“AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE, ALL MAINSTREAM MUSIC BECOMES COUNTRY MUSIC, HUH?”

IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT A CONVERSATION WITH DAVE WRANGLER TURNS INTO A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE CULTURAL BRANDING OF BILLBOARD-AIMED COUNTRY BETWEEN 1970 AND 2005. DAVE (ALSO KNOWN AS DJ DISKO COWBOY) IS THE FOUNDER OF VINYL RANCH, THE CLASSIC COUNTRY MUSIC LIFESTYLE BRAND. SITTING AT THE SWAGGERING EDGE OF WHERE URBAN COOL MEETS THE WILD WEST, VINYL RANCH IS PLAYING A VITAL ROLE IN HOW COUNTRY MUSIC IN AMERICA IS REDEFINING ITSELF BY THROWING BACK TO “COUNTRY AND WESTERN” CULTURE.

FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS, WRANGLER’S BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF A RESURGENCE OF BIG-HAIRED VIXENS, OUTLAWS-TURNED-UNWITTING SUPERSTARS AND HUNKY DUDES IN TEN-GALLON HATS, LEADING QUINTESSENTIAL COUNTRY COOL BACK TO THE FOREFRONT OF AMERICA’S ZEITGEIST.

AS MUCH AS THE EARLY 70S WAS A TIME DEFINED BY PROGRESSIVE-MINDED TRADITIONALISTS LIKE JOHNNY CASH AND MERLE HAGGARD, OR SENSUAL CROONERS LIKE CONWAY TWITTY, IT WAS ALSO A PERIOD THAT SAW WOMEN AND MARGINALIZED ARTISTS AT THE TOP OF THE BILLBOARD CHARTS. FOR ARTISTS LIKE CHARLEY PRIDE, IT MEANT A GROUNDBREAKING BREAKTHROUGH. FOR DOLLY PARTON, IT KICKED OFF A FIVE-DECADE RUN OF ICONIC SUCCESS. FOR A DJ AND ARTISTIC DESIGNER LIKE DISKO COWBOY, IT CREATED A CORNERSTONE AESTHETIC UPON WHICH A WELL-RESPECTED INDEPENDENT BRAND HAS BEEN BUILT.

“MUCH MORE THAN MUSIC, VINYL RANCH IS A ‘POP CULTURE BLENDER’ THAT OCCUPIES AN AESTHETIC, PERFORMANCE ART-DRIVEN, ANALOG-ERA SPACE. OR, EVEN BETTER, THE TIME FRAME BETWEEN WHEN JOHN TRAVOLTA STARRED IN SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER IN 1977 AND URBAN COWBOY IN 1980. THE BRAND IS DRIVEN BY MY BELIEF THAT PEOPLE IN EACH OF THESE DEMOGRAPHICS WANT WHAT THEY THINK THE OTHER HAS, SO THEY PURSUE, ROMANTICIZE AND FETISHIZE THOSE LIFESTYLES.”

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