The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Sammy Kershaw once sang that there are three topics he’d just rather not get into: “Politics, Religion and Her.”

However, Kershaw may be in the minority, considering the recent string of country songs and news items that don’t necessarily fall into the conversation outlines for polite company.

On Halloween, Q Notes published “City bans Country performer after anti-gay lyrics,” recounting controversial lyrical additions singer Matt Boswell and the Hillbilly Blues Band made to a Merle Haggard song during a city-sponsored concert in Reidsville, North Carolina:

In his rendition of Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?”, Boswell sang, “Well you’ll never take my guns, and I’ll pray anywhere that I please/My daddy always told me, if you were able, and didn’t work then you don’t eat/All you Wall Street bankers, as far as I’m concerned, you can all go to Hell/And you can’t get married, you stupid gays and queers, so why don’t you go somewhere else?”

On a different note, Jim reviewed Lee Ann Womack’s new single “There is a God” this week, which some readers disliked not for its content, but its presentation. Commenter Noeller said:

Yep – as much as I love Country music, I can’t stand the Christian overtones in a lot of it, and this song really really rubs me the wrong way. It’s just too preachy and too “in my face”. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who will eat it up, but I just can’t see it getting a lot of spin up north of the 49th.

Historically, country music (and its roots in Southern traditions and beliefs) has been built upon conservative and religious foundations. About a year and a half ago, we had a Your Take that focused on mixing politics and country music, so this time around we want to hear from you on a slightly different question: Despite the examples above, do you think country music, as a genre, is unfairly stereotyped as being bigoted, backwards and preachy?

Thanks to That Nashville Sound’s Ken Morton, Jr. for his suggestions on this week’s Your Take subject.

• In a press release from Rural Rhythm Records, Melonie Cannon revealed that she’s been battling an addiction to prescription medications and in light of that revelation, Rural Rhythm is offering a free download of her song “Send a Little Love.”
• Watch the video premiere of Randy Houser’s “Whistlin’ Dixie” at CMT.
• My Kind of Country’s Occasional Hope described in detail the new Hank Williams box set and says it’s a must-have.
• Kid Rock and Jamey Johnson are scheduled to duet at the CMA Awards.
• Blake Shelton discussed deer hunting and his relationship with Joe Nichols, and tried to guess which of his songs was playing after hearing one-second snippets, in an interview with a Cincinnati radio station.
• Joe Diffie’s Live At Billy Bob’s album will be released Nov. 17.
• The Bluegrass Blog is spotlighting The Quebe Sisters Band, a group of three sisters specializing in Texas swing, who were one of the surprise hits at the IBMA last month. (MySpace)
• Despite being a four-time Grammy nominee, Joe Nichol’s CD release concert at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Oklahoma had a poor turn out, possibly due to AC/DC’s show down the street. However, the Red Dirt Report’s Andrew W. Griffin reports that the low attendance didn’t affect the quality of the performance.
• Joey + Rory partnered with CMT for a couple of Christmas projects.
• The Greencards are scheduled to perform a hometown show — their last of 2009 — next Wednesday at Station Inn. Jon Weisberger cites the show as being particularly special due to fiddler Eamon McLoughlin’s departure from the group at the end of the year.
• Songs:Illinois describes Ike Reilly as a mid-western institution who has flirted with with rock radio fame. His new album is due out in a couple of weeks and one of the tracks, “The War on the Terror and the Drugs,” features a duet with Shooter Jennings. Listen at Songs:Illinois.
• Amazon’s Best Songs of 2009
• Chelsea Crowell, daughter to Rosanne Cash, is releasing her debut album next week and asked her mother for her own list, referencing Cash’s recent album of cover songs pulled from a list her father gave her when she was 18. Click through watch Cash perform “Motherless Children” and “Sea of Heartbreak” from that album for WSJ Cafe.
• For the the final week of their fall concert series, The Nest is giving away tickets to three of Kellie Pickler’s upcoming tour stops and five copies of her latest record.
• Steve Martin strikes a balance between comedy and music in his live shows.
  

  There were times where Steve quipped “This is a song. Well, that’s exactly what it is” and then played the song. Another time he said “The next song is a sing-a-long, but there are no lyrics, so good luck.”

• CMT’s Chet Flippo believes all of the CMA Awards nominees for entertainer of the year would make worthy recipients, but cites Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney as the front runners.
• Toyota, sponsors of Brooks & Dunn, introduced a concept truck called the Tundra Midnight Rider Tailgater as a tribute to the duo and to celebrate their upcoming 2010 farewell tour.
• Is “ass” a bad word?
• In collaboration with Nashville Scene, the LimeWire Store released a free sampler of songs titled Ear to the Ground: Nashville. The songs are pulled from a variety of genres, with Derek Hoke, Those Darlins, and Caitlin Rose representing country in some form. (via MusicRow)

My original intent was to write a Friday Five in honor of Guy Fawkes Night; however, there are few songs about plotting to blow up Parliament. So instead, we’ll be looking at another important historical event. This November marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Here are five of country music’s best songs about walls, whether they’re made of stone, sheetrock, or metaphor (Note: Songs about the Vietnam Wall aren’t included here; they’ll be featured in an upcoming playlist).

• 5. “Four Walls” – Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
  With his girl drawn to bright lights and good times, this guy sits at home with the walls closing in on him. Poor fella. Maybe he should get a dog or a hobby or something, because talking to walls is the first sign of crazy hermitdom.
• 4. “Tonight I Climbed the Wall” – Alan Jackson
  The wall in this song is metaphorical, representing the emotional distance between two lovers. The second single from A Lot About Livin’ (And A Little ‘Bout Love) went all the way to #4 in 1992. Try not to be freaked out by the mustache-less Jackson in the music video.
• 3. “Walls of Time” – Paul Burch
  That Bill Monroe sure liked to sing about walls. Here Burch, supported by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts, delivers a mopey alt-country cover of the Monroe/Peter Rowan-penned song. Other excellent cover versions come from the Johnson Mountain Boys (featured below), Emmylou Harris and quite a few others.
• 2. “The Wall” – Johnny Cash
  Escape attempt or suicide? Cash suggests it’s the latter in this prison song. Interestingly enough, the clip below is from a late ’80s performance in Berlin.
• 1. “Hello Walls” – Faron Young
  If the guy in Monroe’s “Four Walls” spends a few more nights in the same situation, he’ll end up like the dude in this song, talking not just to the walls, but windows and ceilings as well. Perhaps the most important wall song in country music, “Hello Walls” was a massive hit for Young in the 1961, and helped its songwriter, Willie Nelson, make a name for himself.

• Watch the promo for this week’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Taylor Swift.
• Country California’s C.M. Wilcox reviewed the new album from Derek Hoke, Goodbye Rock N Roll, and maintained that Hoke has released one of the finest country debuts of 2009. (MySpace)
  

  His gentle, unpretentious brand of throwback country often seems just a hiccup away from the early rock of Buddy Holly. Fans of The Wrights and The Little Willies should take particular note.

• Jessica Simpson and Dolly Parton have double-D breasts. Thanks, CNN.
• The iTunes single of the week, which is available for “free dollars,” is Steel Magnolia’s “Keep On Lovin’ You.” (iTunes)
• Stream the Ryan Adams-penned song from Norah Jones‘ forthcoming album The Fall. The Dallas Observer’s Pete Freedman describes the song as having a “decidedly Americana feel–like a less twangy but just-as-sultry Lucinda Williams.”
• Carrie Underwood on women in country music:
  

  I definitely do see more women in country music and more women doing well, and I think it will be a while before we really get what’s coming to us. … I’m not complaining at all because I’d rather work as hard as I can and see a difference than have things handed to me, but it does seem sometimes like women have to work a lot harder to kind of keep up with the boys. And I definitely see the tides changing.

• Amazon’s Best Country Albums of 2009
• Drew Kennedy’s new album, An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel, is now available through iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Napster
• In honor of the late Stephen Bruton, the Lone Star International Film Festival conceived the Stephen Bruton Award and the first honoree is Kris Kristofferson, who will accept the award on Nov. 13.
• Matthew McConaughey celebrated his big 4-0 on Tuesday with a birthday party featuring country musician Jamey Johnson.
• Start-Telegram pop critic Preston Jones was underwhelmed with Carrie Underwood’s new album.
  

  Underwood has had too much success doing a few things well to ever truly break out of the box, which may satisfy her financially but would seem stifling creatively. Although she makes noise in the press about pushing herself and trying new things, as she did in a recent Billboard interview, the only variable between albums is who helps write songs.

• Americana Roots posted live audio of the Sons of Bill from a concert they performed back in October.
• Matthew Houck, of Phosphorescent notoriety, talked to American Songwriter about his last album, To Willie, a collection of Willie Nelson covers, and his reluctance to playing new songs on tour before a record is actually out. Scroll to the end to listen to three live acoustic tracks.
• Music Fog posted video of Corb Lund performing “Talkin’ Veterinarian Blues.”
• Loudon Wainwright III recently released a two-CD tribute to Charlie Poole titled High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project and he revealed to All Things Considered’s Robert Christgau his goal for the project: a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame for a rambling man named Charlie Poole.
• Daytrotter recorded Kris Kristofferson performing three songs from his recent album.

Songwriters: Don Cook, James House, Curly Putnam and Rafe Van Hoy.

“Written by committee” is a standard put-down for jumbled songs so chock-full of cliches without any sort of concentrated focus that it’s easy to imagine a room full of songwriters throwing proverbial darts at a lyrical dartboard in search of easily digestible, commercially viable hits. Like any stereotype, however, this particular brand of song creation doesn’t have to produce such sallow results.

Nashville veteran James House’s new single “I Love You Man” was written by a committee of four, and what a committee it was: Together, Don Cook (”You’re Gonna Miss Me”), House (”Broken Wing”), Curley Putnam (”He Stopped Loving Her Today”) and Rafe Von Hoy (”Golden Ring”) effectively bang out one thoroughly enjoyable rockabilly ditty.

If “I Love You Man,” written by the songwriting heavyweights during a string of summer songwriting sessions held earlier this year, sounds a little bit like a Dwight Yoakam tune, there’s good reason: House was also behind Yoakam’s 1993 Grammy-winning hit “Ain’t That Lonely Yet.” Similarly, this song represents a man satisfied with his newly single status, albeit in a slightly more upbeat, “mano-a-mano” manner: “I love you man/For taking her off my hands/I think one day you’ll understand/Why I’m you’re biggest fan.”

House also borrows Yoakam’s enthusiastic brand of retro honky-tonk rock that works well with his twang that bangs out lyrics like “I hear her calling, so I’ll let you go/I got a bar stool and it’s getting cold/Hey if she ever lets you off that leash/Come on down, the drink’s on me.” The song’s title also works well as an appropriately slurrable declaration that feels like a fresh addition to the crowded “good riddance” song market.

Despite his success with a pen (the songwriter also counts Diamond Rio’s “In a Week or Two,” which reached number two on the country charts, as one of his own), House’s own success as a singer has been limited to two Top 25 singles. And while it’s unlikely this song’s tongue-in-cheek, shake-your-hips vibe will make that garner him a three-peat, “I Love You Man” should make a more than sizable dent on the Americana charts.

Listen: James House – “I Love You Man”

Songwriters: Jason Jones & Brett Jones.

One of country music’s greatest strengths is its realism. All the joys, sorrows and experiences of life are presented right there, on country radio, in a manner to which everyone can relate. For example, everyone I know who’s from a small, backwoods hick town constantly waxes poetic about general stores and church on Sunday. Women are free to vandalize their ex’s cars (or their ex) without consequence. And if I had a dollar for every time some old man I met in a bar left me his fortune, I could leave a fortune to some stranger I met at a bar.

A couple of similarly realistic scenarios are played out in “Hard Rain” by Lofton Creek artist Gwen Sebastian, but the happy endings are non-existent. When compared to other sad songs from recent memory, this one takes a little different approach–instead of being a dreary balled, it’s a sprightly uptempo tune that favors the fiddle over a whole string section. Instead of draping on the maudlin sentiment, the song deals frankly with its characters, the choices they made and the consequences therein. As the song goes, hearts break, and a hard rain washes out a gravel road. The singer who leaves his love behind to seek his fortune and the girl who gives up her baby aren’t portrayed as bad people, nor do they have a tacked-on redemption. They just made their decisions and are left to deal with the repercussions, months or years down the road. Anyone who’s ventured out into the real world has been there.

Sebastian has a radio-friendly voice, yet there’s just enough of an edge to it to give it some character and separate herself from other singers making a play for airtime. Though she’s working from a disadvantage of being on a record label (Lofton Creek) that has yet to compile more than a handful of success, she’s got a smartly written song and solid vocals. That’s not a guarantee of a smash hit, but it’s a good start.

Listen: Gwen Sebastian – “Hard Rain”

• Blake Shelton on his more defiant attitude of late:
  

  “One thing we’re doing that we probably haven’t done is showcase the … ‘I don’t give a (expletive) if you like it or not’ attitude,” Shelton says. “It’s puzzled me why country artists have to be so politically correct. I mean I’m not a politician. If I’m going to sing about drinking and raising hell then you have to know deep down inside that’s what I do. I’m just more open about it lately, and it’s amazing the reaction to that. People either love me or hate me. But it’s the first time they are noticing, which is awesome for me. I’m loving it. I can show you some people on Twitter that hate me. They are probably tree-hugging, card-carrying members of PETA that can kiss my (expletive) anyway.”

• If you like the music of Lee Ann Womack, The Boot invites you listen to “So Embarassing,” the new single from Becky Schlegel whose next album, Dandelion, will be released in January and is billed as her most commercial country project to date.
• Farce the Music: Top 10 Positive Things About Rascal Flatts
• Craig Shelburne compiled a list of his favorite Waylon Jennings songs from the ’70s.
• Those “dudes in a band” give musicians a bad rap.
• Without writer, folklorist, Smithsonian Folklife Festival founder/coordinator, and musician Ralph Rinzler, Juli Thanki argues that the founding father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe, could have been erased from the minds of the American public.
• Alison Bonaguro mentioned a few songs that were recorded by two separate artists — for example, “Break Down Here” by Julie Roberts and Trace Adkins and “Telluride” by Tim McGraw and more recently Josh Gracin — and asked if you can think of any other examples.
• Country Haiku:
  

  In this truck I am
  Carrying your love with me
  Also, some boxes

• Caroldwood Records folded into Lyric Street Records. Trent Tomlinson and Love and Theft made the switch, but there’s no word on Jessica Andrews, the label’s first artist.
• Country Universe: What are some of your favorite non-hit singles from the past decade?
• Guy Clark performed “Somedays You Write the Song,” “The Guitar,” “If I Needed You,” “L.A. Freeway,” and “Hemingway’s Whiskey” in the World Cafe studio.
• Country California fake news:
  

  “Crunchy, guitar-driven rock music with hick-flavored lyrics is my calling card, but it wouldn’t be a Jason Aldean album without a vaguely menacing, clearly-overcompensating-for-something title,” says Aldean. “People don’t think about it, but the title is real important. It’s something we’ll have to tour behind for a year and print on t-shirts and stuff, so when it comes to finding the right name, we’re giving it our all. Hmm… Giving It My All? Nah, not tough enough.”

• The latest group of honorees for the Music City Walk of Fame includes Dolly Parton, Ernest Tubb, Kid Rock, Tootsie Bess, and Charlie Daniels.
• Nathan Rabin covered Lee Hazelwood for week 22 of his Nashville or Bust column.
  

  Even when he was singing, he was still pretty much just talking: His voice wasn’t a particularly powerful or subtle instrument, but he got the most out of it. “I’ll Live Yesterdays” has one of the strangest, funniest, most unexpectedly affecting intros I’ve ever heard, as Hazlewood reasons, with exquisite world-weariness, “Seems we’re always doing something to hurt each other / But you know, you never really hurt me until the fourth verse of this song.”

• Watch the new video for “It Did,” the first single from Blaine Larsen’s forthcoming album. (via NashvilleGab)
• Gretchen Peters posted a 15 minute travelogue video from the Cowboy Train ride with Tom Russell, Paul Zarzyski, Wylie Gustafson, Sourdough Slim, Barry Walsh and Thad Beckman back in September.

The American Revival Tour is currently winding its way down the Eastern seaboard, spreading the gospel of oldtime and bluegrass. Monday night the tour stopped in Alexandria’s at the Birchmere. Though the venue wasn’t sold out, there was a respectable turnout for a weeknight, especially considering that Lyle Lovett and Bruce Springsteen were in town. Because there were three acts, each was limited to a 40-minute set, but for listeners, that added up to two hours of excellent music at a reasonable price. Verdict: a good deal
.
First up were The Dixie Bee-Liners, a six-person group that blends bluegrass, country, and folk, and has charm to spare. Most of their material was from new release Susanville; the album’s tagline is “every car on the highway has a story,” and the Bee-Liners deliver these vignettes about roadside cafes, wanderlust, and a demographic of women known as “diesel sniffers” with sweet harmonies, fierce picking, and catchy turns of phrase.

Following the Bee-Liners was Sierra Hull, bluegrass’ current Anointed One. The mandolin virtuoso was barely old enough to vote in yesterday’s elections, but when it comes to performing, she’s a seasoned pro. She and her band Highway 111 (with Ron Block taking the place of the band’s regular banjo player, Cory Walker) ripped through an all too short set that captivated the audience. Hull’s vocals are Krauss-like, her angelic soprano balancing masterful mandolin picking and making it all look incredibly easy. Guitarist Clay Hess took lead vocals for a couple songs in addition to, as he put it “doing [his] best impression of a 16-year old girl” on the harmonies for stunning ballad “The Hard Way.” Personally I’m looking forward to the day Hull and her band return to the Birchmere as headliners: 40 minutes just wasn’t enough.

Closing the show was Uncle Earl, who opened their set with an oldtimey version of Blind Willie Johnson’s “God Moves on the Water.” The g’Earls, as they call themselves, are women of many talents; banjoist Paula Bradley and Kristin Andreassen kicked up their heels and clogged along to a few fiddle tunes, while fiddler Stephanie Coleman cracked up the crowd by introducing the rather depressing “The Drunkard’s Lone Child” as “not an autobiographical song, but my dad got so drunk at my sister’s wedding…”

Their set wasn’t all drunkenness and sinking ships: there was a whole lot of goofy banter among the bandmembers between songs, and the madly catchy “Crayola,” written by Andreassen, saw Uncle Earl eschewing their instruments in favor of some elaborate playground clapping (think “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack,”). The gals currently have Bryn Davies keeping the rhythm for them on the American Revival Tour; Davies, known as “The Bass Lady,” has played with artists like Tony Rice and Guy Clark, but her seamless incorporation into the band made it seem like she’d been with UE since their inception a decade ago. The band was also briefly joined by Punch Brother and honorary g’Earl Chris Eldridge, one of the few American Revivalists to possess a Y chromosome.

All three acts mentioned the Birchmere’s long history as a roots-friendly venue, with Hull, a first-timer, naming it “totally a legendary place to play” and confessing to owning several bootleg recordings of Birchmere bluegrass shows, while the Dixie Bee-Liners dedicated a song to the late John Duffey, a DC native and member of the Country Gentlemen and Birchmere mainstays The Seldom Scene. Perhaps it might be too early to make such statements, but I’m going to say that in 20 years, many of these musicians will be talked about as reverently as Bee-Liner Buddy Woodward spoke of Duffey.

After Uncle Earl’s set, all 15 musicians on the American Revival Tour—joined by a towheaded toddler playing what appeared to be air washboard—crowded around a pair of microphones for one final song, “Sittin’ on Top of the World.” Driving home with the Bee-Liners’ new record keeping me company, I felt the same way.

Last.fm Top Artists

Two familiar faces are tied for #1 this week, as George Strait and Miranda Lambert both have 24 listeners. Alan Jackson is one behind to end up at #3, and the group of artists at #4 with 21 listeners includes Taylor Swift, Patty Loveless, Keith Urban and Johnny Cash. For Swift and Urban, it’s the best showing for either of them in quite some time. Perhaps Swift’s release of a recycled old album with a few new songs, photos and videos brought a few additional fans out of the woodwork. Joe Nichols makes a strong showing as well, with 17 listeners putting him at #17. Lorrie Morgan, despite the fact that Amazon was giving away her new album for spare change and pocket lint, ended up with 11 listeners, actually one down from last week. Lyle Lovett, who was the beneficiary of a similar bargain with his new album, had 10 listeners, an increase for him. Hayes Carll ended up at #21 with 16 listeners, the best of the Americana bunch, with Steve Earle (13) trailing.

Last.fm Top Albums

There is still a sizable gap between Revolution, with 18 listeners, and the rest of the field. Fearless (impossible to tell if it’s the Regular, Platinum or Karaoke version – yes, there is a karaoke version) came in at #2 with 13. Brad Paisley was next with American Saturday Night (12). Again, the grouping at #4 has a little something for everyone. There’s Justin Townes Earle’s Midnight At The Movies for the Americana fans, Lee Ann Womack’s Call Me Crazy and Strait’s It Just Comes Natural for mainstream fans, and Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts for American Idol fans. Play On made it up to #16 despite not being released until tomorrow, so that’s bound to have a big showing in next week’s charts. Elsewhere, as further proof that you can get good stuff for free, the T For Texas T From Tennessee sampler that’s available as a free download from Amazon had 6 listeners.

Last.fm Top Singles

We have a dethroning, as Lady Antebellum has the #1 track, with “Need You Now” having 9 listeners. It’s still a Lambert-centric Top 10, with “Dead Flowers,” “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar” all having 8 listeners, but the cracks are showing. The non-Ran tracks in the rest of the Top 10 include Kellie Pickler’s “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You,” Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova,” Eli Young Band’s “When It Rains,” and David Nail’s “Red Light.” Any Top 10 with a Kellie Pickler song in it is pretty special already, but “Casanova” puts it over the top. Morgan’s classic covers album has six listeners, and their favorites included “Wine Me Up,” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Cry.”

Billboard Country Songs

It took 18 weeks, but Zac Brown Band’s “Toes” made it to #1, giving the band two #1s and a #2 to start its major-label career. The other big jump in the Top 5 was that “Welcome To The Future” moved from #4 to #2. Toby Keith leaped from #55 to #39 with “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song), and Strait’s “Twang” jumped from #30 to #24. “Backwoods” by Justin Moore moved from #50 to #42, because it’s been almost 10 minutes since a song about country living was a hit. Thank God “Southern Voice” keeps moving up the charts, up to #16 this week, because the country radio audience will be experiencing withdrawals.

Billboard Country Albums

While the single continues to gain airplay, McGraw debuted at #1 with Southern Voice (the album), which made it to #2 on the Billboard Top 200. Swift will likely have her one-week stay at #2 before Fearless, or at least some version of it, goes back to #1. Revolution stays in the Top 5, moving from #4 to #5, and Lady Antebellum moves from #7 to #6 after 80 weeks on the chart. It’s the second-longest tenure for any album on the charts. Lyle Lovett debuted at #8 with Natural Forces, ensuring that the Top 10 has at least one artist that makes the Taylor Swift fans say, “Who?” Keep On Loving You by Reba McEntire moved up from #16 to #13 and was the sales gainer for the week. The other notable debut was Bomshel’s Fight Like A Girl. Actually, any record that gets released by Curb Records and isn’t a greatest hits package is a notable debut.

Americana Music Association Chart

Robert Earl Keen made it to #1 with The Rose Hotel, with its 405 spins putting it at 2,234 total spins since its release. Lovett, Keen’s college roommate, moved up to #4 from #8. Corb Lund’s Losin’ Lately Gambler moved from #19 to #12, and his success will hopefully mean that the next time I see him live, there will be more than 20 people in the room. Son Volt’s American Central Dust moves back from #33 to #37, but its 5,629 total spins make it the most played record in the Top 40. The Mississippi Sheiks, an early era blues-type band from the 1930s, have earned a tribute album, which debuted at #28. Things About Comin’ My Way includes contributions from Carolina Chocolate Drops, Danny Barnes, Bruce Cockburn and North Mississippi All Stars, among others.

Freebie of the Week

The Bee’s Knees is a quartet from Worcester, Mass. The band’s influences on its Myspace page range from The Byrds and Carl Perkins to International Submarine Band and Paul Westerberg. Despite the fact that they misspell Bill Monroe’s name, that probably puts them in the Americana realm. They have several songs available on Last.fm for download. Check out “Kristi,” “Dear Carpenter” and “Down The Line” in particular.

To see this week’s charts and join our group, head to http://www.last.fm/group/The+9513.

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Reality-show prodigy turned down-home diva, Carrie Underwood has earned little critical praise despite moving over 10 million albums since her 2005 American Idol win. Nashville’s now the stomping ground for ‘80s pop-rock refugees, and Underwood’s widely viewed as a key cog in the nouveau Music Row machine–with high-minded traditionalists blanching at her country bona fides.

Despite her scratchy connection with country’s yesteryear, Underwood’s racked up a laundry list of industry honors with just two albums under her belt buckle, a reward for her gentle, tuneful voice and wholesome brand of straight-ahead twang pop. Her third disc, Play On, starts promisingly, with a whiff of boozy, barroom novelty. The playful “Cowboy Casanova,” an ode to a hard-to-keep lothario, plows along to a grungy electric guitar laced with a curling pedal steel line. This all-American girl, it seems, means serious business.

The remaining 45 minutes, though, are more Hallmark than honky tonk. Play On is a tastefully-done pop pleasure, with little of the pretentious production that gutted much of her first two discs. Better still, Underwood’s found new creases in her sweetly-Southern voice, an engaging instrument that’s grown with each album. She’s in a cheerful frame of mind these days, too: the joy she’s found in her budding romance with hockey star Mike Fisher makes the tender-hearted love songs sound like gossip night with the girls.

At her best, Underwood excels at handling the finest storytelling that Nashville has to offer. The album’s strongest track is “Someday When I Stop Loving You,” a brooding tune framed beautifully by her delicate performance, while “What Can I Say,” a collaboration with sibling trio Sons of Sylvia, is a simple, elegant declaration of longing. And the all-American girl even delivers a tart-tongued reading of the spunky, Shania-esque “Songs Like This.”

Play On, though, leans heavily on the polish of Underwood’s still-golden pipes. Too often she’s trying to outact a bad script, with a heap of platonic platitudes laid out over these sleek, bright rhythms. Underwood co-wrote seven of the thirteen cuts, and she clogs songs with stale ideas that dent the impact of her soaring soprano. Given the chief hooks of “Undo It” (a severely-processed uptempo romp) and “Unapologize” (a nice slice of swirling pop-rock), it’s a mild shock that Diane Warren doesn’t rest among the whopping twenty-five songwriters listed in the credits. Treacly anthems like “Change” and the title cut are a killjoy, too: “The smallest thing can make all the difference,” she swears on the former, aping her #1 smash, “So Small.”

Few singers could save insipid statements like “Play on, when you’re the losing the game,” and Underwood scrapes through by the skin of her teeth. Further, her hired guns hand her no favors; successful pop-rock collaborators, chief among them Idol judge Kara DioGuardi and Swedish hooksmith Max Martin, contribute little to an often-dull conversation.

No matter, as Play On will plant itself firmly atop the charts for months to come, and Underwood’s warbling saves a good deal of the dreck. With the herd of hard-charging teens now drenching the airwaves, it’s hard to believe that Underwood’s only 26. Near the top ranks of mainstream music for four years running, the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year has long proven to be an unstoppable force. Play On, though saddled with its share of loose songwriting, is a convincing reminder of a blonde, budding talent.