How did I end up in this country/bluegrass industry? Is it me or is it them? They're an odd bunch.
I really must be patient with this community of music fans. They don't aspire to be anything more than they are...even though they criticize and despair over their smallness. Country music will always be a marginal music, loved passionately by a few and tolerated by most. Some of it mediocre, most of it forgettable. Bluegrass music is even smaller and more insecure and I'm sorry to say, even more forgettable.
This was all brought on by two events. This is the weekend of the local bluegrass festival in Tottenham Ontario. It's billed as three days of bluegrass bliss. I've been playing this music for most of my life. I listen to some of it every day, though I would dread the notion of spending three days and evenings listening to the bands they've hired for this event. I can't take the brand of bluegrass played at most Canadian bluegrass events. Most of the local variety is performed poorly with little or no regard for the entertainment value. Showmanship? Not likely. They play for themselves and for their like minded friends. No need to be witty or funny or amusing. Much of the music is simply un-listenable. They take three chord repertoires to new levels of banality, one song sounding much like the next.
Bands are often popular because they're friends with the promoters and the select group of people who attend these events, not because they're any good. That's a sad state of affairs but it's always been that way, at least in Ontario. Variety and innovation is discouraged. In fact, it's scorned and derided by these fans. I've seen a more openness in the U.S. festivals I've attended and so the quality of music is much higher and the variety and size of the crowds are much more pronounced.
Canadian country music is not quite as small but it is certainly limited in it's appeal. The national country music newspaper is Country Music News out of Ottawa. it's been around for over 30 years and I've read every issue (takes mere minutes). Here's the second incident that inspired this rant. Bob Dylan has a new recording, "Together Through Life" and the review in this publication is short and succinct.: "Icon...schmicon. I still don't get it!!" Yet, he devotes pages of information about a young country artist no one has ever, or will ever hear about, Codie Prevost. You'll be pleased to know his favourite movie is Dumb and Dumber and more pleased to know his favourite colour is blue.
No wonder there's no country radio station in the largest market in Canada.
