Neotraditional country

History#

Neotraditional country rose to popularity in the mid-1980s, a few years after the so-called “outlaw movement”, a previous “back-to-its-roots” movement, had faded in popularity. Neotraditionalism was born as a reaction to the perceived blandness of the mainstream country music at the time, which had been influenced by the rise of the “urban cowboy” fad. New (or “neo-”) traditionalism looked to the elders of country music like Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Kitty Wells and George Jones for inspiration, and was a precursor to the more general categorization known as new country. The creation of neotraditionalism was also done in contrast to the more pop-oriented acts of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Ronnie Milsap and Anne Murray, along with the flood of former pop acts (see B.J. Thomas, Billy Joe Royal, The Osmond Brothers, Bill Medley, Dan Seals and Exile) switching to “country” to revive their careers. In 1981, George Strait had made his musical debut with the album Strait Country. The album was based on an approach towards traditional country music and its subgenres of honky tonk, Western swing, and the Bakersfield sound. The album was considered a sharp contrast to the then current trends of country music, at the time relying on the “urban cowboy” country-pop scene. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine observed: It is with Strait Country that George Strait is credited with starting the neotraditional movement. The promotion of traditional country sounds was in part a retrenchment to appeal to the base of country music fans who remained loyal to the genre. 1986 in particular was a seminal year, as Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam released their critically-acclaimed debut albums, marking a sea-change from urban cowboy to neotraditional country. Artists such as Holly Dunn, Clint Black, Ricky Van Shelton, Lyle Lovett, and Highway 101 soon followed as neotraditionalists stormed the country charts in the late 1980s. Neotraditionalism, to a certain extent, fell out of favor in approximately 1991, when Billboard removed record sales from its country chart and a new brand of popular country music exploded into mainstream popularity, led in large part by Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, and Reba McEntire (who merged neotraditionalist styles, with stadium rock-influences). Despite this shift, of the acts that were still popular in the 1980s, more of the neotraditional artists survived the shift into the 1990s than did those who did pop country in the 1980s tradition; Travis, Keith, Strait, McEntire, Loveless and newcomer Alan Jackson stayed true to the neotraditional sound and continued to have mainstream success alongside their newer, more pop-oriented rivals. In 2000, Strait and Jackson, both of whom remain popular as of the early 2020s, recorded a song titled “Murder on Music Row” which spoke directly to the rift between neotraditionalists and pop-country musicians. The lyrics include scathing criticisms of the Nashville establishment such as “Someone killed tradition, and for that, someone should hang.” Strait revisited the topic in his 2016 song “Kicked Outta Country”, which noted that history was repeating itself at the time as artists like Strait were being marginalized just like artists such as Merle Haggard and George Jones had been in 1991. Jackson made similar remarks in his own song “Where Have You Gone”, released at the same time as Strait’s, remarking in an interview that he hoped that younger country musicians would embrace the traditional sound because as it stood, “country music is gone and it’s not coming back.”