Nancy Warden (nanmward@mars.utm.edu) from 170.143.229.164 at 09/30/99 05:11PM
comment
    I was reading some of the postings on the list and had to respond to the ones about supposedly country artists not sounding country and others who have taken the leap over into pop music. Someone mentioned Shania Twain. Personally I believe many artists, especially Shania, do not embrace a partiuclar style of music and instead foucus on what will sell albums. Unfortunately as times and tastes change, "traditional" country artists like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Hank Williams Jr. got pushed out of the limelight. This occurred because these artists are just that, artists who lived and felt a particular music down in their soul, one they were not willing to alter or commercialize. Oh sure people still listen to them and know who they are but how many of you REALLY listen to them instead of just having encountered a song or two of theirs along the way? Also fans become way to caught up in an artist's sex appeal. Personally I'd rather listen to someone who can move me and play a mean fiddle that look at a sex object prancing around the stage who can't sing worth a durn. A great example of a group who is breaking out of this routine is the Dixie Chicks and I wish them well on their new-found popularity. While they don't look country, these "Chicks" have a definite country sound and it's about time! Not only do their voices have a wonderful twang but they are a girl group who actually play their own instruments; what a novel idea!