In the past couple of weeks I’ve been paying attention to a few of the radio stations, as television gets monotonous. Music changes year to year and break-out artists come in all ways, shapes and forms today. By using social media platforms, new artists are quite different, while changing things up musically; example being Billie Eilish. So what happened to Big Band, Blues & Jazz and Old Country Music; it seems to have been left behind these days, and it’s difficult to find on public radio (exception is Pandora and Sirius Radio).

Recently, I was able to watch an interview with Alan Jackson (country singer) on the Today Show. When he talked about the ‘old Country music’ and how it was gone for good…it broke my heart, but I kind of knew that it already happened. You don’t hear music from the ‘good ole’ country boys’ unless you download or have some great vinyl records in your living room. I’m talking about music from Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and others from that era. For older folk (like my dad), he misses Little Jimmy Dickens, Hank Williams, George Jones, Charlie Pride and so on; but then again…so do I. Not only did they sing about ‘life’s’ stories, but they dressed the part with their big cowboy hats, rhinestones and boots. Don’t get me wrong…I enjoy many of the country artists today; Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Kenney Chesney, Jason Aldean, not to mention more of the pop-country artists like Kane Brown, and Dan & Shay. The country music has evolved, just like ‘other’ genres, but many fans are missing the old country twang, along with their attire. You don’t see newer country artists wearing the big hats and western wear; but I read that people ‘behind the scenes’ recommend what the artist should wear; to me this says…trendsetters and money. I could be wrong, but then again…maybe not.

Another genre of music that doesn’t have a lot of new artists is ‘Easy Listening’…songs which may be similar to artists such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin (just to name a few); while newcomers to this type of music are far and few in between today, it’s not as difficult to find an oldies station playing their music. One artist I can name today who is an absolutely phenomenal singer is none other than Italian artist Andrea Bocelli. He is described as the “World’s Best-selling Classical Artist” and is a multi-instrumentalist. His genre of music is listed as operatic pop, a classical crossover, Latin pop and traditional pop. If you’ve never experienced his music, I strongly urge you to indulge…if only for one song; his voice is like no other. His newest Album and songs can be found here …  https://www.newreleasesnow.com/album/andrea-bocelli–believe2 . And while it may not be for you, finding talent of those mentioned here (Sinatra, Martin, Como, etc.) in this article are definitely far and few in todays’ world.

While the word ‘Reinvention’ seems to apply to numerous things such as, employment, self, and a variety of subject matters today, the ‘POP’ music genre continues to be in the mainstream, but evolves as far as sound; approaching music from a digital stance, they use more electronics…hence the ‘sound board’. Music of every genre will change over time, but what I know is this, I’ve liked most music genres the majority of my life, until recently. After watching this years’ Grammys…I realized that the music I once listened to (as a child teenager and adult), have simply gone away. Now I sound like Alan Jackson…”Country music is gone and it’s not coming back”…neither is Big Band, and or Sinatra type of music; but I will listen to it until my heart’s content…and I’ll be skipping the Grammys from here on out.

Make your week count.