Hymns for Hard Times

By Randy Rudder

In 1927, as Victor Records producer Ralph Peer recorded The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest V. "Pop" Stoneman and other singer/songwriters in that tiny upstairs studio on State Street in Bristol, Tenn., much of the nation was enjoying a last run of prosperity before the Great Depression ensued. Yet times were already tough throughout much of rural America, a situation reflected in the themes of economic hardship that placed through some of the songs recorded during those "Bristol Sessions." Similar motifs were common in Country Music until the "Urban Cowboy" phenomenon of the 1980s, when Madison Avenue began to discover that Country fans often bought expensive cars, rode mechanical bulls and had money left over to spend on beer and jeans.

From that point, songs about Daddy struggling to put food on the table became a little less frequent on the Country charts. But with a recession underway, are the old hard-time themes becoming relevant again? That was the issue on the table when a stellar panel assembled to share their experiences and insight: songwriter Gary Burr (whose credits include Juice Newton's "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me," LeAnn Rimes' "Nothing About Love" and Kelly Clarkson's "Before Your Love" ), songwriter/publisher Chris DuBois (Jimmy Wayne's "I Love You This Much," Mark Wills' "19 Somethin'" and numerous Brad Paisley tracks including "Me Neither" and "We Danced") and publisher Rusty Gaston, General Manager and, with songwriters Connie Harrington and Tim Nichols, Owner and Partner of THIS Music.

HOW ARE COUNTRY SONGWRITERS RESPONDING TO THE CONCERNS OF AMERICANS IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES?

BURR The challenge for a songwriter is to be able to write about big things in a real small way. If you are writing about a guy who loses his job, the listener doesn't care why he lost his job. That's not really important, as far as the story goes. What's important is the effect it has on him and his family. Those topics will always be the ones that hit the heart.

DuBOIS I think music is an escape for many people. I seem to have more success as a writer writing about things that are positive, not focusing on the negative, whether it is a negative relationship or negative economic circumstances. People don't necessarily need constant reminders that times are hard. They know that. Also, if I write a song today about times being bad, by the time we write it, demo it, pitch it, get it cut and released, times might not be bad anymore and it might not be relevant.

BUT THESE THEMES WERE ADDRESSED OFTEN IN DEPRESSION-ERA COUNTRY TUNES. HAS THE DEMOGRAPHIC OF COUNTRY MUSIC CHANGED SO MUCH THAT IT'S HARD FOR THIS GENERATION OF WRITERS TO RELATE TO THESE THEMES AS THEIR PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS HAD?

GASTON Of all genres, Country Music is by far the one that has been the voice of the American spirit. And any time the country comes across hard times, whether it's economic or war or turmoil, it makes people examine their core values. When they do that, it's usually good for Country Music. There's no one better than a Country Music singer/songwriter to express those core values of family and God and country. When there are economic downturns, it takes people who aren't necessarily Country Music fans start looking inside themselves and looking at their values, and they naturally turn to Country Music.

HOW MUCH DOES THE NEWS OF EACH DAY AFFECT WHAT YOU WRITE ABOUT?

BURR If you are a good writer, all you should want to go back and redo is the production. As far as themes, I once read that there are really only seven basic storylines in songs and literature. Those kinds of topics are the ones that Americans will always want to hear.

DuBOIS You have to write what's best for the market and not pay too much attention to what's going on in the news. The obvious exception to that is Alan Jackson with "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)." But that wasn't just an economic downturn. That was a world-changing event. And the way he said it was so poignant. He wrote it and they cut it and rush-released it and it won Song of the Year (at the 2002 CMA Awards). But if you notice, there weren't too many more songs like that after that, because he said it as well as it could be said. It's like watching "Schindler's List:" It's not the kind of movie you watch five or six times. It's very powerful, but you watch it once and you don't need constant reminders of it after that.

GASTON What songwriters in Nashville are trying to do when they sit down to write a song is to write something that is timeless, that can be cut today or 10 years from now and be just as current and relevant then as it is today.

MAYBE THAT'S WHY WE'RE NOT SEEING NEW VERSIONS OF DARRYL WORLEY'S "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?"

DuBOIS That's a perfect example of a song that is time-sensitive. It has so many cultural references that relate to that one event. The price of gas is another example. I actually heard a couple of songs about gas prices being through the roof last summer. Six months later, they are as low as they've been in five years.

BUT CERTAIN SONGS BREAK THAT RULE .

BURR I wrote a song a long time ago that Conway [Twitty] cut, called "That's My Job," about my dad passing away. I wrote it for myself and I never thought it would get recorded. But I sent it in and it got cut, and the next thing I know, I'm sitting here listening to it, thinking, "Why do people want to hear this? It's so depressing." But every Father's Day it gets played.

DuBOIS A singer has to have an incredible personal experience with that topic or a close relationship to that song. Or else he has to cast himself as a character. That is something that doesn't happen as much as it used to, where singers are playing roles in songs. It feels like if you write a song that has kids in it and they [the artists] don't have kids, then they don't want to record it.

BURR Yeah, how crazy is that? I never understood that. You're pretending. You're taking on a role. But if people don't drink, now they don't want to sing a drinking song. Johnny Cash didn't really kill a man in Reno, you know?

GASTON The greatest singers in recent history are those who could take on those roles and fans knew it. They knew Garth [Brooks] wasn't a wife-beater and Reba [McEntire] wasn't a prostitute. People understood it and they were entertained by it.

CAN A SONG THAT DEALS REALISTICALLY WITH SERIOUS ISSUES TURN LISTENERS OFF?

DuBOIS It can. There are songs that get released that don't get as high on the charts as they could because they don't research well and the public just doesn't respond to them. Sometimes the subject matter in the song is just too depressing and nobody wants to hear it more than once.

BURR Some people want to be taken out of their current circumstances when they listen to music. So when times are bad like they are now, people want to hear songs and stories that take them out of that. Maybe that's why songs about their current circumstances might be the last thing they want to hear.

GASTON Whether it's inspirational songs or songs of hope or songs about relationships, Country writers are the ones that connect to those core fundamentals of the human spirit. Our writers don't necessarily write on different themes just because we are in an economic downturn; it's just that the themes that our writers naturally write and sing about are the ones that people might want to hear now.

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.