Rolling Country 2012

Best 2012 country album I've heard so far is the new Dierks Bentley.

Oh yeah, I can see from these ballots I still need to check Shelby Lynne (heard some good'uns from hers on radio) and Randy Montana. Them Birds Too, who have the best name in quite a while. Dang, speaking of reissues and comments, I forgot this comment for one of my reissues listed:
Have a wild weekend anytime with Live From The Old Town School, going back and forth across the generations (1956 to the early 00s), via Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. Big Bill Broonzy, Pete Seeger (together and sep, much better than expected either way), Van Ronk, pungent as usual (rec for Beefheart vocal fans), Baez, John Hammond Jr., John Hartford (all three meh, but even they have some good effect in context), primo Dan Hicks & band (Hot Licks, Acoustic Warriors, or maybe in between?), Steve Goodman, Jon Langford, Martin Carthy ("Willie's Lady", awes), Malvina Reynolds, Odetta, Doc Watson (with Merle, I think), Oumou Sangare, John Renbourn & Jaqui McShee, Conjunto Cespedes. Mahalia Jackson,Andrew Bird, Ramblin Jack, Joaquin Diaz, Hamza El Din, Merle Travis--well, you get the drift. Great sequences and subsets, for the most part, and lots of fun, if a bit near the knuckle, as old school Brits say. Justification for inclusion on this ballot: enough country and blues overall insofar as a ricochet rainbow of mortality gets its licks in for sure, though so does the fried ice cream. A bunch I'd never heard of as well, not just the folkie pantheon.

Fwiw, these three albums all would have made my top 10, had they qualified: The Band Perry (released late 2010), Darrell Scott (pushed back to early 2012), Stealing Angels (pushed back indefinitely, as far as I know.)

Yeah, I'd like to hear those (I've got the Scott, but havent listened yet, supposedly because of the push-back). Also forgot my comment on Middle Brother:
Middle Brother's s/t album is what I didn't get, at least so far, from latest Deer Tick, in which McCauley seemed too assimilated, what w other songwriters' worthy contributions and a certain evenhanded approach within angsty considerations too, although the Gacy thing does takes it beyondo. But Middle Brother's set is infused with the scratchy star power of first two DT albums (enhanced rather than blurred by sometimes not knowing which of the triad is singing and/or writing lead). Even has the Dawes dude wanting muse to break his heart so he can sing "with blood and guts/but I can't do that, I'll just sing like myself." Not coping a plea, he makes his quieter approach work this time, then gets loud in a forthright, Deer Tick/McCauley-compatible way, without imitation. Third man Vasquez fits too, and like Will Hermes said of Monsters of Folk, sometimes we get group therapy when listening for group harmony (not too much of either in this case). And it's if soap opry too, it's also the kind of country folk punk tombstone splattered there-stands-the lass type testimony, which is just a natural attraction for extreme housecleaning measures.

What I wrote about the Darrell Scott and David Nail albums, fwiw. (Actually chopped down some from the version I sent them, not always coherently, but I wrote long so I can't really complain I guess):

http://read.mtvhive.com/2011/12/16/david-nail-and-darrell-scott-overlooked-2011/

I really don't get the universal acclaim for Four The Record, which has some unbelievable highs but also some of the absolute worst songs of her entire career. "Safe," "Over You" and that duet with her hubby are so unbelievably non-descript and blah. It's not surprising to hear that she recorded the whole thing in a week. Lambert definitely put more effort into the Pistol Annies album, and it shows, gloriously.

what do you consider country? is taylor swift country?

really obnoxious but sadly believable that this is still a thing

No he just means what is country, mainly, although yeah is-or-isn't-she is a tired example. xhuxx, didn't seem too choppy and good for getting Laughner in there, but why is it One Of The Most Overlooked of 2011, having long since been pushed back to 2012? (now I see I def have to check it out)

Well, if we're posting ballots:

ALBUMS
1. Hank 3, Ghost to a Ghost / Gutter Town
2. Pistol Annies, Hell on Heels
3. Sunny Sweeney, Concrete
4. Noam Pikelny, Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail
5. Connie Smith, Long Line of Heartaches
6. Vince Gill, Guitar Slinger
7. Matraca Berg, The Dreaming Fields
8. Megafaun, Megafaun
9. George Strait, Here for a Good Time
10. Eric Church, Chief

SINGLES
1. Billy Currington, “Love Done Gone”
2. Taylor Swift, “Sparks Fly”
3. The Civil Wars, “Barton Hollow”
4. Pistol Annies, “Hell on Heels”
5. Shelby Lynne, “Revelation Road”
6. Zac Brown Band, “Colder Weather”
7. Ronnie Dunn, “Cost of Livin’”
8. Wanda Jackson, “Thunder on the Mountain”
9. Keith Urban, “You Gonna Fly”
10. Sunny Sweeney, “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving”

MALE VOCALISTS
1. Hank 3
2. George Strait
3. Vince Gill

FEMALE VOCALISTS
1. Connie Smith
2. Sunny Sweeney
3. Matraca Berg

LIVE ACTS
1. Drive-By Truckers
2. Miranda Lambert
3. Brad Paisley

SONGWRITERS
1. Matraca Berg
2. Taylor Swift
3. Lori McKenna

DUOS, TRIOS OR GROUPS
1. Pistol Annies
2. The Civil Wars
3. Zac Brown Band

NEW ACTS
1. Caitlin Rose
2. Alabama Shakes
3. Mount Moriah

BEST OVERALL ACTS
1. Hank 3
2. Pistol Annies
3. Taylor Swift

I didn't actually submit any comments this year because, while I appreciated that what I've submitted has been posted pretty extensively for each of the past few years, the overall editorial tone last year just kind of rubbed me the wrong way and the "Is Taylor Swift country?" baiting this year wasn't doing it for me.

To that end, this:

Songs
1. Taylor Swift - Mean
2. Taylor Swift - Sparks Fly
3. Taylor Swift - The Story of Us

is amazing.

The Dierks Bentley is solid, though the twitter fight between him and Jason Isbell about whether or not Bentley's single "Home" rips off a song from Isbell's first solo album has made both of them look like dicks.

The new album by Kellie Pickler is far better than I thought she was capable of. It's not a great album, but it's a very good one that doesn't overplay the traditionalism = credibility angle. Gun to my head, I honestly prefer it to Four the Record by a pretty substantial margin.

"Love Done Gone" was a gobsmackingly great surprise for me. That kind of shrugging, "the end of love can be a joyous relief instead of a tragedy" delirious delivery, and the funeral march horns at the end sound like a helluva wake. And I guess it's all personal bias, but as someone who had a relationship end recently without good reason, "like money in a slot machine/don't know what happened to you and me" seems an incredibly elegant turn of phrase.

I think Four The Record is way more fun than Revolution was, myself. But right, neither record is super consistent. (Neither is Pistol Annies, to be perfectly honest. Though being short helps a lot.)

I actually liked Pickler's Small Town Girl a few years back.

why is it One Of The Most Overlooked of 2011, having long since been pushed back to 2012?

Well, "long since" or no, I wasn't aware of the pushback when I pitched the two albums together; one thing they edited out was the new release date, oddly enough -- I suppose because they wanted to keep the "overlooked of 2011" concept. So overlooked it didn't come out, I guess!

I really don't get the universal acclaim for Four The Record, which has some unbelievable highs but also some of the absolute worst songs of her entire career. "Safe," "Over You" and that duet with her hubby are so unbelievably non-descript and blah

I can go along with this.

I'm only now paying attention to the Church record ("Drink in My Hand").

My favorite record of the week: Tim McGraw's "The One That Got Away."

The Church record is really consistent, the worst song being the Jesus one he didn't have a hand in writing. Though "funny how a melody sounds like a memory" in "Springsteen" was less on-the-nose and more breathtaking when Taylor Swift did it in "Tim McGraw."

I splained "Safe" in my notes, wish she'd lose hubby (duet-wise anyway)

Poll results:

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/the-results/Content?oid=2743175

I'm crazy late to this but the Pistol Annies album is great.

gonna be digging into y'alls lists later.

From the "Selected Factoids" section of the Nashville Scene poll:

Country music critics are becoming as amnesiac as country radio. Jamey Johnson, who dominated this poll in 2010 almost as thoroughly as Miranda Lambert did this year, virtually disappeared from the voting. True, Johnson didn't release an album in 2011, but he did release a single and continued to tour. Yet he fell from No. 1 to No. 38 in the artist-of-the-year category, from No. 1 to No. 16 in the male-vocalist category, from No. 1 to No. 46 in the songwriting category, from No. 3 to No. 15 in the live-act category, and from No. 6 to No. 105 in the singles category.

The indignant can-you-believe-this tone here is just baffling to me. If there's no need to consider whether or not someone actually released new material within the past year when voting for this poll, then I guess I'll just start listing Dwight Yoakam on my ballot every year.

Can't get on board with the idea of Four the Record being much fun, at least not after the first 5 songs, and especially not the run of tracks from "Over You" through "Oklahoma Sky" at the end.

Yeah, that crazy bizarre Jamey Johnson complaint jumped right out at me, too -- I was considering mentioning it here. "Amnesia" has nothing to do with it. We're supposed to vote him artist or songwriter of the year based on a single (that came off his 2010 album, and got all the way to #51 on the country chart)? The Live Act thing (a category I don't vote in) might make a little sense, but that's it.

Well, I guess his single could have placed. That it finished at #105 might well mean, duh, that people preferred whichever one finished at #6 last year. Since when are all songs by an artist created equal? (Also, I have to admit, in polls like this I probably personally tend to disfavor singles off albums I voted for in the previous year in general. One reason I didn't name more than one Taylor Swift single this year, maybe. I may have even subconsciously docked "Mean" a couple of places because in my head it seems more 2010 to me than 2011.)

As for the songwriter category, did Johnson have great new songs that were recorded by other artists this year? Like, I don't know, the Blind Boys Of Alabama or somebody? I have trouble keeping track of that sort of thing. But if not, given that he didn't put out any new songs himself, isn't it more strange that anybody would vote for him at all?

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.

reminds me how much I love Gill's harmonies

He was good in Emmylou's band too. I like him better in duets than solo, mostly.

A very provisional top twenty, or top twenty-one if I decide to classify Taylor Swift's "Red" as a single; if I do, it's number 1 - was one of a bunch of download-only singles Big Machine put out in the days before the album to drum up excitement. The label had previously done the same with "You Belong With Me" in 2008 and "Mean" in 2010, only to give each of them a more emphatic release in the year that followed, meaning I had to vote for them two consecutive years. So my inclination this time is to disqualify "Red" for insufficient singleness; I've got plenty others to list, anyway. I <i>am</i> counting Tim McGraw's "The One That Got Away," which was never a single except that it charted a bit (and of course by that criterion "Red" is undoubtedly a single, but, you know, list making is more an art than a science).

I'd rank "Blown Away" even higher if its words were in Korean.

[Taylor Swift "Red"]
1. Miranda Lambert "Fastest Girl In Town"
2. Charles Esten & Hayden Panettiere "Undermine"
3. Eden's Edge "Too Good To Be True"
4. Eric Church "Creepin'"
5. Lionel Richie ft. Jennifer Nettles "Hello"
6. Kix Brooks ft. Joe Walsh "New To This Town"
7. Luke Bryan "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye"
8. Carrie Underwood "Blown Away"
9. Kacey Musgraves "Merry Go Round"
10. Kelly Clarkson ft. Vince Gill "Don't Rush"
11. Thomas Rhett "Something To Do With My Hands"
12. Tim McGraw "The One That Got Away"
13. Easton Corbin "Lovin' You Is Fun"
14. Toby Keith "Beers Ago"
15. Willie Nelson "Just Breathe"
16. Gary Allan "Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain"
17. Greg Bates "Did It For The Girl"
18. Kristen Kelly "Ex Old Man"
19. Alan Jackson "So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore"
20. Jason Aldean "Fly Over States"

oh yeah, lots of good 'uns on there, and ones I still need to check out. Also, the fine "Undermine" reminds me to check out the rest of Nashville-the-TV-series' soundtrack album.

Gary Allan's on there--does he have a new album? Anybody heard it?

Hey guys, sorry if this is a breach of decorum for this thread -- I'm not really up on mainstream country music or the opinions of ILX country thread regulars -- but can any of y'all recommend some new-ish traditionalist country music? No blues-rock riffs, no tom-tom fills, no redneck-pandering I-like-beer-and-jeans lyrics. I'd like to be able to listen to some new country music while simultaneously being able to pretend Brooks & Dunn never existed. Thanks in advance & no offense meant.

You might like current James Hand, Don Williams, Jamey Johnson's Hank Cochran tribute, all discussed upthread. Ditto those Merle and George Jones rarities collections, if you're into vinyl.

You might like the new Dwight Yoakam record a lot too. It's hardly straight country - there are a bunch of left-field-ish pop-rock moves on it, but they're all derived from '60s rock, not present-day rock, so give it a shot.

thanks guys!

Don, "Undermine" is written by Trent Dobbs and Kacey Musgraves and is going to be on Musgraves' debut album. Acoustic version here.

I was bored by Panettiere as a teenybopper, but she's ace on this song.

Gary Allan alb (Set You Free) not out till next year. My guess is that crüt would like Allan even if he doesn't specifically meet the criteria - like Yoakam he's got rock tendencies and dallied with L.A. punk in his distant past, but he's not part of the current we-are-country pander and insecurity (instead he's got his own insecurities), and he's a beautiful singer.

Don't think there was ever a time in the history of sound recording when country didn't have blues riffs, though.

Thanks for the link; also, yeah, Hayden and all the other TV series regulars' musical moments (always key plot points) have been pretty effective so far. Dunno if they're doing all their own singing, but good stuff. "Blues-rock" riffs are what crut's trying to avoid. Good to know about new Gary.

Following those xpost 10" records:

Omnivore Recordings will release definitive compilations by three giants of country and rockabilly music — Wanda Jackson, Merle Haggard and George Jones — on February 12, 2013. Having released musical appetizers in the form of ten-inch vinyl EPs on Record Store Day’s Back to Black Friday, Omnivore will serve the main course on compact disc in the form of Merle Haggard’s The Complete ’60s Capitol Singles, George Jones’ The Complete United Artists Solo Singles, and Wanda Jackson’s The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles. All three compilations feature A & B sides from the artists’ most influential years. The vinyl EPs were companion pieces, containing rarities not found on the CDs.

Wanda Jackson’s The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles contains 29 songs from her Capitol stint, which began in 1956. Each was taken from the original analog mono 45-rpm masters. Idolized by three generations of rockers, the Queen of Rockabilly made musical side-trips into country and gospel. For every A-side rave-up like “Mean Mean Man” or “Fujiyama Mama,” she offers B sides of equal intrigue: a weeper like “(Every Time They Play) Our Song” or the hillbilly tragedy of “No Wedding Bells for Joe.” She tore through songs that Elvis sang, and also drew from the jazz greats, R&B legends, doo-woppers and the Nashville hit machine. And she made each song her own.

In the ’50s, Capitol Records ad men scratched their heads, looking for a way to position Wanda Jackson’s sound, gamely settling on “jumping rock ’n’ waltz novelty.” Today, as she plays before indie-rock-aged crowds, supporting recent albums produced by Jack White and Justin Townes Earle, we know she’s no novelty. The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles, with extensive liner notes by Daniel Cooper, is her most definitive career retrospective to date.

Jackson’s Capitol label-mate Merle Haggard became one of country music’s greatest stars while recording his Bakersfield-honed songs at the tower at Hollywood & Vine from 1965 until 1976. The Omnivore compilation The Complete ’60s Capitol Singles features 28 A & B sides taken from the original analog mono 45-rpm masters. Neo-rockabilly artist and part-time journalist Deke Dickerson, a longtime Haggard fan, wrote the liner notes.

From “Swinging Doors” in 1965 until the end of the decade, Haggard had an impressive string of hits. “The Fugitive” (b/w “Someone Told My Story”), his first #1 single, was a composition by the esteemed songwriter Liz Anderson (Lynn Anderson’s mother). “I Threw Away the Rose” b/w “Loneliness Is Eating Me Alive” went to #2 on the charts in 1966. Other chart-toppers on this volume include “You Don’t Have Very Far To Go” b/w “Good Times” and “The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde” b/w “I Started Loving You Again.” “Working Man Blues,” written when Haggard “needed (his) own ‘Folsom Prison Blues,’” became a blue-collar anthem and shot to #1. The collection closes with “Okie From Muskogee,” the unlikely political pop crossover that sent mixed signals to younger listeners. Most have since delved deeper into Haggard’s five decades of music and consider him a hero. He continues to record today.

United Artists Records was eventually married to Capitol when it, along with parent label Liberty, was acquired by EMI in 1978. But when country star George Jones recorded for the label (following stints at Starday and Mercury) from 1962 til 1966, United Artists and Capitol were Hollywood crosstown rivals. It was at UA that Jones mastered all the flavors of country: lovelorn ballads, inspirational gospel, uptempo honky tonk, humorous novelty numbers, old-timey murder ballads — even holiday and Western songs. Most of his UA work was done in Nashville featuring the city’s A team: guitarist Grady Martin, pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins, bassist Bob Moore, drummer Buddy Harman and Hal Rugg on pedal steel. The Jordanaires provided background vocals.

Omnivore’s 32-song George Jones compilation, The Complete United Artist Solo Singles, leads off with chart toppers “She Thinks I Still Care” b/w “Sometimes You Just Can’t Win,” produced by the legendary Cowboy Jack Clement. Both sides of the single pointed the way to the sound that would mark his signature style in decades to follow. The collection also includes Jones’ 1965 smash “The Race Is On.”

“Country music is like a religion to me,” he told Holly George-Warren, author of this compilation’s liner notes. Jones’ early ’60s work for United Artists will make a believer out of you.

About Omnivore Recordings:
Founded in 2010 by longtime, highly respected industry veterans Cheryl Pawelski, Greg Allen, Dutch Cramblitt, and Brad Rosenberger, Omnivore Recordings preserves the legacies and music created by historical, heritage, and catalog artists while also releasing previously unissued, newly found “lost” recordings and making them available for music-loving audiences to discover. Omnivore Recordings is distributed by EMI.

Looks promising, re going further in direction of Emotional Traffic:
TIM MCGRAW REVEALS MORE DETAILS ABOUT HIS UPCOMING ALBUM RELEASE TWO LANES OF FREEDOM – IN STORES FEB 5, 2013

Debut Big Machine Records Disc To Include Standard & An Accelerated Deluxe Version At Most Retail Accounts

Nashville, TN- Dec. 13, 2012- Country music icon Tim McGraw is revealing more details about his highly anticipated release TWO LANES OF FREEDOM. His first album for Big Machine Records will be released on Feb. 5, 2013 and is set to prove once again that on stage and on record, he remains dedicated to delivering music that is innovative, heartfelt and authentic.

"I feel like I've progressed in my work, and I've always strived to get better," says McGraw. "On my last album, I was discovering some new sounds and new things that I wanted to do, scratching the surface of the direction I wanted to head. This album was a way to reach a little further back, to all that I'd done throughout my career, and bring both sides together—it's a combination of that discovery, along with some rediscovery."

On TWO LANES OF FREEDOM, the sense of nostalgia comes through on the hard-driving current single "One of Those Nights." The reverie of that song, though, is countered by the humor and joy of "Southern Girl" or the feel-good hangover of "Mexicoma." McGraw maintains that it was the album's title track that really established the tone for the entire project.

"When we cut 'Two Lanes of Freedom,' there was such a freshness to it," he says. "The track has this sort of Gaelic drive to it and really sets a palette for the whole record because it's so visual—it has that summery, hazy image and I think that made the whole record open up for me."

McGraw reaches some especially emotional depth in his performances on such songs as "Number 37405," the lament of a singer-turned-convict. Most powerful of all might be "Book of John," a wistful account of a family going through the journal left behind by its late patriarch. The album closes with "Highway Don't Care," a breezy yet complex track that features Taylor Swift (the song is featured as number 13 on the album as a nod to her) and Keith Urban.

TWO LANES OF FREEDOM TRACK LIST
1. Two Lanes of Freedom
(Jaren Johnston/Jenn Schott)

2. One Of Those Nights
(Luke Laird/Rodney Clawson/Chris Tompkins)

3. Friend Of A Friend
(Mark Irwin/Josh Kear/Andrew Dorff)

4. Southern Girl
(Jaren Johnston/Lee Miller/Rodney Clawson)

5. Truck Yeah
(Chris Janson/Danny Myrick/Preston Brust/Chris Lucas)

6. Nashville Without You
(Kyle Jacobs/Joe Leathers/Ruston Kelly)

7. Book of John
(Jon Nite/Greg Becker)

8. Mexicoma
(James Slater/Brad Warren/Brett Warren)

9. Number 37405
(Tom Douglas/Troy Jones)
10. It’s Your World
(Scott Stepakoff/Josh Osborne/Shane McAnally)
13. Highway Don’t Care (featuring Taylor Swift and Keith Urban)
(Mark Irwin/Josh Kear/Brad Warren/Brett Warren)

ACCELERATED DELUXE VERSION INCLUDES
Annie I Owe You A Dance
(James Slater/ Tom Douglas)

Tinted Windows
(Mark Irwin, Josh Kear, Andrew Dorff)

Let Me Love It Out Of You
(Rachel Thibodeau, Jason Sever, David Tolliver)

Truck Yeah LIVE

In his record-shattering career, McGraw has sold over 40 million albums and dominated the charts with 32 No. one singles. Since the release of his debut album in 1993, he has won three GRAMMY’s, 14 ACM Awards, 12 CMA Awards, and 10 AMA’s, while simultaneously maintaining a parallel career as a successful actor in such films as The Blind Side, Country Strong, and Friday Night Lights—as well as hosting Saturday Night Live, a rare honor for a singer in any genre. Nielsen-BDS recently certified McGraw as the most-played Country artist of the past 20 years (1992-2012) with more than 10 million spins detected and Mediabase recognized him as the most-played Country artist in the history of their tracking service.

For more updates and the latest information, visit www.timmcgraw.com or follow @thetimmcgraw on twitter.

Sir Charles Jones "Country Boy" is not a country song per se, but rural Southern soul that I think y'all would like. I think you can find it on Youtube and maybe Spotify

Don't think there was ever a time in the history of sound recording when country didn't have blues riffs, though.

Yeah this is true; I guess I phrased my request wrong -- I'm just trying to avoid riff-based rock that masquerades as country, stuff with a heavy rhythm section. I do dig this Dwight Yoakam record even though a lot of it hinges on that sort of thing, but I've always had a soft spot for Dwight. "A Heart Like Mine" and "Missing Heart" are probably the closest to what I'm looking for.

"Heart Like Mine" definitely rocks out but it's mixed tastefully.

but, crüt, when hasn't country used riffs and heavy rhythm sections?

man, I'm just trying to find country music that doesn't sound like Tom Petty or "Rock My World Little Country Girl." I think there is plenty of country music out there that fits into this category.

i generally only lurk on this thread but hey i did a list of best and worst country singles of the year: http://narrowcast.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-20-best-country-radio-hits-of-2012.html

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