Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
Country music has some strange things going on these days. On one end you have the more traditional sounding hitmaker Lainey Wilson (check out my take on her video for “4x4xU”) but at the very same time, there’s the TikTok propelled “Bar Song” by Shaboozy and the country song nobody was really asking for in 2024, “Overdrive” by Thomas Rhett (a breakdown of its blandness here). Then there’s Zach Bryan splitting credits with John Mayer on a song called “Better Days.” It’s a new wild, wild west in C&W music and yes, I called it country & western because some of these singers are putting the western back in country, and I like it! But just like many entertainers who get the opportunity to sing a beloved song, Ingrid Andress (I wrote up a post about her song “More Hearts Than Mine” awhile back) stepped up to the mic to perform the National Anthem recently.
People aren’t holding back in their comments, either. Although, as one who’s graced the stage of a local restaurant for an energized performance of Dolly’s “9 to 5,” nerves can get the best of the best. Also, I sucked and there was nothing energizing about my Dolly performance. But I didn’t let fear keep me in my seat. Neither did Ingrid and her stage was much bigger than mine! The negative comments are peppered with some positive, but few and far between are those.
I recently wrote about a few American entertainers that have gained international fame (check out that post here) and of course Taylor Swift was included. It reminded of that time she sang the Star-Spangled Banner before a Miami Dolphins football game way back in 2006. She was just a 16- or 17-year-old and, oh yeah, she was country! Remember the adorbable C&W version of Taylor Swift? If you can endure the shots of Nick Saban 🤮, watch the clip below…
Nick Saban made it clear he was not leaving the Dolphins– “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach”– and then, of course, he quit coaching the Dolphins and went to Alabama. What a doofus. Can you tell I’m still bitter and I despise Nick Saban? “He told us a couple weeks ago that he’s proud to be a Dolphin and he’s going to be sticking around,” Dolphins quarterback at the time, Joey Harrington said. “So I take him at his word.”
Ingrid’s performance, while a little hard to bear, could’ve been worse. They could’ve cut to shots of Nick Saban. So let’s just be glad it is what it is, am I right?
I’m starting this post out with a mention of Morgan Wallen but if you don’t like him or don’t know who he is, hang tight, I’m just using him as an example of a more general idea about music. Earlier this month, Morgan set the record for the biggest country music concert in the UK with a crowd of 50,000. Granted, he’s just as popular in the U.S. even if he’s throwing chairs or using taboo words. People like his music and I’m guessing they don’t hate his bad-boy persona either. But that’s not the point. The headline about his record-setting concert in London reminded me of another artist I was researching last week. There’s a song called “Austin” (not the one by Blake Shelton) and a few months ago it blew up worldwide, mostly thanks to TikTok, I guess. It’s from country newbie Dasha. She’s had quite a few singles before “Austin” but none that charted. Then boom, she goes #1 in two countries and top 10 in a dozen or more. Who knows if her latest single “Didn’t I” will catch on the same way, although I haven’t heard that lightning striking twice is very common.
Musical artists becoming popular around the world isn’t a new thing but I remember when I first learned about such a phenomenon. I was a naive 20-something-year-old wandering the streets of Vietnam. During this trip I heard all kinds of music and some of it was from artists back in the U.S. There were songs I’d never heard before and one that I had (why were Vietnamese so obsessed with “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, I’ll never know!). This was my introduction to the band called Boney M. They were a German group who had many hits worldwide but barely had a blip in the United States. I guess this was when it dawned on me that there, in fact, is music outside the U.S…. So naive was I. We were riding in a Vietnamese taxi and the driver was playing a CD (it was 2006, y’all, CDs were still a thing!). I loved the song I was hearing so I asked if I could see the disc to find out the name of the band. The song was “Rasputin” and thus began my appreciation for Boney M.
But getting back to the point of this post… it fascinates me that an artist who may or may not be popular in the U.S. can be huge in other countries. I mean, the Germans love David Hasselhoff, right? American’s remember him as a lifeguard or the driver of K.I.T.T. but he’s a singer, too. I recently learned more about another legendary artist who was big in other countries. Roy Orbison. Of course, the Big O is very well known even in 2024 in the United States, but with such a long career there were ebs and flows in his popularity and relevancy. The book I was reading went through lots of details of his musical journey and pointed out that a particular song not super well-received in the U.S. might be a #1 hit in another country. This actually happened quite a bit for Roy and it was the reason he toured overseas a lot. So how can the same song float around the middle or bottom of U.S. charts but then blow up in somewhere like Ireland? It’s fascinating.
Of course, there are artists who transcend time and geography… Elvis, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Madonna, and the list goes on. Artists like these have #1 hits in many countries. That doesn’t fascinate me, though, as much as an artist from the States who has a small tour here but has international fame overseas. It’s a cool thing.
During my trip to Vietnam, I also realized how small my mind was. It never once dawned on me that other countries have popular artists in their own right. Up to that point, I just thought whoever was popular in the U.S. was who people in other countries liked, too. What a goofball. I love that this trip opened up my mind to other countries and cultures… even if it meant I had to eat weird things, too.
After the Twin Towers fell in New York City, country icon Alan Jackson released a song that encapsulated so much of the feelings and reactions of middle America. As I remember that song, my brain doesn’t really separate it from the day of terror, as if they happened on back to back days. But it was nearly 2 months after 9/11 that Alan performed the song on stage for America for the first time. There have been plenty of tragedies, national events, heartbreaking moments, since 2001 and another one happened yesterday. At a Donald Trump rally, shots rang out and the former President dove to the ground after a bullet grazed his right ear. Of course the event then flooded everyone’s newsfeeds, TV stations, and radio airwaves. What might take weeks or months to compose for any normal person, Tom MacDonald wrote a song, made the beats, and shot a music video in less than a day. I’m surprised to hear a song so quickly but I’m not surprised at all that it comes from Tom MacDonald.
If there’s ever a song where Tom’s talent and bare-facts insight bursts through, it’s this one. Check it out the poignant message in “You Missed”…
Posts like the one below from mainstream media are why people are seeking news from other sources. You might read this and think it’s some sort of lame joke or satire. But no, the inept goofballs over at MSNBC haven’t taken it down yet.
How can you write, “This may have been a serious attempt…” and not then crawl under your desk, curl up in fetal position, and rethink all of your life choices? I can’t roll my eyes in big enough circles to underline how much I’m embarrassed on behalf of MSNBC. Then you’ve got other news anchors blaming Trump for what happened. I guess the swamp is bigger than anyone ever knew but it’s time for it to be drained once and for all.
I’m thankful yesterday was not so much worse. Had it been, I wonder if America would ever be able to come back from it. But as it is now, maybe what happened can serve as a warning signal that things need to change and Donald Trump being elected President in 2024 is more necessary than I ever thought before.
Country music has such a wide range of styles right now and making her mark in the line-dance-friendly, percussive-heavy category is a young woman named Dasha. She has a string of singles but the first one to take off (thanks to TikTok) was “Austin.” Parlaying her success with that track, she’s got another one that’ll scoot your boots. Boogie down with the new “Didn’t I” video then scroll down for more…
A bunch of talented dancers helped bring the video to life but who is the main love interest starring opposite Dasha? Donning the southern-style wardrobe is accomplished dancer Kyle Ponte. The professional model and dancer has been linked to projects with Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and recently performed on stage as newcomer Benson Boone delighted fans with his big hit “Beautiful Things.”
On Instagram, Kyle Ponte graciously commented on a post from Dasha when this video first came out (see below). You can follow both of them if you watermelon crawl your way over to Instagram: @kystephenn and @DashaMusic.
I love the clips of the young lovebirds riding through the carwash in the back of the pick-up truck. You’d think someone would’ve thought of that by now for a music video but I can’t recall ever seeing it before. Of course, the reality is that those big rubber brushes would’ve knocked them out cold Wipeout-style and yes, I was secretly hoping for that. Cooler heads prevailed, though, because I guess no one wanted a trip to the hospital or you know, to get sued or anything. However tame, those scenes are a good addition to the video. Check out the entire thing then scroll down for more info and thoughts about the new video from Thomas Rhett for his song “Overdrive”…
The video stars Thomas Rhett’s younger brother Tyler Lankford and I appreciate the non-actor vibe throughout the video. A few of the clips really stand out as genuine moments between two normal people instead of a contrived script performed by actors. I especially noticed this when the couple was interacting in the back of the truck. Kudos for using people are aren’t already seasoned actors. The humanness really comes through.
Decades Late. I guess I can get over the fact that Thomas Rhett is 34-year-old singing about a high school Friday night because I’ll assume his upcoming album will have more age-appropriate songs on it, as well. Nothing wrong with a little nostalgia now and then even if high school was half a lifetime ago. The mention of Bacardi is unoriginal… a lot of country music tends to namedrop alcohol brands (Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Coors, etc) and Bacardi pops up in basically all genres of music. Except maybe Christian music? Hey, it’s hard to make “Going to Heaven I won’t be tardy, even if I don’t finish my Bacardi” sound church-friendly.
4x4s. The video also skids into one of my biggest pet peeves in music. Namedropping a truck (Ford, Chevy, etc) but showing something different in the video. In this song, Thomas sings about a 2004 Ford “F-One Five Oh,” but he’s not driving a ’04 Ford F-150. In fact, he’s not driving an F-150 at all. In the video, it’s a 1975 Ford F-100 (although the F-150 did make its debut in 1975). Because he at least used a Ford truck, I’m giving Thomas a pass on this but with a double side-eye. There’s another Ford from the 70s in Lainey Wilson’s new video “4x4xU” and later model Ford in the Lauren Watkins “Gatlinburg” video… so there must be a new Ford dealership in Nashville sponsoring these songs or something.
I don’t want to be too harsh because I admire anyone who can write, perform in front of thousands, all while being a spouse, parent, and just an all around great person. It seems like Thomas Rhett is all of those things. Like I said before, I’m sure his full album will have lots of music appealing to lots of music fans. But a song written by 4 people shouldn’t be as bland as it is. It’s also 10 years too late. It wreaks of 2010s bro-country instrumentation common to mainstream country music in the previous decade. I’ve been reading a book about the life of Roy Orbison. Among all of his hits there are periods where he’d be writing music to fit whatever trend is going on at the time. These were some of his worst songs (if that even can be said!). Maybe a better way to say it is that the songs where Roy wrote music with the paycheck as the endgame were some of his more forgettable offerings. Like a factory making gadgets that are passing fads. This song from Thomas reminds me of that, except that the bro-country or boyfriend-country fad passed years ago. Because of that, the best anyone can hope for is that “Overdrive” is part of the tour setlist this summer/fall and then it gets shuffled over to the dark and dusty room where songs that aren’t every played again are shelved. There’s no way it turns heads on any Billboard charts and honestly, it might only surprise people by how quickly it disappears without being a song that adds to country music’s legacy in any way.
Part of the reason for I rolled my eyes when I listened to it is the pun title. Thomas sings of putting the truck in overdrive but then also includes, “I’m coming overdrive” as in… I’m coming over… combined with overdrive… get it? So clever. 🥴
Lyrical twists in country music titles and lyrics go way, way back (anyone remember the witty Bellamy Brothers song from the late 70s, “If I Said You Have a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me”?) but I think its recent popularity in country music peaked in the early 2010s. One of my favorites was (and is) Eric Church’s “Homeboy.” But just like bro country, people were over it (or should I say overdrive it) after a couple of years of market saturation. In other words, this offering from Thomas is out of place in 2024.
Overall, the video is fun and makes the song come to life. It’s just going to be a short life. However, if anyone is talking about this forgettable song a year from now or even a month from now, I’ll gladly post another blog admitting I deserve a big, fat L for today’s post.
Out of the Wilderness 