Filipino country music fanatic Michael Anthony Curan is our latest CD Junkie. Born in Alicia, a small town in the province of Bohol, Curan currently resides in Cebu City, a large city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines.
When Curan was in the second grade, he stumbled upon an FM station where the DJ was speaking in accent-less English. The program was called Pinoy Rock, a two-hour show devoted to local rock bands. Two popular Filipino rock bands played on the show were Eraserheads and Yano. Curan wanted to buy their records but couldn’t afford them at the time. He didn’t acquire them until years later.
“I believe that was the beginning of my itch to collect albums I love,” Curan told 360ºSound.
Curan still loves rock, but his favorite genre is country. At the most recent count, Curan has 1,144 country CDs, which includes Nashville country, Americana, alt-country, country-rock, and bluegrass. Throw in the other genres he collects, such as album-oriented rock, soul, blues, and jazz, and the CD collection totals over 2,000.
360ºSound: What do you love about the CD format?
Michael Anthony Curan: I got introduced to CD at 11 years old in 1996 when my aunt bought a secondhand SANYO component (turntable on top, two cassette decks, and a CD player). The seller included two CDs. One was a classic pop compilation while the other was an oldies medley compilation of classic rock songs performed by session musicians.
None of us knew what CDs were prior to that, but when my aunt put on a CD, I was mesmerized by the crystal-clear sound quality. There were no cracks and pops like vinyl, and no hiss like the tapes I grew up on. A few years later, my parents bought a Sony mini-component and the slow shift to CD began.
How long have you been collecting CDs?
When I was 13 years old, I got diagnosed with Type II Dengue fever. Back then the disease was deadly and if not for the immediate blood transfusion, I could have died. Because I lived, my parents and aunts were glad and decided to give me a gift worth P1000 (Philippine pesos, about $18) so I told them I wanted albums instead. An original CD was worth P450 back then while tapes were P150 so I bought 1 CD and three tapes.
The CD I bought when I got out of the hospital was The Moffatts’ Chapter One: A New Beginning. Since then, I’ve been collecting CDs using my high school allowance and money I got from selling bananacue (Philippine barbecued banana skewers) and ice candy. But because original CDs were expensive, I mostly bought bootlegs and pirated CD compilations, which are very common here in the Philippines.
In college, I moved to the city and started buying lots of original CDs (both local artists and foreign), thanks to CD sales from our local mall record stores and used CDs from indie stores. Today, I buy all originals, both new and used, mostly online. It’s harder to buy CDs, let alone country, at a record store these days since the few stores that exist are mostly selling vinyl and rock CDs. I even ordered some albums from Japan, especially those in the West Coast/AOR genre.
How did you get introduced to country music?
Modern country, the Nashville kind, was never on the local radio, although some albums were on the country racks at stores. When you say country music, what most Filipinos will tell you are the sounds of The Eagles, James Taylor, Bread, John Denver, Bob Dylan, and America, as well as power ballads like Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory.” Radio called this “folk rock and country,” and it’s a very popular format, especially among older people and rural folks. When I was a kid, those bands never appealed to me. They do now.
My proper introduction to country music was in late 1998 when I saw a tape of Collin Raye’s Direct Hits album on sale. He was featured on Jim Brickman’s “The Gift” which was a very popular song in the Philippines, so I bought the cassette, thinking it was just another album of rock ballads.
When I put it on, I was smitten by the arrangement of the first song, “Little Rock.” It was a typical ballad like “The Gift,” but unlike the kind of poetic lyrics of “The Gift,” this song was written like a short story narrative. The instrumentation had that warmth and dynamics. It also has that lonesome wail that hooked me immediately. I later learned it’s a pedal steel guitar (there’s no pedal steel in the Philippines).
All 14 songs on that album opened up my then-limited musical horizon. But I still didn’t know what type of music it was. I knew it wasn’t the usual pop or ballad I heard on the radio. Some of the songs have that “folk rock and country” vibe but still feel different. The whole album made me feel like I want to go on a road trip in an open top. That’s when my aunt said the music is a modern take on country music.
Since then, I frequented the country cassette rack on our local record store and also started buying those “folk rock and country” pirated CD comps. I also discovered during this time that popular classic local radio songs like Kenny Rogers’ “She Believes In Me,” David Slater’s “Exchange of Hearts,” and Michael Martin Murphy’s “Maybe This Time” were country songs by country artists. But they were introduced here as “love song ballads.” There was no pedal steel on these songs and the arrangements were that of a typical ‘80s pop ballad, so it did not resonate with me the way Collin Raye’s Direct Hits did. However, I love those songs now.
Today, I mainly gravitate towards Americana and Texas country because most of what I love about country music are now lumped under those umbrellas (e.g., Zach Bryan, Cody Jinks, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). There are still some Nashville country I like but most new Nashville stuff just sounds redundant to me. The lyricism is downgraded to a laundry list of boasting about who’s more country.
Who are some of your favorite country artists?
My all-time favorites are Hank Williams Sr, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Martina McBride, Collin Raye, and Alan Jackson. Collin Raye eventually led me to the treasure trove Nashville has to offer and eventually to Americana and alt-country.
Because of Raye, I discovered Alan Jackson, George Strait, and Garth Brooks (who was unknown here in the Philippines except for his pop-rock alter ego Chris Gaines, whose R&B-tinged song “Lost In You” was a constant on the radio). Those artists led to Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and Willie Nelson.
How do you feel about the future of the CD?
As long as there are collectors there will always be a market for CDs. CD has the best of both worlds. Its sound is digital, but it is tactile. You can hold it in your hands. Also, unlike vinyl, you don’t need high-end equipment to appreciate the crystal-clear sound of a CD. I don’t wish for a hipster CD revival because that means an increase in prices. I’m fine with people collecting CDs for its sake rather than the attached cool factor.
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