The only thing I knew about Craig Campbell before seeing him at the Bing Lounge were his two singles, "Family Man" and "Fish". I like both songs, so I was interested to see and learn more about Craig; I wasn't disappointed.
Acoustic shows are great, because you get to really hear an artist's voice, without all the other things that can clog up a recording or performance. Craig Campbell definitely has a great voice. His style and sound harkens back to the country music of the late 80's, early 90's. Not a big surprise when you learn that was Craig's favorite era for country. When asked, he said his biggest influence from then is Travis Tritt. Just my opinion, I think Craig could easily reach Travis' level of fame, or higher.
Watching Craig in the Bing Lounge, it was easy to see he has a great sense of humor, as evidenced by a couple of songs he did, "I Bought It", and "When I Get It". As much as I love the song "Fish", I think these two songs have become my new favorites of Craig's music.
Speaking of "Family Man", Craig knows about this first hand, as he's a husband and dad to two little girls. Craig told a story about how before his first child was born he was positive the baby would be a boy. With that inspiration in mind, Craig wrote a song about his yet unborn child, "My Little Cowboy". Of course, when his first child was born, it was a girl, but Craig was okay with that.
After the concert, Craig took time to sign autographs and take pictures with anyone wanting one; even though he did have a plane he had to catch. Sometimes, when you see and hear someone on a stage, they're different when you meet them in person; not Craig. Even though he was under a time crunch, Craig took the time with each person, and was very nice to everyone who met him.
To be honest, I've seen a lot of great performances in the Bing Lounge, and met a lot of artists who are really nice. Of all of them though, I think Craig Campbell is the one that's impressed me the most so far; enough that I went and bought is CD on my way home that day.
If you ever get a chance to see Craig Campbell in concert, do; you won't be disappointed!
In another blog I mentioned how I don’t like “cookie cutter” voices.Those artists who are so generic you can’t tell one from the other.They could be interchangeable on any song played on the radio, and I doubt anyone would know the difference.
I also said how I like voices that stand out. The minute you hear a song, even if you’ve never heard it before, you instantly know who’s singing.To me, that makes the music on the radio much more interesting.It adds flavor to what would otherwise be bland and boring.
Then there are the newer artists who’ve come on the scene lately.It seems there are quite a few that sound like other, established artists.The person most people think of first is Easton Corbin.
Easton has always been compared to George Strait; which he doesn’t like.In some ways, I understand why he resents the comparison.He’s a new artist who wants to make his career based on his own merits.Yet, he keeps being compared to George Strait; those are big shoes to fill, especially as a new artist.
On the other hand, in this case, I see it as a compliment to Easton also.To me, George Strait seems to have a wide range of styles he plays off of.So, if people are comparing Easton Corbin to George Strait, which style?If it’s all of them, I see that as a good thing. It’s worked for George, why wouldn’t it work for Easton?I’m not sure there will ever be another George Strait, but there are worse artists Easton Corbin could be compared to.
Awhile back KUPL was playing a song, “If I Run”, by the Harters.Until I looked the song up, I would have sworn it was Steel Magnolia.Even though both acts are new to country music, Steel Magnolia is known a bit more than the Harters.The nice exception to thinking the Harters and Steel Magnolia sound alike is, neither have that cookie cutter sound.
Then there’s Joey+Rory.I’d heard music by them before, most notably, “Cheater, Cheater”.They’re another duo without a generic sound.However, the first few times I heard the song, “That’s Important to Me”, I thought the Judds had put out new music.The song has the Judds “feel” to it, and Joey’s voice, (on this song at least), sounds like the Judds. I like that this song has that “familiar” sound to it; yet Joey+Rory still have their own style and sound.
On the subject of of acts sounding like others, but only on some songs, there’s the Dirt Drifters.Every time I would hear “Something Better” on the radio, I thought it was Toby Keith.I wondered why Toby had two songs out at the same time. When I found out it was the Dirt Drifters, and that they were going to be in Portland, I HAD to see them.I wanted to know firsthand whether all their songs sounded like Toby Keith, or just that one.I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Dirt Drifters are a very talented band, with their own distinct sound.They did say that others had thought their first single sounded like Toby Keith, and they were okay with that.They took it as a compliment that people wanted to find out more about them, because of the comparison.
On a slightly different path of voice comparisons, there’s Glen Templeton.This new country artist definitely has his own style and sound, and is great at what he does.At one point in time though, Glen was the star in the traveling play about Conway Twitty’s life.He had been personally chosen by Twitty’s family for the role, because he sounded so much like Conway.
Right now, KUPL is playing a song by Bradley Gaskin called, “Mr. Bartender”.The first time I heard it, I instantly thought of Travis Tritt in his early days.Yet, while the song reminds me of Tritt, Gaskin actually does hold his own, with his own sound, on the song.
And then there’s this year’s American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery.McCreery definitely has his own style and voice, as evidenced by his single, “I Love You This Big”.While on Idol though, his “signature” song was Josh Turner’s “Your Man”.Scotty was a dead ringer for Josh Turner; which was especially noticeable when Turner showed up to sing the song with Scotty at McCreery’s homecoming concert for American Idol.
I think there will always be comparisons of groups and artists in all genres of music.Whether it’s someone like Easton Corbin, who has that “voice” all the time; or it’s a band, like the Dirt Drifters, who just happen on one song to sound like another artist, the comparisons will always be there.
Likewise, whether, like Corbin, artists resent the comparison, or like the Dirt Drifters, embrace it; there will always be both as long as there’s music in the world.
