2008 Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Nominees Announced

Stormy, that doesn’t necessarily mean Hayes will actually win anything…..

The phenomenol mainstream country success of Carrie Underwood is more telling about the state of country radio listeners and the Top 40 country environment than Carrie’s inherent talent. Carrie got a huge boost from American Idol with millions of people becoming fans before she ever signed her Nashville contract! How many previous country icons started with a leg up like that? Also Carrie’s physical beauty makes her a perfect pop-culture icon in today’s marketplace (along with Taylor Swift). Carrie has developed a huge and dedicated fan base which propels her singles to number one on the charts whether they are good songs are not. Its a dedicated cult of personality that Stalin and Mao would have envied! (okay, that last sentence was way over the top…)

Chakra’s? (lol)

Rick: This is a whole different set of radio stations with a whole different set of rules though.

courtney, Miranda’s songs are simple, she cant sing nearly as well as carrie. plus she is quite crazy and sings quite, um, profoundly about murder. Oh, and like rough housing, I think she readily admits she is not mainstream country, and is ok with that.
Whether anyone would like to admit it, Carrie does produce quality pop country, and is ballsy with her song choices, and actually has the ability to deliver them well. I dont think if the songs she produced were crap she would be able to stay at the top, American Idol or not…thats obvious, as many others who came off that show drowned. That is why she is at the top. Stop everyone on this blog whining about her success.
At least she is able to sing well live, Miranda cant alway manage to be in tune.

Um, “before he cheats” was actually executed well by a gifted SINGER. PLus, “before he cheats” came well before kerosene, and unllike Miranda actually changes up her song choices and doesnt sing the same themed songs of anger and violence all the time. Just a Dream will prob be her next single, and is able to executed well as to actually have an impact without getting moved to another corner. Also, all her other singles Jesus, Last Name, So Small all sing about other things unlike just being a crazy ex girlfriend.

Before he Cheats was on Carries album which came out in 2005 I believe, same time. Before he Cheats I am sure was planned as a single from the beginning. Considering that Cheats was more successful, I would think Karosene was trying to match Cheats. Cheats was single of the year at the Grammys. I dont see Kerosene in contention.

Miranda has good songs… just not that good.

“Kerosene” debuted on the Billboard country singles chart 10/15/2005; “Before He Cheats” debuted on the Billboard country singles chart 2/18/06.

That said, the idea of writing a song about taking vengeance on an errant lover didn’t just fall out of the sky three years ago.

I liked both songs… they helped rescue me from the alternative crop of crap on country radio at that time. If I had to pick the better song though, I’d say Before He Cheats was much more visual and probably a tad more realistic. Besides, every time I hear Kerosene, for some odd reason I just wish I was listening to Steve Earle’s I Feel Alright…

Song choice aside, I have both of Miranda’s albums and none of Carrie’s- thought I have listened to them. Give me the singer/songwriter every time.

North Texas: Be careful how you register “sucess.” Kelly’s sales have all but fallen off the map. Meanwhile, while she doesn’t get the press that Kelly does, Fantasia is sucessful enough in R&B to get referenced in other singer’s songs and has starred on Broadway. And lets not forget Jennifer Hudson, if for no other reason that because if we did she would likely hunt us down.

Anyone who wants to argue Carrie Underwood is a weak singer doesn’t carry much credibility. You might dislike her for many reasons but she can sing very well. She also now looks great doing it. I understand that doesn’t make someone a great performer but she is those things.

That said, ‘Last Name’ is one of the weakest songs in current rotation, and that includes anything by Taylor Swift or Miranda Lambert. Better songs are sung daily on Sesame Street. It takes a funny idea, and does nothing with it except shout the words over and over again. It’s a vehicle and demonstrates that Carrie Underwood might worry a bit more about sales than songs.

“most songs dont have the intention of delivering masterpieces, but to just exist for the purpose of fun”

and aren’t we all just better for it!

Funk: I won’t argue that she is a weak vocalist, but I will say she is an essentially forgetable one.

Anna: We live in a post-payola world. What do fans and airplay have to do with each other?

Its too bad Katrina Elam wasn’t also a competitor on American Idol as I consider Katrina as pretty as Carrie and I like Katrina’s voice a whole lot better. Katrina recorded “Flat on the Floor” for her unreleased “Turn Me Up ” album back in 2006 and it was released as her second single from that album after “Love Is”. It was sitting on the charts in maybe the 50’s for a couple of weeks after release to radio and then got yanked when Carrie and her producers wanted the song. At that point Katrina was still hoping her second album would be released and was a bit miffed at the label politics involved. It worked out well for “Flat On The Floor” co-writer Ashley Monroe who made a lot more royalty money! (lol)

NorthTexas, I agree with you on most things (being I’m also an old fart in my 50’s), but I find Carrie’s versions of classic country songs painful as I just can’t stand her nasally voice! When Carrie performs live on the Opry, I feel compelled to turn the sound off classic country song or not. I’d much rather hear Rebecca Lynn Howard (or Amber Digby) belt out the old classics……

“and unllike Miranda actually changes up her song choices and doesnt sing the same themed songs of anger and violence all the time.”

Actually, that’s one of my favorite things about Miranda. Although her radio singles (except for “Famous in a Small Town”) have been on more of the angry side, her albums are big mix. She can do “Dry Town”, “I Can’t Be Bothered”, “Greyhound Bus Bound for Nowhere”, “Guilty in Here” and “Kerosene” and do them all credibly. Also, wasn’t “Kerosene” influenced by a Steve Earle song? I doubt Miranda thinks of Carrie Underwood when she’s writing. Her influences are more along the lines of Merle Haggard than Shania Twain.

That said, I hope her next radio single isn’t an angry one. While I loved “Kerosene”, I’m not a big fan of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” or “Gunpowder and Lead”. She has such better songs on her albums.

I’ll have to check out Hayes Carll tonight. He’s gotten good word of mouth…

Carrie Underwood is an exceptional vocalist, she just falls into the Martina McBride trap of restrained verses and super-belting choruses in a lot of her song choices. It worked for ‘Before He Cheats’, although I think had had far more going on dynamically in the verses than say ‘All American Girl’ or ‘So Small’.
As far as the Lambert v Underwood debate goes, I prefer Lambert, mainly because she’s almost entirely not ‘cute’. Alot of country music has gotten really cutesy in the last five or so years and frankly it irritates the hell out of me. Lambert writes alot within the holy trinity of country thematics – adultery, alcohol and homicide. I hold the opinion that she’s a more talented vocal interpreter than Underwood, or to put it another way, she sings lyrics and Underwood sings notes.
Neither of them are neotrads. Lambert is country-rock and Lambert is country-pop. Both are stunningly talented, but I’d say Lambert is delivering more on her talent. Both had very strong debut records but Lambert did a better job developing her artistic identity into her sophomore release. She sort of got the bad girl image slapped onto her the same way Underwood got the virginal safe-for-all-ages diva thing. This allowed her to play to her strengths as a songwriter and create a diverse album with a marketing campaign that played to her assigned image. Bad girl is far less restrictive artistically than safe and pure.

well said Dylan Gramm

Lynn: She Left Me For Jesus. Check that song out.

Stormy raises a fine point — instead of wasting time arguing about Carrie Underwood’s sales and chart positions, we could be talking about how great Kathleen Edwards is.

http://tinyurl.com/63dc4e

Anna said, “Its a pretty clear consensus that she has one of the top 5 voices in popular music today, she won american idol and is the top female vocalist 3 years running.”

Change the phrase “top 5″ to “most overrated” and I’ll agree with your statement entirely.

“American idol, besides, means nothing …”

If it means nothing, then why did you bring it up as one of your talking points of why Carrie is so “exceptional”?

NorthTexas, My unique opinions tend to generate a bit of discussion of these threads, so I like stirring up the pot just for the fun of it! I consider myself a “Drive-By Blogger”! (lol) I really don’t dislike Carrie that much, as the truth is I really don’t give a rip about her one way or the other…..

Chris, since Kathleen Edwards is from Canada and sings Americana style music, does that make it Canadiana music? Hmmmm…. (I really like Kathleen when she’s not stressing her voice. Hey, maybe Kathleen is the Miranda Lambert of the Great, White North!)

“Hollerin’ Ben” Kind of reminds me of the old WW2 General “Howlin’ Mad” Smith…now I’m really showing my age (lol)!

Finally someone is talking about Kathleen Edwards other than me on this site! While I love Miranda, she could learn a thing or two about expressing anger and bitterness in more subtle and clever ways from Kathleen.

Indeed:

“Don’t say you’ll change after the next time
You wouldn’t even be yourself if you weren’t telling a lie
Maybe 20 years in state will change your mind”