Rolling Country 2012

Upthread are my votes for him in Best Male Vocalist, Best Live Act, where I listed him and his band, based in their Farm Aid set. He kept the vibe and distinctive momentum of The Guitar Album, playing into and out of songs continuously. Also upthread: him and Lee Ann on The Blind Boys' country set (made my Top Ten Albums)
The Blind Boys of Alabama have taken the gospel trail with a variety of companions, including the adapted chestnuts of Jagger-Richard, Dylan and Waits, not to mention a collaborative album with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. this time it’s country, with co-production by Jamie Johnson, who also sounds very much at home singing on several tracks, without pushing the doctrine--it’s all more poignant than that, including Lee Ann Womack’s turn (also in the way she finds her way through the clutter of Buddy Miller’s Majesty of Sliver Strings, for the non-campy “Meds”, written by Marc Ribot! Yeah, Miller’s men are trying to make more than a high-chopsy noodlefest, and it would be, if they’d written for and/or backed Womack and Griffin alll the way through). Not too long ago, when asked if he still believed in his religious songs, Dylan replied, “ I do when I’m singing them.” That’s what it’s all about.

Well, Jamie didn't make this'un. Better luck next time.

Marco Club Connection Names Top Ten Country Dance Club Hits for 2011

(Nashville, Tenn. – Jan. 9, 2012) Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton topped the list of dance club hits in 2011, according to the Marco Club Connection’s 8th annual ranking of Country dance favorites.

Every December, the Nashville-based company surveys a panel of nearly 250 club owners, DJs and dance instructors from across the country to compile its rankings. Overall votes by the panel determine each song’s placement on the list.

“The added emphasis on dance in the music videos for this year’s top club hits was hugely popular with club DJs and choreographers,” says Club Connection Manager of Venue Marketing, Bobbe Morhiser. “By featuring dancers and dance clubs in the videos, these records leave a lasting connection with fans that dancing and Country music are a natural match.”

The 2011 Marco Club Connection Top Ten Country Dance Club Hits are:

1. Luke Bryan - “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)”
2. Blake Shelton - “Footloose”
3. Big & Rich - “Fake ID”
4. Blake Shelton - “Honey Bee”
5. Gloriana - “Wanna Take You Home”
6. Billy Currington - “Love Done Gone”
7. Jason Aldean - “Dirt Road Anthem”
8. Dierks Bentley - “Am I The Only One”
9. The Lacs - “Kickin’ Up Mud”
10. Chris Young - “You”

“We are thrilled that ‘Country Girl (Shake It For Me)’ was selected as the No. 1 dance song of the year,” says Capitol/EMI Records Director of Media and Public Relations, Taryn Pray. “This single took Luke Bryan to the next level, and it’s great to have the recognition of the dance club community.”

Peter Strickland, Sr. VP Brand Management & Sales for Warner Music Nashville echoed the excited sentiments of his colleagues at Capitol: “What a great way to start off 2012 finding out Warner Music Nashville has four of the Top 5 dance songs. Congratulations to Big & Rich, Gloriana and Blake Shelton.”

A complete archive of Club Connection’s Top Ten Country Dance Club Hits by year can be viewed at MarcoClubConnection.com.

3. Big & Rich - “Fake ID”
5. Gloriana - “Wanna Take You Home”
9. The Lacs - “Kickin’ Up Mud”

Need to check these out. Never even heard of "The Lacs" til now, and I had no idea Big & Rich still existed.

As for Jamey, again, I get why somebody might've voted for him as one of the better live acts, but Don's explanation still doesn't explain the songwriter stuff. Did he get new songs he wrote out there, or not?

And as for singles, another very real possibility, even if people love the song, is that voters didn't know that Johnson's "Heartache" was a single in 2011. I sure never heard it on the radio myself. (Me, I was aware it was a single, mainly because Frank Kogan had listed it on his livejournal blog as one. Would have made my country top 15 or so, probably.) So it's still a really weird thing for Himes to highlight.

As for Lambert, I get that her 2011 album is frontloaded, but even if you ignore the first five tracks, you still have "Baggage Claim" and "Easy Living," for starters. What songs on Revolution are that entertaining, again? It's been a while, but I don't believe many are.

"Nobody's Fool," too - a real good pop-rocker.

Also, though I at least slightly prefer the Pistol Annies album and gave it a fairly glowing review in Rolling Stone of all places and totally understand its lyric sheet's recession angle and appreciate its concision, I'm somewhat dumbfounded by people who claim it's way better than the Lambert one. It's better on paper than it is in reality, and if anything, it's kind of too quasi-trad alt-country and could use more Lambert. Beyond "Takin' Pills," what exactly is super great on it??

And by "quasi-trad alt-country," guess I mean I feel like the Annies are trying to do this old-timey shtick and not quite pulling it off. I like the album (see RS review link below), but I sure don't love it as much as some people seem to. Some quieter parts totally bore me, to be honest.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/editors-picks/pistol-annies-hell-on-heels-20110913

Right. I do think the Pistol Annies album is superior to Four the Record by a pretty substantial margin, but, even still, I wouldn't rate it more highly than any of Lambert's first three albums, especially not Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

I don't think Revolution is all that much "fun" outside of maybe three songs ("Only Prettier," "Me and Your Cigarettes," and the "Time to Get a Gun" cover), but I do think it's a far better-written and performed album than the new one. Since I'd say "Baggage Claim" is an utter mess of a song lyrically and Lambert's vocal track sounds tinny and pinched, I simply don't agree that there's really anything that elevates the back half of the album. I just don't think the songs are all that well-written-- or, in the cases of "Over You" and the duet with Shelton, are actively poor-- or performed well or produced in an interesting way.

It's a good album, sure, but she's better than "good," and I felt like the Pistol Annies album had more of what makes Lambert great in it than her own album did.

Still puzzled by the "amnesia" thing wrt Johnson, particularly that Himes used Taylor Swift's placement in the poll as an immediate counterpoint: She headlined a massively lucrative tour that led to her releasing her first live album, and she charted 3 top 5 singles last year, so why *wouldn't* her poll results reflect that visibility? And Johnson definitely doesn't have any new songwriting credits on any albums I've heard in the past year...

I had it at #12 on my list, so I'll second xhuxk's mention of the great new Kentucky Headhunters album. Good to have that crew back.

(Was hesitating to post this, since I wanted to listen to the Zach James once more to decide if I should actually endorse it or warn you off. Folkie naval gaze from someone whose voice is no better than mine, with better-than-I-was-expecting melodies. I still haven't given it a third spin. --I seem to have left out a word or two in the sentence "I'm counting Taylor Swift's _______ as basically 2010," so I inserted a blank. Did I intend to put one of the following: arias? ungulates? mortgage-backed securities? What do you think? --I forgot that "Hell On Heels" was a single as well as an album, would have ranked it #5 or thereabouts. And despite the nice things I say about Ashley down-list, I did generally find the track and album too cute. Or anyway, Timberlee does a better cute. --Least extensive country-listening year for me since 1999, which is why my list looks like yourn.)

TOP TEN COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert - Four The Record
2. Sunny Sweeney - Concrete
3. Lauren Alaina - Wildflower
4. Randy Montana - Randy Montana
5. Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels
6. Eric Church - Chief
7. Zach James - Machos Pathos

TOP TEN COUNTRY SINGLES OF 2011:

1. Taylor Swift "Mean"
2. Reba McEntire "If I Were A Boy"
3. Jamey Johnson "Heartache"
4. Eric Church "Homeboy"
5. Reba McEntire "When Love Gets A Hold Of You"
6. Gillian Welch "The Way It Goes"
7. Taylor Swift "Sparks Fly"
8. Keith Urban "Long Hot Summer"
9. Aaron Lewis "Country Boy"
10. The Band Perry "You Lie"

TOP FIVE COUNTRY REISSUES OF 2011:

--

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST MALE VOCALISTS OF 2011:

1. Toby Keith
2. Jamey Johnson
3. Eric Church

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST FEMALE VOCALISTS OF 2011:

1. LeAnn Rimes
2. Miranda Lambert
3. Sunny Sweeney

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST LIVE ACTS OF 2011:

--

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST SONGWRITERS OF 2011:

--

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST DUOS, TRIOS OR GROUPS OF 2011:

1. The Band Perry
2. Pistol Annies

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST NEW ACTS OF 2011:

1. Lauren Alaina

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST OVERALL ACTS OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert
2. Sunny Sweeney
3. Randy Montana

(I'm counting Taylor Swift's _______ as basically 2010, even if there were a few spillover singles; anyway, decided to leave a few spots in my best-of for other people.)

Was going to say that Aaron Lewis can go fuck himself, but unfortunately when he goes he'll be going with my vote, since he put enough strong feeling and playing into his posturing that he moved me. He doesn't want to move himself, unfortunately; all I've got to say is that deciding what you are and what you believe and sticking to it despite hell, highwater, and evidence and life is not half as admirable as he thinks it is. Wish there were more learning and less stand-taking, esp. when the stands are based on symbols rather than thought.

Spent most of the year thinking that country could go fuck itself as well, though I can't say it threw anything different at me to make me feel this way. It was already capitulating to its audience's insecurity over a decade ago when I fell in love with Montgomery Gentry's "She Couldn't Change Me." But there was way more pathos and poetry in the insecurities back then; now it feels rote, and mean. But Eric Church isn't rote and mean, even though his ideas are as retrogressive as the rest. The home he's extolling, that didn't feel like home to the homeboy brother, is at risk, and he knows it. Maybe he's a step away from 1965 (remember, how does it feel, with no direction home, etc.?), where home is something you discover, you build, not just something you assert.

Some quick takes: Randy Montana's album is a hard-rocking sigh. Would have ranked even higher if there'd been more of the rockers. Lauren Alaina has no clue what she's doing, but flounders with a voice that aches and worries. Ashley Monroe is cute and funny without being cloying, and I hope the attention given to the Pistol Annies finds its way to the rest of her work.

Have a nice New Year.

Frank

I asked Himes what he meant about Jamey, here's his reply:
As I mentioned in the sidebar, he did get a smattering of support, but I thought his fall-off was pretty dramatic compared to the support that artists like Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert get in a non-album year (and I like all three of them a lot). Did he stop being a notable live act and male vocalist just because he didn't release an album? That's what those other categories are for. It's not a big deal really, but I found it intriguing.
I've since mentioned to him that the Blind Boys album and Farm Aid set got me voting Jamey into Best Vocalists, and him plus band into Best Live Acts. But he hasn't responded yet, so I don't know if he was thinking of them re the sidebar speculations. I guess those weren't so widely heard, but he did do some touring, aa seen on YouTube (ditto the FarmAid set, or chunks of it, so you still might get some of the effect of J and band playing continously into and out of songs, a la The Guitar Album). so yeah, voters coulda even shoulda checked him out. But there's so much to keep up with, o' course.

The Kellie Pickler album is solid. Was Womack's There's More Where That Came From her model for smart gauze?

(it's not as sharp as the Womack record for)

Good album. First track seems like a strangely formal introduction. but overall much more consistently engaging than most tribs (def helps to have this house band)


This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark
Rises to No. 1 on the Americana Music Chart

No. 1 in Classic Country, No. 3 in Today's Country,
No. 1 in Pop Tributes on Amazon Best Sellers Chart


Album includes recordings by Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, Shawn Colvin, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris & John Prine, Patty Griffin, Ron Sexsmith, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle, Vince Gill, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl Keen, and more.

Produced by Tamara Saviano and Shawn Camp


January 31, 2013

This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark tops the Americana Music Chart this week. The album is also No. 1 in Classic Country, No. 3 in Today's Country, No. 1 in Pop tributes and No. 24 overall on Amazon.com Best Sellers Rank.

The collection was lovingly produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Tamara Saviano (Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster)—who is also working with Clark on his definitive biography—and frequent Clark co-writer Shawn Camp ("Sis Draper," "Magnolia Wind").

The tribute includes 30 tracks by 33 Americana artists who are friends and colleagues of Clark or who have been influenced by his remarkable compositions. The collection was mixed and mastered by Austin's Cedar Creek Records principal Fred Remmert.

Part of the proceeds benefit the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.


Volume 1

1. That Old Time Feeling – Rodney Crowell
2. Anyhow I Love You – Lyle Lovett
3. All He Wants Is You – Shawn Colvin
4. Homeless – Shawn Camp
5. Broken Hearted People – Ron Sexsmith
6. Better Days – Rosanne Cash
7. Desperadoes Waiting For A Train – Willie Nelson
8. Baby Took A Limo To Memphis – Rosie Flores
9. Magdalene – Kevin Welch
10. Instant Coffee Blues – Suzy Bogguss
11. Homegrown Tomatoes – Ray Wylie Hubbard
12. Let Him Roll – John Townes Van Zandt II
13. The Guitar – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
14. Cold Dog Soup – James McMurtry
15. Worry B Gone – Hayes Carll

Volume 2

1. Dublin Blues – Joe Ely
2. Magnolia Wind – Emmylou Harris & John Prine
3. The Last Gunfighter Ballad – Steve Earle
4. All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad – Verlon Thompson
5. The Dark – Terri Hendrix
6. LA Freeway – Radney Foster
7. The Cape – Patty Griffin
8. Hemingway’s Whiskey – Kris Kristofferson
9. Texas Cookin’ – Gary Nicholson, Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien
10. Stuff That Works – Jack Ingram
11. Randall Knife – Vince Gill
12. Texas 1947 – Robert Earl Keen
13. Old Friends – Terry Allen
14. She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – The Trishas
15. My Favorite Picture of You – Jerry Jeff Walker

Check out our YouTube videos:

Worry B Gone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-ziW5e0494

Stuff that works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npG3ngu49GA

Track Seven: Willie Nelson nicely deflates the excess melodrama usually found in covers of "Waiting For Train" (yep, that moneyshot chorus), by taking the whole thing at a brisk, even business-like tempo, which actually makes it more affecting.

http://pistolannies.s3.amazonaws.com/media/news/articles/39/q2n5rby011vxc7cm_large.jpg

"Conflates myth and memoir"(and memory, even), yeah-h-h that's a good way of putting it--but worth checking out:
press release, in case you can't tell
Mickey Newbury’s An American Trilogy was one of the most talked-about and lauded reissues of 2011 – a long-overdue affirmation for a songwriter and performer who has for years enjoyed cult acclaim, but belongs in the ranks of the American greats.
Keeping the love alive in 2012, Saint Cecilia Knows and Drag City present a split-single that pairs Mickey Newbury’s recording of “Heaven Help the Child,” the title track of the most refined and under-appreciated album in Newbury’s trilogy––with a new version of the song by Bill Callahan that invokes the stately, elegiac spirit of the original while reworking its intricacies for his own unique voice and style. It will be released March 27th.
Callahan has made no secret of his admiration for Mickey Newbury, even name-checking him (alongside George Jones, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash, as part of a roll call of the most American of contemporary songwriter-performers) in the song, “America,” off his acclaimed 2011 album Apocalypse.
“There’s something psychedelic and transcendent about Mickey's best work,” says Callahan, “and when he gets into the realms of songs like ‘Heaven Help The Child,’ where he spans generations and flies over time while still maintaining a singular mind, he's imparting a truly epic knowledge and vision. The song always reminded me of the movie Once Upon a Time in America.”
A wildly-ambitious, cross-generational odyssey, written in 1971 against the backdrop of the waning days of the Vietnam War, “Heaven Help The Child” is the closest Newbury ever came to writing a pure protest song, albeit one that, in true Newbury style, breaks the mold and emotes heartfelt paens, seeking solutions rather than mere dissent.
Allusive, elusive and emotionally direct, the song conflates myth and memoir until the two are inseparable and interchangeable. A reference in the lyrics to Fitzgerald and Hemingway draws on the idea that, for Newbury and his peers, Nashville of the ‘70s was like Paris in the ‘20s, a meeting place for writers in exile; outsiders working within the mainstream of culture, whose artistic concerns were too epic and personal to be constrained by it.
“The point I was trying to make in that song,” said Newbury, “is that every generation thinks that its problems are unique where its problems really are as old as man. There are no new problems; there are only new faces having them.”
Mickey Newbury often referred to “Heaven Help The Child” as his “second Trilogy,” the first being “An American Trilogy,” the song with which he is most closely-associated yet, paradoxically, did not write. But “Heaven Help the Child” is Newbury through and through: the work of a master songwriter at the height of his powers.
Mickey Newbury online:
You can also get a free four-track box sampler here: http://anamericantrilogy.com/splash
also see
http://www.mickeynewbury.com/
and
http://www.dragcity.com/artists/mickey-newbury
you might wanta check his MySpace for a bunch of albums I've never heard
http://www.myspace.com/mickeynewbury/music/albums

Listened to the Zach James album a few more times and still like it, despite its having the indie tendency to lay back without kicking up its heels. Zach's voice reminds me a bit of Jim Morrison's, actually. I wouldn't say Zach's like Morrison in his vocal demeanor, however. Or only a little bit, an occasional moment of being declamatory. But not into riding snakes and such.

My two favorite 2012 "country" albums so far are by Elfin Saddle (cello-driven co-ed Anglo-style folkishness from Montreal with hints of goth and the Middle East but mostly of Fairport Convention) and Bryan Clark & the New Lyceum Players (guitar-chopsy full-band soft-rock that sometimes kinda rocks from Nashville via Texas with hints of jam band), and so far I'm getting more out of the new Drew Nelson (post-Earle/ Mellencamp recession folk-rock from Michigan with merely average singing) than the new Dierks Bentley. Like a few things okay on the latter (“Am I The Only One” left over from last year, “Diamonds Make Babies,” “The Woods,” the pretty Lady Antebellum style duet with Karen Fairchild) but I’m not hearing anything near the level of his best stuff. Not sure what, if anything, that says about country's current state. Should probably check out Tim McGraw’s album, one of these days.

Several Rolling Countrys back, xhuxk and I were briefly discussing Catholic country, trying to think of some examples. He may have come up with something, I haven't found the right thread yet, but anyway there's def some on Craig Finn's new solo album. No doubt about the Catholic part, the rest is if you consider Drive-by Truckers' sound and sensibility to be sufficiently country (I do, just didn't think Go-Go Boots had quite enough good cuts for Top Ten). Here's my Finn preview, which indicates my main interest wasn't the specifically Catholic aspect of his compassionate conservatism/low-rent empathy, but worth noting the theological in this year's RC. anyway, a fun listen overall, so far:
“Dude with the long fingernails, I know he’ll be good to you/I seen him shave up at the library/And sleep behind the caribou.” On his solo debut, “Clear Heart Full Eyes”, The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn temporarily trades THS’s ornate neo-classic rock chariot for his Austin session group’s alone-together cowbell groove, a bracing back room echo of THS tourmates Drive-By Truckers. Finn’s currently touring combo of Austin stalwarts include the new album’s incisive, evocative regular and steel guitarist, Ricky Ray Jackson; RRJ's Happen-Ins colleague, drummer Falcon Valdez; the well-named Moonlight Towers' guitarist, James Stevens; and attentive, sportive bassist Alex Livingstone of Grand Champeen.

Probably won't make my Top Ten though.

That last Hold Steady album was so dull; I've been avoiding listening to his alt-country move. May or may not get around to it eventually.

I feel like country has maybe gotten more Catholic, in general, since we had that discussion. Other examples will probably come to me later, but Brantley Gilbert naming his debut album Modern Day Prodigal Son and wearing graven-image religious jewelry (including a Virgin Mary and very gothic looking cross) around his neck (and showing us closeups of the same) inside the CD booklet of his followup Halfway To Heaven (and standing in his leather jacket in front of a fancy church window and beneath a chandelier adorned with crucifixes on the back) probably count -- definitely one of the most papist-looking c&w albums I ever saw (though I have no idea Gilbert was actually raised Catholic himself.) Also, Wiki says Laura Bell Bundy "graduated from Lexington Catholic High School in 1999." And Keith Urban is supposedly Catholic. Not sure about Tim McGraw, but his dad Tug apparently was.

(My own current reading, fwiw: Why I Am A Catholic by Garry Wills. Though I'm still a lapsed/recovered one, myself.)

Tug McGraw sounds like a cowboy dog in a children's book

you mean recovered by it, or from it? Maybe some of both at various times, like Southern Baptist-raised me. Holy Moly, I think I've got that Brantley Gilbert album, will have to check if the songs reflect any of the packaging.

From it. And "...no idea if Gilbert was actually...." etc., I meant.

Wonder if Quick Draw McGraw was Catholic.

Should've added a couple posts up that I also still need to check out the new Kellie Pickler that people seem to like so much. Jon Caramanica reviewed it affirmatively in the Times yesterday; he also made me at least slightly curious about Chi Bhiman and Christian pop singer Kari Jobe. Couldn't get into that 2011 Jason Boland album he wrote about (and which finished #30 in the Nashville Scene poll) when I tried a few times last year (liked his 2010 live album better), give or take or take the long, rambling talking-blues-style closer "Farmer's Luck." Anyway, here's Caramanica's thing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/arts/music/new-music-by-kari-jobe-mohombi-bhi-bhiman-and-others.html

Sho. Always crossed hisself before he'd draw, mighty quick!

Look out now:
Relativity Music Group is pleased to announce the release of the soundtrack for Relativity Media’s adrenaline-fueled Navy SEAL action-thriller Act of Valor, featuring brand new original songs written and inspired by the film from today’s top recording artists including: Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Trace Adkins, Wynonna Judd, Montgomery Gentry, and more. In theatres February 24, 2012, the Bandito Brothers’ Act of Valor stars a group of active-duty Navy SEALs in a film like no other in Hollywood’s history, along with actors Roselyn Sanchez, Alex Veadov, Jason Cottle and Nestor Serrano, in an unprecedented blend of real-life heroism and original filmmaking. The soundtrack will be released by Relativity Music Group and distributed in music retail locations by Capitol Records Nashville on February 21st.
The track listing includes original songs written and performed by artists including: Keith Urban (whose song “For You” is featured in the film’s end credits), Sugarland (“Guide You Home”), Lady Antebellum (“I Was Here”), Trace Adkins (“If the Sun Comes Up”), Lori McKenna (“Two Soldiers Coming Home”), Jake Owen (“The Best I Can”), Montgomery Gentry (“What It Takes”), Josh Kelley (“The Best of Me”), Hunter Hayes (“Where We Left Off”), and Wynonna Judd (“Whatever Brings You Back”).
Produced and directed by former Baja 1000 champion Mike “Mouse” McCoy and former stuntman Scott Waugh, and written by Kurt Johnstad (300), Act of Valor (etc). Hope the songs are suitably extreme. Where's Th' Legendary Shackshakers, where's any kind of metal (mebbe Montgy. Gentry will crank up the guitars, at least)

are those all original for the movie or?

So the press sheet leads me to believe, though I haven't tried to Google-verify (so lazy)

"written and inspired by the film", go film!

wouldn't see the film on a bet but that's an interesting soundtrack.

hope it will be.

For Tim McGraw, whose new album I still haven't gotten around to yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cObvO93LgFw

The new Dierks has been growing on me, though. Not sure I agree with Rob Harvilla that he's winning the Tom Petty soundalike sweepstakes (not sure I think he sounds much like Petty at all), but I wound up liking the non-triumphalist sea-to-shining-sea patriotic schlock of the title track "Home" (which Wiki informs me is the new single, and which basically says we all disagree on everything but we're all in this together and we'll get through it somehow) more than I would have guessed. "Tip It On Back" seems like fairly run-of-the-mill working for weekend beers (and tokes?) stuff to me, but I like the hard times verse it starts with. Seven-minute closer stretched out by some (presumably Dierks's?) kid singing it is impossible to get through, though -- when I saw that there was a song that long, I was hoping for some jamming.

And oh yeah, "The Woods" isn't near as good as it deserves to be, but I grew up in Michigan, so I relate to the idea of woodses being places where growing kids can do things they're not supposed to do, and I can't think of many other songs about it. Plus I like how Dierks magically transforms into Art Alexakis from Everclear when he tells the girl to leave her iphone at home.

Here's my Scene poll. I actually have played Randy Montana's record more than any other country record from last year, altho I like the Lambert/Annies records quite a bit. The Haggard record grew on me some, altho I still find "Too Much Boogie Woogie" completely banal even by Hag standards. A few months previous to the poll, I wrote up Montana in the Best of Nashville issue as the country record of the year, but it ended up coming in a little below that by December, if we make it through, which I did.

Going to begin doing a bimonthly country column for the Scene, which I've been trying to conceptualize the last month or so. Should have one up soon.

Anyone else gotten the new Encyclopedia of Country the Hall of Fame/Museum just put out?

Finally, here's my Nashville Scene review of the Drive-By Truckers and Bobby Keys & the Suffering Bastards, in case you're interested.

Edd Hurt
Nashville Scene

TOP TEN COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2011:

1. Pistol Annies Hell on Heels Columbia Nashville
2. Miranda Lambert Four the Record RCA Nashville
3. Randy Montana Randy Montana Mercury Nashville
4. Hayes Carll KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories) Lost Highway
5. Willie Nelson Remember Me Vol. 1 R&J
6. Old 97s The Grand Theatre Vol. 2 New West
7. Glen Campbell Ghost on the Canvas Surfdog
8. Steel Magnolia Steel Magnolia Big Machine
9. Brad Paisley This Is Country Music Arista Nashville
10. Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller Aimless

TOP TEN COUNTRY SINGLES OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert "Heart Like Mine" RCA Nashville
2. Hayes Carll "Grand Parade" Lost Highway
3. Eric Church "Drink in My Hand" EMI Nashville
4. Eric Church "Springsteen" EMI Nashville
5. Zac Brown Band "Colder Weather"
6. Brad Paisley "Toothbrush" Arista Nashville
7. Keith Urban "Long Hot Summer" Arista Nashville
8. Pistol Annies "Hell on Heels" Columbia Nashville
9. Miranda Lambert "Baggage Claim" RCA Nashville
10. Shelby Lynne "Revelation Road" Everso

TOP FIVE COUNTRY REISSUES OF 2011:

1. Various Artists The Bristol Sessions: The Big Bang of Country Music Bear Family
2. The Beau Brummels Bradley's Barn Warner Bros.
3. The Gourds Old Mad Joy Vanguard
4. Mickey Newbury An American Trilogy Drag City
5. Gene Clark Two Sides to Every Story High Moon

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST MALE VOCALISTS OF 2011:

1. Merle Haggard
2. George Strait
3. George Jones

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST FEMALE VOCALISTS OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert
2. Emmylou Harris
3. Martina McBride

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST LIVE ACTS OF 2011:

1. Zac Brown Band
2. Eric Church
3. Brad Paisley

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST SONGWRITERS OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert
2. Guy Clark
3. Brad Paisley

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST DUOS, TRIOS OR GROUPS OF 2011:

1. Pistol Annies
2. Steel Magnolia
3. Zac Brown Band

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST NEW ACTS OF 2011:

1. Pistol Annies
2. Randy Montana
3. Laura Bell Bundy

COUNTRY MUSIC’S THREE BEST OVERALL ACTS OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert
2. Pistol Annies
3. Hayes Carll

I didn't include Jonny Corndag's Down on the Bikini Line but I should have. It is rather underachieved pseudo-country on one level, sure, but I think it works--he's trying to do some combination of Bobby Bare, David Allan Coe and Michael Hurley. Does his own leather working too and runs marathons...
here's my Scene piece on Coe-n-dawg.

Corndawg!

I still find "Too Much Boogie Woogie" completely banal even by Hag standards

Glad to finally learn I'm not the only person who thinks this. Really dumb song. (Besides, Hag is a Western Swing fan, right? He ought to like boogie woogie.) Only great song on the album, as far as I can tell, is "Under The Bridge" -- Even though it turns out he'd first recorded it years ago, and the Chili Peppers recorded a much worse song with the same title once. But between that and the general okay-ness of the rest of the album, that was enough to give it a place on my ballot.

Didn't include Jonny Corndawg's Down on the Bikini Line but I should have

First time I played this, I too was thinking he could be the new Hurley, what with his dirty mind and all. By the third time, I wanted to strangle him, what with his precious anti-folk non-singing and all.
And the more I played it, the more I decided he's not even that funny.

I did include Newbury in my reissue ballot. A lot of it is more or less demo-plus in my book; he wasn't the most commanding singer. And I really should've included Larry Jon Wilson in reissues--Omni put out his 1975 Monument album plus bonus tracks. Good stuff, and I got to know the guy who produced Wilson (and who has produced Ronnie Milsap for years), Rob Galbraith--another r&b fan who came to Nashville and went country.

I have not heard the Guy Clark tribute. I saw Guy Clark play live last year, with Ray Wylie Hubbard. I suppose anyone doing Clark would have more oomph than Clark himself, who is a very, er, casual performer. So I don't know. Steve Earle's record I found unlistenable; for that matter, I can barely stand Phil Ochs except for the one Ochs album that is good, that 1970 record he did wearing his gold Elvis suit. Earle is like Phil Ochs with a better sense of rhythm, at least Earle tries to make these New Orleans-style tracks and all. He's just so obvious and earnest. He's no Del Reeves...who is a forgotten figure who made great sort of Jerry Reed-style novelty trucking records/place-name tributes with, often, a New Vaudeville Band kinda overlay of ricky-tick. Or the Wilburn Brothers, whose 1966 single "Hurt Her Once for Me" is one of the great sub-Buck Owens rock 'n' roll country tunes.

And the more I played it, the more I decided he's not even that funny

Could be that his funny stuff isn't his best. But I do think "Undercover Dad" of whatever that one is called, about his daughter's diary and what she is doing outside the family circle, as it were, is some kind of song.

Xhuxk, I also like the title track of the Hag record. He gets a job at Opryland, you gotta love that.

Rob Galbraith: same fellow who made an LP called Nashville Dirt in a Tony Joe White kind of mould? I've been enjoying that record lately, having bought it years back and never really got round to paying any attention.

right, Tim, Nashville Dirt. he did another solo LP too. Rob played a show late last year at Douglas Corner here. I need to get a copy of that album actually. At one time in the early '70s, Rob was Billy Sherrill's assistant. Rob told me he was the guy who tried to get J.J. Cale signed to Epic but they passed. Interesting, and very nice, guy.

Okay so. Tomorrow night, as my Valentine's treat for my wonderful sweetie, I'm taking her to see Martina McBride, who's playing a benefit show up in LA. She's one of my sweets's favorite singers of all time -- only Dolly ranks as high for her -- so I'm looking forward to this, besides the fact that this is pretty much the first country-show-as-such I've ever seen.

Is she gonna love you through it?

Hey, it is Valentine's Day after all.

Ned, please report back with highlights.

Assuming you mean Martina's show, yes.

Presuming you don't stop off at a salon along the way.

A vision! (Actually the real concern is beating traffic, partially because we hear the openers are supposed to be okay.)

I still love "Independence Day."

Ned's been taking it nice and easy since Valentine's.

As one should. Good show, it all slotted into my own memories of early 80s Pat Benatar and that-era country crossover hits revamped for a later time -- reinforced by the set-closing take on "Don't Stop Believin'" Clearly got a good band going for her as well, in great voice in general.

Opening dude Danny Nail and his band made me think they could just have easily opened for Wilco or Howlin Rain' just as easily. Not a complaint, they were pretty good in their own way too.

Think you mean David Nail, Ned? I liked his 2011 album a lot (linked upthread to a review I wrote); a lot more than Martina's (which was just okay, but which did have my favorite country single of the year), in fact.

Whoops, yes you're correct, David not Danny.

I mean I love a lot of country-rock and Texas boogie kinda stuff! I just need an antidote for Luke Bryan.

it's all good – my bad

<3

free of its parent album, the Alan Jackson song sounds terrific.

doesn't it, though?

ha – we really disagree over "5-1-5-0."

Jackson's like that (I've had "Everything I Own" in my iPod since July and when it comes on shuffle I don't dare skip it). Drive and Like Red On a Rose are the only two studios that don't bore me.

*Everything I LOVE

Just filed my Nashville Scene ballot a couple hours ago. Three of somedude's 20 favorite country singles of the year made my singles ballot; none of his least favorite singles did, though a couple were definitely in the running, and I voted for the EP containing another one (which I actually like a lot.) Never heard Kristen Kelly's "Ex Old Man" until this morning (finally listened to it since Frank had recommended it above); didn't make my ballot, but I the OMC "How Bizarre" thing jumped out at me right away, a couple hours before I saw somedude mention it.

I'm kind of ambivalent about "5-1-5-0." Sort of like it okay, but it sort of it annoys me (just like the album it's on, come to think of it.)

i'm not gonna defend my dislike of "5-1-5-0" too strongly, it was just on the radio all the time and i never wanted to hear it

otoh Kenny Chesney can fuck right off

seriously

I'm wondering if he's got genuine talent: the guy has made vanilla blandness offensive.

Then again, he's also made a few pretty great albums (though not this year).

Wikip takes me to an article in the New Zealand Herald on whether "Ex Old Man" had permission to use the riff from "How Bizarre." Answer: the person who wrote the article doesn't know whether there was permission or not.

(The world's full of similar and lifted riffs, and it's not like this is gross plagiarism or "Ex Old Man" is built around the riff.)

"The world's full of similar... riffs"

--I mean riffs that are similar to each other, not that the world is full of riff's similar to "How Bizarre."

jeez that jackson tune is great, missed it