"..When You're FIFTEEN..and Somebody Tells You They Love You...You Accept The Awards, For Heaven's Sake..."

Ain't no gettin' around it.

This whole Taylor Swift thing is phenomenal.

"...phenomenon (n.)

somebody or something that is, or considered to be, truly extraordinary and marvelous; something that is out of the ordinary and excites people's interest and curiousity..."

That sounds about right.

Of course, purists continue to grouse that Taylor's work is about as "real" country music as Olivia Newton John.

The 1974 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, by the way.

I don't have much interest in getting into the whole "pure/not pure" discussion.

And I think the grousers miss the point.

The point is that the point is moot.

If you're a country music fan and you love to listen to Taylor Swift and you hear Taylor Swift on country radio, then, to you, Taylor Swift is "real" country.

And if country radio didn't think that you think Taylor was "real" country, we wouldn't be playing her on our shows.

Taylor's job is to make music and sell CD's.

My job is to get you to listen to me play music.

We're both doing our jobs.

Admittedly, she's getting a lot more adoration.

And a whole lot more money.

What's up with that, by the way?

I mean, come on, Taylor's a good kid and works pretty hard, I'm sure, but I bet she don't get up at 3:30 AM and drag it in here to get your day started with some hits and ha-has.

And Kanye West probably doesn't even know who I am.

That don't seem right.

Anyway, I think the "real/not real" country music discussion is, at best, a hair split activity and, at worst, an exercise in futility.

And by way of offering a little solstice on the hurt the "real" country music purists feel with this whole incursion of "pop" singers on 16th Avenue, Nashville, let me just say this...

"Phenomenon" has an additional definition...

"an occurance that can be observed.."

And occurances don't necessarily gurantee re-occurances.

Jury's still out and Taylor Swift may be around making music and winning CMA/ACM/etc awards for decades to come.

Or she could also end up like the 1996 CMA Best New Artist of the Year award winner.

Bryan White.

Who?

Exactly.