How Hit Songs Become Hit Songs, and How You Can Help

I have a Brazilian fan. OK, Jason Michael Carroll has a Brazilian fan, but she calls me from Brazil on occasion and asks how she can help get JMC's music more airplay. Last week she asked for the inside scoop on how to make a song succeed, and I was happy to oblige. If nothing else, I felt I was promoting positive US/Brazilian relations.

But it's a long answer, so grab a Snickers bar.

There are 100-150 "reporting stations" in America. They're in bigger markets, usually in the Top 175 in terms of population. Raleigh is Market #42, I think New York or Chicago is #1. Not all country stations within these top markets "report," just the ones that kick butt (like QDR). By reporting, we're basically letting the two country chart services know what songs we play and when. So when you hear that a song is a #1 song, that means it's the most played song amongst those reporting stations. I think it was Thompson Square's “Are You Gonna' Kiss Me or Not” this week.

Fan Clubs often try to blitz these stations, which can be counter productive. We sniff out fan clubs a mile away. Often we'll go from 0 requests for a song, to about four dozen in a 36 hour period, and then back to 0 again. Often these fans are scattered across the country. Someone requesting a song from Green Bay, Wisconsin is not going to listen to QDR, so I don't really care about that request. Sometimes fan clubs get a little unruly and begin yelling and berating a DJ. This does not help an artist. He or she would be embarrassed to hear this is going on.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when a radio station does play the song you're looking for, they probably won't play it again for awhile, at least six hours if it's a very new song. We start all new songs off slowly. Even though it seems like we suddenly began playing Taylor Swift 14 times a day, there were weeks were we played her new song once or twice a day.

So, to answer Nic's question, fans and fan clubs can best help an artist gather airplay by sustaining support on a local level. That means requesting the songs, showing up for concerts and recruiting more fans. Also, get to know your local DJ, and understand that he/she is ultimately trying to play music that pleases a large slice of the listening audience for a long period of time.

If that doesn't work, I like Chic-Fil-a milkshakes and chocolate chip cookies.

I Like This New Trend...

Country artists have always been the most accessible of all styles of musicians, but it's getting ridiculous. Artists have taken to calling Music Directors at radio stations to say "Thanks for playing my song," or "I've got some new music coming, check it out."

It began with an email from Sara Evans.

On Monday Steve Azar dialed me up.

Today, Heidi Newfield called up to say "Holla!"

The problem is I haven't been in a position to talk, so I sent both Steve and Heidi to voicemail.

CURSES!!!

"Heidi, if you're reading this call me back. We'll chat about your new music and then, like, you know... whatever."

Maybe I'll make that a policy. No one is getting their song played on QDR until I get a personal phone call. Restraining orders be damned.

After Idol ends...

After American Idol wraps up, the winner will embark on the A.I. Tour, and then his or her own tour. I wouldn't buy a ticket for either.

The show is great for teaching young musicians how to handle media, improve musicality, and build confidence. It's lousy for teaching an artist how to work a stage. I know, they're on stage every week. But that performance is a concert as much as my set for Grandpa Walt and Grandma Virginia 20 years ago was a concert. It's familiar, safe, and most importantly short.

Shortly after Carrie Underwood won Idol, she opened for Kenny Chesney. I'm not exaggerating when I say she looked like a new born pony. Her legs trembled and she couldn't convince the crowd drink a beer if their lives depended on it, let alone clap their hands. The singing was good, but the performance was flat with a capital FLAT!

I saw her perform two songs 13 days ago. WOW!

Carrie has clearly worked hard to get better on stage. She walked out and owned the room. I was afraid of her after she finished with “Undo it,” but wanted to console her after “Jesus Take the Wheel.” Every ounce of her went into those songs and when the last guitar chord faded away the crowd of 1,000 exploded. Seasoned artists like Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw also took the stage that night. But it was Carrie who owned it.

Then she admitted she was sick. Are you kidding me?

American Idol may create a star, but the work he or she puts in afterward keep that star burning bright.

What I learned in Nashville...

I spent most of last week in Nashville. We had a work seminar, which is pretty much like any work seminar except country stars were at mine. I managed to escape without a hangover or the flu, and that puts me in a slim minority.

Here are five things I learned about the country music industry:

1. Ronnie Dunn is better as a solo artist

2. Carrie Underwood has turned into an amazing stage performer

3. Bradley Gaskin... remember that name

4. Record labels are still losing a lot of money and are still trying to fight the digital revolution

5. It is possible for a man with no arms to smoke a cigarette

I suppose I wrote some other stuff down to impress the bosses, but those are the five most important things.

JMC has a beef with Trace Adkins

In January, Jason Michael Carroll announced “Meet Me in the Barn” would be the lead single from his forthcoming album. It's a song about what happens in the hay loft when the cows aren't looking. There's a guy, and a girl and they sneak away to... well you get the gist of it. A great song that QDR DJ's were excited to play.

Suddenly Trace Adkins releases “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow.” Pretty much the same song, with a goofier hook. Jason wisely changed directions realizing there isn't room on country radio for two songs about making the rooster crow at sunset. Trace is the more established artist and stations (other than QDR) would choose his version over JMC's in the long run. No sense in sinking a lot of time and money into promoting a single that is doomed, right?

Last week, Trace apologized for releasing “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow.”

“Can ya'll give me a mulligan,” he asked an audience in Nashville.

Despite a hilarious video, radio stations and listeners took to his song like an egg on Teflon. It went SPLAT and quickly slid off the charts. Trace's caviler attitude suggests he didn't believe the song would work in the first place.

“Meet Me in the Barn” died with it, but fortunately JMC has plenty of good material to choose his next single from. I think Trace owes him one. Next time he's pitched a hit song, he needs to call our Youngsville star and offer it to him.

Or at least watch his kids for a night so Jason and his wife can have a nice night out together.

I'm pretty sure Hank wouldn't have done it this way...

Imagine you were a camera operator at country concert this summer. It was your job to capture fan footage. What would you look for?

Likely you'd search out fans who know all the words, or pretty girls with big brown puppy eyes swaying to the beat. If you could zoom out far enough, you'd include the ocean of hands in the air, swinging back and forth, and back and forth. And Back... and forth.

Unity.

From what I can gather from old concert footage, this type of stuff didn't happen 30 years ago.

I watched some old Waylon Jennings concert footage last week. His fans were possessed. Each acted out as if driven by a personal devil. Screaming and jumping and herky-jerky hand shakes that had no respect for the beat of the song or the people around them.

I recognize that my research is limited to old concert footage and it's possible that Waylon Jennings' production team didn't do as good of job syncing “B-Roll” with the music as we do today. But I suspect that somewhere along the way we lost our sense of identity within the concert experience. Allow me to expand on this... Does this sound familiar?

Artist: Hello Raleigh!!!

Crowd: Wooooooo....

Artist: How ya'll doin' tonight?!?!?

Crowd: Woooooo....

Artist: I can't hear you!!!

Crowd: WOOOOOOO!!!!

It's every concert you've ever been to. I doubt that three decades ago fans answered their artist's inquiry of well being with “Hmmm, not too bad. My daughter is teething, but it's Friday night and I've had a few beers. So I'm pretty good. How's by you?”

But I bet there weren't as many “Woo-girls/guys.”

How about another example? When was the last time you saw a sincere, genuinely unscripted encore? I'm not sure I've ever seen one. Sometimes an artist will just walk off the stage.

Like he's gonna' leave without saying goodbye.

So we cheer and stomp and pretend we don't know that concerts end at 11 pm, and it's only 10:45 and Skynyrd hasn't played “Free Bird” yet. Pay attention at the next concert you attend. You'll find the noise to be less urgent. We've all played the game too long to believe that our applause has anything to do with whether or not Kenny returns to the stage.

Waylon wouldn't have put up with that. If the crowd didn't make some dang noise he'd have said “Screw it!” and went and found an open bottle of whiskey.