Last week, Aaron Lewis added his name to a growing list of musicians (Zac Brown, Sturgill Simpson, the late great Merle Haggard to name a few) and traditional country fans when he called out current artists for, in his words, “choking” country music. During a concert in Colorado, Lewis went on a strong detailed rant, sarcastically thanking those for inspiring his current single “That Ain’t Country”:
“I’d like to thank Sam Hunt – oh, I know, he’s so pretty to look at. I’d like to thank Luke Bryan, for most of his stuff – he surprises me every once in a while. I would like to thank Dan + Shay. I’d like to thank Cole Swindell. And every other mother****er that is just choking all the life out of country music.”
Naturally this sent off a ripple effect, especially among the fans of the artists Lewis called out. But it got us at TCN thinking – Lewis isn’t wrong, but he isn’t right either.
Let’s face it – speaking so forth-coming, you’re gonna get those artists’ fans pissed at you. And you shouldn’t say things against your genre-mates. Not like that at least. But freely speaking, if we were to look back twenty years from now on country greats of today, whom would we choose? Who are going to be the artists that artists not even born yet will be singing about? Luke would most certainly be on that list, having been a genre-pushing pioneer. And he deserves it. Then there is Chris Stapleton. Miranda Lambert. Blake Shelton. Toby Keith. Eric Church. And possibly Chris Young, but perhaps more on the underrated side. None of these are artists that Lewis publicly shamed.
And why do we think those individuals would be in that category and not the ones that Aaron shamed? Because, simply put, a lot of people forget that the music business is, in fact, a business, and that they will promote and push acts that they deem profitable per a given time period. And right now, pop country sells. The artists we project as legends in the making offer a wealth of depth – most of their material has meaning, value, and not just a monetary one. And Luke falls into that as well for some of his songs, same could even go with Florida Georgia Line with “H.O.L.Y.,” “Confession,” and Swindell for his most captivating song to date, “You Should Be Here.” And they also have longevity – their material is timeless, grasping human emotions that will span beyond decades of changes in pop culture and evolving trends.
And, much like our own belief, Lewis did give Luke a bit of credit – he says he can surprise him. Hence why we think Luke will be in the greats category. Contemporary artists like Bryan, Shelton and Young had a very traditional sound when they began – listen to any of their first albums and you will indulge in massive amounts of twang. But Bryan has also released a wealth of singles that are just purely fun and great for the live shows. So it’s really a flip of the coin.
And that can be said for the remaining artists, logistically speaking. Each of them (including Bryan) are coveted songwriters in the country music community, penning songs for themselves and other artists. And most of those songs have found themselves in the Top 20 of country radio. And each of them have had a long road to get where they are and deserve the credit due to them for their talents and making their dreams come true. However, one has to admit that Dan + Shay’s or Hunt’s more R&B flavored sound (Shay Mooney, who at the time referred to himself “a redneck in an urban world,” was a solo artist on T-Pain’s Nappy Boy Entertainment label prior to D+S) does not coincide with the ‘country’ sound, so Lewis, dare we say it, is not alone in his sentiments. We see comments on socials, we hear them at concerts and events – Lewis just said it on a public platform.
What is interesting about this Aaron Lewis thing is the guy is originally from Staind, a metal/rock band. Here’s an outsider who just released his second country album (to much acclaim we might add), who plays a lot of Staind songs in concert due to a lack of country material, calling out the country artists. Does that discredit what he says in the eyes of the fans, even tho actual career country musicians have said the same thing? Or does that make his case stronger that someone not originally within the world of country can spot it out? That’s left up for debate.
But before you go discrediting him based on that reason, think about the other country artists you’ll essentially be calling out for crossing over – Darius Rucker, Cassadee Pope, and a slew of others. And it has always been this way, a cross-genre smorgasborg. The iconic Conway Twitty himself was more of a Top 40 man than country in his earlier years (seriously, listen to some of his stuff and tell me that ‘that’ was country), or listen to nearly any song produced in the 1970’s – that really wasn’t ‘country’ either. One of the beautiful and appealing things about country music is that it has always adapted, always evolved.
If we were to find a real complaint about country music today, it would be the over-riding lack of stories (to keep us from going overboard on a tirade, let’s put that one on the back-burner for now). And these are purely our thoughts on the issue, and naturally we’re open to deliberation. So tell us what you think in the comments below (and please, keep it PG).