Last FM users?

[JR Journey]

Some major shake-ups at the top of the artist chart this week. A handful of stellar singles on the tracks chart, and one new member this week. A great big 9513 howdy and welcome to TheHagMan. So, let's get started, shall we?

King George - George Strait rises to the top of artist chart this week fending off the mighty Sugarland who drop to #2. The Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley, and Trace Adkins make up the rest of the top 5. Other artists finding their place in the playlists of 9513 group members include LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire, John Anderson, Ricky Skaggs, and old-time rock and roller Bob Seger.

The mighty Sugarland hold 2 of the top 5 albums this week. Their 2005 debut Twice the Speed of Life is the #1 album with 9 listeners. The Dixie Chicks' Fly is #2 with the same number of listeners. Sugarland's Enjoy The Ride is #3 followed by albums from Josh Turner and Carrie Underwood. Mostly albums from this millenium dot the rest of the album landscape, with few exceptions to 90s albums.

The tracks chart is what I find most interesting this week. Jamey Johnson's In Color is #1 followed by chart stalwart Lee Ann Womack's latest. Toby Keith's God Love Her, Dixie Chicks' Not Ready To Make Nice, and Sugarland's Take Me As I Am complete the top 5. Other notable songs with multiple listeners include Alabama's Song of the South, Little Big Town's A Little More You, Loretta Lynn's weeper Miss Being Mrs. and many, many more great tracks. But for the entire chart listing, you'll have to go to http://www.last.fm/group/The+9513/charts.

[JR Journey]

Membership is still climbing on the9513's Last FM group - we are up to 35 members and counting. And King George still reigns supreme on the9513 group chart this week., holding the #1 artist spot and 3 of the top 20 albums.

Standing behind the King, we find Sugarland, Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack, and Brooks & Dunn in the top 5. Scrolling down, we find one of the most eclectic mixes of artists I've seen on our group chart, Artists like Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Wynonna Judd, Coldplay, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Barenaked Ladies, Rosanne Cash, Merle Haggard, and hundreds more make appearances.

Brad Paisley's 5th Gear is the top album with 9 listeners. Josh Turner, Brooks & Dunn, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban occupy the #2 through #5 spots. Some other great albums members are listening to include Trisha Yearwood's Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love, Coal by Kathy Mattea, Julie Roberts' self-titled debut, and my favorite Tim McGraw album, Set This Circus Down has 7 listeners.

Kathy Mattea charts nearly every track from her concept album, Coal this week. Her best showing is 'Sally In The Garden', digging up 5 listeners. The top 3 tracks all have 8 listeners, but Taylor Swift rides her 'White Horse' to the front; while Lee Ann Womack's 'Last Call' and Sugarland's 'All I Want To Do' are right on her heels. Swift's 'Love Story' and Jimmy Wayne's #1 radio hit 'Do You Believe Me Now' round out our top 5. Some really great tracks are scattered among some real crap (but that's just this writer's opinion, of course) in the track chart. A sample of the really great tracks include Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson's 'Sweetest Waste Of Time', Reba McEntire's 'Lonely Alone', 'I've Come To Expect it From You' from King George. Also, Joe Diffie's 'In Another World' and Dolly Parton's 'Here You Come Again' are certainly worth listening to.

To see the entire chart - and join the group if you haven't already, follow this link ...

http://www.last.fm/group/The+9513/charts

[Sam G]

Here's the latest 9513 update, for anyone who hasn't checked out the group page lately...

The George Strait juggernaut continues unabated, as Strait is the top artist for the third straight (no pun intended) week. His 17 listeners place him two ahead of the closest contenders, Brad Paisley and Sugarland. Little Big Town and 9513 favorite Gary Allan are among the other familiar faces in the Top 10, along with Country Power Couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. One odd note: Rush Limbaugh and Todd Snider both had two listeners. What are the odds that it would be the same person who listened to both?

Ashton Shepherd is an intriguing case. Last week, she was buried in the pack of most listened-to artists, but this week she was just shy of the Top 10. Furthermore, her album, Sounds So Good, was the top album with 12 plays, and it wasn't even really close. Paisley's 5th Gear was the only other album with double-digit listeners (10). Sugarland's Twice the Speed of Life and Enjoy The Ride were the next most popular discs. Six people also gave a listen to something from Mindy McCready's Ten Thousand Angels, apparently thinking back to the days when she was more of a country singer and less of a tabloid headline.

Along with the top album, Shepherd also had two of the most popular songs, with Takin' Off This Pain and Sounds So Good having 9 and 8 listeners, respectively. I Ain't Dead Yet was her third Top 10 track.Lee Ann Womack (Last Call, The Story Of My Life and I Found It In You) also had three Top 10 songs. Faith Hill and her version of O HOLY NIGHT! was the most popular Christmas song and the only one in the Top 50. Either we're a grinchy bunch, or else our tastes in holiday songs are too eclectic to chart. We'll have to see what next week brings.

[JR Journey]

Excellent summary, Sam. I just haven't had time to sit down and write that this week - I actually hadn't even saw the Last FM chart, so thanks for filling me in.

You might want to edit the word 'Play' out of that post a couple, few times though ...

[Sam G]

I guess LastFM took the Christmas week off, because there weren't any charts for a while. I wanted to get this one in primarily to crow about the awesomeness of Kasey Chambers/Shane Nicholson. The latest article has been added to the group's page, and here's the text below:

Behold the power of the Brothers Vercher and cohorts! The 9513 names Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson's Rattlin' Bones as 2008's album of the year, and suddenly the Aussie duo vaults into the Top 10 artists played in our group, and their album is #1 on the top album charts. Let us hope that the 9513 writers will continue to use their powers of persuasion for good and not for evil.

I've been asking who can dethrone George Strait from the Top artist chart, and the answer apparently is a whole bunch of women. The 50% estrogen-based duo Sugarland nabs the top spot with 16 listeners, and Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack are right behind with 15 listeners apiece. 9513 year-end list sweethearts Joey + Rory had 5 listeners (7 if you include those who mis-tagged them as Joey+Rory, no spaces), Hayes Carll had 7, and Justin Townes Earle had 4.

In the Top Albums list, Lady Antebellum by, well, Lady Antebellum tied with Rattlin' Bones with 12 listeners. Womack was the star of the week, with three of her albums parked in the Top 10. Sugarland had two albums in the Top 10, and Ashton Shepherd is still enjoying some heavy plays from her Sounds So Good CD with 11 plays.

The Top Songs of the week included Either Way and Last Call, two of the best songs from Womack's Call Me Crazy CD, along with Sugarland's Love. Sugarland dominated the singles charts, with five songs in the Top 17.

In other news, please vote for The 9513 as the best music blog in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Go to The Weblog Awards and vote every day. This is the only country blog among the nominees, and it's a great way to give some love to the site's talented writers. Also, our LastFM group is now 40 members strong! Welcome to all the new folks, and thanks for coming on board.

[Brady]

Good job on the write up, I likes it.

[Sam G]

We're getting to the point that the three constants in life are death, taxes and Sugarland at or near the top of the 9513 charts. That's no different this week, as 17 listeners listened to the duo. Following them, it's a veritable who's who of neo-traditionalists, most notably Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood with 16 plays apiece.

Excavating down further into the charts, you get some interesting strata. A little further past the neo-trad layer, you start to see elements of pop-country appear, with Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift among the artists in 9th place. Beyond that, you get a layer of pretty traditional music, with Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless and Dolly Parton packed closely together. Alt-country starts to make an appearance around 8 plays, with Reckless Kelly and Hayes Carll showing up. Beyond that, it's a total free-for-all, with any genre you can think of making an appearance. Three people in this group listen to The Ditty Bops? Fantastic.

Over on the albums side, Ashton Shepherd is dominating with Sounds So Good. Its 15 plays place it well over Swift's self-titled debut, which came in second with 11 plays. The Underwood fans put her two albums, Some Hearts and Carnival Ride, into a tie for 3rd with Tim McGraw's Let It Go.

The top tracks for the week were Lee Ann Womack's Last Call and George Strait'sI Saw God Today. If you favor the drinking & depression or the God & family side of country music, you're got your options.

As long as this recap is becoming a regular thing, let's add a little something to it. There's a lot of free music available here on LastFM, so I'll recommend some when I come across something worthwhile (or I get a recommendation from one of you, *hint hint*). This week, I'd like to direct you to Blanche, an alt-country, rather gothic band out of Detroit. Lead vocalist Dan Miller has been kicking around the alt-country scene for some time, in a few different bands (Goober & The Peas, Two Star Tabernacle). He shares vocals with his wife Tracee, with other members joining in on occasion. Bass player Jack Lawrence also plays with Jack White (a one-time Tabernacle member) in The Raconteurs.

Blanche has released a couple of albums, and they've got a bunch of free music available. The World I Used to Be Afraid Of puts a spin on the traditional country murder ballad, and I'm Sure of It and Another Lost Summer are two of my personal favorites. The World's Largest Crucifix is a good example of why my little girl refers to them as "spooky music", while I Can't Sit Down uses multiple singers on a pretty faithful version of the gospel standard. Check them out if you like, especially if you're a fan of Neko Case or The Sadies, and we'll see you next week.

[JR Journey]

Thanks for the recommendation. I bookmarked their Last FM page, so I'll download and listen to them later.

Excellent write-up as always ...

[Jordan Stacey]

I'm gonna have to remember to check the charts more often, I've really fallen behind on them...

[Sam G]

Here's a new update, after a week's absence.

After many weeks where women dominated the top of the chart, the menfolk bullied their way to the front. Brad Paisley led the way with 19 listeners, and Toby Keith and George Strait shared second place with Trisha Yearwood and Sugarland. Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, Sara Evans and Tim McGraw help to round out the Top 10.

So while the 9513 group celebrated in all things Paisley this week, apparently nobody did it by listening to his new CD, Play. Sure, Time Well Wasted and 5th Gear were among the top albums with 10 listeners each, but the new album didn't even make the group's Top 100 list. We're not the only ones ignoring it, either. Overall, Paisley has more than 100,000 listeners on Last FM and more than 2 million plays, which is pretty impressive for a country singer. Of those, only 550 people have listened to "Play." Sure, it's only been out for about 3 months, but the stats are showing that people care more about his vocals than his guitar licks.

Anyway, back to the charts. Taylor Swift's Fearless and Sugarland's Twice the Speed of Life were the top albums of the week, with a dozen listeners. Those two acts also took 12 of the top 26 songs of the week. Leading the way on the singles chart was a White Horse with 8 listeners. Lady Antebellum helped break up some of the SugarSwift monotony with their song, Lookin' For A Good Time, which was among the songs with 7 listeners. The Dixie Chicks made a strong showing too, with Not Ready To Make Nice also placing second.

For this week's free downloads, I've got a couple from Adrienne Young & Little Sadie. She's a banjo player, songwriter and, if you check out her web site, someone who's really, really into gardening and sustainability. But we're talking about her music, which starts somewhere in bluegrass and has occasional detours into folk and country. She's got two songs available here, Home Remedy and Art of Virtue, for your downloading pleasure. "Home Remedy" would be my personal favorite, which features her songwriting partner and producer Will Kimbrough. I wish one of her instrumentals was available, as she's a very talented banjo player, but this is a good start.

Thanks as always for being part of the 9513 group.

[Sam G]

The 9513 hive mind must have been buzzing a bit louder than normal this week. Normally, I don't pay too much attention to the top tracks chart, because they generally don't show anything more than what you get from the top albums chart. And not surprisingly, two of the top songs for the week were Lee Ann Womack's Last Call and Sugarland's Love, which are current singles normally at or near the top of the charts. The Dixie Chicks are up there too, with Not Ready To Make Nice. But the Chicks have a lot of supporters here, even if they and country radio are done professionally.

Then we come to George Jones and He Stopped Loving Her Today. Six people listened to that this week. Not that I can fault anyone for listening to one of the classic all-time country songs, it's just odd to see a 29-year-old song almost topping our charts. Was it a random iTunes play? Did you feel like listening to a sad song that day? Did you just get around to watching the Kennedy Center Honors on your Tivo? Or is the 9513 getting inside your head?

OK, ominous mental probing theories aside, we've got "King" George Strait back at the top with 19 listeners, with the Chicks and Sugarland tied for second with 17 plays. Taylor Swift fell out of the Top 10 with just 13 listeners, but that was still one more listener than Carrie Underwood got. Way to confirm all the suspicions that the Carrie Fans have about us, folks. Yes, we're a bunch of pop music lovers who are jealous of Carrie's success, thanks for asking. (Read the review for "I Told You So" and its almost 200 comments to put that in context.) For what it's worth, Miranda Lambert had 16 listeners and easily took the "Young Blond Female Country Singer" crown over the competition.

Lambert also did well in the albums chart, with both her albums placing in the Top 10. Sara Evans shot up the charts, with 11 people listening to Real Fine Place. Sugarland's Enjoy The Ride was the top CD of the week with 12 listeners.

No free music for this week, unfortunately. I'll try again with the next installment. Thanks for reading!

Thanks to trade show attendance and a sick toddler, I couldn't get around to finding new stuff. Then tonight I stumble across two definite possibilities. Well, at least I'm stocking up on freebies.

[Mike K]

Maybe it was the news post earlier this week linking to Jamey Johnson's suggested songs that put it into people's minds. Thanks for doing the write-up, I always enjoy it.

[Sam G]

Last week was Dierks Bentley week, what with the release of the long-awaited Feel That Fire. This is the CD that Dierks Bentley says should be an Album of the Year nominee, though the reviews I've seen of it have been pretty cool on it. Still, between his promotion for it and the fact that Amazon was basically giving away the digital version of it last week, it comes as no surprise that Dierks Bentley dominates the charts this week.

Dierks Bentley has 16 listeners this week, with 10 of them considering Feel That Fire to be a week-one purchase. And they played the heck out of it, too. Looking at the Top Tracks charts, 10 of the 12 songs on the CD placed inside our Top 20, with Better Believer, Feel That Fire and You Hold Me Together tied for #1 with 8 plays. Oddly enough, the two tracks that didn't crack the Top 20 were the ones where he sang with Patty Griffin and Ronnie McCoury. I'd prefer to listen to either of them than Dierks Bentley, but that's just me.

For the thirty-some people in this group that didn't listen to this album last week, Dierks Bentley has some choice words for you. Consider yourselves on notice.

When they weren't listening to Dierks Bentley, people here listened to plenty of Trisha Yearwood and Grammy winners Sugarland and George Strait. The former two led the way with 21 listeners, and Strait tied with Lee Ann Womack for second with 19 listeners. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss had only three listeners, so it remains to be seen if their big Grammy night will gain them any extra plays. Speaking of the Grammys, three people played Coldplay, but Jimmy Wayne and Fountains of Wayne did way better than Lil Wayne.

For this week's free music, we'll look at a solo project from one of my favorite bands, the Old 97's. No, not Rhett Miller. The 97's are an alt-country band that's been going strong for more than 15 years. They started off on the beloved Bloodshot Records label before moving to the big leagues and even flirting with chart success (I remember hearing Nineteen on my Top 40 radio). After the whole indie rock thing didn't really pan out, they've gone back to their more rootsy sound within the last couple of releases. While Rhett Miller has done the majority of the singing (and released a couple solo albums along the way), some of the most interesting songs from the 97's have come from Murry Hammond, the bass player.

During some down time, Hammond released a CD of his own, I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way. Three of those tracks are available free on LastFM. Just to let you know, these are about as far from the 97's as you can get. There's no twangy guitars or the 97's wall of sound. This is a stripped-down affair, with a mix of covers and Hammond originals, and it's a mix of secular and religious songs. Think Buddy Miller's Universal United House of Prayer more than a contemporary Christian album, only much, much quieter.

Lost At Sea has some slight musical backing, while I Believe, I Believe is just Murry, his guitar and his yodeling abilities. The third track, Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down II, is a gospel standard. I like all three songs, but your mileage may vary based on your inclination to listen to spiritual songs. If your favorite 97's tracks include Valentine or W. TX. Teardrops, you ought to check them out. And while poking around Murry's Myspace, I found that all of the proceeds from the albums sales go to build houses for Project Mercy in Tijuana, Mexico. So check it out, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week.

[JR Journey]

I gotta say: These chart updates have certainly gotten better in the last month or so ...

[Sam G]

If you're referring to the writing, it's the difference between half-assing them and writing with my whole ass, er, attention. If you're referring to the results, that's our growing community in action. All my favorite artists are buried in the charts with 2 or 3 listeners.

[JR Journey]

'You can do it, put your ass into it.'

Seriously though, I was referring to the writing. And it's really great. You put the facts out there without boring us. I like it.

[maryjstar89]

thanks this was really helpful.

[Sam G]

Looks like the Grammys didn't affect anyone's listening habits drastically, as some of the big winners (Sugarland, George Strait, Carrie Underwood) are pretty much where they've always been. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss jumped up to 6 listeners, up from 3 last week and off the charts the week before.

Elsewhere, Rainbow listened to LeAnn Rimes, and 15 other people decided to humor him and add her to their playlists as well. Her 16 listeners kept her in the Top 10. Actually, it was apparently a rather down week for overall listens apparently, as Brad Paisley was the only singer to get 20 listeners. Dierks Bentley maintains his momentum from his critically unacclaimed new record to pick up 17 listeners. Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel had this week's big release, but they only managed 4 listeners. Maybe Valentine's Day forced folks to buy presents for their sweethearts instead of new music for themselves.

The estrogen-powered Top Albums Chart saw a 3-way tie between Call Me Crazy, Fearless and Carnival Ride. Taylor Swift splits the LastFM battle, with more plays (4,839,221) than Carrie Underwood (4,136,935) but fewer listeners (145, 314 to Carrie's 180,228). If you're a Lee Ann Womack fan, do yourself a favor and don't compare her LastFM stats. It's not pretty.

If there's any consolation for that particular musical injustice, Last Call was far and away the top track for this week, with 10 listeners. Stay was closest with 8 listeners, which possibly got a slight bounce from the Sugarland Grammy performance.

In lieu of free LastFM music, here's a web site where you can get more free songs that you could possibly want: The Daytrotter Sessions (http://www.daytrotter.com). Every day, they post a few songs recorded live at the Daytrotter studio in Illinois. I'll warn you that this is an indie web site... WAY indie. As in, you'll probably look through the artists in their catalog and say "Who? Who? Who?" a lot. However, in the middle of this hipster desert, there are country or alt-country nuggets to behold, with free tracks from Justin Townes Earle, The Everybodyfields and Punch Brothers. And seriously, more people here need to be listening to J.T. Earle, and here's a way to do it for free. Plus, here's a chance to listen to these folks you may have heard of but never listened to, like Fleet Foxes or Vampire Weekend. If you decide to check out the site and come across any good artists, feel free to leave their names in the comments here.

Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next week.

[Razor X]

Great write-up as usual, Sam. Thanks.

[JR Journey]

Great write-up as usual, Sam. Thanks.

Yep.