Country isn’t old ‘hat’ for Wills

Kirk Baird

Friday, July 6, 2001 | 8:55 a.m.

Somewhere in Greeley, Colo., recently, struggling with his cell phone headset, country singer Mark Wills was adamant that in a sea of sound-alike songs, his music stands out.

Performing Saturday at Fiesta's Roxy Theater, Wells, 27, was on the road to yet another concert in a 12-show tour of the West, when he was asked this question:

With three No. 1 singles to his credit -- including "I Do (Cherish You)," "Don't Laugh at Me" and "Wish You Were Here" -- how does he distinguish himself from other so-called "hot young country performers" or "hat acts"?

"I don't know," he said. "I'm going to let the music stand on its own. Image is important, but I try to let the music do the talking. It's probably cost me a few awards and stuff like that. To me, the music business is about the music. Sometimes people lose focus of that."

That can be especially true of country music, which has more often mirrored pop music in recent years, with its emphasis on styles and commercial appeal rather than quality and traditional roots.

That's why for every "old-school" country artist such as Ricky Skaggs, Lee Ann Womack or Dwight Yoakam there's a "poppy" Billy Ray Cyrus, Shania Twain and Faith Hill -- artists who are as at home on a pop station as they are on a country station.

This trend shift in country music has purists up in arms. And it led to the success of the single "Murder on Music Row" last year, which won a Country Music Award for Vocal Event of the Year for the George Strait-Alan Jackson collaboration.

Featuring venomous lyrics ("The almighty dollar, and the lust for worldwide fame/Slowly killed tradition and for that someone should hang/Oh they all say not guilty but the evidence will show/That murder's been committed down on Music Row"), "Murder on Music Row" perfectly summed up some country music fans' opinions of current-day Nashville.

Wills, however, does not share that view.

"There is no purity of country music. Country music has evolved so much from where it originally began," he said. "Country music was blues music that kind of took on its own format ... 'white man's blues.' And Patsy Cline and Eddy Arnold, people like that who were putting out their music (with) a string section and stuff like that in it, that was cutting edge. People were like, 'Oh my goodness, that's not country music.'

"When somebody does something different with their music, I don't look at it as forsaking a pure form of music, I look at is as doing what inspires them and what they like."

Wills also said it's important for singers to choose songs that express what they feel, and to give anyone who listens to the music "a look inside your soul."

Which is why the Academy of Country Music's 1999 Top New Male Vocalist selected "Don't Laugh at Me" to be on his second album, 1998's "Wish You Were Here." The song speaks of the differences everyone has while growing up and the ridicule we face because of it.

Co-written by Allen Shamblin and Steve Seskin, Wills said the genesis of "Don't Laugh at Me" was after Shamblin's daughter had been teased at school because of her freckles.

"I'm that kid on every playground/Who's always chosen last/A single teenage mother/Tryin' to overcome my past/You don't have to be my friend/But is it too much to ask ... Don't laugh at me."

"Everybody's been picked on and made fun of. You remember that and that's something you take with you through your adult life," he said. "That's why I fell in love with this song because it was so truthful. It had such a meaning behind it."

Wills can relate to that feeling of being "different." Recently diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, Wills said it had been a vexing problem that he'd dealt with most of his life.

"It's always been a struggle, and I never realized it was until a year or so ago after realizing that a lot of my aggravation was from something that I couldn't really control," he said. "I didn't have any idea what it was about and why I felt that way."

Following a doctor's diagnosis, Wills is taking medication and said he feels much better.

"I have more control, less anxiety, less stress," he said. "That's about it, but at the same time, it's a big difference."

Since the public disclosure of his disorder, Wills has become what he termed the "poster child" for ADD. He said he's often sought out for interviews concerning his affliction. But he's OK with that.

"There are some things you don't want to tell people, but when it's something you feel like if you share your story it might help somebody else, there's nothing wrong with that," Wills said. "I don't do it for publicity or for any reason other than I know how it feels to be in that predicament."