Country Music Critics' Poll - Voter Comments

What Is Country Music?

Are there some terrific singles currently being played on country radio? Of course there are. Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Sugarland and a slew of other acts have dropped singles that have demonstrated a real facility with country conventions and with a mean pop hook. But there are just as many singles that have nothing to do with the traditional forms and conventions of the country genre and, perhaps more importantly, just as many singles that are poorly constructed, regressive pop. The idea that aping Def Leppard and Bad Company or, just as commonly, the drippiest of Bryan Adams and Gloria Estefan ballads constitutes progress for the country genre is just utterly wrong-headed, and I seriously doubt anyone would make the same claim if these same influences were felt so heavily in, say, contemporary hip-hop.
— JONATHAN KEEFE

One of the fascinating patterns of mainstream country in 2009 was that, as the sound moved further and further away from country music as we traditionally know it, the lyrics tried and harder and harder to pick up the slack. Seemingly every other song shipped to radio these days is about the singer's inherent "country-ness," either explicitly ("She's Country," "That's How Country Boys Roll," "I'm a Little More Country Than That") or implicitly ("Small Town U.S.A.," "Bonfire," "Backwoods," "Whistlin' Dixie"). There's a palpable self-consciousness to the trend, as though songwriters, labels and artists know they're stamping out a large part of the genre's core identity, but really, really hope you won't notice.
— DAN MILLIKEN

I see a danger in attempting to tightly define country music. The music may be a blend, of folk, traditional country, rock, blues or jazz -even Tejano or Cajun. Certainly none of those traditions or influences should disqualify music from being considered country. One need only look to the genius of an album such as Leon Russell's Hank Wilson's Back, or Ray Charles's Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music to see that artists from other genres can make brilliant country music. Country music is a big tent, and we should avoid being quick to disqualify styles and artistic backgrounds in the name of a purity that never existed in the first place.
— PATSI BALE COX

My definition of country expands every year, to include more mainstream artists as well as more marginal acts. I'm never sure if this development is due more to my own increased immersion in a genre that I don't feel native to (as a misfit growing up in a small Southern town, I hated country as a defense mechanism) or to my own nomadism (I've changed cities three times in the last three years), but it creates an intense sense of discovery in the smallest moments, such as the realization that early Dolly Parton is just as sappy as current cancer ballads, or that George Strait's consistency is one of his most endearing qualities, or that Nick Lowe's country material is as good as his Stiff Records output, or that I can be genuinely moved by hearing Ashley Monroe perform "Has Anybody Ever Told You." As a result, country feels continually new to me even when I grow fatigued with and suspicious of styles I've spent years with.
— STEPHEN DEUSNER

Country music is now and always has been about experiences of those who respond to it, and while Taylor Swift's enormous commercial success in relating her youthful experiences has some marketers drooling over the opening to the Very Young Audience, it's been a rule of thumb that the more experienced in life the song-maker's been, the better the songs we get. So the most heartening developments of 2009 were the maturing, in public, of the songs of Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert. They're now making nuanced, knowing and varied adult country music, both soulful and funny, and that's the best predictor that they'll both being doing so 10 and 20 years from now, too. Of course, Jamey Johnson more or less showed up already doing that.
— BARRY MAZOR

I decided to complete this list using only the "mainstream" country music that I hear on my radio, thus omitting strong albums from Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider, Ryan Bingham, Willie and the Wheel, Jason Isbell, Justin Townes Earle, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson and the great cover records from Rosanne Cash and Steve Earle. I allowed myself to cheat and include Holly Williams and Patty Loveless, though it's unclear why I was willing to make an exception for those ladies. (Perhaps my uterus couldn't help it.) In the end, you will notice I could not fill in all of the Best Album blanks, and the final two sit unattended. Maybe I'm overly critical and determined to be crabby, but then again, I'm as frustrated by this as anyone. I want people to start making albums again, not just peddling three singles and chaff.
— WHITNEY PASTOREK

>2009 sucked hard economically, but it was a great year for country, however you measure it. Any connection? Maybe, maybe not. The best songs weren't all, or even mostly, topical ones. But John Rich's "Shuttin' Detroit Down" and Patty Loveless's cover of Harlan Howard's "Busted" had moments that rang so true I shivered.
— WILL HERMES