Colt Ford Being Credited with Shaping Today’s Country Rap Sound – Jon Asks What About The Bellamy Brothers?

This morning, Leslie and I were Talking about an article on our website crediting Colt Ford with being the primary force in in shaping today's 'Country Rap',  'Bro-Country' or 'Hick-Hop' sound. While I agree that Florida Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, Eric Church and others might sound very different today without Ford, what about the Bellamy Brothers? You might be asking yourself what the Bellamy Brothers have to do with any of this, if you even know who the Bellamy Brothers are. Howard and David Bellamy made sure that their music had a unique sound that stood out from day one by creating a sound that was always a little different than the country norm.

Rolling Stone magazine even published a recent article about how the Bellamy's might have had more to do with helping shape today's country rap sound than anyone. Maybe Colt Ford took a page out of the Bellamy Brothers' book.

From the get go, the Bellamys had a sound that was very different and yet very alluring as evidenced by their debut single, Let Your Love Flow from 1976, which gained popularity on both country and pop radio at the time and seemed to have tremendous mass appeal.

The Bellamy Brothers' style was always a mix of other styles that they enjoyed growing up including Reggae. In fact, they released a song in in 1982 called Get Into Reggae Cowboy , which not only harkened back to Bob Marley, but also had a beat that was very similar to that of modern rap music.

It was in 1987 that the Bellamys released a song called Country Rap that was exactly that....rap! The song song peaked at number 31 on the charts, but stayed on the charts for 10 weeks....the guys still perform the song today. I have said many times that the song opened the door for other artists to experiment with different sounds in country and even take a few chances that would definitely broaden the scope of what country music is.

No doubt that Colt Ford is a true innovator where today's country sound is concerned, but it didn't necessarily start with him and the Bellamy Brothers certainly deserve to be in the conversation as to how all of this came to be. Hear Country Rap below.