Is Country Good Or Bad

Alison Baker
Ms. Davis
English 12
7 April 2013
Kenneth Eric Church
Everyone has their own opinion on “good” and “bad” music. But the fault lies within the decision on whether something is good or bad, because that is an opinion. Many artists have worked hard to evolve music into what it is today and all music deserves respect. One genre of music that has survived through the times and tribulations of our society is Country. It has shifted gears many times in history but has always kept a large following and catered to people who feed on reality. Country is said to be a dead genre, full of fake rhinestone cowboys that would not know the difference between a Chevy and a Ford, a Justin or a Laredo, or Budweiser and Natural Light. But today’s
As you can tell in a lot of his songs he is very much inspired by metal and heavy rock. Eric enjoys 1980s metal bands ACDC and Metallic (Doyle 2). Eric’s greatest influence however, is old outlaw country. Eric starts out his concert playing”Country Music Jesus”, a song that begs for the coming of a “long haired hippie prophet preachin’ from the book of Johnny Cash”; one of Eric’s inspirations (Doyle 3). He also finds Inspiration in the music by Merle Haggard. Enough that he wrote a tribute song called “I Pledge Allegiance to the Hag” in it Merle himself makes a special appearance. Merle and Eric share a similar attitude; unapologetically masculine, unapologetically romantic, and unapologetically Christian (Novak 1). Eric also models his music style after Hank Williams Jr. and Waylon Jennings, who are also mentioned in his songs, in hopes to continue the rowdy country zeal into this generation. One of Eric’s songs was inspired by the movie, “The Green Mile”. After watching Tom Hanks in this film, Eric sat down and wrote “Lightening”, the song that would win over Capitol Nashville. Country music heavyweight, Arthur Buenahora, describes the song by saying “The hairs on my arms were standing up. Our format tries to paint these perfect Norman Rockwell pictures of stuff. Eric was missing that part of it, but there was something more real about it.” (Doyle 2). No matter what Eric’s music is both inspired and instigated by Jack Daniels
Growing up in the small town of Granite Falls, North Carolina, Eric learned good values. Always a fan of music, Eric turned to music after learning he could no longer play high school football, so he bought a guitar and taught himself how to play. Eric began performing in local dive bars and honky tonks, performing some of his own originals. After high school graduation and becoming engaged, Eric began attending Appalachian State University, but a career in music was still calling. Eric looked to further his music career by forming the Mountain Boys Band with his brother, roommate, and a close friend. Eric soon after broke off the engagement when his father in law to- be tried to talk him into a corporate job, he just wasn’t having it. Eric picked himself up and moved to Nashville. After much time and tribulation, Eric was signed by Jay Joyce at Capitol Nashville. Eric’s first single, “How Bout You”, lingered on country music charts but did not get higher than 30. Later Church debuted his first album, Sinners Like Me. This album also included the singles “Two Pink Lines” and “Guys Like Me”. In 2006, Eric made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, an event that says “you’ve made it”. In 2009, Eric released the single, “Love Your Love the Most” and his new album, Carolina. The release party for the album was held at Eric’s former college, Appalachian State. The album did very well and included three more singles,