Music
Bon Jovi speaks about new country sound
Published Sunday, Apr 15 2007, 10:05 BST | By Daniel Kilkelly
Jon Bon Jovi has spoken about the decision to introduce a new country music sound to his band's new album.
The group decided to appeal to a country music audience following the success of their hit Who Says You Can't Go Home? last year. The song became the first track by a non-country act to reach the top of the US country music chart in decades.
"The line is so blurred between new country and adult top 40, it wasn't a difficult leap," Bon Jovi told Billboard.
"We had to just make sure we weren't patronising the true country format. Could you have imagined me walking into an award show where 15 or 25 other artists are and saying, 'Howdy, y'all,' with straw in my teeth and a cowboy hat on? I would have expected them to run me out of Dodge."
He added: "I didn't like what I heard on the top 40. I had nothing in common with any of that stuff. But when I listened to Keith Urban, Gary Allan and Big & Rich, I heard the same kind of stories I'd been writing for 25 years. I thought, 'I get it: Write a record, go back to your storytelling days and say something about yourself.'"
The group decided to appeal to a country music audience following the success of their hit Who Says You Can't Go Home? last year. The song became the first track by a non-country act to reach the top of the US country music chart in decades.
"The line is so blurred between new country and adult top 40, it wasn't a difficult leap," Bon Jovi told Billboard.
"We had to just make sure we weren't patronising the true country format. Could you have imagined me walking into an award show where 15 or 25 other artists are and saying, 'Howdy, y'all,' with straw in my teeth and a cowboy hat on? I would have expected them to run me out of Dodge."
He added: "I didn't like what I heard on the top 40. I had nothing in common with any of that stuff. But when I listened to Keith Urban, Gary Allan and Big & Rich, I heard the same kind of stories I'd been writing for 25 years. I thought, 'I get it: Write a record, go back to your storytelling days and say something about yourself.'"
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