Never been a fan of country music (even being that I'm from the part of the US considered to be "the south") but a friend of mine who is a fan of the retched genre asked me if I thought I could write a modern country song... I chuckled condescendingly and said "Kyle, you silly sweet little baby bird, anyone can write country music. it's for the softbrains."

"gimme 2 weeks"


Now, only 2 weeks later and not a day more.. or less.. (ok it's been about 3 months but hear me out lol) it's finished and here it is. you can now hear it now. listen to it. now. Thank you!


*And just as a disclaimer upfront as usual, I’m doing this 100% on my own. Writing, tracking, production, mixing, the lot, in my small home studio. I started the mixing/engineering side of everything about four years ago so there’s still an ocean of knowledge that I don’t have yet but I try my best. Just curious what you all think. I'm sure the majority of you guys, like me, are probably not fans of the genre so I know it's a big ask to request you all suffer through it but if you can I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tried to bring enough of my instincts from the types of music I usually make to make it somewhat enjoyable for me to listen to while still classifying as modern/pop country. Did I do alright?

for those of you that don't use spotify here's a dropbox link! sorry i didn't have that in the op. i didn't have any idea spotify didn't play the whole track..

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8brq...ntgp.wav?rlkey=ybyh7x3mom4nk7ugr1rko1e4x&dl=0

<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/6T77QeYhaKZB2ageJD8aKa?utm_source=generator&theme=0" width="100%" height="152" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>

 

Last edited: Aug 20, 2023

I don't think that's country at all or I wouldn't like it either, but I love it. But that's no surprise because I am always impressed with the quality of your songwriting. If these were "the good old days" and I was some record companies A&R guy, I'd sign you up.

 

Hard to call it "country". Giving off more of an indie rock vibe to me.

If you want good country music you'll have to go back into the 70's & 80's.

 

You did a good job. I live in Birmingham Alabama and I can tell you that this is closer to Gin Blossoms, goo goo dolls, better than ezra, matchbox 20, third eye blind, sister hazel, collective soul. Type stuff. You have a great voice for this style. The mix seemed a little cluttered with some minor timing issues but you definitely could take this further.

 

For some reason, I also don't get the country vibe at all. I get that 1995 grunge vibe. Right before that Linkin park era.

That was the music I was listening to when I was 15 years old. A lot of nostalgia in your record.

Not modern by any mean but great to my taste.

Thank you for sharing.

Personal mixing critic; get some attack on this drum bus and a db or two. The rest is spot on. Well, I'm not a bible belt type of guy, but it is what it is.

 

Collective SOUL !!! THERE YOU GO !!! Spot on !!

 

I don't know if that's country, it's catchy.

You should do a part 2 and make it more countryfried.

 

lol awesome man! i always appreciate your positivity when i post new music. glad this one gets the stamp of approval as well!

also... where tha a&r guys at!?!?

 

A dying breed. If they follow my example they're probably drunk and constantly bemoaning what's become of pop and rock music.

 

ok. so far i'm getting the resounding "this isn't country" loud and clear lol.

so i guess i was wrong when i thought just singing with a southern draw and using my tele through a fender style amp to track all the guitars + throw in a few buzz words from modern country (college town, church, bottle or any reference to drinking alcohol, cut off jeans, etc.) would be enough to make one of my songs country hahaha

does it help at all if i told you guys i was wearing overalls during the entire process on this one?

bc i was.

i kid. anyone have any suggestions on things i could do to make it more countryfied as @JMOUTTON put it?

 

Last edited: Aug 19, 2023

shit. that's probably everybody on audiosex on a given friday night haha

 

Put some banjo and some detuned violin in it. Also try to make your voice sound like you have a spring stuck up in your jaw.

To make it modern, just add auto tune and scream proud boys at any given point.

 

Thanks! glad you dug it! i can definitely hear that too when i listen to it w/ that era in mind now. it does seem kindof obvious now too which makes sense bc it appears several of you are hearing that same kindof vibe/era in it as well. i get those comparisons pretty often on my other music when i share it too. i get foo fighters alot which i struggle to hear bc i don't think i sound anything like dave grohl (i wish) but it may just be the overall song structure + big guitars and drums, kindof "rock but approachable" vibe that i do think alot of the stuff i make tends to have. completely unintentionally though. i just sit down to write and thats what usually comes out.. which probably isn't the best for my musical ambitions bc unfortunately it seems like very few ppl listen to that kindof stuff anymore yet it's all i seem to be able to make ha.

thanks for the tip on the drum buss. i'll come up w/ something there... or i could just scrap them altogether and throw a trap beat on it instead and then it might actually sound like a modern pop country track (if anyone actually listens to country radio currently this will make alot of sense haha)

 

I don't so I'm really not a reference. The only thing I can think of when I see someone mentioning modern country is cotton eye joe.

 

lol yes! that's perfect! I've been looking for an excuse to buy a banjo! thank you for validating that impulse good sir, my girlfriend and wallet thank you hahaha

 

Thank YOU for sharing, mate! what an awesome song. Definitely some early 00s radio rock vibes. Really well made and catchy.
Keep up the good work

 

nice work. it sounds like country to me, just modern. i do not so much get the 90s Seattle sound references, but less specifically american west, sure.

maybe you care and maybe you don't, but I think you may have disabled the "vinyl needle jump" effect you have just a tiny bit late. You are getting a little click or something at about 12 seconds mark. you could also put a little of that effect back at about 2:08 when that phrase is ending, to sort of tie it back together with your intro effect.

from memory, i think the guitars sound better than the last one. iirc.

 

thanks dude!

 

Country music is a great music genre, and it has cross-pollinated into many other genres, as your nice little song demonstrates

 

hell yea man! +1 for "passes for country"!

i'm really questioning myself w/ the majority not hearing the country sound in it. i knew it was alittle maybe "bigger?" sounding than most modern country just in reference to maybe like the drums (not a lot of country out there using full on crash like in my chorus, modern or otherwise) and guitars may be on the "hotter" side as well, but i wasn't feeling like i had taken it too far to completely negate having it heard as "country". I did a lot of listening for reference/research before starting the writing process (basically a playlist of the top 100 country songs from 2022-2023) and i will definitely say that what was on that playlist did not sound like the country music i remembered from back when i was regularly hearing it when i was a kid in the 90's around family and such. a lot of the modern stuff did sound more alternative (bigger gtrs etc.) but then another chunk of it was using trap beats so it's definitely changed a lot from what most folks, especially those who are not listeners (myself included), probably think of when they think of country music. i'm wondering if this has a small bearing on it not connecting as "country" on any level w/ the others that are hearing it and connecting it to more of an alternative rock sound.. bc like i said to someone else's comment, when i listen to it w/ that style of music in mind i can hear what they mean. so i'm kindof scratching my head a bit.

if you don't mind, are you american? are you a country music listener? just trying to gauge your familiarity with the genre and especially the more current stuff to see if maybe you're hearing it as "modern country" bc you have a context to base it on. where maybe others still think country and what comes to mind is like reba or billy ray cyrus or brooks and dunn.. i could for sure understand why this wouldn't be recognizable as country music to that person in any way. bc i was that person before i started research listening for this track. idk. i'm stumped

also, thanks for pointing that click out. i had become completely "snow blind" to it. those kindof things happen to me all the time i think just as a result of doing everything on my own. by the time i get through a mix i've listened to a track 100s of times over and lose alot of discernment for those little abnormalities. one of the down sides of not working with others at all and never getting outside ears until i'm finished or close to finished.

thanks for noticing the improvement on the gtrs as well. i've been obsessing ab getting them right and picking the right tones for the mix, eq'ing them to sit well, etc so direct heard improvement is awesome rad to hear!

sorry for the long reply ha. it was all kindof clarifying itself as i was typing soo..