Issue #104: Get To Know Texas Country Radio

We spend a fair amount of time here at Don't Rock The Inbox ragging on country radio — and I absolutely won't apologize for that, because the corporate behemoths driving Music Row make plenty of regrettable decisions and do not need our help, even a little. They deserve criticism for the way they've doubled down on all the worst things about the genre — its racism, sexism and conservatism — all while claiming their hands are tied and it's not their fault that every song they play sounds just about the same and is made by people who look and think just about the same. The consolidation of most commercial radio, as Marissa chronicled in Her Country, has made country all across the country (sorry) just about identical and given an ever-smaller group of programmers outsized power to shape what country music is — except, notably, down in the great (???? sometimes) state of Texas.

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There is conventional commercial country radio in Texas, of course; all the usual suspects have vast followings here and there are stations devoted to putting them in heavy rotation (although the Morgan Wallen Double Wide, as previously discussed in this newsletter, was a Tennessee innovation!). But along with that, and the kinds of Americana that mostly get played on NPR, college and community radio stations, Texas has another variety of radio country: commercial stations that program mostly independent country music from Texas and surrounding Southwestern states, generally under the category of "red dirt" (whether it's all actually red dirt I will leave for friend of the newsletter Josh Crutchmer to dissect!).

DFW has two major stations in this category: The Ranch 95.9 and The Range 95.3 (no, I could not make this up). I don't listen much because I don't actually get good reception for either in my neck of the woods (The Ranch's transmitter is in Jacksboro, and The Range's is up closer to the Oklahoma border), but both are well-established and have a long tradition of supporting local acts. I saw Kaitlin Butts at Billy Bob's last fall, and she brought out Cleto at one point for him to talk about how the first time he heard her music was on The Ranch.

From The Range's "About Us" page:

KHYI is a beacon of hope in the murky ocean of cheesy, generic, pseudo, so-called “Country” music. One of the last remaining major-market “mom & pop” radio stations left in the country, no one from New York or L.A. (Or Atlanta, in the case of Cumulus) has the power to make us play Jason Aldean, or Kenny Chesney, or Rascal Flattulence. We’re mavericks…and we believe the world deserves to hear Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, the Turnpike Troubadours, and the Dirty River Boys. We also think its [sic] impossible to be a country radio station and not play Waylon and Willie, and Hank (Sr.), and J.R. Cash, and Merle, and the Possum…but we digress. We love our listeners and we keep it real. We close the bars on Saturday nights, but never miss church on Sundays.

There's just no way I could distill the vibe of these kinds of stations better than that little screed does. It's definitely a little bit of the SCM playbook but…somehow even more specific? Both of them are part of the Texas Regional Radio Report, a weekly chart that is part of Billboard's country coverage but also decidedly, defiantly separate. As far as diversity of race, gender and sexuality, it is not substantively different from the standard charts. But aesthetically, at least, it offers something different. The vast majority of artists represented are independent or on indie labels; one indicator of how it is still sort of possible for an artist to make a full living just playing Texas honky-tonks and rodeos, something I didn't realize before moving here.

Below, I present the most recent edition of the Texas Regional Radio Report (with commentary, naturally). Is it the wild departure from Music Row that it purports to be? You be the judge.

20. "Are You A Real Cowboy?," Amanda Kate Ferris ft. Jenee Fleenor: Pretty sure I've thrown an Amanda Kate Ferris song in our picks previously — I like her voice, and this very traditional-sounding honky-tonk tune has a lot more whimsy than its Nashville cowboy trend-baiting equivalents.

19. "Hold You To It," Joey Green ft. Payton Howie: Pretty generic rock-ish power ballad. Sadly, Texas is not immune to the proliferation of this sound…

18. "Home For A Hotel," Ghosts of Hill County: A little standard red dirt-by-numbers, though the lead singer has a nice voice.

17. "It Ain't The Whiskey," Jake Worthington: Technically Big Loud is an indie, but…one that doesn't exactly have much upstart cred — if you've got Republic for distribution, not exactly facing a struggle. Worthington is one of the two signees to Miranda Lambert's Big Loud Texas imprint, making him the artist on this chart with by far the most corporate juice behind him. But… I've just never been convinced by his singing. It's like he wants to be John Anderson, but is way weaker in his delivery. This is a fun-enough neotrad tune, but he just doesn't sound good. Apologies to any Worthington heads!

16. "I Wasn't Born In Texas," Gary P. Nunn: Here we get into the reverence for elders component of this radio format — which, it's pretty hard to be mad at a station for playing new Gary P. Probably not his best song, but certainly more than serviceable!

15. "Green In Colorado," Casey Donahew: Donahew is a veteran of the Texas scene who I am only familiar with via my Texas native husband ("Stockyards," anyone?). The timing of this one is a little funny because Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was, just yesterday, talking about how Colorado is the anti-Texas because of that "green," but I digress. The song is a little sappy for my taste, but sounds alright.

14. "Last Cowboy Standing," David Adam Byrnes: This song just makes me think about the Andrea Long Chu piece that digs into how Yellowstone creates the pretty despicable false equivalency between the genocide of Indigeonous people and how the "cowboy way of life" is "threatened."

13. "The Moment," Sundance Head: So rock! Because red dirt has such a rockish bent, there's plenty that gets played on these kinds of stations that's still a pretty big departure from the kind of twanginess I personally prefer.

12. "God Made A Cowboy," Aaron Loy: Are you sensing a theme? :) Shlock on shlock…

11. "I Don't Apologize," James Lann: Texas wife-guy country? Still another moody ballad, but this one's a little bit more tolerable…at least by a hair.

10. "Flame," Billie Jo Jones: Respect the post-Miranda energy on principle, but this one is a little snoozy considering its fiery, confrontational theme.

9. "Who's Hanging the Moon," Josh Weathers: The kind of two-stepper I can't resist: we've got fiddle, a catchy title/hook, pedal steel, a good groove…I'm buying what Weathers is selling.

8. "My John Wayne," Kylie Frey: I feel like this is a trend right now — women singing songs that hinge on the name recognition of older (or dead) celebrity men? In this case seemingly not romantically, though. Either way John Wayne probably not the person I'd pick to wax poetic about and I think Frey's had much stronger outings, but it's not bad.

7. "Ain't That Love," Bri Bagwell and Timber Wilde: This one feels like it's missing a little bite — maybe a brighter tempo would help? But we've already gotten way more women than on the top ten of the national country airplay chart, where Ella Langley currently sits alone.

6. "Beer Don't Care," Tilluride: A drinking song that namechecks Blue Moon? Tilluride also doesn't care, it would seem. Fun-enough county fair-type fodder, if not wildly original.

5. "Break Itself," Randy Rogers Band: You can't really talk about contemporary Texas country without talking about Randy Rogers — this is still another moody power ballad and thus not exactly my favorite, but Randy is a pro.

4. "What I Came To Do," Jesse Raub, Jr.: Generic and not even in a fun way!

3. "Ruby Ann," Turnpike Troubadours: Bless this tempo! It's a Turnpike song: you know what that means, I know what that means, the sun rises and sets and Turnpike makes dancey, fun country songs.

2. "Hurricane," Sandee June: Lol still another version of Levon Helm's "Hurricane." This one is pretty blah to me, but it is truly wild how Band Of Heathens have basically made this into what seems like one of the most covered songs of this moment?? Help me out here, was it as frequently heard pre-2011?

1. "Nothin But Texas," Wade Bowen: Would it shock you to learn that the no. 1 song on the Texas regional chart is…about Texas? This is pretty brazen bait, but could be a lot worse.

There you have it — what's on Texas country radio right now. Anything strike your fancy? Tell me in the comments…

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