Album Review: Sonny Burgess – ‘Have You Got A Song Like That?’

Texan Sonny Burgess is one of those relatively obscure artists who are still making traditionally-rooted country music. This is his third album, and although it was released some months ago, has only recently come my way. It is produced by successful songwriter Kerry Kurt Phillips, who does a fine job. Sonny’s voice [...]

Learning to eat broccoli

I was one of those kids who refused to eat vegetables; mealtimes were often a battle of wills with my parents — battles, that more often than not, I won. If left to my own devices, I would have quite happily subsisted on an all junk food diet. Of course, I wasn’t alllowed to do [...]

Week ending 11/21/09: #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: Bayou Boys — Eddy Raven (Capitol)
1999: I Love You — Martina McBride (RCA)
2009: Cowboy Casanova – Carrie Underwood (19/Arista)

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)

Spotlight Artist: Brooks & Dunn

In addition to hosting the show in 2004-2006, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are also the two winningest artists in CMA Awards history. As a duo, they have collected 18 trophies, a tie with Vince Gill. But Ronnie Dunn’s solo win in 2006 for ‘Believe’ as Song of the Year tipped his total wins to [...]

Classic Rewind: Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings – ‘There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang’

Album Review: Jackson Taylor & The Sinners – ‘Aces ‘N Eights’

Singer-songwriter Jackson Taylor was born in Texas as one of 11 children of a migrant laborer, and raised wherever his father found work. I picked up his 2007 album Dark Days earlier this year, and was impressed by it. He has followed that up this year with a new release for Smith Entertainment, [...]

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 [...]

Classic Rewind: Waylon Jennings – ‘Mental Revenge’

Album Review: John Anderson – ‘Blue Skies Again’

After the monster hit that was ‘Swinging’ the only way was down for John Anderson. He continued to incorporate pop and rock influences in his music for few years after All The People Are Talking, with diminishing returns both commercially and artistically. He was still hitting the top 10 sporadically, but in 1987 [...]

Classic Rewind: Waylon Jennings – ‘Luckenbach, Texas’

Week ending 7/11/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: One Kiss Too Many — Eddy Arnold (RCA)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Statue of a Fool — Jack Greene (Decca)
1979: Amanda – Waylon Jennings (RCA)
1989: Lovin’ Only Me — Ricky Skaggs (Epic)
1999: Write This Down — George Strait (MCA)
2009: Sideways – Dierks Bentley (Capitol)

Week ending 7/4/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: One Kiss Too Many — Eddy Arnold (RCA)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Statue of a Fool — Jack Greene (Decca)
1979: Amanda – Waylon Jennings (RCA)
1989: Come From The Heart — Kathy Mattea (Mercury)
1999: Write This Down — George Strait (MCA)
2009: Sideways – Dierks Bentley (Capitol)

Happy Independence Day

Here’s a selection of some of my favorite songs about America.  They’re not ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’, but they all make a statement about the state of our nation.  And though most of these tracks are 20 years old or more now, their message still rings true.   So Happy Independence Day and enjoy some [...]

Week ending 6/27/09: #1 this week in country music

1949: One Kiss Too Many — Eddy Arnold (RCA)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Running Bear — Sonny James (Capitol)
1979: Amanda – Waylon Jennings (RCA)
1989: I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party — Rosanne Cash (Columbia)
1999: Write This Down — George Strait (MCA)
2009: Out Last Night — Kenny Chesney (BNA)

Album Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘TNT’

In her 1997 autobiography Nickel Dreams , Tanya Tucker referred to TNT as her first million-selling album and the one that nearly killed her career. In 1977, in need of professional management, she was referred to a Los Angeles firm called Far Out Management, who had managed a number of pop [...]

Class of ‘89 Album Review: Travis Tritt – ‘Country Club’

Like Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt just sneaks in as a member of the Clas of ‘89. Although his debut album was not released until 1990, the first single came out in 1989. Travis was less traditional than many of his peers, but he brought a distinctive, southern-rock-influenced flavor to the country charts which marked out his [...]

Country’s greatest duos

 
Few things satisfy a country music fan more than when two of one’s favorite solo performers announce plans to go into the studio and record together.  Country music has a long and rich history of producing collaborations with such great chemistry that they threatened to overshadow the solo work of the same artists. Perhaps that’s [...]

A lasting impression

In country music today, a great deal of mediocrity has been allowed to slip into the genre – where at one time, only legends and great ones stood. Now that’s not to say that every new artist is recording interchangable and forgettable tunes. But it seems the ratio of disposable songs to standards has taken [...]

But are they any good?

This review by the fabulous Jim Malec over at the9513 and the ensuing comments got me to thinking about how patriotic songs are received by the general listening public. There is of course that portion of the population who are going to love anything mildly patriotic and pull the little flag out of their back [...]