Gary Allan Watches “Airplanes” Take Off To No. 1
- Gary Allan hit No. 1 on the Country Aircheck Chart this week with “Watching Airplanes.” On a sidenote, how’d you like that incredibly cheesy post title?
- Trisha from Buffalo wrote in with this nugget of information:
Seems that the song “Lost In This Moment” which was released by Big & Rich was written by John Rich and Keith Anderson over 6 years ago and both liked it so much that they decided to both record it. Keith has a new album coming out in May ‘08 and one of the tracks on his new album will be “Lost In This Moment.” Keith sang it for us and I was surprised by how powerful his take on the song was. Keith did not say if it would be released as a single but did tell us that John Rich is excited about Keith recording it for his album.
- Roxbury News posted a video of Ryan Bingham performing “Snake Eyes.” Bingham says he’ll be in the studio in March and the song will be on his next album due later this year.
- Michael Keefe of PopMatters says that Allison Moorer mostly succeeds in making the collection of songs on Mockingbird her own. (7/10)
- On the cusp of releasing her fifth album Tift Merritt has made a music video for “Broken” available. Watch the video premiere on Spinner. The song itself sounds pretty fantastic.
- Tom Roland uses two country singers who turn 50 this week, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Sammy Kershaw, to debunk the “one-dimensional hillbilly fare” label often applied to country music and to prove that their is actually room for diversity in the format.
- After yesterday’s news about Kix Brooks wanting the CMA to pay musicians to play at their annual festival in Nashville PureCountryMusic.com calls Mr. Brooks “the greediest man in country music.”
If CMA Fest does go the way of corporate sponsorship, it should be for the purpose of lowering ticket prices for fans who make the pilgrimage to our city — not to pay outrageous sums of money to big-name acts under threat of losing the festival. Deep down, beneath that big mustache of yours, I know you have appreciation for the millions of people who adore you. Enough with the business criminal talk, Kix. You sound like Gordon Gekko from Wall Street. Greed is not good.
- Help Is On The Way — the new album from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver featuring new vocalists and pickers — is due out on March 30.
- Carrie Underwood says as draining as writing is, she doesn’t know if she could write an album worth of material. “When I was writing with people, it was like going to see a psychologist for eight hours a day.”
- Tickets for the CMT Music Awards a the Curb Event Center go on sale Saturday, February 23rd at 10am CT.
- Josh Grider joins Joe Hyde on the San Angelo Live podcast to talk about his new single, “Stumbling On the Edge of Greatness,” touring the east coast with Drew Kennedy, and the Steamboat experience. (MySpace)
On the way back, through Nashville, Josh and his three-piece band–Grider on acoustic guitar, Daniel Jones on percussion, and Chris Grady on upright bass–raised some eyebrows, according to Grider. “That is the country-est singer with the most un-country band,” Grider says the big wigs in Nashville noted.
- Dale Watson covering Merle Haggard’s “Silver Wings” at the Granada Theater in Dallas on February 16. Good stuff.
From the same show: “Cheatin’ Heart Attack” | “Sweet Jessie Brown” | “Honky Tonk Wizard of Oz (Tequila, Whiskey, & Beer)” | “Whiskey Or God” | “Honky Tonkers Don’t Cry”
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21 Comments
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February 21, 2008 at 4:07 pm Permalink
I don’t think there’s enough runway for an airplane to take off as fast as “Watching Airplanes” did.
February 21, 2008 at 4:32 pm Permalink
“Watching Airplanes” is still #2 on Billboard and Radio and Records this week, but congrats nonetheless. Reaching the top after 31 weeks is a pretty impressive feat.
What says more about a song: slowly climbing the charts and finally reaching #1 after 31 weeks, or jumping to the top in 8 weeks (”Never Wanted Nothing More”) and beginning the fallout after 14 weeks?
Also, congrats to Rodney Atkins, as “Cleanin’ This Gun” climbed to #1 on R&R and Billboard, giving him his fourth straight #1 single.
February 21, 2008 at 4:47 pm Permalink
Keith Anderson’s version of “Lost in This Moment” has been available on iTunes since September …
It’s a good version, and about 1:30 longer than the Big & Rich version.
February 21, 2008 at 5:11 pm Permalink
Zach - I think I read that Tim McGraw was the last artist to achieve four No. 1s on the Billboard chart from one album and that was back in 2001. Carrie Underwood almost did it, but one of the song that went No. 1 on the R&R peaked at No. 2 on Billboard. So that’s an impressive showing from Atkins.
Stephen H. - Whoops, I’m a few months behind on that one, huh? I guess it’s still relevant since the album hasn’t come out yet.
February 21, 2008 at 5:15 pm Permalink
I think having a song go number one - it doesn’t matter how it did it - it’s quite the feat either way. Both have an equal amount of coolness to them. If it goes #1 right out of the box that speaks to a great song and your popularity. If it goes #1 after a long time, it speaks to a great song and resltess promotion.
February 21, 2008 at 6:29 pm Permalink
Having a song go number one that was bought and paid for means nothing.
February 21, 2008 at 6:50 pm Permalink
OK - since I am not a songwriter, I would not know, but is that not part of the point of songwriting, to get your feelings, etc. out — but then again for as much as Carrie wrote of the songs, I am sure it was a strain…..
February 21, 2008 at 7:19 pm Permalink
I would’ve gone with “finally lands at #1,” with delays that would’ve made US Airways blush!
February 21, 2008 at 9:43 pm Permalink
Kevin - My brain is usually fried after reading so many articles for the roundups, but the “finally lands” metaphor definitely tops mine, good call.
February 21, 2008 at 9:53 pm Permalink
I love the cheesey post title, its Gary’s music I’ve never been too fond of, even if he is a local Socal boy done good….
I was a big fan of Allison Moorer during her stint with Universal South under the benevolent and watchful eye of Tony Brown. I haven’t cared for her music much since she left that label, but what I’ve heard from “Mockingbird” is alright. Allison’s “Alabama Song” debut contained some of the purest, most “truly country” new songs I had heard in years, but by her second album an alt. country trend had begun. I would recommend “Alabama Song” to any fans of classic, traditional country music and you can pick them up for next to nothing….
Love the Dale Watson video. Thank goodness we have a nightclub here in LA named Safari Sams that actually books Dale and Wayne Hancock, and even the Hot Club of Cowtown recently! Its kind of a dive in a seedy section of Hollywood, but its as close to a bit of the Austin music scene as we get around here. Now if I could just get then to book Sunny Sweeney or Amber Digby……….
February 21, 2008 at 10:16 pm Permalink
The Dale Watson videos were pretty great. I especially like the superior sound quality (at least by YouTube standards) that’s present in the Granada Theater’s live videos.
February 21, 2008 at 11:54 pm Permalink
Brady,
Just reading your roundups exhausts me. How you manage to put them together every day is mind-boggling. It reminds me just how much of a lazy blogger I really am!
February 22, 2008 at 12:00 am Permalink
Kevin, I’m down amongst the lazy bloggers with you. Brody deserves all the credit for putting these things together every day. It usually takes him a couple of hours and I just send him occasional links, so he deserves all the credit.
February 22, 2008 at 5:37 am Permalink
CCF, or anyone else, what does the comment about a number one being “bought and paid for”, especially with respect to Gary Allan, mean?
February 22, 2008 at 6:45 am Permalink
Believe it implies that reaching number one means a lot more when the artist actually writes the song him/herself.
Gary Allan co-wrote about half his album, but did not write “Watching Airplanes”.
February 22, 2008 at 9:20 am Permalink
No, I’m pretty sure that was a reference to record-label promotion money pushing a song to No. 1. I get the feeling that wasn’t the case here, though.
February 22, 2008 at 9:24 am Permalink
Honestly, it’s next to impossible to have a number one withou record label promotion. That’s why some of the artists that seem to have great potential never make it, the label doesn’t pump enough money into their career.
February 22, 2008 at 9:50 am Permalink
Ah, makes more sense.
February 22, 2008 at 10:11 am Permalink
Cindy,
I wasn’t talking about Gary but the charts in general sometimes.
and about payola where the labels pay the stations to play/overplay the songs to influence the charts.
February 22, 2008 at 10:19 am Permalink
I find it interesting that the untalented part of Brooks and Dunn thinks he should be paid more. Someday when Kix Brooks is placed in the Country Music Hall he reflect on all those fans who made him rich because he was blessed with Ronnie Dunn. For someone with no writing skills, a voice that has to be filtered to tolerate it, and a manner so dumb-witted he should thank his lucky stars he has mangered to convince Ronnie Dunn to stay with him this long!
February 22, 2008 at 11:08 am Permalink
“Mangered”? Did they perform a concert in a stable last night because there was no room in the arena?
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