Country Awaits the Arrival of its next Superstar

[drock89]

Country awaits the arrival of its next female superstar

Sunday, August 08, 2004
By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As popular as Gretchen Wilson has become with "Redneck Woman," it will take more than one performer to fill the big hole left by the Dixie Chicks. But of the hundreds of female country singers somewhere in the long industry pipeline, a select few are in the right place at the right time to capitalize on Nashville's gender gap. Others find themselves on the sidelines, missing one or more of the mainstream country prerequisites: a sound that fits the hot-country radio format, an album of new material ready for release, a song that radio programmers believe in, an A-list marketing team and label willing to invest, a nationwide tour, youth and a fully articulated and desirable image.

So, who will be country music's next female star? Here's a look at some of Nashville's most talented women:

Second fiddle
Industry insiders have their eyes on two women nearing country greatness, but they're not there yet.

Sara Evans: Billboard, the music industry bible, calls Sara Evans "country's next female superstar." She writes, sings, plays her own instruments and is a looker by mainstream country standards. Evans has a Country Music Association award and holds a prestigious spot on the cover of CMA's Close Up magazine. "Restless," her fourth and latest album on RCA, has sold a half-million copies.

In a town that loves stats and tends to reward artists who executives feel have "paid their dues," Evans is a proven commodity. Her song "Perfect" was recently the second-most-played cut on country radio and the most-aired video clip on CMT. The album's second single, the bouncy, hayseed, made-for-radio "Suds in the Bucket," is now at No. 15 and climbing the Country Singles chart.

Expecting her third child next month, Evans has been unable to translate all of those radio plays and CD purchases into concert ticket sales. Ten scattered concerts this month? Quite a feat for a woman heavy with child, but it may not be enough to build the momentum to put her in Wilson's league.

Julie Roberts: Dubbing no steel or fiddle leads and only a few flashes of mandocello into Julie Roberts' self-titled debut, producer Brent Rowan tried to tweak the South Carolina twang out of her. But the sincerity she squeezes into the self-written "I Can't Get Over You" hints that the down-home woman is just dying to go country to the bone.

After college, Roberts worked an office job at Mercury Nashville while quietly recording song demos and moonlighting as a bar singer. Coincidentally, it was finally Mercury that signed her to her first record contract. Country radio picked up Roberts' bluesy take on Jamie O'Hara's "You Ain't Down Home" and a wonderful highway song, "Break Down Here" by Jes Brown and Patrick Jason Matthews.

Released in June, "Julie Roberts" cracked country's Top 10 album list and crested just outside the Top 40 in overall album sales. A product of the Nashville hit machine, Roberts' career is in the hands of a crack marketing team that has touched all the right industry bases, putting her in front of major movers and shakers at awards shows and primo performance spectacles such as Nashville's recent CMA Fest. She's made the rounds on TV, including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and, of course, CMT, and she'll be spotlighted in an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone. Roberts' face time with real people, however, has been limited to a handful of summer festivals. Expect a big push soon.

Not ready for prime time
These women get occasional radio play, but bona fide star status still eludes them.

SheDaisy: After a sluggish response to their first two country-pop CDs, Utah-born sisters Kristyn, Kelsi and Kassidy Osborn were about to take a step back and regroup when that other girl-group, The Dixie Chicks, began their spectacular swan dive. During the past seven weeks, riding on the saccharine single "Passenger Seat," their third album "Sweet Right Here" cleared Billboard's Top 20, then plummeted to 160 and sinking.

Terri Clark: Timing is everything. Just when country needs a good woman, Canadian cowgirl Terri Clark is ready with a cool, self-assured look, a honky-tonk sound and a decade of experience. Her just-released CD is a "Greatest Hits," but it includes a new single, "Girls Lie Too," that garnered ample radio spins.

Carolyn Dawn Johnson: With "Dress Rehearsal," a fresh album of radio-friendly country-pop songs, and a solid tour that brings her to Pittsburgh this month with Reba McEntire, Carolyn Dawn Johnson is on a short list of ones to watch.

Rachel Proctor: West Virginia singer-songwriter Rachel Proctor's recording debut, "Where I Belong," hits the retail shelves Tuesday. The prereleased single, a powerful, self-written story song called "Me and Emily," is already among country's Top 20.

Chely Wright: "Single White Female," released in 1999, was the perfect song for mainstream country radio's mostly female listeners. She doesn't have a full album ready, but her five-song EP "Everything" will be released in two weeks.

Under the radar
Mainstream radio isn't listening, but these artists are making great music for those who do.

Gillian Welch: Without question she is one of the best things happening in country music, but the folky, old-school traditionalist is happening outside mainstream radio.

Allison Kraus: The bluegrass child prodigy has matured into the critic's darling at the core of the post-grass "contemporary acoustic" movement. "Whiskey Lullaby," her tender mainstream duet with Brad Paisley, is near the top of the Country Singles chart.

Rhonda Vincent: Too bluegrassy for radio, but she's making some of the best music of her career.

Mary Chapin Carpenter: A country-folk hit in the past, she's going through a melancholy Americana period that mainstream radio mostly ignores.

Alicia Nugent: The grass is far too blue on her Rounder Records debut, but her straight-up country songs are worth a listen.

Amy Dalley: The buzz on Music Row is that Curb has a honky-tonk hit on its hands with the self-written "Men Don't Change." Keep an eye open for her first CD, which comes out next month.

Old faithful
These proven performers still have new universes to conquer.

Reba McEntire: Twenty-some years into Reba's career, "Somebody," from her new album "Room to Breathe," is the top-selling song in country music. Her TV sitcom returns next month. Catch her at a free Point State Park concert -- the Dollar Bank Jamboree -- on Aug. 29.

Faith Hill: The 1999 "Cry" CD was too poppy for country, too tame for pop.

Martina McBride: The award-winning singer is extending her successful road trip with Alan Jackson. Last year's hit "Martina" CD included an album cut co-written by Pittsburgh's Bill Deasy.

Shania Twain: "Up" was released in 2002 in four versions: a country mix, a rock mix, a Euro-techno mix and a subcontinental Indian mix. Country? Maybe, but what country?

Wynonna: Last year's CD, "What the World Needs Now Is Love," failed to catch fire, but the CMT fave has a theater tour planned for the fall (Nov. 3, Benedum Center).

LeAnn Rimes: Cute little 14-year-old LeAnn Rimes, who won hearts and a Grammy for "Blue," has grown into a sexy 22-year-old with a mind of her own. "Twisted Angel," her 2002 rebirth as pop singer, died. She's trying to resuscitate her career with a twangy "Greatest Hits."

Lee Ann Womack: Her "Greatest Hits" package, released three months ago, has dropped off the charts. Last weekend, she performed in Pittsburgh at a campaign stop for President Bush.

Jo Dee Messina: Sidelined for a while in a detox clinic, the poppy redhead is back on the road supporting last year's release -- you guessed it, another "Greatest Hits."

The Dixie Chicks: Despite braving the controversy and being ditched by country radio, the Chicks' 2003 live album is still charting and their splendid "Home" CD, which dominated the industry in 2002 and 2003, has only recently fallen off the charts. (The Chicks and James Taylor play a "Vote for Change" concert Oct. 1 in Pittsburgh. Venue TBA.)

Forever
Legends pure and simple, whether or not country radio plays them.

Loretta Lynn: This year's "Van Lear Rose," produced by rocker Jack White, is the first album written entirely by the country legend and is widely regarded by critics as one of this year's best albums overall.

Dolly Parton: Too old for the hot-country format but freed from commercial restraints, Dolly is making some of the best music of her career, including 1999's "Grass Is Blue" and 2002's "Halos and Horns."

Emmylou Harris: The grandam of the Grand Ol' Opry gets airplay only on underground Americana stations, but she's matured since her mainstream days into a terrific songwriter. Witness last year's "Stumble into Grace."

(John Hayes can be reached at [e-mail] or 412-263-1991.)

[drock89]

A Sister article...

Sorry about the long article posts but here's another one, same concept, same author, different comments..

Redneck Woman' Gretchen Wilson is happy to fill void left by Dixie Chicks
Another country heard from

Sunday, August 08, 2004
By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WANTED: Females with a Southern drawl to fill vacancies in a major entertainment industry. Must look good, sound distinctive and appeal to female radio listeners 18 to 45. Songwriters and musicians preferred, but not necessary. Pay negotiable. Immediate availability a must.

"Just so you know," said the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines, "we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas."

So began a musical crash-and-burn unprecedented since Milli Vanilli's infamous live tape-loop accident. When country listeners started questioning whether the biggest act in the industry was "really country" and radio stations pulled them from their play lists, it left a gaping hole in Nashville.

In 2002 and much of 2003, the Chicks so dominated the industry that many proven pros took a time-out rather than try to compete for air time. And record labels, which routinely restrict their rosters to model types, were more conservative than usual in signing up ingenues.

The Chicks' surprise collapse left Nashville unprepared. When they suddenly crashed:

Too many established female stars were caught cashing in on "Greatest Hits" collections.

Too many newbies didn't have albums ready for release.

Too many diamonds in the rough were too undeveloped to take advantage of the opening.

Once flush with female stars, the country music industry is experiencing a curious, if temporary, dearth of femininity. It's a big problem in an industry with a radio demographic that is overwhelmingly female. Lady listeners like their country hunks. Top stars, including Toby Keith and Alan Jackson, and young scrubs, like Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley, are happy to oblige.

But for a variety of reasons, hardly any women were positioned to slide easily into the vacuum.

Gretchen Wilson was a wild card. Born to a single, 16-year-old high school dropout in tiny Pocahontas, Ill., Wilson quit school before graduation. She left home, drifted for a while, flipped some burgers and eventually found herself in a blues bar serving drinks to former Lonestar bass player John Rich, a self-styled country music impresario who has a knack for discovering and developing raw talent.

Rich introduced Wilson to his "Muzik Mafia," participants in a series of loosely organized open-mike nights that he led with another Nashville maverick, Big Kenny Alphin. While Rich and Alphin were being signed as the progressive country duo Big & Rich, Rich was producing a demo of Wilson's originals -- songs that were proudly red in the neck.

A scrappy, homespun songwriter, Wilson was turned away, sometimes rudely, by Nashville power brokers.

"In four years she went to nine labels," said Rich. "You know what they told her? That she wasn't pretty enough. Can you believe that? That's Nashville shooting itself in the foot again."

Wilson got rejected. Then she got rejected again. Then she got mad.

"Everything I'd seen coming out of Nashville was so polished perfect," she said in a recent teleconference. "When you're down here for long, it's almost heartbreaking to think you might just do one little thing wrong standing in there playing for the president of a record company. So you walk in really trying to be what they want you to be. One night ... layin' in bed, I thought, that's it. I wasn't going to be a puppet and I was gonna walk in there and be myself and see what happens with it."

Who'd have thunk it? Integrity and authenticity worked. Finally signed to Epic, Wilson's cheeky, twangy album, "Here for the Party," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart with 227,000 sales within a week of release. According to Billboard, that's the biggest opening ever for a country artist.

In the wake of the Dixie Chicks, with little new music by women on the market, Wilson's self-deprecating, self-penned "Redneck Woman" instantly became a huge radio hit and sold faster than any debut country single in the past 10 years, as reported by Billboard. Tired of stale country-pop, listeners liked the authenticity of a woman proudly declaring her redneck roots. If anything, Wilson is unapologetically, unforgivingly country.

"Well, I ain't never been the Barbie-doll type," she sings, "I can't swig that sweet champagne/I'd rather drink beer all night in a tavern or in a honky-tonk or on a four-wheel- drive tailgate ... Some people look down on me but I don't give a rip/I'll stand barefoot in my own front yard with a baby on my hip."

"[My life] was definitely a soap opera," she said. "But you know, I think when somebody comes up hard, they learn a lot. I kind of appreciate every good time and every bad time I've had because it has made me who I am today."

Wilson is introducing herself to America this summer, tour-hopping with Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney and Lonestar. She opens for Brooks & Dunn at the Post-Gazette Pavilion on Saturday.

One new star, however, isn't enough to fill country music's appetite for women. Music Row is still scrambling.

"There was quite a long period where we all were trying to figure out what to do in the absence of the Dixie Chicks," said Brian Philips, senior vice president and general manager of MTV's country spin-off, the hugely influential CMT, which draws 40 million viewers a month.

Apart from the Chick's controversy-fueled fade, Maines' recent pregnancy kept the group off the road and out of the spotlight. She delivered her second child last month.

"They were the epicenter. They really defined, for a lot of people, music that reflected the viewpoints of young women," he said. "In their absence, country is trying to reinvent itself on a number of fronts. Gretchen and Big & Rich and the whole Muzik Mafia movement represent a new, organic trend that, frankly, country had just about ignored before."

In desperation, Music Row's decision to tap untamed elements may ultimately have saved it. Just over halfway through a year that's been buoyed by new maverick releases, country music is on a sales path to have its most successful year ever.

"The truth is, we stagnated," said Philips. "Good ideas weren't getting through the filter. There was something in the air after the Dixie Chicks that just made it harder for everybody, especially women. But now, it's as if the ghost of Janis Joplin is moving through Music Row. A lot of the new women are very bluesy and gritty. There's a lot of truth-telling going on right now in music."

Mainstream country is bigger than ever in Pittsburgh with two highly successful broadcasters, Infinity's WDSY and a series of four overlapping, simulcasting Froggy stations run by Keymarket Communications.

"People such as Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes, they clearly wanted to be the next Celine Dion, but their pop albums fell flat," said Frank Bell, Keymarket's vice-president of programming. "Every label is calling, trying to roll out new female singers to replace the heavy hitters."

Bell says a good song on its own isn't enough to create a radio hit. Programmers look for a song that fits their format, a production style that fits seamlessly into the mix, and a buzz surrounding the performer.

"It takes years for an artist to build up a true fan base," said Bell. "Once you have it and put out a great record, great things happen. Put out a great song too soon and it probably won't do as well. Listeners want to know you first."

Country radio is still looking for a good woman. Wilson is part of the solution, but there's lots of air time available for somebody with the right stuff.

"Country radio loves to play women," said Bell. "But the fact is, some of the big artists turned away from country two years ago, and now they're paying the price for that. ...

"If any of them -- Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks -- had a country record out right now, it would be in the Top 15. But for a variety of reasons, a lot of talented female artists just don't have the right records out. Everybody's looking for what's next."

(John Hayes can be reached at [e-mail] or 412-263-1991.)

We all know this will change soon
:BL

[WhySoSerious?]

The key in that last part is "country record".  That's what they're looking for, not LeAnn and Faith's Celine aspirations.

LOL at the first article making it seem like Sara Evans is a brand new artist.  They don't even mention that her last album sold almost 2 million copies.

[KMCB]

The first article cites some inaccruacies (as far as release dates... Faith's Cry was 2002, not 1999...) and omissions... Shedaisy was quite well received with their first debut, etc. And any article that mentions 'old faithfuls' and cites Jo Dee and Lee Ann (both of 'em) but leaves off Trisha Yearwood makes me have my doubts.

As for the second article, I think Gretchen is going to be a star, in her own way. She won't be the caliber of the Chicks or Shania, mainly because I don't think country is looking for that right now. I think she'll very much be pigeonholed as a female Toby Keith (though thank heavens she is much more vocally gifted, IMO). Martina is definitely country's female darling for the past several years, but she hasn't reached Shania, D.C., or for that matter, Faith's caliber at the height of their careers.

Personally, I don't care whether we get a new superstar, as long as we get some great music from real musicians!

[drock89]

KMCB said:

Personally, I don't care whether we get a new superstar, as long as we get some great music from real musicians!

I agree. I think country is better with females leading the way. It's in a slump right now. Nashville execs. will find that the Shania, the Chicks, Faith, etc. to keep selling and to keep country on the map.

[Free2Bme]

Nashville is in a much needed adjustment period right now. The trend is moving away from pop and back to a well defined country sound that cannot be easily crossed into, or mistaken, as pop. I think country is much better when strong males are leading the way. Thankfully we have anchors like George Strait and Alan Jackson keeping it all together.

shaniagotchagood said:

I agree. I think country is better with females leading the way. It's in a slump right now. Nashville execs. will find that the Shania, the Chicks, Faith, etc. to keep selling and to keep country on the map.

[Marv]

With  SIX singles by females guaranteed to finish in R&Rs year end top 20 (two by Sara Evans & Terri Clark, as well as Gretchen & Reba), 2004 has been a GREAT year for music by females, thanks in part to the stunning debut CDs by Rachel Proctor, Julie Roberts & Ms. Wilson.

Here's hoping that 2005 brings us more of the same.

Although none of those songs by female vocalists will finish in the year-end top ten, that's nothing to be TOO upset about.

[drock89]

Free2Bme said:

Nashville is in a much needed adjustment period right now. The trend is moving away from pop and back to a well defined country sound that cannot be easily crossed into, or mistaken, as pop. I think country is much better when strong males are leading the way. Thankfully we have anchors like George Strait and Alan Jackson keeping it all together.

I totally disagree. In some sense yes, but only the females. You can't tell me that Toby Keith is pumpin out country gold..or Tim McGraw. Yes, AJ and George are very traditional. I think Nashville is learning that if they want to remain a dominant genre, they need to appeal beyond the country line.