Recently I went to a rodeo which is a fantastic thing to do when you're older and can really appreciate the talent and the danger of what's taking place right in front of you. I like the bronco rides but most people seem to like bull riding, which is the final event of the day.
When I was there multiple riders rode bulls. Which reminded me of rodeo World Champion Ty Murray's quote on the sport: "You're never really ready to ride, it just becomes your turn."
The last cowboy to ride on my visit received some joking from the PA announcer because he had long, blonde hair. Which, of course, most cowboys don't. He looked more like a surfer. But I must have seen 200 cowboys over three days of bronco riding, calf roping and steer wrestling and he's the only one that I really remember. He had notable edge, making him stand out.
The Band Perry has this. To look at them, you'd think you're going to hear rock n' roll. But it's all country. And I love the banner at the start of their shows that reminds the audience of this...
That's one key way to win over new audiences; clearly embracing the authenticity of something, studying the history and respecting the core but then adding you're own never-before-seen twist. And when that performance comes out it's in a packaging that has just enough edge to be easily recalled but not enough to be weird (because when it's weird all we remember is the weirdness and the performance falls away).
This balance allows us to tell better stories about what we've seen.
Back to the surfer bull rider: by my calculation he received the highest bull riding score of the weekend.