The truth is, I was misinterpreting the idea of bro country. Which you have cleared up. You defined it pretty well with this....
BRO-COUNTRY is basically about THE PARTY. It is "HANGING AROUND WITH YOUR BROS." It is getting in your BIG TRUCK, CRANKING UP THE STEREO WITH (NAME ARTIST HERE) TUNES PLAYING LOUD, PICKING UP YOUR GIRL (NAMED "GURL" THROWING SOME COLD ONES IN THE BACK AND GOING WITH YOUR BLANKET DOWN BY THE (LAKE, RIVER, OCEAN) WHILE SHE DANCES IN HER SHORT SHORTS UNDERNEATH THE MOONLIGHT."
As far as what I think about the business, I'd rather not voice my opinion if that is okay. I really don't see what good it would do me. My viewpoint is one of fan, dj, and wordsmith. Nobody in Nashville or the business of it cares about what guys like me think. If they did, they wouldn't put out a lot of the songs they do. From the outside looking inside, it seems Nashville pays too much attention to misleading statistics. Radio stations report their airplay and adds. Most of the requests come from bored housewives and office workers. The blue collar working man isn't in work environments where they can spend all day making requests or if they work outside, don't even have the opportunity to listen to music much. From a dj standpoint, I wouldn't play more than maybe a half dozen of those in the top 40 tops. Otherwise, I would never get a gig or keep it. When people go to clubs, they want to party. They don't want to listen to the same recycled love, love gone wrong type stuff that is jammed down their ears all day on the radio.
Honestly, I'd say 90% or more people I know don't listen to modern Nashville music at all. They will turn to a traditional classic country station, red dirt country station, classic rock or hard rock. Modern or as it is commonly known "pop" country, rap and pop music are at the bottom of their choices. And truly, most of the people I know are country through and through. They are the same types who fueled the country music craze in the early 90's from a fan perspective. But when Nashville started going another way in 95 or thereabouts, everybody drifted away and went back to other things. They have been brought back in the fold to some extent by songs like "Drink In My Hand", "Country Man", "These Are My People", "Something To Do With My Hands", and "Something About A Truck" along with similar types of song but in the last couple of years as more of the rap slang has emerged, they've gone back to switching stations rather than listen to that. They don't watch CMT either because of either their opinions of the music and the artists or because of reality tv shows like Party Down South.
Truly, I'm the most open person when it comes to music that I know. I like it all or at least I try to. I'm a liberal in a conservative world. I think that I really sugar coated things here with my answer to your question, "What do I think about the business?" But I'm not going to put myself on an island by answering it any more than what I have. And that is from the outside looking in. Because that is the only view I have. From the Nashville perspective, "What do I know about it?" From the rural country fan/lifestyle perspective, "What does Nashville know about it?" The answer to both of those questions is , "Nothing."
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