Sturgill Simpson criticizes the country music industry

[Deleted]

Sturgill Simpson: I Will Be 'Blackballed From the Industry'

"Nashville should wake up too before it's too late," writes Simpson in a followup to a controversial Facebook post about Music Row and Merle Haggard

UPDATE: Jason Isbell has responded to Sturgill Simpson's incendiary comments on Facebook, in which he criticized the Nashville country-music industry and the two major country-music organizations and referenced Isbell's success without industry support. "They are well aware that we don't need them," Simpson wrote. "Our last albums went to #1 without any help from the Mainstream Country Music establishment...and our next albums will too."

Alerted to his name being included in the controversy by a Twitter follower, Isbell tweeted, "I don't know what [Simpson] said but I agree 100%." Then, after apparently reading Simpson's Facebook posts, the Something More Than Free artist seconded Simpson's statements, tweeting, "Ok now I know what Sturgill said and I still agree."

Sturgill Simpson is clarifying and expanding on controversial comments he made Monday morning about the country-music establishment and Merle Haggard. In an update to his first Facebook post, Simpson makes clear that while he takes offense at the creation of the ACM's Merle Haggard Spirit Award, he has no issue with its recipient: Miranda Lambert. He even believes Lambert would second his original sentiments.

"Shortly after I initially posted this it was announced that Miranda Lambert would be the award recipient," Simpson wrote. (As with most Facebook and social-media posts, Simpson was not concerned with punctuation and we have left his original thoughts intact.) "Before people start chasing clickbait by putting words in my mouth I feel the need to clarify that I was not aware of this at the time of my original post and my words were in no way directed at her. I know that Merle liked and respected her so it's good to see there is at least some blue sky in all of this. I don't know Miranda nor have I ever met her but something tells me that in her heart, she knows I'm dead on."

In light of the buzz generated by Simpson's first post, he writes that he is sure to be unwelcome at any mainstream country-music events. Not that he's worried: Simpson points out that he and Jason Isbell have succeeded on the charts without either the support of the Academy of Country Music or the Country Music Association.

"I fully realize that as I type this, meetings and conversations are taking place on Music Row to ensure I am blackballed from the industry and that's perfectly fine with me. Im not sure how you can blackball somebody you don't acknowledge in the first place anyway," he says. "Yet, even though they mostly go out of their way to ignore artists like myself and Jason Isbell, I assure you they are more than aware of our existence. They are also well aware that we don't need them. Our last albums went to #1 without any help from the Mainstream Country Music establishment...and our next albums will too."

Simpson's name has landed on the ballot for the first round of CMA Award voting, but he says that even if he's nominated at the 50th annual awards, he'll be a no-show at the big night, set for Wednesday, November 2nd, in Nashville.

"I will not be attending the ceremony for no other reason than the fact I already have a sold out show scheduled in Des Moines, Iowa on the night of the awards ceremony and I have no plans to change that," he writes.

But Simpson, whose latest album A Sailor's Guide to Earth debuted at Number One on the Billboard Country Albums chart in April, says that for all the vitriol, he's actually trying to help the country-music gatekeepers reconnect with the genre's roots.

"I have no more need to make enemies with these people than I have a need to be their friends," he says. "More and more everyday, people are waking up to the situation and they are pissed. Perhaps Country Music, especially Nashville, should wake up too before it's too late."

Link: www.rollingstone.com/country/news/sturgill-simpson-i-will-be-blackballed-from-the-industry-w436949

And here's the first article (regarding Sturgill's 1st Facebook post) from Rolling Stone: www.rollingstone.com/country/news/sturgill-simpson-blasts-acm-over-merle-haggard-award-w436793

[sgtoddball]

"I don't know Miranda nor have I ever met her but something tells me that in her heart, she knows I'm dead on." Oh Really?

[phil1996]

^ Don't see how one could say he isn't dead on.

[Deleted]

I'm surprised that nobody in the country forum is talking about this as it seems to be trending.

I don't know how I feel about it. Sturgill is right too a point but I wonder how much weight his comments actually hold and more importantly will his comments possibly earn him a CMA Nomination.

[phil1996]

He won't ever get nominated but just like Isbell and Kip Moore, he sells plenty of records without any help from the ACMs. That's why having a true fanbase is so important. It'll help these guys stick around a long time.

[Deleted]

And this is why we need to divide the country format I agree with him, the newer country, or the more boundary-pushing artists, would have a place where they would be played without anyone hating them, while the more traditional artists would be played alongside Sturgill. Win-win situation.

[George Strait Junkie]

i agree with Sturgill 100% glad somebody in the country music world with a backbone finally spoke up and told the truth

[trebor]

I'll put this in here as I find it a better fit than the CMA's thread:

Texas fixture Charlie Robison went on a rant on FB (08/31/16) 
[Can't find how to embed the link]

Charlie Robison
John I wouldn't b me if I wasn't an asshole once a week. Today just happens to be the day. The rest of the time I'm a teddy bear. But the country music powers that be(who I've never given a shit about) continue to use Johnny Cash,Merle Haggard and a plethora of other legends to create awards and push their agenda that these are acts that represent the outlaw,independent spirit of Johnny,Hank,Merle,etc,etc,AND these (bands) represent them in their self promoting grotesque and nauseating versions of these great artists songs while they sing to a turntable and vocal fixing machines I will continue to call bullshit. Sorry but I got nothing against FGL except for their torture of my idols memories and music. If the cma's or cmt's or whoever is going to do a tribute,do not call these and the other bad pop stars you have invented their counterparts by having them butcher their songs w a huge hologram of my heroes glowing behind them. Get artists who do them justice or let em rest in peace

[trebor]

Interesting piece by © Kyle Coronoes 
© Saving Country Music / September 1, 2016

Saving Country Music:
Sharp-Tongued Criticism Has Always Been Country’s Way of Preserving the Roots

[trebor]

Billboard © / 9/13/2016 by Elias Leight

Is Country Music More Polarized Than Ever Before?

Following Sturgill Simpson's Facebook diatribe, the decades-long battle between country music's various factions continues.

Last month, Sturgill Simpson wrote a less-than-polite note to the Academy of Country Music, the institution behind the new "Merle Haggard Spirit Award," on Facebook. "Drop all the formulaic cannon fodder bullshit," he suggested, "along with all the high school pageantry, meat parade award show bullshit." Instead, Simpson encouraged the Academy to "start dedicating their programs to more actual Country Music."

This diatribe is just the latest salvo in an ongoing war. In many ways, country is a genre perpetually battling itself. But the two wings of country music may be more polarized now than ever before.

Songwriter Brent Cobb attempts to exist with a foot in both worlds, and can testify to the increasing distance between them. He's penned tracks for mainstream acts like Luke Bryan and Frankie Ballard; as a solo act, Cobb offers an alluringly ramshackle take on '70s country. "I'm stuck in the middle here," he said recently on the phone from Georgia. When asked about the tension bristling between country's two poles, he replied, "I've asked so many people this very question — people that have been in Nashville and in the industry a lot longer than I have. Everybody's response is, 'Man, there's always been a little of that, but this time, it's the most divided it's ever been.'"

For evidence of the longstanding nature of this divide, watch an episode from The Johnny Cash Show 45 years ago. "In its 50 year history, country music has continuously been evolving into newer and different styles," Cash told his viewers. "Today, in 1971, we have what is called 'the modern sound of country music.' To some, it's been for the better, while to others, any mention of modern country is unacceptable." Cash cautioned against a knee-jerk dismissal -- "there are many sides to this modern sound" -- before introducing a singer he referred to as "clean and fresh and straight ahead": Merle Haggard.

As Cash's special aired, unrest was brewing. Waylon Jennings released Ladies Love Outlaws the following year, and soon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and others would embrace the "Outlaw" title and temporarily secede from the Nashville system, which favored an orchestral pop sheen at the time.

Subsequent decades brought new iterations of this conflict. In the '80s, a fresh wave of neotraditionalists rose to counter crossover acts like Ronnie Milsap and Kenny Rogers. In the second half of '90s, the top 40-friendly songs of Shania Twain reached unprecedented levels of success; in 2000, George Strait and Alan Jackson made a case for returning to country’s old ways with a low-key polemic titled "Murder on Music Row" (originally recorded by a bluegrass group). Sample lyric: "The almighty dollar and the lust for worldwide fame/ Slowly killed tradition, and for that someone should hang."

Since then, tradition's tenuous hold on the mainstream has receded further, ground beneath 808-heavy programmed beats and half-rapped verses from Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, Blake Shelton, and others. Established stars like Brad Paisley and Kenny Chesney now look to cross over by reaching across the aisles to collaborate with pop singers. According to an interview with the songwriter busbee, there was talk of Justin Bieber recording "H.O.L.Y." before it became a hit for Florida Georgia Line, demonstrating the negligible distance between Music Row and the Top 40 industrial complex.

But the dominance of the genre's modern wing has not cowed the classicists: instead, they have responded with new levels of defiance, leading to Simpson's censorious Facebook post. "I fully realize that as I type this, meetings and conversations are taking place on Music Row to ensure I am blackballed from the industry and that's perfectly fine with me," he wrote. "They are also well aware that we don't need them. Our last albums went to #1 without any help from the Mainstream Country Music establishment… and our next albums will too."

In reality, he benefits from the establishment he excoriates — without the current sound of mainstream country, Simpson would be a boxer without a punching bag — but his point about sales bears scrutiny. Simpson's last album, A Sailor's Guide To Earth, debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart (No. 3 overall on the Billboard 200, with 124,000 copies sold so far this year, per Nielsen Music). Last month, the tradition-minded Texas singer Cody Johnson debuted at No. 2 on Top Country Albums with Gotta Be Me (No. 11 overall), and while Simpson is at least signed to a major label (though not a major country label), Johnson released his album independently. The success of these two artists indicates the presence of an underserved swathe of listeners looking for a classic-sounding fix.

Of course, the singer casting a heavily bearded shadow over the proceedings is Chris Stapleton. His Traveller album was one of 2015's top sellers; this year, it's country's most popular record by a landslide. To some extent, Stapleton’s commercial achievements suggest that country's pendulum is poised to swing back towards the traditional -- when a vintage-leaning album sells roughly twice as many copies as the nearest competitor in 2016, there is clearly a demand for this sound that's not being met by other major acts.

But it is dangerous to read too much into Stapleton's success, given his unique situation. Not only was he a veteran writer for a slew of the singers he is now outselling, generating a lot of good will from the industry, he got a prime-time launch from Justin Timberlake. And Stapleton's sound affects his success in more ways than one: a large portion of his appeal stems from the strain of blue-eyed soul, eternally palatable in the mainstream, that permeates Traveller. If Stapleton was making hard-bitten honky-tonk, it's hard to imagine him achieving much more than Simpson or Johnson: success, sure, but not total chart dominance.

Johnson's album represents a more plausible -- and for those who aren't on Timberlake's iPhone, accessible -- road to reducing country's polarization. It features establishment writers like Chris Dubois (Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker) and Jeffrey Steele (Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts), and a pair of songs penned by the Brothers Osborne, who reached No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart this year with "Stay A Little Longer." At the same time, there's an undeniable flavor of honky-tonk to Gotta Be Me, and a cowboy nerve that nods to a vital sub-genre of country that has all but vanished from the mainstream.

Speaking from Baton Rouge, LA, where he performed last Friday, Johnson describes his relationship with the Nashville system in practical terms. "They don't necessarily need me," he says, "but they kind of do. And I don't necessarily need them, but I kind of do. It's not black and white, one vs. the other. Eventually, they're gonna figure out how they fit with me and how I fit with them. Just 'cause I'm not with a record label, doesn't mean I'm against it."

He doesn't object to the crossover impulse in his genre either. "There was a lot of pop-ish music through the history of country," he notes. "It's ok. I love being able to have that variety. I think if there's room for one, there needs to be room for another."

He's right: In the past, country has been strengthened by its ability to harbor both the artists eager to take the genre to new places and those who hold on to the past with a white-knuckle grip. Without the historical grounding of the traditionalists, country’s modern edge becomes pop, and then it must fight by the rules of the pop marketplace, which moves significantly faster and more aggressively than country. Classicists, meanwhile, gain definition from battling the crossover instinct; there are no Outlaws without a mainstream to rebel against. This struggle simultaneously gives the traditionalists the authority of history -- they crusade to return a genre to its roots -- and the veneer of counterculture. In an ideal world, the two sides circle each other warily, but push each other to greater heights.

Johnson has a pleasing theory about the depth of the split in contemporary country. "I think that when people finally realize a bridge needs to be built, they start noticing the divide more," he explains. This could mean that harmonious co-habitation is just around the corner. "I'm here to build a bridge," Johnson adds. "Whoever wants to cross it can cross it with me."

[Deleted]

*feel free to disregard this comment lol*

Is it just me? or is Sturgill looking cuter? lol I mean, I usually tend to like artists physically, whose music manages to captivate me <3

Oh and Breakers Roar is a masterpiece! Ah, and I thought he was like 58! Turns out he's only two years older than me! :O!!!

[trebor]

© Saving Country Music © Kyle Coroneos / December 7, 2016
SCM: Robbie Fulks & Sturgill Simpson Help Take the Country Insurgency to the Top of the Industry


And this is GLORIOUS: