The Country Radio Seminar kicks off in full force tomorrow morning. Nashville will be flooded with radio people by this afternoon. The most unique and well-attended programming and content conference will once again go about supporting one of America’s biggest formats.
The labels will encourage their artists, new and legends, to perform and meet with attendees. The access to meeting stars is unparalleled. The relationship between the Artists, Labels, Radio, and Streamers is strong. The education offered is always beneficial. What this organization does for radio is unique.
It wasn’t always this way. The first CRS that I attended was in the very early ’90s. Discussion in those days included talking about the stereotype that Country listeners all drive pickup trucks with gun racks in the back. That the format needed to be bigger and embrace Women as well as Men. That it should be more than drinking songs. Country programmers were wrestling with Country artists who had hit songs crossing to Pop and AC, like Shania Twain, Lonestar, Diamond Rio, Ronnie Milsap, Faith Hill, and more. There were also unique hits from the likes of Lee Greenwood and Bill Ray Cyrus.
There was a wave of popularity in Country music that preceded the significant growth of the format in the 90s. That was less sustainable but definitely big at the time. Urban Cowboy, the 1980 movie starring John Travolta and Deborah Winger, was the instigator of that craze. Bars installed Bucking Bull Rides, gave line dancing lessons, and rose to fame as the parking lots were crowded with more than trucks. Coyote Ugly, Smokey & The Bandit, Walk the Line … the list of movies feeding the growth of the format is long. Those pop culture instigators helped build the strength of country music and expand it beyond the stereotype.
Which leads to the format’s continuing growth today. It is my belief that Country is hotter than ever. We’re hearing music cross from Country to Pop more so than vice versa, although there are a few examples. What’s crossing are the artists. Post Malone is collaborating with Country artists, Beyoncé produced a Country album (although her album’s greatest strength was with Pop), Elle King and Miranda Lambert scored a hit, and new artist of the year Shaboozey.
An appearance in the series finale of Yellowstone was enough to propel Willie Nelson’s 1979 hit “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” into Shazam’s Top 100 USA. “Hang Tight Honey” from recurring cast member Lainey Wilson ranked even higher, topping the DSP’s US Country chart. And Yellowstone wasn’t the only Paramount show driving Shazam traffic: Red Clay Stray’s “Timeless (Western AF Version)” also made the US Top 10 after appearing in Landman.Jelly Roll made an appearance on Sylvester Stallone’s series Tulsa King.
The mass appeal of today’s country music has made the format bigger than what it once was, and there’s no end in sight. All things are cyclical, though, especially when you’re dependent on current music to attract and engage an audience. There will be a peak and a regression. The question becomes one of supply and demand.
Can the labels continue to find great music performed at a high level by great artists? Can radio, streaming, podcasting, TV, and film keep fanning the flames of fandom? Will we know when to adjust as the format peaks for this wave, and can we continue to evolve by following the audience… wherever they take us? That’s the unknown.
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