Week ending 11/14/09: #1 singles this week in country music history

1949: Slippin’ Around — Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely (Capitol)
1959: Country Girl – Faron Young (Capitol)
1969: Okie From Muskogee – Merle Haggard (Capitol)
1979: Come With Me – Waylon Jennings (RCA)
1989: Burnin’ Old Memories – Kathy Mattea (Mercury)
1999: I Love You — Martina McBride (RCA)
2009: Toes – Zac Brown Band (Atlantic)

A genre by any other name …

Anyone who reads a country music blog for any length of time, is at some point bound to come across a heated discussion about what country music is and what it is not. There are no cut and dry definitions, and a lot of songs borrow heavily from different styles, and are thus, hard [...]

The year of the tribute

Several of my favorite artists have chosen 2009 as the year to pay tribute to the songs and artists that built country music as a commercial genre, and made it the American art form it is today.  Collections from Wynonna and Tanya Tucker released earlier this year have both contained songs from the Great American [...]

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: George Strait – ‘Somewhere Down In Texas’

In 2005, twenty-four years into his hit-making career, George Strait released Somewhere Down In Texas, a collection of laid-back songs that contrasted 2003’s Honkytonkville’s hard honky-tonk sound.  The album landed at the top of the country albums chart as well as the all-genre Billboard 200 and was certified platinum.  It also provided Strait with another [...]

Week ending 9/26/09: #1 albums this week in country music history

1984: Merle Haggard – It’s All In The Game (Epic)
1989: Clint Black – Killin’ Time (RCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: The Dixie Chicks – Fly (Monument)
2004: Alan Jackson – What I Do (Arista)
2009: Brooks & Dunn – #1’s and Then Some (Arista)

Album Review: George Strait – ‘Strait From The Heart’

George Strait’s sophomore effort finds him repeating the same winning formula of his debut, from teaming up once again with producer Blake Mevis, to working a pun based on his last name into the album title. Released in June 1982, Strait From The Heart attempts to strike a balance between Strait’s traditional country [...]

Album Review: Shane Worley – ‘Mister Purified Country’

It’s easy to get discouraged by the state of today’s country radio and the majority of major-label releases. But there are still artists out there making real country music, even if most of them are on independent labels and can be hard to track down sometimes. One singer I’ve been interested in for [...]

Album Review: Gene Watson – ‘Taste Of The Truth’

Gene Watson is one of my all-time favorite singers, and it is good to report that he is still sounding great at the age of 65. Listening to his new album, his second for independent label Shanachie, is like listening to a masterclass in singing country music, a subtle rendering of understated emotion. [...]

The Song Remembers When

Whether it’s a breakthrough hit for a newcomer or a song that finally makes us fans of an established act to whom we’ve previously not paid much attention, we can all remember that one song that made an impression on us and made us become fans of the artist.   Prior to 1980, I didn’t have [...]

Album Review: Wade Hayes – ‘Place To Turn Around’

Wade Hayes was one of the more underrated of the 90s neotraditionalists, scoring only six top 10 hits in his career. I always liked his melancholy-tinged voice, and I was pleased to find he has released his first album in nine years. It’s very much an independent effort, with Wade writing or co-writing [...]

Week ending 8/15/09: #1 singles this week in country music history

1949: I’m Throwing Rice (At The Girl I Love) — Eddy Arnold (RCA)
1959: Waterloo – Stonewall Jackson (Columbia)
1969: Workin’ Man Blues – Merle Haggard (Capitol)
1979: Coca Cola Cowboy – Mel Tillis (MCA)
1989: Timber, I’m Falling In Love — Patty Loveless (MCA)
1999: Amazed – Lonestar (BNA)
2009: You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift (Big Machine)

Classic Rewind: Merle Haggard – ‘Hungry Eyes’

Album Review – John Anderson – ‘Wild And Blue’

Wild And Blue was John Anderson’s fourth album, released in 1982, and it provided the springboard for a major change in his career.
It was produced, like I Just Came Home To Count The Memories, by John with the Canadian Frank Jones who had worked with some of the all-time greats, including, at various times, Lefty [...]

Singers & songwriters

Country music has a long, rich heritage of artists who were both accomplished singers and songwriters — Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton are just a few examples of those who excelled not only as vocalists, but at writing their own material. Others, like George Strait and Reba McEntire, have occasionally [...]

Classic Rewind: John Anderson with Merle Haggard & The Strangers – ‘Swinging Doors’

Featuring the late Bonnie Owens singing harmony:

Album Review: Keith Whitley – ‘Sad Songs and Waltzes’

There are very few that can sing a sad one like Keith Whitley. At least that’s what I’ve discovered in our recent Spotlight Artist feature on Keith in May. So it’s appropriate that one of the posthumous releases featuring Keith’s vocals is titled Sad Songs and Waltzes. As a relatively new fan of country music, I fell [...]

Album Review: John Anderson – ‘John Anderson 2′

As the title suggests, John Anderson 2, was the singer’s second studio album for Warner Brothers, released in 1981. Produced by Norro Wilson, it picked up where the previous year’s debut album left off, calling on some of Nashville’s premier songwriters and musicians, and stood in stark contrast to the typical Urban Cowboy fare of [...]

Classic Rewind: Merle Haggard – ‘Mama Tried’

Spotlight Artist: John Anderson

John Anderson has been one of the most distinctive voices in country music for nearly 30 years, and although his career has seen more ups and downs than some of his contemporaries, it has endured and his latest album, Bigger Hands was released last month. He is one of my personal favorites, and I [...]