Country Time
Nothing Wrong With Being 'The Nice Guy'
By: Matt Bjorke
Last updated March 12th , 2010

There are times as a so-called critic that I hear from people around me that I am 'too nice' or 'you could stand to be a little meaner.' So while I agree with these people that I could be a little more 'crusty' in my views on songs, I generally actually LIKE what I hear and if I like something, I am going to 'praise' it. 

It's that simple.  

I can like the latest "I'm from the country song," even if I am tired of the trend, because I like the vocal or the melody is nice or, in the case of Josh Thompson's "Way Out Here" and Easton Corbin's "A Little More Country Than That," the sentiments actually feel authentic. I can like a Taylor Swift song, I can like a George Jones song (his "new" collection The Great LOST Hits is superb), I can like a Colt Ford song, I can like, well you get my point.  I love music, particularly the various strands of the country genre, so much that I tend to like most of what I hear.  So if that is a fault of mine, it's a good fault to have, in my humble opinion.


There are plenty of places out on there on the web where you can find people who are constantly at the digital throat of a song or about ready to jump off their proverbial ledge just because they can't really stand to hear another country song from the mainstream.  I understand that some of these folks really can't stand to hear the kinds of songs they are asked to review or albums they're asked to write about. I get it. These writers, many of whom which are friends of mine, write from a different point of view and while they love country music as much as me, they may not be as willing and open to the different styles as I am, and I'm fine with that.  

As long as they don't think that I am some mouthpiece for all that is mainstream.  I am not.  I will never be the Peter Travers or the Earl Dittman or any number of 'quote whores' from the film industry.  So while some of my stuff has been used as 'quotes,' I have ALWAYS been honored and found it awesome that a company would pay use my words to describe their material in advertisements.  

I can still count on one hand how many times this has happened and it's always for product truly deserving such praise, never for horrible material that people know is bad.  

Even as people may think I am 'too nice,' it is my genuine niceness, be it my upper mid-west roots or my go-with-the-flow way of being, I think having an opinion on things like country music is nice. But at the end of the day, will my little 'positive' or 'nice' review of the latest country song really matter all that much in a world where people are suffering from earthquakes, war and hunger?
  
Nope.  

And that gets me to the thesis of this column.  My work as a writer or 'critic' isn't going to change the world and while it may sway a few people into checking out an artist, it's not nearly as important as being a teacher, doctor or military officer.  Those jobs are important, mines like the stuff I write about, it's entertainment.  I just happen to write from a 'positive' point of view rather than a sarcastic or sanctified point of view. 

[Tags]