I don’t know if it’s just that this hellish year has me more jaded than usual, but what are we even talking about anymore? Doesn’t matter, name the topic…. politics, sports, music, whatever…. and I undoubtedly wind up scratching my head.
This example, one very near and dear to my heart, comes from NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace.
I’m pretty new to NASCAR. When the pandemic hit and it was the only thing on, I started watching and will actually admit that I’m pretty hooked. But if even you’re not a fan of the sport, you’re probably familiar with the name Bubba Wallace after the drama that surrounded him and his team at Talladega.
During the 2020 season, a noose was found by a crew member hanging in the garage, NASCAR launched an immediately investigation, and ultimately found that it had been hanging there for months and may or may not have been a garage door pull rope, but either way, it was a troubling situation considering Wallace is the sport’s only black driver.
Regardless, it was a solid season for Wallace and while he didn’t make the playoffs, he wound up securing his first ever Cup Series win this past season at Talladega.
Anyways, back to this country music conversation.
In an interview with GQ, Bubba ran through some of the things he can’t live without and one of his items were his headphones.
“I’m a big music guy, big music guy. It puts me in the zone, it gets me out of my funks, puts me in the racing mood, gets my game face on.”
Same Bubba, same.
And while Bubba’s go-to is heavy metal, he does dabble a bit in the country music world, although I’m dumbfounded as to what he considers country music.
“I listen to Tyler Childers a lot, I wouldn’t consider him country though in my personal opinion.
Chris Stapleton a little bit, I love Chris Stapleton. Colter Wall… that’s kinda getting into the country a little bit, but as far as the mainstream stuff… nah, not really.”
Wait… WHAT!?
If Tyler Childers ain’t country, then ain’t nobody on planet Earth country.
And if Tyler Childers ain’t country, then what is he? Bubba did qualify it at the end right there with the “mainstream” comment, which makes me think he knows that there is a difference, but still, what does that make Tyler? Americana? Appalachian country? Folk or Bluegrass? I don’t know…
I mean, McDonald’s sells a zillion cheeseburgers a year, a shitty product designed for cheap mass consumption. But that doesn’t mean a good steakhouse burger is any less of a cheeseburger because it’s really good, ya know?
At the end of the day, I think I know what Bubba is getting at here. When Bubba thinks country music, he thinks mainstream Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Dan + Shay, Carrie Underwood etc…. and that is why he says he doesn’t consider Tyler Childers country.
It is completely ass-backwards, but that’s what we’ve created in mainstream country music. Mainstream “country” music is mostly bad pop music and now we’ve started calling actual country music other things, so much so that one of the genre’s absolute best isn’t even considered “country” music by Bubba.
When you say the words “Country Music” to me, right now in 2021, I probably think George Strait first, but then I think of artists Tyler Childers and Cody Jinks. But for many others, Bubba included, they think Florida Georgia Line and Keith Urban.
So with that frame of mind, when they hear Tyler Childers, that has to be something different… like Americana or whatever.
It’s why artists like Sturgill Simpson (who said “I’ve never played a note of Americana in my life”) and Tyler himself have spoken adamantly against terms like “Americana.”
During his 2018 Americana Music Awards acceptance speech, Tyler said this of the term:
“Americana hits him in the same place as ‘Appalachia’ and ‘Child-ers.’ It crawls up my spine. My name is Tyler Childers. I’m an Appalachian artist from the foothills of Kentucky and I play country music.
As a man who identifies as a country music singer, I feel Americana ain’t no part of nothin. It is a distraction from the issues that we are facing on a bigger level as country music singers. It kind of feels like ‘Purgatory’.”
The good news is that Bubba likes good country music, real country music, even though he seems to have some trouble with what actual country music is. And this isn’t an attack on Bubba or anything, it’s just an example to frame the conversation and point out why this shit matters.
We have to start calling real country music, country music… because as Tyler once said, “that’s the only way to take the lunch table back.”
Talk to your boy Ryan Blaney… he’ll set you straight.
Here’s the full interview:
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And if you’re a fan of the hit series Yellowstone, and REAL country music, be sure to check out our Yellowstone The Soundtrack Playlist. It’s as real deal country as it gets.
