Rolling Country 2011

I'm not the one to know about the promotion or lack thereof; Sweeney's on Big Machine, who are small enough that I'd think they'd give special attention and support to their acts, though I have no idea.

As far as our neighborhood of the Web, though, and people potentially voting in a poll through Freaky Trigger or poptimists, we reviewed and talked up "From A Table Away" quite enthusiastically on The Singles Jukebox. But we were voting our top twenty songs (in my case including album tracks) and it missed my twenty by a few spots. My guess is that Lex and Chuck were the only two to vote for it.

Not to say that Ke$ha isn't an interesting and unique singer, I just don't think that anyone's problem with her is her vowels; rather, it'd be her stridency

Despite my near-total veneration of Julie Andrews, I totally agree with this, and didn't mean to suggest otherwise. My question about Taylor and Carrie was probably a speculation too far. What I mean to suggest is that K's vowels are what people DO like about her; and I mean to suggest that because her vowels are what I like about her. Seriously, my favorite part of "Tik Tok" is how she pronounces the chorus. (And we're veering pretty far from country with "Tik Tok"; but I was only emphasizing her Southern-ness because my "twanging banjo" comment came up. Her Southern vowels are probably a smaller weapon in her arsenal than her Valley vowels.) But if we're talking about her stridency, I think she USES all her unusually-shaped vowels to create her stridency. (Unusually-shaped in a Julie Andrews context, yes, but also in a context of current white female Top 40 singers -- as far as I can tell, nobody else is pronouncing words like her.) So whether her stridency is a problem or a kick, her vowels -- and her lyrics, and Auto-Tune, and whatever else -- are integral to it.

This doesn't make her unique in the history of pop, it's just the way she goes about achieving her effect. For instance, lots of times she reminds me of Eminem, who's also got some twanginess based on calculated word-choice. And I, too, am pretty much talking out my ass with all this stuff, but that's what this is for, right? Someone'll correct us as necessary.

Yay Intocable!

Plenty of (alt)-country in the Austin Statesman's Austin Music Pundit Awards, which came out today. I've got no input in it, but was pleasantly surprised to note that I actually like three albums in the Top 10 (Shinyribs, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Matador's non-country Casual Victim Pile comp), one more in the Next 10 (non-country The Sword), and one more in the Honorable Mentions (not really all that country even though I named them on my Nashville Scene ballot Mother Truckers). Haven't heard most of the others named, though I thought this year's Alejandro Escovedo was kinda bad, and Okkervill River were probably the most boring thing ever to happen to Roky Erikson (though their album won anwyay.) Think I heard this year's Dale Watson album, but if so it went in one ear and out the other. (Really like his Whiskey Or God from 2006, but nothing he's done since has grabbed me.) Never heard the Reckless Kelly (whose Wicked Twisted Road I liked in 2005), and didn't even know there was a new album this year by Elizabeth McQueen -- would've really liked to hear that; I'd still rep for the two mid'-00s CDs by her I've got. Anyway:

http://www.austin360.com/music/2010-amp-awards-true-love-for-roky-erickson-1165276.html

From the blurbs attached, a fairly accurate description of the Shinyribs album (which I don't think I've ever actually described myself), by Michael Corcoran:

It would be obvious to call this a Gourds album without co-frontman Jimmy Smith, but there's a completely different mind-set here. "Well After Awhile" is all about the full-voiced vocals of Kevin Russell, who croons "Who Built the Moon" to open the record and never holds back.
Produced by George Reiff, "Well After Awhile" is adventurous, while firmly rooted. "Poor People's Store" brings a doo-wop observational vibe to the aisles of Dollar General, while "East TX Rust" sounds like what might happen if Jerry Reed (as channeled by Ray Wylie Hubbard) invited Stevie Wonder to stop by the studio with his clavinet.

i dig that Riley reissue too, Don! didn't even know if anyone had heard that one.

I think she USES all her unusually-shaped vowels to create her stridency. (Unusually-shaped in a Julie Andrews context, yes, but also in a context of current white female Top 40 singers -- as far as I can tell, nobody else is pronouncing words like her.) So whether her stridency is a problem or a kick, her vowels -- and her lyrics, and Auto-Tune, and whatever else -- are integral to it.

Yes!

It turns out Sunny Sweeney is now on Republic Nashville, a joint venture between Big Machine and Universal Republic. Hope they don't end up doing to her what Columbia did to Ashley Monroe, insisting she hit big before they release an album, so she ends up having to release the thing independently three years afterwards. "From A Table Away" did chart higher than "Satisfied" and "I Don't Want To" did, but times are harder.

I see that Joe Gross, a former Why Music Sucks contributor, is still writing for the Statesman. Chuck, have you met him? Nice guy. Married Renée Crist's sister. We had a long phone conversation shortly after Renée died.

(He once wrote that my writing changed his life, which also prejudices me in his favor, since he implied that the change was for the better.)

The Yelawolf alb starts off amazing, with hardcore punk/crunk claws, and his drawl complementing his squall. But it drops off precipitously from there, after about track three, at least that's how it seemed to me over one-and-a-half listens; I do like "Marijuana" over on Track Nine, yet more hardcore.

Frank, it seems the songs you like are the new ones--the album has an EP's worth of new songs (tracks 1-5 and 'Marijuana') while the rest are from a mixtape from earlier this year. He does seem to be going for a more rockin' sound in the more recent songs. I like some of the older ones a bit better though: "Box Chevy" is my favorite on the disc.

Yeah, Frank - I finally met Joe in person during the Austin City Limits fest last year; agree he's one of the nice ones. He's in the Statesman all the time -- it's his full-time gig -- but he actually writes about books (including graphic novels) and movies more than music these days. Though he does seem to grab the metal-leaning reviews. (Also still reviews for Decibel, I believe.)

"earlier this year" = earlier last year

Even in the South, certain instances of twang= white trash/skank/trailer/meth, and I've heard young African-American women calling each other for being "so small town, so ghetto"; references among young African-American men and women also to "chickenheads", "bucks," etc. Much campiness among those who call themselves (and/or close relatives) "rednecks", mixed emotions and motives--the Southernness of America's music heritage doesn't preclude any of this, esp. with younger people. (Oh yeah, speaking of "hole in the wall", I always remember what one excellent young Alabama funk guitarist said in the 70s, when I tried to get him into John Lee Hooker, "I dig BB King, but later for that hole-in-the-wall shi.t") Which is not to refute Frank, but I know where Dr Phil is coming from too, and the way Ke$ha's twanging some high-class nerves all the way to the bank and maybe glory too, like (prob more bank than glory-bound)self-described "guidette" Snooki. To the bank in both cases, because of the fascinated repulsion factor, a minstrel/menstrual show thing maybe (such reaction seems to apply more to female incoming outliers, or outlayers)

And I don't mean "minstrel" as a dismissal, but more of a starting point. (I'll spare yall a re-hash of Lott's Love and Theft though)

(Oh yeah, glad you liked the Riley album too, Scott--I liked it except for Riley's voice--where did you find it?! The only way I knew about it was Ebbtide's posts in RC 2010, and he passed my info along to the label)

Interview with Chely Wright, about how coming out has affected her career and standing in the industry, etc., thus far:

http://www.autostraddle.com/chely-wright-country-music-gay-interview-72366/

Good interview, Wonder if those songs she wrote with Linda Perry will ever show up somewhere (or maybe they have)? Anyway, "6 or 7 songs" toward the next album, aside from the Perry collabs, apparently. Dale Watson was one of the first sort of neo-honky tonk singers, actually associated more with dives than No Dep (although connecting with the latter as well) who I ever heard of. A neo-New Traditionalist, mebbe, somewhat like early Yoakam. But I lost track of him for a while, and when he came back with that 07 album I'm blacking on (the one on Hyena), I complained on Rolling Country about his wanting too much to be liked, while still trying to represent/credibly delve into a wide range and wild slide of life. Made worse by seeming to beg comparison with Johnny Cash. But he and his band showed up on World Cafe s few nights ago, with a speedy x relaxed approach, a balancing act that seemed effortless (many nights at the Continental Club in Austin, when not playing festivals etc) and necessary, after brief reference to having been in an intoxicated car crash, fatal to his girlfriend, followed by a stay in what he referred to as "the loony bin", plus a documentary. A great sound, if a fairly short live-in-the-studio set, but lots more club sets on archive.org, which posts only with the artists' permission (also posted) Here's the link to his World Cafe http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132887479/dale-watson-on-world-cafe
He was on there in 07 too, but I haven't heard that yet. Here's his Archive.org archive:
http://www.archive.org/detail/DaleWatson
if that doesn't work, just try Google's Advanced Search on him with archive.org as Domain Name

Sorry, "details", not "detail":
http://www.archive.org/details/DaleWatson

My review of the recent Trace Adkins "definitive" greatest hits, last year's second best country double album to include Jamey Johnson songs:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/135371-trace-adkins-the-definitive-greatest-hits-til-the-last-shots-fired

Pretty sure I coined the word "horndoggerel"!

From an email Don forwarded me this morning (pretty sure he gets these every year):

Marco Club Connection, a Nashville-based Country music dance venue marketing company, has released its seventh annual Top Ten list of the year’s most requested Country dance club songs.
Each year in December, Club Connection surveys a panel of more than 240 club owners, DJs and dance instructors from across the country to compile its Top Ten rankings.
“As Country music continues to incorporate more and more of a Pop element, the dance clubs can be a very important tool in breaking an artist,” says Club Connection Venue Marketing Specialist Bobbe Morhiser. “Look no further than Laura Bell Bundy for proof of that. ‘Giddy On Up’ was huge in the dance clubs, and for a brand new artist to place in Club Connection’s top five at the end of the year is very impressive.”
The results of the 2010 Top Ten Country Dance Club Hits are:

1. “Stuck Like Glue” - Sugarland
2. “All About Tonight” - Blake Shelton
3. “Hillbilly Bone” - Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins
4. “Need You Now” - Lady Antebellum
5. “Giddy On Up” - Laura Bell Bundy
6. “Country Done Come To Town” - John Rich
7. “Roll With It” - Easton Corbin
8. “Why Don't We Just Dance” - Josh Turner
9. “Turn On The Radio” - Reba
10. “Pretty Good At Drinkin' Beer” - Billy Currington

“All of the songs on Club Connection’s Top Ten list have been in heavy rotation at Wild Bills for most of the year,” says Dwight Philpott, one of the DJs at Wild Bills in Atlanta, Ga. “We play these songs every single night, because these are the ones that always pack our dance floor.”
Songs to top the list in previous years include Zac Brown Band’s “Toes” (2009), Alan Jackson’s “Good Time” (2008), Josh Turner’s “Firecracker” (2007), Steve Holy’s “Brand New Girlfriend” (2006), Trace Adkins’ “Honkytonk Badonkadonk” (2005) and Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride A Cowboy)” (2004).
A complete archive of Club Connection’s Top Ten Country Dance Club Hits can be viewed at www.MarcoClubConnection.com.

Pazz & Jop Albums:

Jamey Johnson 20th
Taylor Swift 26th
Laura Marling 80th
Elizabeth Cook 83rd (actually expected her to finish a lot higher, even though I think people overrate the album)
Patty Griffin 112th
Drive By Truckers 122nd
John Mellencamp 168th (57 places behind Never Mind The Bullets: Here's Early Bob Seger, which only five people voted for!)
Tift Merritt 196th

Probably missing some (not sure if Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Robert Plant, Mumford And Sons, Ray Lamontagne count as country these days or not. And Johnny Cash must be in there somewhere, but I'm not finding him.)

Most gratifying surprise (outside of Seger): Five people voting for Chely Wright -- 231st place, just ahead of Nicki Minaj):

http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/albums/2010/TGlmdGVkIE9mZiB0aGUgR3JvdW5k/

Singles
Taylor Swift "Mine" tied for 54th (13 votes)
Miranda Lambert "The House The Built Me" tied for 60th (12 votes)
Taylor Swift "Mean" and "Back To December" both tied for 138th (5 votes)

Oh, Lady Antebellum "Need You Now" got 12 singles votes too, looks like. Good for them. (Plus, George and two other people voted for their album.)

Sunny Sweeney "From A Table Away" -- only 3 votes. I expected it to do better.

http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/singles/2010/RnJvbSBhIFRhYmxlIEF3YXk=/

Frank voted for Mumford and Sons on his Scene ballot. Robert Plant's Band of Joy is its own kind of Americana art-pop, Planty leading a conga-chorus line of pickers and chirpers through candelit caverns. Also relates to some of the cuter, bouncier stuff he did with Zep. Can see why Krauss wasn't having any of those sexy-spooky incense 'n' peppermints Low covers (she's more into Bread, pop-rockwise). Cool review dr phil, I'll have to check that Trace comp, and "horndoggeral" shows you as dr. after my own heart.

Johnny Cash got exactly as many album votes as Lady Antebellum, it turns out:

http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/albums/2010/QW1lcmljYW4gVkk6IEFpbid0IE5vIEdyYXZl/

(I never heard the thing, myself.)

I'm rather impressed that only two singles I voted for got votes from anyone else (one of those only got one other voter, Bobby Reed joining me in a vote for "Little White Church").

Speaking of polls, I nominated a whole bunch of country tracks (including "Sandman" and "Picture Of Me") for the The 2010 ILM Super-Mega Year-End Albums 'N' Tracks Poll, if you want to vote for them or others (someone else had already nominated "From A Table Away"). Go here for instructions how to vote. The poll's open through Friday.

Thanks, Dow! 2 things:

Ned just told me Mumford and Sons are tangentially related to Christian rock or something, which I wasn't aware of since I've never heard them except for the profanity-edited-out song they play on VH1 in the mornings. (And I can't remember how that goes.) This may be old news (the Xian rock part). Apparently the singer comes from cheery evangelical folk.

Second: can anyone confirm or deny the accuracy of this P/J comment?

Just wait till Jamey Johnson’s admirers discover Mickey Newbury and Harry Chapin.

Michael Robbins
Chicago, IL

Believe it or not, I don't know if I've ever actually heard Mickey Newbury. (I've heard of him plenty, though -- mostly in the song "Luckenbach, Texas.") And I barely know Harry Chapin's stuff at all, beyond the obvious hits ("Cat's In The Cradle," "Taxi," "WOLD"), which I guess I've always had mixed feelings about. So who knows, maybe that guy's right -- even if (I assume) he's being sarcastic. Jamey Johnson's definitely got at least as much "'70s singer songwriter" as "outlaw" in his music.

Elizabeth McQueen cover story, from this week's Austin Chronicle. Frank and I liked and wrote about her The Fresh Up Club and all-pub-rock-covers Happy Doing What We're Doing back in the early/mid '00s; I haven't read this feature yet, but apparently she's been doing a lot with Asleep At The Wheel lately, and her new album is said to be a sort of retro-lounge-jazz move.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A1136831

New evidence of Ke$ha's rustic cowboy cred: I had one of the local regional Mexican stations on in the car this morning (have two punched in as settings now), and they were playing a good jaunty banda-type number that as usual I can't hope to identify, and when the singing stops, the deejay starts mashing up "We R Who We R" over the tubas and accordions. Sounded awesome -- my jop dropped.

Have been listening to an advance of the new Randy Montana CD, which is really great. Want to hold off on talking more about it for the time being, but so far "Ain't Much Left Of Lovin' You," the single Frank liked last year, is one my least favorite tracks.

Not real familiar with Newbury, but "Frisco Mabel Joy" was an early 70s late night FM folkie staple; also, he arranged the "Great American Trilogy": a medley of "Dixie", "Battle Hymn of the Republic", and "All My Trials",maybe not in that order, but anyway South, North, and African-Americans, reconciled by the majesty of Elvis, live in concert. It worked, at least insofar as "I believe 'em while I'm singin' 'em," like Dylan says. Otherwise, Newbury's later stuff sometimes got tagged as "new age country", and xgau shows no love, to put it mildly, but the early stuff might have something to do with Jamey Johnson. I think him, re songwriting and album developement more as relating to early 70s Coe,maybe Townes, Waylon and Willie,esp Phases and Stages. I'm initially amazed by Wanda Jackson's new album with Jack White & co., which has no prob spinning rockabilly, New Orleans, calypso, country, gospel, boogie woogie, an overall "Rainy Day Women" x Zep feel which doesn't mess up the gospel, even ( honoring Stax's own approach to remakes helps). Can well imagine Jace Everett getting into it, and not totally sure a couple of songs aren't his. Gets better as it goes along too It's streaming here til Jan 25
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/16/132289971/first-listen-wanda-jackson-the-party-aint-over

I'm glad they're streaming that, since I heard "Shakin' All Over" last night on the radio and liked it a lot. It's a big production number, sort of like what the White Stripes did with "Conquest" only more show-bizzy. This Letterman performance has a fine White guitar solo.

Yeah, although her voice seemed a bit small for the live sound, though I may have been influenced by the fast that she was at least a foot shorter than the musicians she was surrounded with. "Shakin' All Over" is kinda hard to pull off live (that "oh-oh-vuhhh", unless you're Roger Daltry on Live At Leeds, for inst), though better on the album, still not nearly the best track. Nashville Scene's round-up issue is here. Surprised that The Promise made Reissues, but I did hear an interview in which Springteen said he recorded Darkness On The Edge of Town during his long, glacial struggle with his former manager, I think he was forbidded to release anything til the suit was settled, and he was wondering if he was going to have the career he wanted, or slide back to the periphery, be a bar band guy or something, and he was also writing from how he'd felt as a hicktown teen in what he described as the "David Lynch-ian" mid-60s, when Highway 61 Revisited was his Catcher In The Rye. So, that kind of marginalized, impacted stress is indeed something I relate to country, but haven't heard this album (which also includes all the nostalgic pop-oriented outtakes pointedly from the Darkness sessions, and of course that's country-relevant too, thematically, but I also look for a certain feel)

Anyhoo, here's the press release and links to round-up stuff. Here's hoping ILX will let me activate all these links at the end:
JAMEY JOHNSON AND MIRANDA LAMBERT DOMINATE THE NASHVILLE SCENE’S ELEVENTH ANNUAL COUNTRY MUSIC CRITICS POLL

The 77 writers from all over North America who voted in the 11th annual Country Music Critics Poll named Jamey Johnson Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year and cited his latest release, The Guitar Song, as the year's best album. They also voted Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” as the year’s best single; they also named her Female Vocalist of the Year and runner-up Artist of the Year.

There are other winners: Hank Williams won the Best Reissue voting; Elizabeth Cook's Welder and Taylor Swift's Speak Now finished No. 3 and No. 4 in the Best Album voting; Little Big Town’s “Little White Church” was No. 2 Single; the Zac Brown Band was named Best Live Act and Best Group; Easton Corbin was voted the Best New Act.

But the poll was dominated by Johnson, whose album garnered nearly double the votes of the runner-up, Up on the Ridge, by Dierks Bentley. Here was a country singer, the critics agreed, who shouldered the work of role models such as Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings without turning their legacy into quaint history, pious sentimentality or artless showboating.

Today's Nashville Scene cover story provides much more than just the results. Geoffrey Himes, who conducts the poll each year, tries to make sense of the voting with a long essay and an interview with Elizabeth Cook. There are also comments from many of the voters as well as a chart comparing the poll results to the artists’ Billboard rankings.

The voters included writers from such high-profile publications as The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, CMT.com, Billboard, People, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, Rolling Stone, National Public Radio, Country Weekly and the Boston Globe. But the voters also came from such heartland publications as the Lincoln Journal Star, Memphis Flyer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Las Vegas Weekly.

Here are the URL links to the stories:

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/jamey-johnson-bridges-countrys-past-and-the-future-that-he-and-stars-like-taylor-swift-and-dierks-bentley-are-shaping/Content?oid=2191612

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/from-jamey-johnsons-triumphs-to-race-and-suicide-critics-weigh-in-on-the-year-in-country-music/Content?oid=2191626

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/commercial-country-doesnt-know-what-to-do-with-elizabeth-cook-and-thats-a-shame/Content?oid=2191638

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/country-music-critics-poll-voters/Content?oid=2191637

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/charts-vs-critics/Content?oid=2192281

'Hmm, what can we come up with today that will appeal to the emotionally bankrupt 36-year-old woman and allow us to go to the bank?'

Ha! Almost makes me want to buy her record sight unseen.

Nashville Scene results, for easy reference:

Albums
1. Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song (Mercury Nashville)
2. Dierks Bentley - Up on the Ridge (Capitol Nashville)
3. Elizabeth Cook - Welder (31 Tigers)
4. Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Big Machine)
5. Marty Stuart - Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions (Sugar Hill)
6. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues (Bloodshot)
7. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch)
8. Willie Nelson - Country Music (Rounder)
9. Merle Haggard - I Am What I Am (Vanguard)
10. Little Big Town - The Reason Why (Capitol Nashville)
11. Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave (American)
12. Zac Brown Band - You Get What You Give (Southern Ground)
13. The SteelDrivers - Reckless (Rounder)
14. Alan Jackson - Freight Train (Arista)
15. Laura Bell Bundy - Achin' and Shakin' (Mercury Nashville)
16. Chely Wright - Lifted Off the Ground (Vanguard)
17. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (Capitol Nashville)
18. Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C.) (Bordello)
19. Easton Corbin - Easton Corbin (Mercury Nashville)
20. Robert Plant - Band of Joy (Rounder)
21. Patty Griffin - Downtown Church (Credential)
22. The Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)
23. Gary Allan - Get Off on the Pain (MCA Nashville)
24. Randy Houser - They Call Me Cadillac (Universal South)
25. Jerrod Niemann - Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury (Sea Gayle)

Singles
1. Miranda Lambert - "The House That Built Me" (Columbia)
2. Little Big Town - "Little White Church" (Capitol Nashville)
3. Sunny Sweeney - "From a Table Away" (Mercury Nashville)
4. The Band Perry - "If I Die Young" (Republic Nashville)
5. Zac Brown Band with Alan Jackson - "As She's Walking Away" (Bigger Picture)
6. Jamey Johnson - "Playing the Part" (Mercury Nashville)
7. Taylor Swift - "Mine" (Big Machine)
8. Jerrod Niemann - "Lover, Lover" (Sea Gayle)
9. Sugarland - "Stuck Like Glue" (Mercury Nashville)
10. Miranda Lambert - "Only Prettier" (Columbia)
11. Easton Corbin - "A Little More Country Than That" (Mercury Nashville)
12. Dierks Bentley - "Up on the Ridge" (Capitol Nashville)
13. Jamey Johnson - "Macon" (Mercury Nashville)
14. Laura Bell Bundy - "Giddy on Up" (Columbia)
15. Reba - "Turn on the Radio" (Valory)
16. Lady Antebellum - "Hello World" (Capitol Nashville)
17. Taylor Swift - "Back to December" (Big Machine)
18. Elizabeth Cook - "El Camino" (31 Tigers)
19. Eric Church - "Smoke a Little Smoke" (Capitol Nashville)
20. Laura Bell Bundy - "Drop on By" (Columbia)

Singles Jukebox reviews current singles by:

Sugarland

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=3073

Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=3068

Blake Shelton

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=3062

Sara Evans

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=3051

Hint: The one of these I liked least is the one I said I thought I "liked much" in the very first post on this thread. Boy was I wrong there. And the others aren't all that much better, really.
Prognosis: If these songs are any indication of what country radio will sound like in 2011, good luck staying awake.
Caveat: And we haven't even gotten to that lousy Brad Paisley single yet.

In total agreement with Chuck regarding Sugarland's "Little Miss." I singled it out as the album's standout track in my review, and I suppose it really is the best song on that set and the only one that really scans as country at all (or, after "Stuck Like Glue," the only other song that I can hear country radio getting on board with). But listening to it again now that it's been issued as a single? No, thank you. It's the way Nettles sings the word "okay" in the chorus ("I'm oh-keh-EEE") that I just can't get past.

Sunny Sweeney's "From a Table Away" is still inching its way toward the top 10. Beyond that, there isn't much of note happening on the singles front. "Heart Like Mine" is officially the last single from Revolution, and Zac Brown Band's "Colder Weather" is all right, I guess. Gretchen Wilson has released "I'd Love to Be Your Last" on the heels of its surprise Grammy nomination, but I still prefer Clay Walker's version of the song from a couple of years back, and "You Lie" by The Band Perry isn't nearly as clever or catchy as it needs to be. LeAnn Rimes' "Crazy Women" solid, but her tabloid-baiting shit means country radio won't go near her anymore, so it stalled outside the top 60.

Yeah. Grim start to the year.

yesterday i stumbled across the new five-song sunny sweeney ep whose existence i knew nothing about. "from a table away" plus four. title: sunny sweeney ep. ugh. but utterly fantastic. two songs about cheating sung from the perspective of the other woman ("from a table away," of course, and "amy," which could kinda sorta be an answer song to "jolene"). one ("drink myself single") about a woman who goes out carousing and comes home slizzard just 'cause "i really wanna know what it's like to be you" which, if you told me it came from a george jones/tammy wynette album, i would completely believe you. and two about being trapped in dead-end relationships, just in case the other three songs didn't convince you. the music's all a bit '60s/'70s honkytonkapolitan retro, but it rocks and it's catchy as hell and after spending one day with it i would like to ask it to marry me.

Looks like that Sunny Sweeeney EP and the new LeAnn Rimes single are both on Rhapsody -- I will check them out. Thanks guys!

So far, the two 2011 country singles I really like (not sure whether they've charted yet, haven't checked) are "Midnight America" by the Texas band Rosehill (mid '80s Mellencamp in a big-tent waffle house late at night) and "1,000 Faces" by Randy Montana (just a relaxed, wordily rhymed swirl of a song, with a great time signature change in the middle.) The latter though is, at best, my fourth-favorite song on Montana's album (behind "Burn These Matches," "Assembly Line," and "It's Gone"), which apparently isn't slated to come out until May or June. And if this single doesn't catch, who knows, maybe they'll push the release date back even further.

So I'm making a guess from the Nashville Scene pieces that there's some regret that, contrary to popular mythology, country music isn't really reflecting the stories of the country on the ground? And that Jamey Johnson and Elizabeth Cook are the only two big artists that aren't currently authentic in this matter?

But isn't that what those that still buy this stuff want? Myths and avoidance of imagery of rot and decline. Like the average white American potential voter from the heartland.

And that Jamey Johnson and Elizabeth Cook are the only two big artists that aren't currently authentic in this matter?

Ahh, strike the 'aren't' to 'are'.

Glenn McDonald strikes again:

38 of the people who voted in the 2010 P&J also voted in the Nashville Scene's Country Music Critics Poll. Here are the albums that got at least 4 votes from this subset, ranked by what % of their points came from those people. You can now pass for country-knowledgable, at least momentarily, by name-dropping Chely Wright and Elizabeth Cook.
Even more interesting, perhaps, is that although those 38 voters represent about half of the Scene's 75-voter electorate, several of the Scene's top 10 albums got fewer than 4 votes from those same people in the P&J. Dierks Bentley, who got #2 in the Scene, received only 1 vote in the P&J, total.
Click the arrow next to "These Voters" to see this list by points from these voters, instead of percentage, or just scan down the column to notice that the Scene's #1, Jamey Johnson, didn't actually win with this subset. Apparently Janelle Monáe is more country than country.

https://pub.needlebase.com/actions/visualizer/V2Visualizer.do?domain=Pazz-Jop&query=A+World+Centered+in+Nashville

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Geoff Himes pushing for country radio to adopt his traditional-rooted concept/definition of country music (and/or Elizabeth Cook's) is not a big surprise.

But isn't that what those that still buy this stuff want? Myths and avoidance of imagery of rot and decline. Like the average white American potential voter from the heartland.

― Gorge, Friday, January 28, 2011 5:29 PM (2 hours ago

Are corporate country radio and tv giving listeners what they want, or what the corporate outfits have calculated will work the best?

Ever since Clinton signed off on the Gingrich pushed deregulation of radio, there have been fewer entities owning radio stations and less incentive to be more creative in programming. Or maybe country listeners do like countryish Fleetwood mac types and everything else that is both more or less traditional that outlets showcase

Singles Jukebox on current Paisley single:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=3096

Country album that isn't a country album that I've been obsessed with today is Above And Beyond The Doll Of Cutey, Pam Tillis's debut LP on Warner Bros. from 1983, after which she didn't release another album for eight years (by which time she'd gone country.) Evidently they were initially trying to sell her as a fun-loving pop-rock gal, on the quirkier Lovich/Lauper edge of Benatar, and she does it real catchily and convincingly, especially in "Killer Comfort" (a single according to Wiki), "You Don't Miss," light-hearted hipster diss "(You Just Want To Be) Weird" and, especially especially "Popular Girl," which is both (1) by far the most "new wave" in the early MTV sense number on the record and (2) the only song on the record where Pam's dad Mel Tillis gets a partial songwriting credit! "She's a big girl now, she's in eighth grade" -- who knows, maybe Mel originally wrote it about Pam. Who actually calls herself "Pammy Wong" on the inner sleeve, for some reason, and leaves this cryptic thank-you note for her mom: "Sorry you've had to relive the struggle all over again. Blame it on Dad."

P.S.) Also, the album title makes no sense. And there are some nice saxophones (to go with the more frequent synths and guitars.) Significant Scandal influence too, one would think.

But I still want to know what country hit about cancer he’s thinking of. Must’ve missed it.

Craig Morgan's "Tough"? Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying"? Rascal Flatts' "Skin"? Though I'm not sure any of those actually say the word "cancer". Enough signifiers: hair falling out, etc.

though paisley isn't singing about signifiers. he's all about "say the word."

is it possible the song paisley's thinking about that mentions cancer is his own song? the one he's singing right now? is it possible he's responding to the big C showing up somewhere in his own world? i haven't read a single interview with him about this song or the new album, so i have no idea. just sayin'.

I know what you mean but I'm guessing he's making a claim for Country being the genre that deals with real life stuff like Cancer, as opposed to other genres (though I'm sure some Hip Hop songs have actually mentioned cancer.)

Damn, what happened to the summertime cookouts?
Everytime I turn around a nigga gettin took out
Shit, my momma got cancer in her breast
Don't ask me why I'm motherfuckin stressed, things done changed
- Things Done Changed, The Notorious B.I.G.

But as someone who's warmed to Paisley considerably over his past few albums, this doesn't really do much for me.

some Hip Hop songs have actually mentioned cancer.

Not to mention Nirvana songs. (and, especially, extreme metal songs, according to Josh Langhoff's Jukebox review.)

Xgau gives Taylor Swift an A- (overplays the alleged "songs about celebrities" angle; not sure why that's even a concern, given that the songs aren't remotely dependent on the celebs the tabloids claim they're about; also apparently thinks both the songs and album are too long):

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/expert-witness-blogpost.aspx?post=c271e36b-4d73-4981-8aaf-98b4e0da5d21

Caramanica on JaneDear Girls (scroll down):

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/arts/music/06playlist.html

Good job, internet: People on pretty well every country-specific message board I've checked are up in arms that Swift didn't look happy enough in her reaction shot when Lambert won Female Vocalist. Because awards shows need a villain.

To my ears, Speak Now is Swift's most unabashedly pop album ("Mean" notwithstanding) but whatever; Aldean isn't even remotely in league with her, and his album was far and away the weakest of the five nominees, including the Blake Shelton EP that inexplicably pulled a nomination.

Not a Faith Hill fan at all, but launching a comeback with a OneRepublic cover seems like an especially poor choice. Can't see country radio going for that single, but adult contemporary will likely be all over it.

I think Taylor will survive the message board comments.

She may even write a song about them.

Well yeah, obviously. I just think it's indicative of how such a sizable and vocal part of the country audience actively looks for reasons to villify her.

Taylor just looks bummed that she lost

http://www.k105fm.com/ArticleAdmin/Articles/tabid/64/ArticleId/1012/VIDEO-Taylor-Swift-Snubs-Miranda-Lambert-1012.aspx

haha blake shelton at the end

i'm back and forth on the nikki lane album on iamsound. productionwise definitely feels "indie country" for the most part but she has chops and i like that she isn't afraid to divest herself of most of the pop/rock trappings and go for a full on woe is me honky tonk weeper either