Ashton Shepherd Mention - CMT.COM
Three Artists Who Made My Decade Traditional
By Alison Bonaguro
December 29th, 2009
It's easy to refer to some country music as pop music. It is, after all, popular. And the hooks are catchy, the beats infectious and the appeal is broad. But it's not all that way. Plenty of music over the past decade kept country very, very country. For me, three new artists did a stellar job of keeping a lot of the traditional sounds and stories and Southern drawls alive: Jamey Johnson, Ashton Shepherd and Luke Bryan.
Johnson, because of the way he makes the steel guitar the backbone of almost every song, recorded and live. And for his relentless devotion to the meaningful music he grew up on, whether it meant radio love or not. His "High Cost of Living" didn't get a lot of spins on the radio, perhaps because of its mentions of drugs. But it's nominated for a couple of Grammy Awards, so what does that tell you?
Shepherd, because she is the purest voice of motherhood I've ever heard. Not those predictable minivan moms, though. The ones with coolers slushing on the bed of their trucks. The ones who have to-do lists a mile long but aren't dead yet. The ones with pickin' sheds in their backyards. And the ones who like a pint of Crown and a country sound. Bottom line? Shepherd's the fun mom.
Bryan, because he breathed some much-needed good timin' fun back into country. When he debuted with country's answer to frat rock, "All My Friends Say," I was in hook, line and sinker. When I heard he'd written Billy Currington's "Good Directions," I went in even deeper. Bryan's voice is thick with his Georgia roots and his lyrics rich with defining moments like hot-wiring tractors, taking his drunk ass home, fishing with grandpa and first love.
- Views ()
- Comments (20)
- 1/5/2010
