Year in Music 2017: The Year in Country Music

Smart, meaningful music was the silver lining to a year marked by tragedy

For the country music community, 2017 was shrouded in tragedy. When a gunman took the lives of 58 concertgoers and wounded hundreds more at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, it shocked the industry to its core. That event left a genre that had always embraced gun culture facing a reckoning. While a few artists were willing to speak up — among them Rosanne Cash, Margo Price and Jason Isbell — most fell silent, just as they did with much of the year’s tumultuous political climate. Price, Isbell and other Americana-leaning acts also explored social consciousness on their LPs, but the rest of the country-adjacent community has been pretty content to shut up and sing. In some cases, that was due to ties to NRA Country, a wing of the gun lobby aimed right at Music Row, though several prominent artists severed their ties with the organization. For others, it was just plain fear for their careers. 

Jason IsbellPhoto: Daniel MeigsEven when it came to the violent clashes between white supremacists and protesters in Charlottesville, Va., or the president’s proposed travel ban, few country stars decided to use their platform to speak up, despite increasing pressure from fans. And while it’s doubtful that 2018 will see Music Row making many waves, time will tell whether newer-generation artists like Maren Morris and the Brothers Osborne are willing to take more risks and start advocating for issues they believe in.

At country radio, things were as desolate as ever for women — only two, Lauren Alaina and Carly Pearce, broke through with No. 1 singles on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, and neither lasted long at No. 1. Some men, too, were left out by the myopic focus on banal songs like Dylan Scott’s atrocious “My Girl,” which somehow scored a top single, beating out the likes of Chris Stapleton, who hasn’t yet had a No. 1. Miranda Lambert’s exquisite “Tin Man” never broke the Top 20. The mainstream industry continues to ignore Sturgill Simpson, even though his A Sailor’s Guide to Earth won the Grammy for Best Country Album in February. (He brought the award with him when he busked outside the CMA Awards ceremony at Bridgestone Arena last month.)

Sturgill SimpsonPhoto: Eric EnglandStill, fans spoke with their wallets: Lambert’s The Weight of These Wings and Stapleton’s From A Room: Vol. 1 were two of 2017’s top sellers. Eric Church had a massive year on the road, concluding his 62-date Holdin’ My Own Tour by setting a new attendance record with two sold-out nights at Bridgestone. Church fought hard against scalpers and still saw his tour sell almost 900,000 tickets, according to Pollstar’s midyear report. 

Nashville indie artists like Price, Isbell and Angaleena Presley also had a banner year, showing very publicly that you can circumvent the mainstream and come out with great LPs and a livelihood, too. They proved that lingering art doesn’t come from playing nice, but from singing your truth — be that about race, politics, gender inequality or the music business as a whole.

“Last year was a son of a bitch, for nearly everyone we know,” Isbell sings in “Hope the High Road.” This year was too. But smart, meaningful music was the silver lining. 

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Miranda Lambert