Wednesday, December 18, 2013

CBS: Bobby Bones Winning Fans, Defying Expectations

The Bobby Bones Show attracts some of the biggest stars in country music, but it's not your traditional country radio.

Bones and his gang of friends -- literally they are his old friends he put on his show -- have skyrocketed from 15 markets to 50 across the nation. And in Nashville, on his flagship station Country WSIX The Big 98 (97.9 FM), Bones now has the No. 1 show. And, as he told CBS News' Jan Crawford, he doesn't even own a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, or a belt buckle.

When his company moved him from a Top 40 station in Austin to replace legendary country DJ Gerry House, there were skeptics.

Bones said, "It wasn't just one city that didn't like us it was a whole lot of cities that didn't like us. (They said) 'You're terrible. You're not country. You don't sound like a DJ'."

But with his quirky mix of intensely personal revelations and unscripted interviews with country stars, it's clear this is what people like.

It also matches with what's happening today in country music. Some of the top stars are a lot like Bobby Bones. They don't look country, and they don't always sound it.

The funny thing is, Bobby Bones is country, and his life is a lot like an old country song, with a lot of loss and struggle. Bones recalled, "I was a food-stamp welfare kid from Arkansas. My dad was never around. My mom had me when she was 15. My grandmother raised me and adopted me for a while."

His mother died recently in her early forties, complications from a lifetime of substance abuse. That's one reason he says he's never had a drink. Bones was the first person in his family to graduate from high school and go to college. Bones said, "You know it's that Arkansas stereotype we're talking about. That was me. But I think it really made me who I am."

His company -- Clear Channel -- that moved him from pop to country really believes he has potential to be the next big national talent with crossover appeal into television. But when you talk with Bobby, he has this sense that nothing is permanent. He also said that's what really drives him and makes him keep pushing himself to the next thing."

No comments:

Post a Comment