Neotraditional country

Neotraditional country
George Strait, considered the founder of the neotraditional movement,[1] performing in 2013.
Other names	New traditional country hardcore country
Stylistic origins	spiritual music blues rockabilly bluegrass music Western
Cultural origins	Southeastern and Southwestern United States in the late 1970s-early 1980s
Subgenres
Lubbock sound
Fusion genres
Americana music alternative country country blues cowpunk
Local scenes
Tennessee West Virginia Kentucky New Mexico Texas Bakersfield, California

Neotraditional country (also known as new traditional country and hardcore country^[2]) is a country music style that emphasizes the instrumental background and a traditional country vocal style. Neotraditional country artists often dress in the fashions of the country music scene of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, George Strait, Randy Travis, and Toby Keith are commonly associated with this style of music.^[3] Western music performers of neotraditional style music often emphasize their heritage genres, examples include those associated with the late Al Hurricane in New Mexico music,^[4][5] and modern honky-tonk bands like Midland in the Texas country music scene.^[6][7]

History

Neotraditional country rose to popularity in the mid-1980s, a few years after the so-called "

In 1981, George Strait had made his musical debut with the album Strait Country. The album was based on an approach towards traditional country music and its subgenres of honky tonk, Western swing, and the Bakersfield sound. The album was considered a sharp contrast to the then current trends of country music, at the time relying on the "urban cowboy" country-pop scene.^[9] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine observed:

And that's the genius of Strait Country—it showed how it was possible to be planted firmly in traditional country yet flexible enough to play softer stuff without losing that hardcore stance ... by blending the hardcore honky tonk, Western swing and Bakersfield country with a few melodic ballads that weren't designed for the barroom, he set the template for years and years of modern country.^[9]

It is with Strait Country that George Strait is credited with starting the neotraditional movement.^[1]

In the early 1980s, Ricky Skaggs, a picking prodigy who took his inspiration from Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley (Skaggs was a Clinch Mountain Boy as a teen), began making music that he believed brought country back to its roots; Skaggs' style drew heavily on country's bluegrass vein.

Another neotraditional country artist was one of Skaggs' friends and former band-mate,

As the mid-1980s approached, the pop country of the early 1980s was rapidly falling out of popularity as the Second British Invasion and MTV revolution took hold of American pop music, and country music sales overall had fallen to levels not seen since disco.^[10] The promotion of traditional country sounds was in part a retrenchment to appeal to the base of country music fans who remained loyal to the genre.

Neo-traditionalism, to a certain extent, fell out of favor in approximately 1991, when Billboard removed record sales from its country chart^[11] and a new brand of popular country music exploded into mainstream popularity, led in large part by Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, and Reba McEntire (who merged neotraditionalist styles, with stadium rock-influences). Despite this shift, of the acts that were still popular in the 1980s, more of the neo-traditional artists survived the shift into the 1990s than did those who did pop country in the 1980s tradition; Travis, Keith, Strait, McEntire, Loveless and newcomer Alan Jackson stayed true to the neo-traditional sound and continued to have mainstream success alongside their newer, more pop-oriented rivals.

In 2000, Strait and Jackson, both of whom remain popular as of the early 2020s, recorded a song titled "