As Usual, Everyone is Wrong Except Me

Short disclaimer, I have the flu really bad.  I’m writing this doped up on TheraFlu and Tim Horton’s.  I might not be as eloquent in my biting commentary as usual.

“This is not a country album.” - Beyonce

She said it, not me.  

I don’t know why it’s so hard these days for people to accept that two things can be true at the same time.  Beyonce is not my cup of tea, so I’ve heard very little of this record, but I’ve heard it’s great.  That’s awesome, good for Beyonce, I’m okay with her borrowing from country music to make her record.  Shoot, I hope this record exposes country music to people who wouldn’t have otherwise heard it.  

But it’s not a country album.

I think there are two things going on here.  The first one we need to accept, the second one we need to embrace.

The first, Grammys, Oscars, etc., are just an elitist Daisy Chain.  It has nothing to do with art.  All it is is the cool kids crowning themselves prom king and queen.  As Rick Beato pointed out, if you think Beyonce made a better country album than Chris Stapleton, or even more mainstream Kasey Musgraves, fine, but you don’t know country.  Stop tuning in, stop caring about it if you can see through it.

Secondly, there are only twelve notes in western music, there’s only so many combinations of things.  Everyone borrows.  Chuck Berry borrowed from the Grand Ol’ Opry, Jimmie Rodgers borrowed from the black train workers he worked with and the Beatles borrowed from Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis, etc.  Shoot, how many times has Zeppelin been sued for copyright infringement?  Your favorite artist isn’t as original as you think.  

We should be encouraging things like this Beyonce record, especially if she’s doing it on the up and up (which I assume she did).  More hip hop folks will be looking for acoustic guitar licks to sample and that leads to your favorite acoustic songwriter getting paid.  You don’t have to like it, but you don’t have to hate it.  When you’re as big as Beyonce, you can take artistic chances without much worry, people will still buy it. Why shouldn’t she do something like this? As opposed to Taylor Swift, LLC who keeps putting out the same song over and over again knowing people will buy it.

Music changes. You don’t hear Jimmie Rodgers or Hank Williams on the radio these days, in fact, the industry is no different than any other industry: it doesn’t care about the past. At all. It cares only about making a buck. We have to stop expecting people to act in any other way than in their own self-interest. Did Beyonce want to broaden her audience? Of course. Did the media elites want to pat themselves on the back for awarding “Best Country Album” to a black woman? Of course. Rhiannon Giddens and those like her don’t sell enough records to count, so this was the only opportunity to make this move. Even Beyonce was shocked they gave it to her (I think, or maybe she’s a better actor than I think she is).

I know, I know, Rhiannon was nominated this year for “American Roots Performance”. But what does that mean really? What’s country? Drum machines or fiddles? If you ask me, Rhiannon is country, Beyonce is not.

If you like that type of music, enjoy Cowboy Carter. If you don’t think it’s country, stop worrying about the Grammys because those people don’t worry about you.