There are so many types of music - everything from pop, rock, Spanish, EDM...the list can go on for a while.
I first started to listen to country music when I was in high school. A friend of mine's girlfriend was a huge George Strait fan. I didn't know much about him, except that a lot of people liked him. At that time, I was mostly into pop...or as we knew it back then, B-104 music...Whenever the three of us were together, we'd listen to George Strait cassette's.
As I graduated from high school and moved to Dallas, I was around the pop world a lot more. Very few people in college band listened to country music...but after a few short months of being in school getting to know the business then finally being hired at a radio station, my country music knowledge began to grow. The station where I started was country on the AM dial and hip hop on the FM. These two stations were like day and night. On one side you had the hip, ultra cool urban guy spinning records at the clubs...on the other side, you had the more mature dj's playing country music. The slot that they had open was on the country side - cool, I thought...all I need is a job and some experience...here we go. This was 1989.
Fast forward to 2018. I've been in country music, since. I've grown in the industry and am very proud of where this business has gone. We no longer live in grandpa's world...not that there was EVER anything wrong with it. A lot of us learned from it. But, as time goes on, we must all learn to adapt to new things and new ways of doing business. We will never go back to the twang sound of country music that our grandparents grew up listening to...I was around and appreciated Johnny Cash, Waylon, and Merle...I had a chance to meet and hang with each of them. They were all wonderful people. I met Brad Paisley before his song actually was played on KTEX...Garth Brooks before anyone knew what a Garth was...Blake Shelton when he first started out...
Today, there are so many new artists that sometimes it is hard to keep up with them all...and that's cause I'm in the business! One thing is for sure - - I love country music and what it stands for. The people who are a part of our industry are real. They love their fans and spending time with them. These artists know and acknowledge those who butter their bread.
Even with all of the fame and glory, these performers still do charity work, they are still involved with projects in their home town and they care about their fans. No country artist is ever to BIG in stature to sign or take a picture. There may be instances where they may not be able to spend time with someone, but they are always willing to at least say hi.
This is rare in other formats...just ask anyone who has ever been to a pop or rock show - if there was ever a sign up for meet n greets...more than likely not.
I ran across this video of Brett Eldredge on stage with a fan. At any other show, security might have run this person off - thrown them out of the building - never to be allowed back in...but this is country music. Yes, there are security issues for all of our sake but this is special...and so is the music that we njoy! This girl, her family, and friends will have eternal memories of this special night.