Rolling Country 2009 Thread

Heard a few songs in the nightly countdown on the commercial country station here last night, and thought "Guinevere" by the Eli Young Band (whoever that is) and "Boots On" by Randy Houser sounded good.

Paid $1 over the weekend for a used Austin Public Library copy of Rank and File's 1984 Long Gone Dead, and am really surprised by how bland and wussified it sounds, especially with Stan Lynch from Petty's Heartbreakers on drums. It's not just that their alleged cowpunk here has no punk in it to speak of; it also doesn't seem to have much country, though once in a while (in "Hot Wind" and "John Brown" say) Chip Kinman gets off some semblance of of a guitar line reminiscent of desert scenes in western movies. I'm not sure which Kinman brother has the high voice and which has the low one, but the former sounds like a real wall-flowery blushing-violet woman to me, and the latter an even dryer and deader than usual Johnny Cash wannabee; amazingly, though I could live without them both, I prefer the latter. What's weird is that I actually remember kind of liking Rank and File's '82 debut Sundown when I had a copy in the '80s; either I really overrated it back then or they really took a nosedive with their followup. Christgau, bizarrely, gives both albums A-'s. But then, he wound up liking alt-country more than me too, so who knows. And I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the copies of Jason and the Scorchers' Fervor and the Long Ryders' State Of Our Union I've picked up cheap in the last couple years, so it's not like I have any bone to pick with '80s cowpunk as a style.

Most pleasant proto-cowpunk (post-pub-rock) purchase this week was Dave Edmunds' '78 Tracks On Wax 4, which is way better, with way harder rocking rockabilly, than I'd remembered -- especially the super fast "Reader's Wives," which seems to concern either prostitutes or strippers or just slutty women in general, though I have no idea what the title itself means. Always liked "Trouble Boys" (about being afraid to mess with the big bad guys in town, then finding a pal who's willing to), but never realized before that the LP had so many good songs. Ends with a tougher version of "Heart In The City" than the one on Pure Pop For Now People.

Tracks On Wax 4 finished #16 in Pazz & Jop in 1978, fwiw, 13 places below Lowe. Long Gone Dead gratifyingly didn't place in '84, though Rank and File's debut had finished #22 in '82, so maybe Xgau was alone in thinking the second album stood up to the first. (Ira Robbins, in the New Trouser Press Record Guide from 1985, says it sounds fussier and retains "only a skimpy portion of the first album's evocative magnificence," not to mention only half the band that played on that one.)

"Spitting my dip" sounds about right. I took away from it that she's supposed to watch out for
tin of spent chaw.

Okay, best I can tell, Edmunds's "Readers Wives" is apparently more about ogling centerfolds which maybe the porno readers imagine as their wives?) or pinups or whatever. As Ian Dury would say, Dave's got a razzle in his pocket. Songwriting credit for that one goes to N. Brown, which I'll take a wild uneducated guess is some old (jump?) blues guy; "Trouble Boys" is credited to one B. Murray (presumably not Bill), who also (along with R. Peters) wrote "Not A Woman, Not A Child," another of my favorites on the album. Other ones I like a lot are "Television" (about wanting to watch it even when it's back, written by N. Lowe), "A-1 On The Jukebox" ("...nowhere on the charts," sounds like Lowe but actually credited to D. Edmunds/W. Birch, the latter being Will Burch from the Records I assume), and "Heart Of (not 'in' as I mis-state above) The City" (N. Lowe-penned, but definitely D. Edmunds-guitared -- last track on the album, really raw take, and he really lets himself cut loose.)

(Damn, lots of typos in that post -- e.g., "wanting to watch it even when it's bad," I meant.)

Here's Taylor/Def Lep "Sugar" from Crossroads, which comes across more powerfully than the one they did on the CMT awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRgP-C7XU-s

And here's T-Swizzle and T-Pizzle "Thug Story" on the CMT awards (but Viacom will make YouTube kill it any second now). Doesn't really get funny until the last 10 seconds, when T-Pizzle starts talking, and T-Swizzle keeps his AutoTune going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAzcxUdlvlI

(Probably confused my T-Pizzles and T-Swizzles. Whatever.)

Regarding 2:29 in "8 Second Ride": Xhuxk's ears do not deceive him, though I assume that that part gets modified on radio.

"Here's Taylor/Def Lep "Sugar" from Crossroads, which comes across more powerfully than the one they did on the CMT awards."

Yep, it's better. Still lacking in the Dept. of Backbone and Thud. Also sounds like it's lost a step or two. Plus gratuitous fiddle player. That's how they would have largely rocked it at the bar in Wyomissing, though. Still not convinced Taylor Swift has any business delving in hard rock forms.

XXXPost re Readers' Wives....

RW was a feature in a '70s Brit Porn mag - don't know which one - whose readers sent in pics of their wives in their negligee or less, hence....

The new #59 song on Billboard's country chart, "Jeep Jeep" by Krista Marie, sounds gimmicky in a maybe good way, and its guitar sounds like something new wave, and it may or may not be influenced by Missy Elliott saying beep beep who's got the key to her jeep:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7SdKsyWHhQ&feature=PlayList&p=F0E152DCB2256A00&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=48

Here is how I wish its words went instead:

Last night, I heard my mama singing a song
Ooh-We, Jirpy, Jirpy, Jeep, Jeep
Woke up this morning and my mama was gone
Ooh-We, Jirpy, Jirpy, Jeep, Jheep

In other news, Jon Caramanica reviewed a Toby Keith/ Trace Adkins show in the NY Times a couple days ago, and said the former covered "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent and the latter did "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder. So naturally I searched youtube; found two renditions of the former, but none of the latter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yA3VMxiLHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbANwO-6MlQ

A version of "Stranglehold" by someone who cannot carry it off in the least, despite his love of Ted Nugent and willingness to put him in the movies. It's a toss up over which is worse, this or Taylor Swift
doing "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

Like the Krista Marie tune but I'll be damned if it's possible to logically explain why the country fiddle is even in that song a little.

Well, she was an American Girl, raised on promises (Swift sings Petty)

New Holly Williams album: country weepy goop, sophisticated-singer-songwriter-in-Paris goop, family confessional goop, more singer-songwriter goop. She's fine when she's in the first category - "He's Making A Fool Out Of You," "Keep The Change," "Let Her Go" - while the others tend towards the mediocre and goopy.

My top country singles, first half of 2009:

1. Love And Theft "Runaway"
2. Jamey Johnson "High Cost Of Living"
3. Sarah Buxton "Space"
4. Caitlin & Will "Even Now"
5. Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me"
6. Sarah Borges And The Broken Singles "Do It For Free"
7. Taylor Swift "White Horse"
8. Jack Ingram "Barefoot And Crazy (Double Dog Dare Ya Mix)"
9. Brooks & Dunn f. Reba McEntire "Cowgirls Don't Cry"
10. Rascal Flatts "Summer Nights"
11. Randy Houser "Boots On"
12. John Rich "Shuttin' Detroit Down"
13. Jamie O'Neal "Like A Woman"
14. Kenny Chesney "Out Last Night"
15. Dierks Bentley "Sideways"
16. Holly Williams "Keep The Change"
17. Collin Raye "Mid-Life Chrysler"

Chuck's list is here, and Anthony's is here.

Parsing down my Top 60 of Everything singles list and then some (and discounting Southern Soul songs though maybe I should actually include them here), here's what I get countrywise for an '09 Top 30 so far. (Top of the list looks kinda similar to Frank's):

1. Jamey Johnson – “High Cost Of Living”
2. Love and Theft – “Runaway”
3. Rascal Flatts – “Summer Nights”
4. John Rich – “Shuttin’ Detroit Down”
5. Sarah Buxton – “Space”
6. Caitlin & Will – “Even Now”
7. Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me”
8. The Love Willows – “Falling Faster”
9. The Flatlanders – “Homeland Refugee”
10. Krista Marie – “Jeep Jeep”

11. Trace Adkins – “I Can’t Outrun You”
12. Brooks & Dunn – “Cowgirls Don’t Cry”
13. Jessica Harp – “Boy Like Me”
14. Kenny Chesney – “Out Last Night”
15. Billy Currington – “People Are Crazy”
16. Brooks & Dunn – “Indian Summer”
17. Montgomery Gentry – “One In Every Crowd”
18. Megan Munroe - “Moonshine”
19. Sarah Borges And The Broken Singles – “Do It For Free”
20. Eli Young Band – “Guinevere”

21. Lady Antebellum – “I Run To You”
22. Kid Rock – “Blue Jeans And A Rosary”
23. Trace Adkins – “Marry For Money”
24. Collin Raye – “Midlife Chrysler”
25. Pat Green – “What I’m For”
26. Jason Aldean – “She’s Country”
27. Jake Owen – “Eight Second Ride”
28. Hank Williams Jr. – “Red, White and Pink Slip Blues”
29. Jason Boland and the Stragglers – “Comal County Blues”
30. Jamie O’Neal – “Like A Woman”

But if I were to count Southern Soul songs as country (which they are, in a way), my country Top 10 so far would look like this instead:

1. Jamey Johnson – “High Cost Of Living”
2. Love and Theft – “Runaway”
3. Larry Shannon Hargrove – “I Need A Bailout”
4. Rascal Flatts – “Summer Nights”
5. John Rich – “Shuttin’ Detroit Down”
6. Sarah Buxton – “Space”
7. Mel Waiters – “Everything Is Going Up (But My Paycheck)”
8. Caitlin & Will – “Even Now”
9. Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me”
10. Floyd Taylor --- “Southern Soul Party”

And here are my favorite country albums of '09's first half:

1. Collin Raye – Never Going Back (Time Life)
2. Those Darlins – Those Darlins (Oh Wow Dang)
3. Pat Green – What I’m For (BNA)
4. Ashley Monroe – Satisfied (Sony)
5. Megan Munroe – One More Broken String (Diamond)
6. Eric Church – Carolina (Capitol)
7. The Boxmasters – Modbilly (Vanguard)
8. Blackberry Smoke – Little Piece Of Dixie (Big Karma)
9. (Various) – The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute To The Songs Of Chris Gaffney (Yep Roc)
10. Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day (Dualtone)
11. The Flatlanders – Hills And Valleys (New West)
12. Buckwheat Zydeco – Lay Your Burden Down (Alligator)
13. Rodney Atkins -- It’s America (Curb)
14. Sarah Borges And the Broken Singles – The Stars Are Out (Sugar Hill)
15. Rufus Huff – Rufus Huff (Zoho Roots)

Assuming anybody's still out there, has anybody heard these? (I haven't, yet; probably should.)

35 1
It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You, Tim McGraw
B.Gallimore,T.McGraw,D.Smith (B.James,J.Moi,C.Kroeger ) Curb PROMO SINGLE | 35
38 NEW 1 American Ride, Toby Keith
T.Keith (J.West,D.Pahanish ) Show Dog Nashville PROMO SINGLE | 38
57 NEW 1 Outside My Window, Sarah Buxton
S.Buxton (S.Buxton,V.Shaw,M.J.Hudson,G.Burr ) Lyric Street PROMO SINGLE | 57
59 NEW 1 American Saturday Night, Brad Paisley
F.Rogers (B.Paisley,A.Gorley,K.Lovelace ) Arista Nashville DIGITAL | 59

Best song from Montgomery Gentry's '08 album (or at least the song I liked more when the album came out), "Long Line Of Losers," is also now on Billboard's country song chart, fwiw.

Also, Singles Jukebox reviews of Love & Theft:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=928

and Pat Green:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=959

I've heard "American Saturday Night." It's melting pot ode to how a good time in America is made up of stuff from other countries-- French kisses, Italian Ices, the Beatles, togas, imported beer.

Man, this thread done died. Ah well. Anyhow, via email:

July 17, 2009

MERCURY RECORDS NASHVILLE ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF NEW MUSIC
FROM AWARD-WINNING SINGER/SONGWRITER JAMEY JOHNSON

Nashville, TN - The debut single from Jamey Johnson's forthcoming album is entitled "My Way To You." The song, co-written by Johnson and Charlie Midnight, will be available to radio stations across the country TODAY at 1:00PM/CT via PLAY MPE.

On August 3, "My Way To You" will be available as a FREE download at www.jameyjohnson.com<http://www.jameyjohnson.com/>;. On August 11, the digital e-single will be available for download at iTunes and all other digital partners.

The follow-up album to Johnson's critically acclaimed That Lonesome Song will hit stores this fall and will also be released on vinyl. "Man, that's how I listen to music. It's my favorite, number-one preference at home, to go put a vinyl record on my great grandmother's old record player. Which reminds me, I need to get somebody to do some maintenance on it. It needs a new needle."

Also, fwiw, thoughts on the current Toby Keith single, first written as Jukebox comments:

Ha ha, new Toby Keith single “American Ride,” now there’s a song that picks some fights and draws a line in the sand — anti-immigration horseshit (tidal wave comin’ in from the Mexican border not to mention thugs arrested by Customs with aerosol cans though maybe that’s just anti-graffiti-art I’m not sure), Christianist horseshit (people getting arrested for singing Christmas carols), sexist horseshit (mom getting her rocks off watching Desperate Housewives and spoiled kids watching youtube learning how to be mean girls ’cause that’s what it takes to get along in the world while Dad works his ass off for the good life), rockist horeshit (beauty queens with plastic surgery becoming pop stars without being able to sing a note), you name it. But also a chorus that seems to accept global warming (or the ozone layer burning up as summers get warmer anyway), at least as a metaphor for the country turning to shit (or “fit,” as in “fit’s gonna hit the shan.”) But Toby’s digging the ride anyway — “look ma, no hands!” And he kicks it as hard as anything he’s done (dude’s been covering “Stranglehold” in concert lately — guess he’s getting a little bored by his mellow period these past few years), and he turns the world going to hell into a biker rally. Won’t say if I love it or not.

Better song than his live do of "Stranglehold," stuff of which on YouTube, if it's representative, is just terrible. Seemed like more good but standard farm show arena Bad Company-ization, declining block riff, with the usual gratuitous glue on sequins of fiddle and jaw harp.

It's OK for country artists to now start acknowledging global warming because O'Reilly has said repeatedly that he believes it, although most of the rest of Fox still calls it a hoax. Hell, Mr. O even made Goldman Sachs public enemy number one this week, startling when one compares it with the usual parade of banking industry groupies and cheerleaders on the network, or on Dobbs over at CNN.

The formerly good ol' USA is now so obviously screwed up even the timid country artist and fans can see that they've a reality disconnect in their former dogma. No health care reform, no finance industry reform, more than half a million fired each month with the unemployment rate still going up and no significant difference in the slop of the climb from month to month, still not out of any wars, manufacturing industry and jobs shot and no will in national leadership to change it. Even if you've on a high school diploma and got lazy person's C's in business math, it's become to obvious we're living in the world's biggest and most powerful banana republic.

Who'll be the first mainstream country artist to make an entire album about it? N. Young included out because that's all he's done for decades. Not Brad Paisely, he's too much into guitar and conversational humorous story-telling, the poor man's Mark Twain without the social commentary of Huck Finn. Maybe Keith could
do it. With his jagoff personality, it ought to sound suitably perverse in the ways of a partyin' man. No urban blues for Toby.

OK, I'm sorry, I LOVE Jamey Johnson, but this:

"Man, that's how I listen to music. It's my favorite, number-one preference at home, to go put a vinyl record on my great grandmother's old record player. Which reminds me, I need to get somebody to do some maintenance on it. It needs a new needle."

reeks of PR horseshit. How hard is it to change a needle? I'd hardly call that 'maintenance,' especially if you listen to a lot of 'vinyl records'(ROFL). Court the Wilco crowd much?

Yeah, that pegs the bogometer well into the red category: 'Don't know what I'm spouting but my minder said it sure sounded good.'

http://www.roughstock.com/audio/jamey-johnson-my-way-to-you

Sounds promising for the album.

Phil Vassar, "Bobbi With An I" -- probably the best pro-transvestite country single (and video) since Moe and Joe's "Where's The Dress" 25 Years Ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ComwlHvHW1E

So how do you all feel about Gloriana's Wild at Heart?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv3PJ1YSHFs

(I see there was a little chatter about it above.)

Pleasant, but never really gets going, even when it hits the 5 seconds of Bo Diddley beat at the 2/3 point.

There are actually hints of Diddley beat even before that point (or at least '80s robo-pop-style approximations thereof), but yeah, I'm still where I was a few months ago -- sounds to me like a less memorable version of Little Big Town's (or maybe Lady Antebellum's) boy-girl harmonies. I could imagine that group making a good record, though -- wonder what their other material sounds like.

I thought that song was a new Little Big Town single until I read the Slate piece today.

What Slate piece? Can you link to it? (Went to the site, and couldn't find a single Music piece under the Arts pulldown, and then when I finally found "Music Box" on their site map, no recently published pieces seemed even remotely country.)

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2009/07/16/summer-camp-gloriana-s-wild-at-heart.aspx

Exhibit A is the video for the group's debut single, "Wild at Heart," an eruption of beatific singing, dancing, hand-clapping, and ear-to-ear grinning. "Wild at Heart" is a bubble-gum pop song of the sort
rarely seen these days: unrelentingly perky without a hint of distancing irony. In the wised-up world of postmodern pop, Nashville is the last bastion of pure camp.

Gloriana's daffiness might be too much to take if the song weren't so damn good. But "Wild at Heart" is a perfect single, a song-length hook, or patchwork of hooks: the "We Will Rock You" drum machine beat, the "Jack and Diane" guitar strum, the "funky breakdown." -- Jody Rosen

This overstates it by, pardon the expression, about a country mile.

Gloriana is modeled on Fleetwood Mac—or modeled on Fleetwood Mac-inspired country acts like Little Big Town: two guys, two girls, lots of four-part harmonies. What Gloriana adds to this formula—in addition to gallons of mousse and pomade—is boundless, shameless pep.

Sorry, but Little Big Town have several songs far more peppy and shameless than this one.

In the wised-up world of postmodern pop, Nashville is the last bastion of pure camp.

I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.

The lyrics are also a pastiche—a sequence of clichés so complete that they transcend cliché and approach conceptual art.

Dude's been reading too many Lady Gaga interviews.

Wasn't aware Cheyene Kimball was in the group, though. (Never made it all the way through her album, but I do remember it existing at the time.)

xhuxk, recommend some good Little Big Town songs to me with more shameless pep? I love shameless pep and I don't really know LBT that well.

"Boondocks," "Bones," "Mean Streak," "Welcome To The Family," "Fine Line," "Evangeline," "Novacaine," "Fury." (Well, those are some of my favorites, anyway. Thing is, that Gloriana song doesn't strike me as all that shameless or peppy in the first place -- just kinda average.)

Singles Jukebox roundtable reviews of current country singles by:

Brooks & Dunn

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1048

Lady Antebellum

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1041

and, uh, Ben Kweller

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1031

Chuck, Little Big Town is amazing. Thanks so much for the recommendation. I really need to spend more time in this thread.

(that said, I'm not sure I buy that any of these songs are more "peppy" than the Gloriana song.)

Couple more Singles Jukebox reviews...

Lost Trailers

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1072

Sarah Jarosz

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1069

Upcoming alt-countrified albums I didn't make it all the way through and probably won't but didn't hate: Bottle Rockets, Delbert McLinton, the Pines, Rev. Horton Heat, James Hand, Chris Knight (old demos I guess), Guy Clark, Patty Loveless, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Azar. Of those, Keen and Azar seemed the most promising, probably; might get back to them.

Upcoming alt-countrified albums I sort of like so far (though I'm not sure how much): Drivin N Cryin, Tim Carrol (the latter a former member of Indiana punk rock greats the Gizmos now married to alt-country singer Elizabeth Cook -- how weird is that?)

Song I like a lot on an album which came out this year and has inspired basically no talk on this thread though it's honestly not a bad album: "Wild Rebel Rose" by Martina McBride (sort of her version of "Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith, only better.)

Martina McBride song from three years ago I didn't know I liked until this year even though it hit Number Five on Billboard's country chart: "Anyway."

Btw, the Gloriana EP is solid throughout. All four songs are good, and "Wild at Heart" might actually be the weakest of the bunch.

Was watching Appaloosa for the first time on HBO last night. Ed Harris doing a Boxmasters' gig over the closing credit, "You'll Never Leave My Heart" made me laugh. He really nailed the earnest lunkhead marshal stuck with the loose woman theme that was half the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C-0X0eBV7o

Jon Caramanica on Nashville's post-Taylor Swift young blondes and brunettes in yesterday's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/arts/music/02cara.html

And elsewhere in the same paper, he reports that the new Walmart-exclusive Sugarland DVD/CD features covers of songs by Beyonce', R.E.M. (twice), Pearl Jam, B-52s, and Kings of Leon. (I like Sugarland, so I'll try not to hold their taste against them):

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/arts/music/02play.html

See, here's the problem with trying to telegraph on a network TV media event which is essentially an advertising vehicle, the Sugarland thing. You present, in the New York Times, something that's not much of a glimpse of reality.

"Nightswimming" was ninety seconds of about nothing, if you want to draw attention to it as a REM cover. "Love Shack" has been on Youtube for awhile. Anyway, the biggest thing about "Nightswimming" was Nettles in an old lady's swim cap and the white bumbershoot shtick, which won't mean anything to anyone who hasn't already seen it.

The only mildly interesting part of the network performance was the rather obvious (if you know late-Sixties/early Seventies hard rock) of the instro backing from Grand Funk's "Footstompin' Music" during the segment when Nettles and Bush go into the audience in big plastic beachballs. Aside from the opening number, that was the only thing that rocked, which underplays their live show by a bit, I imagine. Guitar mix was set low and Nettles has that notch in her voice common to crying babies and cats in the kitchen when you're opening their cans of tuna. It's a frequency that gets right into the cerebellum -- evolution must have hard-coded it into mammalian ears -- and she has it in spades in her her vocal cords. So when she sings "Stay," even if you're, mentally, a wooden table, it gets a reaction. Not an insult, really, she was born with the power. Like Michael Phelps was born to beat the hell out of everyone in the swimming pool and erupt from the water in the primate's reflex dance of victory. It's all hardwired.

Y'know, Pete Frampton didn't get on network TV and "Frampton Comes Alive" became the mostest of the mostest in sales of all live classic rock albums. It's a shame a band so unashamedly as milchtoast, although in a somewhat different way, as Frampton can't aspire to the same thing even when their live record, which is a natural, is pitched right in the venue where the record execs think all classic rock fans shop. You can't go back in time and recreate an era, sadly.

Why the comparison to "Frampton Comes Alive"? Because Sugarland's live show is just as pandering as his was, kind of -- but not quite at the right time for the right audience as Frampton. Really, stuff was optimistic when "Frampton Comes Alive" was in its prime. Now, everyone with even a shred of commone sense knows this country is just a bad joke, one repeated too often and way past overstaying its welcome.

Anyway, Frampton looked gorgeous in the same way Nettles does and his shtick was the drawn out soppy tunes with talking box guitar. Sugarland's thing is not as drawn out soppy tunes with Nettles' voice as the eye-and-ear-popping guitar talk box stuff.

That's my theory. And enough with the chem-lights, already. Between the US military dropping them worldwide like candy on every TV show you see and Sugarland, desist. They're probably made by the same conglomerate that makes landmines and cluster bombs.

And strangely, I actually compared sometimes Nettles collaborator Jon Bon Jovi to Peter Frampton in Stairway To Hell -- what come around goes around.

Fwiw, I'd actually never given much thought before to the commercial decline of the live album in general. Presumably the late '70s -- when live LPs helped nationally break acts like Frampton, Seger, Cheap Trick, and REO -- was the form's peak, never to matched again; I guess a couple superstars like Springsteen and U2 have had major live releases since (Bruce with a box set), and there was that "unplugged" vogue for a while back in the '90s, I suppose. But unless I'm totally blanking out on obvious exceptions, the emergence of MTV and home video seemed to have put a damper on the live album concept. So now (in the wake of Garth?) they wind up real stop-gaps between studio albums, often exclusive to big box stores. Which means a band like Sugarland having its own Frampton Comes Alive is fairly impossible. And even when a concert-draw colossus like Kenny Chesney puts out a live album, as he did a couple years ago, nobody much notices.

In other news, there's this:

Jennifer Aniston is landing role after role! ... she's inked a deal to headline Goree Girls, the true story of an all-female country band in a Texas prison in the 1940s.

http://www.starmagazine.com/jennifer_aniston_goree_girls_prisoner/news/15919

The live album has become the cheapie pinch hit for oldy hard rock acts. Cf., Ted Nugent, Foghat*, Blue Oyster Cult, oddly -- also Peter Frampton, even ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd*, the Who, etc. In the prime years, it was an opp to get good material back in front of an audience for a second chance which also explains some of the impetus behind them tending to be doctored. Now, it's the opposite, an excuse to give long in the tooth fans a keepsake of the 'greatest hits' live.

Perhaps of interest: Chad Kroeger from Nickelback wrote Tim McGraw's new single 'It's a Business Doing Pleasure With You.' It sounds more like something Trace Adkins should have recorded.

Interesting. The lyrics are very brand-name-oriented, almost like a hip-hop song or something. Wonder of Kroeger wrote it for Nickelback and realized it wasn't humorless enough, or he's just looking for a lucrative side career, or what.

Some new tracks bubbling up the country chart that I hope to check out (besides the Strait, which I've heard -- a Spanish language cover of a ranchero standard. I like his current top ten "Living For The Night," too -- not far from the sort of music Alan Jackson was crooning on Like Red On A Rose.)

41 RE-ENTRY 2 I'm Alive, Kenny Chesney With Dave Matthews
B.Cannon,K.Chesney (K.Chesney,D.Dillon,M.Tamburino ) BNA DIGITAL | 41

43 47 48 4 Radio Waves, Eli Young Band
M.Wrucke (B.Sanders,M.Eli ) Republic DIGITAL | Universal South | 43

45 46 54 4 That Thang, Fast Ryde
J.Stevens,J.Stevens,J.Harrison (J.Harrison,J.Stevens ) Republic Nashivlle DIGITAL

54 60 2 Skinny Dippin', Whitney Duncan
M.Bright (W.Duncan,C.Tompkins ) Warner Bros. DIGITAL | WRN | 54

58 NEW 1 El Rey, George Strait
G.Strait,T.Brown (J.A.Jimenez Sandoval ) MCA Nashville PROMO SINGLE | 58

60 NEW 1 Honky Tonk Stomp, Brooks & Dunn Featuring Billy Gibbons
R.Dunn,T.McBride (R.Dunn,T.McBride,B.Pinson ) Arista Nashville PROMO SINGLE | 60

And speaking of Alan Jackson, "I Still Like Bologna" --one of the better tracks from Good Time, I always thought -- is now a country-chart-climbing single in its own right.

Like the new/imminent Miranda Lambert album less than I'd hoped (though lots of it is still really good), and the new Reba McEntire way more than I expected to, and the new Mac McAnally (on Toby's Show Dog label) more than either -- has a shot at my year end top 10, and as soul-country it's probably not that far from my still-'09-favorite Collin Raye.