Country boys are wearing out calling cards

[TropicalTroubador]

The exact same sentiments have been expressed about ZBB, Jimmy Buffett (latter day), trop rock et al etc. etc. and their beach, sun, tropical ways as well.

And I say "Who gives a rat's ass?".

I'll take the songwriting side of Buffett over the cheesey "trop rock" image some have of him any day of the week. That's probably a huge reason why I prefer artists such as Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, etc. over the Buffett imitators that are so popular among much of his fanbase.

To change the subject slightly, this is something I could never understand. Kenny Chesney does a "Buffett-type" song and people want to rip him a new blowhole because they think he's a Buffett wannabe. Yet, many of those same people get almost orgasmic talking about trop rock artists, who owe their careers to being Buffett wannabes. Not to mention Zac Brown, who does a couple of "Buffett-type" songs and people are talking about the guy like he's the greatest thing since chocolate milk. Things that make you go "hmmmmm".

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

All right...as your friendly neighborhood Trop Rock artist, not to mention a songwriter who knows a little bit about the Nashville scene (emphasis on "little" bit)...it's time to weigh in. In spite of the fact I should know better than to engage with someone trolling on the Internet.

Everybody grows up wanting to be like *someone* they admire. I dare you to name me three people who don't or didn't. I bet *you* did. Does that make *you* a "wannabe?"

And what the bloody h e double-toothpicks is wrong with that?

I submit that this is a cheap shot, straw man argument.

At the moment, I count somewhere around 70 or so artists performing Trop Rock music either as part of, or as the entirety of, their repertoire. Not including Buffett, ZBB, and Chesney, or most reggae and calypso artist. I know probably 40 of these people personally. I don't know anybody, myself included, who "wants to be Buffett." I *do* know a few who wouldn't mind having a tenth of his audience and a fair bit of his stuff. I'll confess freely to that particular sin.

Each and every one of us is, in this process, devoting quite a few hours to writing, rewriting, rehearsing, recording, cold-calling venues, writing up promotional copy, driving and/or flying from town to town, etc. to pursue our particular dream(s). Those are hours we *could* just be sitting around taking cheap shots on the Internet. But I digress.

Beyond that, I can't speak for anybody but myself. I don't want or need to be Mr. Buffett or Mr. Chesney. I want to be the best Loren Davidson I can be. I want to write and sing songs that speak to people, to which they say, "Hey, that's the way I feel too!" And a lot of people really like the thought of running away to someplace warm with a beach.

Why *not* write songs about that? Why not perform them?

I also want to hang out with way cool people who feel that way, because they're a lot of fun to party with.

I respectfully submit that if my songs can mellow out even one person to where they're not flipping people off on the freeway, I've done something positive for the world.

What have you done today?

I'm just sayin'.

[springparrot]

Thank you Loren

[LIPH]

The exact same sentiments have been expressed about ZBB, Jimmy Buffett (latter day), trop rock et al etc. etc. and their beach, sun, tropical ways as well.

And I say "Who gives a rat's ass?".

I'll take the songwriting side of Buffett over the cheesey "trop rock" image some have of him any day of the week. That's probably a huge reason why I prefer artists such as Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, etc. over the Buffett imitators that are so popular among much of his fanbase.

To change the subject slightly, this is something I could never understand. Kenny Chesney does a "Buffett-type" song and people want to rip him a new blowhole because they think he's a Buffett wannabe. Yet, many of those same people get almost orgasmic talking about trop rock artists, who owe their careers to being Buffett wannabes. Not to mention Zac Brown, who does a couple of "Buffett-type" songs and people are talking about the guy like he's the greatest thing since chocolate milk. Things that make you go "hmmmmm".

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

All right...as your friendly neighborhood Trop Rock artist, not to mention a songwriter who knows a little bit about the Nashville scene (emphasis on "little" bit)...it's time to weigh in. In spite of the fact I should know better than to engage with someone trolling on the Internet.

My opinion on the subject differs from yours so I'm "trolling on the internet"? Interesting point of view.

[txaggirl91]

Sounds like the author must have heard Brian Keane's song "I'll Sing About Mine".

Here the song on his website - http://www.keanetunes.com/wordpress/

found a video of him singing it...

[chippewa]

You swing from your tree
And I'll swing from mine
You have your lemons
and I'll have my lime

[sonofabeach]

There's plenty of music to go around, be it the Drive By Trop Rockers or Jimmy Chesney. Who cares? Like what you like.

[Tiki Torches]

There's plenty of music to go around, be it the Drive By Trop Rockers or Jimmy Chesney. Who cares? Like what you like.

The piece by Peter Cooper isn't a condemnation of one person's musical taste over another, it's a commentary on the lack of substance and the perpetuation of a stereotype in much of today's country music. At least that's what I got out of it.

[sonofabeach]

I like these kind of songs about partying in the woods or water or whatever. I've been too a few of these gatherings so I know they happen and I don't think it's a stretch the artists went to some growing up. They're just fun songs and not designed to be deep or move the earth when you hear them. Bochephus has done this for years. And anything you hear on the radio is gonna be repetative/looping anyway.
What I do think is funny is all the rap lingo being used in country songs nowadays.

[Tiki Torches]

What I do think is funny is all the rap lingo being used in country songs nowadays.

In a way it's a bit unusual but in another way, I don't really find it all that out of place. Years ago I knew a redneck fellow about ten years younger than me that was about as prejudiced towards African-Americans as they come yet when he opened his CD case it was full of all of the rap music of the day (this was back in the mid-90s). Rap has found it's way into rock and other forms of music over the years. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't so I guess it was only a matter of time before it started to merge more successfully with country music.

[RinglingRingling]

The songwriters are the ones who live the life.

That's not what I got out of the article. What I got out of it is that these songwriters aren't living the life they're singing about at all. They're coming up with cliched, hackneyed images that cater to the lowest common denominator in country music these days. It's what's selling records so these songs are full of stereotypical characters and scenarios because that is what sells records (unfortunately) to a large portion of the country music audience in 2011.

"Dear Penthouse:

I am a student at a small midwestern university. I read the stories in your magazine, but last week something happened I never thought would and I had to write to tell you about it...."

[TropicalTroubador]

The exact same sentiments have been expressed about ZBB, Jimmy Buffett (latter day), trop rock et al etc. etc. and their beach, sun, tropical ways as well.

And I say "Who gives a rat's ass?".

I'll take the songwriting side of Buffett over the cheesey "trop rock" image some have of him any day of the week. That's probably a huge reason why I prefer artists such as Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, etc. over the Buffett imitators that are so popular among much of his fanbase.

To change the subject slightly, this is something I could never understand. Kenny Chesney does a "Buffett-type" song and people want to rip him a new blowhole because they think he's a Buffett wannabe. Yet, many of those same people get almost orgasmic talking about trop rock artists, who owe their careers to being Buffett wannabes. Not to mention Zac Brown, who does a couple of "Buffett-type" songs and people are talking about the guy like he's the greatest thing since chocolate milk. Things that make you go "hmmmmm".

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

All right...as your friendly neighborhood Trop Rock artist, not to mention a songwriter who knows a little bit about the Nashville scene (emphasis on "little" bit)...it's time to weigh in. In spite of the fact I should know better than to engage with someone trolling on the Internet.

My opinion on the subject differs from yours so I'm "trolling on the internet"? Interesting point of view.

Differences of opinion I don't mind. We've disagreed respectfully before, and doubtless will again.

Gratuitous insults is something else again. And "owes their careers to being Buffett wannabees" is insulting to me. Probably to a few other folks I know.

[PA PAR8 HED]

Does he not realize that those 'male country music stars' hardly ever write their own songs ?

Since Peter Cooper is a well renown author (and sometime songwriter himself) who's based out of Nashville Im sure he's well aware of it. That's the crux of the article anyway, at least as I interpreted it.

The songwriters are the ones who live the life.

That's not what I got out of the article. What I got out of it is that these songwriters aren't living the life they're singing about at all. They're coming up with cliched, hackneyed images that cater to the lowest common denominator in country music these days. It's what's selling records so these songs are full of stereotypical characters and scenarios because that is what sells records (unfortunately) to a large portion of the country music audience in 2011.

I don't think this is anything new either. Isn't there an old saying about some country singers... "all hat, no cattle"?

[Tiki Torches]

Does he not realize that those 'male country music stars' hardly ever write their own songs ?

Since Peter Cooper is a well renown author (and sometime songwriter himself) who's based out of Nashville Im sure he's well aware of it. That's the crux of the article anyway, at least as I interpreted it.

The songwriters are the ones who live the life.

That's not what I got out of the article. What I got out of it is that these songwriters aren't living the life they're singing about at all. They're coming up with cliched, hackneyed images that cater to the lowest common denominator in country music these days. It's what's selling records so these songs are full of stereotypical characters and scenarios because that is what sells records (unfortunately) to a large portion of the country music audience in 2011.

I don't think this is anything new either. Isn't there an old saying about some country singers... "all hat, no cattle"?

Thing is, there's actually some worthwhile country music musicians out there singing about things other than four wheelers, dirt roads, etc. that manage to avoid all of the usual cliches. You do have a good point though, even Willie Nelson has 'fessed up to copping his look in an attempt to cash in on all of the hippies mixing with the rednecks at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin back in the 70s. Of course, Waylon himself addressed it years later with his song "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand"? Still, I'd take Willie, Waylon and the boys over the all of the poseurs out there today.

[RinglingRingling]

Does he not realize that those 'male country music stars' hardly ever write their own songs ?

Since Peter Cooper is a well renown author (and sometime songwriter himself) who's based out of Nashville Im sure he's well aware of it. That's the crux of the article anyway, at least as I interpreted it.

The songwriters are the ones who live the life.

That's not what I got out of the article. What I got out of it is that these songwriters aren't living the life they're singing about at all. They're coming up with cliched, hackneyed images that cater to the lowest common denominator in country music these days. It's what's selling records so these songs are full of stereotypical characters and scenarios because that is what sells records (unfortunately) to a large portion of the country music audience in 2011.

I don't think this is anything new either. Isn't there an old saying about some country singers... "all hat, no cattle"?

not just singers...

[RinglingRingling]

Does he not realize that those 'male country music stars' hardly ever write their own songs ?

Since Peter Cooper is a well renown author (and sometime songwriter himself) who's based out of Nashville Im sure he's well aware of it. That's the crux of the article anyway, at least as I interpreted it.

The songwriters are the ones who live the life.

That's not what I got out of the article. What I got out of it is that these songwriters aren't living the life they're singing about at all. They're coming up with cliched, hackneyed images that cater to the lowest common denominator in country music these days. It's what's selling records so these songs are full of stereotypical characters and scenarios because that is what sells records (unfortunately) to a large portion of the country music audience in 2011.

I don't think this is anything new either. Isn't there an old saying about some country singers... "all hat, no cattle"?

Thing is, there's actually some worthwhile country music musicians out there singing about things other than four wheelers, dirt roads, etc. that manage to avoid all of the usual cliches. You do have a good point though, even Willie Nelson has 'fessed up to copping his look in an attempt to cash in on all of the hippies mixing with the rednecks at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin back in the 70s. Of course, Waylon himself addressed it years later with his song "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand"? Still, I'd take Willie, Waylon and the boys over the all of the poseurs out there today.

most "cowboy artists" don't look much like guys I knew working stock back in the day. They may not wear Nudie suits anymore, but it's still a lot more show than substance.

[DAB]

Great article, Peter is a great writer and musician, in fact if you haven't heard his “The Lloyd Green Album”



check it out, it could be the Album of the century!

[StlBeachBum]

This kind of fits here...
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011 ... 011/637861

[Tiki Torches]

This kind of fits here...
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011 ... 011/637861

I'd say the author is way off with this remark:

In return, Buffett got national airplay--something he's never really been able to do on his own, despite decades of touring and generations of devoted fans.

....and this one:

Problem is, country music is no place for tropical breezes. Sure, country singers often pander to their audience with false bravado and faux blue-collar bluster, but the blatant laziness of a permanent vacation just doesn't play the same way.

Country is a genre known for its gritty grasp of reality, not peddling escapism like an airbrushed Club Med ad.

Those two passage alone show two things 1) The author has no grasp whatsoever of Buffett's chart history and 2) He obviously has no idea about the history of country music either as Buffett, Chesney and Brown aren't the first musicians to mix country and island sounds and I doubt they'll be the last.

Back to the tropic at hand...

[a1aara]

Peter Cooper is a heck of a nice guy. Check out his material if you get the chance, Solo or with Eric Brace. Also, Peter is friends with Mr. Kenny Chesney who contributes vocals on the latest Eric Brace/Peter Cooper release "the Master Sessions".

[piratenurse]

"Well I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a dammed old train"

David Allan Coe was also projecting an image (and continues to). That was a perfectly fine song before he added his bit to it.

But this is the perfect country song! I still have fond memories of sitting in a bar with sticky floors while everyone sang along. I still sing along, adding the "let me, let me, let me", the country equivalent of "salt, salt, salt".

There was a reason Alan Jackson wrote "Murder On Music Row"; he and King George were established enough to get away with recording it. Artists have to record what the execs think will sell, period, if they want to have a chance of national exposure. Just like they require the artist to participate in music videos, regardless of how horrific they may be (sorry, ZB). Most of these artists have way, way better original material that the powers that be won't even let them play live because it doesn't fit the "formula".