Country music

[TimWresPowr]

I'm pretty much the only poster in a country music thread on another board so thought I'd drag some content over here.

 

Personally I'm into more of the singer/songwriter types, I like the stuff that is a hybrid of rock & country with some folk mixed in. Not much into the pop fluffy/radio friendly stuff but I do enjoy 80% of what is on country radio as long as it's not played to death. Automatic channel switchers for me: Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, and sometimes Zac Brown Band.Some recommendations I've written about this year:

 

--Ashley Monroe released her first solo CD (she's 1/3 of Pistol Annies), "Like A Rose". She had tried 6+ years ago with a solo career but I'm pretty sure due to label disputes, etc. nothing ever got a proper release. Good classic country sound to this one.

 

--Kacey Musgraves' "Same Trailer, Different Park" is her first national, mainstream release. I've been a fan of hers since 2008 and have an autographed CD from that time. (She opened for Miranda & Blake at Ran's first ever Cause For The Paws.) Apparently that particular CD is very hard to come by/expensive online nowadays. But there's an excellent cover on there of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". Anyway, glad to see she's finally made it. It's almost shocking just how fast she went from being an unknown, 4 years removed from her Texas-only releases and just having a songwriter deal to now all of a sudden she's got award nominations and opening spot on the Kenny Chesney tour. Hopefully she has the maturity & work ethic now to capitalize on this success as she was kind of seen as lazy and not motivated when she was still in Texas. This CD is quite different than most mainstream country releases and to me is a blow-away artistic success and if there's any justice should win all Album of the Year awards.

 

--Highly recommend "Classic" by Terri Clark which is a collection of covers & duets of classic country songs. Great CD!--Eric Church's Live CD is awesome and there are 3-4 bonus tracks floating around too. The obsession continues. Get a testosterone boost by listening to this.

 

--Pistol Annies and Natalie Maines CDs came out on the same day in May. Annies is really good. Maines' disc is not 100% my style, some of the songs I really like, some are not my style but it's definitely an artistic success. I've been a huge Dixie Chix mark from way back.--"Thorn In My Heart" Kim RicheyKim was my favorite singer from 1995 to 2005. She's one of my favorite people to talk to when I see her live and I consider her more like family or a friend than an artist I'm a mark for. I'm a Kim completist as I have everything she's ever put out including a lot of CD singles. Only thing I'm missing is "Little Record 3" which is only sold at live shows. Over the past few years, Kim's music and my tastes in music are going in direct opposite directions. This one unfortunately MAY be the end of the road on me buying her music. She's gotten a lot more into the "lounge singer" type stuff and this one has even more slow-tempo ballady stuff than her previous 2 releases. No surprise that my favorite song on here is the most up-tempo one. Her voice is still amazing and I admire the art that she, Dan & Neilson created here on this CD but honestly it's just too slow & mellow for me. She's not quite to Mary Chapin Carpenter levels of "put you to sleep" ballady stuff but she's trending that way unfortunately. I've only listened to it once but I much prefer Chinese Boxes and Wreck Your Wheels for Kim's post-US living creations.--"Chaos & Bright Lights" The McClymontsSo a lot of times I try not to get multiple discs at a time so I don't directly compare them but within 30 seconds of listening to this I was like, "now this is more my speed" after listening to Kim's disc. I had been hearing of these 3 sisters for years from people that attend CMAFest. They are from Australia and always played the Int'l Showcase show before Fanfair each year. It wasn't until last year that I ever heard them and I fell for them immediately. Very catchy, upbeat stuff here. This is their 2010 release (I had gotten their most recent one when I met them last year) and they are on par with each other. Beautiful vocals & harmonies. It's really a shame these girls are unknown in the states as any of the songs on the 2 discs I own would fit right in on today's country radio. Talent & good looks, what a combo. You can't go wrong listening to any McClymonts' music.

 

--Matt Mason's new EP: A word of warning, it's a burned CD (greenback) rather than a pressed CD so budget must be tight. But it's highly recommended if you are a fan of Matt's music. My wife commented that there's a lot of drinking & drugs in the songs but a lot of that has been whitewashed off country radio these days. I really wish Matt hadn't been screwed out of whatever was promised him for winning CMT Next Superstar and that he will see an uptick in popularity & success because the talent is there.

 

--"Amelita" by Court Yard Hounds. This is the 2 sisters from the Dixie Chicks if you aren't aware. Upon first listen, I think I like this one more than their first CD as this has more rockers on it. If you like Sheryl Crow style with some fiddle and more country picking thrown in, give this one a try!

[Death From Above]

 

 

 

 

Mainstream country radio is horrible but once you get out of Nashville there's a lot of good stuff going on in country the last few years. I don't check out a ton of alt-country but the majority of it that I do is really strong right now.

[Isaacduke]

Hey Tim, I don't know how big of a fan of Jamey Johnson's you are, but I was surprised to find that he is touring smallish rock clubs right now, with a stop in Raleigh coming up. I'm guessing he'll be coming around your neck of the woods too.

[LooseCannon]

Musicians I have listed as country or bluegrass (including country-rock and country-pop) in my iTunes library with at least four songs rated four stars or more:

 

Alison Krauss

Big & Rich

Dierks Bentley

The Trio (Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt)

Emmylou Harris

Jimmy Buffett

Johnny Cash

Lucinda Williams

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Patty Loveless

Taylor Swift

Trick Pony

Willie Nelson

The Wreckers

 

Acts that I am surprised didn't make the cut (mostly because I probably haven't rated as many songs as I could have):

Asleep at the Wheel

George Strait

Nickel Creek

Niel Young

Patsy Cline

The Seldom Scene

Uncle Tupelo

 

I've reached the point where my library is big enough that I don't feel the need to seek out new stuff so the only recent stuff I know is crossover country that you can here on top 40 pop radio stations.  Still, if you can detect trends in what I like and think there are any new acts in the past 2-3 years who I might like, I'd be happy to take suggestions.

[Lacelle]

I have been doing a country radio show for 9 years, check it out here. http://cjsf.ca/pguide/grid/description.php?ID=276

[TimWresPowr]

I'm done with going to see Jamey Johnson live.  I own a majority of his music but live, I just can't do it anymore.  His shows are long and 90% of them is SLOW old school country stuff and I just can't handle it.  I've seen him twice live and he does give people their money's worth in that he plays for 2:40 or more but the song selection just doesn't jive with what I want to hear.  I prefer the more upbeat stuff.  He patently refuses to ever perform anything from The Dollar CD.  The last time I saw him he didn't even get to "In Color" until about 2:30 in.  As an artist I appreciate that he has the right to sing what he wants to sing but it seems like he much prefers to do covers of slow 70s songs and the more obscure slow songs from his collection than the songs that have a more commercial appeal.  He also doesn't interact or acknowledge the audience much at all, like he's too shy or he's in the mode of just having a jam session tha happens to be in front of an audience.  I don't think he had any banter in between songs or acknowledgment of the crowd until about 2:30 into the last time I saw him.  So I decided I'd rather just listen to him on CD than go live.

[DEAN]

Charlottesville has an actual AM country radio station like Richmond used to have.  I heard this today and I forgot how much I loved it. 

 

 

Speaking of Vince Gill, you folks might have missed this at the George Jones memorial.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Kt5gIMUTI

[driver]

I drive for a living and I need music or talk to keep me entertained. Since I have Sirius in the truck I spend a lot of time listening to Willy's Roadhouse(Classic), The Highway(new) and Outlaw Country(all sorts of country). Shooter Jennings does a really good show on Outlaw.

[SUPrUNown]

I went to Countryfest, a HUGE 4 day country music festival in Dauphin, Mb, Canada, for the first time this year. FIrst night was headlined by Shooter Jennings, Lukas Nelson and Justin Townes Earle. Earle and Nelson blew SHooter off the stage. I was REALLY impressed by Justin Townes Earle. Second night was Dierks Bentley and Kip Moore in the pouring rain. Dierks was REALLY good (he was the reason I bought the ticket), and Kip was suprisingly good. Third night was Florida Georgia Line (who I skipped) and Luke Bryan, who was surprisingly dull. Although the women LOVED him. Last day, I caught Corb Lund Band, and Carrie Underwood. Carrie was good, but her sounds sucked. COrb Lund, I cannot say enough good things about. If you ever get the chance to see him, DO SO. His last album, CABIN FEVER is spectacular.

[Death From Above]

Corb is the closest thing I have to a contemporary age musical hero.

[SUPrUNown]

I've seen Corb twice in the last year... once in Dauphin, once at Cfest. He puts on an awesome show, is charismatic, funny, and has a CRACK back-up group. Plus, having Hayes Carll come out and sing "Bible On The Dash" with him was a nice bonus. Dean, I think you would like Corb Lund. Kinda like a modern-day Waylon Jennings, or Merle Haggard. But Canadian. And funny.

[Death From Above]

Fun one I came across today in my journey through 2011 and 12, while I try and get caught back up. This is good stuff.

 

Steve Earle - Molly-O

[TimWresPowr]

Picked up Luke Bryan's new CD "Crash My Party".  If you are into Luke you will love this one.  If you equate "radio friendly" country with "pop fluffy" then this probably toes that line, but to me Luke is the perfect mix of commercial appeal, infectious songs & real talent.  Luke's star is still on the rise and this CD goes right along with his current wave of popularity.

[Ace]

Somebody found something interesting to do with my favorite country song of all time.

http://youtu.be/CzYHllLv_IE

Dolly Parton's "Jolene" on 45, played at 33rpm

[RIPPA]

I was going to post this in the covers but since you brought up Dolly Parton

 

http://youtu.be/0WYVCy3-eyo

 

I am ashamed how long it took me to realize that that was Nickel Creek with her

[TimWresPowr]

Got Ashton Shepherd's new "This is America" CD which is self-released.  To me the disc is kind of a mixed bag.  I appreciate the artistic talent here but stylistically I would have preferred more up-tempo songs.  Some of the slower ballad types are on the first half of the disc so that kind of puts in your mind that this is SOO nothing special before you get to some of the stronger material on the 2nd half.  "Drinkin Cap" and a duet with Daryle Singletary covering George & Tammy's "Golden Ring" are probably the highlights of the disc.  So overall I'd probably give this like a C.  If you are a big Ashton fan then certainly pick it up but don't expect to enjoy this better than either of her first 2 CDs, unless you are into ballads.

[Isaacduke]

So there may be a chance that I will be interviewing/doing an article on Corb Lund for the local rag. I am not exaggerating when I say that I know NOTHING about him/the band.

What are some interesting things about him? What are some questions you would like asked? I am honest when I say that the only reason I pitched this was because of reading about him here.

[Ace]

A punky little bluegrass duo I've been getting into lately. They did a kickstarter to put their second album out. You can purchase it on the site, or  wait until November to purchase it via mp3.

 

 

 

And my gateway drug into bluegrass

 

[Brisco]

Not a single current female country star can pull at a person's heart strings the way Suzzy Bogguss can. Just amazing stuff.

 

http://youtu.be/4VQupmMrsh4?t=25m41s

 

Edit: couldn't get the video to show in the post due to the timestamp.

[bornintofilth]

Glad to see Corb Lund's name mentioned already.

 

Jason Isbell put out the album of the year, in my opinion, so give Southeastern a listen: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHJhyrrUTgc&feature=share&list=PLCw7uifZvD5vtxDgpFsXPeIiAyWjtY0PX

 

I'm also really digging Austin Lucas' new album Stay Reckless, especially a track called "Alone in Memphis". I can't find a good album version of it to post here, but it's on Spotify if you use that.

 

John Moreland just released a new album called In the Throes, and it is pretty terrific. That guy is an amazing songwriter. Definitely recommend him.

 

Lastly, I always recommend Lucero whenever I get a chance. They are my favorite band in the world and their last EP, Texas & Tennessee has a real country feel to it.

 

 

[Brisco]

Listening to that Jason Isbell album and it is amazing. Great roadtrip by yourself album.

[bornintofilth]

Listening to that Jason Isbell album and it is amazing. Great roadtrip by yourself album.

Glad to hear you dig it! Every time I listen to it, I find something new about it that appeals to me. The lyrical content is excellent, I think. Isbell writes really great stories, some inspired by his own life, and some that he just crafts. I feel like he'll be the guy that people look back on in a few years and discuss what a great songwriter he was in the way that people talk about Steve Earle, Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt now.

[DEAN]

Vince Gill is fucking awesome.  Gill vs Westboro Baptist Church: http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/vince-gill-owns-westboro-baptist-church-protesters

[TimWresPowr]

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sunnysweeney

I think I mentioned this before but it seems like unless you are a big star, you have a big label behind you & they push the hell out of you on radio, it's getting tougher & tougher to make it in music these days. Artists are now taking it the "do-it-yourself" route. The above link is to contribute to the making of my favorite artist Sunny Sweeney's new album. It's very disheartening to see how much of a struggle this fund raising campaign has been and I don't think it's been promoted very well so I'm doing my part. When you are on a national radio show every morning (over the air in NY; online otherwise) and have thousands of social media followers, it's just sad that she & her team have convinced less than 300 people to be committed enough to back this project. The Pledge Music campaign was set up for 60 days, didn't get funded, they rolled it over for another 60 days, and we are roughly 1/2 way into it and the #s have moved less than 5% in 30 days. Something ain't right here. If you want to support a true country artist, please give her a listen & throw some support behind this CD. It's already been recorded they just need funding to release & promote the thing.

[TimWresPowr]

Who else is tired of the social drinking songs?  Country music should have drinking songs about loneliness and drinking your sorrows away.  Nowadays it seems there are way too many social drinking/party songs and lots are completely interchangeable content wise.