Country Music - a pair of top vocalists from Canada, Australia
So what’s this all about?
Today, two of the hottest female vocalists in country music not only don’t hail from the United States, but also didn’t get into country music until their careers were well under way.
In fact, even today, with her last two singles both topping the country charts and her album, too one of the young women admits that she doesn’t know the first thing about country music, has never been to Nashville, and at one point was quoted as saying she could “hardly wait to get to meet Hank Williams, because he’s written so many beautiful songs.” At least she was half right. That’s Olivia Newton-John, an Aussie. The other lady is Anne Murray, a Canadian.
If that hints at a certain crossover and identity problem in today’s country music, then consider the plight of Olivia Newton-John.
BORN IN Cambridge, England, raised in Melbourne, Australia, the granddaughter of a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, daughter of a college president, Olivia backed into country music and, for all intents and purposes, may soon back out of it. She never aimed her music in any one direction, but rather just made it. Country disc jockeys just happened to pick up on her before disc jockeys in other fields. That’s how she got her “country” label.
“Frankly, I was surprised. I’d never listened to country music, much less intended to make it,” Olivia said. “In England we aren’t concerned with categories as you are in the United States. In England we just do what we like and don’t worry about whether it’s country or pop or whatever. We liked that certain Western sound you heard in ‘Let Me Be There’ and ‘If You Love Me, Let Me Know, but that didn’t mean we were going into the country music business.”
“But I’m proud to have been accepted by the country music fans in the States.” Beyond those rather general statements. Olivia has little to say about country music.
BUT THEN, perhaps it’s asking too much to expect her to be an expert or even a fan. In fact, on second thoughts, it’s patently absurd and rather country-chauvinistic to even fancy such an idea. To be truly realistic. I think it’s safe to assume that country music will eventually have to relinquish its claim on Olivia, and give her over to pop in general - in much the same way as Anne Murray.
And if I don’t miss my guess, it’s happening already. “I Honestly Love You.” Olivia’s latest single, was on the pop charts with a bullet a few weeks back, but had yet to register on the country charts, a first for Olivia.
And two more things. In just one week in Los Angeles, Olivia was interviewed by journalists from “Newsweek,” UPI, “The Los Angeles Free Press.” “Country Music Magazine,” the music trades, and enough others to cover the entire spectrum of Americana. And she appeared, with a full orchestra, and no rhythm section, for a week-long engagement at the Greek Theater with The Smothers Brothers.