When The Why Still Remains
In which Joe overthinks about authenticity and change.
Typically, the first post of January serves a dual purpose. It is a little bit of backwards looking retrospection, as well as future projection. That piece is still in the cards. Perhaps it will evolve into its final form near the end of January, but most likely closer to February, given its half finished state. The blog has been fairly consistent with monthly output, so instead of waiting to get that piece out, I'm going to try to provide something of interest to the audience in the meantime.
Raise your hand if the name Canaan Smith sounds familiar to you….. I can’t imagine most of you have your hands up right now….. Aside from a somewhat memorable name, there's not all that much about Canaan Smith that likely brings many memories to arise in your head. He had approximately one full-size hit with the bro-country hit, "Love You Like That".
2015 was truly the dregs of the bro-country era. Aside from that brief moment in the sun, not much else Smith has put out has been successful. In fact, not long after the album that it was on, "Bronco," fell off the charts, he was dropped from his label. He resurfaced in 2021 with a album entitled "High Country Sound," which was a radical reinvention of the sound of Canaan Smith, and in truth, serves as a notable-to-me-but-probably-not-many-others harbinger of the popular organic trends that were yet to come. This transition was doubly interesting considering history. Canaan Smith was a songwriter signed to the Florida Georgia Line owned Tree Vibez songwriting team (yes, that is spelled with a Z, like I said, truly the dregs of the bro country era). And then in 2019, he even joined their brand new record label as a recording artist.
This history made it all the more surprising that Smith’s first album with them, which mind you, was produced by Corey Crowder, the late stage Florida Georgia Line post Joey Moi producer, was a very organic, neo-traditional inspired approach to country music. It was quite enjoyable. Sure, it wasn't a perfect album by any stretch. Even though Smith is a songwriter, that component definitely needed some work. But all in all, it was an enjoyable production. But more importantly, it got me thinking.
One can easily ask the question, why does an artistic transition work? An artist shows up, puts out something remarkably different than his prior material, and makes claims for this to be super authentic. Do we buy it? Often not. Many times the label of “sell out“ gets slapped onto the artist and they will struggle in the aftermath. Heck, this is exactly what happened with Pat Green and it took him a long time to rehabilitate his image in Texas. This is a question I struggle with regarding the brand new iteration of Chase Rice, who is a similar, albeit more commercially successful story as Mr. Canaan Smith. But then other times, we are all-in on the changes. The typical explanation is that this is an authentic transition. This evidently is sufficient reason for us to now enjoy the music without any snobbish qualms.
But realistically the question still remains. Using Smith as a stand in, I would like to ask why drastic change sometimes works and sometimes not. Is it because, in this instance, the switch was to a more organic, rural and raw sound? Certainly possible. Country and roots music is often perceived as being inherently more authentic, and playing into that trope can aid in the perception of authenticity. But this is obviously not a universal rule. If Rascal Flatts wanted to make a comeback album that sounded like a bunch of Zach Bryan demos, rest assured that we would consider it to be a pandering inauthentic transition.
Most of the time when pressed, we would just say it feels authentic, and in the case of Canaan Smith and my specific perception of his music, this shift does feel more authentic. The bothersome aspect of that response is that as a critic, I am very aware that it is an incomplete and broadly insufficient answer so long as the critical “Why?” can still be asked.
This “Why” question is simple. Why does this feel more authentic? This lack of really getting to the bottom of “why” is a common flaw in today's short form critical landscape. An anodyne sentence, saying something as dark and stormy night generic as “the more upbeat number suits the song”, does a very mediocre job explaining how, in fact, the quicker tempo of the kickdrums emphasizes the staccato delivery of the lyrics. One of these just states, the other attempts to explain. So, simply saying something is “more authentic” isn't sufficient. We need to get down to the bottom of WHY is it more authentic?
Well, you might be disappointed. In this three year old case of Canaan Smith, my honest answer is I just don't know. Here are the facts on the ground. I was vaguely aware of Smith in his bro country era. I had heard of Love You Like That, and my perception of him as an artist was entirely constructed because of that era of his music. Then in 2021, I heard a song called Cold As You and was utterly shocked when I realized who the artist was.
I then eagerly waited for a new record to drop, and it was remarkably different, and greatly enjoyed. After some time in my rotation, my perception of Smith had changed. Instead of a country guy cosplaying as a rural, organic styled singer, when I went back and heard of that original perspective creating bro country music, it now felt utterly inauthentic. Maybe I just fell for the more organic equals more authentic trope. Nashville, you got me.
However, upon further digging, I made a discovery that almost works as an answer. In 2012, a much younger, oddly Linus Tech Tips looking Canaan Smith released a single.
This is the missing link, the connective tissue between the before times and post pandemic, organic Smith. Sonically, this independent release sounds remarkably comparable to the material he's been putting out recently. Yes, it might use a drum kit (jury is out if that is a cost cutting measure or an attempt to tap into some micro-trend of late 2000 country), but it is full of proper country instruments such as steel guitar and fiddle. The melodies and rhythms are much more in tune with what one would expect from country music, rather than the hip-hop inflections of his bro country material. If presented with this track in 2012, and then 8-10 years later, a more mature, but essentially similar palette in his post pandemic releases, it would feel like a smooth, gradual, and linear growth pattern. There's no way for me to have known this, because I was not aware of who Canaan Smith was in 2012, but somehow, discovering this early career song years later validates the perception of what authentic Canaan Smith music sounds like.
I'm not entirely sure this is a reasonable approach, because at the time of my perceptions being created, I was entirely unaware of his history and yet still felt it was "more authentic." At this point, I throw up my hands and suggest maybe, somehow, I was able to instinctively suss out some ineffable and unexplainable quality of authenticity that seeps through the speakers when an artist is in sync culturally and emotionally with his material. Just because something is unquantifiable doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It just means it's a lot harder to define it. So I'm leaving off with a question.
This is somewhat frustrating. As a critic, I view my role as taking the emotions felt during music, the connections that are drawn between us and art, and attempting to figure out why these connections are created. The root of the whole good music, bad music, generic music, and interesting music conversation that critics are so overly focused on is the distinct connections our brains make with these pretty sounds produced by other people. Sometimes the reason why is very simple. The reason why He Stopped Loving Her Today hits people so emotionally is because it is a very sad song that touches on some very real human emotions (love, death etc…) that is presented by a master vocalist and emotive interpreter. Other times, I’m left with the question. I admit this emotion exists, but I cannot think of a reasonable explanation. Perhaps a theory, but nothing more.
Anyhow, Canaan Smith is scheduled to release an album at the end of the week and it is the first album of the year I am excited for, although I did hear good things about Josh Ward. Title track is a cool vibe.
Thanks for reading
-Joe