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MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 31: RASCAL FLATTS

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If you were to tell me a year ago that one of my frequented genres of music over the year would be country music, I’d tell you to rack off, laugh in your face, and say ‘you got the wrong guy’. No seriously, prior to this year, I was dead-set opposed to quite possibly a lot of things country- except for a few Carrie Underwood songs here and there. For me, I assumed what country music would be and what it would be like. I didn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole, and so when the time came for me to compile a 100 top influential artist’s list, it was always interesting and eye-opening to say the least, whenever a country artist came around. Now here I am in October, 30 blog entries into this year-long (and most certainly longer!) project, and I’ve listened to my fair share of country music in that time period- Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, The McClymonts, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, even some odd few Kelly Clarkson songs. And what is my assessment of country music as of right now? It’s not too bad. In fact, the country that is indeed influential today, the artists that have left a stamp on music history- their music’s not that bad. Now my opinion about country music from people who are up-and-coming today may be a different story, and maybe I won’t be a great judge of artists of the ‘new’ country music. Nevertheless, what I have observed about country music from the 1990s/2000s (much of the country artists I’ve heard are from that particular era!), is the authentic and emotive nature of the songs and melodies. And now here in my 31st entry, I’ve decided to unpack yet another country artist- this time, trio Rascal Flatts have been blasted through my ears through the last week or so. In this short, albeit quick time that I have been able to make an holistic judgement, I’ve come to enjoy and appreciate the band and their undertakings of songs that are fun, but also songs that mean something too. A group that is standing tall in country music today, I’ve been further reminded of how real, honest, and emotive such a genre as this can get, and that my assumptions about country were dead wrong. A reminder that all of us can be better people whenever we assume less; Rascal Flatts are indeed a band to check out if you enjoy more older-school country music, artists who would’ve started out in the early 2000s than the artists currently in the Billboard charts today!

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MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 30: STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN

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I love music, I love being a student of music. Now at this point in my life, creatively and my journey musically, I’m still learning, and growing and still a student. I’m still listening to music and when music moves me or inspires me, I try and figure out what it is about that, that moved me and I try to learn from that and incorporate that into what I’m doing creatively. At this point in my life I still think there are things that I have to say that can be very relevant hopefully to millennials and to all of us because there are real connecting points. Yeah there are some things that are unique to our different age brackets but there’s a whole lot more that’s real common ground. I’m trying to stay real connected to that and find that common ground.
When I first started, Christian music was pretty narrowly defined. You’d have your crazy people out there like Steve Taylor who was doing punk rock music but for the most part if you really looked at what was considered Christian music at the time it was pretty inspirational. Even the singer-songwriters weren’t even as prevalent. There were songs that were kind of hymns, big productions, beautiful great songs but it was more narrowly defined as far as what Christian music was. As time has gone on, you had DC Talk come along and said ‘let’s take rap music’- it’s an art form and it’s a style that a lot of people really connect with, let’s take that and use it to proclaim truth and use it to speak messages that are redemptive, and faith filled messages to encourage people. [Now] you have everything from singer-songwriters to rappers to all kinds of different styles and different genres. I think that has grown and also the quality of the music.
In the early days we fought a lot against Christian music being viewed as a sub par. The production wasn’t as good, we didn’t have as much money to try and spend to make the kind of record that they were making in pop and rock ‘n’ roll music. But over the time as the genre has grown and more and more people have connected with it and bought the records and supported the infrastructure, the more and more we were able to really make better quality music, with the sounds of the recording, which allowed it then to grow even more.

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Momentous Mondays: Influential artists of the next 5-10 years – Week 5: Rachel Platten

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I have never felt so free creatively. I wrote every single one of these songs without getting in the way and I let whatever needed to come through me just come. I didn’t judge my art or feel the need to please anyone but me and that freedom allowed my inner artist to run wild. I played with colors and sounds and rhythms and I didn’t adhere to any rules… I honestly just had so much fun making it.

I have never been more proud of anything I’ve created in my life. With Wildfire, I was trying to catch up to the massive success of “Fight Song.” I was on tour the entire time I was making it so it was a version of me that was, honestly, kind of exhausted, popping into the studio, listening to mixes in buses, airplane bathrooms, green rooms and doing my best to create while a little spun around. On Waves, I took an entire year off from touring and I just wrote songs and played.

I felt like I wanted to continue and do my part to give a message of hope through music and promote girl power. Even though we have a long way to go to get equality between men and women, we’re making progress, and when we lift each other up, that’s dope. ‘Broken Glass’ is kind of about that message…I think maybe a misconception people have about me from ‘Fight Song’ is that I’m always encouraging and always in a good mood and always positive — and that’s beautiful, I love that people think that, but it is not true. This album allowed me to go into some of the darker places in my mind, just because I needed the release and I needed that freedom to be honest with what I was feeling.

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MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 29: THE CORRS

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What determines if something is successful or dare I say, even influential? Can an artist be as influential as they can be, even if no one really notices? I say this because there has been a few artists on my list thus far that people can deem to be ‘controversial’- not in a sense that their lyrics and message can be questionable- far from it. But rather, artists like CCM/folk singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson, CCM band Tenth Avenue North, even the Aussie Country-trio The McClymonts, aren’t that well known outside of their particular niche, and yet, I’ve been impacted and touched by each of their careers in music thus far. They are influential, but in the grand scheme of things as to whether they are influential according to sales and people noticing these artists…well, they’re not. And maybe that’s ok. Criteria for influential artists can vary from artist to artist, and as I’ve gone through these weeks of delving into an artist each week, I’ve known and understood that I indeed don’t know that much, and it is in my honesty in admitting that the pool of music and artists are too big for even me to delve into fully, that I can truly appreciate the vast musical and sonic landscape for what it is- music artists who impact and affect different time periods and different genres. What I like may be different from what you like, and that’s ok. What I’ve grown up to label as influential to me may be totally different to you- and this is why I have my 20 artists that I’ve set aside that I will discuss later on, that I’m sure anyone who is anyone who loves music, can agree that these artists inside the 20 are indeed influential, without question!

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