Lil Nas X's left-field country-rap smash 'Old Town Road' is the biggest song of 2019. Billy Ray Cyrus was smart enough to hitch his wagon to it. So why hasn't Nashville done the same?
The spirit of Johnny Cash — and of country music itself — is as thick as the pollen at the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tenn. This is the place where the Man in Black recorded much of his later work, and on a recent day it's the setting for the unveiling of the video for Sheryl Crow's “Redemption Day,” from her forthcoming duets LP that features posthumous vocals from Cash himself.
Not so much. Perhaps the only folks who don't want to take their horse to the old town road are those in the eye of the storm: the country music industry itself. While musicians such aswith the song, offering cheeky cover versions on Twitter, in the offices of Nashville’s famed Music Row and on country radio, it's business as usual.
“It's not surprising that ‘Old Town Road’ is where it is on the country chart,” says one radio industry executive who asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak on the subject. “I believe any airplay from country radio is still out of a somewhat muted effort to appear aware of a pop culture event. So these spins are given begrudgingly.”
Country radio's myopic nature has been a point of contention in Nashville for decades. Radio ownership groups such as Cumulus Media and Cox Media insist on playing it safe on the airwaves, lest they scare off advertisers or listeners, whom they presume mirror their conservative values. From the banning of Loretta Lynn's “The Pill” in 1975 to the infamous blacklisting of the Dixie Chicks after their anti-George W. Bush statements, being left of center means being left out of rotation.
“Don't worry about trying to classify it,” says country artist Jimmie Allen, one of the genre’s few artists of color on a major label. “We need to expand the musical culture and our mind-set as people. To challenge ourselves to think and process.” Shannon Houchins, who produced the first record from Bubba Sparxxx and now runs a label with Colt Ford, two artists credited with launching country-rap, also sees country radio's reluctance to embrace"Old Town Road" as a symptom of a divide between fans and programmers."Colt Ford keeps selling out concerts and racking up gold singles and Lil Nas X has the biggest song in the world," Houchins says.
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