The Country Music Awards

After watching the CMA awards show this year, two things were very obvious. One, it seems the business is now almost totally committed to the youth market which, in itself is not so bad but it would be nice if they had more artists that could actually sing. I don't think I've ever heard so much off key singing on one awards show ever. Given the fact that sound systems and mikes are hard to handle at live events it was still shocking to see the standard that modern music has adopted for vocals. It was a little embarrassing actually.

Second, it would appear that any mention now of any artist over the age of 30 or anyone that's not on the charts as of the last five minutes is taboo now. It's like there has been a policy made that no artist or singer from the past will have any respect paid to them unless they are working with another new artist and even then it will be short and sweet. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should dwell on the past and there should certainly be a limit as to how much prime time exposure is given to historical references but to totally ignore them is highly disrespectful and wrong. There should have been more than two minutes spent on the life of Jerry Reed for instance. Here is a man that revolutionized the way sessions are made and guitars are played and it was like they couldn't wait to move on to something else. Hurry along, the kids may decide to play a video game if we linger on this too long. Strange.

But overall, to be fair, I thought the awards that were given were pretty much dead on. George Strait as an artist deserves any award he gets and is certainly a great choice for the categories he won in. The same goes for Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood. They are great artists and have worked their butts off to get where they are. No qualms with that.

But I think you will start to see the business changing soon. There are many "splinter groups" that are forming now that represent many listeners around the country and around the world. There are artists from right here in Austin and around the state of Texas that are fully capable of putting a lot of the new talent out of Nashville under the carpet on any given night at any given location. They are gathering large groups of fans and listeners without the help of labels or radio stations and they represent a ton of download and music sales. You more than likely will never see them on a network television show and yet they are some of the most powerful people in the business. Change is coming, believe me.

That is all I have to say for the time being but there will be more to come and I really hope that in the future, on national broadcasts they will be a little more respectful of the pioneers and giants that have come and gone that have contributed so much to the business. And if not, keep your mouse ready, there will always be somewhere else to go where they do.