The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Not much in this world goes together better than country music, summer and grilling. And we’re here to help you get your summer barbecuing off to a spectacular start.

Keith Urban has joined forces with two great sponsors for his 2009 Escape Together World Tour Together with KC Masterpiece and Kingsford Charcoal, and we’d love to get you in on the fun. Whether or not you’re able to see Keith and his crew out on the road, one of our awesome grilling prize packs is sure to get you in a celebratory spirit.

Five lucky winners will take home all of the following, each valued at approximately $200:

• 14″ Table Top Tailgating Grill
• $6 Kingsford Charcoal Coupons (8)
• $2.50 KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce Coupons (8)
• $4 Hidden Valley Ranch Coupons (5)
• Keith Urban’s Defying Gravity on CD
• Beer Can Chicken Roaster
• Chimney Grill Starter
• St. Louis Grill Tools set (includes spatula, tongs, fork)

And even if you don’t win, you can still visit Keith’s official tour website for great Barbecue recipes and tailgating tips and tricks.

Upcoming Tour Dates

06/26 Milwaukee, WI (Marcus Amphitheater)
06/27 Des Moines, IA (Wells Fargo Arena)
06/28 Moline, IL (i wireless Center)
07/09 Omaha, NE (Qwest Center Omaha)
07/10 Valley Center, KS (Kansas Coliseum)
07/11 Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)
07/15 Denver, CO (Pepsi Center)
07/17 Fresno, CA (Save Mart Center)
07/18 Las Vegas, NV (Mandalay Bay Events Center)
07/19 Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
07/23 Sacramento, CA (ARCO Arena)
07/25 Glendale, AZ (Jobing.com Arena)
07/31 Boston, MA (TD Banknorth Garden)
08/01 Philadelphia, PA (The Wachovia Center)
08/02 Rochester, NY (Blue Cross Arena)
08/06 North Little Rock, AR (Alltel Arena)
08/07 Tulsa, OK (BOK Center)
08/08 Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
08/13 Pittsburgh, PA (Mellon Arena)
08/14 Columbus, OH (Nationwide Arena)
08/15 Indianapolis, IN (Indiana State Fairgrounds)
08/18 Hershey, PA (GIANT Center)
08/20 Washington, DC (Verizon Center)
08/21 Cleveland, OH (Quicken Loans Arena)
08/22 Louisville, KY Freedom Hall (The Kentucky Expo Center)
08/27 Charlottesville, VA (John Paul Jones Arena)
08/28 Knoxville, TN (Thompson-Boling Arena)
08/29 Nashville, TN (Sommet Center)
09/09 Salt Lake City, UT (EnergySolutions Arena)
09/11 Portland, OR (Rose Garden Arena)
09/12 Tacoma, WA (Tacoma Dome)
09/14 Spokane, WA (Spokane Arena)

Entering the Giveaway

Entering is easy. Just take a moment to tell us one of your favorite grilling or barbecue stories! It can be anything from a fond memory of a backyard get-together to a favorite recipe. We want to know how you enjoy summer, music, and the American tradition of cooking beneath the open sky.

Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered (one entry per household, please). You must use a valid email address when you enter so that we can contact you if you win. The9513.com will never share your private information without your explicit consent. We don’t spam. For this promotion, we will send the winner’s mailing addresses to the sponsors for prize distribution.

Eligible comments must be posted by 11:59 pm EST on Tuesday, June 30th. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced after the contest has ended.

• Montgomery Gentry officially joined the Grand Ole Opry last night.
  

  “Uh, my daddy, he loved what it stood for and what it was about. And I promise you, me and T won’t let you down. And uh, omagosh, Dad…” Eddie said, clutching his Opry trophy and looking up, “we made it.”

• Matraca Berg is the next songwriter to be highlighted by the Country Music Hall of Fame in its Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters series. She’ll participate in an interview and perform briefly at the Hall on July 18.
• In order to add more of a rock edge to some of his songs, Jack Ingram pushed the release of his next album, Big Dreams and High Hopes, back to August 25.
• Starting Nov. 9 in Glasgow, Scotland, Toby Keith plans to take his first tour of Europe.
• Jeff Dykhuis reviewed and photographed performances from Jack Ingram, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen, Jackson Taylor and more at the recent Country Fever festival in Pryor, Oklahoma.
• Listen to Neko Case perform a set of songs mostly culled from her album Middle Cyclone acoustically on Mountain Stage.
• CMT’s Edward Morris shared ten of Keith Urban’s best videos.
• The episode of CMT Crossroads featuring Jason Aldean with Bryan Adams premiers on Friday. Aldean’s performance of “Heaven” from the show is currently available on CMT.
• Twang Nation is giving away a copy of Elvis Costello’s Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. Leave a comment naming an artist who has successfully crossed into the roots/Americana genre to enter.
• American Classic, an album of Willie Nelson covering standards, will be released August 25 and consist of: “The Nearness Of You,” “Fly Me To The Moon,” “Come Rain Or Shine,” “If I Had You” featuring Diana Krall, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “I Miss You So,” “Because Of You,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside” featuring Norah Jones, “Angel Eyes,” “On The Street Where You Live,” “Since I Fell For You,” and “Always On My Mind.”
• Anyone who doesn’t like music deserves a sackpunch.
• The Eye of the Hurricane posted a Ryan Bingham bootleg from a 2008 performance in Paris featuring several cover songs.
• Listen to Drew Nelson’s “Grandmother Moon” at Songs:Illinois.
• Chris Neal on Gloriana’s EP, The Way It Goes: “Sometimes production clutter gets in the way of the music here, but The Way It Goes is nonetheless the sound of a talented group making a great first impression.”
• Doug Freeman published an interview with Steve Earle about his early years in the music business and his relationship with Townes Van Zandt.

During the early 1970s the airwaves of country radio electrified listeners with the sound of “Gwen (Congratulations)” and “I Don’t Know You Anymore,” records that did not sound like anything else playing on radio at the time.

Tommy Overstreet was born September 10, 1937, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but raised in Houston and Abilene, Texas. While growing up, he was always around music and was hugely influenced by a relative of his, Gene Austin, who was a major pop star during the 1920s, with one of his hits, “My Blue Heaven,” selling over 5 million copies. Austin, sometimes reported as being Overstreet’s uncle but was actually his third cousin, encouraged him in his musical endeavors.

During his teen years, he began performing pop music on radio stations in the Houston, TX area and appeared in a musical titled Hit the Road. While studying broadcasting at the University of Texas, he began playing in local clubs under the name Tommy Dean and toured frequently with Austin.

After time in the US Army, Overstreet moved to Los Angeles in the early ’60s to begin his songwriting (he has written over 500 songs) and recording career. He then returned to Texas and began appearing on the Abilene TV program The Slim Willet Show and formed his own group to play club dates and venues throughout western Texas.

His big break came in 1967 when he was hired to manage Dot Records in Nashville, TN. His connections at Dot enabled him to pursue his recording career. His first two Dot singles, issued in late 1969 and late 1970, barely made a dent, reaching #73 and #56, but in 1971 the third and fourth singles “Gwen (Congratulations)” and “I Don’t Know You Anymore” exploded on the scene both reaching #1 on Record World’s country charts (and becoming Top 5 records on Billboard and Cashbox). In 1972 Overstreet continued his streak with his biggest record “Ann (Don’t Go Runnin’)” (#2 Billboard/#1 Cashbox), “A Seed Before The Rose” only reached #16, then back into the Top 10 with 7 consecutive Top 10 singles, topped by “Heaven Is My Woman’s Love” (#3 Billboard/#1 Cashbox). Tommy’s last Top 10 occurred in 1977 when “Don’t Go City Girl on Me” reached #5; however, he continued to chart records until 1986.

Other Top 20 Records

• “Send Me No Roses” (#7 in 1973)
• “I’ll Never Break These Chains” (#7 in 1973)
• “(Jeannie Marie) You Were a Lady” (#7 in 1974)
• “If I Miss You Again Tonight” (#8 in 1974)
• “I’m a Believer” (#9 in 1975)
• “That’s When My Woman Begins” (#6 in 1976)
• “If Love was a Bottle of Wine” (#11 in 1976)
• “Yes, Ma’am” (#12 in 1978)
• “Fadin’ In, Fadin’ Out” (#11 in 1978)

Overstreet remains active as a concert performer and is still an occasional recording artist, including recording gospel music. His popularity in Europe continued long past his American success and he toured Europe many times over the years.

Discography

Vinyl
There were 12 Tommy Overstreet Albums issued by Dot/ABC and three on the Elektra label. All of these albums find Tommy in good voice; however, the albums seem to become less country as time progresses. I consider the Dot albums issued through 1975 as being substantially better than those that came later. After his runs with Dot and Elektra, Overstreet landed on minor labels where he either remade his earlier hits, or dipped back into the days of vaudeville for material such as his 1984 album Memories Old and New (Deja Vu DJV-137 1984).

CD
Like many country artists of the 1970s, Tommy Overstreet is poorly represented on CD. In 1998 Varese issued The Best of Tommy Overstreet, which collects Tomnmy’s 16 biggest hits, in their original versions. Unfortunately, this CD has gone out of print and has been replaced with another, and inferior Varese CD Twenty Classic Hits, issued in 2008 and consisting of remakes.

The Ernest Tubb Record Shop has two other CDs available of Tommy’s secular material and a three CD set of religious songs. I do not know the sources of any of these discs–they may well be remakes.

Royal Reed, Chris Roberts and Eddie Bush, the members of One Flew South, have built a record on the concept of harmony. And like many great harmony bands before them, including the Eagles, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Mamas and the Papas, Boys II Men and the Beach Boys, One Flew South lets the simple harmony of their voices shine on their first Nashville-based release, Last Of The Good Guys.

The vocal stylings of this trio fit in perfectly with the progressive thinkers at Decca/Universal Records, where they were instantly signed upon auditioning. However, they weren’t an overnight success. These three vocalist-songwriters have been involved in show business for years prior to hitting upon a country music unique combination–attempting to perfect the notion of a band starring three superbly matched vocalists.

Chris Roberts is a New Orleans native who had moved to New York by way of Montana before ending up in Nashville, where he was encouraged by legendary country music singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers. Originally hailing from Texas, Royal Reed came from a musical family and played in a top Texas country band for several years before working as a studio and demo singer in Los Angeles. Eventually, he wound his way to New York where he met Chris. Eddie Bush was better known as a guitar specialist back in his home state of South Carolina and released a self-titled album earlier this decade on the Infinity Nashville label.

The 9513 had a chance to sit down in between tour spots with Eddie, Chris and Royal for a quick interview. This is what the artists from Last Of The Good Guys had to say:

KEN MORTON, JR.: How was CMA Fest in Nashville? Did you guys manage to stay dry?

EDDIE BUSH: We did stay dry. Well, mostly dry. We sang the National Anthem to start it all off. And it was funny; we were at this park and they were whisking us up on stage and right as they got us up on stage, the bottom dropped out.

ROYAL REED: Yeah, it came at us sideways.

KMJ: That had to be a little adventuresome.

EB: Yeah, we were looking for the good witch of the north to show up around there somewhere.

RR: We noticed that compared to last year, there felt like a lot more people there this year. People seemed to be taking advantage of the good prices they were getting on the tickets and all the acts they were getting for it. People seemed to be using it as a vacation–at least that’s what it seemed like.

KMJ: Through many of the news outlets, they have seemed to report the same thing. Attendance this year was up over last year.

CHRIS ROBERTS: I also noticed it in the parade. We did the parade and there were probably three times as many people along the parade route this year as last year.

EB: And the interesting thing is–and this is so indicative of where our country is at and how important country music is to folks–they’re so passionate about their country music. It doesn’t matter what state we’re in, people are coming out and doing it.

CR: It doesn’t matter if it’s raining–

RR: –Yeah, they’re out there when it’s raining. Country fans are just unbelievable.

EB: This was the busiest CMA Fest and week in Nashville that we’ve had.

CR: We just got back from the Walleye Weekend Festival in Wisconsin, after playing our show here in Nashville earlier this week and we have ashow on the last day of the Fest tonight. We just landed. We played a show in beautiful Fond Du Lac just below Green Bay yesterday and we’re hitting the ground running in Nashville again today.

KMJ: Okay, we’ll get one of the more obvious questions out of the way early, where did One Flew South get its name?

CR: Our first gig that we did together as a band was a song for the soundtrack for Fox and the Hound 2 that Disney did. And we didn’t have a band name yet. We were stuck on a whole litany of names and the one we were leaning towards was Parachute Adams. Eddie didn’t like it but he was coming around. Or at least he was giving in.

RR: He was going to suck it up.

CR: It turned out that there was a band in Canada named Parachute Adams. So at the last second, Disney is calling us every day saying we need a band name to put on the record and I thought of One Flew South. I don’t really know how. It made sense to me because Eddie lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and he continually flies up to here to Nashville with us and then flies by himself back down south. So, one flies south. One Flew South. That’s why.

KMJ: That probably leads me to my next question. One of you guys is from Louisiana, one is from Texas and Eddie hails from South Carolina. How did you guys all get together and meet?

RR: Chris and I met doing, of all things, a Broadway show. Larry Gatlin was involved in that originally as well. We met doing that. Chris and I met in New York nearly ten years ago. Chris and Larry had this thought of putting a trio together and did it because Chris and I enjoyed music together so much, and because we kind of look at things the same way. We tried out two or three different guys but we just could never find something that felt special in any way. They were all good singers but nothing overly special and nothing Chris and I could move forward on together. So we let it go. I moved to Nashville later on. And Chris came down later. I was doing bass in a rock band of all things and Chris was songwriting with Marcus Hummon. And we met Eddie through Marcus.

EB: I was a solo artist at the time. I had a song on the charts. And I was trying to get a bigger record deal. I was here at a club in Nashville and Marcus was a friend of the girl who did the graphic design on my record. We invited him to come to the club I was playing and at the end of the show, he and I got into this big conversation and he told me about this duo looking to be a trio.

He invited me to come back and meet them the next week. And so I did. We had coffee together at a coffeehouse and we went back over to Chris’s house, messed around with some songs, trying to find something we could sing together. We started singing “Just Remember I Love You” by Firefall and something just fell right into place. It was one of the most magnificent moments of my life. It was truly beautiful music. I’m addicted to beautiful music. From my own personal perspective, when I heard the harmony, the way it happened like that, I was just stunned. I knew at that very moment I was going to do this.

KMJ: I think that’s what differentiates One Flew South so much in the country genre; your music is so much more harmony-drenched than other acts. What kind of influences drove that sound with you guys?

CR: There’s a lot of influences, but obviously we’re close to Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers. I was just reminded of it a couple days ago when we went on over to the Opry. Larry was hosting the Opry and we were backstage like fans. The brothers hadn’t seen each other in awhile and they were getting dressed in their dressing room, just screwing around. Larry was singing some goofy song and the brothers jumped in and I tell you, it was the best song ever.

RR: It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever heard done. It was different and it was just beautiful. So they’re the biggest influence on us. The blueprint for the group was sort of Crosby Stills and Nash. It was the idea that you could create a sound with harmonies as the lead vocal.

CR: You know, when you listen to those great old CSN records, outside of when Neil Young sings, really it sounds just like one voice. The harmonies create one beautiful voice to listen to. So that’s another big influence on us. Our producer, Marcus Hummon, is another big influence on the sound that we’ve created. His songs, his writing style, the way he works in the studio, all those things.

EB: He had a lot of harmony intelligence.

CR: He grew up with sisters doing harmony all the time and that was something we had in common together- it was something we learned early on that we had a deep love of harmony.

EB: He had a lot of influence early-on with the group. He would come up with melodies and songs for us that were really interesting and created that kind of magic love in our voices.

KMJ: From an artistic achievement standpoint, was that kind of the driving force behind Last Of The Good Guys?

EB: Oh, definitely. I can only talk about this from my perspective. And that’s actually a beautiful thing because we’re all so different. But to me, it’s so unique artistically. There’s so many moments on Last Of The Good Guys for myself that as a music fan, when I listen to the record, I say to myself that I’m very proud of it. I feel like it’s a part of myself from an artistic standpoint. I’m very proud of it. That’s the cool thing about One Flew South is that I feel that, for better or worse, it is our unique voice and expression and I’m proud of it personally.

CR: Hopefully for better!

RR: It’s really hard to be different. There’s so much music out there. But at the end of the day, I think each of us believes that it’s better to be different.

KMJ: I’ll change gears a little bit and travel back a few months with you guys. You had an opportunity to participate in Farm Aid in Boston last year. Tell me about how that experience was for each of you.

CR: It was awesome, we couldn’t have been more fortunate. Farm Aid as an organization, as we all learned is really great.

EB: Remember how they told us at the beginning of the week that we would know more about farmers and farming by the end of the week? It was completely true.

CR: Eddie says it all the time, and I think it’s true, but the best thing about the week was the press conference we got to do. We had Arlo Guthrie sitting on my right and had Dave Matthews and Neil Young sitting to our left. It was such a surreal thing. But it was also great to hear these guys that you respect so much as artists with a passion for something else and helping the community and saving the world and the whole deal. These are all the reasons you work so hard your whole life and make music.

RR: Just to hang out with our heroes for a week was so cool.

EB: At one point, Royal and I were standing behind the monitor mixer and watching from side stage. We were watching Jerry Lee Lewis, the “Killer,” and John Mellencamp was standing right behind us and Neil Young was standing right in front of us. And I was just pinching myself, saying, “I can’t believe this is happening.” And we even shared a dressing room with a couple of our heroes.

RR: We’re hopeful that we’re allowed to do it next year.

KMJ: That has to be very surreal walking around with people who you’ve idolized your whole life.

EB: Yeah. Just even to meet Willie.

RR: We were very lucky. It is cool to meet your heroes and even cooler for you to find out they’re even cooler in person. You’d hate to meet someone who you love that turns out to be a big jerk. Neil Young, everyone, couldn’t have been nicer. It was awesome.

KMJ: Decca is such a historic label. Tell me about the importance of your band being on that label and what kind of rules and regulations they put on you.

EB: Obviously, Decca has such a vast history. They turned down the Beatles for goodness sakes. At the same time, it’s the same label that had The Suns, The Who, Patsy Cline, Bing Crosby and other serious icons of music. I remember when we were even starting out and going to Decca’s offices, how exciting that was. Just the thought of being on the same label that Patsy Cline was on was cool. It’s such a huge imprint. The funny thing is, they really didn’t impose any limitations. They were definite fans of One Flew South from the minute that we met them in the conference room. In fact, the conference room performance that we did was one of the most energized and highlight performances that we’ve had in my career.

RR: You have to tell the whole story.

EB: So we flew out on a Thursday night for a Friday showcase performance that was to be at 9am on Friday morning. We were meeting our to-be management that morning as well. Our plane was initially delayed out of Nashville for a couple hours. We finally got in the air and while we were in the air, they developed some crazy weather in New York. Then the plane was circling. Then they were going to land in JFK. Then all of a sudden we couldn’t land in JFK. Then they announce that they’re running out of fuel, and we go to Baltimore. So we finally get into Baltimore and the time’s the middle of the night, sometime after midnight. They tell us that there are no additional flights into New York, that we’re not going to make our big break, when at the very last moment they find us a flight and we get in early that morning. And it seems like everything that’s ever happened to us has been just like that, at the last second. And that includes the meeting with Decca. Just when it seems like it isn’t going to happen, it all comes through. When we finally did make it to JFK, our luggage didn’t make it and we had to wait another two hours at the airport for our luggage to make it. So we’re just stuck there waiting. Luckily, thank God, we had a car waiting on us. We finally make it to our hotel sometime after 4:30 in the morning. And we had to wake up there and brave traffic and be there by 9 o’clock.

We get less than 3 hours of sleep, meet down in the lobby, meet our management for the very first time, and when we finally get there they pulled Marcus Hummon aside and said, “We’ve heard these guys on disc, but can they really sing?” So we walk into the conference room, and we’re all absolutely exhausted. After all that, there’s like 30 people in the room from the Decca offices. And by the time we played our first song, it was like we were playing to a bar.

They were freaking out. We played every song we knew.

CR: And we walked out the door with a record deal.

KMJ: JD Souther has been a critical piece of The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt’s success. What’s been working with a great songwriter like him like?

EB: JD is magnificent. When we first heard that he was going to pitch songs to us, it was so cool. We first cut a song that Marcus and JD wrote called “It Is Good.” We went into the studio to cut it and JD actually came into the studio to watch us record. When we got done singing, apparently he was so blown away, that moment he decided to write with us. We wrote a song called “Jealousy” with him. It’s still a bit incomplete, but a very cool demo at least. Then after that, I was fortunate enough to write two songs with him. One of the songs is called “Let The Day Carry You” which when we finished was one of my favorite days of my whole career.

The other song was a great song called “She’s A Gift.” As a person who is a huge fan of the history of music, the honor of just sitting in the same room as someone who has been as important as JD in moments of music history, that in itself was incredible. Just to watch him write is cool. When we wrote “Let The Day Carry You,” he sat in a corner for about an hour and a half and made no sound whatsoever. I was dabbling with a musical idea that I had during that time. He literally spent three months after that perfecting the lyrics to the sound we created for “Let The Day Carry You.” That’s how important it was to him. It was a lesson to me. I had the opportunity to study the craft of writing and watch this genius do his thing. He went so far with it. And then with “She’s A Gift,” it was the exact opposite. He heard an idea one day and the next day he had all the verses done for that song.

RR: All I heard was a bunch of good pick-up lines.

CR: That’s right!

KMJ: This is a question for each of you. What’s your favorite song on your album?

CR: I’m going to stick with “It Is Good” for my favorite song on the album

RR: Gosh, that is really difficult. I think it is “Sara.” I think when we did that first song we knew that would be on the record. We had “Sara” and “Coming Up Close.” Those were two songs we weren’t going to let Decca hear until we knew we had our record deal.

EB: This is hard. If I answer truthfully, they’re mine. I think it’s “Let The Day Carry You.” Maybe, “She’s A Gift.”

KMJ: I know you guys have been in active promotion mode on this album, but have you been working on new music for your next project already?

RR: Tons of new music.

CR: We have at least enough stuff written or recorded for a whole other album for sure. We just need a whole lot more time to get into the studio and cut them.

KMJ: Is that writing done as a group together or individually?

EB: Most of it has been together this time.

CR: Yes. We have a lot of it written together to go along with a little bit of independent stuff.

EB: We’ve been working really hard and writing quite a bit. We all have a wonderful relationship together, we don’t hesitate to throw out any idea to let any of the others to run and work with it.

KMJ: What is country music to you?

CR: Country music to me, done really really well, is an entire novel written in three minutes. It’s a Broadway show in three minutes. It’s an entire lifetime in three minutes. A great country song can be a guiding post for someone’s life. It can really be that important. I love the fact that in country music, a lot of different styles can move in there and still be considered country music lyrically. To me, it’s about lyrics and storytelling. That’s all.

KMJ: Royal and Eddie, Chris has set the bar high. What is country music to you guys?

RR: Expounding a little on what Chris said, to me it’s the most universal music. It’s a festival. It’s a common man’s music. It’s about the stories. And although I love all types of music, I really do, with country music anybody can like it.

EB: Country music to me is the purest American art form. It’s real. It’s sincere. And it’s also the big tent that houses so many different kinds of artists. I don’t think there’s another genre that succeeds with that very fact. Years ago when it was more traditional, you had artists like Glen Campbell right alongside artists like Merle Haggard. It’s definitely a big tent. Of course, now, it’s incredibly vast.

We’re creeping up toward 100 members at The 9513 group, and George Strait is getting closer and closer to breaking that 30-listener mark. His 28 count for this week was the largest showing we’ve had for any artist, making him the #1 artist of the week by a large margin. The next-closest singers, with 24 listeners, were Alan Jackson and Johnny Cash. Gary Allan makes a strong showing with 23 listeners, just ahead of the combination of Brad Paisley, Dixie Chicks and Lee Ann Womack, all of whom had 22. While Allan has had his share of success on the country charts, he’s not yet one of those people who have sure-fire #1s with every release. He’s a rare breed that can cut radio-friendly tracks while covering people like Radney Foster and Todd Snider, so the idea of Gary Allan, Superstar, is pretty appealing. His last album is from 2007, and he’s still releasing singles off of it, so we’re definitely due for some new material from him. Maybe a new album will boost his chart numbers into the rarefied air shared by the likes of Strait and Jackson.

Elsewhere, the Americana fanbase rallied around Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, with 15 listeners putting them at #22. The group with 14 listeners included Neko Case, Snider and Hayes Carll. I was listening to Carll’s “Girl Downtown” as I wrote this update, so he’ll have at least one listener for next week.

Americana had a stronger showing on the Top Albums Chart, as two of the three discs that tied for #1 with 13 listeners were Rattlin’ Bones from Chambers & Nicholson and Taking The Long Way Home by the Dixie Chicks. I’m assuming the Chicks are Americana, because that’s where all the cool, chart-unpopular country singers eventually go. Carll showed up at #8 with Trouble In Mind (11 listeners), and Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose (10 listeners, and Exhibit A for my Americana definition) ended up at #10. Of course, Taylor Swift’s Fearless was the other #1 album, and Strait, Womack and Lady Antebellum were also in the Top 5, but a diverse chart is an interesting chart.

Miranda Lambert managed a neat trick on the Top Tracks chart by keeping “Dead Flowers” at #1 for a second consecutive week. She even gained a couple of listeners over last week, totaling 9 this week. The songs tied for #2 with 7 listeners included Gloriana’s “Wild At Heart,” Eric Church’s “Love Your Love The Most,” Allan’s “Today” and Chambers & Nicholson’s “Rattlin’ Bones.” Holly Williams had a couple of songs in the Top 10 (the very thematically different “Mama” and “Three Days In Bed”), as did Sugarland with “All I Want To Do” and “It Happens.”

Freebie of the Week: One of the nice things about Last.fm is that you can get exposed to music from new sources. Case in point, A Jigsaw, a country/folk band out of Coimbra, Portugal. The trio, João Rui, Susana Ribeiro and Jorri, play everything from guitar and harmonica to banjo, ukulele and glockenspiel. The songs, sung in English, put you in mind of The Felice Brothers or Avett Brothers, which is to say, dark country. It’s nice to see that the banjo has moved overseas and will soon be the dominant musical force worldwide. The free songs available include “Letters From The Boatman” and “Lion’s Eyes Louder.” There’s also a cover of David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel,” but you’re not missing much if you skip that one.

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

Join us on:
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• Watch the new video from Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, “Johnny Cash Is Dead And His House Burned Down.”

• New releases for the week of June 23, 2009 include:

  • Charlie Rich – Once a Drifter (Reissue)
    Amazon

  • Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day
    Amazon | Lone Star Music

  • David Frizzell & Shelly West – The Very Best of David Frizzell & Shelly West
    Amazon | Varese Vintage Records

  • George Jones – A Good Year For The Roses – The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971 Part 2 (4 CD Box Set)
    Amazon | Bear Family Records

  • Jackson Taylor and the Sinners – Aces N’ Eights
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Joel Kaiser & The Devils Own – Honky Tonkin’ Till The Coffin
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Kendel Carson – Alright Dynamite
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Larry Jon Wilson – Larry Jon Wilson
    Amazon | Drag City Records | Fan Site

  • Leon Russell – Best Of Hank Wilson
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

  • Mack Allen Smith – The Early Years: 1962-1967
    Amazon | iTunes | Big Legal Mess Records

  • Steve Wariner c.g.p. – My Tribute to Chet Atkins
    Artist Website | MySpace

  • Tift Merritt – Buckingham Solo (Live)
    Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Richard Skanse has a lengthy, but good, interview with Charlie Robison all about his new divorce record and why he chose to cover the songs he did. On the Bruce Springsteen cover, “Racing In the Street,” he says:
  

  One of the stories behind that song is, 15 years ago, I was in Nashville making this terrible record for Warner Bros. that thank God never came out, and I was kind of miserable. But I did get to hang out with Townes [Van Zandt] and Guy [Clark] while I was out there. We’d hang out and get hammered at Guy’s house, just sitting around and singing songs. I’d do that Springsteen song, and Guy always made me promise that someday I would record it. And I said, “OK, I will.” But it never seemed to fit anywhere until I got to this record.

• And congrats to the winners of our giveaway for Charlie Robison’s new album: Maureen, Drew, agent713, Mike Parker and Ryan. Country California has a couple of chances for you to win an album if you didn’t pick one up here, plus C.M. claims that his autographed copies are better than ours.
• Mike Severson shared a few highlights from a report released by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) in association with Nielsen SoundScan on the current state of the recording industry. Visit the link at the bottom of his post for the full report.
• Farce the Music presents songwriting tip #10 from John Rich: Leave your politics at the door of the writing room.
• For week 14 in his Nashville or Bust series, Nathan Rabin tackled The Louvin Brothers and their “fire-and-brimstone theology of bottomless torment and endless grace.”
• Michael Corcoran reviewed the first of Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson’s two sold-out shows at the Cactus Cafe last night and mentioned three of the moments that brought out the most goosebumps.
• To honor Jerry Douglas for his 25th year at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, he was presented with a sheep.
• GAC partnered with Original Signal Recordings to digitally release Lane Turner’s new self-titled EP on June 9. (Amazon | iTunes | MySpace)
• About 250 extras showed up yesterday to take part in the filming for the Hank Williams Jr. intro to this season’s Monday Night Football. Twice as many extras are expected to show up for round two today, but that doesn’t mean everyone is enthusiastic. Rich Eisen of the NFL Network posted the following to his Twitter feed Saturday night: “Is it complete heresy of me to say that I’m totally over the whole Hank Williams Jr. thing? Holy smokes is that PLAYED.”
• Download “Red Light Love” from the forthcoming self-titled album from Those Darlins.

Some more songs that I liked, one song per artist, not necessarily the biggest hit. As always, I consider myself free to comment on other songs by the artist.

“I’m Having Your Baby” – Sunday Sharpe (1974)
Female answer to a rather lame Paul Anka hit with the answer song being better (or at least more believable) than the original. Ms. Sharpe originally was from Orlando, FL but seemingly has disappeared from view. This song reached #10 on Cashbox, her only Top 10 hit.

“I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” – Billy Joe Shaver (1973)
For a guy whose only two charting records charted at 88 and 80, and who can’t sing a lick, Billy Joe Shaver has had a heck of a career as a recording artist, issuing several acclaimed albums. Of course, his main claim to fame is as a songwriter.

“Slippin’ Away” – Jean Shepard (1973)
Jean took this Bill Anderson composition to #1 (Cashbox) reviving a career that Capitol had abandoned. (See the Forgotten Artist article for more on Jean Shepard)

“Devil In The Bottle” – T.G. Sheppard (1975)
T.G. kicked off his career as a singer under the T.G. Sheppard name (real name Bill Browder, and recorded also as Brian Stacey) with consecutive #1s. T.G. would have 14 #1 singles between 1975 and ‘86. He worked for Elvis at one point, before kicking off his solo career.

“Greystone Chapel” – Glen Sherley (1970)
This song first saw the light of day when Johnny Cash recorded it for the Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison album in 1968. At the time Glen Sherley was a prisoner at Folsom. This was his only chart record, reaching #63. In addition to this song, Sherley had several other songs he’d written recorded, most notably Eddy Arnold’s recording of “Portrait of My Woman.” Johnny Cash helped get Glen Sherley released from prison, and even had him as part of his road show for a while. Unfortunately, Glen Sherley was unable to adapt to life outside of prison, and committed suicide in 1978.

“I’m A Truck” – Red Simpson (1971)
A truck tells its side of the story:

There’d be no truck drivers if it wasn’t for us trucks
No double-clutching gear- jamming coffee drinking nuts
They’ll drive their way to glory and they have all the luck
There’d be no truck drivers if it wasn’t for us trucks.

Red’s biggest hit, in fact his only top 30 record, reaching #1 Cashbox/#4 Billboard. Simpson was from Bakersfield and co-wrote a number of songs with Buck Owens, many of which Buck recorded, including “Sam’s Place” and “Kansas City Song.” Junior Brown recently recorded Red’s “Highway Patrol.” Curiously enough, “I’m A Truck” was not written by Red Simpson, but came from the pen of Bob Stanton, who worked as a mailman and sent Red the song.

“Nothing Can Stop My Loving You” – Patsy Sledd (1972)
Great debut recording–it only reached #68 but unknown to Ms. Sledd, her record label was created as a tax write off, so that there was no promotional push for anyone by the label. The next single “Chip Chip” reached #33 but from there it was all downhill. Patsy was part of the George Jones-Tammy Wynette show for a few years.

“The Lord Knows I’m Drinking” – Cal Smith (1973)
Bill Anderson wrote it and Cal Smith took it to #1 on March 3, 1973. Cal only had four Top 10 records, but three of them went to #1. His biggest chart hit was “It’s Time To Pay The Fiddler,” but this song and “Country Bumpkin“ are probably the best remembered songs for the former member of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours.

“Mama Bear” – Carl Smith (1972)
Carl only had one Top 10 song after 1959 and this song wasn’t it, dying at #46. By the time this record was issued, Carl was 45 years old and his career as a recording artist was stone-cold dead but that doesn’t mean he quit making good records. This was one of many good records he issued in the 1970s.

“Just One Time” – Connie Smith (1971)
The best female country vocalist ever, Connie took this Don Gibson classic to #1 on Cashbox (#2 Billboard). In 1973 she would leave RCA, where her classic hits were recorded, and her recording career would never really regain momentum.

“Take My Breath Away” – Margo Smith (1976)
Margo is a great yodeler but this is not a yodeling record. This remains my favorite Margo Smith song, reaching #7.

“I’ve Got To Have You” – Sammi Smith (1972)
She had bigger hits, but I was always partial to this recording.

“Hello Love” – Hank Snow (1974)
Hank Snow was a few months short of 60 years old when this song reached #1, his first #1 in 11 years. For many years, Garrison Keiller would perform this song on Prairie Home Companion. For his career, Hank’s records spent 56 weeks at #1, with “I’m Moving On” being the biggest hit in the history of Billboard’s Country charts spending 21 weeks at #1, with 44 weeks in the Top 10. Hank was also a top-flgiht guitar picker, whose abilities probably exceeded those of Keith Urban and Brad Paisley today.

“Walk A Mile In My Shoes” – Joe South (1970)
Joe South had much more success as a songwriter (“Rose Garden”) than as a performer. This record went #12 pop/#56 country.

“You’re Only Lonely” – John David Souther (1979)
An Orbison-esque song, this song actually peaked in 1980, reaching #7 pop/#56 country.

“Lay Down Sally” – Red Sovine (1978)
A nice cover of an Eric Clapton song, it only reached #70. The big hit for Sovine, of course, was the tear-jerker “Teddy Bear,” a huge pop and country hit that sold well over a million copies.

“Blanket On The Ground”– Billy Jo Spears (1975)
This ode to married romance, reached #1 and also charted on the pop charts. A year later “What I’ve Got In Mind” continued the theme. A great singer whose impact abroad was greater than her impact in the USA.

“Spiders and Snakes” – Jim Stafford (1974)
An amusing song, and a bigger pop hit (#3) than a country hit (#69). Conway and Loretta recorded this song for one of their albums, a version that still gets some airplay today.

“Billy, Get Me A Woman” – Joe Stampley (1975)
It’s been years since I heard this one on a country oldies program, a victim of the PC thought police. This song got to #12 Billboard/#7 Cashbox.

“The Blind Man In The Bleachers” – Kenny Starr (1976)
His only #1 (#1 Cashbox/#2 Billboard) hit. Great story line; a rather unique song.

“I’ll Go To My Grave Loving You” – The Statler Brothers (1975)
The Statler Brothers lost much of their unique sound when high tenor Lew DeWitt was forced to retire due to illness in 1982. Jimmy Fortune was a great singer but he was no Lew DeWitt. This record went to #1 on Cashbox, but was marooned at #2 for four weeks on Billboard. This is my favorite Statler Brothers song.

“Lone Star Beer and Bob Wills Music”– Red Steagall (1976)
What more could you ask for?

“The Streak” – Ray Stevens (1973)
Streaking was a national fad during the early ’70s and no one could capture an absurdity quite like Ray Stevens. This song went to #1 on pop charts for three weeks but only to #3 on Billboard’s country chart (it did reach #1 on Cashbox).

“Out of Hand” – Gary Stewart (1975)
The middle song of Gary’s three similarly themed songs from 1974-1975, and one of the greatest honky-tonk songs ever, but I could say the same for “Drinkin’ Thing” and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles).” This Cashbox #1 is my favorite of the three by just a hair.

“After The Storm” – Wynn Stewart (1976)
The last top 10 record for a Bakersfield legend. (See the Forgotten Artist article for more on Wynn Stewart)

“Borrowed Angel” – Mel Street (1972)
George Jones called King Malachi “Mel” Street his favorite singer. Small wonder, since only Vern Gosdin and Mel Street ever approached George Jones as soulful interpreters of country songs. This song reached #7 on a small label, one of three top 10 records for Street. Always plagued by depression, Mel Street committed suicide on October 21, 1978, his 45th birthday. George Jones sang at his funeral.

“A Daisy A Day” – Jud Strunk (1973)
A very gentle and tender love song, it only reach #33, but got to #14 on the pop charts. Styrunk was more of a actor (on Broadway and on television’s Rowan Martin’s Laugh-In) than a singer. He died in a plane crash in 1981 at the age of 45.

“She Wakes Me With A Kiss Every Morning” – Nat Stuckey (1971)
This was Nat’s second biggest hit reaching #5 Cashbox/#11 Billboard. Nat was a bigger success as a songwriter than as a performer, although he was an excellent singer, signed to a major label. Alan Jackson took his composition “Pop –A-Top” to the top of the charts a few years back.

“Old Flames (Can’t Hold A Candle To You)” – Joe Sun (1978)
Joe had the original, and best, recording of this song. Signed to a minor label, Joe’s version only reached #14 but his smoky voice was perfect for the song. The song was covered in 1980 by Brian Collins and then later that same year someone named Dolly, who took it to #1.

“I Can Help” – Billy Swan (1974)
His only top 10 song, this record reached #1 on both Billboard’s country and pop charts. Swan is a former member of Kris Kristofferson’s band. In 1976 he recorded a nice version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” the old Bill Haley hit from 1954. Billy’s version barely cracked the top 100.

They came to CMA Music Fest with nothing but dreams. Dreams and a whole lot of Daddy Toby’s money, that is.

It was, by all accounts, an epic promotional campaign. From the tour bus–emblazoned with their band logo and the title of their latest single–that was parked in prime locations throughout the festival locale over the weekend, to their participation in the City of Hope Softball Challenge (where they made up a third of their team’s lineup), to their performance on the Chevy stage outside the Sommet Center and everywhere in between, it was impossible to escape the promotional reach of Trailer Choir.

It had the appearance of an all-out, balls-to-the-wall campaign designed to introduce the world to one of music’s next big things. Without a doubt, Trailer Choir emerged from the event as the act the most successful in exploiting every conceivable publicity opportunity.

And that would be good, if Trailer Choir was one of music’s next big things.

What they are, however, is an example of how much of the industry is tragically out of touch with fans. And reality.

I had the pleasure, last July, of interviewing the trio. They were generally polite and seemed motivated, and I was impressed by their confidence–even if their declaration that their album would “have Grammy winning songs” did seem a little premature (especially considering that, at that time, they were pushing a single called “Off The Hillbilly Hook,” a title probably not especially attractive to NARAS voters).

“Off The Hillbilly Hook” bombed, failing to chart. And their follow-up attempt, “What Would You Say”–a song that referenced then-recent coal mining tragedies–stalled at #43.

Since that point, Show Dog has continued to throw support and money behind the trio, pushing three singles, a video, a digital EP and a full year of promotion and publicity expenses–all culminating in a massive push at CMA Fest 2009.

It’s a great, if not terribly original idea. You build slowly, doing radio tours, in-stores and the like, all the while developing name recognition and good will. Then, when you have a solid foundation, you go all-in.

But here’s the catch. There’s no cheese at the end of that tunnel. There’s no product. Show Dog built around something people aren’t interested in, trying to sell them a product they have no reason to want to buy.

From conception, every move Show Dog has made has pigeonholed the trio as a novelty act. From the crazy clothes (bib overalls, necktie with bluejeans) to the crazy photo settings to the crazy names to the crazy songs.

“Off The Hillbilly Hook” should have been a nonstarter. Not only has the idea of taking urban slang and setting it in country lyrics been done many times before (almost uniformly without success), there were already two similar songs–Justin Moore’s “Back That Thing Up” and The Lost Trailer’s “Holler Back”–vying for radio play at the exact same time.

As for the trio’s latest: It’s called “Rockin’ The Beer Gut.” What else can I say?

That’s one of the worst titles in country music history. The image that title elicits is not positive by any stretch of the imagination. And no matter how charming or unexpected the song may be, listeners are never going to be able to get past that. No one wants to hear a song about a person rocking a beer gut.

The music industry is going through one of its most troubled periods. And even if people actually wanted to buy music, the economy is in shambles. Consumers have little money to spend on entertainment. And you’re trying to sell them a novelty act singing a song about a beer gut?

In what world does this make sense? It’s counter-intuitive and borderline offensive.

This all reached a climax, for me, during the City of Hope softball game. At one point Big Vinny donned a Fred Flintstone costume and started shooting someone with a Super Soaker, before proceeding to step to the plate while wearing the cave-dweller outfit.

It was funny. In the same way that watching Jim Carrey mash his head into a pile of horse poop would be funny. The joke gets old real fast, and chances are it’s going to be hard to take him seriously afterward.

So here’s what you have: Trailer Choir, which is made up of a blonde chick, a short guy named after a dairy product and a 400 lb. former Sonic manager who dresses like Fred Flintstone and does the worm on stage, singing a song called “Rockin’ The Beer Gut.”

It’s every single bit as ridiculous as it sounds.

And by the way, did I mention Trailer Choir’s set outside the Sommet Center on Friday was freaking awesome?

Yes, that’s right. It was awesome. One of the best-sounding and most inspired sets I witnessed in the four days of the event.

Butter has a commanding, unique voice and the trio shares great chemistry on stage. The band was connected to each other and committed to the audience. It was one of the few performances I saw from a new artist during CMA Fest where the act took control of the scene and looked and sounded bigger than the setting. It was both impressive and surprising.

And the crowd seemed to enjoy it, for the most part. But it was hard for them to connect. Because despite the talent the band displayed, there was still something offsetting about the tone of the performance, something that made it all seem less relevant. Had the look been different, had the songs been different, maybe fans there would have felt like they were watching the start of something special. Instead, they were privy to a contrived and gimmicky sales pitch.

Butter made a remark to the effect of, “When’s the last time you heard ‘Baby Got Back’ at a country show!” And while he’s right—most of us never have—the truth is that we should never hear that song at a country show.

OK, maybe not “never.” It would be different, after all, if Jennifer Nettles sat down on a bar stool on stage and strummed it out unexpectedly. But when Trailer Choir covers Sir Mix-a-Lot, everyone in the area is left thinking that it’s just another part of a mediocre shtick. Having a 400 lb. man sing “Baby Got Back” is one of the most obvious, expected and cliched stunts I can imagine.

When they perform “Off The Hillbilly Hook,” “Rockin’ The Beer Gut,” “In My Next Five Beers” and whatever other left-of-center material they can muster, it’s easy to watch this group perform and overlook the fact that not only can they actually play and sing, they can write pretty damn well, too. One song in particular, “Rollin’ Through The Sunshine,” struck me as a unique but familiar sounding number that would stand a very strong chance at radio.

“Sunshine” is no masterpiece. But what makes a song resonate with listeners? It’s truth, not gimmickry. It’s relatability, not originality. It’s whether or not the listener hears that song and believes the artist is speaking on his or her behalf. It doesn’t have to be brilliant or groundbreaking to be commercially successful. But it does have to speak to people on some emotional level.

As touching as an inspirational song about trapped coal miners might be (”What Would You Say”), it’s not something that feels substantial to listeners. It is irrelevant to their lives, seemingly designed for the purpose of the lesson or message alone. We hear it, and perhaps we like it, but it bounces off of us. We have no reason to hold on to it.

There are, surprisingly, a lot of people in the industry who still don’t get that. And Show Dog—which has still failed to break a new act—seems oblivious to the point.

Because despite the piles of money being spent on its behalf, Trailer Choir is going nowhere. The label could double the budget and it wouldn’t change a thing. Any objective observer can look at this situation and see that the package–the look, the songs, the Fred Flintstone costume–is not working. And it’s never going to work.

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, in advice to fellow writers, that it is necessary to kill your darlings. Your darlings being, by one interpretation of his statement, the little nuggets that you slip into your work because you think they’re genius. Because you think you’re a genius.

Kill them. They distract from your work. It is the writing that matters; the story, the characters. And anything that stands as a barrier between those things and the reader is a problem.

Artists and labels trying to break into the music industry in this day and age need to kill their darlings. They need to understand that fans want great music–performed by talented artists–that speaks to them and their lives. If they wanted comedy, they would go buy a Weird Al record.

There’s no room in this economy for frivolity. There’s no money to spend on goofy, off-the-wall novelty acts when they offer nothing of substance. And even if you could sell this product to its maximum potential audience, what do you think the upside of a Trailer Choir disc is? How many people, if everything goes according to plan, are ultimately going to buy into what this band is selling? Is Trailer Choir going to become a cultural phenomenon?

Kill your darlings. Write the best songs you can. Wear normal clothes, or cool clothes. Don’t cover Sir Mix-a-Lot. Don’t do the worm on stage and, for God’s sake, don’t dress up your 400 lb. band member in a Fred Flintstone costume.

If you are as talented as Crystal, Butter and Big Vinny, you don’t need to do any of these things to distinguish yourself. It all distracts from how good you are.

And you’re good. Really good. Give your potential fans a chance to see that.

• WSMV Nashville obtained audio tapes of a conversation John Rich’s manager, Marc Oswald, had with Jared Ashley in which Oswald tried to get Ashley to drop his lawsuit against Rich.
  

  The audio recordings are supposedly a conversation between Oswald and Ashley on May 22. The recordings are edited. Ashley never speaks.

  “One thing about the music business, country music business in particular, is, you know, as long as you’re not a child rapist or gay, you can get away with a lot … You know what I mean?” said Oswald on the tape.

  “I would say, dude, if this guy is ready to back off and ready to write a check for aggravation and by doing so, it’s over and you can feel like you accomplished a lot, I would do it,” Oswald said. “If I can agree with you on the number and he drops his and you drop yours and you call the detective, we could be done with this today.”

• The Grand Ole Opry is experimenting with captioning for the hearing impaired.
• Craig Bickhardt posted video of “Father’s Day” to his blog, Ninety Mile Wind. It’s a song he wrote with Jack Sundrud and Helen Darling and is obviously appropriate to yesterday’s celebration of fathers.
• Julianne Hough landed the role of Ariel Moore for the remake of the ’80s film Footloose.
• In a special to DFW.com, Punch Shaw said two songs defined the Cherryholmes‘ set at Concerts in the Garden on Friday night: “Sumatra” and “Mary.”
• Charlie Robison directs a few jabs at his ex-wife on his new album, Beautiful Day, but in an interview with Sarah Rodman he said he “wanted to keep all the overt vindictiveness out of it.”
  

  “Emily and I are still very close. She comes over to the house for dinner three times a week with [our three] kids, and we still go out and have dinner with our friends. I didn’t want my kids for the next 20 years of their life at their therapists’ office saying, ‘Daddy keeps calling Mommy a bitch on his records.’ That would get kind of old after a while.”

• Todd Snider’s 2003 live album Near Truths and Hotel Rooms tops Country California’s ranking of his discography.
• Megan Branch shared ten interesting facts about the Father of Country Music straight from Barry Mazor’s new book, Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: How America’s Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century.
• Country Universe’s Kevin J. Coyne listed his favorite versions of songs written by Matraca Berg.
• Jon Caramanica reviewed the Toby Keith and Trace Adkins concert at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J. on Thursday night for The New York Times.
• Those Darlins will release their self-titled debut album through their own company, Oh Wow Dang, on July 7.
• Forbes.com named Dierks Bentley as a one of ten personalities who have the potential to become breakout stars. (via Country Music Is Love)
• For the past few weeks Country Mike has been counting down the top 50 states for country music. This week he hit the top ten. Find out who made the top spot: Texas or Tennessee. Which would you have chosen?
• My Kind of Country and Country Universe are each giving away five copies of Tanya Tucker’s new album My Turn.

Physicist Sir Isaac Newton famously determined that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. While Newton was referring to the way physical objects interact with each other, bluegrass/rockabilly/juke/country trio The Devil Makes Three takes that third law of motion to heart on its fourth album: For each humorous song about partying and playboys, TDMT examines the relationship those actions have with preaching and praying and walks the fine line that separates sinners and saints.

For such a centuries-old sentiment, guitarist and front man Pete Bernhard, stand-up bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist Cooper McBean manage to reinvent the devil-on-your-right shoulder, angel-on-your-left routine despite their harmonica and banjo-fueled old-timey aesthetic. Despite its lack of drummer, TDMT’s driving rhythms—best featured on Allman Brothers cover “Statesboro Blues”—serve as the power engine that pulls listeners from beginning to end. The tireless trio plays for its soul without any sort of challenge from a “Devil Went Down to Georgia”-type antagonist, and its “thinking hillbilly’s” lyrics are a welcome respite from more stereotypical stories of love and life.

The principles of wrong and right that dominate the majority of songs on the fittingly titled Do Wrong Right especially seep into its title track and “All Hail,” the album opener that benefits from a rare electric guitar section and sets a tongue-in-cheek tone for the rest of the album: “Laugh if you want to, really it is kind of funny/The world is a car/And you’re the crash test dummy.”

For every good-time anthem like “Gracefully Facedown,” a humorous addition to the long line of country music’s infamous drinking songs, there’s a tune like “Help Yourself,” a probing look and sneering elbow jab at spoon-fed religion. Good and bad actions of the opposite sex also figure into the progression of the album. In the oxymoronic “For Good Again,” a potential love match is described in a hilarious way that greatly contrasts the group’s rural sound: “You wouldn’t believe the things that my friend Eric put us through/He had a PowerPoint presentation about this girl he wanted to do.”

Where Do Wrong Right itself can go wrong is largely due to TDMT’s perfection of its old-timey sound: “Working Man’s Blues” and “Johnson Family,” a plodding Eastern European waltz, sound straight off the airwaves of a Great Depression-era radio broadcast, with little to distinguish them as modern nods to the era. The weaknesses of these two songs are representative of the rut the band slips into when it loses the humor and energy of its better efforts; the trio has noted in interviews that its live shows sometimes don’t translate through speakers and earphones, and that’s especially true on the album’s more monotonous tracks.

Country music and TDMT’s unique brand of punk once shared a common thread of bucking The Man, but the mainstream country genre has shifted greatly since the days of the Outlaws. Although “Car Wreck,” a stripped-down ramblin’ song delivered by Bernhard like a hung-over version of Ronnie Milsap with a cold, is the most mainstream number on the album, TDMK remains a square peg that doesn’t come anywhere near the round hole of today’s definition of country music.

While it ain’t your grandmother’s bluegrass music, fans of Old Crowe Medicine Show and The Avett Brothers will enjoy Do Wrong Right’s strong fusion of acoustic hipster and hickster sensibilities.