Rolling Country 2013

So I was just now flipping channels, and got hooked by Rich At Night, which I thought was an agreeably non-specific, holiday special, cos the philosophy employed was "everyday's a holiday", in honor of Americans who make and fix stuff, mentioned pretty often, in between "Hail Yeah" and "Yee Haw"---but it's actually (also) the premiere of John Rich's new talk show on TVGN,, from the streets and futurestar bars of Nashville to the house (some would say "building")in the bar of JR ("I'm the only one who can kick me out, and it's only happened a couple times so far"). He makes up songs from gruesome audience holiday tales (assisted by Wayne Brady, who's surprisingly okay). Rich also takes Gretchen Wilson to sing (guess what) with one downtown bar futurestar-by-night, kindergarten teacher by day, Becki McLeod, who's got a strong voice and her own tracks posted, but I haven't checked 'em yet. Wynnona Judd belts good, Kicks Brooks and Big K materialize briefly (non-simultaneously, alas)--it's more TV than music, but a good combination of wired and laid-back, with all commercials corralled into reasonably occasional, reasonably timed appearances, so far.

Everytime I thought Rich was gonna veer into a Tea Party rant, he didn't (so far).

oops forgot (not strictly necessary, but vs. soggy weather)
http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d21/unsecured/media/2178772909001/201311/983/2178772909001_2855249188001_XtraJohnRich3TVGN-26635-797x449.jpg?pubId=2178772909001

http://www.cmt.com/news/cmt-offstage/1718073/wanted-songs-about-southern-guys.jhtml

hmmm, hadn't thought about this

Help. Need a couple more singles (and more than that would be good), or else I'll whiff altogether on my Country Critics Poll. This is what I've got so far. I haven't been listening enough.

1. 2YOON "24/7"
2. Miranda Lambert "Mama's Broken Heart"
3. Kacey Musgraves "Blowin' Smoke"
4. The Civil Wars "The One That Got Away"
5. Luke Bryan "That's My Kind Of Night"
6. Sturgill Simpson "Life Ain't Fair And The World Is Mean"
7. Gwen Sebastian "Suitcase"
8. Charlie Worsham "Could It Be"

(I like most of the Sturgill Simpson album more than that single, by the way.)

@Frank_Kogan

"Railroad of Sin" was also an official single from the Sturgill Simpson album, if that helps. I have it on my ballot.

"Borrowed" and "Gasoline and Matches" were the '13 singles from LeAnn Rimes' album, if that was to your liking.

"Borrowed" is great, but think it was released in very late '12? So, by poll's very strict rules, doesn't qualify (I did list it for '12). Frank, have you considered these, from Gary Allan's real good Set You Free?
"Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)"
Released: September 17, 2012
"Pieces"
Released: February 25, 2013
"It Ain't the Whiskey"
Released: September 23, 2013 (my fave of these, though some album-only tracks are even better)
Also, maybe:
Dylan's "Pretty Saro"
Natalie Maines "Mother" (think it and her album will both make my ballot; ditto the Allan alb and maybe "It Ain't")

Frank, 4 of your top 5 made my ballot (which I sent yesterday.) I either never heard or barely remember your other 4.

Other singles you might consider (all of which I like, to widely varying degrees):

Regulo Caro – Empujando La Linea (El Minilic)
Lady Antebellum – Downtown
Taylor Swift – 22
Mavericks – Born to Be Blue
Pistol Annies – Hush Hush
Toby Keith – Drinks After Work
Jason Aldean – 1994
Ashley Monroe – Like A Rose
The Band Perry – Done
Gary Allan – It Ain’t the Whiskey
Kacey Musgraves – See You Again
Kacey Musgraves – Follow Your Arrow
Ashley Monroe – Weed Instead Of Roses
Chris Stapleton – What Are You Listening To?
Sheryl Crow - Easy
The Henningsens – American Beautiful
Carrie Underwood – Two Black Cadillacs
Eli Young Band – Drunk Last Night
Randy Houser – Runnin’ Outta Moonlight
Cassadee Pope - 11
Brandy Clark - Stripes
Lady Antebellum - Goodbye Town

Oops, sorry about including "Every Storm"!

Well, yeah: the Keith, Pistol Annies, Mavericks--maybe "Truck Yeah" too

love love love the toby keith single. love love the brandy clark single (but was her "what'll keep me out of heaven" not a single?). well yeah to both ashley monroes too.

if you're down with timely reissues…

https://soundcloud.com/secret-seven/blaze-foley-cold-cold-world

"Stripes" was the only official single from the Brandy Clark album; "Like a Rose" was first released last November but didn't get a video until this Spring. "You Got Me" was also officially pushed to radio, though radio didn't bite.

Thanks, everybody.

Chuck, I don't think I remember everything on my singles list either. Well, don't remember "Could It Be," and someone's asleep 10 feet away from me so I won't go immediately to YouTube and listen.

I haven't yet figured out if "See You Again" is a reissue or where it came from (seems to've been recorded several years ago). Not that I pay much attention to Geoff's strict date-of-release* rule, which is a dumb rule (P&J does much better by recommending year of impact and allowing boundary jumpers, so more accurately gauging a song's actual critic support). I don't think he strictly enforces it anyway. And a video release counts as a release.

Taylor will sometimes release the same single in more than one year, a promo download release in Year 1 and a big-splash release in Year 2.

*I told him back in '03 that the only time I worry about date of release is when I'm in jail.

"And a video release counts as a release." I mean, I count a video releases as a release. Don't know what Geoff does.

I feel fine counting Musgraves' Miley cover (presumably recorded who knows when) as this year because Rhapsody carries it only as the lead cut of a 5-song/multi-artist EP called Stars Of Montana supposedly released (or at least added for streaming) on 18 Jan 2013 (and, like you Frank if I remember right, I count lead cuts of EPs as singles by definition.)

Taylor Swift "22" came out as a single March 12, 2013, according to Wiki. (No idea whether it had charted as a download previously.)

Keith Urban "Come Back To Me" guys!! It's so haunting and still and every line is breathtaking. 'I wanna hold you but I don't wanna hold you back'. Written by Brandy Clark/Shane McAnally/Trevor Rosen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwanePAsIX0

oh wait i guess that isn't a single w/e

the label that released that compilation w/ musgraves's "see you again" cover on it (triple pop) says it was released in 2008. itunes says the same.

OK thanks. Rhapsody actually lists the label as TuneCore, whatever that is (one of my top 10 P&J singles, a Southern Soul song, has the same label listed), but I'm going to take your word for it and assume that opens up a slot on my Top 100 for something non-Musgraves. ("See You Again" didn't make my Nashville Scene ballot anyway actually.)

tunecore is the most prominent of the services that lets any artist or label self-distribute ther work to online services. it's mostly unsigned artists, but some smaller labels use it too (as well as a few bigger artists who are over the whole label thing). don't know if they have ther own label on the side. maybe some people who use them enter "tunecore" as their label 'cause they've got nothing else to put in that box.

A few more pretty-good-or-better singles I forgot to list above:

Lauren Alaina – Barefoot and Buckwild
Lee Brice - Parking Lot Party
Brandy Clark – Pray to Jesus (came out months before the album, lead cut on a 3-song, uh, TuneCore EP -- possibly a demo version)
Toby Keith – Hope On The Rocks
Mavericks – Back In Your Arms
Willie Nelson feat. Mavis Staples – Grandma’s Hands
Johnny Solinger – Rock n Roll Cowboy Man
George Strait - I Got A Car

As well as stuff already mentioned, I'm quite partial to the McAnally-penned "Fuzzy" by the Randy Rogers Band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NreVs1e4GM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_udpQffCt4Y

How do people feel about Eric Church's "The Outsiders"? AFAIK Al hates it, but that's all the talk I've seen about it.

So I relistened to Charlie Worsham's "Could It Be" and it drifted into the sunlight and off my list (though he does an okay cover of "Gangnam Style"). Working my way through your recommendations. Toby Keith sings best; Chris Stapleton sings worst but has the best song, and he'll probably get the nod for not disappointing me (in that I don't think I've heard anything else of his ever). I'll probably decide that "22" is country eligible (though it makes no effort to convince me it is). This still leaves one spot to fill, and I'll give these more of a chance. With Gary Allan I keep feeling "He's been there and done that," which I realize isn't much of an explanation for why I've gone meh on him recently, given that I regularly fall for freestyle and disco rehashes from South Korea.

Do u Spotify? I do, now that we don't have to sign in via Fecebook. I thought the same about Allan before hearing the whole album a couple times. But if you're not into albums, may not help (the whole Drinks After Work seems amazingly good so far, compared to my expectations, anyway).

The extra, self-written track on the new Keith album is pretty.

Pretty sure Stapleton is only the worst singer on those lists if you never got around to Solinger.

And Gwen Sebastian does an okay "The Fox" (as in "what does the fox say?"), actually.

And I might well not cringe at Sturgill Simpson so much if I didn't now live in Central Texas, where there is actually a "Texas country" station where every song sounds every bit as stodgy as he does. Fwiw, the one song in that style that might've made my single ballot if in fact it was a single is "Electric Bill" by Jason Boland (whose album was way too hard work to get all the way through otherwise, though I'm pretty sure I did once anyway.) Though admittedly there are plenty of songs in that style I haven't heard -- I've developed an increasingly low tolerance since moving here. (PS: I have no idea where Simpson is actually from, but judging from what I've heard he would fit right in.)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/every-country-song-was-the-same-in-2013

Perpetua links to a Youtube mix made by an EW writer who likes Jason Isbell and Brandy Clark but mocks mainstream country cliches re trucks, dirt roads, and beer

Isbell and Clark have sung about all three, o course. Not spotting it now, but somebody on here favorably mentioned Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison's Cheater's Game---thanks so much! Lots of catchy contemplation, and it just now held its own on Spotify, even with laptop headphones vs. a very proximate boombox blasting a cathedralful of Christmas music. Also sounded real good beyond that battle, when I listened to the whole thing again. Any other album rec's? (Think I'm okay w singles).

My backhanded 800+-word defense of a few dumb (or maybe not) songs

http://www.rhapsody.com/blog/post/defending-bro-country

Thanks for that! I'll have to check out the whole Crash My Party when I have a little more time. Bryant seems like a romantic bastard, eh---and/or smart enough to know which side his beef gets the mustard on--guess some Southern boys really do learn to say "Thank you Ma'am" to Grace---judging by how truly fervent he sounds marching to "That's My Kind of Night" and getting (somewhut ride my prOny imagery at times but still sincerely) thrilled to see her drinking that "Beer In The Headlights", and gosh she can "Crash My Party" anytime, never mind another night with the boys. These are all a little too long for me, but they're not for me (anyway I'll listen more).
Lee Brice! "Ain't no party like the pre-party, And after the party is the after-party" is a true sing-along chorus, I have to give it up to that! Very cool range-wise to see it's only another song away from "I Drive Your Truck," a true fallen-bro (or maybe fallen Dad?) anthem, also very good to sing along to, for my own imaginary (much-missed) bro. The one in between is "Don't Believe Everything You Think," which is certainly good advice, even if the song itself is a corny how I met yore etc.
"Cruise (Remix" is fly when Nelly takes over, though I'm not thrilled by F-G's ownautotuned Mac and cheese. Sarah Buxton's on another track eh, I'll check 'em all.

garth brooks tributing billy joel with "allentown" and "goodnight saigon" at the kennedy center honors. kinda great.

Took me a month to catch up on year-end lists, but 2013 was a fine year in country. Stand outs for me were:

Kacey Musgraves - "Merry Go Round", "Keep It to Yourself", and "Follow Your Arrow"
Sturgill Simpson - "Life Ain't Fair and the World is Mean"
Ashley Monroe - "Like a Rose" and "Two Weeks Late"
Dean Brody feat. Lindi Ortega - "Bounty"
Brandy Clark - "Stripes"
Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison - "Leavin'"
Jason Isbell - "Elephant"
Guy Clark - "My Favorite Picture of You"
Kellie Pickler - "Buzzin'"
Pistol Annies - "Hush Hush" and "Don't Talk About Him, Tina"
The Band Perry - "DONE."
Caitlin Rose - "Only a Clown"
Patty Griffin - "Go Wherever You Wanna Go"

"Bounty" didn't get enough praise. Helluva song.

Thanks, and come on over to RC 2014 for more lists etc.