![]() “Especially in country, great songs and great stories are just as important as somebody’s vocal ability,” says KUZZ Bakersfield, Calif., PD Brent Michaels.Īnd the cracks in those raspy voices are often the lanes where the songs’ emotions seep through. While the current crop is generally better at pitch accuracy than the earliest country stars, the new class of men also resembles those forebears in that the gravel is earthy and imperfect, which fits country’s mission. By the ’80s and ’90s, the typical male (to borrow a phrase from raspy pop singer Tina Turner) - George Strait, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill or Clint Black - offered smoother phrasing and tone. The defining voices of the ’40s and ’50s - Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb and Webb Pierce - were twangy, usually whiny and often pitch-challenged. This current version of the centrist country male is a definite break from country’s past. “Because of the grit, it makes it feel more testosterone-driven.” “We’ve kind of come out of the quote-unquote ‘boyfriend country’ phase,” says Zeiders’ manager, underscore works founder Charly Salvatore. Solar, Chayce Beckham, ERNEST, Mitchell Tenpenny, Niko Moon, Jackson Dean, Larry Fleet and Ray Fulcher are all building on the existing model, one that has toughened up the genre’s sound after its flirtation with the pop-flavored love songs that were in vogue just a couple of years ago. Zeiders is part of a wave of new rough-edged male singers, bringing additional grit to the format. It’s really stripped-down production that lets you concentrate on the lyrics.”ĭIY In Nashville: How New Business Demands Have Changed Modern Country and Its Artists Its core artists “all have this sound that links them together with a rock’n’roll edge but not too many electric guitars. “Warren Zeiders is another example of somebody who truly inspired the station,” SiriusXM/Pandora head of country talent relations Beville Dunkerley says, crediting former Pandora executive Jen Danielson (who is now at Warner Music Nashville) with creating the playlist. It is stocked with the likes of Stapleton, Aaron Lewis, Cody Jinks and Whiskey Myers. The rise of that sound is predominant enough that Pandora announced a new channel, Country Grit, on April 18. Added to the voices of Brantley Gilbert, Morgan Wallen, Cole Swindell, Blake Shelton, Kip Moore, Chase Rice and Darius Rucker, the current crop of male country stars is more Don Henley than Glenn Frey, fashioned with a working-class sonic edge. The grainy sound of Luke Combs, the wild rasp of Chris Stapleton, the sandpaper tone of Thomas Rhett or the gravelly delivery of Dierks Bentley - they’re not sideline features of just a handful of country guys. The modern country male voice is made from scratch. ![]()
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