Grady Smith’s ‘Why Country Music Was Awful in 2013’

Grady’s objection to last year’s mainstream country is that it was all:

• A bunch of dudes sang about trucks
• They drove down old dirt roads
• And they begged girls to get in their trucks, too
• They only wanted girls wearing tight jeans
• And they drove the girls to the nearest river bank
• The sunset/moonlight made it all so romantic
• And there was always alcohol (a.k.a. “good stuff”) to loosen things up
• But if every bro tactic failed…
• They would just call their girl, “girl”

“And that was about as deep as most mainstream country songs got” he says.

Grady’s video makes his point well, but I think there’s plenty more to mainstream country than songs about trucks and painted on jeans. In fact, one of the things I love about country is the story telling that I don’t hear in other genres. It’s something that country writers like Ashley Monroe and Kacey Musgraves excel at.

Speaking of Kacey Musgraves, it’s great to see that her ‘Same Trailer, Different Park’ album made Grady’s list of 10 Best Country Albums of 2013 as well as my top five.

I hadn’t heard of many of the albums and artists on Grady’s list, but I love finding new country, so I made a Spotify playlist of Grady’s top ten.

Listen along with ‘this englishman.’