Country Stars Get By With A Little Help From Their Friends
Stating the obvious, when an artist releases a new single or album, the goal is to get the music to the top of the charts. Standing in the way of that goal is, of course, other new releases by equally-as-talented country stars. Though this could easily create a rivalry, the country music community seems to embrace each other and offer up support to their competition.
The support has become apparent to country fans recently with the explosion of social media. Many artists are taking to their Twitter and Facebook pages to support their friends, who just so happen to also be their competition. When Luke Bryan released his third studio album, tailgates & tanlines, last month, he was on the receiving end of an overwhelming number of tweets from his country counterparts.
“Go get Luke’s new CD!!!… Saw him on Regis and Kelly! Great job!,” Reba tweeted. Likewise, Jason Aldean was just as eager to promote his friend’s new album as he took to his Twitter to say “Listenin to my buddy Luke Bryan’s new album. Great record, yall should check it out.”
Similar to the support that Luke received, Eric Church was just as popular with his friends when he released his highly anticipated album Chief in late July.
David Nail took to his social media sites to offer his encouragement to Eric. “Between Twitter and Facebook, can’t recall a time hearing more hype about a record than [Eric Church’s] new one! After working out last two mornings to it, I understand why!,” David said. Jake Owen also jumped on the Chief bandwagon and said “So bad ass to see a COUNTRY album on top of the charts on iTunes for a week straight. Congrats [Eric Church]. Thanks from all us country fans.”
With the help of his friends, Eric went on to sell nearly 145K copies of Chief in the first week alone.
While Jake was happy to offer up his appreciation of Eric’s new album, the help was returned to him when he released Barefoot Blue Jean Night earlier this week.
Justin Moore shared his excitement of BBJN by saying “Yall make sure to go grab my buddy [Jake Owen’s] new cd this week!!!” and Brett Eldredge joined the fun by tweeting “Everyone go check out [Jake Owen’s] album “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”! Dude sings his tail off!”
With all of the mutual respect floating around Music City, it’s easy to see that the stars are more concerned with helping each other rather than worrying about any competition.
“I don’t feel like I’m in competition with anyone. I feel like what’s good for the format is good for everyone,” Jake tells CountryMusicIsLove. “If Luke goes out and sells a bunch of records, or [if] Eric Church goes out and sells a bunch of records and I can be a somewhat of a little bit of help – I’ve got over, I think, like fifty thousand something followers [on Twitter] – if I can sell all those people and remind them to go out and grab one of their records, they’re my friends. I want them to do well.”
While Jake appreciates the same acts of kindness from his friends, what really matters the most to him is that he’s simply being a nice guy.
“I want to be the good guy, you know?,” Jake tells us. “When it’s all said and done, at one point in our lives, all of us are going to be not artists on the radio anymore. You know, that’s just a way of life. But at least when that time comes, most people can look back and remember me for being the guy who was just a good dude – who was nice and said good things about people, who tried to be supportive… We’re in a world full of negativity, no one talks about the things they like. Everyone talks about the things they don’t like. I like to talk about the things that I like, bring some positivity to people’s lives.”
With great new music and their kind habits, Jake and other country artists certainly are bringing positivity to each other and the fans. While artists thrive on their own fan bases, country music acts don’t have to look very far to get a little help from their friends.
