Scott Coner: 'I Have Always Thought of Country Music as a Self-Cleaning Oven'

By Scott Coner
Country Artist

         When I was a kid, I remember a lot of people complained about the condition of country music. Some people, my mom included, thought some artists seemed to emphasize a honky-tonk, alcoholic, divorce-fused landscape called country music.

         Country music was simpler back then, and so was the world. The early 1970s country music market was primarily driven by AM radio, 8-track tapes, and "Hee-Haw". I remember riding with my dad to Kentucky in our new black, Ford LTD listening to Tom T. Hall sing about old dogs and children on an 8-track tape. I remember hearing Tammy Wynette sing about D-I-V-O-R-C-E. I remember Barbi Benton on "Hee-Haw", and I think maybe she sang, but I'm not sure. I was kind of taken back by her attributes. (I was a true fan.)

         The whole Outlaw movement had come to life by this time, but there was more to it than that. By then, I was into Firefall, CDB, Marshall Tucker, Skynyrd, Hank Jr., and so many others. Music was special back then because the artists all had their own sound. That sound was special then and still is today, but that was my world. My very simple, little, small-town world. Things change.

         These days, I hear a lot of people putting down today's country music. I can't say that I love everything on the radio, but I certainly don't hate it. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don't like Eric Church's "Wrecking Ball", then you must be a little bit stupid. Music changes with the times, and it always has. I'm a little bit older now, and maybe the whole bro-country thing doesn't apply to me, but sometimes when nobody is looking, I like to sing along with Nelly: "Baby you a song, you make me want to roll my windows down and cruise."

         I guess what I'm trying to say is that if there is a real problem in country music, it's just that we don't have enough radio formats to meet all of our musical pallets. So many of the older country music legends that I have heard complaining about today's radio format during interviews used to dominate the airwaves, and they weren't complaining then. 

         Country music will, and is, beginning to change. I have always thought of country music as a self-cleaning oven. It just kind of shifts back and forth in its own rhythm. The truth is, there is no problem here. Country music is still the king where I live and always will be.

(To learn more about country artist Scott Coner, visit www.ScottConer.com. You can like his Facebook page at ScottConerMusic and follow him on Twitter @ScottConer.)