Week ending 5/2/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: Candy Kisses — George Morgan (Columbia)

1959: White Lightning — George Jones (Mercury)

1969: Galveston — Glen Campbell (Capitol)

1979: Backside of Thirty– John Conlee(ABC)

1989: Young Love (Strong Love) — The Judds (RCA/Curb)

1999: How Forever Feels — Kenny Chesney (BNA)

De-stress songs

Melody Gardot

These next two weeks will be very stressful, for me that is because of one thing: AP tests. Half of my classes are AP classes, so I have a lot of big tests coming up. So what did I decide to do? I made a playlist of some albums that I consider very relaxing, namely:

Home, by The Dixie Chicks
Fly, by The Dixie Chicks
My One And Only Thrill, by Melody Gardot
Sara Watkins, by Sara Watkins
Real Live Woman, by Trisha Yearwood
Hearts In Armor, by Trisha Yearwood
The Life Of A Song, by Joey + Rory
Dreaming My Dreams, by Patty Loveless
On Your Way Home, by Patty Loveless

(Click the links to hear the albums on last.fm)

These albums have enough superb ballads (“Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)”, “Hearts In Armor”, “Sweet Emmylou” and “Everything But The Words” to name a few) that shuffling them together makes for an incredible mood and a great relaxing playlist. Adding to it, it’s all quality music from top-notch artists, making for a great listening experience. The one artist that you might not recognize from my list is Melody Gardot, she’s a jazz artist who released her second album this past week- she’s fantastic.

So this made me think, what do you think some really relaxing songs/albums are? Any particular artists that are really relaxing?

So now I want your relaxing music! I could sure use it over the next 2 weeks…

The life and times of Keith Whitley

I just found an excellent documentary on Keith on YouTube, put together by a fan, as well as a documentary that aired on The Nashville Network years ago. Unfortunately, embedding is disabled, but they can be viewed by clicking on the links below. They’re well worth watching:

Keith Whitley 101

The Life and Times of Keith Whitley, Part 1

The Life and Times of Keith Whitley, Part 2

The Life and Times of Keith Whitley, Part 3

The Life and Times of Keith Whitley, Part 4

The Life and Times of Keith Whitley, Part 5

The Life and Times of Keith Whitley, Part 6

Single Review: Emily West – ‘That Kind Of Happy’

I love Emily West – “Rocks In Your Shoes” was a great find for me, and should have been a huge hit, but it wasn’t. Emily’s label, Capitol Records Nashville to be exact, has been testing the waters with her singles for nearly a year and a half now, with “Rocks” peaking at #39. As a result, the label hasn’t released an album yet, only 1 EP and now the new single, “That Kind Of Happy”.

This song is just so happy, as the title suggests, and it takes the listener on a wild ride – and you can tell Emily’s having a blast. It has tempo, fiddle, guitar and happiness – everything that radio seems to be embracing, but this song is more than just filler. This song manages to be creative and intelligent at the same time! I also like how in the production, it’s possible to hear some country elements, like the really fast fiddle that is sprinkled throughout.

Emily sings about the dark side of reckless love, singing:

There was a time when love swept me off my feet
I never thought I’d have to come to grips with gravity
Now fallin’ in love is still the sweet, crazy thing to do
But when I take that leap again I’ll have a parachute
You can’t call it fallin’ when you’re on your knees and crawlin’

While many singers sing the same old song about falling in love, Emily decides she doesn’t want a love that will leave her sad, she wants real love. It’s not often today that female singers talk about not wanting to fall in love, so this song comes off as even more unique. It reminds me of the strong woman mentality that Reba does so well (Case in point: her new single “Strange”), as well as so many of the female greats. I just see female artists talking about always needing to be in love, or to get back with a lover or other songs like that – but here Emily is strong and independent of falling in and out of love constantly.

The song has an infectious melody that works with the contemporary production and makes for a very fun listening experience. It has a heavier base line than I’m used to for a country song, but instead of being distracting, it drives the energy of the song. Adding to it is Emily’s voice which is in top form as always.  She’s just really convincing! She sings a complicated melody while making it look really easy, something that very few of her peers can do.

Some people might get turned off by the intense production, but this risky single really pays off by being what contemporary country could be: smart, fun and fresh all at the same time — all things that almost all songs on the radio today are not. Hopefully radio will hear that Emily is different and they’ll latch on for dear life – that would make me that kind of happy! (Sorry, I had to make some kind of pun …) If they don’t, I’ll sure be angry because Emily is something special.

Grade: A-

Listen to Emily’s songs on her myspace. (I highly recommend “Blue Sky”, “Rocks In Your Shoes” and “Bad Boyfriend”)
Buy “That Kind Of Happy” on iTunes. (Please buy it if you like it!)

Keith Whitley’s last appearance on ‘Opry Live’

Spotlight Artist: Keith Whitley (July 1, 1955 – May 9, 1989)

Last month we spotlighted the Class of ’89, noting the many creative and commercial triumphs that occurred during that landmark year for country music. The same year brought one of country music’s great tragedies — the untimely death of Keith Whitley from alcohol poisoning. May 9th marks the 20th anniversary of that sad day. This month My Kind of Country will spotlight Keith Whitley and look back at the great musical legacy he left behind.

Jesse Keith Whitley was born in Sandy Hook, Kentucky, on July 1, 1955. Many sources cite 1954 as the year of his birth, but 1955 is what is engraved on his headstone. When young Keith was a teenager, he entered a talent contest with his brother Dwight. Also entered in the contest was another teenage prodigy by the name of Ricky Skaggs. The two became lifelong friends. Together, they became the opening act for the bluegrass band The Clinch Mountain Boys. Whitley went on to play and sing for the bluegrass band J.D. Crowe and the New South. The group released an album in 1982 called Somewhere Between, featuring Whitley on lead vocals. The album eventually led to a solo deal for Whitley with RCA Records.

Whitley’s RCA debut was the mini-LP A Hard Act To Follow, which was released in 1984. The mini-LP didn’t make much of an impact on the charts. The lead single “Turn Me To Love” peaked at #59 on the Billboard country singles chart. It’s worth noting that the harmony vocals on this recording were provided by an unknown and unsigned singer by the name of Patty Loveless. Despite his very traditional voice, heavily influenced by Carter Stanley and Lefty Frizzell, RCA was pushing Whitley in a more country-pop direction, which was evident on his next project.

A Hard Act to Follow was followed up in 1985 by the album L.A. to Miami. Featuring a more contemporary sound, the album provided Keith with his first top 20 single, “Miami, My Amy”, followed by three top 10 hits: “Ten Feet Away”, “Homecoming ’63″, and “Hard Livin’.” The pop influences were still dominant, although the album also contained two more traditional songs: “On the Other Hand” and “Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her”, which went on to become huge hits for Randy Travis and George Strait, respectively.

During this time, Whitley met and married Grand Ole Opry star Lorrie Morgan. Their son, Jesse Keith Whitley, Jr. was born in June 1987. Whitley was also working on a new album for RCA. The project was near completion, but he was unsatisfied with the way it was turning out. He approached label head Joe Galante, and asked for and received permission to shelve the project and start over again. He was also granted the right to have a bigger say in the production of his records.

Whitley teamed up with a new producer, Garth Fundis, and began working on a new album. The result was Don’t Close Your Eyes, his most traditional album yet for RCA. The title track not only went to #1, it was Billboard’s #1 country record of the year in 1988. The album also produced two more #1 hits for Whitley, and was certified gold.