COUNTRY-Country Music

Recorded back in April, an in depth discussion of the emergence of Neo-Neo Traditional Country sound, a term we may have unknowingly coined on this podcast in October of 2022. Since then we have seen it pop up a few times online and thought we should discuss exactly what we mean by Neo-Neo Traditional Country Music, where it came from, and some of the artists that encapsulate the sound.

Start of an ongoing series of 'Artist Spotlight' mini episodes where we each discuss an artist we're listening to at the moment. Might be a new artist, might be someone we just saw live. This week we start with The Chattahoochies and Emily Zeck, a bunch of brand new honky-tonkin' gals we're digging quite a bit.

Pop stars are crossing over to make country records, Yellowstone was the biggest show on TV, supermodels are crossing over to rodeo competition, and fashion trends are saturated with country and western music and style…is country cool again? And what are the upsides and downsides of this? Simpsons references abound with Düff beer from Sweeden and a spontaneous a capella rendition of Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel adjusted for Morgan Wallen. A high water mark if we do say so ourselves.

Our thoughts on Cowboy Carter as a country record after its release last week. This follows our Part 1 discussion on Beyoncé's foray into Country Music which focused on her past controversy with country music, the genre's black history, and initial impressions whether it is country music from the first two tracks. Part 2 was recorded Monday April 1st, 4 days after the full Cowboy Carter release and prior to all the credits being released on Friday April 5th.

Part 1 of 2 part discussion ahead of "Act II: Cowboy Carter" release. The biggest question everyone has been asking about Beyoncé’s latest music has been: "Is it Country?" Beyoncé has said herself “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Yet everything about it from the horses, hats, boots, and initial tracks, are signalling full-out country record. There’s a complicated history with Beyoncé and the country music establishment and an even more complicated hidden history of black artists and innovators in country music. We discuss her initial Country Carter tracks as well as 2016’s Daddy Lessons in the context of country music, but also her broader mission of reclaiming black contributions to country music. A Part 2 follow up episode with a discussion of whole record will follow!

A bonus mini-episode this week from our Midnight Mastermind guest spot on BBC Radio 2 in the UK. It’s a nightly segment on OJ Borg’s show where random guests quiz him on their expert topic. We were honoured their producers contacted us for some questions on country music and had a fun time doing it. Turns out OJ loves cowboy hats as much as Andrew and we pioneered an all-too-nice Canadian scoring system! Just a note that BBC Radio of course had the clearance for the music that was played for the research portion, and for the George Strait song that played us out, but our podcast does not. So we did our best to cut the songs from the podcast without ruining the conversation over top.

This week we give our hot takes on the Follower Submitted Hot Takes on Country Central's Instagram account. Lots of polarizing polls that make for some good discussion.

After a year hiatus the podcast is back with a chat about Andrew's serendipitous trip to Austin as the Ameripolitan Awards were happening. Highlights include Summer Dean, Brennen Leigh, The Golden Roses, Dale Watson, and Hannah Juanita.

Andrew and Sean discuss The Panhandlers after their 'West Texas Is The Best Texas' EP made their Top 5 albums of the year. The super group of Flatland Cavalry's Cleto Cordero, Josh Abbott, John Baumann, and William Clark Green are all successful in their own right, but arguably greater than the sum of their parts as The Panhandlers. This is capital C, Country-Country Music that is as entertaining and witty as it is poetic and endearing.

2022's top 5 country-country albums and singles for Andrew and Sean. From Ronnie Dunn to Lost Dog Street Band, Emily Nenni to The Panhandlers, or Morgan Wade to Zach Bryan, there was lots of great music in 2022.

Andrew and Sean are developing a bold opinion that we are currently living in the greatest era of country music ever. This is no longer 2012 where bro-country and pure pop-country dominate the genre. Building on their discussion in episode 32, there might be more legit country music being produced and more accessible than ever. From easily discovering new underground artists on music streaming platforms or YouTube, to even Top 40 Country Radio is more honky tonk influenced than it's been in 20 years.

A month late with this podcast, but Andrew and Sean talk about Zach Bryan's dynamite September show in Ottawa, and more broadly about his awesome band, unique sound, and how ravenous his young fans are.

For 10-15 years people have been talking about how there's no good country music anymore: the radio is all pop, all the best music is from decades past, etc. To be fair, there was always good country music being made, but there was less and you had to look harder for it. But that doesn't hold water anymore. There is so much good REAL country music these days readily available on the radio, streaming, live shows, etc. So Andrew and Sean begin to lay out an argument for us currently living in the greatest era of country music. From OG's like Alan Jackson still kickin' it, to newcomers like Emily Nenni, to Garret Hedlund making a strong comeback into country music.

After quite a hiatus from the podcast, Andrew and Sean get back into it with a chat about their life-altering trips to see George Strait at the Houston Rodeo and then George & Willie Nelson live in Austin. Also, The Golden Roses live at The White Horse, Lone Star Lights, an afternoon visit to The Broken Spoke, and Cowboy hats at natural wine parties in Austin.

General grievances on Kacey Musgraves fully selling out, Ingrid Andress catfishing country fans, and Walker Hayes still existing with his stupid song and tiktok dance.

Live from Sean's Cabin deep in the heart of Quebec, Canada. It's the first podcast since covid hit. Andrew and Sean decided to come back with an Instagram live podcast from Sean's cabin and catch up and talk about some music they've been listening to over the last few months. They discuss new music from Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Hailey Whitters, Jake Owen, Sam Hunt's 'Hard to Forget", and Morgan Wallen's recent douchebaggery.

Better late than never! Sean and Andrew's 'Best and Worst of 2019' Lists. Some expected hits with some common cross-overs on both their individual lists, and some unexpected surprises!

Country Music is always evolving, and when it evolves well it incorporates modern influences but retains significant traditional components that make it country (pedal steel, fiddles, lyrical themes). In this episode the boys mostly debate Jenna Paulette. Is she the new Country-Country for the mainstream or just a different flavour of Pop-Country? Also a discussion of the best non-alcoholic beers for Dry-January, and how Big Data and Algorythms affects the Equal Play campaign.

This week the boys partially renege their hard-line stance on unnecessarily re-doing classic holiday Christmas songs from last week. After hearing Stephanie Ryann and Layla Tucker slay a couple of the old standards, they draw some exceptions to the rule. They discuss Randall King's killer new Christmas song that is COUNTRY-Country AF. They circle back on a conversation about Jenny Leigh and woodworking. And they talk through their Jenna Paulette problem.

It turns out Andrew and Sean hate most of the over-done, reproduced Christmas standards: the White Christmas and Rudolph songs. But they love the original country Christmas songs and in this episode they rant (and rave!) about what's to love about these seasonal songs. This episode comes with a companion playlist on our Spotify page to bop along with over the holidays, check it out!