Album Review: Brooks & Dunn – ‘Brand New Man’

In 1990, Tim DuBois, an executive with Arista Records’ newly established Nashville division, introduced two struggling solo artists named Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn and suggested that they record together as a duo. Few, if any, realized at the time that the meeting would result in the formation of one of the most successful [...]

Album Review: Terri Clark – ‘The Long Way Home’

Following her exit from long-time label home Mercury Records in 2006, Terri Clark inked a deal with BNA Records just a few months later.  Under the Sony imprint, she released two singles to radio, but both stalled just inside the Top 40 on the U.S. Country chart.  Both were bona fide hits in her native [...]

Classic Rewind: Garth Brooks – ‘Ain’t Goin’ Down Til the Sun Comes Up’

This is a clip from Garth’s legendary Central Park Concert in August 1997.

Discussion: Crossover roots?

Last week, this article about Taylor Swift’s crossover success got me to thinking about not only Swift, but other country stars who have met with major success in pop and adult contemporary markets.  It’s a mixed bag among the genre’s most steadfast supporters, while we welcome all the new listeners and fans to the format, somehow [...]

Secret tracks

Reading the comments section on one of the many country blogs I read, I came across a thought that resonated with me.  The comment was about when you find an album cut that you love as much or more than the album’s radio singles – the singles are usually the reason you bought the album [...]

Album Review: George Strait – ‘Blue Clear Sky’

Blue Clear Sky was George Strait’s seventeenth studio album when it was released in 1996.  At the time, country music was still riding the wave of the 90s sales boom, and George Strait was right in the thick of things for the duration of that period.  This was the first Strait album I ever bought, [...]

Recommendation: Should have been a hit

I’ve heard several people say that Gary Allan’s ‘Half of My Mistakes’ should have been released to radio. I’m inclined to agree with them.  It was my favorite track on his Living Hard album from the first listen, and has held that spot ever since.  While the album housed 3 successful singles, with each declining [...]

Album Review: Kim Williams – ‘The Reason That I Sing’

I’ve mentioned before that I always enjoy hearing songwriters’ own interpretations of songs which they have written for other artists. The latest example comes from Kim Williams, a name you should recognize if you pay attention to the songwriting credits. Kim has been responsible for no fewer than 16 number 1 hits, and [...]

The bottle that pours the wine: Songs about songwriting

It’s always about the song in country music. Whether the writer sings the song or not, a topic Razor X raised last week, the song itself is what everything else ultimately depends on. One of the things I love about country music is the range of subjects it tackles, but the thing most songwriters [...]

Album Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘Complicated’

Rainy walks, a midnight talk, dance me on your feet
Hold me close, don’t let go, all I’ll ever need
Is a single rose, a kiss hello, that smile upon your face
The tender way, you say my name takes my breath away
Little things
The first single released from Tanya Tucker’s 1997 album, Complicated, was the romantic ‘Little Things’ [...]

More than one outlet

Hank Williams recorded under the guise of Luke the Drifter in the early 1950s, Garth Brooks was Chris Gaines, and George Jones as a rockabilly singing duck.  These are just a few of the alter egos country music has created.  An alter ego is a second self – ‘the other I’.  So what drives a [...]

Create a covers album

There are some songs that are so closely associated with their original performers that they just sound foreign coming from the mouths of even the best singers. Covers albums can be a blessing or a curse for this reason. And in my opinion, some get it right and some don’t. Some artists make [...]

Recommendation: ‘Garth Must Be Busy’

I miss Garth Brooks too.

Recommendation: Songs about rain

It’s raining again today in southern Ohio, and it has been for the better part of a week now.  A couple days ago, during a particularly torrential downpour, I was sitting here listening to music and decided to search the word ‘rain’ in my media library.  And I have to say I was surprised at [...]

Class of ‘89 Album Review: ‘Garth Brooks’

Garth Brooks’ debut album is the only diamond-selling Class of ‘89 album.  It’s success was eclipsed only by Garth Brooks’ own album releases into the early 1990s.  While the album peaked at only #2 on the country albums chart and #13 on the all-genre chart, its singles sent Garth Brooks’ star soaring into the stratosphere, [...]

Defining songs

Sometimes a singer records a song that just completely defines who they are as an artist and a person.  Other times an artist records a song that’s not so autobiographical, but the fans embrace it as the truth.  
George Strait’s 2008 single ‘Troubadour’ sums up the man and the legend that is George Strait better [...]

Meet the Class of ‘89

Class of ‘89 Album Review: Suzy Bogguss – ‘Somewhere Between’

Suzy Bogguss is not one of the names usually associated with the “Class of ‘89″, as it was another couple of years before she really broke through commercially, but her debut album Somewhere Between was one of my personal favorite releases of 1989.
The best adjective I can find to describe Suzy’s voice is pure – [...]

Class of ‘89 Album Review: Clint Black – ‘Killin’ Time’

I remember well the day back in February 1989 that I first heard a new song on the radio called “A Better Man”. I stopped what I was doing to give it my full attention, and thought to myself, “That is the best Merle Haggard song I’ve heard in years. I can’t remember the last [...]

Spotlight Artist: The Class of ‘89

 

1989 was a watershed year for country music, as a number of new acts either made their debuts or enjoyed their first commercial breakthroughs. Some veteran acts experienced reinvigorated careers that year, while others showed signs of declining chart power and were banished from the radio airwaves.

Among the alumni of the Class of ‘89, [...]