Crossing Over

Before radio formats were invented every song on the radio was a crossover. Long before country music emerged as a full time "format," country music and its artists were charting and thus 'crossing over.'

Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On" was in the Billboard "Top 40" chart in the top ten for 44 weeks and held onto the #1 slot for 21 weeks in 1950.

Historically, when country music gets airplay on other formats (thank you, Taylor, Lady Antebellum and all of the others who count themselves among the hundreds of country acts who have achieved crossover success over the history of recorded music) that improves our image and bodes well for the overall growth of the genre and country radio's format ratings/rank.

When country radio starts looking outside its traditional boundaries for new music from other formats, is that a sign of desperate times or just another turn of the wheel of pop culture?

For example, Train, just back from a tour of Australia and Asia, has watched their hit from last year "Hey Soul Sister," move from AAA to Top 40 to Hot AC to Rhythmic to AC, even Adult Hits and this morning it hits #57 on the BDS Real Time COUNTRY chart with BNA's release of a country mix.

To add to the multi-formatic irony, this happened just as they learned that the song is up for a Teen Choice Award as "Best Rock Track."

So, what format IS it? Does it matter?

I started this post with the Hank Snow factoid to place all of this into context. Music has always crossed boundaries and its power to mash cultures and bring people together has been well-documented.

One of CMT's most popular and enduring benchmarks is Crossroads as country fans relish the magic that emerges as stars jam together, playing one another's songs.

Uncle Kracker seems to visit our playlists every year or so, receiving a warm research welcome, as some of country's most "country" current songs come from performers from other formats, who for all appearances came to country for the sheer love of their roots, like Darius Rucker (also up for a Teen Choice prize), Jewel (who finds herself on both NPR and working country radio at the same time) and LeAnn Rimes (I'll save a riff on the pro's and con's of cover tunes for another day).

Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy certainly doesn't need to prove anything by going country, yet here she is.

Adding to the goulash, with - it seems - the mission of defying categorization, counting on talent to win out: Gretchen Wilson, John Rich, Colt Ford, Brantley Gilbert and many others who seem to agree that what we need is a little more fun, edge and variety in our lives.

Bring 'em on. Forget about labels. If the people who listen to country radio love them, that's country enough for me.

May the best songs win!

Country Weekly ACM Week Headlines

RANDY TRAVIS: “IT WAS A CHALLENGE”
Randy Travis takes on a difficult acting role in the new feature-length DVD movie, The Wager. In this spiritually based film, Randy plays actor Michael Steele, who is nominated for an Oscar when his life begins to unravel after charges of adultery and other transgressions. The actor eventually regains his faith. “The fact that the well-written script covered topics you don’t usually find in a Christian film intrigued me,” Randy tells Country Weekly. “It was a challenge and I learned from doing it.” Randy also has an upcoming new CD, Around the Bend, set for a July release.

JEWEL GETS STRONGER
Jewel currently has a big country hit in “Stronger Woman,” and the singer feels that the video, which evokes historical images, captures the song’s message. “I kept getting treatments that were all about men being no good or unhappy women crying,” Jewel tells Country Weekly. “But to me, that’s not what the song is about at all. It’s about deciding what kind of life you want for yourself.” The story also features some behind-the-scenes photos from the video shoot.

More info from Kurt Webster & Associates PR: 615-777-6995

Hard Work, Personal Contact - The Secret To Jewel's Country Radio Success

A&O's weekly AccuTest national average client research ranks "Stronger Woman" #19 with 21% of our client stations' listeners still unfamiliar with her song. Meanwhile, it appears that it will rank much higher in monitored radio airplay again this week, according to the trade charts.

Why the difference at a time when it seems radio can be slower than molasses on even tunes which test quite well with our client station listeners (for example, Brad Paisley's "I'm Still A Guy" ranks #6 and Jake Owen "Something About A Woman" is #14 in our national track of client listener research, which is running ahead of their monitored spin ranks, the more normal growth trajectory A&O seems to see and expect these days)?

Nashville Answer Man Neil Haislop found the possible reason: Jewel's personal outreach direct to radio programmers and listeners.

Have to admit, didn't know what to expect when I first sat down to talk to Jewel. After spending some time with this straight-talking, unpretentious star, who could've been every thing opposite, you get a better understanding of who she is, where she's coming from and where the music comes from.

So, it's not so surprising to hear from the label how she's handled her recent, intense radio tour. It's territory she's covered before...and it was tough enough the first time around in the 1990s she says.

“You know, all of my songs were so hard to get played on the radio. ‘Who Will Save Your Soul?’ just didn’t fit any format, and after a year of promoting it, alternative radio finally began playing it. It was just an uphill battle. ‘You Were Meant For Me’ was a simple shuffle at the time of the Spice Girls. And then ‘Hands’ talked about God on pop radio, which just was not done at that time,” recalls Jewel. “As a result of the struggles to be heard, I did more radio visits than most other pop artists. For me, it really took radio getting to know me and hearing me sing in person. I’ve often joked I went from living in a car homeless to living in a rental car and a bus traveling the country.”