Classic country

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)
This article or section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup.
Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (April 2008)

Classic Country is a radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.

This genre generally follows one of two formats:

Contents

[edit] History

The format resulted largely from mainstream country radio's now common practice of excluding older "classic" country artists from their playlists (despite the fact that many of these artists -- Haggard, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris -- were still actively performing and releasing new recordings). When mainstream country radio began this practice in the mid-1990s, a large segment of older country fans felt alienated and turned away from mainstream country. [1]


[edit] Dividing line

With a few exceptions, the classic country genre has struggled as a radio format (unlike mainstream country stations). While it has a fiercely loyal audience, classic country stations often struggle to find advertisers. While advertisers are primarily interested in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic age group, classic country usually attracts an older audience. For perhaps that reason, country music fans are often (stereotypically) divided into two camps:

  • The younger country music fan, especially if he or she is younger than 30 years old. Many of them have no interest in music from such artists as Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams; sometimes, they are former rock and pop music fans.
  • The classic country fan, frequently over the age of 55, who -- with a few exceptions -- often dislikes country music produced after 1990, around the time Garth Brooks rose to fame. A frequent criticism is that much post-1990 country music is inferior to that of classic country artists and that the newer music is little more than repackaged pop and rock music, particularly the music of artists such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill.

Both stereotypes are often unfair and inaccurate. Many younger people have purchased music from and are self-proclaimed fans of classic country artists such as Johnny Cash and Hank Williams (and many younger fans are quick to acknowledge the influence these classic country artists had on many of the newer artists they listen to). Many older listeners to country music do indeed enjoy newer music from artists like Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson as well as the classics. ABC Radio's satellite-delivered Real Country radio format is an example of an approach that combines country oldies dating back to the 1960s with select current and recurrent hits.

There are a few artists who cross this dividing line between age groups. Dolly Parton (technicanlly a Classic Country artist, as most of her defining hits occurred in the 1960s and '70s) is one such artist, being popular with the young and old alike (though not with mainstream country radio programmers since the mid-1990s).

[edit] Classic Country stations

[edit] External links

http://swampsbar.com/musicchat/index.php (great music chat and just plain fun! we're just starting up and we need your help to get things going by signing up and talking)

http://gmvnashville.com (Digital music label out of Nashville with signed Classic Country artists such as Terri Hollowell, Dale McBride, Don King and Lori Parker.)