Jason Aldean Admits to Being Unable to Differentiate Most Female Artists

It's been the hue and cry in country music for at least a couple of years now that female artists are having a very difficult time catching on.

The discussion heated up earlier this year when country music consultant Keith Hill recommended cutting back on playing females in order to improve ratings.

Now, country superstar Jason Aldean has weighed in, albeit not as controversially as Hill did.

But anytime any country music star makes a statement about other country artists, eyebrows tend to raise, so let's see if that happens.

Jason just said that, outside of Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood--country music's biggest female stars--he has a hard time telling female singers apart.

Now, let me say that I have NEVER cared when an artist states his or her opinion about music. It's a free country.

I actually like the honesty.

And I'm glad he said it because it brings up a topic I've hammered home before. In the 90s, no less than 24 different female artists or female led groups had number one songs.

From 2000 through 2009, the number was a smaller but still potent 17.

And since the beginning of 2010, it's dropped off to just nine.

The "something in common" those female artists had in the 90s was the fact that they didn't have ANYTHING in common vocally.

They were all unique. You knew who each and every one of them was when you heard them.

So I guess I think Jason has a point.

Now, it's what he said later that I found ironic. He once again mentioned his distaste for being lumped into the category "bro-country."

That term has been applied to a number of new or relatively new male country artists who sing about tailgates, booze, and girls with great legs.

And it's one that those labeled find offensive because they say there's more to them than that OR they're just singing about their lives.

Anyway, it's a discussion that will continue as country music continues to reach out to younger listeners.