Jewish World Review Jan. 22, 2002 / 9 Shevat, 5762

Ian Shoales

Ian Shoales
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

Save the Grand Ole Opry?


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com -- WSM-AM, out of Nashville, has been home to the Grand Ole Opry since 1925. Now, according to the New York Times, WSM, faced with dropping ratings, it is thinking of changing formats. Something with a little more Destiny's Child, perhaps.

Supposedly, Gaylord Entertainment Company, which owns the station, is "committed to finding another radio home" for the Opry, and is "exploring national syndication."

The problem is country stations now have very strict "playlists that emphasize Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill."

Nothing against those folks, but gee, we have come a long way since Hank Williams, haven't we? Most country music today is just pop music with a slight accent.

Maybe that's why the biggest country album of 2001 was the soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" which included, you know, actual country music.

I'm not the biggest fan of country or pop music, and certainly I have not gained wealth by predicting pop trends. But I would venture to suggest that one of the problems here is that the country music genre, like all genres really, has become so diluted that it doesn't mean anything any more.

Shania Twain, for instance, is considered a country singer, even though her tunes have been recorded by Britney Spears, who I guess might be considered a country singer herself, if you closed your ears and squinted.

Ms. Twain won't play the Opry, according to the Times, "preferring more lucrative dates."

So here's one country singer, who isn't really a country singer, who positions herself as a country singer, but won't perform at the granddaddy of country venues, because it's a little bit too country for her-- that is, it just don't pay enough.

Well, gee, I like money too. No reflection on Shania Twain-- hey, grab the gusto, girl-- but besides road shows, Vegas extravaganzas, synthesizers, cordless mics, private jets, roadies, tinsel, sequins, and tan midriffs-- we should probably make room for the poor wayfaring stranger as well.

After all, it is a world of woe. Lest we forget.



JWR contributor Ian Shoales is the author of, among others, Not Wet Yet: An Anthology of Commentary. Comment by clicking here.

Up

12/15/01: If you truly want to appeal to the lowest common denominator …
12/11/01: KNITTING!
12/07/01: Conspiracy by the 'fat suit' lobby?
12/04/01: The future of comic books
11/15/01: Literary tips in a jar
11/12/01: The ectoplasm of a ghost economy
11/05/01: Sumner Redstone's passions
10/31/01: My irony
10/29/01: Even in wartime, America can still bring it home
10/25/01: Ad memories
10/17/01: Pathetic me
10/08/01: War time lite
10/01/01: Confessions of a sarcastic scribe
09/11/01: The end of Mom
09/07/01: Boy Loses Girl, Boy Bites Girl, Boy Gets Girl
09/05/01: Virtual elegance?
08/31/01: I COPY, THEREFORE I AM
08/28/01: Buzz!
08/23/01: Radio workout
08/20/01: I robot, you Jane
08/15/01: A wild and crazy world!
08/10/01: When the future was "as real as a dime"
08/08/01: Garage Dearth!
08/06/01: That Big Clock
08/02/01: Stop the pop!
07/31/01: Catchphrase history of the world
07/26/01: The Bride of Science
07/23/01: That java jive
07/17/01: Homogenized hegemony
07/13/01: Applying Newton's First Law of Physics to textbooks
07/10/01: The dumb and the dead

© 2001, Ian Shoales