George Strait Bags Fifty-Sixth No. 1
- Although the charts aren’t officially out until Thursday, word has it that George Strait earned his 56th No. 1 with “I Saw God Today.”
- Another day, another pop artist wanting to make the crossover. Nelly Furtado has recorded a duet with Keith Urban on one of her previous hits, “In God’s Hands.” Check it out at a digital retailer near you.
- Country Universe’s “100 Greatest Women” feature is currently resting at #73 with Melba Montgomery:
She was a natural fit with [George] Jones, her traditional twang complementing his voice perfectly. Whereas he holds back his twang on those later [Tammy] Wynette duets, he absolutely revels in it when singing with Montgomery. Starting with the classic “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds” in 1962, the pair had a string of hits that lasted throughout the decade.
- Check out the latest issue of Country Weekly (on sale today) for a great cover story on Trace Adkins. Then, flip to the “reviews” section, where you’ll find a review of Lady Antebellum’s self-titled debut album–written by The 9513’s own Jim Malec.
- Harold and Don Reid of the Statler Brothers wrote a book, The Statler Brothers: Random Memories, “filled with revelations about their 38-plus years on the road and in recording studios prior to the group’s retirement in 2002.” In light of their upcoming Hall of Fame induction they talked to Edward Morris an spilled some of those stories from their past.
- Willie Nelson landed at number two on Reuter’s list of Top Ten Green Music Acts.
- On the first night of his tour, Kenny Chesney forgot a verse to “Never Wanted Nothing More,” so the crowd got to hear the song twice. (via ggcolumn)
- Ben Sisario wrote an article on the state of record stores in New York and things aren’t looking up. According to the market research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail, around 3,100 record stores nationwide have closed since 2003. (via Twang Nation)
- Sunny Sweeney added a new song to her set list and posted the lyrics on her MySpace. The song is titled “You’re My Hotel, He’s My Home” and was co-written with Adam Hood.
- Chris Parker on Dale Watson:
Shortly after his divorce in 2000, the Austin, TX singer met the love of his life. She died four months later in an accident, as she was leaving his house after a fight. Devastated, Watson attempted suicide, and eventually channeled his grief into his 2001 album, Every Song I Write Is For You. But it wasn’t enough to exorcise the demons. A year later, he checked into a psychiatric hospital, a period Watson discusses in the 2006 documentary, Crazy Again.
- The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum announced they’ll be opening an exhibit to honor country music’s first female superstar, Kitty Wells, on August 15.
- Video of Willie and Snoop on stage in Amsterdam performing “Superman.”
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to subscribe to our feed or receive updates via email.
Popular Stuff
Sponsor
In an attempt to discover and highlight the best music every month, We'll be publishing a list of the best songs released throughout that period. Here's Brady Vercher's picks for October.
For the second episode of The 9513 Country Music Podcast, your host Kelly Dearmore caught up with two seemingly different artists in Sarah Borges and Trent Willmon. Take a listen.
Free Music Downloads: If you’ve only recently come to country music, or have never delved past the genre’s surface and it’s most famous names, you may not have heard of Tom Russell. That’s a shame, and The 9513’s Free Music series is here to help set you down the right path.
Martina McBride - “Ride” Catchy, but a little low on cogency–not to mention originality. And it essentially resolves into the same kind of positive “message song” that has defined so much of McBride’s recent work.
Richie McDonald - “How Do I Just Stop” So gloriously simple and unequivocally lackluster that people of every political persuasion should rejoice in the opportunity to come together and have a hearty laugh at its expense.
Donnie Vondra - “If I Didn’t Love You” Combinining a golden trifecta of country music—steel guitar, fiddle and a strong, twangy vocal—"If I Didn't Love You" pulls together a sweet, toe-tapping ditty reminiscent of Marty Raybon-era Shenandoah.
Lance Miller - “Bacon Frying” A charming country song that is beautiful for its simplicity, a musical remnant from a time when songwriters understood that often the best thing to do is just get out of the song’s way.
John Rich - “Another You” For a guy who is supposed to be a genius songwriter, John Rich sure does seem to be running out of ideas. 
George Ducas - “Walk Through This World” Ducas banks on the success of recent artists’ pleasantly bland lyrics and agreeable instrumentation for his first release with WhiteStar Nashville.
In this exclusive interview for The 9513, Little Big Town’s Jimi Westbrook talks about life with the band, as well as A Place to Land, the group’s current album, which has charted in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart on two separate occasions
Forgotten Artists: Cal Smith - When the Florida Sunshine Opry (Eustis, FL) booked its first “name” (non-local) act back in 1999, the act they chose was Cal Smith. No wonder, since Cal is an excellent singer, musician, storyteller and showman. | View more artists featured in Paul W. Dennis' recurring "Forgotten Artists" feature »
Tagged In This Article
Adam Hood // Country Music Hall of Fame // Dale Watson // George Strait // Keith Urban // Kenny Chesney // Kitty Wells // Lady Antebellum // Melba Montgomery // Sunny Sweeney // Trace Adkins // Willie Nelson
Current Discussion
- Mike Parker: "I don’t consider much of what he did after that point to be authentic country" Wow- by those standards there really ...
- Mike Parker: I let the card slide because at least is seemed like something brothers would talk about. But yes, one ...
- Razor X: I have mixed feelings about Garth. I thought his first album was a masterpiece. I also liked the ...
- Jim Malec: Mike--I do agree with you about some of those nitpicky lyrical points, but I don't feel like they really undermine ...
- Kelly: Sorry, Matt. I see what you mean, but I still dont get how not only the American Recordings, but ...
- Mike Parker: Not liking Hank Jr. is perfectly okay with me. I think he recorded some really great material, but it's ...
- Hollerin' Ben: "However, if you think that Garth’s music is a perversion of the country form, as Baron and Robbie Fulks implied, ...
- Matt C.: Kelly: I said the American Recordings don’t change my assessment of Cash’s career and legacy. As opposed to a ...
- Brady Vercher: Adkins is differentiating between discussing politics in an environment where he considers it ok to do so (his book, a ...
- Leeann Ward: PS. I don't like Hank Jr. though! Am I not a country fan? I agree with Razor X that there's ...
1 Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URI for this postApril 22, 2008
[...] It’s been a while since I posted on Austin’s own Sunny Sweeney, so allow me to make ammends by letting ya;ll know Sunny has added a new song “You’re My Hotel, He’s My Home” (co-written with Adam Hood) to her set list and posted the lyrics on her MySpace blog. (via the 9513) [...]
25 Comments
RSS for comments on this post | Trackback URI for this post
April 22, 2008 at 9:29 am Permalink
Thanks for the CW shoutout, and to Jim for a nice job.
Nonetheless, no dollar today!
April 22, 2008 at 9:40 am Permalink
As I watched AI last week, they make such a big deal out of the Mariah Carey getting her 18th #1 and “moving past Elvis Presley as the most dominant solo performer of all time” — so how can this be if we all know the George Strait has this many….
April 22, 2008 at 9:47 am Permalink
Strait’s are “country” number ones, not “hot 100″, or whatever….
April 22, 2008 at 9:54 am Permalink
I like the lyrics to Sunny’s new cheatin’ song, but I still prefer Mike Parker’s “I Think I’m Gonna Puke” from the recent review of the new Sucky Covington single topic thread…..
I’m a subscriber to Country Weekly and the focus they place on the music itself is miniscule. Because the magazine is geared almost exclusively towards women, you mostly get articles on the personal lives of country artists, recipies, make-up tips and other such piffel. Its kind of like a countrified version of People or US. The album reviews are so brief as to be meaningless and I’d never base a buying decision on them. Thank goodness Jim Malec gets to write whatever he wants here on The 9513…..
Its nice they are doing a Kitty Wells exhibit to honor her achievements while she is still alive. WSM DJ Eddie Stubbs considers Kitty to be the undisputed Queen of Country Music……
April 22, 2008 at 9:56 am Permalink
I’m glad “I Saw God Today” is doing as well as it is. I don’t think it’s a perfect song, but I do applaud the GS camp for releasing something a bit left of center. Congrats to George. What he has done so well for so long is truly amazing.
April 22, 2008 at 10:00 am Permalink
Strait’s 56 No. 1s are also the combined total of several charts, btw.
Nice to know my reviews are “meaningless.” I’ll keep it in mind!
April 22, 2008 at 10:22 am Permalink
Mike: “I saw God today” is left of center??? I’d say that its smack dab in the middle of the center. I can picture just about any random newcomer, wannabe singing that (not with Strait’s vocals of course). “what is so left of center” about that song?
April 22, 2008 at 10:30 am Permalink
Maybe not left of center for Country radio as much as left of center for George Strait. I may be missing one, but I don’t recall many GS radio songs (with the exception of Love Without End, Amen) that even touch on religion. He usually has a hint of playfulness in his singles, again- there are exceptions, but this one is more straightforward and serious. The language is also a bit more poetic than usual.
April 22, 2008 at 10:37 am Permalink
I gotcha. I wasnt looking at it from that perspective, thanks for clearing that up for me….
April 22, 2008 at 11:57 am Permalink
If she’s trying to crossover, I WON’T check it out. Thanks for the heads up! That could have been painful.
April 22, 2008 at 11:58 am Permalink
George Strait, Willie, and Snoop would be a cool trio… Make that happen Tony Brown!
April 22, 2008 at 12:05 pm Permalink
Willie Nelson landed at number two on Reuter’s list of Top Ten Green Music Acts.
No suprise there. I don’t think Willie will touch that skanky brown Mexican shake. Nothing but fuzzy gold and green for Willie.
April 22, 2008 at 12:13 pm Permalink
Jim Malec
congrats brother.
Chris N.
I believe that’s the second time that your reviews over at Country Weekly have been accused of being meaningless here on the9513.
Having never read an issue of Country Weekly, I can’t comment on them, but I can say that I find your snark in the9513 comments to be quite meaningful!
April 22, 2008 at 12:19 pm Permalink
did he give the lady antibellumm cd a good review?
April 22, 2008 at 12:48 pm Permalink
George + Willie - Snoop = Great In My Opinion
April 22, 2008 at 2:11 pm Permalink
I also contribute to a number of print publications, and I can tell you that writing for Country Weekly was no more constraining than writing for Westword, etc. The word count I was given to work with was absolutely standard, and I had no trouble condensing my thoughts on the album into the space allotted.
I admit that I enjoy the freedom of the electronic media, but I also appreciate the challenge of writing more concisely for print. i certainly don’t think a well stated 150-word review is “meaningless”.
Aside from that, Chris is a fantastic critic, and frankly I hope to someday be as good with 75 words as he is.
I don’t always agree with his allocations of stars…but the day critics agree on everything will be the day hell freezes over.
The fact is that he’s very good at what he does.
April 22, 2008 at 2:13 pm Permalink
Check’s in the mail!
April 22, 2008 at 3:02 pm Permalink
I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers here. Its just the fact that country music itself is treated like an afterthought at Country Weekly that galls me a bit. The album review page always has a big picture which leaves little room for the highly condensed album reviews. A 3 and half star rating is typically used for utterly average and nondescript albums, and any rating less than that means “watch out”!
Jim, I was trying to say that the extremely short length of the reviews is what makes them typically meaningless, not the actual content or author. Its the Country Weekly album review format I take issue with, not the reviews themselves. I’d prefer more depth than the thumbnail sketches their layout format dictates. Country Weekly could drop the album review page entirely and the vast majority of their female readership wouldn’t care one bit. They want more fashion tips from the mainstream female stars and to vote on who are the best looking male country music stars…..
April 22, 2008 at 3:25 pm Permalink
“Country Weekly could drop the album review page entirely and the vast majority of their female readership wouldn’t care one bit.”
In fact, this is sadly and demonstrably true — we dropped the page for about a year and got, as I recall, perhaps two complaints total. I fought like hell to get it reinstated anyway, which apparently makes me a sucker who likes to do extra work for no good reason.
And yes, most CW readers are women. Most mainstream country listeners are women, so it would logically follow.
April 22, 2008 at 5:30 pm Permalink
Most mainstream country listeners are women, so it would logically follow.
I guess that explains Bucky Covington’s hair.
April 22, 2008 at 7:48 pm Permalink
Most listeners of all kinds of music are women.
When I pick up Country Weekly (which is probably 2-5 times a year, depending on the year) I usually read it for some sort of story behind an artist.
April 22, 2008 at 8:35 pm Permalink
All I can tell you is that you’re vastly outnumbered. That’s democracy for you.
April 22, 2008 at 9:12 pm Permalink
Most listeners of all kinds of music are women.
you apparently don’t attend very many death metal, stoner rock, or traditional country shows.
April 22, 2008 at 9:52 pm Permalink
Are implying that there are fewer female stoners than male?! You sexist pig, you.
April 24, 2008 at 1:44 pm Permalink
I’m saying music added together in general, women buy the CDs. I don’t ateend death metal or stoner rock, but I have been to shows with traditional guys and was outnumbered 2 to 1 by women.
Leave a Comment