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CultureSonar

Country For Folks Who Don’t Like Country

July 21, 2016 • The CS Team

Editor’s note: You can either hear or read this post. Your call.

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Country is probably the most popular music in these United States, but it’s not for everyone. The hat acts, the “chicks in pickups” clichés and the tired “bro” vibe are all overdone. Plus, you turn on country radio and it’s just full of the same-old-same-old.

But, like any vibrant art form, “Country” is not just one thing. It’s got a lot of facets – with lots of ridiculously-talented artists. And when you dig a little deeper, there are treasures everywhere.

So let’s talk today about country music for people who don’t like country music – starting with Kacey Musgraves. The title of her major-label debut, Same Trailer Different Park, tells you a few things: she’s different, she’s smart, and she both embraces and questions country traditions.

Critics love her: she won the Best Country Album for Same Trailer Different Park and the Best Country Song Grammy for “Merry Go ‘Round” from that album. The Country Music Association awarded her New Artist of the Year in 2013 and gave her Song of the Year honors for “Follow Your Arrow” the following year. Nashville itself was gushing that perhaps Kacey could save country music from itself – meaning, from the onslaught of “bro country” with all those pickups and tailgate-dancing girls.

2015 brought her second major-label album, the equally brilliant Pageant Material, which reached #1 on the Country album charts.

Yet if the fans and critics were on board, and Music Row itself was hoping she could help usher in a more creative climate, too many tightly restricted country radio stations remain resistant.

And no wonder. Some of Kacey’s characters smoke weed, are gay-friendly, and generally aren’t very orthodox. This has probably restricted her radio airplay; but it thrills legions of fans.

As Kacey put it herself, “The things I’m singing about are not controversial to me, I don’t push buttons to push buttons. I talk about things that have made an impression on me that a lot of people everywhere are going through.”

Where Musgraves is o