Carrie Underwood Shows Fakers Like Beyoncé How Country Music Is Supposed To Sound
For all you newcomers to country music – including the Beyoncé and Post Malone crossover fans who swear their stuff is the greatest thing since sliced break – take a seat. Sit down. Put those listening ears on. Take notes. Take it all in.
I'm about to show you a couple of true legends of the country music world. Randy Travis and Carrie Underwood. Two of the best to ever do it. Obviously, Randy belongs in his own category. He's an actual legend. In the flesh. Carrie will get there, but she's still too young.
But Randy? He's country music royalty. He also suffered a stroke decades ago, which basically ended his music career until very recently thanks to the power of AI. True story.
Anyway, Carrie Underwood made a rare non-Sunday Night Football appearance on NBC Wednesday night to pay tribute to Randy during the 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry, and if you left the performance wondering how in the hell Beyoncé won a Grammy for Best Country Album last month … you're not alone!
This is country music, boys and girls:
This is how it's done
My God. It doesn't get much better than Carrie Damn Underwood. I know some y'all grew up on Loretta and Dolly and Patsy.
I grew up on Shania, Gretchen, Martina, and, of course, Carrie. What a show. What a tribute. Look at Randy's face the whole time. The guy is having the time of his life.
And the end? Chills. Good Lord. What a moment. Again, Randy Travis has struggled to talk – much less sing – since the stroke in 2013. And here's the kicker: guess who invited Carrie to the Grand Ole Opry wayyyyyyyyyyyy back in 2008?
Yep. Randy Travis.
See? It all comes full circle in country music, folks. That's the beauty of it. Until, of course, you have folks like Beyoncé crash the party, dress up as cowgirl, and call herself a country singer. After that, it all sort of loses its luster.
This is real country music, in a real country setting. This is what made the genre so great. This is what it needs to get back to.
I sound Boomerish, but I really don't care. You can't listen to THAT performance, and then tell me things haven't gone downhill over the past few years. We've gone from Randy and Carrie singing Three Wooden Crosses to … Texas Hold 'Em.
See what I mean? I reckon there's more than one way to skin a cat, and that's what we have in country music right now.
You have folks like Carrie Underwood keeping the old-school way of doing things alive and well – just like Randy! And then you have pop stars like Beyoncé and Post Malone coming in and doing things a little bit different.
Choose your fighter. It's an easy call for me.
Now, here's Randy Travis' new song, with an assist from the AI world of robots.
Let's go have a big Thursday.