I grew up on American Country (Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, etc.) and American Pop (Jack Jones, Doris Day, Patty Page). Even to my kid ears, the particular radio station we were tuned to sounded like it was playing one long album.

     Someone once asked, "Did Vivaldi write 50 songs, or one song 50 times?"

     That's what I think of mainstream music. Then, the Beatles came along, and every song on every album sounded unlike the one before and after. It blew my mind.

     Suddenly, there was a single station playing Jimi Hendrix and the Everly Brothers, Heart and Jethro Tull. Van Morrison and Bonnie and Delaney and Janis Joplin. Every song on Rock radio was different, the day was divided by unique music, and that made me happy.

     Now, we're back to singular music again. The King of the form is Modern Country, but lately (to me), it's happening in every genre. I've spent the morning listening to albums produced in Nashville, some of them Americana, and by the second one I'd already heard the same old studio musicians playing the same old riffs.

     Holiday Inn once had an ad campaign that said, "At Holiday Inn, there are no surprises." It sounds like the mantle worn now by music.  If I'm the only one who feels this way, I won't be surprised. It wouldn't be the first time.

     But I'm curious. Are we losing our originality just to conform to a 'success' model? And whose model is it?