The music industry evolves at a dizzying pace. And I’m here to help you make sense of the “Key Changes” in these roundups of music new analysis.
Lately, I’ve had reason to ponder how the evolution and blending of musical styles pushes scenes, award shows and institutions to adapt.
One of the speakers at Americana Fest was Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, which presides over the Grammy Awards. And I also got to talk with him one-on-one. The subject? How the Academy determined that it was time to split the country album category into contemporary and traditional. And he’s not the only source I’ve spoken with about the insufficiency of one Grammy category for a country landscape that stretches from current pop to classic honky-tonk extremes.
Among the hundreds of artists who showcased at last week’s festival was Stephen Wilson Jr.
His songs set working-class woes to ominous Southern gothic and alt-rock textures, but he’s signed to a mainstream country label. And two days after he played an Americana lineup, he snagged a CMA Award nomination — another sign that the boundaries between those markets are shifting.
Stylistic exchange between country, hip-hop and R&B has also been much-discussed in recent years.
And the sneak peak I got of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s upcoming Muscle Shoals exhibit, which opens Nov. 14, reminded me of a pivotal moment from earlier in that history.
From the 1960s on, the down-home soul, country and rock elements that merged in that small-town Alabama recording scene made it a destination. It was where Black R&B stars with country affinities came to make defining records. And it eventually drew white rockers and country singers, and exported some of its studio talent to Nashville.
You’ll hear more from me on all of this in the days to come.
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