Friday, August 8, 2025
Time: 8:50 PM
Song: Mountain Music
Artist: Alabama
Mode of Consumption: Played by the cover band “Blue Steel” at the Carroll County Fair.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7BjmEKAVTnJNkRNaUzBy2K?si=e2593178fa174cc2
This was the second consecutive year that Blue Steel was the main attraction on Friday night at the Carroll County Fair. They are a cover band, a pretty good one.
The trouble with music acts for small fairs is that to get an act that will draw a crowd, you have to pay said act more than they will draw in, most likely. That’s been an issue for nearly thirty years. Its roots are good. Getting artists and the crews that travel them the money they deserve after years where musicians and the army of people touring with them were basically controlled by record companies and paid comparatively little.
The problem is fairs have small budgets, generally, and so that means they have one of two choices.
They can pay a small act who might have had a hit at one time in the last twenty-some years, or possibly an act that is building toward having a hit, and will likely not draw that big of a crowd. The fair did that for the better part of two decades with mostly low-level country artists. Or, you get a cover band, who isn’t likely to draw a huge crowd, but will at least play songs people know.
It’s amazing to think that in the seventies and eighties, people like Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, The Statler Brothers, and Tom T. Hall came to Milledgeville, Illinois. It’d be great if something could shift in the music industry to bring brand named acts to small communities.
This year Blue Steel played a pretty country-heavy set until the second hour of their show, and being sort of a novice country music listener, it was hit-or-miss with me in terms of knowing the songs.
I know this Alabama hit. It made me think maybe we should do a “Mountain” playlist for the Pandemonium.
Some came to my mind right away.
- “Misty Mountain Hop” by Led Zeppelin.
- “Mountain Sound” by Of Monsters and Men
- “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.
Stay tuned to the Pandemonium this coming week, I think this will be the topic.
No comments:
Post a Comment