Classic Rewind: Wanda Jackson – ‘Tears Will Be The Chaser For Your Wine’

Album Review: Alan Jackson – ‘Everything I Love’

Alan Jackson’s hot streak continued into 1996 with the release of his sixth studio album. 1994′s Who I Am had sold four times platinum, and 1995′s Greatest Hits Collection had sold six times platinum and produced two more number one hits, as well as a top five. With Keith Stegall once again in the producer’s chair, Everything I Love was released on October 29, 1996. It was preceded by the lead-off single “Little Bitty”, a semi-novelty tune written by the legendary Tom T. Hall. Reminiscent of the type of song that George Jones used to do fairly regularly early on his career, “Little Bitty” became Jackson’s fourteenth #1 hit in December 1996.

Things took a more serious turn when the title track was released as the album’s second single in late 1996. “Everything I Love” is a beautiful mid-tempo ballad written by Harley Allen and Carson Chamberlain, and it is one of the finest performances of Jackson’s career. The theme is one to which most of us can relate — namely, the old adage that everything good in life is dangerous, illegal or fattening. The protagonist laments, “Everything I love is killing me — cigarettes, Jack Daniels and caffeine,” before adding his soon-to-be former lover to the list of dangerous vices. Surprisingly, the song only reached #9 in Billboard.

“Who’s Cheatin’ Who”, the album’s third single, was a bit of a surprise since Alan Jackson seemed like an unlikely candidate to cover a Charly McClain song. However, it worked surprisingly well for him. Unlike McClain’s rendition (which can be heard here), Jackson’s version has the fiddle front and center, which gives the song a more traditional feel. But while the original version reached the top of charts in 1981, Jackson’s cover peaked at a still-respectable #2.

New Alan Jackson tracks available from iTunes

Alan Jackson’s new album Freight Train will be released on March 30. While we’re waiting for the album to drop, Arista will release one new track from the album to iTunes each week. When the full album comes out, you’ll be given the opportunity to buy the remaining tracks at a reduced rate via the “Complete My Album” feature.

The first track, Hard Hat and a Hammer, was released yesterday.

Classic Rewind: Larry Boone – ‘Don’t Give Candy To A Stranger’

Album Review: Josh Thompson – ‘Way Out Here’

It’s easy to categorize new Columbia artist Josh Thompson as another in the long line of outlaw wannabe who needs to tell us how country he is rather than showing it in the music. He does have more life experience to draw on than some of his competitors, having spent several years working in the real world before coming to Nashville in his 30s.

However, self-conscious statements of countriness do form the core theme for the songs on his debut album (all written or co-written by Josh), including the title track, which is a “my hometown is so country” number, complete with name-dropping mention of Johnny Cash, and is Josh’s new single. It is probably just generic enough to be a hit, as is ‘Blame It On Waylon’, co-written with former artist Rhett Akins, and a likely future single (it is one of the tracks billed rather prematurely on a sticker as a ‘hit song’). This is borne out in these lyrics:

If I got a don’t care attitude and long hair
And mean every damn word I’m singin’
I blame it on Waylon
And all them other outlaws

This seems to be more about image than substance, missing the point on a fairly fundamental level. The best part of this track comes in the instrumental break at the end of the song, where the rhythm actually is reminiscent of Waylon, rather than generic rock-country, and feels more like a genuine tribute than the main part of the song. The forgettably generic ‘You Ain’t Seen Country Yet’ references Haggard in the lyrics seemingly at random, and also features annoying “crowd” noise. ‘A Name In This Town’, written with Casey Beathard and David Lee Murphy, has more specific detail and a sense of ambivalence about the home town, which makes it the best of the songs in this vein. ‘Always Been Me’ has a hackneyed hook line, but feels the most sincere.

But there is some real substance here, notably with Josh’s sole solo composition, the reflective ‘Sinner’, my favorite track. It is encouraging to see that this is one of the songs expected to be a single, according to the label sticker. It treads a well-worn path thematically, but it is one that never really palls, as the protagonist humbly confesses his sins and inadequacies:

My heart’s been filled with hate, greed and envy
But I believe Jesus died to save souls like me

Cause I’m a sinner, that’s just what I am
Sometimes the devil can get the upper hand
But I hit my knees, close my eyes and bow my head
And thank the good Lord that when it comes to forgiveness
He’s no quitter cause I’m a sinner

If heaven had a limit
On the number of commandments you could break
Before they just cast your soul away
Well then, there’s no doubt
Where I’ll be heading when I check out

The song also benefits from Josh’s best vocal interpretation, coming across as more heartfelt than all the posturing.

The other really good song here is the waltz-time ‘I Won’t Go Crazy’, a dogged determination not to crack up over his heartbreak, co-written with Dallas Davidson. On a similar theme is the more superficial ‘Won’t Be Lonely Long’. I like the low key opening with the protagonist down in the dumps after his girl has walked out, but luckily she left at 7 pm on a Friday night, enabling him to go out and drown his sorrows (or have a good time instead). It isn’t a bad song (although any love whose loss is so easily overcome suggests it is fairly shallow-rooted), but it becomes less interesting as it bursts into the rocking chorus; I could imagine Brooks & Dunn doing this. I did like the wry spoken outro (“is it too late to get you back?”) which hints at something a little more ambivalent than the body of the song offers.

The pleasant ‘Back Around’ offers mellow recollections of teenage love, and is nice enough as far as it takes us, but lacks context – there is no indication as to how the relationship ended up, and Josh is not a sufficiently expressive singer to give us more than the lyric supplies. Josh’s debut single, the punchily fast-paced working man’s declaration of working hard to put ‘Beer On The Table’ sounds just like early Tim McGraw (or Tim’s more recent ‘It’s A Business Doing Pleasure with You’), and seems to have peaked just inside the top 20. It’s no classic, but it is quite entertaining, and one of the more memorable tracks here.

Neither Josh’s voice nor his material are particularly distinctive, but some of it is worth hearing. The current artist he reminds me of most strongly stylistically is Eric Church. I would be interested in hearing more if he could find the inspiration to tread some less well trodden paths in his songs.

Grade: C+

Way Out Here is available as a CD or digitally from amazon.

Classic Rewind: Waylon Jennings – ‘Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit Has Done Got Out Of Hand?’

Album Review: Alan Jackson – ‘Who I Am’

By 1994, Alan Jackson had firmly cemented his superstar status.  He had surpassed all of his other class of ’89 alumni except Garth Brooks in sales and radio hits and his career was still red hot, with many of the surge of newcomers from the beginning of the decade to begin cooling off.  Alan would prove to be the last man standing atop the country charts as his records still consistently hit the top.

In the Summer of ’94, Alan’s fourth studio album, Who I Am would hit stores.  It would prove to be his strongest set of songs since. Who I Am debuted at the top of the Country Albums chart, and would house four chart-topping singles and another top 10 during its run.  In the meantime, the disc would sell over 4 million copies.

Opening the set is one of the weakest numbers, ‘Summertime Blues’.  While this would prove to Alan’s biggest hit to date, spending four weeks at #1, this remake of the 1950s hit for the song’s co-writer Eddie Cochran, and most famously from the movie Caddyshack, sticks out like a sore thumb to the rest of the album.  Alan was clearly ahead of his time in releasing the weakest song as the lead single from an album, a practice that seems to be custom today.

Things get back on track – and stay there – with the second track and second chart-topper, the sweet ‘Livin’ On Love’.  The song recounts the love stories of two couples, young and old.  Without any material possessions, all either pair has is love to bind them together, but that seems to be enough.  This Jackson-penned tune sounds like a slightly more traditional version of Tanya Tucker’s ‘Two Sparrow In a Hurricane’.   Likewise, ’Hole In The Wall’ is akin to the Willie Nelson-penned Faron Young classic ‘Hello Walls’ in that we find a man going insane due to heartbreak and talking to the walls.  In Alan’s case, a small hole in the wall is grating on his nerves until he decides to tear the wall down, or at least put a big hole in it.

I remember the mid to early-90s as being the ‘it’ time for country music.  No song from that era better illustrates that point than the album’s third consecutive #1, Bob McDill’s ‘Gone Country’.  The massive sales numbers Nashville was producing at the time obviously brought in folks from all walks of life and Alan sings here of a Vegas showgirl, a struggling folk singer, and a pop songwriter all trying to change their luck in Nashville, all having ‘gone country’.

Classic Rewind: Alan Jackson – ‘Chattahoochee’

Country music comes alive in the birthplace of Rock and Roll

Pork With An Attitude.

It’s impossible to spend any amount of time in Memphis, Tennessee without seeing some reminder that Elvis Presley recorded his first songs there.  The city proudly wears the title of ‘the birthplace of rock and roll’.  But Thursday night wasn’t about the King of Rock, but of country music royalty.  King George and Miss Reba came through town, bringing along Lee Ann Womack and Melissa Peterman for a night of country music hits.  The largest portion of the night was dedicated to the impressive span of hits made by George Strait and Reba McEntire, but the evening’s entertainment was as unique as the neon signs on the many barbecue joints that line Beale Street.

Lee Ann Womack performs 'Solitary Thinkin'.

Lee Ann Womack kicked off the extra-long music extravaganza from the three country music stalwarts with a cover of the western swing standard ‘San Antonio Rose’.  After running through a set list that could have been her greatest hits disc, the singer ended her half-hour on stage with very strong renditions of her own hits, including her take on Rodney Crowell’s ‘Ashes By Now’ and her mega-hit ‘I Hope You Dance’.  I missed her take on Patsy Cline’s ‘She’s Got You’ due to standing in the beer line, but I could see it from the many screens that dotted that halls of the FedEx Forum.

With the longest hit span of any of her tourmates, Reba chose to stick to mostly newer material, with only two 1980s era hits in her entire repertoire this year.  The first of these was the opening number, and Reba’s first #1, ‘Can’t Even Get the Blues’.  Reba hangs onto the syllables a little longer than the original version from 1982 when she sings it today, and the instruments are certainly more amped up 28 years later too.  From that first chart-topper, she launched into her 1996 hit ‘The Fear of Being Alone’ before pausing to chat with the audience.

Classic Rewind: Tammy Cochran – ‘Angels In Waiting’

Week ending 3/6/10: #1 singles this week in country music history

1950: Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy — Red Foley (Decca)

1960: He’ll Have To Go — Jim Reeves (RCA)

1970: It’s Just A Matter Of Time — Sonny James (Capitol)

1980: I Ain’t Living Long Like This — Waylon Jennings (RCA)

1990: No Matter How High — The Oak Ridge Boys (MCA)

2000: My Best Friend – Tim McGraw (Curb)

2010: Why Don’t We Just Dance — Josh Turner (MCA)

Week ending 3/6/10: #1 albums this week in country music history

1985: Ricky Skaggs – Country Boy (Sony)

1990: Ricky Van Shelton – RVS III (Sony)

1995: Garth Brooks – The Hits (Capitol)

2000: Dixie Chicks – Fly (Sony)

2005: Kenny Chesney – Be As You Are (BNA)

2010: Lady Antebellum – Need You Now (Capitol)

Classic Rewind: Alan Jackson – ‘Better Class Of Losers’

Alan never recorded this song himself, but it is one of the songs he co-wrote with Randy Travis, who had a big hit with it. Here is a rare clip of Alan singing it live:

CD Giveaway: Gary Allan – ‘Get Off On The Pain’

Update:  And the winner is … dallad.  Congratulations and be checking your inbox for a message from me requesting your shipping information.  Thanks to everybody who commented and for all the suggestions regarding our Spotlight Artist feature.  We hope you enjoy Alan Jackson’s career retrospective this month and be sure to come back soon as we’ll be giving you a chance to win a copy of Alan’s latest album, Freight Train.

Gary Allan has spent his career honing his image as the edgy bad-boy of country music.  His music, always just on the fringe of traditional country, but with as much Eagles as Haggard influences, has been winning over critics and fans alike going into two decades now.  On March 9, 2010, Gary will release his eighth studio album on MCA Records.  The lead single has already made its way to the top 20 on the country singles chart.  It’s a little different from Allan’s usual fare.  However, the lush-sounding love song certainly fits neatly on country radio playlists.

Allan's eight studio album, Get Off On The Pain, drops March 9, 2010.

During the shortest month of the year, we’ve been analyzing the life and career of this southern California boy turned country music stalwart.  If you’d like to win a copy of Gary Allan’s latest album before it hits stores, we’d like for you to drop us a few suggestions.   Choosing a spotlight artist every month isn’t easy for us.  We have to take into consideration who has a new release coming out – we try to shine the spotlight on not only those artists who rank among our favorites, but on those with a new project in the works, so that gives us something to sort of lead up to all month long.

Also, we’ve tried to strike a balance between the classic and the contemporary. Personally, I think we’ve done a decent job so far, but now we want to know what you think.  Do you enjoy reading all the retro reviews that go along with spotlight artists, or would you rather we stick to what’s current?  Who would you like to see as a spotlight artist in the coming months?  The floor is open to your suggestions and comments.

Each comment made before 11:59 PM on Feb 28, 2010 will enter the poster into the running to win a copy of Gary Allan’s latest Get Off On The Pain.  Good luck to everybody and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on our progress so far.

Classic Rewind: Holly Dunn – ‘You Really Had Me Goin”

Album Review: Alan Jackson – ‘A Lot About Livin’ (And A Little ‘Bout Love)’

Alan Jackson followed up — and eventually eclipsed — the quadruple-platinum success of Don’t Rock The Jukebox with his third studio release, A Lot About Livin’ (And A Little ‘Bout Love) in the autumn of 1992. Once again he teamed up with Keith Stegall and Scott Hendricks, with Stegall taking on the lion’s share of the production duties (Hendricks’ sole contribution to the album was co-producing the track “Tonight I Climbed The Wall”).

The first single, “She’s Got The Rhythm (And I Got The Blues)” was one of the products of a series of 1991 writing sessions between Jackson and Randy Travis. Among the other songs from those sessions are “From A Distance”, from Don’t Rock The Jukebox, and “Forever Together”, “A Better Class of Losers”, and “I’d Surrender All”, which were all included on Travis’ 1991 album High Lonesome. With its R&B flavored arrangement, “She’s Got the Rhythm” was originally written with B.B. King in mind, but Jackson ended up keeping the song for himself. This decision paid off when the tune easily soared up the charts, despite its stylistic departure from Alan’s earlier work. It became his sixth #1 hit in December 1992.

The next single, “Tonight I Climb The Wall”, is one of my favorite Alan Jackson songs. Unlike “She’s Got The Rhythm”, this one is pure, straight unadulterated country, and an instant, if somewhat underrated classic. Despite peaking at #4, it was excluded from his Greatest Hits Collection, though it did resurface on his second greatest hits volume a few years later.

It was the third single — “Chattahoochie” — that became the breakout hit from this collection. Not only did it provide the line that became the title of the album, it received the CMA Awards in 1993 for Single of the Year and Song of the Year. Its release in April 1993 was timed to allow it to become a huge summertime hit, which it did. It became the first Alan Jackson single to earn gold certification, as well as his seventh #1. It’s a pleasant enough light-hearted tune, but one that hasn’t aged as well as the rest of Jackson’s catalog. It would be a stretch to say that I actively dislike the song, but I have grown weary of it over the years and wouldn’t miss it if I never heard it again.

Alan followed up this blockbuster with another summertime smash, “Mercury Blues”, a remake of a song written in 1949 and recorded by K.C. Douglas, who co-wrote it with Robert Geddins. Before Alan Jackson got to the song, it was recorded by the Steve Miller Band in 1976, David Lindley in 1991 and Finn Pave Maijanen in 1987, and it was subsequently recorded by Meat Loaf in 2003 and Dwight Yoakam in 2004. Jackson’s version, which peaked at #2, is by far my favorite. A slightly retooled version of Jackson’s rendition was featured in commercials for Ford trucks,with “Ford truck” being substituted for “Mercury”.

“(Who Says) You Can’t Have It All” was the fifth and final single from this set. Written by Alan with Jim McBride, it is another straight-country, George Jones-influenced number in the vein of “Tonight I Climb The Wall”, and just like that tune, this one peaked at #4 in Billboard. This is the type of song at which Jackson excels; I hope that there is a song or two like this on his new album.

As far as the non-single tracks go, “I Don’t Need The Booze (To Get A Buzz On)” is the weakest song, which means it would probably be the lead single if this album were released today. “Up To My Ears In Tears”, written by Jackson with Don Sampson is a Texas dancehall number that would sound right at home on a George Strait album from the 80s. “Tropical Depression”, also written by Jackson and Sampson, along with Charlie Craig, is an early example of Alan Jackson in his Jimmy Buffett mode, not lyrically or melodically deep, but a pleasant light-hearted number that hasn’t worn out its welcome like “Chattahoochie” has.

Overall, I don’t like this album quite as much as Don’t Rock The Jukebox, but it’s a much stronger collection than some of Jackson’s more recent work. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and was certified six-times platinum, making it Jackson’s best-selling studio album. It is available from Amazon and iTunes and is well worth adding to your collection, if you don’t own it already.

Grade: B+

Classic Rewind: Alan Jackson – ‘Just Playin’ Possum’

Looking for the saviour of country music (again)

New Mercury artist Easton Corbin, whose single ‘A Little More Country Than That’ is heading up the charts and whose debut album was released earlier this week, has been touted by some as the latest great hope for a revival of more traditionally rooted music on country radio. He has a pleasant voice and I like his general approach, but I think he is going to need stronger material if he is to fulfil the hype; these are heavy expectations on any young artist in his circumstances in any case.

The last person to bear that mantle, Ashton Shepherd, has been pretty quiet lately, after her first (and so far only) two singles both stalled around #20 in 2008. I still hope to hear more, and better, from Ashton, who is reportedly currently working on a new record, although I felt that her debut album showed promise more than a full achievement of her potential. Earlier in the decade similar hopes were placed on singers like Joe Nichols and Josh Turner, neither of whom has quite fulfilled their potential, although both are maintaining a chart presence. Jamey Johnson, another figurehead for non-pop country (although in his case a little more on the ‘Outlaw’ line of descent) had a really big hit with ‘In Color’, and sales of the acclaimed That Lonesome Song were unexpectedly good, but subsequent singles were a little too much for country radio. His new album is one which I am eagerly awaiting, but it remains to be seen whether it will have another mainstream hit to keep his profile high.

In some ways, the state of commercial country music is not unlike that of the mid 1980s. 25 years ago, pop-influenced sounds had largely ousted more traditional country music from the airwaves, with a sprinkling of more traditional artists to leaven the dough. The big stars of the day were mainly pop-influenced artists like the smoky voiced Earl Thomas Conley, Lee Greenwood, Gary Morris, and former pop group Exile. When a new Warner Brothers artist named Randy Travis released a classic almost-cheating song, ‘On the Other Hand’, in 1985, it was deemed far too country for country radio.

It wasn’t all bad news, though, with a handful of older stars still active; George Jones and Merle Haggard were still having #1 hit singles. Their closest equivalents today would be George Strait and this month’s Spotlight Artist Alan Jackson. Other traditionally-rooted artists were still getting played too, alongside the pop-country, although some had compromised their sound to stay competitive, most notable Dolly Parton, whose music was at its most pop at this date. Even someone like John Anderson who had emerged in 1980 as a hard country act had moved to a poppier sound by 1983. A handful of younger artists including Strait (then at the start of his career), Ricky Skaggs, and Reba McEntire were signs of things to come. Because what few would have predicted in, say, 1984, was the emergence of the neotraditional movement and the way it briefly dominated country music.

The rise to stardom of Randy Travis in 1986 was the real catalyst for that movement. He was certainly not the first – Strait and Skaggs had been around since the start of the decade, and Reba, whose early records were more pop-country had defiantly recorded a selection of older songs on her breakthrough My Kind Of Country album in 1984, and they were all highly successful. But they were exceptions.

Once radio had accepted his single ‘1982’, the now-classic ‘On The Other Hand’ was re-released, and went to #1. Randy’s album Storms Of Life was one of the first country albums to go platinum, thanks to a combination of high quality material, a classic country voice, and strong marketing across genres, and that commercial success encouraged Warners and other labels to sign more young but definitely country artists. Other young singers who had previously recorded more pop-country material, like Steve Wariner and Kathy Mattea, began to sound more traditional or rootsy.

The sea change of the late 80s in fact was not restricted to reviving traditional honky tonk style music; Mattea, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nanci Griffith all brought folk-rooted music to the major labels. Even Dolly – her finger always on the pulse – abandoned her flirtation with pop and returned to very traditional sounding music with her acclaimed Trio collaboration with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt in 1987 and then asking Ricky Skaggs to produce her White Limozeen album in 1989. Those who had struggled to break through because they were “too country” , like Randy himself, and Keith Whitley, were finally accepted. Even 50-something Vern Gosdin, who had had some hits earlier in the decade, enjoyed a late flowering boom and his greatest period of sustained success in the last few years of the decade.

It is probably unrealistic to expect a similar transformation today. What I think would make a difference would be if one of the younger traditional artists were to start selling well – as well or better than the pop-inspired artists. The music business is just that – a business, and the bottom line has often been more important than artistic merit in Nashville. It is dispiriting to realise that if the genre as a whole is not selling as well as it used to, traditional country is on the whole selling even less. We can’t blame Nashville’s woes solely on the poor quality of many major labels’ output, tempting though that is. If someone is to break through like Randy Travis did, it would almost certainly have to be someone good looking as well as talented. Today youth and beauty are even more important than they were in the 80s, when videos were in their infancy as a marketing tool.

There certainly seem to be few signs of hope for those disenchanted by country radio’s latest lurch popwards. Taylor Swift’s sweep of recent awards shows and domination of the country charts is showing no signs of having run its course yet. The latest country awards nominations (the ACMs) show a predominance of pop-country artists with the melodic but not-very-country Lady Antebellum leading the charge. But the mid 80s were little more promising either. Maybe all we need is that one extraordinary talent to lead the way back.

Returning to Easton Corbin, he is certainly showing signs of appealing to country radio, which is encouraging, as (at last) is Chris Young, who has a great voice and all the right musical instincts but mediocre material. But is either of them a new Randy Travis who can cross over while not compromising? I’m not so sure. Vocally, Easton is being compared most to George Strait, and emulating his career would certainly be no bad thing. Strait’s long career has been remarkably consistent, while Travis’s star burned more brightly for a while before fading in commercial terms. But without that star, the history of country music would have been very different.

Do you think the current direction of country music could be reversed if the right artist came along, or have the changes been too fundamental?

Classic Rewind: Terri Clark – ‘Honky Tonk Song’

Album Review: Alan Jackson – ‘Don’t Rock The Jukebox’

Alan’s second album, released in May 1991, transformed him from a rising star to a fully fledged superstar, selling 4 million copies, with four of its five singles heading to the top of the charts and winning the title of the ACM Album of the Year. Alan co-wrote almost every song, the results ranging from good to great, although at times Alan seems to rely a little too strongly on the pun as inspiration. The production (from Keith Stegall and Scott Hendricks) is excellent, always serving the song and artist sympathetically. The music is solid country in every note, and the songs too draw strongly on the traditions and heritage of country music, with specific tribute paid to George Jones and Hank Williams.

The title track and first single (and ACM Single of the Year) was a ‘heartbroke hillbilly”s appeal for some hurting country music, George Jones rather than the Rolling Stones (picked for the rhyme), set to some tinkling honky tonk piano, steel and fiddle, whose rhythm makes it sound cheerful despite the downbeat lyrics, written by Alan with producer Keith Stegall and veteran writer Roger Murrah:

I ain’t got nothin’
Against rock and roll
But when your heart’s been broken
You need a song that’s slow
Ain’t nothin’ like a steel guitar
To drown a memory

‘Just Playin’ Possum’, written with Jim McBride and Alan’s future manager Gary Overton, is a similarly playful take on turning George Jones records to mend a broken heart. Jones himself offers a cameo at the end (and gets thanked in the liner notes for making ‘a dream come true’, but the theme was too similar to ‘Don’t Rock The Jukebox’ to allow it to be a single, although I like it a little better:

I could cry on my best friend’s shoulder
But there ain’t no use
I need an expert on
The pain I’m going through
So I’ll keep George on the old turntable
Til I’m over you

My personal favourite track is the second single, ‘Someday’, one of two lovely ballads Alan wrote with Jim McBride. It is an understated and gently regretful look at a failed marriage where the disillusioned wife has accepted that the “someday” he’s always promising is never going to come:

I said someday
I’ll get my life straight
She said it’s too late
What’s done is done
I told her someday
She said I can’t wait
Cause sometimes someday just never comes

The protagonist’s regret is never spelled out, but underscores every line in Alan’s perfectly nuanced vocal.