COUNTRY-Country Music

Recorded back in April, an in depth discussion of the emergence of Neo-Neo Traditional Country sound, a term we may have unknowingly coined on this podcast in October of 2022. Since then we have seen it pop up a few times online and thought we should discuss exactly what we mean by Neo-Neo Traditional Country Music, where it came from, and some of the artists that encapsulate the sound.

Start of an ongoing series of 'Artist Spotlight' mini episodes where we each discuss an artist we're listening to at the moment. Might be a new artist, might be someone we just saw live. This week we start with The Chattahoochies and Emily Zeck, a bunch of brand new honky-tonkin' gals we're digging quite a bit.

Pop stars are crossing over to make country records, Yellowstone was the biggest show on TV, supermodels are crossing over to rodeo competition, and fashion trends are saturated with country and western music and style…is country cool again? And what are the upsides and downsides of this? Simpsons references abound with Düff beer from Sweeden and a spontaneous a capella rendition of Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel adjusted for Morgan Wallen. A high water mark if we do say so ourselves.

Our thoughts on Cowboy Carter as a country record after its release last week. This follows our Part 1 discussion on Beyoncé's foray into Country Music which focused on her past controversy with country music, the genre's black history, and initial impressions whether it is country music from the first two tracks. Part 2 was recorded Monday April 1st, 4 days after the full Cowboy Carter release and prior to all the credits being released on Friday April 5th.

Part 1 of 2 part discussion ahead of "Act II: Cowboy Carter" release. The biggest question everyone has been asking about Beyoncé’s latest music has been: "Is it Country?" Beyoncé has said herself “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Yet everything about it from the horses, hats, boots, and initial tracks, are signalling full-out country record. There’s a complicated history with Beyoncé and the country music establishment and an even more complicated hidden history of black artists and innovators in country music. We discuss her initial Country Carter tracks as well as 2016’s Daddy Lessons in the context of country music, but also her broader mission of reclaiming black contributions to country music. A Part 2 follow up episode with a discussion of whole record will follow!

A bonus mini-episode this week from our Midnight Mastermind guest spot on BBC Radio 2 in the UK. It’s a nightly segment on OJ Borg’s show where random guests quiz him on their expert topic. We were honoured their producers contacted us for some questions on country music and had a fun time doing it. Turns out OJ loves cowboy hats as much as Andrew and we pioneered an all-too-nice Canadian scoring system! Just a note that BBC Radio of course had the clearance for the music that was played for the research portion, and for the George Strait song that played us out, but our podcast does not. So we did our best to cut the songs from the podcast without ruining the conversation over top.

This week we give our hot takes on the Follower Submitted Hot Takes on Country Central's Instagram account. Lots of polarizing polls that make for some good discussion.

After a year hiatus the podcast is back with a chat about Andrew's serendipitous trip to Austin as the Ameripolitan Awards were happening. Highlights include Summer Dean, Brennen Leigh, The Golden Roses, Dale Watson, and Hannah Juanita.

Andrew and Sean discuss The Panhandlers after their 'West Texas Is The Best Texas' EP made their Top 5 albums of the year. The super group of Flatland Cavalry's Cleto Cordero, Josh Abbott, John Baumann, and William Clark Green are all successful in their own right, but arguably greater than the sum of their parts as The Panhandlers. This is capital C, Country-Country Music that is as entertaining and witty as it is poetic and endearing.

2022's top 5 country-country albums and singles for Andrew and Sean. From Ronnie Dunn to Lost Dog Street Band, Emily Nenni to The Panhandlers, or Morgan Wade to Zach Bryan, there was lots of great music in 2022.