Yeeeeeeeaaaaah, I’m gonna take my horse…. oh you know the words. Over the weekend, the newly-minted ACM Entertainer of the Year put his spin on the smash song.
Total jam… no doubt.
https://www.facebook.com/keithurban/videos/2395928767136257
Urban’s version of the Lil Nas X remix is strait country no debate about it.
Since the Billy Ray remix dropped a little over 2 weeks ago, the song has been the topic of so much controversy… The whole ‘what is country music’ issue has reared it’s head once more. At the AMCs Brothers Osborne were very vocal about their opinion that the jam was not country music.
We spoke to @brothersosborne about their performance with @MarenMorris and define what country music means to them at the #ACMawards. pic.twitter.com/4N4hgI8Wu1
— billboard (@billboard) April 8, 2019
They have walked back on their stance in the last week or so. In particularly after Old Dominion went to bat for the song and seemingly took a mild swipe at John & TJ in the process.
My thoughts on it all is that, no the song Lil Nas X tossed out isn’t country. But if you ask me to define what country music is, I won’t have an answer because I don’t know. Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Shania Twain were all told their music ‘wasn’t country’ at the time. Can you imagine that?!
Has country music turned pop-sounding? Absolutely it has, but is it just more of a new-age leaning sound? I believe so. I could totally heard Thomas Rhett’s ‘Look What God Gave Her’ on any Top 40 station in the country because it has that sound to it. But try to tell me Rhett isn’t country, and I’ll say he is possibly in the top 5 artists in country that knows how to connect to his fans… who are country fans.
In the end, I love KU’s version of ‘Road’ and arguing about what truly IS country music is just ‘Wasted Time’