{"id":1318362,"date":"2020-02-21T07:21:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T14:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1818120"},"modified":"2020-02-21T07:21:40","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T14:21:40","slug":"garth-brooks-appeal-to-country-radio-treasure-the-songwriters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/garth-brooks-appeal-to-country-radio-treasure-the-songwriters\/","title":{"rendered":"Garth Brooks\u2019 Appeal to Country Radio: Treasure the Songwriters"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span>
\n49m ago<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that hard to perfectly rhyme \u201croots\u201d and \u201cboots.\u201d Or \u201cknow\u201d and \u201cshow.\u201d But what about \u201csurprise\u201d and \u201chis eyes\u201d? Or \u201cchampagne\u201d and \u201ccomplain\u201d? Or \u201csocial graces\u201d and \u201cthe oasis\u201d?<\/p>\n

That was the point Garth Brooks was trying to make at his show on Thursday night (Feb. 20) at the Bob Kingsley\u2019s Acoustic Alley show, a tradition at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. <\/p>\n

He was sharing the oft-told story of the night \u2014 in a bar \u2014 that songwriters Earl Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell wrote what would become Brooks\u2019 1990 hit \u201cFriends in Low Places.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDewayne Blackwell was at the bar, and says, \u2019Hand me a damn napkin,\u2019 and he writes, \u2019Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots and ruined your black tie affair.\u2019 He slid it over to Earl Bud Lee for \u2019The last one to know, the last one to show, I was the last one you thought you\u2019d see there,’\u201d Brooks recalled. <\/p>\n

And with that, he urged the country music industry to urge songwriters to dig deeper. <\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the thing about songwriters. They\u2019ve got a million different ways to song write. What these guys taught me \u2014 and what I\u2019ve never lived up to but what I strive to \u2014 is what they called pure rhymes,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about getting close. It\u2019s not about \u2019tequila\u2019 and \u2019tractor\u2019 rhyming. These guys would not let \u2019dime\u2019 and \u2019line\u2019 rhyme, because one was an m sound and one was an n sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finely crafted songs like that, Brooks said, are the reason he was inspired to move to Nashville. And what he was there to celebrate at this intimate show. <\/p>\n

\u201cSongwriting. That\u2019s what we\u2019re here to celebrate. This is it. If you\u2019re a sports fan, songwriters are the O linemen of music. These are the guys that strip it all down,\u201d he said. \u201cI came to town with one song that I wanted George Strait to cut. George Strait didn\u2019t cut it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later on, though, in the epitome of a full-circle moment, Strait did sing it for Brooks. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky enough to get to go into the Hall of Fame, and your wife chooses who plays at that show.\u201d When that move-to-Nashville story came up at the Hall of Fame show, Brooks said, the MC said, \u201cAnd here tonight to perform \u2019Much to Young,\u2019 please make welcome Mr. George Strait.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he shared the story of the mark that a kid named Randy Travis was starting to make. \u201cIn the early 80s, you were kind of scared to death of where country music was heading,\u201d he said. \u201cBut man, Randy Travis came and nailed country music to the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before his time was through, he again asked the men and women in the business side of the country music business to remember why they were all there. \u201cRemember why we all thank God that we all make a living in music. It\u2019s because of the people who create it. So force us as songwriters to better our craft. Be hard on songwriters. Be hard on the songs. That will only push the songwriters to write better and greater music. <\/p>\n

\u201cSongs write themselves,\u201d he said, \u201cyou just hold the pen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks\u2019 CRS Set List:<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Taylor\u2019s \u201cSweet Baby James\u201d (1970)
Jim Croce\u2019s \u201cOperator (That\u2019s Not the Way It Feels)\u201d (1972)
Bob Seger\u2019s \u201cNight Moves\u201d (1976)
Randy Travis\u2019 \u201cOn the Other Hand\u201d (1985)
Keith Whitley\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Close Your Eyes\u201d (1988)
\u201cMuch Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)\u201d (1989)
\u201cIf Tomorrow Never Comes\u201d (1989)
\u201cFriends in Low Places\u201d (1990)
\u201cUnanswered Prayers\u201d (1991)
\u201cThe River\u201d (1992)
Ashley McBryde\u2019s \u201cGirl Goin\u2019 Nowhere\u201d (2018)<\/p>\n

\n
Alison makes her living loving country music. She’s based in Chicago, but she’s always leaving her heart in Nashville. <\/div>\n

@alisonbonaguro<\/a> <\/div>\n

via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alison Bonaguro 49m ago It\u2019s not that hard to perfectly rhyme \u201croots\u201d and \u201cboots.\u201d Or \u201cknow\u201d and \u201cshow.\u201d But what about \u201csurprise\u201d and \u201chis eyes\u201d? Or \u201cchampagne\u201d and \u201ccomplain\u201d? Or \u201csocial graces\u201d and \u201cthe oasis\u201d? That was the point Garth Brooks was trying to make at his show on Thursday night (Feb. 20) at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 07:18:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}