Rolling Country 2023

As usual, let's roll out the barrel with Chuck Eddy's country picks:

He said I could do whatever I wanted to with these posts from his blog, so here's the intro to and comments on his singles picks(with link to whole thing)---he didn't do a sep list x comments for top albums, but I've boldfaced the ones he mentions in passing here:

from

40+ Best Country Singles of 2022

From what I’ve read, 2022 is supposed to be the year that neo-traditionalism (i.e., singers trying to sound like Travis and Strait and McEntire trying to sound like Haggard and Jones and Wynette) returned to country radio while everybody showed how much they missed to the ’90s (i.e., Twain and Brooks and Brooks & Dunn.)

I apparently wasn’t paying close enough attention to notice much of. the former, though I definitely caught glimpses of the latter, which you’ll find below. But seems like mostly what caught my ear were (sometimes blatantly ’90s styled, sometimes not) dance songs, as often as not by women without major label recording contracts, or maybe recording contracts at all — not nearly purist enough for “alt-country”; maybe not purist enough for commercial country. In fact a couple feel flat-out disco. But then again sometimes I think I live for category errors — When I told my wife that Anna Vaus’s “Didn’t Even Date” is my favorite country single of the year, she quickly replied “it doesn’t sound country!,” and I’m fine with that. Vaus brands herself as “honest girl pop country,” and Big Machine signed her to to a publishing (why not recording?) deal in August. So who am I to argue?

If Nashville Scene still sent out country critics poll ballots, my top 10 albums this year would have probably looked something like: Miranda Lambert, Ingrid Andress, Anna Vaus’s EP, Kimberly Kelly, Ashley McBryde, Breland, Lainey Wilson, Pillbox Patti, Willie Nelson, Brennan Leigh, or maybe Alela Diane if I decided she qualified. Either way, 80% women. Singles might be even more lopsided, gender-wise.

I didn’t number the songs below because it seemed most efficient to pair multiple singles by a few of the artists with each other instead of splitting them up, and numerically that would’ve just confused things. So let’s just say these are listed in roughly approximate order of how much I enjoyed them, with other songs I liked slightly less or didn’t have as much to say about affixed alphabetically at the end. There are…more or less 40. I keep losing count. Feel free to build a playlist.

Anna Vaus “Didn’t Even Date” and “Kinda Don’t Ever.” I liked this unjustly slept-on Southern California via Nashville hopeful’s evidently self-released (Epola Road Records) 2018 EP The California Kid and put “Day Job” on my Nashville Scene ballot that year, and I like her even more now, even if the ambiguity of feeling “some kind of way” will always get on my nerves and I’m not sure “we were golden with an ocean view” means anything at all, except maybe that she’s still got Pacific Coast connections. “Didn’t Even Date” is more blue-eyed r&b c&w with all sorts of vocal tricks built in (breathiness, chuckling, mini-melisma); “Kinda Don’t Ever” more old-school Taylor Swift. Not saying it’s better than anything on Midnights, but not saying it’s not.

Megan McKenna “Single” and “DNA.” The “English TV personality” (as her wiki page puts it) put out 14 singles in 2022; I liked two a lot. Both affirm the resilience of unpartnered women; both use what I’d call Europop-Mediterranean semi-flamenco guitar strums in a pop-country context. I also just learned that the “LBD” she says she slips on is a “little black dress.” Wrote more about her songs (and Anna Vaus) here.

Chris Lane feat. Lauren Alaina “Dancing in the Moonlight.” Seventeen years ago, I initiated a King Harvest vs. Starbuck thread on the I Love Music board, wondering which band’s proto-disco-country soft-rock moonlight smash was better — the former’s #13 ’72 “Dancing in the Moonlight” or the latter’s #3 ’76 “Moonlight Feels Right”? Still not sure which I’d pick, but at least for now, Nashville seems to have made a choice — not as a cover version, per sé; more like a rewrite hitching recognizable remnants of the original chorus to stuff about “heaven with your hands on me” and “boys passing something from Kentucky.” @KingHarvestMusic, on you tube: “No words to describe what an absolute pleasure it is to hear a country rewrite of our hit from 1973. Great vocals! Great production! Here’s hoping you guys take it all the way to the top.” Not only did it not climb to the top; it didn’t chart at all. Maybe all the ’70s (Lane’s pornstache) and non-’70s (Alaina’s flapper outfit) referents in the video confused people chronologically.

Kassi Ashton “Dates in Pickup Trucks.” She of the fullest and huskiest woman’s voice in current country also has the best pants; an episode of something called The Look has her taking us into her closet and telling us she personally handcut her dungarees’ fringe. Youtube viewers who claim to have no use for country say they love the song — which stayed on Billboard‘s country airplay chart for eight weeks but never got higher than #57 — regardless, and people make interesting comparisons. @toddritter5612: “Got a nice Amy Winehouse vibe to it.” @kimvann8246: “I’m ALL east coast, S. Philly and S. Jersey (yeah, Jersey shore and all. But real old school 80’s). I was broken hearted when we lost Lady T., plus I’m now in Cali. Then I hear this vibe under CM. [sic?] Wait, Backup, What’s this I’m hearing? Hallelujah! I’ve been rescued. Your voice is lovely so keep bringing the joy. Be blessed.” Somebody on WikiCelebs: “This is the reason she posts a photo in a bikini on social media and tagged the boy, who said that she had a flat-shaped figure like a pencil for taking revenge.” I’d also vouch for 2021’s “Heavyweight,” which earns its title amid bragging that Ashton’s “a full grown woman,” and her 2020 version of “Hard Candy Christmas.” And I hope not all her pickup truck dates involve having to watch her boyfriend’s bros wrestle in dirt. A possible red flag, maybe?

Melanie Dyer “Dumb Decisions” (with Caitlyn Shadbolt) and “Cheap Moscato.” Two upbeat and catchy songs about how poor momentary life choices involving alcohol can be worth it anyway, for the stories and memories they spawn. Dyer and Shadbolt are both Australian (Sydney and Gympie respectively), which seems to free country singers of the uptight ideological baggage that weighs down so many of their American counterparts. In “Dumb Decisions” girls get crazy and flirty when sipping on tequila or a “Buffy” (dark rum, passoã, lime and orange juice, simple syrup, passionfruit); in “Cheap Moscato” clothes and hopeless hearts wind up all over the floor. Furniture and interior decoration in the latter video seem decidedly high-end and kind of trendy, suggesting a down-under market for country less rural, younger and freer of quasi-populist class delusions than what we got here. (By the way, an entirely different Melanie Dyer put out a terrific avant-jazz-meets-African-American-fiddle-band album with her improvising sextet WeFree Strings in 2022. Check out them, too!)

Priscilla Block “My Bar.” Wednesday night regular at local watering hole ’cause she digs the band sends ex-boyfriend back to his side of town. An actual hit — #50 Hot Country Singles, #26 Country Airplay, which again hints that, no matter how unadventurous country radio is, country fans might be worse. In the video she divides time between said tavern, the stage, and for some incongruous reason a huge red tractor with a snowplow. Inspiring how Block has no qualms showing off her zaftig figure, even more overtly in 2021’s ”Thick Thighs“: “I can’t be the only one who likes extra fries over exercise….You can’t spell ‘diet’ without ‘die.'” She even twerks! Breland needs to work her into his song “Thick,” which already shouts out to Lizzo, Megan Trainor, Kelly Clarkson, Ashley McBryde (or Graham?) and Serena Williams.

Abby Anderson “Juicy.” More curvaceous body positivity: “full figure, full figure, you’re gonna need both your hands.” Spelling lesson: “Jay! You! I see why! You wanna squeeze me.” Till the juice runs down… In the tradition of Robert Johnson, Led Zeppelin, Mtume, Oaktown’s 357 and Notorious B.I.G., except more disco than any of them. Abby Anderson from the outskirts of Dallas sang some patriotic corn on Glenn Beck’s show as a 17-year-old in 2014 and wound up in the top 10 of Billboard‘s Christian chart; four years later, “Make Him Wait” just barely squeeeezed into country’s Airplay top 60. She claims K.T. Oslin and Freddy Fedder among her influences — about time somebody did! Later in 2022 she released “M.I.A.,” apparently from a “podcast musical” called Make It Up As We Go, and she recited its three-letter title in the same notes Stacey Q used to do the title of “Two of Hearts.”

Dozzi “Messy.” More optimistic un-neurotic Aussie sheilas praising cut-rate booze (“cheap champagne” in this case), sister trio (mandolin Andrea and guitar Jesse and keyboard Nina) with a Bo Diddley beat, like SheDaisy crossed with Westworld or identical Twains if that’s easier to grasp, tell some lucky bloke to “put your hands in my hair give me face to face.” Of all their outfits, I definitely prefer the sailor suits.

Blake Shelton “No Body.” According to Wide Open Country, “No Body” (was) part of a nostalgia-driven trend in 2022 that also brought us such ’90s homages as Lainey Wilson’s ‘Watermelon Moonshine,’ Kane Brown’s ‘Like I Love Country Music‘ and Cole Swindell’s ‘She Had Me at Heads Carolina‘; he even grew his mullet back to revive his early “hat act” look. WOC also points out that “No Body” (#34 Country Songs, #21 Country Airplay) isn’t part of the deluxe version of Body Language — which makes perfect sense, if you look at their titles! Anyway, it’s a total boot-scoot-throwback dance floor stomper.

Kimberly Kelly “Summers Like That” and “Blue Jean Country Queen” (featuring Steve Wariner.) Talk about ’90s homages. In “Summers Like That,” this former schoolteacher with a Master’s in Speech Pathology from Texas Woman’s University directly references Trisha Yearwood’s “Walkaway Joe,” Pam Tillis’s “Maybe It Was Memphis,” Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon,” Tracy Byrd’s “The Keeper of the Stars” and especially (most prominently) Deana Carter’s great “Strawberry Wine,” all from ’91 to ’96, the last of which makes this nostalgia for nostalgia. Plenty of cassette tapes in the video too, and that Kelly remembers sitting on the hood of an “’02 model Mustang” is a bit confusing but the sound’s perfect. Actually I doubt in a blindfold test I’d guess ‘90s, but I get that all those bygone decades blur together for non-senior-citizens out there. Wonder what 1961-born Toby Keith, who put out Kelly’s album on his Show Dog label, thinks. Dancing queen in dance tune “Blue Jean Country Queen” has a “Farah Fawcett smile,” so “girls are all glarin’,” boys are all starin’, the 1970s called.” Why quibble?

Kate Underwood “Mascara.” Song about the love of one’s life winding up happily married to a different woman and how that makes one’s Maybelline streak, as classic sounding as anything by Kimberly Kelly — Absolutely could’ve been a hit for, say, Lynne Anderson or somebody a half-century ago. But googling not only the title but chunks of the lyrics turns up nothing, and searches for the singer’s name come up blank as well. Australia has a singer named Katie Underwood, but this is clearly not her. Carrie Underwood seems to have two sisters, both much older, and two sons, both much younger. The video has a grand total of one youtube thumbs-up, which for all I know could be Kate herself….But wait!!! If you hunt long enough you finally find a very sparsely posted-on Kate Underwood Music facebook page. And Kate Underwood Bowman’s personal page tells us “I was a songwriter in Nashville for over a decade and lately I am really missing it!” Turns out “Mascara” is an original number, produced by Lari White, the mid-level ’90s country hitmaker and self-proclaimed Green Eyed Soulster who also produced Toby Keith’s best album, White Tra$h With Money. Him again, wtf?

Much more of those here, with links and pix:
https://accidentalevolution.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/40-best-country-singles-of-2022/

Good to see some Pillbox Patti there but surprised he didn’t incl “Eat, Pray, Drugs”

I hadn't heard of that one, will check.
Also hadn't heard of Nashville Country Music Magazine, but here tis, with Mackenzie Phipps on cover:
Free PDF Of January 2023 Magazine Click on Cover to Download
https://preview.mailerlite.com/r2o8n5k3b8/2119183324881623576/z1p1/

from reputable email sources, so I guess it's okay.

These are the country and country-adjacent (*) albums and tracks that I nominated in the ILM poll:

ALBUMS
Kaitlin Butts - What Else Can She Do
Miranda Lambert - Palomino
Zach Bryan - American Heartbreak
Brennen Leigh - Obsessed with the West
Willie Nelson - A Beautiful Time
*Anais Mitchell - Anais Mitchell

TRACKS
Kaitlin Butts - Blood
Emily Scott Robinson - When It Don't Come Easy
Tyler Childers - Way of the Tribune God (Jubilee Version)
Anna Tivel - Heroes
Caitlin Rose - Only Lies
Maren Morris - Circles Around This Town
*Hurray for the Riff Raff - SAGA
*Joan Shelley - Amberlit Morning

Didn't have room but should have nominated this MUNA track, which is the best country song by a non-country artist I've heard in a long time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDOiWGAaT8E

Have spent more time with Adeem -- can't shake this feeling that a few of his tunes are straight Lori McKenna knock offs.

― Indexed, Sunday, January 1, 2023

what percentage of songwriters do you think would *love* to write a few songs good enough to be called Lori McKenna knock-offs?

Ha, so true! I don't know McKenna's work well enough to identify which songs but I hear it most clearly on the chorus of "Carolina" and on "Books & Records." My comment read as more pejorative than I meant it -- he traverses a lot of different territory, songwriting-wise, and it's actually rather impressive that it all works quite well.

Will do a bit of self-promotion and share the consensus picks from the panel at Country Universe for the Top 10 Albums and Top 20 Singles of 2022.

New Shania Twain single out this week immediately reminds me of how great Laura Bell Bundy was / presumably still is, and how her "Giddy On Up" was so ahead of it's time that, 12 years on, it's still a hell of a lot better than Shania's "Giddy Up."

At least a little bit intrigued by "Bets On Us" by Cheat Codes f Dolly Parton. It's in the same realm as those Avicii - Dan Tyminski collabs from several years back, but I'm not sure it does anything novel in that regard.

Thanks! I don't keep up with singles so well, but some intriguing picks there, also here: https://www.countryuniverse.net/2023/01/06/the-best-albums-of-2022/

Not seeing Lainey Wilson or Amanda Shires here

Both got a couple of stray votes but didn't make the consensus lists...

Surprising! Lainey Wilson is damn good again, ditto what I've heard of the Shires, thanks for reminder to check out whole thing.

(Also: Willie, Miranda, Ingrid Andress, Pillbox Patti, Billy Joe Shaver trib among the missing albs---good to see Kaitlin Butts and Akeem on there though)

I'll say I liked both of them well enough but didn't have either in contention for the 20 albums I voted for personally for our poll. Among the country / Americana circles I run in, the Shires album was pretty divisive, but Wilson has popped up on a lot of other year-end lists I've seen.

Good news about Wilson. Also good to see Sunny Sweeney on the CU Top Ten, though I haven't quite made up my mind about hers, or sev others.

ReallY?! Divisive? In my circles it's her best album; to my ears her other albums had strong intentions and weak songwriting.

xpost.

Yeah, I'd say it's a pretty even split among the writers I run with; either they agree with your take on it or find it to be her least successful. It hasn't gotten much love on a lot of other year-end lists I've read, either. Sampling biases play into all of that, for sure.

I am behind on my listening but I caught up on Hailey Whitters ‘Raised’ and dow, I think I def align with your earlier assesment re her triteness

Like, her songs are well phrased & hooky as hell but i can’t find any “there” there other than fishing & drinkin, highschool & hometown, raising hell and raising babies

like a corny uncreative two-dollar Maren idk

But I fucking LOVE Ashley Monroe’s Lindeyville, I have listened to that a few times now & it’s so good. Vivid characters & the worldbuilding is so well thought out, and of course the songs are so damn good. Love her!

oh and I am fully Margo Price pilled - we’re seeing her in SF in Feb

Oh cool! Her Perfectly Imperfect At The Ryman is a really good live album---the "imperfect" part to me is mostly when she's using Ike & Tina's arrangement of "Proud Mary," but otherwise ace.
You mean Ashley McBryde, not Monrow--wish she was on there too! Lots of Ashleys these days, and I have trouble with all the Lukes and Zachs nd Zaks.
Lindeville is so far seeming kinda uneven to me, but this is awes:
Ashley McBryde w Pillbox Patti: "The Girl in the Picture"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfe93xj6ly4

Also! McB's contribution to the John Anderson trib, "Straight Tequila Night"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgH09g7hVmw

The Sierra Ferrell track on that comp is fantastic

ugh yes Ashley McBride lol thx sorry

def too many ashleys & whatnot

Why do parents do that? To protect their children from ridicule for abnormal names maybe, so rooms full o' Heathers, Ashleys, Lukes, Zaks, Justins, Dylans, though some of those may be decade-markers?
Yeah I like most of the Anderson trib though Brent Cobb and Jamey Johnson aren't quite up to snuff (their bands try to get them there), & could live w/o The Brothers Osborne's cover of Anderson's cover of "You Can't Judge A Book etc.". And where's "Swingin'"?
But several people I don't usually give about one way or the other surely rise to the occasion, and yeah Ferrell and McBryde are among those who do better than that, keeping to their high standards---also cool to have a good prev. unreleased Prine that is not just a demo.

Thanks for the heads up on that Ashley McBride album... lots of Brandy Clark on there!

Haven't heard the new Margo Price but I've heard it's great. Honestly, though, I still have so much trouble with all the great artists with first or last or both names that with M. Margo Price, Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, Morgan Wade, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley McBride, Ashley Monroe ...

Margo’s new album is great imo. This might sound kinda basic, like a lot of music is like this, but thing I love about her is that her songwriting is excellent & the musicianship is too, so with each song there’s so many layers of interest … and she expresses herself in creative uncliched ways & the sounds are not just the same old sounds idk idk

it’s good!

<taps sign>

The Margo Price c/d

xps Mike and the Moonpies!

Folks, so excited for our first #StatesofCountry show of the year at @sidgoldsreqroom Weds Jan 25 celebrating the music of Minnesota with some experts @liannesmithee @salmaas @MarcellusHall https://t.co/NSlKRMg12I see you there? You betcha! pic.twitter.com/PR9n0PfFvl

— Laura Cantrell (@LauraRCantrell) January 20, 2023

Laura Cantrell in NYC for first of a monthly series celebrating country music from different states. For some reason she’s starting with Minnesota

Sids is a fun room to do that in.

Once in a lifetime lineup: pic.twitter.com/sEODAhlWqc

— Andy Langer (@Andylanger) January 24, 2023

Whoa

cool

Does xgau's EOY list usually have this much country on it?

https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/deans-list-2022

Delighted to see Willie's album as high as it is. It is a gem.

lol, top 84.

Yeah, he's pretty reliable for including country and country-adjacent stuff and has been for a good long while. Also delighted to see his high ranking for the Willie Nelson album. And, fwiw xp, he included Amanda Shires in his t20 but also didn't go for Lainey Wilson.

Yeah, he's been useful re country since early 70s (pro tip for Consumer Guide look-ups: they Merle Haggard *and* Merle Haggard and the Strangers: maybe duh, but took me a while). He's being pretty obtuse about Lainey, though.
I can see why your friends are divided on Shires: good songs, and I think I got basically the right idea before finally checking lyrics, but then I saw lots of important detail that weren't coming through. There are exceptions, esp. that one time she adds a little echo and then goes to double-tracking: THANK YOU JESUS. If she only would (more than could) deal with her vocal limits as well as she does everything else here.

He's okay on country; as usual he prefers sexually aggressive women. If they code as "genteel" for him, he's out the door.

Lee Ann Womack's recorded some of the best albums of the last 20 years by anybody but he doesn't care.

Oh yeah he's ridic on her.

deal with her vocal limits as well as she does everything else here. Well sometimes the weak link voice does seem like evidence of brave vulnerability, "Here I am..." But the most striking moments tend to pass, and she's still singing. On the other hand, I've listened to it more than any other album in 2022 or early '23---and not hate-listened, but it's----maddening at times.

most striking moments re vocals, that is; otherwise, the tracks can thrive. I'm learning, being taught, to listen around the voice, as with some ancient Tom Waits and Henry Rollins albums.

I mean sometimes it works anyway, or the voice even does its bit all the way through: one for my Singles/Tracks list will be "Empty Cups," referring to her hands. I picture them as red solo cups, and think also of the Toby Keith song.

Will prob put it in Honorable Mentions---the singing is the one thing that keeps me from full acceptance/enjoyment.

So it's got me in semi-detached art appreciation, like this year's Charley Crockett.

2022's Charley Crockett, that is.

xp Xgau

as usual he prefers sexually aggressive women. If they code as "genteel" for him, he's out the door.

Alfred's spot on here.

It's why, in addition to Womack, he completely missed the boat on the genre's mainstream women in the 90s and aughts. Rarely gave the time of day to anyone on the Yearwood/Loveless/Tillis/Wynonna/Rimes axis and ends up with massive blind spots because of it. Was weirdly dismissive of a lot of the women of the 90s alt-country boom other than Lucinda and Iris, too.

But hey, he quoted me by name in a review once for being over-the-top in my praise for Miranda Lambert in the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, so what do I know.

Speaking of Iris: Two new singles out in advance of her new album. Both are fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BinH9aMYro4

Catching up on the CMA news...What to make of Lainey Wilson's big night? I'll need to give her catalog another listen -- "solid" is what I recall. Also, Tracy Chapman winning for Song of the Year is a pleasant surprise.

Agreed. I was kinda shocked they gave SOTY to a 40-year-old hit. But also glad ... it's obviously the best song of the bunch.

I loved Lainey Wilson's 2021 album enough to top ten it, last year's almost as strong. "Watermelon Moonshine" is one of the few songs by a female country act getting a lot of airplay.

She doesn't need my hype, but this is what I said way upthread: an musical journey through the unexpected (resistance, learning, getting into it---then the whole thing over again later, which may well say a lot more about the current-recent me than her, but overall it's both---no regerts, though)

'm still, believe it or not, doing a round-up of re-re-etc.-listening objects for a blogpost about the music of 2022. There are just a few sticking points left, with Lainey Wilson's Bell Bottom Country somewhut unexpectedly among same. It had taken several listens to reach a peak of enthusiasm---seemed too contrived, and also I belatedly discovered that increased volume revealed more conviction in tone and details---but I assumed that I had gotten it, and could come back to said peak several months later: no. Same process, same learning curve, all over again, even though it seemed reasonably loud at first---it's not all about the volume, this elusively problematic aspect, but for sure, if you want your sensitive arena rock country, you gotta be ready with the volume (to ride it back a little for the double-tracked armor or scar tissue, a signifying part of the looking back in candor in the finely written "Watermelon Moonshine,"but still a little too loud), ready, often enough, to throw your headphones into the maelstrom ov fun like she does her head on "This One's Gonna Cost Me," title and chorus of which become this album's thee most explicit expression of her exciting dynamic: persistent self-image of a good girl, raised right, looking for love and self-empowerment, who rat now wants to have a good good good time.
Here we have a recurring sort of Zep-hop beat at its heartiest, swaying that big horned head one more time, but now it also occurs to me that producer Jay Joyce also appreciates Led Z.'s mix of the heavy and brash with the fingerpicking side of life, and Wilson responds, going barefoot down a b-melody line to the ripples of Molly Tuttle's banjo, or for that matter under an intro of what sounds like some kind of mellotron-banjo.

― dow, Tuesday, June 27, 2023 1:57 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

(Jay Joyce's only misfire: "Wildflowers and Wild Horses" starts with a mysterioso Lee Hazlewoodesque instrumental scrim, but then turns Lainey loose to gallop through big loud bravura rhetoric, losing Lee's control and tension.)
Beats vary, but clock gentle intensity in ballads, like when she credibly salutes "Daddy's Boots," with a bit of atypical toe-tapping added, then strips away the usual roots-view to "Momma's crazy and Daddy's mean," when it's down to "Me, You and Jesus" getting through: "Me" first, part of the candor again, "Jesus" the only mention, that's how young and desperate she is in this flashback, "You" can be anybody she trusts, trying to hold on to this isolated, shared undercurrent of faith and hope and getting by is the point, and not so loudly that Momma and Daddy will hear.
Followed immediately by "Hold My Halo," cause cuz she's paid her Dew Drop Inn dues, gonna ride that electric bull one more time tonight. See there always has to be a justification, which could get annoying in the uniquely narrowcast "Weak-End" (yes we know you're lookin' for love, but that's not all, not in them places), if not for distraction of the gently antsy beat), with need for alibi and recreational therapy at its funniest and near-rowdiest in "Smell Like Smoke" ("It's cause Ah been, through, Hellll.")
Wiki sez that one was "tacked on" to streams and downloads: too bad for CD and LP buyers, because it and the other tackee, "New Friends," are antipodal highlights. After the 4-Non-Blondes cover--where she conscientiously delivers teeming verbosity rushing to the accidental but still stupid comedy of anticlimatic "Whut's going on?"---Wilson returns to the vibrant twilight of "You, Me and Jesus," now resolving to find new friends, rather than just moping over that guy---atta girl, as she says in song of that title, also a gentle one, though given the louder ones, one might wonder just what kind of friends. TBA.

― dow, Tuesday, June 27, 2023

always more rare or rarer

For those of you who like raggedy, ramshackle country rock, Florry's "The Holey Bible" is the ticket. riyl: Wednesday, Pinegrove, MJ Lenderman's Boat Songs, maybe Big Thief's Dragon New Warm Mountain, etc.

exact same description but for a different new album, Dusk's Glass Pastures:

https://countrydusk.bandcamp.com/album/glass-pastures

Indeedio, thanks! And speaking of MJ:

MJ Lenderman Announces New Live Album,
And The Wind (Live and Loose!), Out November 17th On ANTI-

...MJ Lenderman writes songs that are amorphous and elastic, rising to fill the venue they’re in, generous to accommodate the numbers of players on stage (an often unpredictable affair), less concerned with replicating the studio version than they are with meeting the crowd where they’re at. On his records, Lenderman handles most of the playing, but with And the Wind (Live and Loose!) it’s a multi-headed beast. With the help of guitarist Jon Samuels (Friendship, 2nd Grade), drummer Colin Miller, plus fellow Wednesday bandmates Xandy Chelmis (pedal steel) and Ethan Baechtold (bass), And the Wind (Live and Loose!) builds out a number of beloved MJ tracks into something else entirely.
MJ Lenderman And the Wind (Live and Loose!) is culled from sold-out summer 2023 shows on a brief headline run during what some might call a wild-ass couple of months. A nine-week international Wednesday tour, stints in studios with a number of other artists, and Lenderman’s own signing with storied indie label ANTI-. Taped live at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall and Los Angeles’ Lodge Room, And the Wind (Live and Loose!) captures a near-euphoric moment in time — dizzying and exhausting and, most of all, having some real true-blue fucking fun with your best friends.
nd the Wind (Live and Loose!) is also available for pre-order on a limited edition cassette from Dear Life Records. Pre-order here.

Pre-order And the Wind (Live and Loose!)

And the Wind (Live and Loose!) Tracklist
1. Hangover Game (Live)
2. Knockin (Live)
3. You Have Bought Yourself A Boat (Live)
4. TLC Cagematch (Live)
4. Rudolph (Live)
5. Toon Town (Live)
6. Dan Marino (Live)
7. Under Control (Live)
8. Dan Marino (Live)
9. SUV (Live)
10. Catholic Priest (Live)
11. Live Jack (Live)
12. Someone Get The Grill Out Of The Rain (Live)
13. You Are Every Girl To Me (Live)
14. Tastes Just Like It Costs (Live)
15. Long Black Veil (Live)

MJ Lenderman Tour Dates
Fri. Dec. 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon +
Sat. Dec. 9 - Ojai, CA @ Deer Lodge +
Sun. Dec. 10 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop +
Tue. Dec. 12 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios +
Wed. Dec. 13 - Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern +
Tue. Feb. 27, 2024 - Perth, AU @ Perth Festival *
Thu. Feb. 29, 2024 - Sydney, AU @ The Factory *
Sun. Mar. 10, 2024 - Meredith, AU @ Golden Plains Festival

+ Karly Hartzman & MJ Lenderman Solo Show w/ Dan Wriggins
* supporting Wednesday

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New Vincent Neil Emerson album out today.

Yeah, he sez “There’s a few country-inspired songs on this one, a few stripped-down acoustic songs, and a few songs inspired by that 60s folk rock movement.”
Produced by Shooter Jennings, w input from Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell. For inst,

Emerson wrote “Man From Uvalde” after the horrific and tragic mass shooting in the city of Uvalde, Texas, and he was initially hesitant to include the track on The Golden Crystal Kingdom. “It's a daunting thing to try to dive into social issues in songwriting because I wasn’t sure how people would really take it,” Emerson says. “I recorded a rough demo version of the song, and I sent it to Steve [Earle]. I just wanted to get his thoughts on it and see if it was worth anything. He got back to me, and he said he really liked the song and thought it was great. He gave me a few ideas and ways to look at the subject differently, and it really helped me finish the song. That encouragement gave me the confidence to include it on the album.”

atch Vincent Neil Emerson On Tour:

NOV 10, 2023 - Elkton Music Hall - Elkton, MD

NOV 11, 2023 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY

NOV 15, 2023 - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA

NOV 16, 2023 - The Southern Café and Music Hall - Charlottesville, VA

NOV 17, 2023 - Motorco Music Hall - Durham, NC

NOV 18, 2023 - New Brookland Tavern - Columbia, SC

NOV 19, 2023 - Charleston Music Hall - Charleston, SC

NOV 21, 2023 - Eddie's Attic - Decatur, GA

DEC 9, 2023 - Antone's Nightclub - Austin, TX

For more information, please visit vincentneilemerson.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHC9f5ICNJ0

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQVNLI9IFDk

That second one was supposed to be title song, try again:

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

enjoying Florry! happy if this thread has room for non purist country adjacent stuff

LA Times on Grammys nominations snubbing country music. NY Times also said similar

The Grammys had many paths to acknowledge country music’s outstanding year. Luke Combs had a massive crossover hit with a cover of Tracy Chapman’s beloved “Fast Car.” Zach Bryan topped the streaming and Billboard charts with a thoughtful, ferocious album that featured a hit duet with Grammy fave Kacey Musgraves. Lainey Wilson just cleaned up at the CMA Awards, a victory lap after a decade in the Nashville trenches. And Morgan Wallen sold out stadiums and easily outstreamed Swift and SZA, to name two powerhouses.

And yet country came up almost totally empty. Jelly Roll and the War and Treaty got nods for best new artist, but otherwise, the genre was shut out in the four general field categories. Overall, Combs has one nomination, Wilson has two, Bryan has three and Brandy Clark has six — almost all in country and adjacent genre categories. Voters might still be ignoring Wallen for his N-word indiscretion, but it’s now clear they don’t seem to care much for country as a whole, even in a banner year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/arts/music/grammy-awards-snubs-surprises.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Did Brandy Clark get 6 noms for the milquetoast s/t?

given that wallen was snubbed at the CMAs & was generally treated like an ancillary figure throughout the proceedings, the lack of grammy nominations isn't very surprising. but i figured zach bryan would get looks in the major categories. and you'd think the grammys would love any opportunity to celebrate tracy chapman. it wouldn't surprise me at all if the grammy voter base was not really slanted towards engagement w/ country music esp if you tried to isolate the young, country focused voters among the academy. can't imagine that's a legion of any sort

Grammys rules also play a rule per Caramanica in NY Times link above:

If there were one song with the best chance of bridging contemporary country to the Grammys, it would be Combs’s cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which went to No. 2 on the Hot 100 and earlier this week won song of the year at the CMA Awards, making Chapman the first Black winner in that category. But in part because of Grammy rules — it isn’t eligible for song of the year because Chapman was nominated for her original in 1989 — Combs’s version has been relegated to just a single nomination, in best country solo performance, a snub that feels unexpectedly pointed. JON CARAMANICA

The Billboard Music Awards had no qualms about giving Morgan Wallen a bunch of trophys

Top Male Artist &
🏆 Top Hot 100 Artist
🏆 Top Streaming Songs Artist
🏆 Top Country Artist
🏆 Top Country Male Artist
🏆 Top Country Touring Artist
🏆 Top Billboard 200 Album “One Thing At A Time”
🏆 Top Country Album “One…

Not saying it's good, just noting it

Last night they let the liquor talk

heard "watermelon moonshine" on the radio. it's nice but i can't help but note that it a lesser version of "strawberry wine" which is one of my favorite country songs ever

Had to school myself and look up your fave, but yeah you're right

Not saying it's good, just noting it

― curmudgeon, Monday, November 20, 2023 9:31 AM (five hours ago)bookmarkflaglink

you should do some research into how they choose the winners of that show

They use Billboard data, not surprising and yeah I know Wallen is popular

From NPR music newsletter:

Garth Brooks has a new album…for Bass Pro Shops customers

by Stephen Thompson, NPR Music

...there remains about Garth Brooks a little-known fact: On Nov. 7, he released a new album. Titled Time Traveler, the record came out with notably little fanfare — a TV appearance here, a Billboard profile there, and that’s about it. News articles about the record have begun to pop up as word has spread, most of which focus less on the music than on the method of distribution: The only way you can get Time Traveler is to buy it on CD, as part of a seven-disc box set sold exclusively at Bass Pro Shops.

You can’t stream Time Traveler — not even via Amazon, which has otherwise-exclusive rights to Brooks’ catalog. You can’t even buy it as a single disc, though fans who’ve lost track of Brooks’ recent work might be glad to catch up on the box set’s remaining contents: everything the singer has released since coming out of retirement in 2014. (That’d be 2014’s Man Against Machine, 2016’s Gunslinger, 2019’s three-disc live set Triple Live and 2020’s Fun.)

If you’re wondering how one of the biggest stars in the world wound up releasing an album via Bass Pro Shops outlets, consider another fact about Garth Brooks: The guy really, really hates streaming. And, since he’s amassed the fame and fortune to do (and not do) pretty much whatever he wants — and remember that this is a guy who, at the height of his power, released a 1999 album under the guise of a brooding, soul-patched pop-star alter ego named Chris Gaines — Garth Brooks has decided to release albums his way, leaving heaven-only-knows how much money on the table in the process.

So, you might ask, what about Time Traveler itself? Is it any good? In the spirit of reportorial intrepidness — not to mention 30-plus years of accumulated goodwill toward the singer and his work, plus a fondness for physical media — I plunked down $30 plus shipping and ordered a copy from Bass Pro Shops, no doubt to the great confusion of my search engine’s algorithms. (It’s worth noting here that $30 for a seven-disc box set, even a bare-bones one, is a good deal, especially if you haven’t heard Time Traveler’s recent predecessors.)

What I found was an album that’s pretty deeply uncompromising in its own way. It’s not a lavish production, but it nods in directions that place it well outside the mainstream of modern bro country. “Rodeo Man,” a duet with Ronnie Dunn — no stranger to duets with guys named Brooks — would’ve fit right in on Garth Brooks’ terrific early-’90s best-sellers. “The Ship and the Bottle” pairs the pop-curious country star with country-curious pop star Kelly Clarkson, culminating in a vibe that would have made Jimmy Buffett proud. Dispensed with maximum agreeability, “Only Country Music” celebrates the greatest loves of Brooks’ life. And “The Ride” covers a 1983 hit from a country star whose iconoclasm exceeds even Brooks’: David Allan Coe.

Time Traveler closes with a track called “We Belong to Each Other,” which calls for national unity while celebrating our shared humanity. And, though none of its sentiments should qualify as revolutionary — “We belong to each other / We are sister and brother / Born to love one another” — it’s a far cry from the seething revanchism of Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” or the omnidirectional resentment of Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” both of which topped country charts in 2023. It’s a reminder that we need more Garth Brooks in our lives and on our radios, and that there’s nothing wrong with venturing into Bass Pro Shops to get it.

Shared in the EOY list thread -- Holler's Top 25 of 2013. Have not yet heard about a third of these (including the #1) but like a lot of what I have. Cannot for the life of me make my way into the new Isbell record, and I've tried repeatedly. Ian Munsick is a huge headscratcher for me, too. But very happy to see Brit Taylor, Kelsea Ballerini, and Charles Wesley Godwin who all had excellent releases this year that I don't believe I've commented on here.

The link would help

https://holler.country/lists/hollers-albums-of-the-year-2023

The way a whole lot of people who ought to know better have bought into Megan Moroney is absolutely maddening to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JY5pC7a2Ew

Loving this, discovered via this list:
https://www.stereogum.com/2244742/the-10-best-country-albums-of-2023/lists/year-in-review/2023-in-review/

Nice song there - Jordyn Shellhart “Who are you mad at”

Rest of the album didn't do much for me, unfortunately. Kacey with the edges sanded way, way down.

Bandcamp's best country (and "country-ish") of 2023:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2023/the-best-country-music-of-2023

That's an excellent list. Margo Cilker, Drayton Farley, Brennen Leigh, Nick Shoulders, and Bella White would all make my top ten.

like them all, but Bella might just land in my top 5 ... that album is entrancing.

The Nick Shoulders is a ton of fun. Hope to catch him when he comes through here next year.

Margot Cilker “Remember Carolina” is so frickin great. such a great song about travelling and being in a band

“How could I forget Texas, where everything says ‘Texas’”

Speaking of which---RIP one of the original Dixie Chicks:
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/laura-lynch-dead-dixie-chicks-1235850102/ Good article.

Observes that the "We're ashamed to be from Texas" blasphemy would not have happened if she were still the sole lead singer during Iraq War, because she and Bush were mutual admirers (and he used to catch Chicks shows), But since she evidently got dumped for not having Natalie's charisma, I suspect that they would not have been such huge, mega-Diamond-selling targets with Laura---more likely ignored by most of the media, as some other lower-profile dissenting country artists were.

such huge, mega-Diamond-selling targets with Laura-

I didn’t know the Chicks had that whole backstory, that’s interesting.

I thought had read somewhere that Laura had quit the group as she was worn out from touring , not that she was dumped by rest of group

Oops, I was wrong. She might have been tired of touring but it was a music decision by rest of group

In 1995, Lynch, then 37, was replaced by Maines, then 21. “We thought we needed to make a music decision now,” Maguire told the Dallas Morning News in November 1995, describing the change as “the passing of the baton.” “It can’t really be characterized as a resignation,” Lynch said then, acknowledging that age was a factor. She quit music and focused on raising her daughter.

The band went on to mainstream stardom with 1998’s “Wide Open Spaces,” which won best country album at the Grammy Awards.

Lynch told the Associated Press in 2003 that she didn’t regret missing out on the fame and that she had fond memories of leading the band through its hectic, hardscrabble early days.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2023/12/24/laura-lynch-dixie-chicks-death/

And now Chicks toured with Maren Morris. This article is about Morris and her distaste for Nashville industry, and about her doing a tour with the Chicks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2023/12/21/chicks-maren-morris-country-music/

But while the Chicks’ fate has been successfully used as a fear tactic for years, it has also had the opposite effect: The band is an inspiration for a new class of outspoken country stars who don’t want to just shut up and sing. The timing of Morris’s “departure” from the genre — as well as her serving as an opening act for the Chicks on tour this summer — was a fitting, full-circle moment symbolizing how the treatment of the trio still looms over country music...She debuted “The Tree” live in concert when she opened for the Chicks in Ottawa on the day her Los Angeles Times interview published.

“Thinking about the last few shows we’ve had with the Chicks, the meaning behind this song, how I got to where I was when I wrote it, where you just burn the whole ... toxic thing down …” Morris trailed off as she introduced the song to the cheering arena. “I would not have been able to write this song or get to this place of peace if the Chicks had not been in my life to do it first.”

Luke Combs cover of Tracy Chapman “Fast Cars” is pleant enough

― curmudgeon, Sunday, June 11, 2023 3:44 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Pleasant

― curmudgeon, Sunday, June 11, 2023 4:02 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

such a good song, it's hard to screw it up ... and he doesn't.

― alpine static, Sunday, June 11, 2023 7:31 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

late to this particular party, have to agree that this is a very decent cover and... weirdly, while it's objectively lesser in every way than the original, it's really hitting some emotional notes with me - as if the kind of... I'm looking for the word here... simplicity? that Combs brings actually elevates the song?

happy to be reminded of this masterpiece of songwriting anyway

deference, i think, is the word you're looking for. he just plays it as best he can w/o doing all sorts of shit to "make it his own" because, assuming we believe him, he just loves the song and it makes him think of his dad.

this is why it's good.

well, also because Tracy Chapman wrote an incredible song

yes! exactly

https://accidentalevolution.wordpress.com/2023/12/26/40-best-country-singles-of-2023/

Chuck Eddy's fave 2023 country songs

Long-running country blog That Nashville Sound's top albums and songs of 2023
https://thatnashvillesound.blogspot.com/2023/12/that-nashville-sounds-top-country-and_31.html
https://thatnashvillesound.blogspot.com/2023/12/that-nashville-sounds-top-country-and.html