Rolling Country 2012

Really like the strings pivoting around his trademark toetapping groove, and gets to the "Tula Time" groove at times in contexts quite diff from that song, yet appropriately so.

"Tulsa Time", that is.

Todd Snider, Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables. Known for his words, and yep music is setting for same, but I like 'em best when his voice unobtrusively and perfectly sets them down, teeth matched to gums, or upper and lower plates. Sharp enough, sometimes rounded, down in the gums or the plates and the meat of the matter, the details move into the overall effect. Better when he gets through the teaching moments and the passing suits, up above, down to the ground, where he might be a doorman, a cabbie, an ambulance driver, night court reporter--observing charred and certified White Trash and even a power couple (in "Brenda", which might be about Bill and Hilary, the renters of the lock just checked, and does incl their usual pursuits:"He's livin it up while she's workin, and that seems right/After all, Mick Jagger was born on Monday mornin'/Keith Richard on Saturday night")--when he's not "In Between Jobs" and back and forth from fear to distraction (like the primeval tribe in the first track), while 'llowing, "Ah may've been born yesterday, but I was up all night." His people are funny that way, incl when stubbornly creeping at their own chosen speed up and down tunnels and barrels they should be long gone from, given the means of course. That's the sound, which also usually includes a bluesy fiddle over a heavy flexible mobile rhythm section, which always includes a heavy etc. electric guitar (suggesting a door taken down and set on the kind of wheels that should be on an office chair, a door with a screen and bars too, a Southern thing). Rec to those jonesing for the next Truckers album, at least (if Cooley and Hood, in that order, were to merge, vocally and writing-wise, with Cooley's guitar central to and more prominent in the mix). What am I saying? Forget that, we got this. Imperfect, but it sure builds. Now I'm getting confused about my Scene Top Ten, oh well.

"funny that way" incl sometimes in the head and/or hands (easy now podner)

I don't think we've talked much about Korean country music - there not being much Korean country music to talk about. Han Myeong Suk's "The Boy In The Yellow Shirt" (1961) uses a self-consciously old-timey string band arrangement, though with a more aggressive '60s rhythm. Melody and singing are - I don't know - old bluesy country mixed with (I really don't know) trad Korean? pop Hawaiian? G'Old Korea Vinyl, the site that streams it, tells us that the lyrics "were pretty badass at that time" - doesn't quote much less translate them, unfortunately. Site says that the song was a hit in Japan too and other parts of Asia, and according to Wikip there was a French cover version by Yvette Giraud, YouTube being no aid to further research. Is terrific enough in the original.

Searching "country music in korea" on Google nets me Bobbyville, a side project of Seoul indie performer Bobby Chung, who says he models it on the Bakersfield sound; and Kim Tae-hun and his band Sunday Losers, who veer towards rockabilly and blues and are from the Busan indie scene. There's also a trot song by Moon Hee Ok that's labeled by the uploader as Korean country music, but isn't unless you consider trot the Korean equivalent to American country, which it's not.

There's perhaps a Korean yodeling scene that seems to go for yodel per se rather than the country variety, but it includes someone identified by the uploader as "Korea Young&Beautiful Yodelgirl" who wants to learn to rope and ride, someone doing "La Desperadado," and a fellow billing himself as Peter The Korean Yodeler who made his way to the Le Mars Country Festival in Iowa a few years ago.

Thanks--wish Subliminal Sounds or Sublime Frequencies would do a comp along these lines. Always good to check hearty voyagers having a go at familiar-to-seemingly-played-out styles.

Hopefully Psy will go country, Gangnam Style.

can't believe I love the generic crap of the Clarkson-Gill duet as much as I do.

Is my favorite Clarkson single since "Never Again." And for being generic, it straddles genres nicely (country and AC).

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