Stripes-Brandy Clark (Slate Creek)

Small label, chances of big chart success pretty slim. But here’s the thing: Where Are The Women? The national playlist is devoid of Lady Country songs. What have we got? Carrie and Taylor are Pop Stars making Pop music. Band Perry? Same deal. I see a couple of TV reality show flashes who’ll be gone next month if not next week. The only two Country records are by Miranda and Sheryl Crow and both of those are fading now. Taylor Swift wannabe’s are coming at us like locusts, to a gal every one aimed at post-pubescent 15 year olds. This is not natural, the universe is out of balance. Now, the format has always been top heavy with males, generally the mix has been about an 80/20. Part of that is because both men and women love male songs, but men for the most part ain’t too hot on female songs. Either the records are too weepy for guys, or they are male-bashing and we all get more than enough of that stuff at home, right? It’s good that we’ve got another teen-wave upon our format now. The first time it happened, twenty years ago, our mix remained 80/20. But look, I broke out my playlist from the first week of September ’93 and the women there were: Reba, Wynonna, Lorrie Morgan, Pam Tillis, Suzy Boggus, Kelly Willis and Mary-Chapin Carpenter all singing Country songs for grown-up women. The new teen audience of the time loved them. Today, Country radio is feeding ears nothing but sexy-sugar-babies. And I don’t like it, don’t think it’s healthy in the long run. If all the shots weren’t being called by the corporate radio clowns, it would be different, of that I am quite sure. So, that brings me to this fine little record. It’s a male-basher, yes. But one all guys can approve of, considering what her man done to her. And it is Capital C Country, friends.