Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
2010 began on a slow news beat, as the top story in January was the buzz surround the Grammy’s at the end of the month. While Taylor Swift continued to define the term superstar, several more months passed before the month of May brought a bevy of headline-grabbing stories from Music City. First was Chely Wright’s announcement in People magazine that she was, in fact, a lesbian. This was followed shortly by Wright’s first album of new material in 5 years, the frank and folksy Lifted Off The Ground. Also that same week, Nashville was hit with record rainfall that flooded the city’s Cumberland River and devastated the downtown area, as well as temporarily closing the doors at Opryland. We also saw Lady Antebellum emerge as a retail powerhouse this year, while we said tearful goodbyes to greats like Carl Smith, Hank Cochran, and Jimmy Dean.
Finally, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert announced their engagement and emerged by year’s end as the newly crowned power couple of country music. Carrie Underwood tied the knot, while both Billy Ray Cyrus and Randy Travis looked to untie their own. These are just a handful of the events that make up the timeline for 2010 in country music.
But what about the music these media darlings gave us this year? Like everybody else, we’ll be telling your our respective favorites of the year in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can head over to Country Universe to discuss your own favorite songs and albums from this year. Since CU has the corner on the music discussion, we’d like to invite you to share your favorite headline from the past year.
What stories will you remember five or ten years from now? What one event do you think will define 2010 in country music for the history books?
My Kind of Country 
I would guess that it’s largely the Nasvhille floods that will define 2010 in country music history. The other thing we’ll likely remember is Carrie Underwood’s wedding, thanks to Alison Bonaguro.
…taylor swift selling more than a million copies of her “speak now” album in its first week of release.
The flood is definitely the big story this year.
The most unforgettable thing about this year in country music is how forgettable it was. There were no standout songs or artists with lasting appeal to emerge. Just more cookie cutter acts and songs from the Nashville corporate music machine. This year’s crop of marriages, divorces and sexual revelations will have faded from our collective consciousness by this time next year.
Certainly the flood will be remembered especially by Nashville residents for years to come. However it really has no long term impact on country music. Nashville has rebuilt, refurbished and reopened for business as usual.