (seven Top 40 Country hits in 86-89) but was getting plenty of buzz. His 1988 album Copperhead Road was notable for him changing from country to rock. Even if it didn’t get a ton of airplay (it did manage to find a spot on the mainstream rock chart) somehow everyone knew the title track and it had become one of the most iconic country songs of all time. It regularly is listed as one of the most played songs on jukeboxes year after year and it is now the current song used in Chevrolet ads.
Earle would have one last country chart hit in 1989. His cover of “Six Days on the Road” reached # 30 as part of the Planes, Trains and Automobiles soundtrack.
As with any genre, the influence remains, but the industry looks to find a way of bending the sound to something that will increase sales. Starring in December of 1989, you have the first # 1s from Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt and Clint Black. 1991 brought Alan Jackson and of course by 1992 it was time for Billy Ray Cyrus.
I still heard plenty of country radio riding in a car with my father but hardly any songs I liked. Earle got into trouble but reemerged with a string of albums that didn’t care about pop charts and were as good (maybe even better) than his previous albums.
Yoakum stayed on the charts, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, who had emerged with a couple of top 20 songs in 1989 would find a niche for a few years as folk influenced country music. But these were now the exceptions.
You could occasionally find something exciting that might show up on CMT. In 1996, the Western swing influenced BR549 would hit # 44 on the country charts with “Cherokee Boogie” and bluegrass legends Del McCoury Band would get some occasional video airplay with “My Love Will Not Change” in 2003 but it would take another couple of decades to again find some interesting music on country radio.
In 1989, I might have considered Crowell, Cash, Yoakum or Earle my favorite country artist depending on the day. But after the mid 90s, the only one I followed consistently was Earle
I hadn’t really given Crowell any thought until in 2019, Uncut magazine named his Texas album one of its best of the month. There’s a point in an artist’s career that the record company thinks the best bet is to surround the aging star with talented guests. This, Texas also features Earle, Ringo Starr, Billy Gibbons, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, and Lee Ann Womack.
Texas was a great album though. Crowell still had the songwriting chops and so the pattern would repeat.
2021s Triage took a direction without the A List guests and the songs gathered more around the themes of mortality, faith and love. Texas was a very good record. Triage was even better.
I dig a bit deeper in Crowell’s 21st century catalog but it’s pretty hefty. 2001s The Houston Kid and 2017s Close Ties have been a nice discovery but there is still a lot more to dig into
2023 saw Crowell teaming up with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco as producer. Pulling out more of a blues influenced and late 70s country sound, it’s not a bad album, but I don’t rate it as high as his other records, and I doubt I will revisit it anytime soon.
2025s Airline Highway sees Crowell match up with a producer and fan who I think has a great ear for his work in Tyler Bryant (of Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown). The band is top notch - guitarist Dave Grissom (John Mellencamp, Joe Eli, James McMurtry), keyboardist Catherine Marx (Willie Nelson) Drummer Conrad Choucroun (NRBQ, Bob Schneider) Grammy winner Accordion player Dirk Powell (Joan Baez, the Ranconteurs) and violinist Eleanor Denig (Eric Church, Margo Price, Old 97s).
The guest list is a perfect complement of rising alt country stars who fit Crowell’s sound- Bryant, Lukas Nelson, Larkin Poe, Ashley McBryde and Blackberry Smoke guitarist Charlie Starr.
The songs feel like classic Crowell with “Rainy Days in California” showing that pop sensibility, “Maybe Someday Down the Road” is the whisper/sung reflective narrative and “The Twenty One Song Salute” the nostalgic celebration. In the case of the latter, he’s made it a dedication to GG Shinn- a legendary swamp pop musician who led the Boogie Kings during a decades long career- and Cleoma Falcon- one of the first musicians to record Cajun music and a trailblazer being one of the few women to perform live music onstage in the 1920s and 1930s.
Airline Highway is a strong album that catches Crowell’s spirit. I still picture him as the guy on the Diamonds and Dirt album, but these days he is the elder legend. It’s hard to say this is better than Triage or Close Ties. Crowell has been so consistent so the idea of “star with one last great album in him” is not really applicable here, if otherwise it would have been true. But this is a great one and hopefully finds its way to a lot of peoples’ ears
No comments:
Post a Comment