The 9513 - Country Music Blog

In the mid-‘90s, she was the rare female hat act among a sea of young studs in Stetsons. Now, Grand Ole Opry member Terri Clark is standing out once again with The Long Way Home, her first self-released disc since leaving Mercury late last year. Unable to fit onto country radio’s rigid playlists (four American [...]

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The new Chet Atkins tribute album is brought to you by Steve Wariner, c.g.p.
The acronym stands for “certified guitar player,” a designation given by Atkins to a select few musicians who he felt made significant contributions to the world of guitar–Wariner was one of only four to receive this honor (the others were Jerry Reed, [...]

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On paper, an album that leads with four original songs—two of those hot in groove and content—then enters a long stretch of languid, story-centric covers, before wrapping up with an all-out rock and roll cut and a string-band reprisal of one of those earlier bawdy numbers might come off as a tad fragmented. Whose album [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Lyle Lovett – Natural Forces"

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

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At 57, Sam Bush is only getting better with age. With Circles Around Me, he combines old and new sounds in an irresistible blend that ranks among some of his best solo work to date. Though he’s sharply dressed in a suit on the album cover (a far cry from earlier album covers like Glamour [...]

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No pun intended, but Dolly Parton cuts a striking figure in country music. Growing up destitute in the mountains of West Tennessee, she showed a strong musical talent as a child and cut her first record before she was a teenager. Since then, she has recorded frequently and adventurously, surveying a wide swath of American [...]

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Road trip: Journey via automobile, often unplanned or impromptu.
An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel: Thinking man’s soundtrack for said road trip.
Another explanation, of course, could be “Third album by Texas transplant and wordsmith Drew Kennedy;” however, since Kennedy’s musical aesthetic defies mainstream country molds somewhere between Americana and indie singer/songwriter, definitions aren’t nearly as [...]

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Say what you will about Toby Keith, but he’s nothing if not a hard worker. It’s been less than a year since That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy was released (hell, the gold record probably isn’t even hung up in the Show Dog Nashville office) and here he is with another album, one that’s [...]

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Recorded in the fall of 2006 in the months following his step-father Horace’s passing, and suffering delay at the hands of Curb Record’s much maligned Greatest Hits Vol. 3, Southern Voice is filled with deep and weighty subjects like infidelity, death, regret and tragedy. It’s a deeper approach to song selection than on any previous [...]

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Despite the endlessly repeated backstory, Rosanne Cash’s new album has little to do with her father and his influence on her tastes and career, at least not beyond suggesting the tracklist. Rather, The List plays like a tribute to the durability of country songwriting and its impact over the decades. Despite the genre’s lowly reputation [...]

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