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Who Listens to Country Music? by Mike Jones One of the great
things about working in the country music industry is keeping up with
the things that change from day to day. I keep up by reading different industry
publications, such as Music Row, Billboard, Country Airplay Monitor,
Radio & Records and Close Up. They give updates on people that
work in country music and how varied their individual perspectives
are on similar topics. The March issue of the Country Music Association's
magazine, Close Up, features an interview with Capitol Nashville President,
Pat Quigley, that really caught my attention. The first interview
question asked of him was "Being a New Yorker, I was curious as to
how long you have been a country music fan?" He answered, "I would
say I am not a big country music fan. I would say I like the more
progressive country music, and there are a lot of people doing that... I
don't really ride a horse, and I don't wear a cowboy hat. I am not
getting divorced. So, a lot of the lyrics just aren't relevant to
me. It doesn't mean it isn't good music, it's just not what I listen
to. Then I bump into a guy named Garth Brooks who sings a lot of songs
that do relate to my life." His answer surprised me somewhat. Once
again country music fans were stereotyped and categorized. Does he
mean that if you're not divorced, don't ride a horse and don't wear
a cowboy hat then the lyrics to most country songs aren't relevant
to many fans of country music? Mr. Quigley is on the business end of
country music and says he wants to boost the number of people who are
attracted to country music and increase its listening and buying numbers.
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