Come Together... Right Now

By Scott Coner

Country Singer-Songwriter

            I think maybe the Nashville machine is about to change its direction in the same way I believe Washington politics is about to change. I hadn’t ever considered it before, but I have noticed that during the last seven years or so, our country has trended towards a more liberal direction in everything from advertising to music, and from rainbow flags to television. It isn’t my job to say whether or not I think this is a good or bad thing, so know that I am not in any way condoning or condemning anything. I am simply pointing out something I thought seemed kind of obvious.

            Our country seems to operate like a pendulum. It swings back and forth. Sometimes, it goes a little farther to the right than normal. Then, it’s liable to swing to the left even farther as it moderates itself out. I think if you could look at our country like a pie, we would probably be split pretty close down the middle at how we look at things.

            Music, as far as I’m concerned, is like a mirror of society. It moves along with what it perceives to be the approach that society is handling itself. A few years back, the big thing around Nashville was Florida-Georgia Line. Those guys were working with some guy named “Nelly”, and to be honest, I didn’t know who he was and still don’t. But I downloaded the song and thought it was pretty cool. Taylor Swift seemed to turn the town on its ear, and the next thing you know she was on the cover of nearly every magazine you saw. There were and still are a handful of other artists and groups just like these, but they all have one commonality. They are not even close to “traditional” country music. As a matter of fact, I don’t see how you can even compare it in the same vein as country. But once again, I am not saying this is a bad thing at all. I think it is a great thing for music to branch out and allow the tree to develop. After all, rock 'n' roll came from the blues, right? And rap came from people that couldn’t sing….

Scott Coner with Tanya Tucker... "Maybe She Lied"

            I remember being in high school when the whole “Urban Cowboy” thing took over. I used to laugh at all of the ridiculous looking hats and boots the men wore. (They thought they looked so cool, it used to kill me.) As the market saturated itself with this greasy moment in time, low and behold, Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis showed up to cleanse our souls with honest-to-God country music and bluegrass. Garth Brooks took the nineties by storm and took music to the left again, but there were artists out there like Reba and Alan Jackson on the other end of the line playing tug-of-war with the market.

            Do you remember how radio responded when those girls from Texas called the “Dixie Chicks” slammed George Bush? I believe the pendulum was to the right at the time, and so was their music. In the end, maybe Natalie should have just sung about the wide-open spaces. Oddly enough, as I sit in this Waffle House writing this blog, there are four older gentlemen slamming the current president like it’s their job. Different place and a different time I suppose.

            It is true that as a country we are about to veer way to the right after seven years of liberal agendas. I believe that as we run like rats on a sinking ship towards something less confusing than big government, we will begin to see traditional country music show her pretty face once again. I don’t think most of us want to give up our gun rights. I still think a lot of us want a Christian center. And I know for a fact that we need a little more country and a lot less rap, a lot more wholesomeness and a lot less crap. See there? I just started a country song….

            Before I go, I just wanted you to know that I am not trying to change your way of thinking. I have no agenda to push. This is just what I see from where I stand. I think that we all come together every now and again on certain things that are important, but I also think it is good and healthy for us as a country to bring all of the ideas and put them on the table. I love to read about trends in our culture through the years, and we are trending like a dog with a bad limp right now. I have said it before, so let me say again that country music is like a self-cleaning oven. It gets a little bit grimy, but when you wake up in the morning, it will be clean again. Just like our country. Well, I need to sign off now. I’m gonna go buy a gun and a cowboy hat.  

         Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at www.Facebook.com/ScottConerMusic, www.YouTube.com/user/ScottConer, and www.ScottConer.com. Follow Scott at www.Twitter.com/ScottConer.