A few thoughts on the CMA awards

We didn’t do too well with our predictions of this year’s CMA Award winners. In part, that’s probably because we gave the CMA way too much credit for artistic integrity. Next year, I’m going to take a look at the nominees and predict the very worst person in each category, and I suspect [...]

Trace Adkins – ‘Til The Last Shot’s Fired’

She didn’t link back to it for this recommendation, but Occasional Hope wrote an excellent editorial/review of this song back in February. It’s definitely worth revisiting.
- J.R

Album Review: Anita Cochran – ‘Serenity’

Former Warner Brothers artist Anita Cochran achieved one #1 hit, ‘What If I Said’, in a duet with Steve Wariner, in 1997. None of her solo singles came anywhere near the top of the charts, and it’s not as if her label didn’t persevere – they released two albums and nine singles over a [...]

Album Review: Brooks & Dunn – ‘Waitin’ On Sundown’

Brooks and Dunn’s third album was released in September 1994. Produced like the first two by Don Cook and Scott Hendricks. In theory, Kix and Ronnie had equal billing, each singing lead on five songs, but Ronnie’s lead vocals were showcased on four of the five singles. This may have been the [...]

Classic Rewind: Vern Gosdin – ‘Is It Raining At Your House?’

Who will win the CMA Awards

We shared our wishlist for this year’s CMA awards with you of last week. Now for the hard part – this is where we go out on a limb and try to predict who will actually walk home with a CMA award this year. We collectively sucked at prediction the last time [...]

Album Review: ‘Hank Williams Revealed: The Unreleased Recordings’

A year after the arrival of the Time-Life first box set of previously unreleased Hank Williams performances comes a second set. Like the first set, all the material comes from a series of pre-recorded performances Hank did for sponsor Mother’s Best in 1951, which were then broadcast ‘as live’. This edition, however, is [...]

Who should win this year’s CMA Awards

This year’s CMA Awards are due to be announced on November 11th. There are bound to be a few surprises, with unexpected winners or losers. We’ll share our best attempts at prediction with you next week, but first we thought we would let you all know not who we expect to win, but [...]

Classic Rewind: Mel Street – ‘I Met A Friend Of Yours Today’

70s star Mel Street with a top 10 hit which was later covered by George Strait.

 

Album Review: Joe Nichols – ‘Old Things New’

A few years ago, Joe Nichols looked to be one of the brightest young country stars, with an interestingly textured voice and a sound with genuinely country roots which still worked on country radio, thanks to some very good songs. His career seems to have gone off track since them – no doubt not [...]

Album Review: Patty Loveless – ‘Sleepless Nights’

Patty Loveless was dropped by Epic following disappointing sales and minimal airplay for her last album for the label, Dreamin’ My Dreams. She was in no hurry to make her next move, taking some time off the road to move down to Georgia, and dealing with family deaths and illness, but in 2008 she signed [...]

Album Review: Tim McGraw – ‘Southern Voice’

Tim McGraw has never impressed me as one of the great country voices, but where he frequently has impressed me is in his choice of interesting material, the kind of songs which are worth hearing in anyone’s hands. His tenth studio album is produced by the same production team of McGraw, Byron Gallimore and Darran [...]

Album Review: Bobby Marquez – ‘Bobby Marquez’

Texan country singer Bobby Marquez’s debut album on independent label Grande Star is a good example of solid country music with a Texas feel, underpinned with generous helpings of fiddle and steel. Bobby has quite a light voice but a very listenable one, and he is a very promising songwriter, having contributed to half [...]

Slaid Cleaves live at the Lantern Theatre, Romsey, 9 October 2009

Living in England, I don’t often get the opportunity to see acts live. Although some artists who have had airplay here do tour (usually small) venues, it’s not often both someone I’m interested in is appearing at a venue that’s very convenient for me to get to. So it was exciting for me [...]

Album Review: Patty Loveless – ‘Only What I Feel’

After the breakthrough of Honky Tonk Angel, it must have been very frustrating for both Patty Loveless and her label that her career seemed to have plateaued. The next two albums, 1990’s On Down The Line and 1991’s Up Against My Heart, did not sell as well, and although her singles were still charting, [...]

Album Review: Patty Loveless – ‘Honky Tonk Angel’

Patty Loveless’ third album, released in 1988, marked her real commercial breakthrough. It was her first gold-seller (and eventually reached platinum status), and it also built on her growing success on country radio. No less than five of the ten tracks were released as singles – an unusually high number at the time. [...]

Album Review: Ron Williams – ‘The Longer You’re Gone’

Ron Williams, son of the often underrated Leona Williams and one-time stepson of Merle Haggard, has a nice voice with a warm tone and soft timbre which is very pleasing. His third album, produced by Eddie Kilroy, on Ah-Ha Music Group, is solidly country, with some lovely fiddle from Rob Hajacos, and 80s star [...]

Album Review: Crystal Sands – ‘The Hard Times’

Crystal Sands’ debut album last year was one of my favorite recent discoveries. The young Baltimore-born singer has a charming voice and her first album, produced by Wood Newton, consisted of a fine set of songs, and was thoroughly country to boot.
Her follow-up (on the same Texas indie label Ah-Ha Music Group) is not [...]

The next step for Caitlin & Will

The latest news is that Caitlin & Will, winners of the first season of Can You Duet, appear to have been dropped by their record label, Columbia (along with Keith Anderson).
What went wrong? The label certainly doesn’t seem to have known what to do with the duo, whose excellent single ‘Even Now’ [...]

Album Review: Billy Yates – ‘Bill’s Barber Shop’

Billy Yates managed just one top 40 hit with ‘Flowers’ back in 1997, but since losing his major label deal he has released a string of records on his own MOD label, as well as forging a successful songwriting career.
Billy’s music is firmly rooted in mainstream traditional country. His voice is not exceptional, but [...]