Very good Phil,
Last night I was pretty wiped out from a week of work being done on the house, both Tina and I traveling, and being in the studio all day with COTTON BOX ROAD, I didn't get to the main part that I felt was missing from Cody's stuff.
ENERGY.a
Phil is quite right with the "hat acts", there are still a few out there, and probably always will. But most of what is missing from Cody's songs that I have heard is energy and attitude. And the subject matter. Again, the cowboy thing is very much on the way out if not already done. What mainstream audiences relate to is now energy. Our lives are faster paced, and shorter attention span. So they tune things out much faster.
The case in point, that 1:19 full of noise that you seemed to like, I found hopelesslly boring. I was doing other things, like always when I was listening to it. I remembered your saying you really liked that part, so I tried to listen through, but it was noise to me. There is your answer. One man's trash is another man's treasure. What you found compelling, I found wasted space. And most other people do too, which is why you don't hear it used very much any more. People used to put an album on a turntable and listen to the whole thing from start to finish. It was one long piece of art. But that was when we had 3 television channels, and TV that went off at 10 PM or midnight. We didn't have computers, we didn't have video games, we didn't just sit around and do one thing at a time. Life and technology ended that. So pretty much that is dead.
And from what I heard of Cody, (only listened to most of two songs), I was uninterested because of a lack of energy. And the subject matter on songs. As I said, it all felt very much like what we were doing here 5 plus years ago.
So, I don't think it has to do as much with the "hat act" verses "Cap Act", although I predict you will see less and less actual cowboy hats in the future. Things have gone to Zac Brown's knit cap (Although he has switched to a top hat),or the hep cat fedora, turned backwards caps, and of course, just full heads of hair.
And I can guarantee another thing. There will never be "just one look" in country.
MAB