Riding in on a Storm
Shock, horror! Billboard removes a song from
the country chart because it’s not country. What
host of celebrities from the non country world.
Billy Ray Cyrus tweeted: “I thought, it’s honest,
have been in the hip hop listing and ensured its
early success. Bring on the inevitable outrage and
took them so long you might well ask? The song humble, and has an infectious hook, and a banjo. news coverage and you’ve got a sure-fire hit on
in question is Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road by the What the hell more do ya need?” before offering your hands… And if it says it’s “country” or they
Atlanta rapper and “Trap” artist. Billboard later his services to get himself back in the spotlight, are told that something is “country” then country
issued a statement saying the song “does not oops, we mean collaborate on a “remix”. radio don’t seem to have any qualms about playing
embrace enough elements of today’s country
music to chart in its current version.”
Not to worry, along came Billy Ray Cyrus to the
rescue, and a remix of the song featuring the Achy
Black country singer Jimmie Allen who hit the
top spot with his debut single Best Shot recently
it, let alone question whether it might or might not
actually be country.
said “The song deserves to be on every chart.” Amid the furore and accusations of racism
The internet got itself all worked up about in country music were many people seemingly
Breaky singer made sure it was country enough the alleged racist nature of country music as a unaware of Charley Pride’s 44 chart-toppers, let
for Billboard. The song has fast-tracked itself to the whole as well as about what is and isn’t country. alone the work of many other black country artists.
top spot in its first week and thanks to the ensuing Strangely enough however, it wasn’t suggested Among the most-offended by Lil Nas X’s inclusion
furore as CMP went to press was #2 in the Official that Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, Kelsea on the country chart were many people for whom
UK Chart (pop). Ballerini or a whole host of other current charters an over-riding pop or rock sound on a country
be removed from Billboard’s listing, despite them record is quite acceptable though. Of course Old
rapping, Lil Nas X added a video made up of being as “not country” as Lil Nas X. Billboard said Town Road isn’t country. Neither are the majority
footage from the best-selling console game Red factors that determine which chart a song lives on of the records clogging up the Billboard country
Dead Redemption, a game which looks like a include “musical composition, airplay, and how it’s charts these days, and the main issue to arise
super violent Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western platformed on streaming services. from the Lil Nas X saga is that the country music
Featuring a banjo riff against a drumbeat and
for the 21st century. The song was released before
At the time of writing Old Town Road is number
industry needs to get its house in order and stop
Christmas and went viral with people posting one on the Billboard Hot 100, that’s the overall pulling the wool over the eyes of a public who
videos of them dancing to the track. Gaining (pop) chart and Lil Nas X has signed a record deal seem to have a completely different
momentum, many radio stations took the audio with Sony, proving the old adage that no publicity is idea of what actually makes a
directly from YouTube, such was their desire to bad publicity. country record a country record.
play it. The song started to make inroads on the
Maybe this highlights the problem of country
Regardless of race, or nationality,
Billboard Country Chart but it was once it was radio more than anything else. Lil Nas X effectively anyone can make a country
“removed” that things really got going for Old Town just played the system in getting his track on the record. That’s not the problem.
Road. Amid claims that it was removed because country charts. Uploading it to streaming and Nashville seems to think it can sell
the artist is black there were cries of country music downloading sites where he was able to list it as us something else and convince
being inherently racist from all quarters, including a “country” it was noticed much more than it would us all it is country.
MAY 2019 - cmp 5