* 16 REASONS TO BE EXCITED ABOUT COUNTRY MUSIC IN '99
Gordon Ely
* 01/24/99
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Copyright 1999)
Even as perpetually paranoid business types search for the next
* big thing in country music with a do-or-die urgency, the fact is
commercial, hit-driven country is financially thriving, and
overflowing with more great artists, songs, producers and albums
than ever.
* The sounds run from pure, traditional country to rock and pop
revisionism, almost approaching the wonderful, wild diversity of
*'60s Top 40 music, when the strength of a song mattered more than
adherence to narrow dictates of style.
* Here are 16 terrific reasons to be excited about country music,
1999.
DEANA CARTER: The best of the best. Her two albums brim with
CB
soul-baring lyrics, delivered with the plaintiveness of
country, the so- phistication of pop, and a good rock wallop to
keep it kicking. Carter is perhaps the most important new artist
of the *'90s.
BROOKS & DUNN: Finally released from the mindless, boot-
scootin' constraints of the waning country dance craze, this duo has
matured into one of country's landmark acts. The two still know how
to rock, but now there are equal doses of brains, breadth and - dare
I say it - brilliance to go with the boogie
THE WILKINSONS: This Canadian father, son and daughter are the
most unlikely looking candidates for stardom imaginable. But Dad
Steve (who looks more like the group's accountant than its leader) is
a terrific songsmith; a clever craftsman, commercial but never
cloying, and com-
CB
* fortable combining touches of folk, country and rock. And
daughter Amanda Wilkinson is destined to be one of country's greatest
singers. The most original act and album ("Nothing but Love") of the
decade.
THE DIXIE CHICKS: Take three women who were born to sing together.
Give them an album of strong songs, from irresistible, frivolous fun
* to blood-and-guts forthrightness. Add equal parts bluegrass, country
* and rock, and shake well. What you get is the Dixie Chicks, the
major success story of the late *'90s. Their debut album, "Wide Open
Spaces," is fresh as sea-breeze blowing through a stale, boarded-up
barroom.
SARA EVANS: A singer to hold her own with Patsy Cline and a writer
with the womanly wit of Loretta Lynn and hard-won wisdom of Kris
Kristofferson, Evans is as staggeringly gifted a talent as country
has ever produced. Her 1997 debut, "Three Chords and the Truth," was
shamefully ignored, but its follow-up and the title-song single, "No
Place That Far," are shaping up to be the hits a talent this
arresting demands.
COLLIN RAYE; TY HERNDON; MARK WILLS: These three acts have a lot
in
CB
common. None are songwriters, but each is a singularly gifted
singer and dead-on interpreter of some of the best songs the
Nashville writers' community can turn out. The productions are
polished but never plastic, and every note rings as true and tasty as
a homegrown tomato.
BILLY RAY CYRUS: Wipe that smug grin off your face and check out
Cyrus's new "Shot Full of Love." No longer carrying the baggage of
being a 15-minute-Elvis, Cyrus for the first time turns to the
best of country's writers, players and producers for collaboration.
The result is a high-energy, heartfelt foray into contemporary
country at its finest. Forget "Achy Breaky Heart." This is one of
the most astonishing revelations and reinventions of an artist I have
ever heard.
TRISHA YEARWOOD; MARTINA McBRIDE; PAM TILLIS: Few artists have
gone farther in redefining country to fit their own image, taste and
talent, with all the soul of country and the sensibilities of
precocious pop/rock progeny.
TIM McGRAW; ALAN JACKSON; PATTY LOVELESS: These are three of
traditional country's tallest torch-bearers. McGraw, in his youth,
obviously slipped in some Aerosmith with his George Jones, while
Jackson and Loveless never got any rockier than Merle Haggard, Johnny
Paycheck or Tammy Wynette. Never mind. I can think of no better
examples of just how wide and wonderful the tent that covers
* country music has grown.
GARTH BROOKS: Give the man his due. After he emerged victorious
from his much-publicized snit with his record label two years ago,
the "G- Man" uncorked "Sevens," the artistic triumph of his career,
and the 12-million-and-still-smoking "Double Live," a two-disc
* summary of just how Brooks almost single-handedly has made country
* the music of the masses.
