re: When did country die?

Agreed. I listen to real non-Nashville country all the time. Yeah the rarely get put on if ever. Aaron Watson has a song entitled “Fenceposts” that encapsulates the difference between country and mainstream.

Good luck to you

I believe that people who are song writers are born with a unique gift. It’s why not everyone can do it and those that can are held at a premium. Do you just write country or have you ventured into other genres?

quote:

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I mostly focus on things I can pitch in Nashville, because it's more accessible to me than other music centers are.

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How’s that going for you? Most successful Nashville songwriters I’ve known have been on staff with a publisher. A few friends without contracts have had some success, but they live in Nashville. How do you get your songs heard other than through contests?

I was working as a DJ in Alexandria when Achy Breaky Heart came out. Lived out in the country, didn't have cable. People were calling the station, saying "Play that Achy Breaky song."
I'd tell em I'd never heard of it.
The video had been playing on CMT and the Nashville Network before radio stations ever got the song. First time I heard it, I thought it was a piece of shite.

I saw an interview with the writer. He said when he shopped the song around, one label guy told him privately, "Don't embarrass yourself by bringing us anything else like this."

Tattoos on the face

Here's the thing, what "I" consider to be "real country" might differ from others perceptions. My country is 100% acoustic, unplugged, raw. No bluegrass crap. Lol in the last few days of posting, I realized my heavy use of emojis showed as question marks. What's up with that!? Anyhow, thanks for everyone's mature responses. Sure seems like I've hit more fellow Gen-X or elder folks who aren't quick to judge you than the football or sports teams. I joined TD a few years ago and after a couple of posts felt suicidal. I stopped the antisocial platform until my persona developed much thicker skin so I could nicely put others in their place or tiptoe off haha.

others to try

Zach Top
Lukas Nelson
Daniel Donato
Sierra Ferrell
Sierra Hull
Lindsey Lou

country music isn’t dead

Very good suggestion, thanks

There are a number of reasons country died, beginning with rap/hip hop effectively killing pop music, which in turn created a large class of young whites who suddenly didn’t have acts like The Eagles, Matchbox 20, Journey, Creed, Michael Jackson and others to listen to.

The bandwidth that had existed on radio for white bands from the 60’s through the early 2000’s was suddenly occupied by rap and hip hop. Young whites abandoned pop radio by the millions and discovered the newer country acts, many of which took their song writing cues from 70’s and 80’s white pop bands. In many respects it was the same music with a blend of fiddle and pedal steel added.

Combine that with the movement of pop and rock producers, musicians and song writers to Nashville from the west coast, along with the labels sending their pop producers to Nashville and ta da…..

Eventually country fell victim to the karaoke template used in selecting later pop rock acts. We don’t care if you can’t actually sing (we’ll fix it in the mix) or if you can’t write (we’ll put you in a writers group with 22 other writers)

Listen to Alan Jackson, “Here He Comes”. It pretty much tells the story. It’s like when a liberal Democrat leaves their home state because of taxes and crime, moves to a red state in order to escape the things they hate and continue to vote Democrat.