Dr. Barnabas T. Bynum's New School Musical Revue and Travelling Minstrel Show

Somebody please give me a roundhouse kick to the head and a judo chop to the solar plexus for continuing to watch this debacle of an awards show. Every year I watch, and every year I'm dissappointed. And it's not like my expectations are that high. The faces keep getting younger and younger, and the old folks put out to pasture. All except for George Strait, who I suppose is still making mucho dinero for his corporate taskmasters. Even after picking up his umpteenth award, he looked a bit uncomfortable and ill at ease in this crowd of twenty and thirty somethings. Maybe he just wanted to hit the casinos (this awards show being presented from Las Vegas). When he first started his career, George was a breath of fresh air. It's hard to have a better debut album with songs such as "Amarillo By Morning", and "Marina Del Rey". The rest of the songs on that album are all keepers too. But somewhere along the way, everything went to hell. George started singing about firemen putting out old flames and about exes living in Texas. And supposedly George (since he's not a songwriter himself) was receiving the best songs the Nashville writing establishment had to offer. I guess it's nice to have fans who require so little from you. In any event, the show must go on even as it gets further and further from its rural, Appalachian, acoustic roots. Now and then, there is a rare tip of the hat to some genuine old time trailblazer who shares nothing in common with the current crop of country artists. Probably the low point of the night occurred when Toby Keith (Hank Williams Jr. lite) jumped on stage to perform a song about a maintenance man and a high maintenance woman. He was joined onstage by a bouncing bevy of scantily clad beauties wearing hard hats. Now I like my bouncing bevy of women scantily clad, but please if this is the best you can do take me back to the good old days of "Hee Haw" and "The Dukes of Hazzard". As you have noticed, with the exception of George Strait, I haven't mentioned winners or losers or even any of the nominating categories. From my standpoint, why should we even care. For after all, the real losers are the true fans of roots and country music. But maybe the true believers aren't losers after all, we just have to look a little harder for the music we love. Our kind of music just moved to a different genre. It's called "Americana". Just go to your favorite music store and ask for it. You might get a blank stare from the clueless clerk but it's there if even in a small dimly lit corner in back of the store. Better yet, search the web. An astounding world of new music (an old) will open up to you.