KT Oslin
K.T. OSLIN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
(K.T.on farmers,farming,country music and country music artists.)
K.T.-Farmers are a lot like anyone who is in show business. I find myself drawn to these farmers plight, because I think in many ways they’re a lot like show people.
In as much as they do what they do because they really love it. If you ask a farmer,’ You need to stop farming and go get a real job. So, what’s it going to be?’ They really couldn’t tell you anything, because there is nothing else they want to do. They can’t imagine any other kind of life. If you ask people in show business, they would probably tell you the same thing. We’re both willing to put up with not having everything, of hard times, or hanging by your to nails with that promise of ‘Next year it’ll be better.’ Then it does and then the following year is a bad year. We both go through phases in life except with farmers, they’re at the mercy of the weather. You know also, they grow our food, I’m interested in them in that they feed us. I want to know that they feed us well and I like to know that they take pride on growing their corn or soy, where a faceless corporation says, ‘So what if the quality isn’t so good, big deal. My name is not on it.’ I like the idea of the small farmer so I’ve always lent my support to them. I have a lot of empathy for them.
(K.T.on Farm Aid.)
K.T.-When you get to Farm Aid, little stories start to trickle down to you backstage of the family farmers who have been helped by efforts of all those involved. It’ll be like, ‘So and so says they’ve had a lot of calls from folks wanting to thank you for all the help.’ I’m looking forward to doing the show, it’s always great to see Willie. If I can help out once a year, then I’m very happy to do that. It’s a marathon, it’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s cool and in the end we do help people. I don’t know if you can essentially expect anything from me in the near future.
(Where is K.T. currently career-wise?)
K.T.-I retired about five years ago and, as far as making an album I have no desire to do one. I pick and choose things I want to do, like farm aid, and I do a few charity things. As far as getting back to do albums, no I don’t think I want to do that. If I did, it would be something non-country radio oriented that it would not even be funny. I’m thinking of writing a one woman show with a score to it like something for Broadway. I’m thinking about it right now and trying to out it together. I wouldn’t want to go back on the road again.
(Why K.T. does not tour.)
K.T.-I hated touring. I knew I would and I did. It just doesn’t work for me. In order to something now a days in country music, you really have to be prepared to tour and I’m not. So, I don’t know, I’ll pick and chose what I want to work on. I’m fortunate enough that I saved my money and I really don’t require a whole lot. So I don’t have to work if I don’t want to. So that leaves me open to pick and choose what I want to do.
(K.T.Oslin explains the difference between K.T.Oslin and other country recording artists.)
K.T.-You see I was not a 22 year old when all this happened. I’d already put in 32 years in this business. The traveling is hard, you finally have a nice house with a great bathroom and you’re always on the road, so you’re never in it. So, after a point, if you can kind of do it the way you like to do it, then it’s alright. But, for me touring was never like that. You can only control so much in this business and you can only get your comfort zone so close to where you’d like to be.
(K.T.on how country music has changed over the past two decades.)
K.T.-Country music has certainly changed in the five years since I’ve stepped out of it and now I’m not so invovled in it I’ve been able to step back and say,’OK look at this and look at that.’ It’s gotten awful slick. Slick can be good and slick can be bad. There’s both sides. But it’s gotten good as well as bad. It’s a lot younger a lot cuter and a lot harder and faster. Now country music is more song drive than it is artist driven. Twenty years ago, one artist could have literally one or two hits and work ten years off of those. They can’t do that anymore, it has to stay coming out of the shoot every time to keep in the business and to stay up there on the charts. It’s not so much like it was 20 years ago like, ‘Oh, we love everything George Jones does!’ You can have a hit here and a hit there but now, it’s like well we like this one song but we don’t like this other song. So artists fall of the charts. The careers are going to be hotter, faster and shorter. I mean youth is great but youth is fickle.
(K.T.Oslin, on female country music recording artists.)
K.T.-Some of these female artists, well the fans literally like them because of a hairdo I think with the youth has come a spark of liveliness and energy but also more ditties.
(K.T.Oslin offers her opinion in regards to the current styles of country music frequently played on national U.S.A. radio.)
K.T.-Here’s where I kill myself with country radio. Country radio has gotten too powerful. If you’re not on the radio, then the public I guess, really doesn’t know you’re out there. If you have a hit on radio, then the public peeceives that,’Oh, this is on radio, so it must be good.’ What works for radio, well radio is not in the music business. Radio is in the tire ad business. The music is a free pen that you get for coming into the store and looking at a set of tires. They shouldn’t have the control that they do. I mean it’s like,’We don’t play this kind of song and we don’t like that kind of song and we don’t like that artist because they came to the station and we didn’t think they were nice. So we don’t play them(she laughs).’It’s like, who gave them the credentials to be a music critic all of a sudden.