Back when Gwyneth Paltrow did that karaoke movie and duet with Huey Lewis, I remember thinking she had a nice enough voice.
Back when Gwyneth Paltrow did that karaoke movie and duet with Huey Lewis, I remember thinking she had a nice enough voice. And, now, having seen her recent performance of “Country Strong” on the CMA Awards, that judgment has been confirmed. However, a nice enough voice does not an artist make, does not even a singer make.
As anyone watching the CMAs can verify, Paltrow knows fewer guitar chords than Natalie Maines. Undoubtedly, with three other acoustic players on stage and nary a pick in her hand, Gwynnie’s Gibson wasn’t even turned on.
Hey, I admire her courage to get up there and hold her own as well as she did. But I have to wonder how a pseudo-poser like that makes the legends of the art feel. I mean, maybe Reba McEntire is figuring they are even since she dabbles in acting which would be Paltrow’s rightful sand box.
Perhaps the same could be said of George Strait. He got himself bit by that little acting bug back with Pure Country and did not too badly for himself. I reckon Jerry Reed, Kris Kristofferson, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Lyle Lovett, Tim McGraw, and Dwight Yoakam wouldn’t be able to throw any stones, either. Nor Taylor Swift, for that matter, not that she has reached legend status yet.
Hell, even Willie Nelson has some IMDB credits.
Seems the saloon door between country music and Hollywood swings both ways, and more often in the opposite direction than I had estimated.
Does such miscegenation of the forms weaken or fortify them? If not for her accumulated celebrity, Gwyneth might very well warrant nary a second look from Music Row. Is that fair to the singers and songwriters who strive day in and out to perfect their craft in the myriad clubs of Nashville? Probably not.
At least she didn’t completely embarrass herself, making a total mockery of country music along the way. Otherwise, Patsy Cline might well be rolling over in her grave.