Country radio certainly widens the boundaries of what I can do. Other artists may do something more edgy that gets on radio and that opens the door for me to be more edgy, I think.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Ironically, the success I've experienced at country radio has left me ostracized from pop and other formats of radio.
I've never really been a traditional country kind of guy. I wanted my music to sound more like the end of the '90s and to have the kind of great music, pop or whatever, that radio will embrace.
But these days, I get a lot more attention and airplay from the Adult Contemporary and country radio stations, and I feel comfortable saying I'm a part of that.
This is the kind of problem you want to have! Country radio has been great to me my whole career. I can't thank those folks enough.
I feel like fans who like old Southern rock and country, and more lyric-driven songs in general, have come to country radio. I think that's why you see country radio growing and albums selling: People are craving a little more of the singer-songwriter stuff going on in country.
I'm a country girl; I like country music. That's what my car radio is on.
Country artists have advantages all over the place. The radio support is incredible. The fanbase is rabid, all over.
People don't listen to one radio station. On iTunes you can mix different worlds and bring country and pop and folk and live music together with a mass audience. I could have sung 'Easy' in a country way but I just sang it how I sing. I think it's a really nice blend.
I really like the old stuff that I cut my musical teeth on, and I loved it when the industry was just like that, without really a genre. Today, country radio's more aimed at a demographic than a genre. It just softens everything.
I have a real issue with radio these days. I just am not into the current music.