The CMA Music Festival aired this past Sunday night on ABC. Billed as "Country's Night To Rock", I'm sure it sent many true Country Music fans running to other networks, dvd's, movie theaters or just to bed early. Not me! I was in the mountains of Northern California, enjoying the peace and quiet of a rustic cabin and the sounds of crickets and a creek outside. There was no television or radio. In fact, I didn't even have cell phone service for three days. So I would have to wait until I returned home to watch this show on my DVR.
I had to go out and purchase new batteries for my remote control after I was done with this show. That's because I spent the better part of the 3-hour program holding the fast-forward button. The majority of the performances from country's top "superstars" were tired, overplayed songs that would normally be forgotten, but for some reason, ABC and the CMA had to remind many of us why we dont' listen to their type of Country Music anymore.
Take country legend, Reba McEntire for example. Oh, I'm sorry. I keep forgetting it's just "Reba" now. She mailed-in a performance of her year-old, dreadful song "Turn On Your Radio". I guess I should be thankful she wasn't ripping off Beyonce or Kelly Clarkson. But this song really sucks. I guess it would be fine if a twenty-something was singing it. But we get this song from the same person who gave us "Is There Life Out There", "Rumor Has It" and "Little Rock"? To say Reba has sold her soul to the corporate devils that now own Nashville would be putting things mildly.
Forget the expression "tried and true". When describing some of the performers and songs from Sunday night, I can only describe this show as "tired and through". Big & Rich? They reminded me of why I couldn't stand them when they first hit the scene. And their song "Fake I.D." from the upcoming remake of "Footloose" should be a pretty clear indication of the kind of flop that film will be.
Then there's Brad Paisley. What can I say? I have a love/hate relationship with this guy. He opened the show with a horrible summer song called "Working On A Tan". I don't know what was worse, the song itself, or the redneck flash mob sequence that occurred when thousands of people tried to dance along with video screen images from 1960's beach movies. Pathetic! At least Paisley redeemed himself when he sang "Old Alabama" (with Alabama) later in the show.
While Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood were missing from this show, there were a few highlights. Like Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson singing their power duet "Don't You Want To Stay". Little Big Town and Lady A. gave pretty good performances, and The Band Perry was very impressive.
The show devoted an entire segment to American Idol winner Scotty Mcreery and runner-up Lauren Alaina. This showed them arriving at Fan Fair, meeting fans and playing in a celebrity softball game. Then the got to sing with two of their own idols, as Scotty sang "Be Your Man" with Josh Turner and an emotional Lauren sang "Anyway" with Martina McBride. But for me, the highlight of the night was the show's final performance. Zac Brown Band sang "As She's Walking Away" and the crowd erupted into the biggest roar of the night when Alan Jackson took to the stage to join them in this great song.
All-in-all, I rate this program as a "typical" program for today's country. Overexposure is the running theme that the format has adopted. With early ratings indicating an increase of one million viewers over last year's show, today's pop-country is still riding a wave where television ratings are concerned. If I was watching the show as it aired, I would have turned the channel early on. Thankfully I had my remote control in hand and watched the program on DVR. And this is the only reason why I was able to avoid trashing Taylor Swift in this review...
...At least until November's CMA Awards.
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