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Some Things I Think
December 8, 2016
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I think I’m not the only one who struggled mightily when trying to narrow a year’s worth of great songs to just five Hot Picks for the year. Almost everybody who submitted theirs shared stories of deeply internal, personal conflicts, with a few of you re-submitting completely different lists more than once. And I think I know part of the reason, based on the results, and our tally of all the top selections.
In reality, we all had to narrow it down to three songs.
Wait, three? Yep. Because Thomas Rhett’s “Die A Happy Man” and Tim McGraw’s “Humble And Kind” were basically no-brainer, gimmies for everybody. And, it’s only fitting that the CMA Single (“Die A Happy Man”) and Song of the Year (“Humble And Kind”) winners would dominate the list with the most combined mentions.
On a larger scale, I think everything about those two songs in particular sent a powerful reminder: this year the core values Country music has long been famous for remained intact, perhaps even returned. In 2016, we emerged from a period of largely party-central music, with fun, up-tempo, escapism messaging. Somebody outside the format branded it “Bro-Country,” and it attracted a new, young, and diverse audience with perhaps bigger-than-ever mass appeal success. With that came the ultimate backlash – again, mainly from outside the format. Where were the ballads, the deep, meaningful lyrics; where were songs about God, family, and doing the right thing? Where were traditional sounds? What happened to the songwriting craft for which Nashville is so famous?
All are still here, thank you very much.
I think with Thomas Rhett’s “Die A Happy Man,” we got a beautiful, tender, loving ballad about lifelong devotion, co-written and performed by our one of the fastest rising stars in our format. And – even better – written about his wife Lauren, whom he’s known since they were both children, with a companion video featuring her. If that doesn’t scream much-needed family values right now, I don’t know what does. It also demonstrates that the organic tradition of baton-passing in Country music continues. It’s been happening forever; young stars emerging, giving us important, meaningful music right on time, as they assume leadership from established stars.
There were more than a few people who, when submitting their Top five for 2016, jokingly – or not – listed “Die A Happy Man” as numbers 1-5, before adding something like, “Okay, I guess I need to change it up for you, here are four others.” That’s how impactful and humongous this song is. In addition to its CMA award mentioned above, it was the ACM Song of the Year, a BMI Song of the Year winner, and this week, Grammy-nominated in the Best Country Song category. I’ve documented the concern among programmers in the last three years or so that many songs race up and down the charts too fast, peaking at #1 before there is true familiarity among listeners. The result is potentially disposable music, with no accumulation of credible, real, gold titles for down the road – something else that has traditionally been important for Country radio.
Well, that’s clearly not the case with “Die A Happy Man.” This one’s a keeper. A huge-testing, no fatigue monster. A song for the ages that will be – should be – played for years to come on Country radio. And, for Thomas Rhett, it was – at the time – an unusually fast moving song. Released in late September of 2015, it first topped the Mediabase Country singles chart just 16 weeks later, on January 4th, 2016, remaining there for three weeks. Rhett’s fifth career #1, it was his fastest-ever. In fact, three of his previous four #1s were grind-it-out type records, with his first career #1, 2013’s “It Goes Like This,” needing 25 weeks to peak. It then took 25 and 29 weeks respectively for “Get Me Some Of That” and “Make Me Wanna” to hit #1 before Rhett turned the corner into a fast riser. “Crash And Burn” needed only (for him) 20 weeks to hit #1. That song was the first single off the “Tangled Up” album and completely radio friendly – like musical crack, actually. It gave “Die A Happy Man” terrific momentum, because programmers already had the album, they knew the song was an all-out smash, and they were ready to pounce the moment it was the next single. It was easily the most-added song on September 28th, 2015, then achieved the rare feat: staying at #1 on the Mediabase Country singles chart longer than one week – three consecutive weeks (January 4th, 11th and 18th), actually.
Rhett’s follow-up to “Die A Happy Man” was the sonically and lyrically polar opposite “T-Shirt,” which cruised to #1 in 16 weeks, topping the charts on June 4th of this year. He followed with “Vacation” – well timed for summer, though not well-loved by most of radio. But Rhett is quickly back on track now with “Star of The Show,” currently perched at #11 on the most recent Mediabase Country singles chart after just nine weeks, and on a rapid ascent toward an on-schedule #1 arrival soon after the new year.
I think with Tim McGraw’s “Humble And Kind” we heard a true, one-two punch of a single that epitomizes the power of teaming a unique and gifted songwriter – Lori McKenna – and a longtime superstar with a track record of finding and delivering career songs. In November, McKenna took home the CMA Song of the Year trophy for “Humble And Kind” – her second consecutive such honor, following 2015’s award for “Girl Crush.” McGraw was the perfect delivery vehicle for the song McKenna wrote for her kids as a list of things she wanted them to remember and live by. He perfectly understood its meaning, and the moment, based on his experience with ginormous message songs, dating back to his 1994 breakthrough, “Don’t Take the Girl.” McGraw continued finding emotionally packed songs with “It’s Your Love,” “Live like You Were Dying,” and “If You’re Reading This,” just to name a few. I mean, McGraw has had so many “career songs,” it’s hard to pick just one. Almost as hard as picking only five great songs for 2016.
The message and the tone for “Humble And Kind” were in experienced and capable hands with McGraw, never more evident than when he performed it live on last month’s CMA awards telecast. It’s a tune filled with simple life lessons that obviously resonated with radio and its fans. It’s one thing to have a huge radio hit, but quite extraordinary when a song motivates radio to dream up things like “Humble And Kind Week,” as WIL/St.Louis morning teamers “Bud And Broadway” and others did, with listeners calling in to share their own acts of kindness inspired by the song. When music grows beyond mere earworm status and changes people’s behavior, that’s a demonstration of its always powerful potential – something Country music has historically provided and thankfully, still does.
I think the mantra I heard from programmers for most of 2016 was “too many ballads,” and the most-picked Top five songs definitely reflect a lack of tempo for the year – but the result was what I mentioned earlier: a return to great songs, driven by lyrics, not sonics; songs with strong, thoughtful messaging. In addition to McGraw and Rhett’s huge singles, Florida Georgia Line’s power ballad “H.O.L.Y.” appears, as does Eric Church’s mid-tempo “Record Year.”
I’m mentioning Maren Morris last here, but certainly not least. Along with “Humble And Kind,” her debut single, “My Church” was the most-picked song of all Top Five picks this year. To say the last 30 or so days have been pivotal – no, meteoric – for her young career would be an understatement. She had a breakout performance of “My Church” on national TV at last month’s CMA awards – one that I think completely outshined the over-hyped, trying-too-hard Beyoncé and the Dixie Chicks pairing. She won the CMA’s New Artist of the Year trophy that night, too, then wrapped up her tour-opening slot with Keith Urban’s “RipCord World Tour” a week later. Last week, Maren was named to the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) New Faces of Country Music show, set for CRS 2017 in February. This week (12/6), Morris nabbed four Grammy nominations – the most of any Country artist – including a General Category nomination for New Artist of the Year, where she’ll compete in-format with Kelsea Ballerini and out of format with The Chainsmokers, Chance The Rapper, and Anderson .Paak. Oh, and one more – spoiler alert – next week, Morris will be included in my year-end Top Five albums of 2016 list, in this space. But hey, you knew that, as I declared her Columbia debut “Hero” the best album of 2016 back in June upon its release. Guess what? Nuthin’s changed since then.
So, here are the Top Five picks of 2016, based on all of your input; we will be listing everybody’s individual picks on AllAccess.com beginning next week. Oh, but wait a minute, you say? There are six of them here? True. Church, FGL, and Jon Pardi all tied for the same amount of mentions, so we felt obligated to list all of them.
Maren Morris – My Church (Columbia Nashville)
Tim McGraw – Humble And Kind (Big Machine Records)
Thomas Rhett – Die A Happy Man (Valory Music Co.)
Eric Church – Record Year (EMI Nashville)
Florida Georgia Line – H.O.L.Y. (BMLG Records {formerly Republic Nashville})
Jon Pardi – Head Over Boots (Capitol Nashville)
I should add a quick note about Pardi, which goes back to my original point about this list reflecting a return to Country music’s basics, some of which have been in question in recent years. Lately, I’ve detected a small but noticeable acceptance and enthusiasm for traditional Country music among PDs. I think Pardi has the opportunity to drive that interest even higher. There’s an unpasteurized quality to his music – think Bakersfield sound – yet it is true to Country’s roots. It’s not perfect or polished, but a bit rough around the edges. Country music could use a little less polish and a tad more raw to make it truly refreshing moving forward. At least, that’s what I think.
Next week: The top five Country albums of 2016 – according to me, Monta Vaden, and Briana Galluccio.
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