If Beyoncé is Country then I'm Pavarotti, says Robert

WITH his cowboy hat and his booming authentic American Country voice, Robert Mizzell looks like a cowboy and he shoots straight from the hip too regarding what’s new Country and what is not.

He told The Tuam Herald that while he has seen a massive increase in interest in new Country since the arrival of young new stars such as Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson and Zach Top, but Beyoncé, if she sings Dolly Parton songs, is definitely not Country!

“Don’t get me wrong as I love Beyoncé as an artist, but when RTÉ asked me a few years ago regarding Beyoncé and a Country album my response was then, and it still is, Beyoncé is about as Country as a New York City rat!

“I love what she does and I love her music but she’s no more a Country artist than I’m Pavarotti,” roared Robert with laughter.

He said that he can see at his own gigs now that fans want “real Country” from the era of George Jones to the current “new Traditionalists” who are in the Pop charts such as Ella Langley and Zach Top.

“Without mentioning any other of the new crop of Country stars I think that those two stars have reopened the love of classic Country songs once again among people of all ages,” said Robert.

“We played at the huge festival in Laois recently and I played a full American Country programme. They knew every word of every song, and they danced and jumped up and down to them all.”

Robert said that Country had “veered off to the left” a few years ago to become more like Rock ‘n’ Roll or Pop.

“Even when you hear the young stars now such as Ella Langley or Zach Top speak you know instantly that they are real Country people,” he offered.

“I think that they both come from farming backgrounds and those guys are out driving 4x4s in the fields and hills on their days off and rustling up cattle. They’re farming country people and that comes across in their music.”

While he is Country to the core, he still can deviate to include some classic Pop and ballads in his own live show which he has now fine-tuned to make it suitable for different audiences too.

“I’m doing lots of different things now, so much so that when I wake up in the morning now, I could be about to wear any one of about seven different hats and I have to remember which one to put on first,” he laughed.

“We were approached by the Bonnington Hotel in Dublin to do a series of Country nights there every Tuesday night for the summer season. They had a Folk night once a week with Sean Keane and a ballads night with The Dublin City Ramblers.”

Robert said that his show for this, and for other cabaret type venues around Ireland, is different to what he does for the dancers.

“It’s a show that is almost in the round and I’m sitting up on a stool in the centre with a few of my favourite musicians singing good classic Country songs, telling stories about my own life in the USA and my family traditions over there, and my family activities here in Ireland too since this country became my home all those years ago,” he explained.

“We also tell a few jokes and yarns, it’s a show that’s funny and uplifting with Country music being at the core of the whole show”.

Robert added that this type of show allows him to get to know the audiences better.

“While I’ve loved playing the dances all the years and still have a lot of great friends and fans on that scene, you never get to spend as much time with them as in this sort of more intimate cabaret setting,” he mused.

“The dancers are always busy enjoying themselves on the floor but with this new show we all get to know each other better as both artists and fans.

Robert said they have also done this show at a number of small theatres in places such as Limerick and Derry and the plan is for more to follow.

“The whole Country music scene in Ireland has been changing rapidly since the Covid years and all of us artists have to look at different angles for taking our music to the people,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be doing as many dances as in the past but of course I still do them and I’ve two groups of great musicians that I can work with at any time either for the dances or the concerts.”

Even though many of his colleagues on the Country scene have stopped releasing albums due to the lack of CD players in either the home or in cars now, Robert is still working away on a new album for release later this year. It will be on CD format as well as on USB, plus on all digital platforms.

Having celebrated his 55th birthday last month, Robert said he wants to try out different ways of presenting his music to the fans but that doesn’t mean that he will stop recording and releasing albums any time soon.

But with a wry grin this cowboy-hatted singer from Louisiana added that he has no plans to include any Beyoncé songs on his future recordings!