#Willie lambert

[sammaggs]

Canadian Name References Round-Up

due South Stacked Rewatch | Episodes 1x01 - 1x05

Willie Lambert // Willie Lambert

Played for the Montreal Alouettes in the ‘60s, a big deal at McGill. Ended up a dentist?

Mackenzie King // William Lyon Mackenzie King

Prime Minister of Canada three times in the ‘20s and ‘30s, over 21 years, longest ever. Known for creating welfare in Canada and also getting the country through WWII.

They called him Weird Willie because he was obsessed with the occult. Thought he could channel da Vinci and Roosevelt. Basically had headmates. Never married; probably fucking a guy named TWEEDSMUIR.

Buck Frobisher // Martin Frobisher

British guy went hunting for the Northwest Passage in the 16th century. Entering what is now Frobisher Bay he made it to Baffin Island, now part of Nunavut and home to its capital.

He brought back like one zillion pounds of ore that turned out to be 0% gold and 100% worthless. Bankrupted his funders.

Stephanie Cabot // Sebastian Cabot

Cabot was one of the first-ever homies to hear the Stan Rogers call of the Northwest Passage, and left from Italy to find it in 1508. He saw like one ice cube and ran.

Apparently his wife was “domineering,” and handled all of his affairs.

Quiet Canadiana in due South [One] [Two] [Three] [Four] [Five] [Six] [Seven] [Eight]

[randomnameless]

My husband came up with this idea that made me see Ionius in a slightly different way: Edelgard mentions that the Empire "demands many heirs" in her Goddess Tower support w/ Byleth, hence why Ionius had a load of kids by different women. Normally I'd think "wow that's stupid, way to invite a power struggle after you're dead" but what if it's actually an Empire tradition? Like, Ionius maybe is the first Emperor in a while to try to consolidate power but maybe only one of many to have a ton of kids, AND the reason is not only to have a kid with a Crest, but that the Slitherers practice Crest experimentation on each generation of heirs with the hope of creating a two-crested Nemesis clone to help them kill off the Nabateans. Ionius just happened to be the survivor of his batch of siblings. Maybe having 10-11 kids is to make sure that some of them will live long enough to be the next Emperor, and that's why the "Empire demands many heirs."

Oh!

FWIW, the Index of Imperial Nobility mentions how House Vestra is supposed to "coordinate things such as Imperial Consorts", adding to that how House Vestra has been at the Hresevelgs' back since the danw of the Empire, yeah, we can make a pretty good case that Adrestia has a long standing tradition of, uh, imperial consorts and all.

It can be seen as dumb because it invites power struggles, but it avoids the issue that could very well have happened with the Kingdom, aka Dimitri ded = the King's direct line is dead and it's chaos because one of the first duties of a King/Emperor/Leader under those kinds of hereditary systems is, well, to secure a heir - the lineage cannot be broken!

(that's where we usually have sekrit heirs popping up from nowhere in some kinds of stories, or bastard children !)

Having multiple Consorts - thus a large number of heirs - makes it sure that the line will not be broken as easily as, idk, a baby choking on a pretzel or a serious flu.

However, as Hanneman mentions in Hubert's support, having dozens of consorts means creating dozens of families who suddenly have to get some privileges bcs the Emperor is figging their daughters - and depending on how powerful those families are, if the Emperor obviously favors one kid over the others (or pisses on one over the others) one of those families might not be happy and start shit in the Empire - taking more and more consorts means shaving little by little the power of the Emperor in Adrestia!

(and guesses who spearheads the insurrection? Arundel, one of those "consort kin"!)

The topic of Ionius' 11 children is sadly forgotten by the plot - but iirc Word of God said the Ordelias (Lysithea) were experimented upon as a test, and when the Agarthans had, uhhh, conclusive results, they experimented on the Hresvelgs.

Given who was in charge when Ordelia was ran over by Adrestia - even if no character mentions the consequences or make a link because you have tea bags to sell - imo it would totally make sense that Ionius killed two birds with one stone : flexing his underdeveloped muscles at peons who helped people who dared to betray him, and getting guinea pigs for his plans to get the strongest Emperor ever.

Bear in mind that the Ordelia fuckery was done before the Insurrection aka, Ionius had this plan before Ludwig'n'co decided to depose him!

(Was Vestra aware of what was going on? Who were the Agarthans working with Ionius? Is it a situation à la Manfroy'n'Arvis, people disapproving of the Emperor listening at shady people?)

The Ordelia experiments leads me to believe the plan to become "super strong with dual crests" was hatched and developed during the Ionius era, but again, the game is so crappy at lore building that we don't even know if Ionius had 10 (legitimate) sibs, or only 5, and what they are doing when Supreme Leader is running the show, or did when Ionius was defanged.

Granted, we don't know since when Agarthans are slithering in Adrestia - if we believe the "Willy's sekrit history" was tampered with and assume Supreme Leader was telling the truth, that it was passed down in generations, maybe Agarthans were slowly manipulating Adrestian Emperor to get their revenge on Nabateans (in Nopes, a book about the rebellion of the Southern Church mentions how the Emperor wanted to cut ties with the Central Church anyways since a long time, but doesn't explain why).

And so, maybe Agarthans devised several plans, that all failed, to make the Hresvelgs turn against the Church and be strong enough to be flattened in 5 seconds, and it only worked during Ionius' era ?

We will never know, but it's still fun to think and headcanon about!

To bounce back on the "Adrestia demands many heirs" thing, given how I am fond of a certain AU, what if

This came up as a reaction to the entire Lycaon debacle?

Wilhelm 1 picked a heir, his heir died "to a mysterious illness" and instead of assuming rulership or helping another heir to rule - like he did for Lycaon - Wilhelm bailed out of Adrestia.

It could be explained by Lycaon being the golden child and favourite kid of his dad, so if he's not the one ruling, Dad doesn't give a fuck anymore about his Empire... or -

What if Lycaon was Willy's only child, and the subsequent Hresvelgs are "cousins" or members of a branch family?

In that case, it wouldn't be Willy playing favourites, but bailing out because his own son "suddenly fell ill and died" and he wouldn't be as involved as he was in helping his own kid, if now we're talking about helping a great grand-nephew or someone else.

(Rhea would have had to give a transfusion to the subsequent Emperor - i name her by convenience Hildegarde bcs no imagination and it's faster to type than "the female emperor who succeeded Lycaon and dueled against Ferdie's ancestor who wanted the throne" - to make people believe there is a direct continuity between Wilhelm, Lycaon, Hildegarde and her future heirs).

In that "only kid" scenario, it would also justify why House Hresvelg became so obsessed with taking Consorts and having a lot of heirs - Adrestia was nearly left Emperor-less after Lycaon's death because they had no other heirs to pick a successor from...

[cinesludge]

Movie #13 of 2024: The Death of Stalin

Svetlana Stalin: "Can you please just be cordial?"

Vasily Stalin: "I know the drill. Smile, shake hands and try not to call them cunts."

Svetlana Stalin: "Perfect. That's perfect."

[forthesoulmusic]

Listen to my New Playlist!

Country songs with a dance twist, dust off the boots and hang up the disco ball! Please Follow me or like the Playlist. Take a look through my Playlist Library, hundreds of different genres to choose from! Enjoy!

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

[dovebuffy92]

These are the musicians I listened to when I was sixteen years old.

question, very important, please answer:

what musical artists do you most associate with being 16 years old

[artificiallita]

sapphic deadclaws headcanon

- logan really loves country music (of the johnny cash willie nelson sad old man variety)

- wade also really loves country music (of the shania twain carrie underwood girlypop variety)

- great! this is something they can bond over

- incorrect! logan apparently took her finger off the pop-culture pulse circa 1980-whatever, and she doesn’t even know who miranda lambert *is* (or maybe her universe just doesn’t have one? either fucking way)

- and wade tries really gd hard to get into her stuff, but it’s a bit too much god-and-jesus dirge for her. have you ever *tried* shaking your ass to ain’t no grave? it’s a hard sell

- they eventually crack it and bond over a shared love of dolly parton

- apparently jolene is explicitly a lesbian love song in logan’s home timeline, as god intended

- this definitely does not lead wade to pestering the tva for weeks trying to convince them to let her go back to planet worst-wolverine for like five minutes because she just needs to hear it *once*. definitely not.

- but yeah, two decidedly different tastes eventually start to merge into one

- logan is humming before he cheats under her breath while she’s cooking, and wade is trying to harmonise to chicken in black in the shower because logan is right and cash had a lot more hits than misses

- blind al hates country music of any variety. she needs them both to stop this yeehaw bullshit immediately

(this silly idea brought to you by having talladega ten by the chattahoochies stuck in my head for the better part of 24 hours, because god wade would fucking love that shit)

[kitsunetsuki]

Willie Christie - Uschi Obermaier Wearing a Top from Ritva & Skirt from Vern Lambert (The Sunday Times Magazine 1974)

[joshuasumter]

You're not going to believe this! The Disney 100-year Anniversary crossover short, Once Upon A Studio, is coming! 100 years of stories, 100 years of magic, 100 years of Disney! It's like Disney's House of Mouse all over again, with a hint of Night at the Museum. I've been waiting for this all my life, I'm so excited! (Also gets you and some people hoping for a House of Mouse revival/reboot on Disney+, or maybe a mini-series inspired by this short) Featuring 543 characters from over 85 Disney films and shorts, the following list features those that are only from Walt Disney Productions (1937–1985), Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios (1986–2007), and Walt Disney Animation Studios (2007-present).

Films

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Pinocchio 

Fantasia 

The Reluctant Dragon

Dumbo 

Bambi 

Saludos Amigos

Victory Through the Air

The Three Caballeros 

Make Mine Music 

Song of the South 

Fun and Fancy Free 

Melody Time 

So Dear to My Heart 

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Cinderella (1-3)

Alice in Wonderland 

Peter Pan (1-2)

Lady and the Tramp (1-2)

Sleeping Beauty 

101 Dalmatians (1-2)

The Sword in the Stone 

Mary Poppins 

The Jungle Book (1-2)

The Aristocats 

Bedknobs and Broomsticks 

Robin Hood 

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 

The Rescuers

Pete's Dragon

The Fox and the Hound (1-2)

The Black Cauldron 

The Great Mouse Detective 

Oliver & Company 

The Little Mermaid (1-3)

The Rescuers: Down Under

Beauty and the Beast (1-3)

Aladdin (1-3)

The Lion King (1-3)

Pocahontas (1-2)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1-2)

Hercules 

Mulan (1-2)

Tarzan (1-2, Tarzan & Jane)

Fantasia 2000 

Dinosaur 

The Emperor's New Groove (1-2: Kronk's New Groove)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (1-2: Milo's Return)

Lilo & Stitch (1-2: Stitch has a Glitch)

Treasure Planet 

Brother Bear (1-2)

Home of the Range  

Chicken Little 

Meet the Robinsons  

Bolt 

The Princess and the Frog 

Tangled 

Winnie the Pooh

Wreck-It Ralph

Frozen

Big Hero 6 

Zootopia 

Moana 

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Frozen 2

Raya and the Last Dragon 

Encanto  

Strange World 

Wish 

Shorts

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in "Trolley Troubles"

Mickey Mouse in "Steamboat Willie"

Silly Symphony (Three Pigs, Big Bad Wolf)

Donald Duck

Goofy

Pluto

Figaro 

Chip n' Dale

Adventures in Music

Humphrey the Bear

John Henry (Disney's American Legends)

Ballad of Nessie

Paperman

Ben and Me (1953)

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953)

Lambert the Sleepish Lion (1952)

*Roger Rabbit, made by Richard Williams's studio in England, and Enchanted, made by Tony Baxter, will not appear in this short because they don't belong to WDAS. 69 + 16 = 85!

[renee-writer]

A Rescue Chapter 60

AO3

She isn’t afraid anymore, not in that overwhelming way, anyway. Motherhood always comes with fears. She worries when Quinn starts learning to walk, what her response will be to her coming sibling, if she will hurt William Lambert, born two years after her.

 

She fears whether they will accept Henry James, their supposed to be final sibling. He arrives as Quinn starts school, bringing more fears. So, it isn’t that she doesn’t fear, it is that they are manageable.

 

She shares them with her husband.

 

“She will be fine, my love. The school is a kilometer away. We can get there in four minutes if need be.”

 

She laughs. “You have timed it.”

 

He nods as he grins. “Aye. That be our baby girl. I need to know I can get to her easily, if there is need.”

 

She thrives in school as does Willie when he starts three years later. Their mum thrives too. She has an at home business making and selling herbal remedies. Her and Little Lamb spend the days with the older children at school moving from the garden to the kitchen. He starts out in a front carrier on her chest, then a back carrier, to crawling and walking beside her.

 

“I will miss having my buddy around when he starts school next year.” She says to Jamie.

 

He lifts his eyes and tilts his head. “Another?”

 

“We decided on three.”

 

“Aye but…”

 

“Let’s .”

 

Brianna Mary is born eighteen months later.

 

“If it wasn’t for you, I am not sure I would be here, at least not here and a happy wife and mum.” She explains to Mary . Long past needing therapy, she set up a session to introduce Bree, as she has with each child.

 

“You honor me. It was your own strength and resolve, your determination not to let what happened define you, that got you to this point.”

 

“Yes but you guided me there.”

 

She goes home, to her husband and children, fully free.

 

The end

[cator99]

"Take a fifteen" my adderall is peaking and I'm showing old people the magic of the electronic tag system I just replaced the paper tags with and watching their eyes transform from fear to being filled with light as the tags flash under my control and change to properly reflect the milk prices i feel like willy wonka and adam lamberts If I Had You just started playing over the store speakers I feel personally ordained by GOD to finish this isle before I could even consider stopping

[randomnameless]

Hi, I was talking with some friends, and wanted some help double checking some 3H shenanigans and figured you'd be the best to ask. Do you know when in the game Ionius's whole wives situation got mentioned and what he did that got all the nobles to depose him? I remember something about concubines, but don't know where exactly in the game it was talked about to check and cite. Thank you very much if you're able to help!

I hope I can help then!

In Hubert and Hanneman's C support, it's more or less explained, by Hanneman that Ionius wanted to concentrate power on himself :

In your father's defense, the emperor was attempting to take power from the Seven Houses. The emperor's reform was an attempt to concentrate power in the hands of the throne.

While Hubert presents it the other way :

He conspired with the ministers to usurp power from the emperor. And Lady Edelgard...

But both he and Hanneman later agree, in their B support, that Hubert is aware he is not very objective.

The Jp version gives a bit more insight on Hanneman's explanations, that were removed from the localised version for... well, I suppose, some reasons I still can't understand?

当時の陛下は、“七貴族”と呼ばれる 大貴族や外戚の特権を徐々に廃止し…

There's a mention of the consort kin, that is absent in the localised version.

This translation translated it as :

At that time, His Majesty was gradually abolishing the privileges of the consort kin and the ones referred to as “The Seven Aristocrats” – the great noble [families]

Ionius was thus trying to centralise power on himself, remove privileges and powers of the 7 and the consort kin.

Now, unlike some other settings, Ionius having consorts isn't that developped in Fodlan, so we don't have any clues, in canon, about what those privileges are. We can only surmise things here'n'there based on rl, I guess, as long as it doesn't contradict canon.

So, what could have been those consort kin privileges?

Let's take the Arundel example.

Anselma is wooed by Ionius, bears him a daughter, but doesn't become his official/legal/legitimate wife. She becomes his consort wife.

What is she going to do? She cannot marry someone else, Papa Arundel "lost" his daughter and cannot secure a good wedding for her (as is apparently the fate of Adrestian noblewomen?) because she's already one of Ionius's consort. Hell, given how their daughter isn't the next in line for the Imperial succession, Anselma's role is very shaky -

In Fates, we have the background concubine wars, where the goal was to have their kid become the heir (iirc?) so they would have a place by the King's side, or at least not be demoted as "extras" when the kid from another mother will become, well, king.

In Fodlan, from this line, we know the "kin" of the Imperial consorts had some "privileges" - a sort of crass way to say the Emperor gives them "stuff" so they will shut up if he "wooes" a daughter, relegates her as a baby maker and doesn't marry her, thus her "market value" drops and the resulting child is only an extra?

From the Libary, it's confirmed that :

House Arundel Formerly a minor noble house of the Empire. As head of the house, when Volkhard's younger sister became betrothed to Emperor Ionius IX, Volkhard was granted the title of Lord Arundel. Having worked closely with House Aegir, House Arundel is seen as one of the chief instigators of the Insurrection of the Seven.

House Arundel became "important" when Anselma was wooed by Ionius and became his wife (consort wife though!).

So when Ionius wants to remove the consort kin privileges, aka giving some importance to the families of the women he "wooes", Arundel isn't super happy and spearheads the insurrection.

Now, why was that system created? Was it a way to prevent the Emperor from, say, having their cake and eating it, aka, seducing women, giving them kids and then throwing them (both?) away without strings attached? Or to make sure consort wife #7 will have a role somewhere, and her family will get a "compensation" for her loss?

Or worse, the "consort kin" privileges maybe also applied to the children of the consorts - they would have a lower rank compared to the children of the legitimate wife - but still be worth something?

The Adrestian Imperial family is sadly under utilised, so we don't a thing about what was the status of the consorts or their children (they just poof away in the game events, we never hear anything about Ionius's surviving consorts or his legitimate wife!) - but we know there used to be some sort of compensation (super dowry?) Ionius/the Emperor had to give to families of the women he screwed -

And from what the JP version of Hubert and Hanneman's support says, Ionius wanted to get rid of that.

[rabbitcruiser]

International Country Music Day

International Country Music Day, on September 17, is a day of festivals, concerts, dances, and all kinds of other events that celebrate country music, to honor this distinctly American genre. Today is about the music. It’s popular to joke about country songs being all about losing your dog, your truck, your job, and your girlfriend, but in reality, the breadth and depth of the genre offer something for everyone, from Williams’ ‘Hey Good Lookin’,’ to New Country songs like Toby Keith’s ‘Red Solo Cup.’ On International Country Music Day, dip into the wellspring and take a sip.

History of INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC DAY

Though International Country Music Day has only been a worldwide phenomenon since 2003, country music itself evolved during the 1920s in the U.S. The music form is the result of a mix of Delta blues, Appalachian folk, Cajun music, Creole Zydeco, and others. Today, people often think of the genre as “Old Country,” which has been wildly popular since the 1950s.

Artists during this golden period such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and of course Hank Williams, gave fans unforgettable stories and glimpses into the struggles of a hardscrabble life. Speaking of Hank Williams, the day chosen for this holiday, September 17, is Williams’ birthday. It’s easy to guess the country music icon left a wealth of quality country songs as his legacy, such as ‘Cold Cold Heart’ and ‘Lost Highway.’

As a matter of fact, all 35 of the singles Williams recorded made the top ten on the Billboard Country & Western Bestsellers chart, with 11 of them reaching the number one spot. Mention the phrase country music, and don’t be surprised if the name Hank Williams is in the first sentence of the response. We believe he’d be honored at the association of his birth date with International Country Music Day.

New country, on the other hand, is a subgenre represented by a similarly talented pool of singers and songwriters, including Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, and many more, with a younger generation of country musicians taking up the mantle more and more as time goes by. Country music shows no signs of slowing down or going away, so take International Country Music Day as a chance to discover why so many people around the world love country music.

INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC DAY timeline

1923

Birth of a legend

Hank Williams is born, eventually to personify country music for millions of fans.

1963

Can you name three other songs by him?

Johnny Cash records “Ring of Fire,” capturing the attention of a huge number of radio listeners who may not have ventured into the world of country music.

2003

Synchronicity

The first official International Country Music Day is kicked off, coordinating hundreds of concerts and festivals worldwide to occur on the same day, September 17.

2017

Hard to knockdown

Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” spends 34 weeks at number one on the country charts.

INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC DAY FAQs

Is country music popular outside the US?

While the bulk of country listening takes place in the U.S., there has been a 21% increase in the share of country music streaming outside America since 2015.

What does country music represent?

Country music is defined as “a style and genre of largely string-accompanied American popular music having roots in the folk music of the Southeast and cowboy music of the West, usually vocalized, generally simple in form and harmony, and typified by romantic or melancholy ballads accompanied by acoustic or electric.

Outside the States, where is country music the most popular?

Perhaps partly because of the shared language, the U.K, Australia, and Canada boast the largest numbers of faithful country music fans outside the U.S.

INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC DAY Activities

Attend a concert or festival: After 2020’s pandemic, you’ll once again be able to join the crowd at a country music performance, have an adult beverage, and give line dancing a shot. If you want to get to the heart of country music and really experience it first-hand, a trip to Nashville, Tennessee — considered the epicenter of country music — wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Pick up a musical instrument: There are many to choose from other than the usual guitar. Decide to learn a new skill and try out the fiddle, the dobro, the steel guitar, the banjo, the harmonica — the list goes on. There’s no better way to show you love country music than to play some yourself.

Listen at homeIf you’re like us, the accessibility of all types of music at a click is one of our favorite reasons to love the internet. On International Country Music Day, go on a surfing journey and listen to the old country standards and the new country hits. If you’re normally a listener of “everything except country,” make an exception. We’ll bet you do find something you like.

5 Amazing Facts About Johnny Cash

Put it on “shuffle”: Asked what albums he’d have with him if stranded on a desert island, Cash listed a roster that includes Emmylou Harris, Beethoven, and Bob Dylan.

Lucky seven?: Despite having been arrested a total of seven times — some of them on drug charges — Cash only ever spent one night behind bars.

An apt alias: Before reaching his fame, Cash only ever went by the first name “J.R.” with the initials remaining ambiguous in terms of what they stood for, and only adopted the name “John” when an Air Force recruiter would not accept initials for a first name.

“You may now kiss …”: In the 1970s, Cash spent two years studying divinity and became an ordained minister in time to preside over his daughter’s marriage.

Not just a songwriter: In 1986, Cash published a novel called “Man In White,” a fictional account of a period in the life of the apostle Paul.

Why We Love INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC DAY

Lots of country songs are fun and funny: Stories are indeed at the heart of country songs, but not all of them are about heartbreak. Take a look at the song “Ticks” by Brad Paisley. “I’d like to see you out in the moonlight / I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks / I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers / And I’d like to check you for ticks.” And that’s just one example. Listened to with an open mind, country music can often make you smile.

There’s nothing like a live concert: You can be the owner of an artist’s entire discography and have a dozen songs memorized to sing along with, but to truly experience a country musician’s personality and heart, at least one live concert is de rigueur. We love to feel that electric charge in the air!

It’s truly American: The U.S. may have the right to claim that rock and roll originated within its borders, but country & western, also quintessentially American, predates rock by some twenty years. To celebrate country music is to celebrate American history.

Source

[apennyformythoughts91]

[Review]

Miranda Lambert will go down in history as one of the mainstream country artists trying to keep "old" country elements in her music. She has managed to balance out collaborations with fellow mainstream country singers (like the cinematic Something Bad with Carrie Underwood) or cross-over artists (like the 2021's hit Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home) with Elle King), with being a top candidate to participate in honoring country legends (she was part of Willie Nelson's 90th Birthday concert) and releasing more traditional country songs, like the Pistol Annies' albums.

She released her 10th album on September 13, and it's the perfect representation of her duality and overall contribution to country music. My problem with Miranda in previous projects is that sometimes her songs feel a bit repetitive, to the point I find it hard to listen to her new albums in one sit. With Postcards from Texas, however, the transition between songs was so smooth that, for the first time, I hit the replay bottom once it was over.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Tanner Adell – Buckle Bunny / Willie Jones – Something To Dance To

Country music is having a big moment in the spotlight right now. Depending on who you ask, that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. The top three songs as of this moment on the Billboard 100 are country songs, which might be the first time that’s ever happened, or the first time in many years that’s it’s happened. Regardless of who the artists are, or the quality of the songs, it’s a big deal, regardless. With that said, though, I wanted to avoid one of these songs. Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” debuted at number two last week, but it shot up to number one. I could sit here and talk about how the song is full of racist dog whistles that allude to “sundown towns,” or how the song paints small town living as this Andy Griffith-style utopia, where everybody gets along and there no problems whatsoever, even though the reality is a lot more nuanced, but I don’t want to do that. A lot of other people already have, and there’s a great podcast episode from The New York Times’ pop culture podcast Popcast that does a great job going into detail about the song and how this type of song is nothing new in country music, and how Aldean is fully embracing his conservative beliefs by putting that into his music.

I don’t have anything else to add to the conversation, but the reason I bring it up is because I was hoping the song would crash and burn within its second week on the Billboard 100. It might take a couple of weeks for that to happen, as the only reason the song has any pull is through the push from Aldean’s conservative base, and with the way conservative discourse usually runs, they’ll find something new to champion or try to boycott within the next week. Maybe the song will start to drop next week, but right now, it’s part of the zeitgeist and so is country music. The other two artists in the top three are Morgan Wallen, who faced a similar controversy within the last couple of years, and Luke Combs, whose cover of “Fast Car” has been doing quite well, and that’s why I wanted to bring that up. Country music has only been getting more popular as time has gone on. Despite how reviled “bro-country” was in the early 2010s, it did numbers. Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan, and all these guys sell records, despite how bad most people think they are, but it shows they have their fans.

On the flip side, however, you have artists like Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Jason Isbell, and a lot of artists that are more “progressive” within the country genre, whether it’s politically and/or musically. A lot of them started out in the independent circuit, but a guy like Tyler Childers has blown up considerably, especially with his new song that has the same conservatives that love “Try That In A Small Town” in a tizzy, but there is still a bit of an issue with the artists I mentioned – they’re all straight white guys. Country music has always been a genre for straight, white, and conservative white men. The same goes for most styles of music, such as rock and metal, but country has always been very much a man’s game, considering the “bro-country” moniker, named for songs about girls, beer, and trucks, that was popular in the early 2010s. You don’t see a lot of women or people of color in the genre, at least in the upper echelon of the genre. Sure, you have Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and other artists like that, but they’re not often taken as seriously, because they’re women. People of color are rarely found in the genre, minus Charley Pride and Darius Rucker, but that’s starting to change.

Looking back at bro-country in retrospect, maybe it was necessary for what’s happening in country now, since there’s a subset of country music that’s blurring the lines between genres, including elements of pop, hip-hop, and R&B, but in a more genuine and interesting way that doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a straight white guy that is performing a song written by other people. I think it started with Lil Nas X back in 2019 when he released “Old Town Road,” but since then, a few other artists have emerged that do something very similar, including Breland, Willie Jones, and Tanner Adell. I’ll be talking about the latter two artists today, because they dropped new records this year. Tanner Adell’s new album just came out, but that inspired me to go back and listen to Willie Jones’ new one from a few months ago. The reason I wanted to talk about them both at the same time is because I feel very similarly about both albums, but there’s a larger point to be made about inclusivity within country music, and how exciting it is that more voices are being able to be heard, whether it’s a Black woman or a Black man. Both Adell and Jones are very fascinating because they take country music and ultimately throw in a myriad of other influences, such as pop, R&B, and hip-hop.

I’ve been a fan of Willie Jones for a minute now, as I found his debut record, 2021’s Right Now, and it was a rather fun, catchy, and interesting combination of sounds that felt very genuine and exciting. The lyrical content was quite solid, too, not saying anything too different from your average country songs, such as about romance, drinking, heartbreak, and things of that nature, but there was a song on that record that brought a unique perspective to the genre by speaking openly about Jones being a Black man within country music. His newest LP, Something To Dance To, doesn’t have anything that deep, or even anything remotely sad or depressing, but the album is surprisingly very positive. While Right Now had a few songs that were about heartbreak, Something To Dance To is a very happy-go-lucky record with song titles like “Let’s Be A Love Song,” “I Can’t Complain,” or “Lil Vibe.” A lot of this record is about celebrating what you have and who you have it with, or just making the most of the moment. Some songs stray from these ideas, such as “Down By The Riverside,” or “No Tellin’,” which is a song that tells a story of Jones and another woman cheating on their partners with each other, and songs like “Slow Cookin’” and “Soul Food” use a lot of southern food metaphors to describe love. Hell, the title track is almost a spiritual successor to “Country Soul” from Right Now, because both songs are about the same thing – how Jones either listens to and/or performs different genres of music. The title track to this record, however, is more so about how it doesn’t matter what you listen to, but if you put on “something to dance to.” That’s where I’d say this album shines, not necessarily the subject matter of the lyrics, but how seamless Jones is able to combine certain styles of music, usually country with something else, such as R&B, soul, hip-hop, or pop music. He’s very blatant about being influenced by other kinds of music, but country music is always the backbone, whether it’s in the subject matter or his very smooth southern drawl that sounds unique.

Tanner Adell is a bit different, both in terms of the way she combines pop, R&B, and country, but mainly for her subject matter. She originally got popular on Tik Tok through releasing snippets of the title track of her debut, Buckle Bunny, and it was an R&B-meets-country song, but the whole record is rather diverse. A few songs on here have a more pop-country tone, such as “Throw It Back,” “FU-150,” or “See You In Church,” but songs like “Buckle Bunny,” “Bake It,” and “Trailer Park Barbie” have a prominent R&B tone to them. “Strawberry Crush” and “I Hate Texas” are more pop-centric songs, and the latter track doesn’t feature any country instrumentation in it, but more so in its vocal and lyrical tone. Adell is a wonderful singer, and a lot of these hooks are utterly fantastic. Granted, nothing sounds incredibly unique, especially the pop-country stuff, like on “Throw It Back” or “See You In Church,” but it’s where she goes for unorthodox sounds that really work, such as “Bake It,” or the title track. The lyrical content on this record, aside from her voice, is honestly what sells it. “Strawberry Crush,” for example, is about Adell fantasizing about hooking up with a woman that she randomly sees in a grocery store while shopping with her boyfriend. I’ve never heard a bisexual country song before, but it’s rather unique subject matter, especially for country music. “Throw It Back” is a clever and fun song that says to treat a man like a fish and “throw it back” if he treats you badly, and “I Hate Texas” is a song that talks about how Adell hates Texas for getting heartbroken as a teenager and realizing that she wouldn’t get her “storybook ending,” ultimately only hating it for the memories she has of this person.

Both of these records ultimately make me feel the same way, and it’s that I enjoy them very much, and I’m very excited for where certain parts of country music are going. It looks like the genre is getting more inclusive and artists that have never gotten the chance to get a voice are doing just that. These are both wonderful records that are also very short. Jones’ new album is only 34 minutes, whereas Adell’s debut is only 24, and because of how much I enjoy them, I’ve been listening to them a few times a day. I wanted to highlight both of these records, not just because they’re new and I had something to say about them, but because with the discourse surrounding “Try That In A Small Town,” I wanted to highlight a couple of artists that are making country music exciting. People who aren’t into country, or already have a negative connotation with it, might look at that song, or any number of popular songs right now, and write off the whole genre. Country music isn’t my favorite kind of music, but I’ve found there’s a lot in it that’s worth enjoying. There are also a lot of artists that are doing unique or interesting things, such as Willie Jones and Tanner Adell. These are most likely going to be a couple of my favorite albums of this year, whether it’s for how catchy they are, how unique they are, and how much fun I have listening to them.

[sleepdeprivedsimp234]

!!Human Name HC’s for the states!! (Don’t question the last names nor the fact that only some have middle names cuz i will not hesitate to throw the chancla, I am a professional 🤠🩴✨)

Alabama: Alan Johnson (Nickname: Al)

Alaska: Ivan Morozov (Nickname: None)

Arizona: Alejandro Desilva (Nickname: Ali, Ro)

Arkansas: John Merryweather (Nickname: Johnny)

California: Calvin Solester (Nickname: Cal, Calv)

Colorado: Colton Fournier (Nickname: Col, Colt)

Connecticut: Connie Laurel Kirkland (Nickname: None)

Delaware: Darrel O’Connor (Nickname: None)

Florida: Flynn Martinez (Nickname: None)

Georgia: George Casey (Nickname: Georgie, Geo)

Hawaii: Aolani Kekoa (Nickname: Lani, tho only Alaska can call her this-)

Idaho: Ian Ryder (Nickname: None)

Illinois: Isaac Williams (Nickname: None)

Indiana: Indiana Jones :3 (Nickname: Indi, Diana)

Iowa: Michael Sawyer (Nickname: Mike, Mikey)

Kansas: Kayden Tarrel (Nickname: Kay, Kaydee)

Kentucky: Ken Davidson (Nickname: Kenny)

Louisiana: Louis Beaumont (Nickname: Lou, and his first name is pronounced Loui)

Maine: Mac Barkley (Nickname: None)

Maryland: Merri (yes we must be fancy-) Smith (Nickname: None)

Massachusetts: Matthew Mayflower Kirkland (Nickname: Matt, and Mattie which was given to him by NY)

Michigan: Omar Johansson (Nickname: None.)

Minnesota: Marley Dickinson (Nickname: Mar)

Mississippi: Morgan Mackentire (Nickname: None)

Missouri: Max Haroldson (Nickname: None)

Montana: Monty Lambert (Nickname: None)

Nebraska: Nicholas Elsher (Nickname: Nick)

Nevada: Nathan Hansley (Nickname: Nate)

New Hampshire: Niles Barkley (Nickname: None)

New Jersey: Vincent Kirkland (Nickname: Vin, Vinny which was also given to him by NY 🥺)

New Mexico: Stephen Sanchez (Nickname: None)

New York: Micah Rosales Kirkland (Nickname: None)

North Carolina: Nigel Hudson (Nickname: None)

North Dakota: Noah Lopez (Nickname: None)

Ohio: Buck Foxworthy (Nickname: Bucky. If you call him this, he might kill you so maybe just don’t-)

Oklahoma: Kai Campbell (Nickname: None)

Oregon: Owen Mire (Nickname: None)

Pennsylvania: Adam Jones (Nickname: None)

Rhode Island: Rhodey Nelson (Nickname: None)

South Carolina: Sebastian Hudson (Nickname: None)

South Dakota: Scott Lopez (Nickname: Scotty and only ND and his s/o can call him this. Anybody else will be dropped in the road during Sturgis.)

Tennessee: Sam Maxwell (Nickname: Sammy)

Texas: Terrence Morales (Nickname: Ter, Terry)

Utah: Peter Rickinson (Nickname: None)

Vermont: Malcolm Barkley (Nickname: Mal)

Virginia: Virginia Adams (Nickname: Ginny)

Washington: Whyatt Wesley (Nickname: None)

West Virginia: Wilson Adams (Nickname: Will, Willy)

Wisconsin: William Anderson (Nickname: Will, Willy. Him and WV get confused sometimes.)

Wyoming: Taylor Beckett (Nickname: Tay, Tay-Tay don’t call him this. Florida almost died.)

Gov: Eli (Ee-li) Jones (Nickname: None)

IDC: Elizabeth Jones (Nickname: Lizzy, Liz)

CDC: Drew Lynch (Cuz that’s who plays him and I’m lazy af)

FINALLYYYYYY!! This took too damn long 😭😭😭