Madeline Edwards

One Liner: Powerful voice and questionably country pop music

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'd call this country pop and R&B

Home: Nashville (originally from Houston)

Poster Position: small Type 
Sunday.

Thoughts:  I had this thought as I was working my way through Pillbox Patti yesterday, about what exactly makes music considered "country."  Because this similarly does not sound like country to me.  She's got the powerful voice of an R&B singer, singing rock songs and pop ballads.  So, just for fun, let's dig in to that question.

The dictionary says: "a form of popular music originating in the rural southern US. It is traditionally a mixture of ballads and dance tunes played characteristically on fiddle, guitar, steel guitar, drums, and keyboard."  Another definition, which I think is better, says this: "a style and genre of largely string-accompanied American popular music having roots in the folk music of the Southeast and cowboy music of the West, usually vocalized, generally simple in form and harmony, and typified by romantic or melancholy ballads accompanied by acoustic or electric guitar, banjo, violin, and harmonica.”

But there has to more to it than that, because I remember some hubbub last year when the Grammys said that Kacey Musgraves newest album couldn't be considered in the Country Music genre, or when Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" shot up the Hot Country chart only to get stripped from the charts by Billboard.  On the other hand, one of the most popular country chart songs of 2019 was Florida Georgia Line's "Meant to Be," which doesn't sound country in any way.  Taylor Swift shifted from pure country to arena pop, but the Billboard Country chart still let songs like "We Are Never Getting Back Together" reside in the charts.  Some of the articles I have pulled up today are blaming this on racism or sexism.  That Lil Nas X was yanked because he's black, or that Musgraves lost out on a potential win for Country Album of the Year because she had won two times before and the powers that be wanted a male to win (despite one of the album's songs somehow being up for Country Song of the Year).  Not sure I buy that last one, women won album of the year in 19, 20, and 21, and 3/5 of the albums nominated this year are women.

Anyway, regarding young Madeline, know that these songs are not especially simple, and while some of them have electric guitar, there isn't much in the way of fiddle, banjo, or harmonica.  I don't really get the idea of calling this country music in any traditional sense of the word.  And if you search for her name on Wikipedia, you get a Canadian ice dancer.  Which, it would be really funny if this singer was an ex-Canadian ice dancer...

She appeared on a single by the Highwomen, which feels like some country bona fides.  She also just recently sang at the CMAs.  An article I just read in the Tennessean claims she is in "country's mainstream."  SO maybe I'm just the one who doesn't hear it.

Her top song is "The Road," which comes off like a new-school Evangelical number over the top of a keyboard's jenkiest beat.  6.6 million streams.

Like, nothing in that at all makes me think country music.  Not the lyrics, not the instruments, not the style, just nothing at all.  It is a pretty song - I'm all about God helping me carry the load when I can't do it on my own.  But I'm still just confused how this is in the country mainstream.  

A couple EPs and singles, but just one real album, 2022's Crashlanded.  Some of the old stuff is straight R&B.  The big tune from it is "Hold My Horses," with 1.2 million streams.

Okay, guitar and lyrics about horses.  That seems like country!  I don't know why I am hung up on this issue, but yeah, this one sounds like country in the way that some of Chris Stapleton's soaring rock ballads do.  I could see this tune being used on Yellowstone while the cowboys try to break some new ponies.  Rock and roll, baby.  But yeah, that one is much more country-styled than most of those Pillbox Patti tunes that got me thinking about this in the first place.  "Why I'm Calling" is a lovely little piano ballad.  "Spurs" is a brash little threat of a song.  The album is up and down, but overall it is good.  Just not really my style of music that I'd aim for - like country pop & rhythm.