John,
If I could do that, I wouldn't be here, I would be writing the next hits. Trends are only partically created by artists. They are mostly discovered and embraced by the public. My real answer? Probably more rapid fire rap oriented lyrics. You have to look behind the songs, into what people grow up with and embrace. As much as I absolutely hate it, rap has moved into the worldwide culture and has been reflected in more and more regions of our lives.
More and more commercials, television shows, communictaions, (Tweets, Twitter, texting, emails,) mean that our entire lives are built upon faster and faster communication (and thereby shorter attention spans), have been coming at us. The news cycle is 24 hours. The theme of the moment changes extrodinarily faster.
How this relates to music has been an onslaught of rap and hip hop oriented lyrics and has been on an unstoppable force. When Jason Aldeen started putting it in through his association with Colt Ford, it kind of unleashed a flood and I just don't see that going back. The fans are embracing that and you can't fight what they are going to go with.
Does that mean people such as myself are going to embrace that? Not a chance in Hell. It is never going to be me, and I don't write for trends. What artists are always going to need are something that connects with THEM. So the story telling aspect of country music is not going to change. Songs will always be about SOMETHING and it is going to be pretty clearly spoken. Just most of it is going to be spoken a LOT faster.
If you want to understand some things style wise, back up 10-15-20 years in rock music. If you hear and understand what the general public was listening to then, you will see where they will be listening to in the future. Country has always had about a 10-15 year time lapse between what happens in rock and pop and what filters down to country. If you take a 13-16 year old kid and what he starts learning to play a musical instrument on, or listens to on the radio, you will see where his/her influences start to be. They will take that forward with them and draw on that as they become accomplished in their mid 20's.
While some will embrace country, most will not. They will be emmersed in the pop artists of the second, the rap and hip hop cultures, then as they mature, the music they like will take on a harsher edge. The one's who gravitate to country usually are turned off by that harsh edge when it drifts into so much negativity, drug use, shows that feature as many knife and gun fights as music, anger, attitudes, etc. Those people who are turned off by that, will gravitate into what they find as "calmer." They can be edgy there, yet rejected by the harder edged of rock and pop.
And Pop and rock has no bottom when it comes to depravity and lower cultural standards. When people wrap themselves up in MEAT Outfits (Lady Ga Ga) and have to get more and more shocking to get any attention at all, the next is covering themselves in Feces, and throwing human waste at their audience. It is not a pretty sight at where pop and rock is going to end up. The smell and disease alone will kill off a lot of those audiences.
If you want some current examples of this, look at current charting artists and read biographies, you will find their influences. It will sound something like this:
Lady Antibellum - Allen Parson's, 70's rock acts.
Little Big Town- 1970's Fleetwood Mac
Jason Aldeen- AC/DC/Aerosmith/rap and hip hop
Rascall Flatts- Journey
Taylor Swift-Def Lepord
Zac Brown-Dave Mason/James Taylor
We are also in such a visual era, the attractive people are going to be at the forefront of country music. People are just not going to pay hundreds and thousands of dollars for merchandise, tickets, concerts, etc. for unnattractive people.They want to see someone they WISH they could be. So look for more former atheletes, models, very attractive people. But those people are going to be less and less talented. So don't look for the abilities of the artists to increase. They won't.
We are going to have more and more mediocrity because people embrace it and then move on. The careers will be shorter. I don't see another Garth Brooks or even Taylor Swift career coming. I think as the older generation (my generation), of the George Strait's, Alan Jackson's, Reba's, Martina's, etc. retire or thin out, they are not going to be replaced. The people that replace them are going to have MUCH shorter careers. Three years will seem like a golden oldies show. Those artists have already seen that handwriting on the wall which is why you have both Strait and Jackson "officially" scaling back their tours. Reba has headed to Hollywood. Dolly is in the Theme park and real estate business.
There will be people that can build more out of a region now. You have people like Zac Brown, Frankie Ballard, and others who concentrated on regional success before they were pushed into National and International spotlights.
There will be some people that don't exceed those borders. But they will still be able to keep a decent living with local and regional things. They won't become millionaires but they won't be broke either.
On subject matter, that is always the trick. The TRUCK, TAILGATE, DRINKING ON THE DIRT ROAD DOWN BY THE RIVER' WILL RUN OUT OF GAS, just like the Angels, Gods, Honky Tonk, Pick up lines, one night stands, Have in times before. They all had their three year runs and this is about the third year of that one. So it will dwindle out as soon as the sales figures go flat on those, which is what is happening right now. With the biggest acts in the business, Eric Church and Luke Bryan, not even being able to break even on their recrord releases, you will see that trend start to decline precipitiously.
What can we do?
In a lot of ways, not much. We can be who we are. It always is going to come back to what I talk about all the time. Writing reality and finding a way to make it different and interesting. Hooking up with artists early in their career. Helping them build their careers past the song. Utilizing elements of current sounds, but being true to yourself.
And BEING REALISTIC IN YOUR EXPECTATIONS. That is the biggest thing. You can't expect a bunch of money to come rolling in because it is never going to. Even with all the things that go on in the culture, new formats coming out, new delivery systems, Internet web sites,whatever, you can't expect it all to "go back to the way it was" where people were making money because they are just not COLLECTING MONEY. When you have created an "expect everything for nothing" and gotten them used to that premise, the way you viewed it is GONE. It is not going back.
Or I could be totally wrong. Only time will tell. Enough prognostication for the day.
MAB