Back to County: October 1991

Let's take you back in time in Country music. To start with, we're not going back that far, really...just October of 1991. This is when some of the first music cds were being released to my radio station. Before that time, the music was still arriving mainly on 45's and some cassette singles.

Even with the arrival of music on cds, my station still was a bit slow in getting a cd player, because we weren't sure exactly how much the new 'invention' of cds would catch on. So for the first few months of cd arrivals, one of our employees who had a cd player at home would have to take the discs home and dub them to cassette so we could play them through our cassette player over the air.

The cds sent to the radio station aren't usually your normal 'albums' or cd singles (though we do get them from time-to-time). They're actually a cd compiled of all the singles being released in that week or two of time.

So, let's take a look at some of the Country singles that were released in October of 1991.

First of all, there is one of my favorites (both singer and song), Lacy J Dalton's "The Deal".
"you promised forever, I promised the same; gave each other bands of gold and I agreed to take your name. A shower of rice, a toast with champagne, we drove away into a setting sun, a cloudless sky, a perfect life, no chance for rain. That was the deal. That was the way we planned it. We signed on the dotted line, but did not understand it. It's not easy to change the way that you feel. And it's hard to live up to the terms of the Deal."

Another song from October 1991 is one that became one of the biggest hits for Collin Raye - "Love, Me" - A sad, but beautiful love story of a song that's also been played at many funerals, anniversary parties and more.
"If you get there before I do Don't give up on me. I'll meet you when my chores are through. I don't know how long I'll be. But I'm not gonna let you down, Darling wait and see. And between now and then Til I see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, Me."

Then there was the up-and-coming group, Pirates of the Mississippi with their single, "Fighting For You".
" Cause there's just so much one man can take, even the strongest heart can break. When the tears start to roll, it's like trying to hold back the sea. But I won't give up, you know how I am. I'll fight 'til I fall, and make one more stand. How can I lose fighting for you?"

Some other songs that came out in October of 1991 include:
Brooks & Dunn - My Next Broken Heart
Dan Seals - Sweet Little Shoe
Holly Dunn - No One Takes The Train Anymore
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Going out Tonight
Mark Chesnutt - Broken Promiseland

Take a listen to the songs. See how many you remember.

The country music singer-songwriter

The music board at the cmt.com forums has a discussion currently going about the singer-songwriter era in country music.

As the subject is brought up, it makes me realize that's the main problem with today's mainstream country music. There are basically no female singer-songwriters in the mainstream country genre today. Very few of the females even know how to play an instrument, let alone know how to write a song. There still are a few male singer-songwriters in the mainstream country world, but it's becoming much rarer than in previous decades. Most of today's singer-songwriters are in other genres - most notably Alt-Country, Roots, Folk, Rock or Indie.

If you think back into the history of country music, there have been few female singer-songwriters who made it to the forefront, namely Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. While on the other side of the gender scale, there have been a lot of male singer-songwriters throughout the history of country music. However, that number has decreased significantly in the past two decades.

I'm guessing the singer-songwriter decline in country music is the reason why the mainstream country sounds no different than anything that's played on the pop stations. The songs are all written by the same people.