Single Review: Brad Paisley – ‘American Saturday Night’

As I stated in my review from way back in June of the album that’s named after this song, I’ve always just been a casual fan of Brad Paisley. That’s why I was so surprised by American Saturday Night- it just clicked with me, not to mention it was a surprising quality album from a [...]

Single Review: Sugarland – ‘Keep You’

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland tried to write an “emotional song about being numb,” and the product of this little exercise is their new single “Keep You”. (The music video premiers on CMT on October 2nd) What strikes me most about the song is about how it builds steadily. It starts off with [...]

Single Review: Taylor Swift – ‘Fifteen’

So far with Taylor Swift’s new singles, I’ve noticed a pattern. While the first and third singles (“Love Story” and “You Belong With Me”) from Fearless were both a little faster and remixed to pop radio, the other two (“White Horse” and “Fifteen”) are slower songs that stay within Country radio. Fortunately, the slower songs [...]

Single Review: Carrie Underwood – ‘Cowboy Casanova’

A while back I must have become a follower of Carrie Underwood on Facebook, because after returning from the library, I saw a notice of her new single on my news feed- and I decided to give it a listen. I enjoyed Carnival Ride at first, but after a while, I got sick of it [...]

Single Review: Miranda Lambert – ‘White Liar’

As of now, Miranda Lambert’s Revolution is one of my most anticipated albums of 2009, a list including the likes of Nelly Furtado’s Mi Plan and Patty Loveless’ Mountain Soul II (Interesting bunch, eh?). “Dead Flowers” was seemingly a step in a new musical direction for Miranda, but “White Liar” is more country and all [...]

Single Review: Lady Antebellum – ‘Need You Now’

Reading the other day, I was surprised that Lady Antebellum was already promoting a new album- after three hit singles from their debut album. Lady A’s trade mark is slick pop-country, like their most recent hit, “I Run To You” (Read the review here), something that can be good if done right.
Thankfully, their new single [...]

Single Review: Reba McEntire – ‘Consider Me Gone’

It’s difficult to review the new work of an artist who has enjoyed great longevity without making comparisons to the artist’s vast back catalog. After being largely absent from the country music scene for most of the past decade, doing Broadway and making a sitcom, Reba McEntire has finally turned her full attention back [...]

Single Review: Jamey Johnson – ‘My Way To You’

After constantly hearing amazing things about Jamey Johnson’s sophomore album, That Lonesome Song, I had to buy it. I enjoyed most of it, but it didn’t quite blow me away like I thought it would. Now, hearing about his new single, I heard similar hype, but I didn’t quite believe it all. From what I [...]

Single Review: Darryl Worley – ‘Sounds Like Life To Me’

There are those songs that just stick with you and gnaw at you sometimes. This is one of those songs for me. To be honest, I didn’t like it very much in the beginning, not so much because of the music or Worley’s interpretation, but because it just seemed so insensitive.
You probably know the story [...]

Single Review: Zac Brown Band – ‘Toes’

Everybody who is sick and tired of Kenny Chesney’s brand of island-themed hits should definitely take a listen to the Zac Brown Band’s latest single, ‘Toes’.  Come to think of it, it would behoove Chesney to take a few notes on this one, too.  He just might learn a thing or two about how to [...]

Single Review: Brad Paisley – ‘Welcome To The Future’

In my recent foray into Twitter, I became a follower of Brad Paisley. Here’s the first message I saw from him, accompanied by a picture of Pac-Man on an iPhone:
My in flight entertainment this evening. Welcome to the future.
I was puzzled by the meaning of this picture until I heard the song “Welcome To The [...]

Single Review: Montgomery Gentry – ‘Long Line of Losers’

Driving home late from work the other day, I heard a song on the radio and I was shocked — it sounded country! I heard some wonderful dobro work and what sounded like Montgomery Gentry, and I recognized it as their new single, “Long Line Of Losers”. Even further, I liked the song! Coming off their [...]

Single Review: Sara Evans – ‘Feels Just Like A Love Song’

In 2006, Sara Evans was riding high.  She was the reigning female vocalist for the Academy of Country Music and had ridden the hits from her 2005 release Real Fine Place to the upper reaches of the chart.  She was also appearing that fall on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and was about as high-profile [...]

Single Review: George Strait – ‘Living For The Night’

Honestly, I’ve never been a big George Strait fan. I’ve known some of his songs, his more recent hits, and on a whim I bought Troubadour this past January. When I got it, there were a few good tracks, but it never caught with me and I stopped listening to it.
However, this new Strait [...]

Single Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘Pecos Promenade’

This insanely catchy dance tune hit the scene long before the line-dancing craze of the early 1990s, but I have a feeling if those young country fans had done their homework back then, this one would have been getting played in the host of country dance clubs that dotted the nation from Atlanta to Seattle [...]

Single Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘Lizzie and the Rainman’

The extraordinary run of success enjoyed by the teenage Tanya Tucker is illustrated by the fact that she was still only 16 when she recorded the story song ‘Lizzie and the Rainman’. It was her fourth #1 hit, and her first single for a new record label, MCA.
As so often with Tanya’s choice of [...]

Single Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)?’

As we have already seen, Tanya was never afraid of controversial song choices, and in 1973, when she was still only 15, she picked David Allan Coe’s song ‘Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)?’ as the title track and lead-off single of her third album, released in December that year. [...]

Single Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘Blood Red and Goin’ Down’

Few songs illustrate the stark changes that have taken place at country radio over the past thirty-odd years better than “Blood Red and Goin’ Down.” Nowadays radio is programmed to appeal to the soccer moms and the subject matter is kept light and non-controversial (in other words, bland.) As such, a song such as this [...]

Single Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘What’s Your Mama’s Name’

Released in 1973, “What’s Your Mama’s Name” was the title track and lead single from Tanya Tucker’s second album for Columbia Records. Written by Earl Montgomery and the legendary Dallas Frazier and produced by Billy Sherrill, this is a typical country music story song in three verses.
In the first verse we are introduced to a [...]

Single Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘Delta Dawn’

When a 13 year-old Tanya Tucker was inked a recording contract with Columbia Records, she knew just the kind of songs she wanted to sing – and the kind she didn’t want to sing. Legend has it Tucker was pitched the song ‘Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A’ and turned it down, saying it was [...]