Rolling Country 2006 Thread

Also, 4 CD set of new material by Vince Gill. Why?

Could be Buddy Cannon's production, which seems flat and undefined to me. I think it's the drum sound. He did, if I recall rightly, the one Sara Evans record I don't like, because of the production.

Did anybody else notice that the new M-Gentry record has 1) really good graphics, I think 2) they don't list *any* writers' credits that I see, which is right unusual for a Nashville record?

And anybody heard the new Keith Urban? I think I'm getting a watermarked copy, had to convince them I'm not working the "Paducah and Carbondale corridor," as Colbert and Randy Newman amusingly spoke of in a recent episode that had Newman completely up for Colbert's fine (but sometimes annoying) switcheroo-bullshit act. And not going to make bootleg knockoffs with a nudie pic of Nicole crudely placed on cheap paper. (If you can somehow catch that Colbert Reporr episode again--it ran maybe 10-14 days ago, it's a good one, not least because Newman *sang* "Political Science" as it ended.)

I haven't gotten or heard that Gill. Smart people have told me it's suprisingly good, apparently he does a whole disc of what was described to me as "swamp pop." He's a good damn guitar player, is the thing, a talented guy indeed. And he's got Amy, sweet Amy...

Decided I quite liked the Gary Bennett record. One-time minor leaguer who had to take a job at Home Depot (apparently he did), drinks too much, doesn't like turning 40. Great sound, and I think the record works well as an entity, if a bit depressing on rainy days.

Some People Change
Michael Dulaney, Jason Sellers, Neil Thrasher

Hey Country
Bart Allmand, Danny Myrick, Jeffrey Steele

Lucky Man
David Cory Lee, Dave Turnbull

Takes All Kinds
Michael Dulaney, Troy Gentry, Neil Thrasher

Your Tears Are Comin'
Tom Hambridge, Jeffrey Steele

Clouds
Eddie Montgomery, Tony Mullins, Jeffrey Steele

Twenty Years Ago
Gary Nicholson, Rivers Rutherford, Jeffrey Steele

What Do Ya Think About That
Brett Jones, Anthony Smith

Redder Than That
Rivers Rutherford, George Teren

Man's Job
Gary Hannan, Eddie Montgomery, Phil O'Donnell, Thom Shepherd

If You Wanna Keep an Angel
Troy Gentry, Rivers Rutherford, Tom Shapiro

Free Ride in the Fast Lane
Houston Robert, Rivers Rutherford, George Teren

(Allmusic did mention Mark Wright as having a hand in the production, and Wright is generally excellent.)

Have heard only the title song. Doesn't hit me nearly as hard as it seems to be knocking over everyone else; well sung, well played, surely, hazy wah-wah against precise chording, and I'd be surprised if the Chesney version were as good (never heard it); but this is slow, and the chorus carries a heavy wall of rock sound not unlike late '70s Springsteen (Edd mentioned the Springsteen connection upthread), which just isn't my favorite style. Not nearly as alive and fun as "She Couldn't Change Me." Change schmange. And as for the message of life transformation, this song goes through motions that "Jesus Take the Wheel" does for real. On the other hand, the gospel choir at the end actually lifts the music - I'd almost call it exciting, and I'm generally a hater of gospel choirs in rock songs. The choir in "Like a Prayer" is one of the few others I can tolerate. I'll probably like the album - MG are my favorite band of the '00s (unless you count Ying Yang Twins as a band, and come to think of it, YYT are probably as much a band or not a band as the Montgumbos).

I was just listening to "Some People Change" on Launch Yahoo, and - since I'm on their Spanish language site 'cause it has fewer and better-sounding commercials - which has now tossed Belinda's great "Angel" at me. Talk about knowing how to do melodrama. Someday one of these country bands simply has to go and record in Mexico.

did a critic pick on chris young for the scene; he's participating in this "broadway meets country" benefit at tn.perf. arts ctr. next wk., where people like him, raul malo, etc., sing b-way toonz and the broadway cats go country. it's part of the big leadup to CMA awards here, and in its second year. anyway, I think he can sing just fine, in fact he's quite good, but those fucking songs on that record (his own "drinkin' me lonely" and one or two others are real good, though) were my problem, and buddy cannon's production, which just sounds dated to me. I mean that song about wanting to move to mexico, hard as I try to get into the mindset, if I can use that odious word, that created it, just makes me arf. really disgraceful. if they'll get me in, I'd love to see what he does with other material; and seems to me he shoulda made a record like jamey johnson's. and, turns out young has been trying, had been trying, to get into music even before the nash star stuff, and his dad was sort of in the bizness.

nashville songwriting is such a weird animal, undeniably professional, but wearying. "some people change" is a decent example; it seems to lose its way in that chorus, which drives me nuts, and the song is *everywhere* on the radio here now, giving away the CD, and all that. they have to relate everything to some big emotion and some perceived audience, and of course to the War Effort and the Heroes in Iraq. I mean fuck, I feel for those guys, who wouldn't, and having recently shepherded a couple of friends thru their AA traumas, which are no laughing matter, I guess beating the booze is "heroic," but that chorus is still just Bad Art. it's almost a great song, is the thing, and as frank says, I think the gospel choruses are a good idea. (country seems to be using them more as Signifier of Soul, just like every country record has got to have a song about Dropping My Load and Moving to Sunny Mexico.) but shit, these guys truly maximize Southern rock as effectively as anyone I can think of, and "free ride in fast lane" is pretty great, as is "hey country." which is one of the best songs about being not quite working class I know; very savvy about their audience, and I love the detail where the old boy in the song is working at the auto-repair shop and sometimes they let 'im work on a fan belt or whatever it is--he's a stoner, still, and tends to, uh, forget what the haill he's doing, completely ruint mr. gentry's lexus so we learnt a lesson there. but a good ol' boy, just still thinks he's in high school and he's 27. also, perhaps their most big and rich -influenced song on the record? in short, the m-gentry record ought to be licensed for continuous play at every highschool reunion ('80s) from here to wichita.

*Marion's is an EP, six songs, three new, three from the Atlantic alb that was never released here; she's concentrating on the rockers rather than the Max Martins, unfortunately. She's basically transforming herself into an L.A. rocker chick. Meat Loaf's duet with her is in the British Top Ten right now.

Oops, no it's not. It's on When The Sun Goes Down, and was one of the most ignorable tracks there, too. As for whose version is better, it's a tossup. Why is such a mediocre song so popular? Weird.

Well, in my head right now, anyway. I should play them back to back sometime and see what happens. And yeah, I too assume MG would win.

And if it has a flat drum sound, as Edd argues, it has a flat drum sound -- Nothing old or new about flat drums. Not that I've noticed the charge applies here. (Though is Nashville production in general lass flat and undefined than it used to be? If so, maybe that's what Edd means. And he might have a point -- I'm definitely liking way more pop-country than I was 15 years ago, and production probably has plenty to do with that. Along with fewer wasted tracks, more rocking guitars, all the drummers from hard rock bands who moved south, smarter songwriting, etc. Though again, Chris Young's album still feels like 2006 to me, not 1991.) (Country CDs often do seem to sound less thin now, though part of that is probably just the nature of recording studio technology, I'm guessing.)

Still haven't listened to the MG alb. (At the listening post Brooke Hogan sounded surprisingly good in the background, given that her style seems modeled after the incurably blasé and bland Janet Jackson. Doesn't have a distinctive voice, but does at least have presence, and lots of pretty Storch sounds.) I've listened to relatively few albums this year, 'cause they're not coming in the mail in nearly the old quantity and anyway it's far more fun careening around YouTube than working my way through longplayers. My top albs are Marit, Paris, and Dixies, unless I want to include compilations, in which case Totally Country Vol. 5 and Crunk Hits Vol. 2 are up there. (The reason not to count the comps isn't that they're comps but that most of what's on them predates '06.) Anyway, I can easily imagine that there are ten better albums this year than my top three, but the way things are going with my "career" I'm not likely to hear them. Might vote for JoJo if I hear it again. Should relisten to the Electric Boogie Dawgz, which I got a kick out of. Gawd, if I'm struggling to reach 10 I'll even vote for last year's Electric Six (haven't heard this year's), which got its U.S. release in March. Missed my window of opportunity on Dierks at the listening party. Oh, I keep forgetting that Dylan had an album this year. Came out same time as Paris and so got overlooked in this odd neighborhood of ours. Not having heard a lick of it, I'd say it's the favorite so far to win Pazz & Jop, but that's just because no other obvious alternative candidate has stepped forward yet (at least as far as ignorant Frank knows). You guys have any opinion on Modern Times?

i'm supposed to write about kellie pickler. my m-gentry piece, w/ interview stuff from eddie, comes out online in the n-ville scene tomorrow.

and right, don, "lotta leavin'" is on the second dierks. I think I don't even have the first one any more. "that don't make it easy lovin' me" is one of my fave songs of the year, already, quite addictive. dierks should cover gene clark's "los angeles." I have been quite into clark's "no other" and that dillard and clark album, "fantastic expedition." my buddy dave duncan keeps telling me that "f.e." is the real start of country-rock not "gilded palace," but I think it's the real start of whatever these neo-bluegrass formalists in nashville like dierks are doing.

I dunno--the drum sound on chris young just doesn't strike me as a good drum sound. and I admit it, I really didn't give chris a full chance on first few listens. he can sing. I guess I feel as though the production doesn't surround him, that it's one-dimensional. my sense is that they were trying to sell the Voice and that's it, and maybe I'm wrong.

Nashville production has gotten way better in the last few years, but as Mark Nevers and others I've been fortunate enough to pick brains of have told me, there's an ungodly amount of compression going on in the mastering of most Music Row productions. That in my opinion is what makes something like Sara Evans' records so remarkable--they don't sound all squashed down. Brett Beavers' prod of the new Dierks sounds kinda like the last one, a bit trebly and a bit bass-light. This sounds like a conscious strategy to me.

Gary Bennett's record is so good partly because R.S. Field is so good a producer. Exemplary.

Big 50 Years of Steve Cropper thing happening at the Ryman on the first, which would've been my mother's 72nd birthday. with John Anderson, B.J. Thomas, John Kay, Mark Farner, and many others. If the TJ Martell Foundation will comp me the tix they promised (they're like $150, and I did a short thing on the show for the Scene, so gimme), I'll be there. Amazing to think Cropper started playing guitar in 1956 in Memphis, and he's still going--seen him a couple times out playing recently, and even when he's kinda fucking off he's still got that sound.

xps

...have only ONE album I etc. (aka Me and My Brother. Though maybe I should go back and listen to their debut Thug Walkin more one of these days. I also like the two remix sets My Brother and Me and USA Still United, and the side project Da Musicianz from this summer is finally growing on me, and there was a weird B-side EP I found a few years ago that was good too. So: One great album, one boring one, and a bunch of perfectly okay ones. But I still like my least favorite Montgomery Gentry album {their debut, I guess} more than my second favorite Ying Yang Twins album.)

Did anybody else notice that the new M-Gentry record has 1) really good graphics,

Weirder: The front cover of their new CD looks almost exactly the same as the back cover of their previous CD! (Maybe paintings based on the previous back cover's photographs, or something? Wacky!)

But that's all off-topic.

I never even knew this album existed until two days ago, when I was googling in an attempt to find out the weird audio EP (only playable in DVD players) (because mostly otherwise a DVD, as are the two outtake/remix albums) I mentioned above. It's Puttin' It In.

But yeah, way off topic. Unless you think Southern hip-hop and Ying Yangs in particular are "country" (some do, and not just Britney.)

I guess I'm in the minority on really liking alan jackson's "like red." just about everyone I've talked to dismisses it as sterile middlebrow airbrushed krauss-i-fication, but I just find it calming and even sort of inspired pop music. rich kienzle in the new no depression really takes it to task, "navel-gazing ballads score big with Bluebird Café types or dilettantes who derive their primary world view from NPR. One suspects damn few of these folks were ever Alan Jackson fans." OK, Rich is a good writer and I see his point, but I mean I get a lot of my world view from the monthly co-op newspaper (really, a well-done publication, excellent charts and photos of soybeans in all parts of Tenn., and some good recipes, plus great info about how farmers use Science, just like Alan and Alison use the Recording Studio to Make Music That Isn't Necessarily Last Year's Crop) and have nearly gotten myself kicked out the Bluebird because it can be so fucking boring. I don't get that the record is "arty" as Kienzle maintains--it's no artier than Dwight Yoakam anytime. For my part, I'd love to hear more people in Nashville doing exactly what Krauss does on this record; to some extent, Nevers is doing it, but within the context of "indie" or whatever with Lambchop, and his new Charlie Louvin record ought to be choice. In short, I have no problem with this kind of thing at all, I suppose I have some bad old Middlebrow in me. But I seem to be just about the only person who really likes this record, which for sure makes my top ten this year.
xps

I bought a Charlie Louvin LP, "It Almost Felt Like Love", recently (I'd always steered clear of his solo material, assuming it just wouldn't match up). It's surprisingly fine.

I haven't seen the whole review but that quote is maybe the most wreteched countrier-than-thou-ism I've ever read.

Excellent: Dierks doing "Fast Lanes and Country Roads" from "She Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," and Brad Paisley "In Times Like These," where he sounds more lowdown, a bluesman even. For that matter, the banal hackery of some of the chord changes, very J.R. and Sue Ellen-pink, that anchor "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" as done by K. Chesney and R. McEntire--that's pretty fucking middlebrow and cheesy, but the version is a good one, and useful historical perspective on the bad old '80s. Haven't heard "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right Yet" by dirty LeAnn Rimes; that might be for my tumbler o'bourbon and smoking jacket, later tonight.

Only ringer so far I've heard on "She Was Country" is Randy Owen doing "Years," that Fogleberg quaver, bearded ass-man in doleful extremis, I don't like it.

hi dere

In possibly related news, there's a glowing full-page review of the new Dierks Bentley album, of all things, in Paste, of all places, arguing that fans of alt-country shouldn't ignore Nashville country, which Geoffrey Himes says has gotten better in the past few years (though he may he overrate Bentley's importance in that equation -- Dierks is hardly the most interesting act in Nashville, though I agree he can frequently be real good -- and Himes mentions the Wrights and Bobby Pinson but not Big & Rich or Toby Keith or Montgomery Gentry as evidence of his claim, which strikes me as somewhat odd). Nice to see the barrier being broken down, regardless.

A lot of what alt-country is, to me, it's just bar music, music you hear in a bar, intellectualized bar music, whatever, and having to worry about my relationship to the supposedly "authentic" or not, is wearying to me and fucks up my thinking and writing. So I don't do it, but I think ND honestly tries to get at some of that stuff and that there might well be something in the effort that I am either too rooted or not rooted enough to fully appreciate. It's just a bar--let's have a drink.

Glad to see that Himes gives country its due; by my lights, Dierks Bentley is a classic case of a pretty good artist whose overall production-design is flawed. Kinda like a pretty good and perfectly good-looking but not spectacularly beautifuly actress who never quite gets lighted the right way on set. What I find interesting about Dierks' last 2 is the utter banality of the whole thing, when you set the sometimes kind of brilliant *conception* of the *sound, playing and production* itself against the, to my ears, deflating *sententiousness* of the sentiments themselves. In other words, the whole ramblin' thing makes me urp, and the point of those records is a) the fact he's got this unruly head of curls, no hat (and MG are significant not least because Eddie wears his big hat/duster and Troy doesn't, and that's the contrast, exactly what they try to do in their music, whereas Dierks is all No Hat) b) the one great trick Brett Beavers has come up with re DB--using this four-four kick-drum stomp to ground some really interesting guitar licks by the great J.T. Corenflos and the surgically applied banjo and the occasional really cool lick as in "That Don't Make It Easy Lovin' Me," which is I think the only great song on the record, just like "Lot of Leavin'" which it rewrites was the only great one on the last one. I find the 4/4 kick a bit intrusive after a while, altho on this one the drummer often does a kind of roll suggestive of some Civil War memory or some forgotten road memory or whatever, and that adds to the whole thing. And the songs are mostly non-songs, actually, and the one where Dierks imagines an egalitarian heaven with the usual post-hobo-sentimental cast of characters, is downright fulsome. Plus, as on "Modern Day Drift," the production itself is wrong, both these records sound like they were just digitally moved around and flattened out, they lack depth. Too compressed. And that's what I find mystifying about country music and some of the writing about it, why not talk about the record as artifice and get into why they sound the way they do? As on Jackson or as on MG, which sounds fucking great. I kind of wish they'd work on their harmonies a bit more, or do something with background voices that wasn't just using some gospel choir, which has become just as much empty signifier as mariachi horns in country music.

Anyway, Dierks just needs a new producer, and god forgive me, but he needs to record somewhere else than Nashville, perhaps. It's obvious that Brett Beavers (who cowrites nearly every song on the record w/ Dierks and one/two others) has created this sound that is supposed to go with a ramblin' persona, and it half-works. And that songs are written piecemeal and by committee to fit into that sound. I'll stop here: Dierks, to my mind, isn't all that interesting as a person or a "star," but the whole process by which he makes records is real interesting and indicative of what can be wrong with how they make records on Music Row these days. And that most of the records made around here sound fucking great.

xps

Oh, good, then I can snatch some time to listen to the Brooke Hogan instead (not a distinctive voice, but for r&b riffiness and catchiness she beats a lot of more distinctive singers, e.g. her producer's gf Janet Jackson).

(Haven't visited the PO in a couple of days; the package with the Mandrell trib arrived, as has the one with the Alan Jackson and the Cornerstone mixes. A couple of mix CDs are on their way to you.)

"Redder That That" - "Redder Than That"