I got to meet the WowCow. It’s true. He traditionally goes by the name of Moob, although he’s been called by a few udder names.
Wow104.3 is a sponsor of the Snake River Stampede. We like them.
While the DJ’s rounded up for an informal interview, one of them, Jesse James, mysteriously disappeared every time Moob the WowCow magically appeared. Hmm. Moob was generous enough to lend me some camera time and patient with my silly pose ideas. Thanks, Moob.
Pow-wowing (sorry) with the WowTeam of DJ’s helped me to understand where country music is at currently. If anyone’s literally got their finger on the pulse of country, it’s them.
First I had to ask Randy about his foodie-ism.
“I like to cook, I like to eat. That’s what my wife and I did,” he said, “Some people go to the movies; we did that. Now that we have two kids, I’m eating frozen dinners. They’re eighty-six cents at the supermarket.”
I asked him about his grilled pizza recipe.
“Oh, yeah, it’s good,” said Randy, “When my wife and I were first married, I would make my own dough; I could do it up right. Nowadays, we just get Papa Murphy’s and throw it on the grill on the round pan with the holes in it. You put coals around the edge; it’s pretty awesome.”
I asked Alana about the $600 purse she bought in Beverly Hills. Any buyer’s remorse?
“Absolutely not,” she told me, “It was a neutral tone; I can use it with any outfit. It even has its own bag.”
A bag in a bag. I like it. Alana’s grown up around the country music scene. She said that when she was about eight, her dad told her that he’d introduced Johnny Cash. She didn’t understand the meaning of that at the time. A couple of years ago it dawned on her. Her dad had introduced The Johnny Cash. He even had a picture of himself on stage with the legend.
Alana grew up with the Johnny Cash-type music, and has been an up-close and personal witness of the transition country music’s made. Not long ago she struck up a conversation with a neighboring passenger while traveling on an airplane. Her neighbor said that the only type of music she didn’t like was country. Alana, getting that sort of thing all the time, asked her new friend if she listened to Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts or Taylor Swift. The lady loved all of those artists. Alana then took the pleasure of telling her, “Then you like country music.”
“It’s really fun to see how mainstream country music has become, and how people are embracing it. I think they embrace it for the stories, because it’s a big storyteller. That’s what the songs do. They tell stories.”
Randy joined in the conversation then. It was like being in the middle of one of their shows in the morning.
“You know the old joke about country music where all they do is sing about some tragedy, like someone’s dog dies? Well, you know what? People’s dogs die. That’s real life. And you know what? People get married, and they get divorced and they break up and they lose people and they have burdens. I mean, let’s face it; most people aren’t going to the club and making it rain every Friday night. That’s not where most people live. Most people are putting food on the table and raising kids. Quite frankly, I think that’s why country is so hugely popular.”
“When we say country music has changed, it seems like it’s almost cyclical. When I was a kid, my parents listened to stuff like Merle Haggard, but then country became very pop for a while. Kenny Rogers, John Denver, they were doing some crossover stuff. Then it became very traditional again with Garth Brooks and Randy Travis. Now, it’s doing a bit more of a pop thing again. Even though the sound changes, the thing that’s consistent is the storytelling. It’s all still the same thing. The same things people have been singing about since Hank Williams.”
Alana said, “...Looking at it from a socioeconomic point of view, you look at where the economy is, and you see the majority of the people who are listening to country music now are in their thirties and like that. Back in the 90’s we were listening to Garth Brooks, and people are turning back to that. It’s almost a comfort, especially if you’re trying to go back a little bit and gain something.”
Dan Matthews joined in, here.
“The kind of sad thing about the ‘traditional’ country format is that it doesn’t really become mainstream enough.”
Randy said, “What’s interesting is that when you think about that traditional sound, and it comes to some artists who you think will never cross over, boy have I been wrong.”
Dan: “…They’ve been doing those Crossroads shows, that’ve been a tremendous success. That’s where things like Jennifer Nettles with Bon Jovi stem from, Kenny Chesney with Steve Miller, the Zack Brown Band with Jimmy Buffett…Taylor Swift and Def Lepard didn’t make a lot of sense, though…”
“A few years back, Jessica Simpson was trying to make a run at country music,” added Randy, “It’s like everybody wants to play in our sandbox. And the funny thing about country is that we’re pretty accommodating. If you’re really sincere…”
“---But YOU have to be accommodating,” Alana chimed in, “Jessica Simpson didn’t make it because she was still ‘Jessica Simpson’ at the end of the day. Darius Rucker makes it, because he had a huge success with Hootie and the Blowfish, but then as soon as he crossed over into country, he started just like any other rookie would. He went to radio stations; he played gigs for free. He did the grass-roots thing.”
Randy: “He golfed with Tiger Woods and was making…Hootie and the Blowfish ruled the planet for a brief period of time. He’ll never have to work again if he doesn’t want to. He was doing free shows all over the place. We love that guy. And he’s HUGE, now. I think he’s one of our core artists in modern country radio.”
I was catching onto the pattern, here. Last year when I started to write for the Stampede, I was worried that I wouldn’t be accepted by the ‘rodeo crowd’. That worry was unfounded; the people were warm and welcoming. A tip an insider gave me, though, was this: Don’t go out and buy a new pair of boots. Don’t wear jeans you don’t normally wear. If there’s one thing these people don’t like, it’s a fake. I mentioned this to the WowTeam, and they heartily agreed.
“When it comes to being genuine…we were actually just talking about that,” Dan Matthews told me, “We were talking about cowboy hats. When it comes to us, there’s not a cowboy in this country music station. I was born and raised in Arkansas and have country roots that go deep, but if I wear a cowboy hat…you know? I just don’t look good in tight jeans, you know? I learned early on that you show up someplace wearing a cowboy hat, they’re gonna smell you out.”
Alana told us that at the ACM Awards, Jay Leno was one of the presenters, and he got up there in a cowboy hat, just because it was the Country Music Awards.
“Show up how you are!” was her sage advice.
“When you say genuine, that hits it on the head,” Dan said, “That’s the thing about the music, the radio station, that’s what we try to be from top to bottom. It’s sincere. There’s no smoke and mirrors. This is what we are.”
Randy was nodding, “I was talking to Alana this morning about the research they’ve been doing on the millennial generation. When they were testing people on the music they liked, people were initially shocked that those tested loved Eminem just as much as they did George Strait. When doing more in-depth research, it was not necessarily the music that they liked, but it was the fact that they were both genuine. They’re the real thing, and they’ve never changed who they were. I think that’s what people love about country music more than anything. It’s real.”
Alana agreed. “We’re at an age of reality. Reality TV; that’s what people crave. People want to find their ‘authentic selves’---which is a total therapy term--- and I’ve been to enough, so I know that!” (Laughs)
Songs about real life, being genuine and showing up how you are. That’s what we love about country.
Thanks Program Director Lisa Adams, Dan Matthews, Jesse James, Randy and Alana, and Moob for your time. These are some very ‘real’ people (and cow).
Wow.
For photos of this adventure, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amy_larson/with/5940845518/
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