The 9513 - Country Music Blog

• Vince Gill is officially a “full-fledged” Time Jumper. He can be seen playing with the band on Monday nights at the Station Inn when he’s not touring.

• New releases for the week of February 9, 2010 include:

  • Allison Moorer – Crows
    Amazon | iTunes (Deluxe Version) | MySpace

  • The Chapmans – Grown Up (A Revisionist History)
    Amazon | MySpace | MySpace

  • Chris Cagle – The Best Of Chris Cagle
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Elliot Randall – Caffeine & Gasoline
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Josh Turner – Haywire (Deluxe Edition)
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Michael Martin Murphey – Buckaroo Blue Grass II – Riding Song
    Amazon | MySpace

  • Reba McEntire – CMT Invitation Only: Reba (DVD)
    CMT

  • Reckless Kelly – Somewhere In Time
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Gary Allan’s idea for his Get Off On The Pain tour:
  

  “I thought that it would be really cool and really hip — especially during this ‘Get Off On The Pain’ tour — to have somebody getting tattooed onstage,” he explains of inviting fans to get inked in front of thousands of fans.

• Reckless Kelly’s Cody Braun on the band’s new album, Somewhere In Time:
  

  “We had our work cut out trying to sell our label (Yep Roc) on the concept,” Cody Braun says. “We wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t a tribute record. It’s still a Reckless Kelly record, but we’re doing someone else’s songs.”

• The video for Luke Bryan’s song “Rain Is A Good Thing” was released exclusively on iTunes today. (iTunes)
• Nathan Rabin on Kitty Wells career:
  

  Wells couldn’t go on releasing answer songs without being labeled a novelty artist, but those two songs ["It wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" and "I'm Paying For That Back Street Affair"] established the template for her subsequent work. She delved into infidelity over and over, but seldom from the perspective of a cheating wife or mistress. Rather, she sang extensively from the point of view of a traumatized wife trying to hold onto her unfaithful husband.

• Carrie Underwood inspired the specially-created Sesame Street character Carrie Underworm.
• Craig Shelburne listed a sampling of new Americana songs he’s been enjoying the past few weeks.
• Information from Sunday night’s SPBGMA awards is trickling out, but The Bluegrass Blog as a pretty good list of winners posted so far with Rhonda Vincent taking both the traditional female vocalist and entertainer awards. (via reader email)
• The Zac Brown Band used Twitter to respond to a letter PETA penned urging the group to host all-vegan eat and greets:
  

  @zacbrownband: Dear PETA – Plants are living creatures too… Bacon had a mother but so did Pickle. It takes life to support life – welcome to the planet.

  @zacbrownband: Chicken is the new tofu.

• Watch the new video for Josh Thompson’s song “Beer On The Table.”
• Josh Turner is really proud of his song “The Answer:”
  

  I was in my car at night listening to this song, and I started crying because I couldn’t believe that I had written that song. It sounded so great. To this day, I still can’t believe I had a hand in writing it. But I felt very strongly about it being a part of the record because I felt like it was a powerful song. It stood right up next to the other songs we had on the record. I felt like it would really mean a lot to a lot of people.

• Newcomer Laura Bell Bundy isn’t exactly aiming for the younger demographic.

For Sarah Buxton, the last six years have been a roller coaster ride. The singer and songwriter has realized huge successes (co-writing the Keith Urban smash “Stupid Boy”) and, at times, she has questioned where the road she was on was headed. Now, her journey aims to all points north; a physical release of her self-titled debut album is (finally and firmly) scheduled for release by Lyric Street Records on February 23rd.

Born in Lawrence, Kansas, Buxton’s childhood was filled with music with piano and flute lessons. She moved to Nashville following high school graduation, both to attend Belmont University and to follow her musical dreams. The early 2000s found her the lead singer of a southern rock band called Stoik Oak, but after that group called it quits-and after an ill-fated marriage–she found herself at a crossroads.

It was John Rich, among others, who encouraged her to find her country music voice. After singing back-up vocals with everyone from Kenny Rogers to Cowboy Troy, she landed her own record deal with Lyric Street. Urban cut “Stupid Boy” on his album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, and took the single all the way to #3 on the country charts. But despite that hit as a songwriter, Buxton’s three singles as an artist–“Innocence,” “That Kind Of Day” and “Space”–failed to generate substantial radio play.

A fourth single was the charm, however. Her current chart hit, “Outside My Window,” is close to busting into the top 20 and its homegrown video has been a staple hit on CMT and GAC. The 9513 had a chance to talk to the fun and free-spirited Buxton about her journey and the new album.

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• Wynonna and Naomi Judd are reuniting for a 2010 tour.
• Country Haiku takes the literal approach to a country classic:
  

  I have to wonder
  Who is gonna fill their shoes
  They’re like size 14

• On April 20, Jason Boland will release his first album since undergoing throat surgery. The live album, titled High In The Rockies, will feature covers of “Rainbow Stew”, “Tulsa Time,” and “Gallo del Cielo” along with 16 originals.
• Justin Townes Earle on his song “Mama’s Eyes:” I think that’s the kind of song where a person has to grow up before they can write it. It takes men a long time to come to terms with the fact that they are going to turn into their fathers.
• The Tennessean’s Peter Cooper on the “less than convincing” Taylor Swift performance:
  

  When I got home from the Grammys, I checked and found out that Swift’s televised performance had not changed the way my Tom T. Hall records sound at all. Relief!

• Linda Holmes dissected Scott Borchetta’s defense of Swift on NPR.
• Commenting on the possibility of creating an album in the vein of Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, Dolly Parton confuses Rick Rubin with Jack White:
  

  Well, I have been approached about that, the same person that worked on the Johnny album, and I think is that the same one who worked on the Loretta album, Jack White?

  Every now and then I get offered those things, and I know if and when the time is right, I’m certainly not opposed to doing that, it’s just I usually have a set notion of where I’m headed with a certain project and what I want to get out of it. But Lord only knows what I might do when I get a chance to sit down and think about it again.

  I’ve thought about doing it with him [Jack White], and he seems to be a fan, and a lot of people have asked me about it, but who knows. You never know what I might do.

• Watch the new video for Patty Loveless‘ cover of “Busted.” And then come back and explain the concept.
• Behind the scenes of the film Crazy Heart, a battle between T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton’s wife of 13 years is unfolding over the late songwriter’s estate.
• Gary Allan’s dating survey.
• Listen to Allison Moorer perform some of her new material on NPR.
• Music Fog: Reckless Kelly with Micky Braun – “I’ll Hold the Bottle”
• In an interview with Spinner, Rosanne Cash commented on the possibility of recording a second volume of songs from the list her father gave her and named several songs that she’d include on a list for her own daughter.
• Country California: Quotable Country – 02/07/10 Edition
• Alt-512 Music Musings has audio from Justin Townes Earle’s recent gig at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin, TX.

Anyone who’s followed the Americana or Texas music scene had been familiar with Ryan Bingham for at least a couple of years. Since the release of Mescalito in 2007 and its follow-up, Roadhouse Sun, Bingham has won critical acclaim and a growing fanbase. The success of the movie Crazy Heart and his song “The Weary Kind,” however, has brought him some well-deserved mainstream recognition, not to mention a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination. Bingham took some time away from hobnobbing with the Hollywood elite on the red carpet to talk with The 9513 about Crazy Heart, his future plans and his wardrobe consultant.

SAM GAZDZIAK: I know this is a cheesy question, but I have to ask it. How did you find out about the [Oscar] nomination?

RYAN BINGHAM: My agent Jack Whigham called me on the phone.

SG: You mean weren’t up at 7 in the morning watching it on TV?

RB: Oh, hell no. (laughing)

SG: How has life changed since “The Weary Kind” put you more in the public eye?

RB: I don’t know if I can really tell yet. I’ve done a lot of interviews and stuff like that. I think we’ll really be able to tell when we get back on the road touring and see if it’s made a difference there. Other than that, man, not much has changed.

SG: What was the Golden Globes experience like for you?

RB: It was a lot of fun, kind of like all this stuff. You make the best of it and try to have as much fun as possible.

SG: Did you meet anyone you’d always wanted to meet?

RB: I didn’t get to meet a whole lot of people, but I got to meet Wes Anderson, which was cool. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time. I met Jeremy Renner, the guy who’s in the movie The Hurt Locker.

SG: How did you get your two songs (“The Weary Kind” and “I Don’t Know”) on the soundtrack?

RB: I first met with the director, Scott Cooper. He gave me the script and wanted to know if I was interested in writing some songs, and it went from there. I got in touch with T-Bone [Burnett] and wrote the songs with him.

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In Thursday’s News Roundup, Brody included a link to The Huffington Post’s article “The Stupidest Country Lyrics of All Time,” a look at some of country’s hokiest, silliest and innuendo-est lyrics of all time the last few years.

Entries include Tim McGraw’s “Back When,” Craig Morgan for “International Harvester” and “God Must Really Love Me,” Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” Brad Paisley’s “Ticks,” Garth Brooks with “Two of a Kind,” Darius Rucker’s “Alright” and Kellie Pickler’s “Things That Never Cross a Man’s Mind,” among many others.

Readers can even submit their own songs, and commenter Stephen H. had a bone to pick with Trisha Yearwood:

For that song lyric thing, I submitted, though it probably won’t be posted, the line from Trisha Yearwood’s “Perfect Love” that always rubbed me the wrong way: “Yeah, this is a perfect love/We’re doing nothing but what a perfect love does.” Because if they were doing what an average love does, it would be an average love. And the same for any other adjective.

Bad lyrics, plentiful though they may be, are only half of the conversation.

What are your favorite country lyrics? If you only were able to choose a few lines from one song, which words from what song would top your list? What is it about those particular words that evoke such a strong response from you?

I’m no biblical scholar, but I’m vaguely familiar with the Old Testament figure of Jezebel. You know, Ahab’s wife–the painted Baal-worshiper who was defenestrated and eaten by dogs. (There’s a New Testament Jezebel too, but we’ll ignore her.) Over the years, poor Jezebel has become cultural shorthand for “manipulative skank.” This week we’ll be looking at songs about both versions of Jezebel: the woman in the Old Testament and the cultural symbol.

• 5. “Jezebel (LP Version)” – Iron & Wine

  If you’re not listening to the folk stylings of Iron & Wine, aka Sam Beam, aka Jamey Johnson’s brother in beardyness, you’re missing out. Here he takes a progressive view of the Old Testament figure, singing “Who’s seen Jezebel?/She was born to be the woman we could blame/Make me a beast half as brave/I’d be the same.”

• 4. “Sinful Daughter” – Dave Alvin

  Jezebel is just one of three Biblical women Alvin sings about here, women who’ve been “banished and branded, force to wander.” As always when it comes to Dave Alvin, there’s some badass guitar on this song. Co-writer Shannon McAnally does a lovely solo version below.

• 3. “Hey Jezebel” – Allison Moorer

  Moorer lays the verbal smackdown—and threatens a physical one—on a high-heeled hussy after her man on this alt-country toetapper. Well, I suppose if you mess with Steve Earle, you get what’s coming to you.

• 2. “Jezebel” – Gene Vincent

  The rockabilly luminary covered this Frankie Laine hit about a faithless lover for 1956 LP Blue Jean Bop. Vincent sure makes it sound like a pre-murder ballad, singing “if ever a pair of eyes promised paradise/Deceiving me, grieving me, leaving me blue/Jezebel it was you” with barely restrained menace.

• 1. “Jezebel” – Chely Wright

  “Jezebel,” the second single from 2001’s Never Love You Enough, topped out at #23 on the charts. The music video—which involves a voodoo doll and Wright in a series of bizarre, fringy, midriff-baring outfits, one of which includes a Carmen Sandiego-esque hat—definitely deserves watching, though it does raise one question: why does she forgive her straying man at the video’s end? After all, it takes two to do the Tempur-Pedic Tango.

• To celebrate 50 years of making music, Kenny Rogers will be the honoree of a star-studded TV special. The event will be filmed on April 10 and already has commitments from Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Lionel Richie, and Wynonna Judd.
• The folks over at Lost Highway Music are streaming the title track to Johnny Cash’s forthcoming album and created a “Wear Black For Johnny” Facebook event to celebrate his 78th birthday.
• Speaking of Facebook, we’ve created a new page for The 9513, so if that’s your thing, be sure to follow us over there.
• Rascal Flatts celebrated the songwriters who have written their hits on Wednesday.
  

  “We just wanted to say thank you,” LeVox said. “We don’t just have professional relationships with these cats, we have personal relationships with them, too.

• Kelly Clarkson vs. Scott Borchetta. Choose your side.
• My Kind of Country recently reviewed two of Gary Allan’s older records: Used Heart for Sale and It Would Be You.
• The Statler Brothers joined Dailey & Vincent on Wednesday at the Country Music Hall of Fame for the duo’s release of their new Cracker Barrel album, Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers.
• Grant Alden’s main concern with the new Dailey & Vincent record is its lack of swing.
• Music Fog: Kristen Kelly & Modern Day Drifters – “Lost In Yourself”
• The first new album from Jason & the Scorchers since 1996 is due out on Feb. 23.
• Sugarland will head out on their 2010 tour, The Incredible Machine, on April 23.
• Country California Fake News: All ACM Performances to Be Duets with Taylor Swift
• Although he’s not touring right now, Dwight Yoakam hopes the shows he does choose help bring a temporary peace of mind to the audiences.
• Download “Great American Trainwreck” from the new Eleven Hundred Springs album for free on the DC9 at Night blog.

The finest male voice on country radio is back with his first record in over two years. His last release, Everything is Fine went gold and saw him expanding his boundaries, experimenting with R&B and Celtic music. So Josh Turner had a lot to live up to on his fourth album.

Haywire starts off strong with infectious escapist tune “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” a single that recently cracked the Top 10. From there, the record is one love song after another. If you’re looking for a songs about drunkenness, brokenhearted wallowing, two-timing, or any other behaviors often featured in country music, best look someplace else, Debbie Downer. As he said in his interview with Blake Boldt last month, “Basically, the theme of this record is taking people’s minds off the economy and all that.” Mission accomplished? Maybe.

Though he had a hand on fewer songs than he did on Everything Is Fine, five of Haywire’s 11 songs were written or co-written by Turner. As always, he surrounds himself with some of the best in the business: Shawn Camp and Chris Stapleton show up once more as songwriters, while accomplished bluegrass musicians Bryan Sutton and Aubrey Haynie contribute some expert picking.

“As Fast As I Could,” written with Jeremy Spillman (“Another Try,” “Arlington”), is the one of the strongest songs of the album and seems destined for success on the charts. It sounds somewhat similar to “Would You Go With Me,” combining a rootsy fiddle and Dobro arrangement with an insanely catchy chorus. As with “Would You Go With Me,” Turner absolutely nails this song, sounding sweet and sincere as he sings “I ran full speed ahead without stopping to rest/Not knowing where I was headed to/Now that I’m here, it’s perfectly clear/I was making my way to you/Can’t believe how long it took/But I got here as fast as I could.” As a bonus, there are hints of Turner’s all-too-rare falsetto.

On Everything Is Fine, Josh Turner flirted with R&B on his duet with Anthony Hamilton, “Nowhere Fast.” On Haywire, the R&B feel is back with “Lovin’ You On My Mind,” only this time, Turner’s flying solo. Written by Kendell Marvel, Chris Stapleton, and Tim James, “Lovin’” is a slow burn of a song, thanks to Turner’s sultry delivery, which is backed by Nashville Sound-esque strings. It’s not hard to imagine this being a song Conway Twitty would have jumped at the chance to record 30 years ago. Also in this soulful vein is the decidedly unsexy but very moving gospel tune, “The Answer,” on which Turner brings in a choir.

Like his previous three albums, Haywire has some filler. But it’s better filler than the material on his earlier records: there are no outright stinkers like “Trailerhood.” The weakest song is the album’s title track. A song about a woman who leaves a man tongue-tied, shaking, and full of desire calls for a looser, wilder performance; here Turner’s restrained delivery suggests he’ll go haywire…as soon as this episode of Babe Winkelman’s Good Fishing ends. He’s made it clear that he can cut loose with songs like “Loretta Lynn’s Lincoln,” and Johnny Horton’s “One Woman Man,” but that feeling of playfulness is missing on “Haywire.”

The album’s lone cover is a remake of Don Williams’ 1987 Top 10 hit “I Wouldn’t Be a Man.” Turner’s version is nothing particularly special, especially when compared to Williams’ damn fine original; Turner seems to be phoning it in. It’s hard not to compare it to Turner’s other, better Don Williams cover, “Lord Have Mercy On a Country Boy” (from Your Man). Now, the lyrics to “I Wouldn’t Be a Man” are cringe-worthy even when a smooth guy like Don Williams is singing them, so although Josh Turner should be commended for singing “the secret way you touch me/Tells me there’s no holding back” without sounding like a creeper, this one can be skipped over without missing too much.

Though there are no exceptional songs on here comparable to “Long Black Train” or “The Longer the Waiting (The Sweeter the Kiss),” Haywire is a very solid album. It just doesn’t live up to the flashes of brilliance we’ve seen from Josh Turner on previous work.

A couple notes: Because the Last.fm Top Albums chart is messed up (the same chart has repeated all month, and not even the new Lady Antebellum album showed up this week), I’ll be avoiding it until it’s fixed. Secondly, I’ve done a little tallying and have come up with the top artists of the month for The 9513 group. I’ll post the Top 5 here, and the Top 20 will be available to peruse over on our group’s Last.fm page.

Last.fm Top Artists

As expected, a brand new album and a popular lead-off single helped catapult Lady Antebellum to #1 on the list, with 29 listeners. While the trio had tailed off in popularity here in recent weeks, the new album release brought them roaring to the top. They will be hard-pressed, though, to top the track record of #2 artist Miranda Lambert, who had 28. She’s been at or near the top of the charts ever since Revolution was released last fall. Gary Allan, who has a new album of his own out soon, made it up to #5 with 22 listeners, making for his best showing of the month. The Top 20 also includes a few country legends, namely, George Jones, Emmylou Harris and Waylon Jennings, all with 17 listeners. The Americana segment was led by Justin Townes Earle and Ryan Bingham, with 13 apiece.

The 9513 Last.fm Artists of the Month

1. Miranda Lambert: 110 listeners
2. Johnny Cash: 105
3. George Strait: 102
4. Lady Antebellum: 98
5. Alan Jackson: 98

Last.fm Top Tracks

Again, no surprise, as Lady Antebellum’s new album took up most of the Top Tracks. Ten of the top 12 songs were from Need You Now. The title track was #1 with 14 listeners, followed by “American Honey” with 13 and “Perfect Day,” “Our Kind Of Love” and “Hello World” with 11. Lambert’s “White Liar” also had 11 listeners. There are very few songs in the Top 20 that didn’t come from Lady A or Lambert, in fact. Reba McEntire had 7 listeners for “Consider Me Gone” to pace the non-Antelambert songs. There’s a weird-yet-not-unpleasant batch of songs with 6 listeners that include “Mama’s Eyes” and “Black Eyes Suzy” from Earle, “Giving Up The Gun” by Vampire Weekend, “House of Gold” by Patty Griffin and “Breathless” by Taylor Swift. There are anywhere from zero to three country acts in that group, depending on your own personal standards.

The 9513 Last.fm Tracks of the Month

1. “Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum: 43 listeners
2. “The House That Built Me” – Miranda Lambert: 35
3. “Consider Me Gone” – Reba McEntire: 30
4. “White Liar” – Miranda Lambert: 30
5. “American Honey” – Lady Antebellum: 30
6. “Last Call” – Lee Ann Womack: 30

Billboard Country Songs

Three of the Top 5 songs are new and quickly on the rise. “The Truth” moved up to #1, giving Jason Aldean his third chart-topper. No, having “Big Green Tractor” #1 on the ringtones chart doesn’t count. Lambert jumped from #4 to #2 with “White Liar,” and Brad Paisley’s “American Saturday Night” moved to #5 from #8. Many of the fast-rising singles are from Nashville’s established stars, but in the midst of all the Carries and Taylors and Flattses, Easton Corbin moves “A Little More Country Than That” up to #14. “Twang,” from Corbin soundalike George Strait, dropped a couple of spots to #16. There are a flock of debuts this week, but the one with the best showing was “Wrong Baby Wrong” by Martina McBride. She hasn’t had a Top 10 song since 2006, so she needs a smash hit to avoid falling into that “has-been” category that’s ensnared many hitmakers from the ’90s and early ‘00.

Billboard Country Albums

No change in the Top 5 (Fearless, still), but the Crazy Heart soundtrack debuts at #6. Admittedly, the audience for this soundtrack and the Hannah Montana one are pretty different, so it probably won’t have the same staying power. Still, it’s gotten the music of Buck Owens, The Louvin Brothers and Bingham out to a few more people, which is laudatory. Bingham’s Roadhouse Sun moved from #64 to #56, its second straight week of big gains after a long absence from the charts. The other debut for the week was Gretchen Wilson’s greatest hits package, which only came out about four years too late. Among the albums showing the most upward momentum was Luke Bryan’s Doin’ My Thing, which moved from #16 to #12.

Americana Music Association Chart

We finally have a new #1, and the reigning champ is Ray Wylie Hubbard and his ungodly Fiona Applesque A: Enlightenment B: Endarkenment Hint: There Is No C album. It had 353 spins last week, almost 20 more than Rosanne Cash’s The List, which moves to #2. The Crazy Heart soundtrack made a big impact here as well, making it all the way to #3 with 325 spins. The other new entry to the Top 10 is Crows by Allison Moorer, moving from #12 to #9. New debuts for the week include Things We Left Behind, the new album from Canadian Americana (Canadiana?) vets Blue Rodeo (starting at #28) and Somewhere In Time, the return-to-roots by Reckless Kelly (#33). Thank goodness that the countries of Canada and Texas continue to bring us so much good music.

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

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By September of 2009, Miranda Lambert had already won over critics and sold more than a million records (a spectacular number, considering the lukewarm support afforded her by country radio). It was Lambert’s third album, however (Revolution, released 09/29/09), that fully (and finally) ascended her into the upper tier of this era’s country music icons. After two widely lauded efforts, Revolution was a revelation–even-handed and mature, the singer/songwriter parted ways with her trademark tales of revenge in favor of a more under-the-skin approach to emotional exposition.

Her gamble–stepping firmly away from the type of song that had won her highest degree of notoriety–proved a wise move, both artistically and commercially: Revolution earned yet more standout reviews while spawning a Grammy nomination (Female Country Performance for “Dead Flowers”) and her first #1 single, “White Liar.”

Lambert edged out Brad Paisley by just 4.9% to capture the title of Country Artist of the Year in The 9513’s 2nd Annual Country Music Awards. Her performance of the Tom Douglas/Allen Shamblin-penned song “The House That Built Me” also claimed “Song of the Year,” topping Jamey Johnson’s “High Cost of Living” by more than 20%.

Lambert was one of three acts to win two awards: Zac Brown Band handily bested its competition to be named New Artist Of The Year, and the Georgia boys impressed voters enough to squeak out a victory in a tight race for Group Of The Year. Elsewhere, western swing outfit Asleep At The Wheel notched two wins—Texas Artist Of The Year and Best Album Cover—on the strength of its collaboration with Willie Nelson (titled Willie and the Wheel). Ryan Bingham’s involvement with Crazy Heart was not a factor during the eligibility period.

While the voice of country’s future took home this year’s big honor, a legendary voice from country music’s past sang his way beyond Revolution to score a win for Album Of The Year. Gene Watson–who notched a #1 hit in 1981 with “Fourteen Carat Mind”–performed well among all three voting blocs to best Lambert in the overall tally by just a few percent.

Ballots for these awards were tabulated from three voting blocs: The 9513’s staff, readers who made 50 or more comments during the eligibility period, and the public at large. Click here to view last year’s full results.

THE RESULTS

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