The CMA Awards at 40: Celebrating a Growth Spurt
Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley And Randy Scruggs Are The Toast of the Country

By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 7, 2006

NASHVILLE, Nov. 6 -- To walk along lower Broadway here is to be bombarded by the lachrymose sound of steel guitars pouring out of the honky-tonks that line the bustling, touristy boulevard. But don't be fooled by the doleful din: These are joyous, auspicious times in Music City.

While the music industry continues to struggle (overall album sales are down by about 5 percent this year), sales of country albums have spiked by nearly 10 percent over last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Country artists continue to be a major force on the touring circuit, too, with Kenny Chesney, George Strait and power couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill responsible for three of the top 10 box-office totals in the first half of 2006.

Thus, there was a triumphal tone at the Country Music Association Awards Monday night, when the industry convened to toast its success (double bourbon, neat, please) while honoring some of its stars -- led by Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who won the single of the year award for "Believe," an inspirational story-song that also won the top songwriting award. The veteran hillbillies won for video of the year, too, as well as their usual best vocal duo award. (They've lost just once since 1992.) Brad Paisley's "Time Well Wasted" was the surprise winner for album of the year. Paisley also won for musical event of the year for "When I Get Where I'm Going," with Dolly Parton.

Guitarist Randy Scruggs was named musician of the year.

As if they didn't get enough camera time in their acceptance speeches, Brooks & Dunn opened the festivities by performing and served as hosts, proffering back-pats, redneck humor and odd exclamations. Dunn also accepted the male vocalist award on behalf of Keith Urban, who is in alcohol rehab.

"Yaa-oo-hoo," Dunn yelped at one point, apropos of nothing. Or perhaps he was just cheering for the genre in general. Said Mike Dungan, president and CEO of Capitol Nashville and head of the CMA board: "Country is in a good spot right now."

The show was broadcast live from the Gaylord Entertainment Center, in the shadow of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and just a boot-scoot from Music Row. The perfect place, Brooks declared, for a showcase of "the greatest music on the face of the Earth."

It's worth noting that much of that music sounded pitchy in the live performances, with artists from Chesney -- who was named entertainer of the year -- to Martina McBride wandering off-key. Also: One of the genre's greatest bands -- the Dixie Chicks -- wasn't included, despite having recorded one of the best and best-selling albums of the year, "Taking the Long Way." Winner of 10 previous CMAs, the trio didn't receive any nominations this year, thanks to those now-infamous remarks about President Bush, which rankled country's core constituency and its establishment. But enough about the singers non grata.

"We're trying to promote and expose great country music to as many people as possible," said Tammy Genovese, the CMA's chief operating officer, earlier in the month. "Other genres just aren't where we are right now. I don't know why, and I don't care."

There are myriad reasons for country's latest boom (which hasn't quite matched the Garth Brooks-led sales surge of 1992), not least the music itself. The genre has diversified at the top levels, moving well beyond its hat-singer phase to encompass a broad range of sounds, with rock influences in particular becoming more prominent. For instance, Rascal Flatts -- the best-vocal-group winners whose "Me and My Gang" is the No. 2 album of 2006 (2.5 million copies) -- is more or less a power-balladeering boy band with country leanings.

On the other hand, million-seller Josh Turner is a traditionalist in the mold of Randy Travis. And American Idol Carrie Underwood, winner of the best female vocalist and newcomer awards, is a country-pop chanteuse who sings about cheatin' boys and faith in Jesus, not necessarily in that order.

There's plenty of talk about audience loyalty and artistic consistency driving the boom, but perhaps more than anything else the music succeeds because its themes relate to the audience's own experiences -- be it songs about spurned lovers (Miranda Lambert's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"), redneck pride (Jason Aldean's "Hicktown") or the afterlife (Paisley's moving "When I Get Where I'm Going"). That idea is even the basis for cable channel CMT's slogan: "Life. Set to music."

"The artists in this format are careful about the things they write about and how they relate to the audience," said Joe Galante, chairman of Sony BMG Nashville. "They're delivering things that people can take away and use in their daily lives."

Said the Texas twang-rocker Jack Ingram: "Country is the only true American music form left that's telling people's stories."

That's not necessarily true, of course; the best hip-hop, R&B and rock can do the exact same thing. It's just that country seems to do it more consistently, and with much stronger melodies.

"Pop music is flat-out boring," said Capitol Nashville's Dungan. "It's in a bad spot, and it's driving listeners away. And they're coming to country and liking what they find."

Though the option isn't always available: Even as country has grown its album-sales share this year, the format continues to evaporate from the airwaves. There are no country radio stations in New York and San Francisco, and Los Angeles lost its lone country outlet in August.

Still, Music City execs don't seem to be rattled. Not even by the sort of negative news that sends chills through the corporate suites in New York and Los Angeles. Tower Records' bankruptcy liquidation, for example, doesn't pose as much of a threat to country because the genre relies so heavily on big-box retailers, which sell roughly 55 percent of the format's albums. That's double the average for other genres, according to Russ Crupnick, president of the music and movies division of NPD Group, a market research firm.

Illegal downloading isn't quite the bugaboo in country that it is elsewhere, either, in part because of country's older demographic (the core audience is 25 to 54), but also because of lower broadband penetration and iPod use in non-metropolitan country strongholds. There's also that little matter of morals, Crupnick said: "There might be more of a values thing going on, where some of the red-state country consumers aren't doing illegal file-sharing or copying." Whatever the reasons, he said, "the digital gorilla in the room hasn't started jumping around yet."

For now, interest in the music and its stars seems to be swelling: Vanity Fair recently published a country pictorial, and People just produced an 80-page special edition devoted to all things twang.

"Country's just very hot right now," said Cynthia Sanz, editor of the People special. "You can't help but notice that it's enjoying a resurgence."

And it's all because of the songs, Paisley said. "We've gotten into a period where people are doing songs that are extremely relatable to people's lives. Some of them are more spiritual in nature, and and some of them are getaway songs, which is what Kenny Chesney does so well. I think we just have our finger on the pulse right now."