"That isn't real Country Music." You hear this a lot in Country Music circles - and everybody has an opinion of what's not real Country Music. It usually boils down to traditional vs. commercial, Hank Jr. vs. Taylor Swift.Kristin McNamara got caught in this, and it's a crying shame. On the surface, she has what the commercial side of Country Music is looking for: pretty blonde looks and a decent level of singing talent. But on the 4th season of Nashville Star, she showed that she had the guts to try one of the most traditional of the traditional country songs, Patsy Montana's I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart.
With yodeling. In one blinding instant, she had captured my admiration for a gutsy tribute to Country's roots. She also appalled the judges. Appalled. You see, there's no crossover-pop appeal for yodeling.
Patsy Montana was a pioneer, and her song was the first country song by a female performer to sell a million copies. McNamara's tip of the hat to a Country legend - in Nashville, no less - was a great tribute, no matter what the judges said. Guest judge Larry the Cable Guy laid it on the line in her defense, saying "if you can't yodel in Nashville, we are living in a Communist country."
But that's not real Country, commercial Country, crossover Country. At least to the judges.
Me, I admire the guts to pick a song like this, in honor of one of the women who broke down doors in the early days. I admire the appreciation of Country's roots.
That's real Country.
I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart (Songwriter: Rubye Blevins, a.k.a. Patsy Montana)
I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart.
I want to learn to rope and ride.
I want to ride o'er the plains and the deserts
Out West of the Great Divide.
I want to hear the coyotes howlin'
As the sun sets in the West.
I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart,
The life I love the best.
(Yodel)
I want to ride old paint, get him on a run.
I want to feel the wind in my face,
A thousand miles from all the city lights,
Goin' at a cowhand's pace.
I want to pillow my head near the sleeping herd
While the moon shines down from above.
I want to strum my guitar and a-yodel a dee hee,
Oh that's the life I love.
(Yodel)
Who is the catty bitch at the end there?
ReplyDeleteJim
"this is Nashville, you can't sing country songs here."
ReplyDeleteor
Gentlemen, There is No Fighting in the War Room!
Wow, just wow.
Reflectoscope, that's the executive producer of the show, Anastasia Brown. She was the producer who "found" Keith Urban, so she's very much part of the "New Nashville."
ReplyDeleteShe was one of the three judges, along with Phil Vassar (the first guy who commented after McNamara's performance). Vassar is also part of the New Nashville, but was pretty funny about it ("The USA Network has a one yodeling per year limit"), but Brown was - as you could see - simply horrified by the song.
Brown actually really liked McNamara's performances throughout that season, but her reaction to this song was very striking, I thought. Larry the Cable Guy was somehow cut off this video, but his response was right on.
GuardDuck, heh. I liked that show, and remember when that episode was on several years ago, and the reactions stuck with me.