Latest news with #LesCowboysFringants
CBC
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Free tickets for ceremony honouring late Quebec singer, Serge Fiori, available Monday
Fans and admirers of the late Quebec singer and Harmonium frontman Serge Fiori will be able to pay their final respects at a national tribute ceremony taking place at Montreal's Place des Arts on July 15. Tickets for members of the general public will be available on the Place des Arts website at 3 p.m. on Monday. Fiori died June 24 at his home in Saint-Henri-de-Taillon, Que., following a long illness. He was 73. His death prompted an outpouring of grief in the province, with Quebec Premier François Legault announcing a national funeral. The premier's office said the ceremony will allow the public "the opportunity to pay a final tribute to an artist and creator who profoundly marked Quebec culture and contributed to shaping our musical landscape." While tickets are free, reservations are required. Organizers warned that people acquiring tickets elsewhere than directly through the link to the Place des Arts ticket office would be identified and refused access to the ceremony. In November 2023, tickets for a memorial honouring Karl Tremblay of Les Cowboys Fringants, sold out within minutes, with some resale sites listing tickets for several hundred dollars. The premier's office said organizers had deployed all the technological means possible "to prevent the free tickets from being sold and becoming a source of profit." Born in 1952 in Montreal, Fiori founded the group Harmonium in the early 1970s with Michel Normandeau on guitar and vocals and Louis Valois on bass. The legendary group revolutionized Quebec music with three folk rock albums Harmonium, Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison and L'heptade. They were one of the few Quebec bands of the 1970s to achieve some success in the United States, despite their French lyrics. An online book of condolences is also available for people wishing to send a message to Fiori's family.
Montreal Gazette
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
Kelly: Revered Quebec singer Serge Fiori was loved by both solitudes
Music When Les Cowboys Fringants singer Karl Tremblay died in November 2023, I wrote a column about how the two solitudes were still very much a thing ici — and, yes, they still are today. I vented my frustration about how Tremblay's death was an absolutely huge thing for French Quebec and yet so few English-speaking folks 'round these parts had any idea just how important Tremblay and his band were for their franco neighbours. But that narrative doesn't work nearly as well with Serge Fiori. The Montreal singer-songwriter, who died Tuesday at age 73, was, of course, way better known by French-speaking music fans, but Fiori and Harmonium, the iconic progressive-rock band he founded in the early '70s, had a surprisingly strong following among English-Canadians. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Fiori's as famous in the ROC (Rest of Canada) as, say, Gord Downie or Gordon Lightfoot. But back in the day, Harmonium was one of the only francophone bands to break out beyond the borders of Quebec. First, a little background for those of you who don't know him. Fiori is positively revered in Quebec for the very good reason that he is one of the greatest musical artists of his generation. If you don't believe me, slap on Pour un instant or L'Exil or Un musicien parmi tant d'autres and tell me those tracks aren't as good as anything else produced by the best British, American or Canadian tunesmiths back in the '70s. Actually, don't tell me. Because you'd be wrong. Fiori, with his falsetto vocals, sang like an angel, and he was an unbelievably gifted composer. There's a tuneful accessibility to most of what he penned, but there's also a rich complexity, with fine-textured guitar lines and, especially as time went on, almost orchestral takes on British progressive rock. Harmonium's third and final album, L'Heptade, released in 1976, is considered their masterpiece, and it's inspired folky prog-rock that can win over a guy like me who loves to hate progsters like Genesis and Gentle Giant. By 1978, the band split up and, astonishingly enough, Fiori never performed on stage again, plagued by anxiety. In fact, he disappeared from sight for much of the 1980s. In the '70s, Harmonium as much as any other group personified the hopes and aspirations of un peuple, a mantle that Fiori was never comfortable with. He was a committed nationalist, but he was also a remarkably down-to-Earth Italian-Montrealer who had difficulty seeing himself as a saviour. He didn't write all that much music in the 40-plus years since L'Heptade, but when he did, like for his very good solo album from 2014, it was as great as ever and became a huge hit. After he died on June 24, the day of La Fête de la Saint-Jean, so many online were talking about the heavy symbolism of him leaving us on Quebec's national holiday. He was as loved as any contemporary Québécois artist and was a tireless defender of the French language and culture here right up to the end of his life. Given all that, it's quite the rich irony that the local French-language music biz here was initially cool to Harmonium. I've met and interviewed Fiori many times over the years and he often told the story of how French radio in Montreal wasn't into the band in the early days. The first station to play Pour un instant was CHOM, and because of that Fiori always had a soft spot for the anglo classic-rock station. The band also signed with a Toronto-based disco label, rather than with any of the Montreal record companies. They often toured Canada to packed venues and even played throughout California, opening for Supertramp. Three years ago, my old friend Geneviève Borne and I did a podcast interviewing local musicians in both of Canada's official languages, and we had a great conversation with Fiori. I asked him how it was that English-Canadians were so into Harmonium. 'I don't know, but it was the first time a (Quebec) band was going there, all through Canada, with nights and nights booked in every city,' Fiori said. 'You'd go on stage and there's like 3,000 people at the Orpheum in Vancouver. And they sing the words in French, and that's very rare.' The record company CBS offered to pay him to re-record the Harmonium songs in the language of Lennon and he turned them down. That day in the fall of 2022, I asked him why he said 'no'. 'Cause I'm nuts,' he said with a laugh. 'First of all, there's something about writing rock 'n' roll in French that is extremely hard. It's pretty easy in English. It sounds good with nothing. Once you get it (in French), it's so profound. The song is so amazing, so even translating that in English, for me it wouldn't work… and I think if I would have done that, Quebec would have turned against me.' He said the reaction in Western Canada was exactly the same as it was here in Quebec — people just adored Harmonium. They told him they didn't care what language the songs were in, 'It was just the music.' He recalled travelling to Toronto with the band to meet with the executives at Quality Records and on the spot the label gave them five grand to make an album in Montreal, something no local label was willing to do. 'We were too weird (for the Montreal record companies),' Fiori said. But so accessible as well, you touched the heart of everyone, said Borne. 'Yeah, but they didn't believe that,' Fiori said. To which I chimed in, 'proving my theory that the vast majority of these record-company people know nothing.' 'Thank you very much,' Fiori said quietly. Then he started laughing. 'You said it!'
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
One voice, two solitudes: Calls for cultural crossover one year after Karl Tremblay's death
It's been one year since Karl Tremblay, the lead singer of Les Cowboys Fringants, died of prostate cancer at the age of 47. It's been one year since Karl Tremblay, the lead singer of Les Cowboys Fringants, died of prostate cancer at the age of 47. There was an outpouring of grief across Quebec, and 15,000 people attended Tremblay's national funeral at the Bell Centre. Yet despite Les Cowboys Fringants' international success, there were many in the province and across the country who never knew their music – and didn't know who Tremblay was until he died. CTV News Montreal spoke to fans and music lovers who've been reflecting on the reality of the two solitudes. Watch the video above to see the full report. Karl Tremblay Les Cowboys Fringants lead singer Karl Tremblay performs at the Quebec Summer Festival, in Quebec City on Monday, July 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot Louis-Philippe Guy Louis-Philippe Guy, born and raised in Chicoutimi, has been a fan of Les Cowboys Fringants for more than two decades. He has vivid memories of seeing them live for the first time in 2001, with a small crowd, following the release of the band's third album, Motel Capri. 'I saw my first Cowboys Fringants show in Saint-Felicien, in Lac-Saint-Jean. It was a nice show, but we were like 100, maybe 80 people in the room,' he recalled. Guy, the overnight radio host of La nuit en direct at 98.5 Montréal, was devastated when Tremblay died. 'I cried on air. I never cry on air,' he said. Ce matin, une preuve des 2 solitudes. Le décès de Karl Tremblay, icone culturelle des 25 dernières années au Québec, est à la Une de tous les journaux francophones distribué au Québec. Je viens de parcourir The Montreal Gazette, le Globe and Mail et le National Post, et il n'y a… — Louis-Philippe Guy 🎙️🌙 (@LPGeek) November 16, 2023 The day after Tremblay's death, Guy posted on X, pointing to the front-page coverage of Tremblay's death in every French paper in Quebec, but not in the country's national newspapers or in Montreal's only English daily. He saw it as 'proof of the two solitudes.' Karl Tremblay Les Cowboys Fringants lead singer Karl Tremblay pauses during a song in their performance at the Quebec Summer Festival, in Quebec City, Monday, July 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot Brendan Kelly While the Montreal Gazette didn't feature front-page coverage the day after Tremblay's death, columnist Brendan Kelly wrote an in-depth piece about the band published in the weekend edition of the paper, one that was widely read and shared. 'We live in a world of clicks, and so a lot of people read that article and clicked on it,' said Kelly. 'The death of Karl Tremblay was crazy. The reaction was super intense, right across the board – from François Legault, to people crying in the streets.' Kelly compared the Quebec reaction to Karl Tremblay's death to the reaction in the rest of Canada when Gord Downie died. The lead singer for the Tragically Hip died of brain cancer in 2017 at the age of 53. 'French people here did not really know the Tragically Hip,' said Kelly. 'I remember when Gord Downie was doing that last tour when we knew he was going to die and all of the francophone media began doing stories. 'What is this thing, The Tragically Hip?' Well, they had been around 25 years, so it works both ways and I think it's unfortunate in both cases.' Kelly was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in Montreal. Anglophones living amongst the francophone majority in Quebec exist in a complicated reality, he said. 'It's weird in a way, it's normal in a way – because they're English, they're going to consume English culture. But it's also weird because you live in a French place. You think you'd be more curious.' Kelly believes the province's nationalist politics may influence what some anglophones choose to consume. 'If you want to tell English people, 'Hey! There's these great bands and movies and TV shows,' and at the same time you're harassing the community with Bill 96 and with the stuff about Concordia and McGill, it doesn't help,' he said. 'It doesn't make English people all warm and fuzzy about francophone culture.' Habs honour Karl Tremblay The Montreal Canadiens pay tribute to Karl Tremblay, the lead singer of the Quebec music group The Cowboy Fringants, who died Wednesday at the age of 47, prior to their NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights in Montreal on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Taylor Vallée Taylor Vallée grew up in Stoney Creek, a small suburb of Hamilton, Ontario. She is among Les Cowboys Fringants' legions of loyal followers, but she hasn't been following the albums since their start in the late 90s. In fact, she'd never heard of the band – and barely spoke French – until she moved to Quebec in 2015. Listening to Les Cowboys Fringants while learning the language was a revelation for Vallée. She found herself falling in love with the music and asking herself questions. 'Why haven't I discovered this amazing band? The music is funny, and heartwarming, and melancholic, and it was exactly aligned with the kind of music I would like,' said Vallée. 'But I had not ever discovered them until moving here and doing a dive into Quebec culture.' After Tremblay died, Vallée decided to write an opinion piece, sharing her own story about getting to know Les Cowboys Fringants, expressing the sadness she felt after Tremblay's death, and reflecting on why the band wasn't more widely known across Canada – despite their immense popularity in Quebec and elsewhere in the world. 'We've got our artists and culture, and they've got theirs, and I wish there was more travel between those two solitudes because I think there's a lot to share,' said Vallée. Karl Tremblay and Marie-Annick Lepine Les Cowboys Fringants lead singer Karl Tremblay, right, sings as his wife Marie-Annick Lepine plays the violin during their performance at the Quebec Summer Festival, in Quebec City, Monday, July 17, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot) Pierre Landry CHOM music director Pierre Landry attributes the popularity of Les Cowboys Fringants to their ability to connect with ordinary people and their everyday experiences. 'Obviously there are political songs, there are songs about identity, but beyond those songs, it was about daily life. It was about stuff that was universally relatable, but obviously very Québécois,' he said. Landry also describes the band's music as part of a Quebec tradition. 'When you think of the 1970s, like Paul Piché or you think of Harmonium or Beau Dommage, or you think of the 80s with people like Richard Séguin, Michel Rivard, the 90s with Jean Leloup, you think of Les Colocs – well, Les Cowboys Fringants were kind of descendants of all of those. There's kind of a direct lineage,' he said. Landry, an Acadian born in Campbellton, New Brunswick, said that while he does see a cultural divide between Quebec and the rest of Canada, he believes the reality within Quebec itself is more nuanced than media coverage suggests. 'There are francophones watching English TV. There are anglophones watching French TV and vice versa,' he said. 'Not everyone, and I get that. But at the same time, the more you know and the more you expose culture to all people, the better culture is. And I think there's something to learn on both sides.'
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Josh Ross's Junos success showcases country music's resurgence
Josh Ross's Juno nominations could be a sign that Canadian country music is gearing up to once-again dominate the awards. This year, multiple country acts have made inroads in many of the categories — highlighting the growing popularity of country music in Canada, and the genre's resurgence in pop culture in general. Ross's five nods put him neck-and-neck with Tate McRae, the pop singer who has often competed with the likes of The Weeknd for most nominations at the awards. For her main competition to be a country star, it says something about the genre's return to more mainstream popularity. "You're looking back in the day at Shania Twain," said music and entertainment reporter Rudy Blair, pointing to the early 2000s as the last time a country singer led nominations at the Junos. "So that tells you just how [long] this has been coming — not just with what's going on with the Juno Awards, but also what's been going on across Canada." Ross is far from the only country musician among this year's Juno nominees. In the audience-voted fan-choice, he has three country music compatriots (Jade Eagleson, Dean Brody and the country-inspired Les Cowboys Fringants), while Shawn Mendes' nomination there is largely based on the strength of his country-esque single, Why Why Why. WATCH | CBC's Commotion on Shawn Mendes' country-inspired album: Meanwhile, Beyoncé's Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter catapulted three musicians to the Canadian awards this year. Both Jack Rochon and Shawn Everett are nominated for Jack Richardson Producer of the Year for their work on the album, while Alberta's Lowell is up for the inaugural songwriter of the year, non-performer award for the Beyoncé tracks Bodyguard and Texas Hold 'Em. Paired with a litany of other country and country-inspired musicians — from newcomers like Owen Riegling to relative veterans like MacKenzie Porter and Brett Kissel — it mirrors a rise in the music industry at large. Spotify reported a 20 per cent global increase in country music's monthly streams in its 2024 Wrapped report. Shaboozey's A Bar Song (Tipsy) was the longest-running number one song of the year — tying Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus's smash country hit Old Town Road for the longest run ever. Post Malone and Morgan Wallen's I Had Some Help recently became the second country song in a row — after 2023's Last Night — to top Billboard's "songs of the summer" chart. Noah Khan's country-pop hit Stick Season was the biggest song of 2024 in the U.K. — where country has shot up 67 per cent. And Teddy Swim's genre-bending country/soul/R&B trackLose Control became Billboard's year-end top hit as 2024 came to a close. The timing for that success has proven a boon for country artists north of the border. "Canadian country artists have always been this bubble that is going to explode, and it's been that way for years," Blair said. "Maybe some people are finally taking some notice." There's also evidence that people are taking the same kind of notice about country music south of the border. Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter was largely credited with both riding and significantly enlarging a wave of renewed interest in the genre. By highlighting Black people's historical contribution, Beyoncé and artists like Reyna Roberts, Allison Russell, Kane Brown and Rissi Palmer have participated in what some have called a renaissance for Black country artists. Melding genres, eroding stereotypes Paired with their melding of genres — bringing hip-hop and pop elements into country and vice versa — other artists like Shaboozey, Lil Nas X and Blanco Brown have been able to produce giant, audience-crossing hits. Everett says that tendency to borrow elements from various other schools of music has contributed to country's mainstream allure, eroding the stereotype of arena rock country obsessed with traditionalism and the past. "The best country music always managed to tell a story about what it felt like to live in our current day and age," he said. "The best versions of it [now] manage to use that storytelling technique, and — in a modern way — be able to twist the words so that it feels like 2025." He pointed to modern country musicians like Sturgill Simpson who have borrowed pop sensibilities in their lyrics — like his track Turtles All the Way Down, which the singer has confirmed is about psychedelic drug use. Others don't even need confirmation to unearth their meanings: "I used to wake and bake / Roll out of bed, hit the gravity bong that I made and start the day," sings artist Kacey Musgraves in her 2024 title track Deeper Well. "For a while, it got me by / Everything I did seemed better when I was high." Though they're lyrics that sound straight out of a pop album, Musgrave's song is definitely country — though, she like many names mentioned in this piece, has had her country bonafides questioned over a pointed effort to modernize and meld her music with pop. Along with his work on Maggie Rogers' country-lilting Don't Forget Me, Musgrave's Deeper Well also helped earn Everett his second Juno nomination of the year for engineering. And along with irreverent, aggressively contemporary tracks like Trey Lewis's Dicked Down in Dallas and Dixon Dallas' X-rated Good Lookin' burning up the charts, country musicians have been intentionally breaking country's staid stereotypes to achieve viral fame. WATCH | These songs seemed huge — if you grew up in Canada: "That's not necessarily something that was ever happening in country music before," Everett said. "Which makes it feel like a really modern take on the genre." "You're hearing less and less songs about, like, drinking in trucks," confirmed fellow nominee MacKenzie Porter. "That's a little bit out now, where I feel like the stories are just real-life stories or things that everybody can relate to." Changing politics of country music That's not to say country has wholly left its conservative sensibilities behind. In 2023, Jason Aldean's chart topper Try That in a Small Town set a record — with Aldean at no. 1, it was the first time the top three tracks in Billboard's Hot 100 were all country songs. But the song also became what the New York Times called a "culture war battleground" over its implied opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. And ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's second inauguration, country singer Carrie Underwood sparked controversy for agreeing to sing at the event — partially because Underwood and her music had become publicly tied to LGBTQ+ rights issues. In the end, the ceremony was replete with country stars — featuring Jason Aldean, Billy Ray Cyrus, Gavin DeGraw, Kid Rock, the Rascall Flatts and others. Many of those country artists either voiced support for, or played at events promoting Trump's electoral run — a clear difference between pop and hip-hop artists, Billboard noted at the time, who tended to voice support for candidate Kamala Harris. In fact, Trump's association with the genre was strong enough for writers at the Rolling Stone and USA Today to theorize their respective comebacks were tied together. To be fair, other country stars — including Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw — played at Biden's inauguration. And in a 2024 article, Rolling Stone noted that the Democratic National Convention had included several country stars in its ceremony, after having zero such musicians in 2016. The Democratic party's exclusion, wrote journalist Marissa R. Moss, spoke to the assumption that country had become an alienating sub-genre meant only for one political group — a tacit, widespread belief based on decades of both outdated music and an outdated understanding of it. Their embrace of it in 2024, she said, seemed to be an admission that the genre had burst back into the mainstream. "It's hard not to feel like this is a new understanding from the DNC," wrote Moss. "That liberals aren't just listening to streaming pop hits and that Southern folks, Appalachian residents, and small-town people in general who listen to country and roots music often believe in things like basic human rights, too." Whatever the reason for country's seeming resurgent popularity among all demographics, Everett says, the desire is undeniable, and only growing. He says he currently has 40 country songs to mix in the next month and a half. Not only is that an extraordinary number of country songs, it's an extraordinary number of songs total: he's never mixed that many songs in that span of time, total. "I don't know what happened," he said. "I barely ever worked on any country music in my life, but then suddenly now I'm just inundated with country music."
CBC
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Josh Ross's Junos success showcases country music's resurgence
Josh Ross's Juno nominations could be a sign that Canadian country music is gearing up to once-again dominate the awards. This year, multiple country acts have made inroads in many of the categories — highlighting the growing popularity of country music in Canada, and the genre's resurgence in pop culture in general. Ross's five nods put him neck-and-neck with Tate McRae, the pop singer who has often competed with the likes of The Weeknd for most nominations at the awards. For her main competition to be a country star, it says something about the genre's return to more mainstream popularity. "You're looking back in the day at Shania Twain," said music and entertainment reporter Rudy Blair, pointing to the early 2000s as the last time a country singer led nominations at the Junos. "So that tells you just how [long] this has been coming — not just with what's going on with the Juno Awards, but also what's been going on across Canada." Ross is far from the only country musician among this year's Juno nominees. In the audience-voted fan-choice, he has three country music compatriots (Jade Eagleson, Dean Brody and the country-inspired Les Cowboys Fringants), while Shawn Mendes' nomination there is largely based on the strength of his country-esque single, Why Why Why. WATCH | CBC's Commotion on Shawn Mendes' country-inspired album: Meanwhile, Beyoncé's Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter catapulted three musicians to the Canadian awards this year. Both Jack Rochon and Shawn Everett are nominated for Jack Richardson Producer of the Year for their work on the album, while Alberta's Lowell is up for the inaugural songwriter of the year, non-performer award for the Beyoncé tracks Bodyguard and Texas Hold 'Em. Paired with a litany of other country and country-inspired musicians — from newcomers like Owen Riegling to relative veterans like MacKenzie Porter and Brett Kissel — it mirrors a rise in the music industry at large. Spotify reported a 20 per cent global increase in country music's monthly streams in its 2024 Wrapped report. Shaboozey's A Bar Song (Tipsy) was the longest-running number one song of the year — tying Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus's smash country hit Old Town Road for the longest run ever. Post Malone and Morgan Wallen's I Had Some Help recently became the second country song in a row — after 2023's Last Night — to top Billboard's "songs of the summer" chart. Noah Khan's country-pop hit Stick Season was the biggest song of 2024 in the U.K. — where country has shot up 67 per cent. And Teddy Swim's genre-bending country/soul/R&B track Lose Control became Billboard's year-end top hit as 2024 came to a close. The timing for that success has proven a boon for country artists north of the border. "Canadian country artists have always been this bubble that is going to explode, and it's been that way for years," Blair said. "Maybe some people are finally taking some notice." There's also evidence that people are taking the same kind of notice about country music south of the border. Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter was largely credited with both riding and significantly enlarging a wave of renewed interest in the genre. By highlighting Black people's historical contribution, Beyoncé and artists like Reyna Roberts, Allison Russell, Kane Brown and Rissi Palmer have participated in what some have called a renaissance for Black country artists. Melding genres, eroding stereotypes Paired with their melding of genres — bringing hip-hop and pop elements into country and vice versa — other artists like Shaboozey, Lil Nas X and Blanco Brown have been able to produce giant, audience-crossing hits. Everett says that tendency to borrow elements from various other schools of music has contributed to country's mainstream allure, eroding the stereotype of arena rock country obsessed with traditionalism and the past. "The best country music always managed to tell a story about what it felt like to live in our current day and age," he said. "The best versions of it [now] manage to use that storytelling technique, and — in a modern way — be able to twist the words so that it feels like 2025." He pointed to modern country musicians like Sturgill Simpson who have borrowed pop sensibilities in their lyrics — like his track Turtles All the Way Down, which the singer has confirmed is about psychedelic drug use. Others don't even need confirmation to unearth their meanings: "I used to wake and bake / Roll out of bed, hit the gravity bong that I made and start the day," sings artist Kacey Musgraves in her 2024 title track Deeper Well. "For a while, it got me by / Everything I did seemed better when I was high." Though they're lyrics that sound straight out of a pop album, Musgrave's song is definitely country — though, she like many names mentioned in this piece, has had her country bonafides questioned over a pointed effort to modernize and meld her music with pop. Along with his work on Maggie Rogers' country-lilting Don't Forget Me, Musgrave's Deeper Well also helped earn Everett his second Juno nomination of the year for engineering. And along with irreverent, aggressively contemporary tracks like Trey Lewis's Dicked Down in Dallas and Dixon Dallas' X-rated Good Lookin' burning up the charts, country musicians have been intentionally breaking country's staid stereotypes to achieve viral fame. WATCH | These songs seemed huge — if you grew up in Canada: Did you know these hit songs were actually only big in Canada? 27 days ago Duration 0:53 "That's not necessarily something that was ever happening in country music before," Everett said. "Which makes it feel like a really modern take on the genre." "You're hearing less and less songs about, like, drinking in trucks," confirmed fellow nominee MacKenzie Porter. "That's a little bit out now, where I feel like the stories are just real-life stories or things that everybody can relate to." Changing politics of country music That's not to say country has wholly left its conservative sensibilities behind. In 2023, Jason Aldean's chart topper Try That in a Small Town set a record — with Aldean at no. 1, it was the first time the top three tracks in Billboard's Hot 100 were all country songs. But the song also became what the New York Times called a "culture war battleground" over its implied opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. And ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's second inauguration, country singer Carrie Underwood sparked controversy for agreeing to sing at the event — partially because Underwood and her music had become publicly tied to LGBTQ+ rights issues. In the end, the ceremony was replete with country stars — featuring Jason Aldean, Billy Ray Cyrus, Gavin DeGraw, Kid Rock, the Rascall Flatts and others. Many of those country artists either voiced support for, or played at events promoting Trump's electoral run — a clear difference between pop and hip-hop artists, Billboard noted at the time, who tended to voice support for candidate Kamala Harris. In fact, Trump's association with the genre was strong enough for writers at the Rolling Stone and USA Today to theorize their respective comebacks were tied together. To be fair, other country stars — including Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw — played at Biden's inauguration. And in a 2024 article, Rolling Stone noted that the Democratic National Convention had included several country stars in its ceremony, after having zero such musicians in 2016. The Democratic party's exclusion, wrote journalist Marissa R. Moss, spoke to the assumption that country had become an alienating sub-genre meant only for one political group — a tacit, widespread belief based on decades of both outdated music and an outdated understanding of it. Their embrace of it in 2024, she said, seemed to be an admission that the genre had burst back into the mainstream. "It's hard not to feel like this is a new understanding from the DNC," wrote Moss. "That liberals aren't just listening to streaming pop hits and that Southern folks, Appalachian residents, and small-town people in general who listen to country and roots music often believe in things like basic human rights, too." Whatever the reason for country's seeming resurgent popularity among all demographics, Everett says, the desire is undeniable, and only growing. He says he currently has 40 country songs to mix in the next month and a half. Not only is that an extraordinary number of country songs, it's an extraordinary number of songs total: he's never mixed that many songs in that span of time, total. "I don't know what happened," he said. "I barely ever worked on any country music in my life, but then suddenly now I'm just inundated with country music."
