The saying, "That ain't country" is nothing new. It's been going on the 43 years I've been in country radio. Sometimes it's right on the money, and then there's times it's up for debate. For the next couple weeks, I'll feature artists that got a fair amount of play on country radio at one time, and we can decide if they were or were not. Keep in mind when these artists were getting play, country was not the massive popular format it is today. We needed real star power, and these artists helped supply it to give us a bit more street cred - especially with young fans that we had a hard time attracting then.
They are long gone from country radio as we are now the big dogs on the block with plenty of star power. But these fringe acts were incredibly influential to our future stars. After a few weeks we can decide, were they or weren't they? - Country! This is Part 2 - Were They Or Weren't They Part 1
Bob Seger
Even Bob Seger's band, The Silver Bullet Band sounded like a country band. Seger in my mind is another underrated artist in his own format. A blue collar Detroit native on the regular sang songs about the common man as we do in country and I always loved that. He got a lot of country play with Shame On The Moon and we were so cool. But when you listen back to some of Seger's stuff like, Against The Wind, Fire Lake, Like A Rock, Still The Same, and a few others, they all have country-style arrangements and story lines that are as country sounding as many of today's country currents. Also, his gem We've Got Tonight, was covered by Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton and went number one country. And I'm not so sure that Old Time Rock And Roll isn't one of the most popular songs ever - it has been played at many country concerts as a cover. Of course there was plenty of Seger that was way outside of our scope. In the end, many country fans still share the same kind of love for Seger - as they do the Eagles.
Linda Ronstadt
One of the most incredible and versatile singers of most any kind of music, and that's exactly what she recorded in her amazing career. I feel she was the precursor to Trisha Yearwood in a more modern sense who did the same. I worked at many stations where we played a lot of Linda Ronstadt music. Granted we did not play, You're No Good, but we did play, When Will I be Loved (#1), Blue Bayou (#2), Love Is a Rose (#5), I Can't Help It (#5) and a few others. She was also a part of that incredible album with Dolly and Emmy Lou Harris, Trio, which is one of the best albums of any kind in the 1980's. And even tough her version of Poor, Poor Pitiful Me did not do well for her country, a few years later it did for Terri Clark who took it #1. The incredible thing about her was she just recorded "music" and it found its way to various charts and fan bases. She was gifted that way and everyone loved her. In the end, another tough call, but she did have a lot of charting success with us.
Gordon Lightfoot
One of the most gifted songwriters you'll ever find anywhere, Gordon Lightfoot from Canada was another artist everyone liked. (He is one of Bob Dylans favorite songwriters). He is also a good example of folk, pop, and country meeting and producing a very slick acoustic sound. I feel that sound was his ticket to being played on country radio for a while. NO, we did not play The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, but we did play others in an attempt to create some familiar star power on the radio, and being fair, his sound for the most part did blend in with the pop country phase we were going through. Everyone knew Lightfoot and he enjoyed real success, with Sundown (#13 country) (one of my all-time favorite songs) , Carefree Highway, (top 30 country) and If You Could Read My Mind for us. All easy to listen to, all great songs, and all very popular. Should be noted MANY of his songs charted very well on the Canadian Country Charts including a bunch of #1's. He also has 13 Juno Award wins and has been nominated for 29 - BTW he has as many Juno wins as Shania Twain. In the end was he? For us - he wasn't real far away.
