By Edward Morris

More than a few people worry that country is winning the battle but losing the war, that it’s succeeding by selling its soul.—Peter Applebome, New York Times Magazine, Oct. 27, 1996.

Any country act that’s willing to stoop so low as to take fans into account can become a superstar, but few can command the respect of critics from the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and kindred big-league custodians of country music’s soul. These guys, whose stamp of approval can move dozens of albums, are tough sells. No pretty faces and soft sylvan melodies for them. They want the real, gritty, uncompromising thing, and, by God, they know just who and what it is. Of late, they’ve been streaming into town, helping Music Row lacerate itself for being so successful and alerting the rest of us to where country’s artistic salvation really lies. Obviously, these are the arbiters worth courting. But how?

Major record companies routinely hire trainers to instruct their budding superstars in the right ways to talk, walk, smile, give interviews, and accept those dangerously heavy multiplatinum award plaques. But who is there to teach country’s Real Artists how to gain the appreciation of those sages and seers on the nation’s critical front lines? Well, I’ll do what I can. These are the fundamental ploys I’ve been able to deduce from watching it all:

1. If you are a Real Artist, be sure that your initial publicity places you firmly into an historical context. Context is important to critics because it enables them to display their vast knowledge of the genre while discussing your passing contributions to it.

2. Lament at every opportunity the vile quality of music being recorded and performed by your better-selling contemporaries. Remember, for you to be a savior, you must have something to save—in this case, the very integrity of your format.

3. Make it clear to one and all that you have conceded to sign a major-label deal only for the purpose of bringing your art to a world in dire need of it.

4. Base all your lyrics on the assumption that only blue-collar types know real pain and passion. Otherwise, your music may be tagged as “suburban,” which is almost as devastating a cut as “radio friendly.”

5. Be ironic in all things. It will spare you the rigor of being profound.

Currents

♦ If the country music industry showed nothing else for its efforts in 1996 than Ruby Lovett’s new album, it would still be a good year. The Mississippi singer’s self-titled collection on MCG/Curb Records offers an array of thought-provoking, emotion-prodding lyrics—from the grandly accepting “Nothing to Prove” to the good-riddance musings of “He’s Your Problem Now.” Her cover of “(I’m So) Afraid of Losing You Again” is as powerful as—but quite apart from—Charley Pride’s original hit of 1969. Lovett’s vocals have the natural sense of drama we’ve come to love in Alison Krauss’ and Rhonda Vincent’s singing but with a little less of those singers’ bluegrass-driven intensity. Allen Reynolds produced the album and demonstrates once again that he is the best there is at finding an artist’s musical essence.

♦ Whether you greet the first notes of “Rocky Top” with a groan or a yelp of delight will probably depend upon how many bluegrass festivals you attended just after that song became the signature hit for the Osborne Brothers in 1968. But love it or loathe it, it’s back. Decca, the hit’s home label, has issued a Rocky Top ’96 CD that contains not only the original version but also the “Rocky Top Radio Mix,” “Rocky Top Club Mix,” and “Rocky Top Championship Mix.” A spokeswoman at Decca says the orange-clad CD is available in record stores throughout Tennessee and is particularly widespread in the Knoxville area, where it reportedly enjoys some sort of college athletic tie-in.

♦ Epic Records will rerelease the Stephanie Bentley single “Once I Was the Light of Your Life” on Nov. 11. Originally issued in July, the record received only a tepid response from radio. The label is betting the Hugh Prestwood ballad will fare better as playlists shift from their traditional summertime frothiness. This is the second such announcement within the past two weeks. As noted here last week, Capitol Nashville is giving George Ducas’ “Every Time She Passes By,” another summer casualty, one more shot at the charts.

♦ Christmas shopping? Well, this book has been out now for almost two years, but Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers remains the most thorough, useful, and readable work of its kind on the market. Authored chiefly by Barry McCloud, the 1,132-page paperback reference profiles virtually every artist who ever made a mark on country music, including many regionally popular radio acts of the ’30s and ’40s and a throng of pioneer and modern bluegrass performers. For most of the acts, there is also a selected albums discography at the end of their entries. Moreover, the 227 pages of appendices list award-winners from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association, the Canadian Country Music Association, the Country Music Association of Australia, the Gospel Music Association (Doves), the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (Grammys), International Bluegrass Music Association, and Music City News, as well as individual awards for several major artists. There are also lists of country platinum and gold certifications and country music movies. Assisting McCloud in this mammoth undertaking were such internationally recognized country music scholars as Charles Wolfe and Ivan Tribe.

♦ Christmas shopping? Well, this book has been out now for almost two years, but Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers remains the most thorough, useful, and readable work of its kind on the market. Authored chiefly by Barry McCloud, the 1,132-page paperback reference profiles virtually every artist who ever made a mark on country music, including many regionally popular radio acts of the ’30s and ’40s and a throng of pioneer and modern bluegrass performers. For most of the acts, there is also a selected albums discography at the end of their entries. Moreover, the 227 pages of appendices list award-winners from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association, the Canadian Country Music Association, the Country Music Association of Australia, the Gospel Music Association (Doves), the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (Grammys), International Bluegrass Music Association, and Music City News, as well as individual awards for several major artists. There are also lists of country platinum and gold certifications and country music movies. Assisting McCloud in this mammoth undertaking were such internationally recognized country music scholars as Charles Wolfe and Ivan Tribe.