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From Taylor Swift to Darius Rucker: Two-way street in 30 yrs of country crossovers

Jason Fraley | jfraley@wtop.com

July 14, 2015, 4:52 AM

Introduction Taylor Swift hits Nats Park for two sold-out shows Monday and Tuesday with resale tickets fetching upwards of $1,700. She may be the most successful example of the modern country crossover, selling 24.5 million albums — ahead of Green Day, Jimi Hendrix, Earth Wind & Fire, Lionel Richie and The Beach Boys. But this country crossover is a glorious two-way street. As Swift cruises down one side of the highway from country to pop, artists such as Darius Rucker are driving in the opposite direction. By the time our drive reaches the Florida-Georgia Line, say hello to the brave new world of hick-hop. This certainly isn’t exclusive to our era — it’s rooted in rockabilly, folk and southern rock — but the phenomenon has exploded over the past 30 years, bridging a once-grassroots genre with mainstream radio for an entire generation of listeners, and paralleling the nation’s social changes along the way. When the Confederate flag finally fell last week in South Carolina, you could hear echoes of Brad Paisley and LL Cool J still trying to grapple with our messy past. It’s time we go on a journey to see how exactly we got here. Listen below for audio highlights, then click through our gallery for key stops from 1985 to 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKsmLhpV9Ow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_uFNC4A_Eo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyERXTsobIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKMPCJfq_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MZn6wL4H5U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsqbURUUAO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9HKxMgekCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDmzdtZ0ewI
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December 22, 2024 | (Jason Fraley)

Jason Fraley

Hailed by The Washington Post for “his savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.

jfraley@wtop.com

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