Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
For many years my love for country music was quite an isolated one, as I know very few people in my daily life who even like it. In 2008 I started to read The 9513, an excellent country music blog, and began chatting to other fans on the associated forum. One of the other members, J. R. Journey, invited me and two others, Razor X and Erik, to join him on a brand new blog at the beginning of 2009. That blog has been an enormous part of my life for the past ten years. The writing team has changed a bit over that time, currently consisting of myself, Jonathan Pappalardo and Paul Dennis who was previously a contributor of The 9513). One of the things which I was struck by when we started was how generous and welcoming other country music bloggers were.
Sadly, our time has coincided with the decline of real country music as a viable commercial genre, with the major labels putting out pop and rock music disguised as country, and ‘country’ radio having effectively been taken over by stealth. We have done our best to seek out what good music is still being made – and it is out there, plus delving into allied genres like bluegrass. Our weekly chart feature shows the contrast between the hits of years past and those of today all too graphically.
In the last couple of years it has become harder for all of us to find the time to contribute, and with regret we have decided that the time has come to call it a day. We would not have made it this far without you, the loyal readers. Not many of you comment, but we know you have kept on reading and, hopefully, enjoying our contributions. We intend to leave the blog up, so you still have the chance to revisit old posts, but there will be no new content after today.
I hope we have reminded you of, and introduced you to, some great music, through our selection of Spotlight Artists, new music reviews and classic rewind video clips over the past ten and a half years. We have produced over 7000 posts, and most of you read the blog scrolling down the main page. Over the past decade, the post most specifically searched-for was one of Paul Dennis’s series of Favorite songs of the 1980s. We will miss writing for you all, and hope you don’t miss us too much.
Although the McCarters’ debut album had brought them some success, with top 10 hits, Warner Brothers thought they would do better if they modernised their sound a bit. They also decided that since Jennifer was very clearly the star of the group, she should get higher billing, and renamed the group Jennifer McCarter and the McCarters.
The first single from their second album Better Be Home Soon, produced by Paul Worley and Ed Seay, was ‘Up And Gone’, a sprightly up-tempo tune which was their third and last top 10 hit, peaking at #9. It was written by Verlon Thompson and Bill Caswell. The same writing team provided the next single, ‘Quit While I’m Behind’, which reached #26. It is another entertaining song, about deciding to dump a rubbish boyfriend who is cheating on her. ‘Betcha Gonna Love Me’, written by Caswell with Don Singleton, is in similar vein musically.
The title track is a ballad which, oddly, is a cover of a song by Australian rock band Crowded House. Jennifer’s vocal is lovely, but radio was not receptive when it was released as the third single.
Also a flop was the last single, ‘Shot Full Of Love’. This song, written by Bob McDill, was recorded numerous times by artists including Don Williams, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Juice Newton, Nicolette Larson, Chris LeDoux and Billy Ray Cyrus, but has never been a hit. It is about a player with a past who is transformed by discovering true love, and perhaps worked a bit better for a male artist, but is beautifully sung here:
Once I had a heart cold as ice
Love to me was only for fun
I made the mark for each broken heart
Like notches on the butt of a gunOnce I had a trick up my sleeve
And a reputation all over town
I was heartless and cold wherever I go
And I shut down every young boy I foundYes, I used to be a moonlight bandit
I used to be a heartbreak kid
Then I met you and the next thing I knew
There I was
Oh, shot full of loveWho’d have thought that someone like you
Could take a desperado like me
But oh, here I am
I’m as meek as a lamb
With my bleeding heart there at your feet
Sandy Emory’s song ‘I Haven’t Got A Prayer’ is a beautiful ballad with some pretty mandolin. ‘Mountain Memories’ is a charming throwback to the sounds of their first album.
‘Papa Sita’ is a sweet Mexican-flavored song written by Hugh Moffatt.
‘Slow Country Dance’ is a gorgeous waltz written by Mary Chapin Carpenter, who also recorded it:
Down at the bar a woman tells stories
Batting her eyes to someone not there
Her glass is half full (or maybe half empty)
Like the jokes told about her
When they think she don’t hear
Now the perfume is cheap and the makeup is careless
And the dress out of fashion for a woman her age
But she don’t give a damn for those who would cherish
A much lighter step or a much younger face
And love’s never easy or ever as true
When the changing of partners is no longer new
You lead with your heart, closing your eyes
And dance just to dance in three quarter time
The closing ‘I Don’t Wanna Cry Anymore’ is a great upbeat song written by Nancy Montgomery offering hope for the future.
This is not as good an album as the sisters’ debt, but it is still very good, and I would recommend it.
Grade: A
Released in late 1992, Love’s On The Way was the third album released on the Liberty label and his thirteenth major label studio album. Unfortunately it also signaled the end of Lee Greenwood as a viable chart artist. While the immediate prior release of patriotic songs, American Patriot, had sold platinum in the wake of the cowardly attacks of 9/11/01 and temporarily brought the fading Greenwood back into prominence, this more conventional album again failed to chart. The two singles released from the album made almost no impact – “Before I’m Ever Over You” made the slightest dent on the singles charts reaching #73 and the other single released, “I Never Thought Your Memory Would Ever Go This Far” failed to chart at all despite getting a favorable review in Billboard: “Perhaps country’s Phil Collins, Greenwood has a ballad to brag about. Slow and dreamy instrumentation sets the mood for Greenwood’s pristine performance.”
Of course, by the time this album was released, Greenwood had already turned fifty years old, and was rather long in the tooth for the youth-oriented playlists of the early 1990s. My copy of this album is on an audio cassette so I do not have the songwriter or production credits, although I was able to find the session personnel through other sources.
The album opens up with “Before I’m Ever Over You”, a mid-tempo rocker written by Sandy Ramos and Jerry Van Diver. This is followed by the tender ballads “In Other Words” and “Final Touches”
“Linda Lu” would have made an interesting single. The song was originally an R&B hit in 1959 for Ray Sharpe. Sharpe was sometimes described as the ‘the greatest white-sounding black dude ever’ and the song got some rockabilly airplay as well as R&B.
This is followed by “I Never Thought Your Memory Would Ever Go This Far” (discussed above).
“I Miss The Romance” is a decent nostalgic slow ballad. This is followed by the mid-tempo “Soldier Of Love” and another slow ballad in “Waiting On The Tables To Turn”. All three of these are what I would describe as album filler, albeit of decent quality.
On the other hand “She Wants To Be Wanted Again” is a good song that I can see being a hit had it occurred during Lee’s peak years or had it made its way to Kenny Rogers.
The album closes with the title track “Love’s On The Way”, given a very soulful treatment by Greenwood. This sounds like some something that T. Graham Brown or Con Hunley would have tackled successfully.
This album has a slightly more country sound than does some of his earlier albums; however, the early 1990s were the peak period for the “New Traditionalists” movement. Included among the musicians are such country stalwarts as Don Potter (acoustic guitar); Mark Casstevens (acoustic guitar, mandolin); Steve Gibson (electric guitar); Weldon Myrick & Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Brent Rowan (dobro, electric guitar, bass); Matt Rollings (piano); David Briggs (piano, synthesizer); Mike Lawler (synthesizer, organ); David Hungate, Michael Rhodes (bass); Paul Leim, Eddie Byers (drums); Ron “Snake” Reynolds (percussion); and Andrea Zonn, Greg Gordon, Donna McElroy, Russell Smith, Curtis Young, Carol Chase, Cindy Richardson, Karen Staley, J.D. Martin, Russell Smith (background vocals). Even so this is more of a ‘blue-eyed soul’ album than the market was buying at the time plus, of course, Lee was already well into middle age.
I didn’t dislike any of the songs, but I didn’t really love any of them either. I would give this album a C+ or B-.
It’s hard to believe, but 30 years ago today, Keith Whitley passed away from alcohol poisoning at age 33.
Garth Brooks Trisha Yearwood, Mark Chesnutt, Larry Cordle, Caleb Daugherty, Kevin Denney, Tom Buller, Wesley Dennis, Joe Diffie, Corey Farlow, Carl Jackson, Cory and Dustin Keefe, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Wills, Darryl Worley, and Jesse Keith Whitley and Whitley’s widow, Lorrie Morgan will perform in his honor at a special concert event in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMA Theatre this evening in Nashville. The event has been organized by Whitley and Morgan. An exhibit dedicated to him has also just opened at the CMHoF. More on the event HERE.
We pause to remember him with his signature song:
Erin Enderlin is developing into the best storyteller in country music today. Her latest EP builds on ‘Broken’, one of the songs on her last album, the acclaimed Whiskeytown Crier, and apparently continues its heroine’s story (although to be honest I wouldn’t have realised it was intended to be the same story without having been told). She has also created videos for each of the three songs.
‘Broken’ relates the woman’s early adult life without self-pity, marrying an abusive man at 18 and repeating the pattern of both their families. She decides to break the cycle by giving up her own baby for adoption, a brave but heartbreaking decision. Steel guitar weaves through the song adding its melancholy underpinning.
In ‘Till It’s Gone’, also from Whiskeytown Crier and written by Erin with Jon Randall and Jim ‘Moose’ Brown, we see her holed up in a motel room after leaving her man, drinking and smoking while reflecting on her choices.
The title track, ‘Tonight I Don’t Give A Damn’ is actually the only new song, and is a co-write with Brown and Jessi Jo Dillon. The narrator is unhappily married and contemplating a one stand to a Gene Watson soundtrack, despite knowing it will make her feel “more alone than I already am”. It is another melancholy steel-aced ballad, beautifully sung by Erin.
A further three EPs are intended to follow this year. In the meantime, the new song is well worth downloading.
In tribute to Keith Whitley:
The first incarnation of the Dixie Chicks comprised multi-instrumentalist sisters Emily and Martie Erwin, and sweet-voiced singers Laura Lynch and Robin Lee Macy. Their debut album was self-produced and self-released. The rawest of their work, it combines cowboy themes and bluegrass music, with quite a delicate feel.
The album opens with a cover of the joyful ‘The Cowboy Lives Forever’ which had previously been recorded by The Whites. Another delightful cover is of ‘I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart’.
Robin Lee Macy, Martie Erwin and Lisa Brandenburg wrote the title track, a charming tribute to the classic movie cowgirl and rejoicing in life as a musician. The Erwin sisters’ playing on the track is dazzling.
It is one of three songs co-written by Macy. ‘Thunderheads’ (also written with Lisa Brandenburg) is a poetic evocation of a dry Texas summer from the point of view of a farmer’s wife:
Supper’s on the table and there’s promise in the sky
And you’re out there on your ginger mare
You’re not praying so I do
Not so much a prayer for rain
As a desperate prayer for youThunderheads blow across the mesa
Like a heartless lover’s lie
Thunderheads across the mountains
As another dream goes by
They go like clouds from heaven
But the devil has to have his way
Thunderheads’ll bring you to your knees
And make you pray for a rainy dayI know you can’t admit it
That you’ve lost and nature’s won
That thunderheads will blow away
Across the dying sun
So don’t try to tell me darlin’
How your heart’s lost to the land
I don’t need your explanations
I just want to hold your hand
‘Storm Out On The Sea’, written by Macy with Mary Neal Northcutt, is equally poetic about a relationship in trouble.
‘West Texas Wind’ is a lovely song written by Jon Ims set to a beautiful melody. ‘Long Roads’ has a pretty tune. The very short ‘Who Will Be The Next One’ is a pretty folky song set to an upbeat tune. ‘This Heart Of Mine’ and ‘Green River’ are also attractive songs.
A couple of well played instrumentals are thrown in.
The album foreshadows their later eclecticism with an interesting arrangement of the soul classic ‘Bring It On Home To Me’. It is almost accappella with a faint percussive and finger-clicking backing to provide rhythm. ‘Rider’ is a traditional blues song given a bluegrass reworking.
This is a very listenable album with much to please lovers of acoustic music.
Grade: A-
The annual announcement ceremony took place this morning. It was supposed to be hosted by Reba McEntire, but what she had assumed was laryngitis is actually a strep infection. She’s also had to postpone a few concerts over the past week. Hopefully, she’ll still be able to host the ACM Awards on April 7.
The press conference begins at 32:23 minutes in:
Fred Foster, left, president of Monument Record Corp. and honorary chairman of the Music City section of the United Givers Fund campaign, looks on approvingly as one of the industry’s leading citizens, Chet Atkins, manager of RCA-Victor’s Nashville office, singing the first pledge card in the section Aug. 18, 1967. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean
Fred Foster was a country music legend. Over the course of his 60-year career, he founded Monument Records and helped launch the careers of Kris Kristofferson, Roy Orbison, and Dolly Parton. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016. He died on Wednesday, Feb 20, age 87.
Those are just some brief highlights. I could never sum up his pioneering career as well as Dave Paulson and Cindy Watts from The Tennessean, so I’ve linked to their fantastic obituary HERE.
Guitarist Harold Bradley of Owen Bradley’s Studio, here in the studio May 10, 1961, is one of six local musicians taking part in a demonstration of Nashville’s music as a part of the upcoming Nashville Arts Festival. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean
Bradley’s daughters announced on Facebook this morning their father passed peacefully in his sleep. Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, Bradley was a key member of Nashville’s “A-Team” of studio session musicians. As a guitarist, he played on legendary records from “Stand By Your Man” to “Crazy” and “Battle of New Orleans.” He was the younger brother of country music legend Owen Bradley, the famed record producer, who died twenty years ago.
Stephen L. Betts of Rolling Stone magazine wrote this about Bradley’s life and career:
Born in Nashville in 1926, Harold Ray Bradley was the younger brother of fellow Hall of Fame member Owen Bradley, who produced records by Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and many others. Although he first played banjo, the younger Bradley was given a six-dollar guitar purchased by his father in a junk store. By high school he was playing well enough to earn a spot in Ernest Tubb’s band the Texas Troubadours and also played in his brother’s popular dance band. Bradley served in the Navy and after his return began playing in the Grand Ole Opry house band, while also doing session work playing lead and rhythm guitar as well as bass. It was on the latter instrument that he popularized the “tic-tac” method, a muted style of playing that involved doubling a melody on six-string bass. Bradley’s first session took place in Chicago, playing on Pee Wee King’s “Tennessee Central No. 9” in 1946.
In the early Fifties, Owen and Harold opened several recording studios in Nashville, the most famous being the Quonset Hut on 16th Avenue South, part of the city’s then-burgeoning Music Row. Bradley would be among the most recorded musicians working in the style that would be known as “countrypolitan” or the “Nashville sound,” a blend of smooth pop and traditional country music. Among the more notable songs that include his work are the holiday classic, “Jingle Bell Rock,” which opens with his distinctive guitar riff and “The Battle of New Orleans,” which kicks off with a memorable banjo lick. Bradley also recorded a trio of instrumental LPs for Columbia Records in the early Sixties.
In 1978, Bradley was one of the organizers of a concert at the White House, given by Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty and Tom T. Hall to honor the Country Music Association. In 1999, he co-produced Mandy Barnett’s second LP, I’ve Got a Right to Cry, which featured four tracks produced by Owen Bradley just prior to his death in January 1998.
Bradley served as president of Nashville’s American Federation of Musicians from 1991 to 2008 and was the AFM’s International Vice President from 1999 to 2010. The first president of Nashville’s chapter of the Recording Academy, he was honored with a special Grammy Trustees Award in 2010.
Click here to read what Barnett had to say about Bradley’s passing.
Ray Stevens had this to say, as well.
As our friend Razor X pointed out to me, January has been a cruel month for fans of historical country music. Before we flip the page into February, I wanted to note the legends who are, sadly, no longer amongst us. I’ve chosen to eulogize them in descending order.
Russell passed away January 21 at age 87 following complications from heart and kidney disease. Along with her siblings Bonnie Brown Ring and Jim Ed Brown, she was a member of the trio The Browns, who were active from 1954-1968. The trio scored their biggest hit “The Three Bells” 60 years ago, spending 10 consecutive weeks at #1 from August 7-November 2, 1959. The trio was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015. Jim Ed, who went on to have a successful solo career with hits such as “Pop a Top” and “I Don’t Want to Have To Marry You” with Helen Cornelius, died in 2015 following a battle with lung cancer. The disease claimed their sister Bonnie in 2016.
Young passed away January 17 from heart failure at age 82. A guitarist, Young’s signature sound graced hundreds of rock, pop, and country records. He most famously worked with Elvis Presley and Waylon Jennings.
Perhaps the most recognizable name in this group, Channing was a Broadway legend who made her mark playing Dolly Gallagher Levi in the musical Hello Dolly, which premiered in 1964. While not known for impacting country music in any significant way, she had a duet with Webb Pierce in 1976, entitled “Got You On My Mind.” Channing passed on January 15 of natural causes at age 97.
Guitar, a country singer, guitarist, and business-woman, died January 12 at age 95. Please read our friend Paul W. Dennis’ Country Heritage Redux piece on her to learn more about her remarkable career. One of her biggest hits was “Dark Moon,” which was a #14 country single and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart:
Ripley was the lead singer of The Tractors. The group is best known for their iconic debut single “Baby Likes To Rock It,” which hit #11 in 1994:
A year later The Tractors released their Christmas album, which featured a holiday-themed take on the song entitled “Santa Claus is Comin’ (In A Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train):”
The album also featured “The Santa Claus Boogie,” written solely by Ripley:
The Tractors are perhaps also known for their spirited cover of the Rolling Stones classic “The Last Time.” which served as the lead single from Stone Country: Country Artists Perform the Songs of the Rolling Stones:
Those who have access to the RFD network have undoubtedly seen Dailey & Vincent’s weekly half-hour show. Those who have not seen the show nor seen the dynamic duo in person probably think of the duo as a bluegrass act but they are far more than that.
Yes, both Jamie Dailey & Darrin Vincent “D & V”) have bona fide bluegrass credentials. Dailey spent a decade as y the lead vocalist and guitarist for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver from 1999-2008. Darrin Vincent was a musician with Ricky Skaggs’ legendary band Kentucky Thunder and was also part of the famous bluegrass family group The Sally Mountain Show with his sister Rhonda Vincent. Rhonda, of course, is the Queen of Bluegrass having won numerous IBMA and SPBMA awards including seven Entertainer of the Year awards between the two organizations.
Bluegrass they may be, but Gale Mayes, Angie Primm, Aaron McCune, and Josh Cobb are far more than that, having absorbed many other forms of music into their collective souls. They have assembled a cast of excellent musicians and can field several variants of a vocal quartet, including a group that can easily replicate the sound of the legendary Statler Brothers.
The album opens with “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” which features some excellent saxophone and honors the rocking spirit of Brenda Lee’s original recording from 1958. Johnny Marks wrote the song. Jamie Dailey takes the lead on this number.
“Mary Did You Know”, written by Christian humorist Mark Lowry has become a Christmas classic since its first appearance in 1991. This may be the best version I have heard of the song. I think that Darrin takes the lead on this song.
“Road To Bethlehem” features Dolly Parton singing harmony and taking the lead on the second verse. Jimmy Fortunate and Jeff Bates wrote this mid-tempo ballad.
“Go Thee Down” is a nice ballad about the first persons to see the Christ child
“Let It Snow” is an old warhorse from the pens of Frank Sinatra’s favorite tunesmiths Sammy Kahn & Jule Styne. Although not specifically a Christmas song, this fan favorite, first recorded by Vaughn Monroe in 1945 reached #1 in January 1946 and has been associated with the holidays since then. Dailey and Vincent give the song an upbeat jazzy interpretation with brass and full orchestration.
“The Spirit of Christmas is typically associated with Ray Charles. Dailey & Vincent give it a straight-ahead treatment (there is no point trying to be more soulful than Ray Charles) and succeed nicely
Christmas is the time of year
For being with the one’s we love
Sharing so much joy and cheer
What a wonderful feeling
Watching the one’s we love
Having so much funI was sitting by the fire side
Taking a walk through the snow
Listening to a children’s choir
Singing songs about Jesus
The blessed way that he came to us
Why can’t it remain
“The Carol of the Bells” is usually cast as an instrumental so it is interesting to hear it performed as a vocal ensemble. “It’s a Very Merry Christmas: is a rather bland generic song that serves as a placeholder for the humorous and jazzy “Mr. Grinch”
“Mr. Grinch” was featured in the television special How The Grinch Stole Christmas that originally aired in 1966 and featured the legendary Boris Karloff as the voice of the Grinch. Thurl Ravenscroft was the actual singer (best known as the voice of Tony The Tiger in the Kelloggs commercials) on the soundtrack. I’m not sure that anyone could actually equal Ravenscroft, but it is fun to hear the song again.
“Frosty The Snowman” is another upbeat Christmas classic. Written by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson, the song was first performed by Gene Autry in 1950. I prefer Autry’s version, but D & V do a nice job with the song.
Next up is a medley of traditional Christmas carols consisting of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”, “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” and “Joy To The World” This medley is performed as a vocal quartet and sounds much the way I recall the Statler Brothers performing such tunes – very nice indeed.
It is hard to mess up “Jingle Bells” and D&V do a nice job with the song giving a Statler-esque spin to the number.
“Little Town of Bethlehem” is a standard carol that D&V treat respectfully. Piano is the dominant instrument on the track.
The album closes with a rocking Southern gospel rendition of “Go Tell It On The Mountain with bass singer Aaron McCune leading the way.
The additional vocalists on this album include Gale Mayes, Angie Primm, Aaron McCune, and Josh Cobb.
While there are some acoustic instruments on this album, dobro, mandolin, and banjo are not among them, so this album truly cannot be classified as bluegrass. I am a bit annoyed that nowhere on the disc or the packaging is the songwriters listed. If I have left the songwriter unidentified, it is because I could not find the information elsewhere
The review for this album is in accordance with how most will hear this album. Those lucky enough to purchase this at Cracker Barrel Restaurants will find two bonus tracks mixed within the album. “Silver Bells” is a fairly standard quartette treatment of an old Christmas favorite. “Tonight It’s Christmas” features Ricky Skaggs originally surfaced on Alabama’s album Christmas. It is a very nice track that should be more widely known:
The factories are all shut down and the shopping malls are all closed
And the busy streets are all empty except for the falling snow
And in the small towns, in the cities families gather as one
‘Cause the night of love and sharing they look forward to has come
’cause tonight is Christmas, tonight is love
Tonight we celebrate god’s one and only son
Tonight there’s hope for peace on earth eternally
Tonight is Christmas and the world’s in harmony
But across the seas two armies stare down at each other’s guns
Each believing in their cause enough to die or kill the other one
But tonight there’ll be no shooting, not a drop of blood will spill
They will cease their fire this silent night in the name of peace and goodwill
Sounds of Christmas defies categorization by genre – it is simply a great Christmas album, There is nothing new or revolutionary about the album, but it is excellent and I I like this album a lot. While it is not bluegrass and not necessarily country on every track, my tastes in Christmas music tend toward the very traditional and toward the religious meaning of the holiday. This album fits the bill completely.
It seems harder and harder to find great new music as the mainstream gets more pop oriemnted. However, some good music is still out there, and here are my favorite full-length albums this year.
10. Junior Sisk – ‘Brand New Shade Of Blue’
My favorite bluegrass album this year. Sometimes witty, sometimes lonesome, but a great listen.
Download now: ‘By Now I Would Be Dead’, ‘Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That’, ‘The Whiskey & The Guitar’
9. Josh Turner – I Serve A Savior
The best religious album of the year.
Download now: ‘I Saw The Light’, ‘Great Is Your Faithfulness’, ‘I Pray My Way Out Of Trouble’, ‘Me And God’
8. Jason Eady – ‘I Travel On’
The troubadour takes a bluegrass twist with this year’s fine set.
Download now: ‘She Had To Run’, ‘Below The Waterline’, ‘I Travel On’, ‘I Lost My Mind In Carolina’
7. Randall King – ‘Randall King’
I’m afraid I didn’t get around to reviewing this promising debut album, but it’s a strong introduction with a 90s neotraditional country vibe.
Download now: ‘Reason To Quit’, ‘Mirror, Mirror’, ‘Dent In It’
6. Dillon Carmichael – Hell On An Angel
Sometimes sublime, sometimes a bit too heavy on the Southern Rock, this remains the debut of the year.
Download now: ‘That’s What Hank Would Do’, ‘Dixie Again’, ‘Hard On A Hangover’, ‘Natural Disaster’
5. Courtney Patton – What It’s Like To Fly Alone
Courtney Patton produced my favorite album of 2015. This year’s follow up was not quite as good, but still extremely rewarding.
Download now: ‘Devil’s Hand’, ‘Round Mountain’, ‘Words to My Favorite Memory’, ‘Red Bandana Blue’, ‘Open Flame’
4. Josh Ward – ‘More Than I Deserve
Solid traditional country from Texas.
Download now: ‘One More Shot Of Whiskey’, ‘Say Hello To Goodbye’, ‘The Devil Don’t Scare Me’, ‘More Than I Deserved’
3. Adam Harvey – The Nashville Tapes
Great neotraditional country from the deep voiced Australian who was our last Spotlight Artist.
Download now: ‘What A Song Can Do’, ‘When Willie’s Gone’, ‘We’ll Have To Drink Our Way Out Of This’, ‘I’d Rather Be A Highwayman’, ‘Three Rivers Hotel’
2. Loretta Lynn – ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great’
The legend returns with a fabulous mix of sassy growing old disgracefully and emotional ballads.
Download now: ‘Ruby’s Stool’, ‘Lulie Vars’, ‘Another Bridge To Burn’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great?’
1. Kayla Ray – Yesterday & Me
The Jason Eady-helmed project allos an excellent singer songwriter to shine.
Download now: ‘Once A Week Cheaters’, ‘Things Only Years Can Teach A Woman’, ‘Fair Warning’, ‘Rockport’.
Bonus selection: Tim Culpepper – DUI
I omitted this fabulous traditional honky tonk projct as it has only eight tracks. But what there is is outstanding.
Download now: ‘Under The Influence’, ‘Another Way To Try’, ‘She Only Loves Me’, ‘Sad Ole Country Song’
My Kind of Country 