Do you know how self-assured and brave you have to be to cover a man’s own wife? In case you - ever busy millennial that you are - missed it: And remember, when RaeLynn auditioned on The Voice in 2012 she rendered a Miranda-helmed song, “Hell On Heels,” with such sugared ferocity that Miranda’s then-husband turned his chair the f*ck around. Keep in mind, country music’s biggest female star, Miranda Lambert, also got her start on a country talent show, Nashville Star.
But it’s also, in this case, completely wrongheaded. So if you’re tempted to write RaeLynn off because of her stint on The Voice, that’s understandable. Sure, American Idol gave us Kelly Clarkson, and a few other relatively successful artists made their way through that grueling circuit, but mostly those talent shows are associated with middling skill and tryhard antics.
If you’re like me, hearing about the TV show The Voice instinctively produces an inadvertent wince. It will highlight the great moments, and occasionally, dig deep into the bad ones, but the goal is always to bring more attention to a genre that is far too often swept under the rug due to class assumptions or music criticism’s clear rockist past. The purpose of this column will be to analyze and demystify country releases, large or small, and help halt the notion that Country music is somehow less deserving of introspective analysis than rock, rap, or pop.
Country Grammar is a recurring monthly column about country music.