Country music tells stories. It evokes vivid mental images so intense that when listening you can feel as if you are right next to the singer on the front porch, out in the field, wherever they portray. When they are singing, you feel their pain, joy, happiness, their sorrow. Good country music will make you smile, laugh, and cry all within the same song because country music talks about the things that all of us feel and go through, whether it’s happy or sad or somewhere in between.
In my opinion, country music has moved away from its roots. Away from the songs and artists that built it and made it so great. Today, it has moved towards music that has more of a “pop” sound. But now there seems to be a return to the guitars,the banjos, the melodies and those vivid images that are so popular with die-hard country fans. Hank Williams Jr. just released a album, Its’ About Time. Loretta Lynn is set to release Full Circle in March and the Hank Williams biopic with separate playlist I Saw The Light is also set to release in March.
In addition, there are three newer artists I’d like to mention that perform and produce this genuine country music sound. The first is a group called Green River Ordinance. They are identified as a rock, alternative group but in February released an album (FIFTEEN) that has a country sound. You can hear the rock influence as well as the alternative influence but what comes through most of all is the country sound, the quiet guitars, the soft riffs and the images that evoke a simpler way of life.
Granger Smith released his first album in 2013 and will release Remington in March. He also goes by the name of Earl Dibbles Jr. his redneck alter ego. When he sings Backroad Song you are right on that road with him. You see what he sees, the melody is so pretty and his descriptions “ I’ve got the windows down”.,….. you are in the car with him. “I feel the wheels like a melody,….” you feel those wheels turning as you drive along that back road on the front seat next to him.
As you hear Sam Riggs sing (new CD Breathless) “ I was born in blue jeans with a guitar in my hand…..” “ nothing like getting high on a country song….”, your toes tap, you start clapping and all you want to do is line dance.In a different song he sings “just one kiss from your novocaine lips and you take all my pain away…”(Breathless title track) yeah we can feel it. Listening to Sam Riggs is a breath of fresh air. He is taking us back to what country used to be, with beautiful love ballads and songs about life and simple values. His song One More Chance to Stay is both uplifting and heartbreaking. Each song he sings on Breathless takes us back to country music roots.
The artists mentioned above embody the return to the country roots sound,the one country music was built on. When listening to them you’ve come back home to exactly where you want to be driving down that back road right next to them or out on the front porch, sipping iced tea. This is country music at its’ best, the way it was supposed to be. Let’s hope this trend continues. Y’all come back now y’hear?
