The “bro” movement finally melting away like the icey remnants of winter leaves one question on the minds of fans and insiders alike, what’s next? What’s my prediction? Well, since you asked so candidly, I believe this could be Nashville’s summer of Rock & Roll.
By now we have all heard the rumors of Aerosmith frontman and former American Idol judge Steven Tyler signing with dominant Nashville label Big Machine. Apparently, Tyler is wanting to record a country album. Ok, my curiosity has been peeked, albeit in a sceptical manner. Can we all hearken back to that ridiculous atrocity perpetrated by fellow rocker Aaron Lewis a few years back?
But alas, Steven Tyler is not the only rock legend set to shred upon the Nashville stage. The Rolling Stones announced today they will be playing LP Field Wednesday, June 17. This marks their first time back to Nash since 2002 and first time in North America since 2007.
Is a classic style of Rock & Roll going to be the next wave of influence to come crashing down on country music? I love diversity and genre crossing collaborations, when done correctly, so this could prove to be quite interesting. With popular artists like Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert portraying heavy rock overtones I can not help but to say this is the next logical step in country music evolution.
Sure, traditionalists will argue against there needing to be an evolution at all, and frankly, considering most country music fans reside in middle America, they probably do not believe in evolution anyway! Relax, keep in mind that all of these trends really only affect the constant ebbing of “pop” country. And there is no problem with that. We could not have a Sturgill Simpson without a Jason Aldean. Music is like Nashville weather in spring, it will be totally different tomorrow.
So let’s open our minds and our hearts to any and all aged rockers who want to use us in order to take one desperate vestigial stab at holding onto fame. We could all stand to be more like Donny & Marie Osmond…..(C’mon, do I really need to explain that?)
