2022 CMA Awards Drinking Game

 The CMA Awards are tonight. Enjoy!*

*don't, actually

The Current Poop of Mainstream Country Radio: November 2022

 A poop emoji is negative, a strike thru is positive. Total score below the chart.

The current Poop Rating of the Mediabase Top 20 is (-22) overall which is an 11 point drop (!!) from July (the previous time we did this chart). The best song is Jelly Roll's "Son of a Sinner." (If I had a time machine and went back and told myself about this one in 2015, I'd think future me was on crack.) The worst is Russell Dickerson and Jake Scott's "She Likes It" followed closely by Dustin Lynch's "Party Mode." I thought we were supposedly in the midst of another great credibility scare...

Chart info from Mediabase/Country Aircheck.

Honest Billboard Country Top 20

The Differences Between Boyfriend Country and Bro-Country

Paul Cauthen Speaks His Mind

Top 10 Traits for Getting a Country Record Deal 2022

10. A built in audience of TikTok fans you duped into thinking you were talented

9. A gym membership

8. Generic, character-free male country voice

7. Willingness to be an opening act forever (females)

6. Willingness to be a headliner with your own bus right out of the gate (males)

5. Ability to politely say nothing with many words, when asked about a serious topic in an interview

4. Strong knowledge of hair care techniques, including advanced shampoo and condition, heat protection, volumizer, mousse, and shine serum

3. Have large or new family and only talk about them ever and nothing else

2. Musical inspirations must include at least 3 of the following: 21 Pilots, John Mayer, Lil Wayne, Drake, Ariana Grande, Sugar Ray, Kanye, Keith Urban, Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift (pop era).

1. Be boring as dry dog shit

Honest Billboard Country Top 18

Pop Country Star Crashes Wedding Reception to Sing Latest Hit; Thrown Out

After making his debut appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to perform his single “Backroad Summer Moon,” pop-country singer Dallas Jordan decided to have a little fun after the show. The rising star thought he’d surprise two of his biggest fans.. on their wedding day!

Unfortunately, the couple had no idea who he was and had him violently removed from the reception hall as he attempted to finish the first verse. Dallas’ manager had apparently not communicated with the couple of the plan to record a viral video of the song at their wedding celebration and they were not amused.

“I thought everybody liked three minute, positive, not-very-country, mid-tempo love songs and mine’s been verrrry popular so I thought surely they were fans,” said a distraught and bleeding Jordan. “I asked my manager if he had set it up ahead of time and he just told me ’Don’t worry, it’ll be great! Everybody loves you!’.”

The couple did not love him. “I still don’t know who the hell that is,” said the exasperated groom, Jerry Pickens. “He just busted in here when the DJ was about to play Etta James’ “At Last” for our first dance, and he started warbling his goofy pop song. As soon as he hit the words ‘truck’ and ‘baby’ I went into action.” Pickens himself grabbed Jordan by his collar and slung him off the makeshift stage at the Pelham Bay reception venue.

Said the bride, Tara, “Our whole playlist after Etta was outlaw country, soul music, and red dirt, so I don’t think his management did its research.”

Jordan described his exit from the function as “impolite, harsh, and definitely not pushin’ P,” whatever that means. The singer was unceremoniously dragged into the parking lot by the groomsmen, doused with champagne and thrown into a dumpster.

“Get that pop country bullshit outta here,” yelled Jerry toward the dumpster as the limo pulled away for the couple’s honeymoon.

At press time, Dallas Jordan was scheduled to embark upon his first headlining tour despite 99.734% of the nation having never heard of him.

Bearded Poser Can’t Decide Whether to Move to Nashville or Austin

Bearded poser Louis Reynolds has a decision to make. The burgeoning Americana and/or folk and/or pop-country songwriter is weighing the positives and negatives of cities to move to and genres to shoehorn himself into. 

While skilled at writing in none of his options, Reynolds possesses a slightly above average voice and, most importantly, a spectacular beard. The 6’2” former college badminton star, after finding no path to pursuing the sport professionally, picked up an acoustic guitar and learned Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” and was smitten. 

Bankrolled by his parents’ eight figure net worth, Reynolds began formulating his plan to become an artist a star in whatever style of music would have him. 

“I’ll only have to adapt my look to fit in, err, I mean look the part of either a country singer or an Americana singer. You know, either go sleek and stylish with the beard, or look like I just came down out of the mountains with half an elk on my back.” laughed Reynolds. “Pretty much the same for my fashion choices.” 

When asked if he was studying the different styles of music to see where his writing style most organically fit, Reynolds answered “Let’s see. Would I rather rub elbows with Jordan Davis and Sam Hunt, or Cody Jinks and Tyler Childers? Makes you think, y’know.”

“Oh yeah, writing,” he continued. “Either write about trucks used for fun or trucks used for work; no big deal. And the women are either wearing shorts and have their feet on the dash or are sad and working in a Tulsa cafe. It’s pretty simple stuff.” 

At press time, Louis Reynolds was trying on stupid hats and checking horribly overpriced apartment listings in trendy parts of Austin and Nashville.

Harold and Kumar Country Reaction Gifs

*lots of drugs and bad words*

Guys, why are you binging Spade Cooley YouTube documentaries and mainlining Little Debbies at 4 am?

You're over 40 and went to a 3 day bluegrass festival?

When the house music at the Taco Barn is mainstream country

Every time I look at the country charts and see names like Matt Stell and Jordan Davis

When the patient says they got hurt at a Luke Bryan concert

When you get back from the Levitate Festival seeing Billy Strings

How you digging that new Flatland Cavalry album?

More Monday Memes: Alan Jackson, Vern Gosdin

Ted Lasso Country Reaction Gifs

 When one bad pop-country artist has a hit with the least country song ever, the next bad pop-country artist is like...

Oh, did I get Russell Swindell mixed up with Jordan Rice?

Some people think Sam Hunt is country and...

(they're all wrong)

Wanna hear a song from a guy who a major paper describes as the next emo-rap country star?

Me after getting in a Twitter spat with Blake Shelton

When the car beside you is blasting Kane Brown

When some Aaron Lee Tasjan comes on

When Shooter Jennings sees his manager for the first time in a while

Boyfriend Country Bingo

Mainstream Country Singer Name Generator

Are you an aspiring country artist with your eyes on mainstream Nashville success? Are you a label who needs to give a more trendy moniker to your tall, handsome, white, male pop country warbler? Do you just want to click the button and see stereotypical bro names that might give you a grin? Whichever reason brings you here, here you go! (Click the link, this stupid generator site still won’t embed)

 |

 |

 v

http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=26010

The Differences Between Mainstream Country Albums and Americana Albums

How Stupid Are You?

Multiple Arrests at Mainstream Country Festival, Despite it Being Online

At the “Down Home Together” festival this past weekend, it was almost as if things were no different than usual. The mainstream country music streaming show included the likes of Luke Bryan, Kelsea Ballerini, Upchurch, and Jordan Davis playing songs from their living room and was set to raise funds for several COVID related charities, but many fans behaved as if the festival was in a farm pasture. 43 arrests were reported across the 3 1/2 hour show, despite it being online.

25 of the arrests were for online threats of violence as fans got into arguments in the comments over such subjects as COVID-19, masks, beer, Donald Trump, and murder hornets. One man even threatened to fire a rocket launcher into the home of another fan who thought Ozark wasn’t as good this season. Authorities found said man in possession of a rocket launcher and illegal prescription drugs. 

10 more arrests were for actual violence, when online arguments led to actual fights for feuding fans who lived near one another. “I just commented that maybe we shouldn’t be talking about whether Kelsea had “nice t****ies” or not in the comments because it seemed pretty sexist to me, and some Bubba guy from Smyrna drove to my house with a baseball bat.” said Dunwoody, GA music fan Gerald Hopkins. Bubba Carlisle was charged with threats, possession of a controlled substance, and expired tags when police arrested him in Hopkins’ driveway.

Other charges during the festival included attempts to sell meth, dissemination of pornographic content in a public forum, and somehow, a couple of DUIs and drunk and disorderlies. The chaos of the Down Home Together festival has promoters wondering whether or not to rush back to in-person concerts once the pandemic has eased. 

Luke Bryan had no comment at press time, as he was “waxing,” according to his management.

A Senseless Meme

3 Up 3 Down: Chase Rice, Ingrid Andress, Midland, etc.

3 Up

Carly Pearce & Lee Brice “Hope You’re Happy Now”

No snap beats, no slang, real instruments. Lee and Carly’s hit is a pop-country duet full of heartache and harmonies. Their voices sound great together. It’s one of those sad songs that makes you feel good. Well done. 

B+

Midland “Cheatin’ Songs”

We’re over their back story now - you either like their music or don’t. I do. This is a slice of 70s Bellamy Bros-esque goodness with steel guitar and modern slickness. The low key harmonies create just the right mood and there’s even a little self-awareness mixed into the lyrics. Midland is consistently one of the best mainstream artists out there and “Cheatin’ Songs” is another gem.

A

Ingrid Andress “More Hearts Than Mine”

Ain’t a whole lot country about this, but it’s a well-written and gets a lot more personal than most radio fare, bringing a fairly unique angle to relationship tunes. Andress’ delivery occasional veers toward that indie-pop style I hate so much, but never quite goes there and her conversational tone works well for the subject matter. Glad to see this song hit the top 10.

B+

3 Down

Jordan Davis “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot”

Standard issue dude pop-country, typical mid-tempo blah-ness, electronically affected vocals. This is pure boyfriend country. At least bro-country was loud and proud with its crappiness. This is dull and forgettable just like Jordan Davis would be without the beard.

D

Locash “One Big Country Song”

At least it doesn’t have snap beats? That’s a positive I suppose. Locash doesn’t sound particularly inspired …ever… but particularly on this anthem about the shared experiences and values of country fans. “Everybody knows the words to ‘Mama Tried’” is an actual lyric of this song and I guarantee you that 80%+ of Locash fans do not in fact know those words. Honestly, there are several songs much worse than this in the top 40 right now - I was just trying to avoid the usual suspects - but this is nothing you haven’t heard before.

C-

Chase Rice “Lonely if You Are”

Snap beats, typical bouncy R&B lite delivery. This is pretty much a Sam Hunt rip-off without Sam’s lyrical ability and likability (and I don’t care for any Sam Hunt songs, so that’s pretty rough). It’s a booty call song that somehow comes off both sleazy and sleepy. There are a few early Chase Rice songs that show some promise, before he was asking fine ass girls to slide on over or whatever, so one would hope he’d eventually dig a little deeper in his subject matter, but nah. Once a bro, always a bro.

F

Top 10 Ways to Identify a Boyfriend Country Song

10. Singer is non-threatening looking and wearing a $200 ill-fitting t-shirt

9. You can only tell that it’s country because it’s on a country radio station or playlist

8. Singer uses every possible method to avoid saying the word “truck” while singing about said truck

7. “Featuring Lauren Alaina”

6. No real drums - data shows that drums are for boomers

5. Singer is either very handsome or his lack of traditional handsomeness is cloaked by painstakingly manicured facial hair

4. Any steel guitar or fiddle must be used as sparingly as the singer uses contemplation

3. Southern drawl may only rise to the level of “charming Bachelorette suitor”

2. Object of affection must be “beautiful inside and out” and “love her mama” and …that’s about it

1. Shallow song ‘about’ woman takes place of 4 other deep songs ‘by’ women on the chart

Bonus: Singer clearly told the hairdresser "Make it look stupid"