Cover Story: Country Returns to Music Midtown

Are you sure Hank done it this way?

Oh, hell no.

Ask any hillbillies worth their salt, and they will tell you that Hank Williams never had an image consultant, or attended media training, or had his songs written by committee to ensure maximum public appeal. But that was in 1950, and country music in 2005 is a totally different creature. Contemporary country music has become one of the more successful and profitable genres in the business, and the trend is continuing upward this year.

While the rest of the music industry struggles with slumping or stalled retail figures, in 2004 country music sales increased 12 percent. Music Midtown hopes to tap into that CD market with 14 hot and new country acts on this year’s schedule.

The bookers made some good choices showcasing the incredible diversity within the country genre with a little bit of everything. The range is impressive, from commercial radio staples such as Trace Adkins and Jo Dee Messina to alt-country darlings Tift Merritt and Cross Canadian Ragweed.

Friday’s headliner, Australian pop-country singer Keith Urban, has been on a roll for several years, culminating with winning two major 2005 Academy of Country Music awards May 17. Two great Georgia acts with a traditional sound and a family connection bookend Saturday’s schedule. The Wrights open the show at 3 p.m., and Adam Wright’s uncle (and country icon) Alan Jackson hits the stage at 10:15 p.m. On Sunday night, country rockers Montgomery Gentry close out the show with high-energy barroom boogie.

So what sort of crowds are the Music Midtown bookers expecting to pack the area in front of the Hooters/Kicks 101.5 Country Stage? Research surveys vary, but it is reported that between 50 percent and 60 percent of the adults in America say they “like” country music, and about 25 percent say they listen to it exclusively. Also, 64 percent of the self-identifying country music fans are between the ages of 25-54, a powerful block in the consumer market. Maybe country still is the “music of the people” after all.

If Hank was subjected to some media and image shaping, it was anti-star. Some of the public personas of many popular traditional country artists (Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, etc.) were manufactured and contrived to a certain extent, to stay within the socially constructed “down-home blue-collar common man” archetype that was projected upon and defined the target audience.

Ultimately, the show we see on stage today under the country music banner is really not that far removed from what our grandparents got. It’s all about the marketing, and giving the people what they want. And when Jackson performs the haunting tribute “Midnight in Montgomery,” you can bet that Hank will be smiling down upon the crowd. Oh, hell yeah.??