I (justifiably) bitch a lot about Music City and tier ongoing campaign to strangle any beauty and creativity out of
country music, but one tradition I do like is the idea of the annual Fan Fare (my contrarian nature won’t allow me
to use the new corporate friendly title “CMA Music Festival”)
This years event features 30 hours of autograph signings, 100 hours of live music, 400 Country Music artists and
celebrities.”
Now 90% of these “Country Music artists and celebrities” I wouldn’t cross the street to meet, but I do applaud the
populist spirit of the event (as well as inviting Dwight Yoakam back after an unconscionable 20 year absence.)This is
something you won’t find in any other genre and it speaks to country music’s respect for it’s fans. Now if Music City
only reflected that same deference to tradition and fans’ intelligence when producing the music.
You will recall the tradition of embrasing the fans is not as old as the tradition of manipulating and exploiting the talent. Exploitation and manipulation started with recording Jimmy Rogers and the Carter Family. Embracing the fans is somewhat later than that.
While it is better, by far, than what other fan bases get, it really is just lipstick on a pig. The fact that fans keep kissing it…
Joe
City Slickers exploiting the country folk is as old as the hills they ambled out of, you just hope that the country folks these days hang onto mechanical rights for their work.
The Country Music industry has done a brilliant job for years of selling pigs as thoroughbred ponies. And it’s mostly city folks, those that wouldn’t know the difference, who are buying into the swindle.