NYC needs country

It isn't obviously so anymore. Country music stars' famously goofy garb and dowdy dresses have been replaced in the last few years by sharper T-shirts and jeans. In their videos, some ride motorcycles and sport tattoos. Rad, dude.

Things aren't what they were. In "Picking Wildflowers," singer Keith Anderson even mentions having a Tom Petty (not Hank Williams or the like, as one would expect of a country musician) tape in his car.

According to 95.5 WPLJ-FM on-air personality Race Taylor, "Country music has changed very much over the course of the past ten or fifteen years-more than possibly any other format as far as the appearance of the artists, the quality of the product, and the flashiness in consumer appeal that they're trying to achieve with their music videos."

But if country and rock presented different styles in the past, they were always close cousins musically. Going back to the '70s, The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers and Fleetwood Mac had several borderline country hits while in the '80s Bon Jovi had "Dead or Alive," Poison "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (wherein "every cowboy has a sad, sad song"), and a few years ago, Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock presented an unlikely duo in the popular country son, "Picture." Even more recently, alt-rocker Jack White of the White Stripes produced a Loretta Lynn album.

The two strains of pop music share common roots.

Michael Anthony, station manager of the community-serving 90.3 WHPC-FM in Garden City, N.Y., points out that this has been consistent since the conception of rock and roll. "A lot of the oldies acts like Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins are rockabilly with major country roots," he points out. What's interesting about their songs is that some of them were big rock and roll hits were even bigger country hits. Elvis's 'Jailhouse Rock' was a Number One hit and reached number one on Billboard's country chart. Lewis' 'Great Balls of Fire' and 'Whole Lotta Shaking Going On' were Number One on the country charts, but they never reached Number One on the rock charts. Today's country music sounds a lot like rock and roll, so it's even serving the rock market now-a lot of people who love rock and roll love a lot of these country acts. A lot of rock performers are being invited into country sessions."

Country music may appeal to city people for a number of reasons. "Country music is written in such a basic way for the general public, for mainstream America, and in New York, you find just that," suggests Anthony. "Country music has to do with struggle-struggle in relationships, struggle in life, and struggle with work. People in New York City are struggling day-to-day to make a living, to achieve what they want, with their love lives. These songs are also appealing to those who just want to unwind at the end of a long day. The songs can be fun or about heartbreak, which a lot of New Yorkers go through. The lyrics are thoughtful yet simple."

Marty Mitchell, former personality for local country station WYNY-FM and current on-air music personality for Sirius Satellite Radio, maintains that even hip-hop isn't impervious to country's influence. "Country Superstar Tim McGraw recently teamed up with rap's Nelly on the song, 'Over and Over'. Not only was the song Number One for multiple weeks in various formats, it was also the first time a Country singer had the Number One song on the R&B/hip-hop charts. Urban listeners can also relate to the new 'Hick Hop' sound of newcomer, Cowboy Troy. Troy brings a unique style to the country music format [as he] raps in five different languages."

Local venues confirm how country popularity's has grown in and around the New York City area. Besides the CMAs being presented here, singers are attracting crowds. Rena Siwek, publicist for BB King Blues, says, country does great "since we're one of few venues hosting country performances. They almost always sell out."

Kevin Abbott, general manager of Joe's Pub, reports the same of the genre there. He says that they have done so well that the cabaret venue is working with the Country Music Association.

In fact, SoundScan reports show that in the past year country music has more fans in New York City than anywhere else (of course, that has something to do with the city's population). Last year, of the 40.9 million total albums purchased in New York City, 2 million were country. While that may not seem like a lot, it beats out jazz (1.8 million) and Latin music (1.7 million) both of which have a few stations on FM radio (listener-supported or not, they still exist). Also, SoundScan doesn't consider dance music a genre of its own, and in this area there are two dance stations.

Why then no local terrestrial station for the most popular format and loyal listenership in the country in the city where the most recent Country Music Awards were held?

Several country stations have existed here, such as WYNY-FM, WKHK, and WHN. Mitchell maintains that "some radio companies feel that country music will never make it in the area, while others feel that although they can bring in some ratings with the country format, they can be more successful with another format." Taylor believes that country devotees can either "listen online to another station that's not in this market" or "fulfill their needs with videos on CMT or GAC or download it off the Internet." He also points out that while satellite radio is an option, studies show that "satellite listeners represent about a half of one percent of all radio listeners."

The future offers some hope for local terrestrial radio in high definition radio-not only for country, but for other bygone genres such as the recent loss of WCBS-FM's oldies format or the even more recent loss of WXRK-FM's hard-rock format.

However, that may be several years in the future. Mitchell suggests opting for either XM or Sirius Satellite radio. "Sirius currently offers 5 different channels of commercial free Country music including New Country, Prime Country, The Roadhouse (Classic Country), Bluegrass and Outlaw Country."

That doesn't offer the simple access of basic terrestrial radio. Many believe that the Country Music Awards, which were held in the city recently, were brought here to demonstrate the format's local listenership. "People who really love country music are blown away by the fact that they've lived this long without a country station," Taylor says. "I think that that was one of the reasons the Country Music Awards came here; to show what a terribly mainstream audience exists in New York City."

Who knows when that will happen?

Alas, for now, those of us who want to turn on the radio and catch Toby Keith or Sara Evans without traveling outside the city can't. Instead, we have to resort to watching for their shows and buying their albums. The main reason New York City needs a terrestrial country radio station is this: though New Yorkers can wear Gretchen Wilson-"Redneck Woman"-inspired cowboy hats and boots, we're actually behind the rest of the nation when it comes to learning of the genre's newest artists, for once not making us the first to know about a trend.