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

1984: Willie Nelson – City of New Orleans (Sony)
1989: Randy Travis – No Holdin’ Back (Warner Brothers)
1994: Mary Chapin Carpenter – Stones In The Road (Columbia)
1999: LeAnn Rimes – LeAnn Rimes (Curb)
2004: George Strait – 50 Number Ones (MCA)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Week ending 10/31/09: #1 albums this week in country music history

1984: Willie Nelson – City of New Orleans (Sony)
1989: Clint Black – Killin’ Time (RCA)
1994: Mary Chapin Carpenter – Stones In The Road (Columbia)
1999: The Dixie Chicks – Fly (Monument)
2004: George Strait – 50 Number Ones (MCA)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

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 [...]

Week ending 10/24/09: #1 albums this week in country music history

1984: Willie Nelson – City of New Orleans (Sony)
1989: Clint Black – Killin’ Time (RCA)
1994: Mary Chapin Carpenter – Stones In The Road (Columbia)
1999: The Dixie Chicks – Fly (Monument)
2004: George Strait – 50 Number Ones (MCA)
2009: Toby Keith – American Ride (Show Dog Nashville)

Week ending 10/10/09: #1 albums this week in country music history

1984: Willie Nelson – City of New Orleans (Sony)
1989: Clint Black – Killin’ Time (RCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: The Dixie Chicks – Fly (Monument)
2004: Keith Urban – Be Here (Capitol)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

Week ending 10/3/09: #1 albums this week in country music history

1984: Willie Nelson – City of New Orleans (Sony)
1989: Clint Black – Killin’ Time (RCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: The Dixie Chicks – Fly (Monument)
2004: Tim McGraw -Live Like You Were Dying (Curb)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

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 [...]

Week ending 9/19/09: #1 albums this week in country music history

1984: Hank Williams, Jr. – Major Moves (Warner Bros/Curb)
1989: Reba McEntire – Sweet Sixteen (MCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: The Dixie Chicks – Fly (Monument)
2004: Tim McGraw -Live Like You Were Dying (Curb)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

Week ending 8/22/09: #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: A Boy Named Sue — Johnny Cash (Columbia)
1979: The Devil Went Down to Georgia — The Charlie Daniels Band (Epic)
1989: Sunday In The South – Shenandoah (Columbia)
1999: Amazed – Lonestar (BNA)
2009: You Belong With Me – Taylor [...]

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)

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

1984: Hank Williams Jr. – Major Moves (Warner Brothers)
1989: Reba McEntire – Sweet Sixteen (MCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: Shania Twain – Come On Over (Mercury)
2004: Jimmy Buffett – License To Chill (Mailboat)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

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

1984: Hank Williams Jr. – Major Moves (Warner Brothers)
1989: Reba McEntire – Sweet Sixteen (MCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: Shania Twain – Come On Over (Mercury)
2004: Jimmy Buffett – License To Chill (Mailboat)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

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

1984:  Hank Williams Jr. – Major Moves (Warner Brothers)
1989:  Reba McEntire – Sweet Sixteen (MCA)
1994: Tim McGraw – Not A Moment Too Soon (Curb)
1999: Shania Twain – Come On Over (Mercury)
2004: Jimmy Buffett – License To Chill (Mailboat)
2009: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

R-r-r-r-remix time!

Remixes are a foreign concept in country music- in my opinion, good country music shouldn’t ever have to be remixed in any other way. A remix makes me think “What, it wasn’t good enough the original way? Why is this better?” Usually country songs, if remixed, will be remixed for pop radio, like Taylor Swift’s [...]

Album Review: Sarah Jarosz – ‘Song Up In Her Head’

I have a few things in common with Sarah Jarosz, a new addition to label Sugar Hill’s roster. We both:
- love to listen to music in the car
- are 18
- are National Honor Society members
- just graduated from high school
- are going to college in the fall (Me in Utah, her in Massachusetts)
- love bluegrass [...]

Album Review: Julie Roberts – ‘Men & Mascara’

After the semi-success that was her self-titled debut, Julie returned to the fans in 2006 with Men & Mascara. This time around she hired Byron Gallimore; the man responsible for producing Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, both of whom have turned out to be two of the biggest hit makers in the genre.  Any sane person [...]

Signature songs from superb singers

This past year, Taylor Swift had a massive hit in “Love Story.” I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It went to #1 on 3 charts worldwide, including the American and Canadian County charts as well as Australia’s all-genre chart. Beyond that, “Love Story” went into the top 5 on U.S. Billboard’s Hot 100, Pop 100 [...]