I think when you listen to Today's Country music, you in a sense are listening to 70's pop music, with Country Lyrics.  The announcement today of the death of Sammy Johns exemplifies that 'Large Time'.

Go down the list of today's hot country hits and you can hear the influence in the songwriting down to the way songs are produced now days.

Wanted by Hunter Hayes would have sounded great back in the day on KFYR-AM or at night on KOMA or WLS. Songs like Luke Bryan with Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye would have fit right in.  El Cerrito Place by Kenny Chesney would have been monster hits.

A good song, is a good song in any era.  That's what the so called experts say.  Beer with Jesus by Thomas Rhett, can you imagine Waylon Jennings doing that song?  I can.  Better Dig Two by Tanya Tucker?  You see where I'm going.

People write, 'how they were influenced'.  Right now, most of the successful songwriters 'lean in the direction' of the way they were raised and what they were listening to when they were younger.

Sammy John's passing really shows it.  Sammy Kershaw had a mild hit with Chevy Van but it was a 'sound from the 70's that I'm talking about.

When I hear Gary Allan's Every Storm Runs Out of Rain, I'm suddenly a 'lost' 15 year old struggling with life going into high school.  To me, it's a 70's sound.  That's probably why I love it so much.

When we heard that Darius Rucker is releasing Wagon Wheel a remake of an Old Crow Medicine Show I said it again.  70's pop sound!  Bob Dylan wrote it.  And even though 'he' might not of thought of it as a pop song, it has that 70's slant lean and feel.

Yes, we lost Sammy Johns, but we also lost a songwriter who had a feel for what country music was going to sound like.  35 years later.

 

LYRICS: I gave a girl a ride in my wagon
She crawled in and took control
She was tired 'cause her mind was a-draggin'
I said, get some sleep and dream of rock and roll

'Cause like a picture she was layin' there
Moonlight dancin' off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
She's gonna love me in my Chevy van
And that's all right with me

Her young face was like that of an angel
Her long legs were tanned and brown
Better keep your eyes on the road, son
Better slow this vehicle down

'Cause like a picture she was layin' there
Moonlight dancin' off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
She's gonna love me in my Chevy van
And that's all right with me

I put her out in a town that was so small
You could throw a rock from end to end
A dirt-road main street, she walked off in bare feet
It's a shame I won't be passin' through again

'Cause like a picture she was layin' there
Moonlight dancin' off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
We made love in my Chevy van
And that's all right with me

'Cause like a picture she was layin' there
Moonlight dancin' off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
We made love in my Chevy van
And that's all right with me

 

 

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