Rowan Trietley

Rowan Trietley

HNR-2509-01

Professor Turner

19 February 2024

Country Music: Turning Point Essay

        I have carried the same opinions on the genre of country music throughout my entire life. While it may be cheesy to say, I feel that country music served as an integral part of my childhood. I can say with confidence that it was the first music I ever enjoyed listening to, and it was where my “music knowledge” began. 105.9 ALICE was the Denver radio station that played constantly in my mother’s old Honda Pilot as she would drive my brother and I to school, and then me to the dance studio every single day from the time I could legally ride in a car till I began driving myself. Artists and bands like Lady A, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Tim Mcgraw, Taylor Swift, Eric Church, Lee Anne Womack, Carrie Underwood, and more played on a nonstop repeat throughout my experience of growing up in the 2000s. My CD alarm clock played a nonstop loop of Taylor Swift's debut album, as well as “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” and “Red,” her country albums before switching fully over to the pop genre. Because I absorbed this much country on a daily basis, I can recite, word for word, many popular 2000s songs, which is a small skill that I love and cherish because it reminds me of childhood memories.

        My grandparents made sure to educate me in the country “oldies” as well throughout my childhood. My grandfather is my most influential figure when it comes to many aspects of my life; including work ethic, personality, political leanings, our shared old souls, and music. He plays guitar beautifully, and I used to beg him to duet with me on Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” with me. Also an accomplished harmonist, my little brother and I used to play in a band with our G-dad when he would visit Colorado. He especially loves playing anything Johnny Cash, most notably “Ring of Fire.” From him, I pursued playing guitar (which is the picture at the top of my Google website). My grandma also played a strong hand in educating my brother and I in country artists of the 70s and 90s. She is a die hard George Strait fan, and my mother and aunt took her to his concert in Denver this summer. Everytime “George,” as she calls him, plays on the radio or television, she has tears in her eyes. She is also a lover of Patsy Cline.

        While this introduction may seem off-topic from the prompt of this essay, I believe that it is crucial to understand where my view of country music stood before taking this course. The genre holds very, very fond memories for my family and I. The only concerts I have ever attended have been, ironically, all country and all with my family. I have seen Keith Urban and Randy Hauser in concert, and somehow secured tickets for Zach Bryan and Morgan Wallen this summer, all in my home state of Colorado. There is something special about country music and the state of Colorado. While I live in a suburb south of Denver, I have visited many areas of the state that reflect the values of country music to a T, like the town of Frisco and Grand Junction. I have seen many small towns that have resisted urban change since the Gold Rush era, and still feel like something straight out of the country in the 70s or 80s. 

        With all that being said, I have multiple “turning points” in the country music genre. The first is the revelation that the pop genre bled into country music much sooner than I thought. I relate “pop country” to Sam Hunt’s “Break Up In a Small Town,” where he speaks in the song and the strum of a guitar is all but hidden by the hip hop instrumental. This song is both my parents’ and I’s bane of our existence because it grinds the name of country music, and its values, into the dirt. He was also just too mainstream and popular culture-based for a time period where we were all still infatuated with maintaining the “oldie” vibe of country music. However, after completing the field note activity every week and delving deeper into country music beginning from the 1930s, I realized that the influence of other genres occurred much earlier than I remember, or was told. Our entire class discussion on Elvis, and whether some of his work was considered country, alerted me to this idea. I began to realize that even artists like John Denver and Glen Campbell were considered to have pop influence during the 1970s. My shock truly occurred when I listened to “Rocky Mountain High,” by John Denver, which I have heard many times before. However, the knowledge of song form and elements from this semester, as well as the field notes exercise, raised some different questions about the piece of work. My first observation was that John Denver did not possess the same twangy, deep Southern country accent that other artists did. The song specifically, though the background instrumental consisted mainly of guitar strumming, was more upbeat and unique to the regular country background sound. While I would not categorize it completely as a pop/country song, “Rocky Mountain High” after I really paid attention while listening did not strike me as purebred country. Originally, I saw the influence of pop, or rock, or even rap on country music as tainting the genre. I felt as though country was a purified category of music that could not be touched by other genres, almost that the lines were drawn so thick by the household artists and the certain country instruments that other genres held no match. After listening and analyzing the songs listed within this paragraph, my perspective has shifted to understand that country music is still country, even if current artists use other genres and sounds as inspiration within their songs. 

        My second “turning point” moment within this genre and this first part of the semester is when I focused on the feminism side of the genre within both my field notes and class discussion. Patsy Cline, and other breakout female artists of her time period, were truly a wake up call to the current state of country music and the progressive era of the female gender. We talked in class about the 70s as the period of persuasive opinion and more than superficial perspective within country music, meaning that artists were talking about revolutionary cultural events, politics, the Civil Rights movement, etc. Female country artists like Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker and Patsy Cline tackled topics of domestic violence, beauty standards, and divorce within their songs of the 70s and 80s. They instilled confidence in the everyday, working class woman to take these feminist qualities and reduce the need for a man to survive during these times. Singing and producing these songs took bravery in a time period where women were still viewed as homemakers, and a support system for men. It saddens me to see where female country music has turned to in our current era. Popular female artists such as Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift (past tense) and Carly Pearce all have released songs in the 2000s through the 2020s that depict women who go insane based off of a man’s actions, mostly cheating. This type of writing and illustration of women in our mainstream media takes our gender back decades, which is frustrating considering how huge of a platform these female artists have. 

        In reflection on my new insights towards the genre of country music, both positive and negative, I still have a special place in my heart for all of the factors that lead into this category of music. It represents both my childhood and my present, as well as family members and a way to relate to them. Country music also connects me to my home state that I love so dearly. While I hope that there will be a shift in the female artists and their country songs to reflect the aspects of feminism that 70s and 80s artists fought hard for, I still love listening to the voices of today’s top country artists. 

When the EP project was first introduced after spring break, I will admit that it seemed both daunting and implausible. I was very scared that we would all be required to write, record and sing these songs, which I know would be an extreme struggle as someone not musically talented. I was relieved when the project was explained with each group section, creative, marketing, event planning and executive because I still wanted to contribute to the class in a meaningful way. After joining the event planning team, I was excited to execute a relatively realistic album release, but we soon ran into issues.

As a team, our first struggle was the timing of the event. During finals week, we as students are unable to reserve a space on campus. Originally, we planned on the Kushner Ballroom in Cottrell, and eventually our request was denied as we realized the previously stated idea. I felt that our expectations were not dampened, but definitely limited by our lack of space our budget. Therefore, we struggled to find more to contribute to the project. Our group created a poster for the day, an invitation, survey, and mood board. We found a speaker with a microphone attachment as well, however, these tasks did not require a huge time commitment. Without the ability to curate more event-specific details, like catering and decorating, our job was basically done a week or so before the event.

In hindsight, I do believe that my team and I worked hard to do what we could with the parameters given. I was excited to see that the class dressed country during the release and that we had a stage and speaker for our performers. We each gave insight on the theme of our event and brainstormed a long list of ideas. Each team member provided insight while Kylin and I were creating the invitation, poster and mood board. We worked closer with the marketing team and Professor Turner than the creative team or executive, just because our focus was more logistical. We communicated with each for the invitation, date and timing of the event, as well as locating a space.

Throughout this semester, I have deepened my understanding of the history of country music. My country music playlist before this class was only made of current artists, like Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan. After completing the field notes activity and class readings, I feel more “cultured” in country music and its roots. I am grateful that my Spotify now shuffles in Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, George Strait and more. After growing up listening and loving female country artists, I enjoyed diving deeper into what it meant to be a female country artist throughout history, especially when they first broke into the industry in the 1950s. The AutoHarp beats assignment was one of my first looks into what it really takes to create the instrumental of a song. It was both a frustrating and rewarding process making the simplest of a soundtrack, and gave me an understanding of the work that goes into creating real songs. Listening to our creative team’s final product during the release really honed in my appreciation for the effort of artists. They were incredible! Between the lyric writing and background music, I think that it was a great example of how this class and final project instilled a deeper empathy and passion for the genre. What seemed untouchable  in the beginning of the semester had come together beautifully at the end, which I think is a vital teaching that a daunting task is not as out of reach as you may think.

For this project in the future, I believe both the marketing and event planning teams would benefit from a form of budget. We would have used it for catering, decorating, awards, etc. I think this would give the teams more work to complete, and therefore a higher level of contribution in the end. Also, introducing the assignment earlier so that the release party could be earlier, and not during finals week, so you could reserve a more fitting space. As we saw on Friday, it did not take much time to listen to the songs and hear speeches. That leaves room for catering afterwards and social time, which was not really possible during that week or in the theatre space. I also believe that pushing the release a week earlier would increase attendance from outside students, which gives more appreciation to the creative team’s hard work.