Overview
By the 1990s, country music had become the most popular and bestselling genre of music in the United States. In this lesson, we will consider how and why country music rose to commercial dominance in the late 1980s and 1990s. The so-called “new country” music of the 1980s was actually in many ways a revival of older, traditional styles of country music. By the 1980s, a number of the top country stars such as Dolly Parton had become increasingly pop-oriented in their sounds and musical styles. The 1980s saw a return to the earlier days of country music, including the fashion, instrumentation, and lyric themes.
Objectives
- Recall how and why George Strait and Reba McEntire were important figures in the “new” country of the 1980s
- Recall the significance of Garth Brooks’s musical style and lyric message and how he was similar to and different from other country artists
- Examine the careers of other popular country artists from the 1990s, including LeAnn Rimes and Shania Twain
New Country, Old Country continued
Another prominent musician in the revival of traditional country music was George Strait. Strait signed with MCA Records in 1981, and he released his debut album, Strait Country. The album's title played on his name and the fact that his music was "straight country," that is, traditional country music. The majority of the songs on Strait Country were written by Dean Dillon and Frank Dycus, and the instrumentation included traditional country music instruments such as pedal steel guitar and fiddle. The album's debut single, "Unwound ♫," addressed a theme familiar to traditional country music: a man drinking too much because he is having problems in his romantic relationship. Strait's second album, 1982's Strait from the Heart, sold over a million copies and established him as a dominant voice in the revival of country music. The single "Amarillo by Morning ♫" was first recorded in 1973 by Terry Stafford, but Strait's cover was far more famous than the original or any other cover.
Strait not only helped revive the sounds of earlier country music, but he also contributed to the resurgence of the fashion sported by early country stars. Country singer Travis Tritt once quipped that Strait was responsible for the resurgence of so-called "hat acts," that is, country musicians who wore cowboy hats and boots. Strait is cited as an important influence by most artists who began their careers in the 1980s and later.
"I can take the steel guitars and fiddles off, we can make it a little more pop, cover ideas that are a little less cowboy. But you got to look at yourself in the mirror and ask, whose flag you are under? For Garth Brooks, I'm steel, fiddles, red, white and blue."
