Listening to mainstream country radio stations for any length of time can quickly become dispiriting.
The cookie-cutter quality of the songwriting, with images repeated ad nauseam of fishin’ holes, hot girls in Daisy Dukes and the accompanying nonstop party mentality --one San Bernardino station proclaimed over the weekend that “country music is all about having a good time” --creates an impression of least-common-denominator pandering.
Fortunately, the restorative aspect of the annual Stagecoach Country Music Festival’s smartly curated lineup is that it provides pretty much whatever level of artistry any festival-goer might yearn for.
The Mane Stage, devoted to the masses, is the source of the biggest helping of current hits. In the early going at Friday’s opening day, those were generously served up by hot-on-the-chart acts such as Sam Hunt, Eric Paslay and the half of Sugarland that wears a beard, Kristian Bush.
But across the Empire Polo Field, in the Palomino tent, Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen countered with consistently witty, lyrically fresh explorations of facets of life that rarely make the airwaves on commercial radio these days.
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Take this cinematic scene from “Gringo Honeymoon,” sketched with the economy of a poet and the painterly touch of a novelist.
Met a cowboy who said that he was running from the D.E.A. He left his home his wife and family when he made his getaway We followed him on down a street at dusk to his one-room rundown shack He blew a smoke ring and he smiled at us I ain’t ever goin back
Keen came on shortly after another venerated Texan, Billy Joe Shaver, likewise delivered a batch of richly detailed, often howling, lunging, sometimes trenchantly revealing songs that make most hits on the country charts these days seem like a kindergartner’s fingerprinting exercise.
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Brett Young performs on the Mane Stage during the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Luke Bell performs on the Palomino Stage during the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Rainey Qualley performs on the Mane Stage on the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans dash out from behind gates to get the best concert viewing seats as they arrive on the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Jana Kramer performs on the Mane stage during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29, 2016.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Kieley Olenick of Corona dances with Nick Bryan of Riverside as Jana Kramer performs on the Mane stage during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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The setting sun illuminates and casts shadows on the umbrella of Ashley Gonzales and William Quintero, both of Long Beach, during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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A country music fan is silhouetted dancing by a vendor’s spotlight while Emmylou Harris performs on the Palomino Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Marty Stuart performs on the Mustang Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Young performs on the Mane Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans sing along during Eric Church’s headlining performance during the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans Debbie Clark, of Fullerton, left, Kitty Borchard, of Costa Mesa, Caitlin Roberto, of Norwalk, Jenny Stevens, of Downey, and Nicole Ray, of Anaheim, pose with their phones by an illuminated American flag hanging on their RV at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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A country music fan waves to friends from the top of an RV at sunset in the RV Resort as she attends the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Thursday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Jamella Perkins, center, joins fellow country music fans line dancing in the Dance Dome at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort as they attend the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome at Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome as they attend the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Spotlights silhouette and create shadows as country music fans dance in the Dance Dome as they attend the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Nick Michael, of Anaheim, checks his phone by an illuminated American flag hanging on an RV at dusk in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fan Vito Pace, of Calabasas, sports LED lights on his hat at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Tiffany Rancloes, left, of Yucca Valley, dances with Jen Halcrow, also of Yucca Valley, to country music in the RV Resort of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Madisyn Recupido, 4, of Beaumont, who is attending her fourth Stagecoach festival, sports pink boots and hat while checking out plastic pink flamingos in the RV Resort at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans ride bikes at dusk at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Two men arrive on a loaded tricycle full of beer and other drinks in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Horse heads and bicycles are illuminated with LED lights, put on by Vito Pace, of Calabasas, at dusk in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans, from left, Vito Pace, Linda Vogel, Cassidy Vogel, Michelle Pace, all of Calabasas, sport LED lights on their bikes at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple cruise on three-wheel bikes with flags through the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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A private security mounted patrol keeps an eye on country music fans at dusk in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Phillip Toczynski, and Alyssa Salinas, both of Simi Valley, pull their luggage as they arrive in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Crew members put up lighting at sunset on the Mane Stage on Thursday at the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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No wonder one of country’s greatest vocalists, Waylon Jennings, devoted an entire album to Shaver’s brilliantly evocative songs. Here’s an excerpt from the title track from that Jennings album, “Old Five and Dimers Like Me”:
I’ve spent a lifetime making up my mind to be More than the measure of what I thought others could see Good luck and fast bucks are too far and too few between For Cadillac buyers and old five and dimers like me
And that’s just the first verse. Stagecoach is delivering a timely reminder that quality is still readily available in country music. You just need to know where, and to whom, to look for it.
Randy Lewis covered pop music for the Los Angeles Times from 1981 to 2020, working in that time as a reporter, music critic and editor for the Calendar section. He has interviewed most of the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also written first-person accounts of performing the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev on clarinet and singing Mozart’s Requiem with world-class professionals. In addition, he enjoys belting out “Wooly Bully” in dive bars with his band, the Rounders.
