Bruce Robison Rearranges Hits For His Greatest
- On Nov. 11 Bruce Robison will digitally release His Greatest, an album of ten songs from his catalog that he rerecorded with new arrangements. The physical copy will be in stores on January 20. “Some of the songs have changed a bit along the way, a little slower, faster, or maybe reflecting a bit of the fine folks who have covered them,” says Robison. Here’s the track list: (via press release)
1. Travelin’ Soldier
2. Desperately
3. The Good Life
4. Angry All The Time
5. My Brother and Me
6. Wrapped
7. Poor Man’s Son
8. Not Forgotten You
9. Red Letter Day
10. Rayne, Louisiana - Leave a comment in the forums with your favorite Bruce Robison song(s) by Wednesday for a chance to win his new album, The New World. There’s been a couple of excellent entries thus far.
- Peter Cooper notes that Lee Ann Womack, who has recorded past songs from Bruce Robison and Julie Miller, sees herself as a bridge between Americana and the major label world.
“I don’t have any idea why more people aren’t singing with Chris Stapleton (the SteelDrivers lead singer who co-wrote and sings harmony vocals on the album’s “Either Way”), but I’m sure going to,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I? He’s a great singer. He sings like a real man.”
Also appearing in The Tennessean are ten crazy things that Womack has done, from threatening to “Nancy Kerrigan” a fellow female artist at an awards show to asking a certain radio station to please mail the term “country” back to her, since they clearly weren’t using it.
- Barry Mazor and Craig Shelburne provided more coverage of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony that took place on Sunday night.
- The Gobblers Knob posted a rundown of the highs and lows of the new Johnny Cash’s America documentary.
- Chris Knight shared his opinion of Blake Shelton’s cover of “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” in an interview with Americana Roots’ C. Eric Banister and talked about the possibility of a live album and last year’s release of Trailer Tapes.
Last year you released Trailer Tapes. Were you surprised at the response you got to that?
Yeah, I guess. I just never thought much about those recordings being that big a deal, myself. But I’m glad people liked them. I can see why they did. I’d be all over something John Prine or Steve Earle did back before they put out an album. Like a live show or something they recorded before their first album; that would be real interesting to me.
- Robert Hilburn claims that if The Unreleased Recordings highlights anything, it’s that even if Hank Williams had never written a song he still could have been an influential figure in country music. “His phrasing in this relaxed setting,” Hilburn writes, “sometimes exhibits a stronger and more personal edge than he showed during his more formal recording sessions.”
- New releases for the week of 10/28/2008 include:
- Brandon Jenkins - Faster Than A Stone
Amazon | Rhapsody | iTunes - Hank Williams - The Unreleased Recordings
Amazon | Rhapsody | iTunes (5 song EP) - Joey+Rory - The Life Of A Song
Amazon | iTunes - Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash’s America
Amazon | Rhapsody | iTunes - Rascal Flatts - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
Amazon | Rhapsody | iTunes - Tangleweed - Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals
Amazon | Rhapsody - Toby Keith - That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy
Amazon | Rhapsody | iTunes - Tom Russell - Veteran’s Day: The Tom Russell Anthology
Amazon
- Brandon Jenkins - Faster Than A Stone
- After last week’s performance on Dancing With the Stars Julianne Hough was taken to the hospital for stomach cramps. It turns out that she’s been diagnosed with endometriosis, a common condition in which tissue from the uterus lining grows outside the uterus, causing painful cysts and possible infertility. She’ll undergo minor surgery to remove her appendix, but hopes to return to the show soon.
- “You’re Not Sorry” from Taylor Swift’s new album, Fearless, is available on iTunes.
- Randy Rogers talks about Texas Country and his band’s new album in an interview with Jim Malec that appears in the November/December issue of American Songwriter magazine:
“People are proud of being from Texas,” Rogers says, explaining the feelings of protectiveness he ascribes to some within the rabidly loyal Red Dirt fan base–feelings that sometimes morph into jealousy when a favorite regional artist springboards to national prestige. “I’m very proud of being from Texas, too. But if you think your favorite band is the best thing ever, and then you don’t want anyone else to know about them…to me, that means you don’t care very much about that band.”
- Brooks & Dunn are being featured in the iTunes Original series with an album that mixes interview segments with exclusive live performances and a selection of the duo’s hits. It comes in both audio and video versions.
- Fans of Keith Urban have put together a limited edition calendar to help raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and its fight against childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The calendar features photos of Urban taken by members of his fan club and will be available Nov. 10.
- Watch the music video of Kevin Costner and Modern West performing “Superman 14.”
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to subscribe to our feed or receive updates via email.
Popular Stuff
Sponsor
We've labored long and hard to come up with our list of the Top 10 Country Albums of 2008. Click here to see who claimed the honor of the year's top album, as chosen by The 9513's staff and writers.
Don’t confuse disappointing with worst, as that list would most likely be dominated by obscure indie knockoff bands along with a couple of mainstream releases. There has to be a modicum of expectation that’s dashed upon the release of an album for it to qualify for the year’s most disappointing.
Join host Kelly Dearmore as he shines the light on several noteworthy album releases you might have missed and interviews various artists, from Sarah Borges to Trent Willmon and Reckless Kelly to Wade Bowen, in the first two episode of The 9513 podcast.
Jim Malec counts down the top 20 country music news stories of 2008. How many times do you think John Rich will be mentioned?Tagged In This Article
Blake Shelton // Brandon Jenkins // Bruce Robison // Chris Knight // Hank Williams // Joey+Rory // Johnny Cash // Julianne Hough // Keith Urban // Lee Ann Womack // Modern West // Randy Rogers // Rascal Flatts // Taylor Swift // Toby Keith // Tom Russell
Current Discussion
- northtexas: Matt B. summed up the reaction of some of the folks here with this line in his review: "there’ll be ...
- dudley: Stormy: My point is that Wilcox is accusing the Carrie camp of trying to claim the traditionalist mantle with the ...
- Gloria: I loved Carrie's performance and I loved the song! Rascal Flatts, well, that do nothing for me! I couldn't stand ...
- Stormy: Dudley: The marketing of a song isn't the reality of that song. Nashville: Actually, it explains a lot about ...
- plain_jo: I really like Tomlinson's voice and I think the song is just a reflection of what we as Americans feel ...
- Leeann Ward: Great review! Songs like these are frustrating. I didn't like "One Wing In The Fire" either though. His voice ...
- Brady Vercher: Tomlinson is certainly taking a look back at a non-existent utopia. Did he forget about the Great Depression, WWII, the ...
- Nashville4U: I think the Carrie Underwood thing is pretty funny and I do not like the single at all but was ...
- Leeann Ward: The comments about Dierks' new album are contradictory. First, Mike said that the album is full of uptempo party ...
- Matt: I like the original "Carry On" better, but if I never heard ths original I think I would like this ...
17 Comments
RSS for comments on this post | Trackback URI for this post
October 28, 2008 at 11:41 am Permalink
hugh lawrie in dr. house or julianne hough on “the9513″ - dilemma drill for hypochondriacs.
October 28, 2008 at 11:42 am Permalink
Excited to hear about the Bruce Robison greatest hits. Honestly, I would like to see more and certain songs on there, but this is a good list overall. I love the idea of “re-recording” the songs to a new fresher sound. Tracy Lawrence did this with a greatest hits CD a couple years ago, and I really enjoyed it. Regardless, knowing this is coming from Bruce Robison, you can bet that it will be quality work.
I enjoyed Blake Shelton’s version. I thought it sounded much different Knight’s version.
October 28, 2008 at 3:13 pm Permalink
I prefer Knight’s or John Anderson’s versions to Blake’s. I didn’t like the over emphacis on “work” and “jerk” that Blake used throughout the song.
I loveBruce. right now, one of my favorites is “Friendless Marriage” with Kelly Willis. The list goes on though.
October 28, 2008 at 3:14 pm Permalink
Oh yeah, I agree with Lee Ann on Chris Stapleton!
October 28, 2008 at 3:18 pm Permalink
Definitely an interesting list of songs for the greatest hits package. Though I’m a bit too big of a fan to narrow his greatest hits down to 10 songs.
I also enjoy when artists re-record their songs. Shenandoah did it toward the end of their run, and both Charlie Daniels and John Anderson have re-recorded some of their stuff.
October 28, 2008 at 3:22 pm Permalink
Poor Julianne!!! :(
October 28, 2008 at 6:31 pm Permalink
So Julianne Hough gets diagnosed with endometriosis and then they schedule surgery to remove her appendix? Sounds like something that would happen with a nationalized healthcare system like in Canada or England. They must be practicing for life under an Obama administration…
I think that if I did indeed listen to Taylor Swift’s new song, I would be sorry…
I picked up an advance copy of Joey + Rory’s “The Life of a Song” and think its a fine album indeed. I give it 4.5 stars on the Rick’s Country Curmudgeon rating scale (5 stars max). The old Hank Williams stuff also intrigues me, so I’ll likely acquire some of it at some point.
Lee Ann Womack’s “crazy” stunts are great. Nice to see she’s got some guts and spunk to back up that great voice of hers.
October 28, 2008 at 6:40 pm Permalink
Ryan Adams is releasing Cardinology on 10/28 as well.
October 28, 2008 at 7:24 pm Permalink
Rick, endometriosis is like a cancer that metastasizes from one tissue to another. It’s endometrial tissue growing in someplace other than the endometrium (the lining of the uterus) where it can cause severe, recurrent pain (often around that time of the month). If Julianne is having an appendectomy, this probably means that she has endometriosis of the appendix (this is an uncommon, but not impossible, site for endometriosis).
October 28, 2008 at 7:30 pm Permalink
Rick, good to know that you’re not only an expert on health care but also political science.
October 28, 2008 at 9:14 pm Permalink
Hey, it was a joke! Sheesh…. (For some more political hijinx, check out another ridiculous CMT Blog entry from the fetching Alison Bonaguro at: http://blog.cmt.com/2008-10-28/caption-contest-is-obama-a-cowboy-at-heart/ Add your comment!)
Rick’s Random Tidbits: Regarding the current state of the world of AirHead Country Music, I think this article form AllAboutCountry kind of says it all:
“Bucky Covington Makes Chart History!
With his latest single “I’ll Walk” leaping into the Top 10 on the Mediabase COUNTRY chart this week, Bucky Covington becomes one of only three male country artists since 2005 – including Josh Gracin and Jason Aldean - to have three consecutive top 10 singles from his debut album. Bucky’s previous singles “A Different World” and “It’s Good To Be Us” peaked at #5 and #9 respectively.
At the same time “I’ll Walk” is tearing up the country radio charts, it’s also shaping up to be his most reactive single yet. Not only does it frequently receive a standing ovation in his live shows, but digital track sales are up 58% over the last ten weeks while album sales are up more than 50% over the same period.
His self-titled debut album has scanned more than 370k units to date and has remained on the Nielsen SoundScan Country Top 75 chart week for 79 weeks since its release in April 2007.”
Rick’s comment: Just what exactly is it that Sucky’s faithful followers find so attractive about this guy? I can grasp the Taylor Swift phenonemon but this fan fervor Bucky engenders is beyond my comprehension….
October 29, 2008 at 12:29 am Permalink
Bucky is terrible…simply terrible…With the exception of “Good to Be Us” (Which I admit, is a cool song), I can’t stand this guy.
October 29, 2008 at 6:12 am Permalink
I love Bucky!!! Go Bucky! <3
October 29, 2008 at 10:27 am Permalink
Um. Thanks? Odd that you can refer to me as fetching and ridiculous in one sentence, Rick. But I appreciate the link nonetheless.
October 29, 2008 at 12:01 pm Permalink
I think he was referring to your blog article as ridiculous, not you personally. I would think you’d understand country fans being in your position… and they don’t want to read anything as such.
October 29, 2008 at 12:11 pm Permalink
Yes, the blog entry is ridiculous, Alison B. is fetching, and I must say that I agree with Rick on both counts.
October 29, 2008 at 2:49 pm Permalink
I just wish I was ridiculously fetching.
Leave a Comment