Christmas Rewind: Joe Nichols – ‘Old Toy Trains’

Album Review: Sugarland – ‘Enjoy The Ride’

2006 saw a retooled Sugarland, now sans Kristen Hall, teaming up with a new producer, Byron Gallimore, for their sophomore release. Enjoy The Ride finds the now-duo, who share production credits, delving a little further into pop territory. Hall’s departure had seemingly no effect on the group’s popularity; the lead single “Want To”, written by Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush with Bobby Pinson, became Sugarland’s first #1 hit. The acoustic guitar-led track, which also features Dan Dugmore on dobro, is one of the more country-sounding songs on the album, and my personal favorite of the tracks that were released as singles. In addition to spending two weeks at the top of the charts, “Want To” became Sugarland’s fourth single to earn gold certification. The second single, the uptempo “Settlin’” likewise climbed to #1.

After “Settlin’” reached the top of the charts, another uptempo number was sent to radio. “Everyday America” is a story of about growing up in a small town, dreaming of moving on to bigger and better things, but ultimately deciding to stay put. In a sense it is a sequel to “Settlin’”, one in which a slightly older and presumably wiser protagonist has reconsidered her plans to change the world, opting instead to raise a family and enjoy a quiet life. Unfortunately, the track is too loud and overproduced, which detracts from the lyrics’ message. “Everyday America” was the worst-performing single from the album, though it still managed to crack the Top 10, peaking at #9.

The loudness and overproduction problems unfortunately are not unique to “Everyday America”; they plague a few of the album’s tracks, namely “County Line”, the annoying “Mean Girls”, and to a lesser degree, “Settlin’”. The tracks that work well are the quieter ones, most notably the sparsely produced ballad “Stay.” The album’s fourth single, which was written by Jennifer Nettles, features an acoustic guitar played by Kristian Bush, an organ, and Nettles’ powerhouse voice. Considered by many to be Sugarland’s finest moment on record, “Stay” — which Nettles says was inspired by Reba McEntire’s “Whoever’s In New England” — won two Grammys in 2006: Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and “Best Country Song. It also won Single of the Year and Song of the Year from the ACM and Song of the Year from the CMA. It just missed becoming Sugarland’s third #1 hit; peaking at #2, but it became their first platinum single. Unfortunately, it remains their last truly great single to date.

“These Are The Days” is a decent but not great song, notable primarily because Kristian Bush shares lead vocals with Nettles. Unfortunately his grating voice ruins the track. Much better is “Sugarland”, which seems as though it should have been included on the group’s first album. Written in 2003 by Kristian Bush with Vanessa Olivarez and former Sugarland member Kristen Hall, it likely predates Nettles’ hiring as lead singer. It is thematically similar to “Everyday America” but it makes it point much more effectively, and allows the album to close on an introspective high note.

Overall, I enjoyed the ride, but not as much as the first Sugarland album, primarily because of some of the production choices on a handful of tracks. Like its predecessor, it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA.

Grade: B

Enjoy The Ride is widely available, from vendors such as Amazon and iTunes.

Christmas Rewind: Faron Young – ‘White Christmas’

Single Review: Alan Jackson – ‘Ring of Fire’

Some songs take on legendary status nearly as big as their singers.  Of course, even the Music City folk-lore that surrounds the composition and recording of Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ doesn’t rival the Man in Black’s stature, ‘Ring’, however, is a fascinating story in itself.  History tells us that June Carter co-wrote the tune with Merle Kilgore, putting her feelings for Cash down in the process.  Other sources may tell you that it was actually Cash who co-wrote the song and gave half to the financially-strapped Carter.

Whichever side you believe, or who the author of the lyrics are, the fact remains that the blossoming love affair between Johnny Cash and June Carter was the inspiration for the original creation.  Johnny Cash’s passionate delivery of the horn-infused track – according to his biography, the idea to frame the verses with horns came to Cash in a dream – is the kind deemed untouchable by cover standards, as any subsequent recording would almost always walk a fine line between irrelevance and tribute. Alan Jackson’s recent take on the tune, the only previously unreleased track on Jackson’s current 34 Number Ones set, unfortunately falls somewhere in between the two.

Jackson’s own catalog lends him an air of believability few on Music Row can match, and he offers up his best bass vocal here, channeling Cash with all high might. But try as he might, Jackson just can’t fill the shoes he’s planted himself in this time. The addition of Lee Ann Womack’s harmony in the chorus add a depth to Jackson’s own enjoyable performance, but the lack of horns make the melody almost unrecognizable to me, and a chunky guitar fill adds little more than filler noise.  Two of the best neo-traditional country music voices of their generation tackling a timeless country classic all add up here to much less than the sum of their parts.

Grade: C-

Listen here.

Christmas Rewind: Chely Wright – ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’

Single Review: Ashton Shepherd – ‘Look It Up’

We haven’t heard any new music from the very talented Ashton Shepherd since 2008. At last she has recorded a new single (due to go to radio at the beginning of January).

This catchy uptempo slice of wrathful attitude addressed to a cheating man is a welcome return to the airwaves, and hopefully a second album will follow some time next year. Ashton’s voice sounds crisper and her diction less drawn-out than on her debut album, but her voice is still instantly recognisable. The beaty production is a bit busy towards the end, but overall it’s an enjoyable track.

Ashton’s scornful vocal is impassioned as she offers a string of contentious words she suggests her about-to-be-ex should check the meaning of as he obviously has no clue, starting with “faithful” and ending with “over”. The other woman (“that piece of trash ridin’ around in your pickup truck”) isn’t neglected either, as she defines the word “easy”.

The errant spouse is also a drinker:

You said you’re sober
Look it up
It’s right next to hell is freezing over, flyin’ pigs and all that stuff

Forgiveness is definitely not an option:

It’s what Jesus has in store for you but I don’t, no matter what

Neatly constructed and concisely written, this has all the hallmarks of a radio hit, sounding more potentially commercial than Ashton’s previous singles, both of which peaked around the #20 mark. It’s also a promising sign for Ashton’s follow-up to her debut Sounds So Good.

It’s not formally out yet, but you can listen to the song here.

Grade: A-

Classic Rewind: Wynonna – ‘Blue Christmas’

Single Review: Crystal Gayle & Mishavonna – ‘Christmas Everywhere’

It’s been a long time since an original Christmas tune made a substantial dent in the charts, but Crystal Gayle and Mishavonna are hoping that their new duet will be the exception to the rule. The Grammy Award winning country legend and the American Idol Season 8 alumnus have teamed up for “Christmas Everywhere”, which was released just after Thanksgiving.

Mishavonna, who was known as Mishavonna Henson during her stint on Idol, wrote the song with her producer Fabio Angelini. Opening with the festive sounds of sleigh bells along with a prominent pedal steel, the tune explores the familiar theme of separation from loved ones during the holiday season, with a slight twist: instead of the usual lone protagonist longing for home (“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”) or missing a loved one who has gone away (“Blue Christmas”), “Christmas Everywhere” is sung from the point of view of both a mother and daughter, as both reminisce about Christmases past. Mishavonna as the daughter thinks about Christmas at home during the first verse, with Gayle taking over the second verse as her mother, reliving the holidays when her children were growing up.

I was not previously familiar with Mishavonna but I was impressed with her powerful voice, which is somewhat reminiscent of Shelby Lynne. I’m a little surprised that she didn’t advance beyond the semi-finals. It’s been a long time since we heard a new country recording from Crystal; she is still in good voice and the two women’s voices work well together.

Mishavonna is reportedly working on a country album which should be released sometime in 2011. If she can find the right material, she should have a decent shot at success. The independently released “Christmas Everywhere” won’t provide the breakthrough, since contemporary Christmas songs rarely become hits and Gayle no longer has the ear of country radio programmers. However, it is a pleasant listen, even if it’s not entirely original. It will definitely be in heavy rotation on my Christmas playlist this year.

Grade: B+

Listen to “Christmas Everywhere” here or download it from Amazon or iTunes

Christmas Rewind: Pam Tillis – ‘Beautiful Night’

Week ending 12/4/10: #1 singles this week in country music history

1950: I’m Movin’ On — Hank Snow (RCA)

1960: Wings Of A Dove — Ferlin Husky (Capitol)

1970: Endlessly — Sonny James (Capitol)

1980: If You Ever Change Your Mind — Crystal Gayle (Columbia)

1990: Come Next Monday — K.T. Oslin (RCA)

2000: We Danced — Brad Paisley (Arista)

2010: Anything Like Me — Brad Paisley (Arista)

Week ending 12/4/10: #1 albums this week in country music history

1965: Eddy Arnold – My World (RCA Victor)

1970: Ray Price – For The Good Times (Columbia)

1975: John Denver – Windsong (RCA)

1980: Kenny Rogers – Greatest Hits (Liberty)

1985: Ronnie Milsap – Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (RCA)

1990: Garth Brooks – No Fences (Capitol)

1995: Alan Jackson – The Greatest Hits Collection (Arista)

2000: Alan Jackson – When Somebody Loves You (Arista)

2005: Carrie Underwood – Some Hearts (Arista)

2010:Rascal Flatts – Nothing Like This (Big Machine)

Christmas Rewind: Bill Monroe – ‘Christmas Time’s A’Comin”

Classic Rewind: Sugarland – ‘Baby Girl’

Single Review: LeAnn Rimes – ‘Crazy Women’

Are you watching, Tanya Tucker?  LeAnn Rimes is following your lead.  The teen-country singing sensation turned Hollywood rock-and-roll bad girl isn’t really a new concept to country music, but LeAnn Rimes sure seems to be hitting all those same old Tanya moves these days.  And the best part is that, just like Tanya, LeAnn is wearing her image on her sleeve and even taunting the oval-mouths with her music.  Recent years have found her singing about dancing and drinking in the Mississippi backwoods with two young fellas, and then just as her own marriage crumbled, she issued a new single, a cover of John Anderson’s saucy 80s hit ‘Swingin’, a stalled attempt at leading off the jovially titled covers album Lady and Gentlemen.  All this seemed to beg for more tabloid headlines.

True, the tabloids are giving LeAnn much love these days, but so are the network TV shows – she’s still a featured performer on nearly every major awards show – and she continues to chart higher with both the Hot 100 and U.S. Dance chart, even though her music is clearly tailored for country radio.  The only place she can’t get anybody’s attention these days is with country radio programmers.  Why hasn’t anybody noticed that she’s clearly making some of the best music of any of her peers?  That she’s fully transitioned from child star to a woman with something to say about life, at least her own.

Enter: ‘Crazy Women’, a tale of woman scorned, a new song to accompany the bevy of songs originally recorded by country giants she’s tackling.  A plucking banjo helps the singer tell the story of a woman come to hunt down and drag home her wandering man, and the song even comes complete with a pair of head-turning bookend lines.  It’s a bit too edgy, and yes, even too straightforward country – and therefore might offend, to have much chance at being her next big country hit.  The rest of the production recalls the best of the Dixie Chicks hybrid of bluegrass and country, but does falter a bit at the end when the music and harmonies begin to compete for attention with Rimes’ strong competent singing.  LeAnn Rimes seems to be here to stay, and hell-bent on doing things her way.  Country radio may not pay attention just yet, but I bet Tanya is.

Songwriters: Brandy Clark, Jessie Jo Dillon, and Shane McAnally

Grade: B+

Listen here.

Classic Rewind: Conway Twitty – ‘Who Did They Think He Was?’

Album Review: Sugarland – ”Twice The Speed Of Life’

Sugarland’s debut album burst on an unsuspecting world in October 2004. Produced by Garth Fundis with a bright and punchy modern sound, this is the only Sugarland album to feature former member Kristen Hall (on guitar and backing vocals). Third member Kristian Bush plays mandolin and another acoustic guitar, with additional vocals. The then trio also collaborated on writing most of the songs, but the dominating element is undoubtedly Jennifer Nettles’s strong and distinctive voice. It is thoroughly contemporary with obvious rock and pop influences, but the quality of the songwriting and singing is what makes it resonate.

The lively debut single, ‘Baby Girl’, written by the trio with Troy Bleser, is based around a young woman’s difficulties trying to make it in Nashville, and her eventual triumph, but what it is really about is a child’s love for her parents . The story unrolls through her letters home, with her first asking for money and then able to return the favor. The single was an instant success for the group, peaking at #2.

Also just missing the very top spot was the follow up, the vibrant ‘Something More’, which opens the album with a shouted “Come on“, as Jennifer launches into her frustration with an ordinary urban life and a boring job, declaring:

I could work my life away but why?
I got things to do before I die
There’s gotta be something more

The third single was a Kristen Hall solo composition which is the best song on the album, the excellent ‘Just Might (Make Me Believe)’, This powerful ode to the power of love to help through the hard times and to outlast doubts was another top 10 hit for the group, and has one of Jennifer’s finest vocal performances to date. It remains one of my favorite Sugarland recordings. My least favorite of the four singles was the up-tempo romp ‘Down In Mississippi (Up To No Good)’ about breaking away from the domestic routine with some friends; this one is lacking in both melody and subtlety, but it has an undeniable energy.

The radio-friendly and rather poppy sounding ‘Tennessee’ was written by Hall and Bush with David Labruyere, and has a radio call-in request “from a boy in love to a girl called Tennessee” who he regrets having let slip away from his fear of commitment. It has a great vocal from Jennifer, and only the gimmicky name of the girl that mars the otherwise charming song.

The reflective ‘Hello’ sounds autobiographical, with a wistful almost folky feel to its reminiscences of young love and youthful surroundings revisited; I can imagine the band’s fellow Georgian Trisha Yearwood (also often produced by Fundis) covering this successfully. ‘Fly Away’ was written by Bush and Hall with Corri English and Billy Gewin (probably while they were still based in Atlanta), and expresses the restlessness of a dissatisfied small town girl who wants to make her own path in life. The gentle acoustic ‘Small Town Jericho’ offers a fonder and more reluctant farewell to childhood surroundings with Jennifer stretching out the word goodbye until it is almost un recognisable at times. Kristen and Jennifer’s catchy ‘Speed Of Life’, which provides the album title, is an older woman’s reminiscences about a runaway teenage marriage with a happy ending:

It’s hard to slow it down when it feels so right…
We’re travelling at twice the speed of life

The closing track ‘Stand Back Up’ is a dignified acoustic ballad about resilience in the face of adversity:

I’ve been beaten up and bruised
I’ve been kicked right off my shoes
Been down on my knees more times than you’d believe
When the darkness tries to get me
There’s a light that just won’t let me
It might take my pride and tears may fill my eyes
But I’ll stand back up

The only song I don’t really care for on this album is ‘Time, Time. Time’, which is a little dull, but overall this was a very strong debut. It stretches the boundaries of country music, but in a palatable way. The album appealed to country listeners as much as the singles did to radio programmers, and it has been certified triple platinum. It is also, as noted above, the only evidence of Sugarland as a trio rather than today’s duo, as Kristen Hall left the group in December 2005, before they returned to the studio.

Grade: A-

Classic Rewind: Deana Carter – ‘Did I Shave My Legs For This?’

Spotlight Artist: Sugarland

From the Atlanta underground scene, Sugarland was first brought to life by former member Kristen Hall.  In 2002, Hall contacted Kristian Bush about the possibility of creating a band together.  Hall had herself released a half-dozen assorted solo projects and Bush had found some success with the duo Billy Pilgrim, but both were now eyeing the country music umbrella as a release for their music.  When the two decided they needed a powerful female lead voice for the songs they were writing together, they immediately thought of a spunky blonde also making waves on the Atlanta club scene with her own band.  Jennifer Nettles had herself been busy fronting Soul Miner’s Daughter, a folk-rock, garage-band type outfit, and later The Jennifer Nettles Band before releasing 2 solo albums.  Nettle agreed to jump on board and the Sugarland trio was born.

Within a few short years, the band had a deal with Mercury Records’ Nashville office.  Their first single, a frank look at the ups and downs of a fledgling musician, shot to #2 on the country charts, and the pair were on their way.  Two more singles from that album reached the country top 10 and a fourth landed inside the top 20, while the album went on to sell more than 3 million copies.  During the chart run of the album’s third single, Kristen Hall abruptly announced her departure from the group, citing the desire to concentrate on songwriting as her primary reason for quitting.  Three years later, Hall would file a lawsuit claiming she was owed a percentage of all the group’s future royalties.  The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.

Now a duo sans Hall, the group’s second album, Enjoy The Ride, hit shelves in November 2006, propelled by the lead single, the smoking hot ‘Settlin’.  Both ‘Settlin’ and ‘Want To’ hit the top of the country singles chart, but the album’s fourth top 10 hit would prove to be Sugarland’s signature so far.  Jennifer Nettles plaintive delivery of the plight of the other woman with little more than her aching voice and an acoustic guitar instantly connected with a wide-range of audiences, and in addition to its #2 spot on the country chart, the song hit the top 40 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Pop chart.  It would also be the duo’s first platinum-selling single.

2008′s Love On The Inside continued their run of country success with 3 consecutive #1 singles, a double platinum certification, and another round of industry awards.  2007 saw them dethrone long-running champs Brooks & Dunn for the CMA Vocal Duo of the Year award, a slot they’ve since repeated in 4 years running.  Love also found the pair stretching their musical muscles as they ably incorporated 80s rock, girl-band pop, and the best of modern Nashville, all to dazzling results.  Unfortunately the same can’t be said of their most recent release, the arena rock-influenced The Incredible Machine.  Still, the album’s first single, ‘Stuck Like Glue’, went to #1, and they’ve just released its best track as the follow-up single.

Irresistibly catchy melodies, simple, positive lyrics, and the throaty twang of Jennifer Nettles make up the basis of Sugarland’s distinctive and identifiable sound.  Kristian Bush adds milk and toast harmonies that more often than not, perfectly compliment Nettles lead.  The pair are also responsible for writing or co-writing nearly every song they record.  Their influences run wide, but their general sound found root in country music, and that allowed me to discover their music.  Keep reading this month as we look back over the past 6 years of Sugarland transitioning into the top duo in country music.