To borrow a phrase here, "what is that"?  I'm increasingly confused by what today's country radio calls "new country."  It doesn't help at all that "New Country" radio doesn't seem to know what the answer is, either.  I decided to start doing a little research into the topic, and I've come up with a few theories.  Today's "hot new country" seems to boil down to approximately three categories:

 Hot Real Country 7 - 15 years old; Lukewarm modern pop with country leanings; and The occasional song which could actually be termed hot, new, and Country. So what, exactly, IS "Hot New Country"? 

Let's break it down. In the late 80's, it started to become clear what, exactly, this "hot new country" was.  It was an influx of acts and artists who were deemed "neo-traditionalists," who forged their way through the surplus of weak, pop-driven country music of the 80's and blazed a trail back to roots sound and style.  These included but were not limited to Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Marty Stuart, and even Garth Brooks - all charging faithfully down the narrow trail that George Strait had quietly opened up a few years earlier.  Until this point, most country stations still played a good variety of old country as well as what was currently on the charts. 

This remained true through about 1991. After this initial surge came the dozens similar acts, and while many were just copycats, many were remarkably talented, like Doug Supernaw, Tracy Byrd, Mark Chesnutt, and Tracy Lawrence; they, and others like them, continued on in these "new traditions."  It was here that stations dedicated to ONLY this "new" country came around.  This is actually backward to how rock stations went - those playing Top 40 stayed Top 40, and "Oldies" and "Classic Rock" stations came along later to pick up the songs the Top 40 stations had stopped playing. At this point, country radio stations limited themselves to only songs from no further back than 1986, and then, ONLY select artists who passed muster.  Names started to drop off the airwaves completely, old names with long and proud heritages, like Merle and George Jones, Gene Watson and Charlie Pride, whether they had "new" country in release or not. Dropped, too, were any classic oldies.  Not to ignore the ladies, it was at this time that Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and other great ladies of the country scene disappeared, as well.  Tanya Tucker managed to hang on with a few hits in the mid-nineties, but she was replaced with the likes of Pam Tillis and Kathy Mattea - who were in turn replaced completely when the "Diva Wave" roared onto the beach in 1995.  The only female artist who managed to hold on was Reba, and she took her own path, anyway.

Fast forward to 2002.

Most of the "new traditionalists" who ushered in the "new country" movement have themselves been scoured from the radio with some odd exceptions, such as Alan Jackson and George Strait.  Many of these trailblazers have gone completely the way of the legends and the oldies. But herein lies my confusion.  Many of the trailblazers who ARE permitted air play are only granted the play of their hits from 1986 - 1993, rather than any of their actual "hot new country."  So what's so new about these oldies?

I figure it's a long shot that anyone can coherently explain to me how the executives at modern country radio decide who or what gets played and who and what doesn't.  I hear words like "marketing" and "demographics" bandied about, but this doesn't explain why some oldies get air play and others do not.  Nor does it explain why certain "darlings" of the "hot new country" demographic continue to get their songs played, even though some of them have not recorded anything NEW in years.   To that, most of what they have played is their older work - on the station I've been following, they will play Shania Twain every day; however, these days I rarely hear anything from the later, more pop-flavored "Come On Over."  Most of the time, it's the singles from "The Woman in Me" which are still played.  Faith Hill and Leann Rimes are similarly treated; their earlier albums are receiving more air play than their more current releases.  Oddly, this is exactly opposite in the male singers; Tim McGraw rarely has anything older than "Just To See You Smile" played; and when he does, it's invariably "Gettin' Down On the Farm."  To add even more confusion to the mix, the diva-leaning ladies of country who released more country-flavored songs, such as Martina McBride's "When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues," Lee Ann Womack's "Does My Ring Burn Your Finger?" and Chely Wright's "Jezebel," have yet to get play on the "New Country" station (the Real Country affiliate station I listen to, however, is another story entirely).  

In the case of such artists as Dwight Yoakam and Randy Travis, their oldies are given air play when they have new releases out because, I'm told "it's to test to see if there is a demand for their new music."  Once or twice a week they'll play "Guitars, Cadillacs" (1986) or "Fast as You" (1993), but never "What Do You Know About Love" (2000).  This makes no sense to me.  When David Ball's "Riding With Private Malone" rattled the charts, "HNC" stations found themselves forced to play the song as it had made the charts without their help - and they did it without dusting off "Thinkin' Problem," which hadn't been on their turntables since they had turntables "to see if there was interest."  However, despite a strong show on the charts and lots of requests, "Ridin' With Private Malone" has already disappeared from regular rotation.  And don't even TRY to get them to play "Man of Constant Sorrow."  On the other hand, Collin Raye's "That's My Story" is getting more air play now than it did when it was new. The station that I'm following is a fairly typical Clear Channel Station. Although I haven't heard very many of their stations, I am guessing this judged on two factors.  Firstly, the commentary of my peers on various on-line sites, and secondly, the morning DJs are syndicated to at least 30 of the stations in Clear Channel's base.  This gives me the idea that I'm hearing what is being played to a good-sized slice of the country.  A typical morning includes approximately 5 - 9 Tim McGraw songs, 4 - 6 Faith Hill songs, 2 -3 Shania Twain songs, at least 5 Toby Keith, then a scattering of Jamie O'Neal, keith urban, Brooks & Dunn, etc. Toby Keith is a complete anomaly in the quotient, in that in one morning they've been known to play "Should of Been a Cowboy" and "I Wanna Talk About Me," making him the only artist who very nearly gets his entire catalog on-air today (oddly, the MIDDLE usually gets missed - "Dream Walkin'" has been M.I.A. for years).

The only thing clear to me after all this is that "Hot New Country" stations are actually none of those things.  They are a collection of mixed-up folks who jumped on a bandwagon in the hopes of making a quick buck ("Gone Country") and now find themselves on an empty bandwagon with a bunch of "annoying hicks" and that horrible twang they worked so hard to get rid of so country music would be more palatable to them.  The annoying hicks were there all along, with their twang and their biscuits and their down-home homilies and general common sense; and, being long-time fans rather than just followers, they planned on staying there for a good long  time.  Initially welcoming, they now aren't too happy with the newcomers, who have taken over instead of just joined up.  Unfortunately, it seems, the newcomers had the money, and money made the rules.  What they didn't have, and don't have, is the understanding and knowledge of the genre they have tried so hard to twist to fit their ideals.  They were children envying the shiny new toy someone else had - but once they took the toy for their own, they were less than delighted with it, and immediately lost interest in what they had taken, so spent a great deal to try to make it into a completely different toy that they would like.

I was pleased in that, during the recent flap over WSM, that someone had the cojones to ask the question I've been dying to ask - "Why did they buy up all the country music industry if they didn't like country music to begin with?"  I wish someone up there would answer that question.

Kathy Coleman Take Country Back 2002