Jack Ingram Caged By Brad Paisley
- This past Monday night I was fortunate enough to catch a Gary Allan show at Nutty Brown Cafe. His stage props appeared more death metal than country, but he was in fine form as he covered most of his newer songs — only traveling past Smoke Rings In The Dark for a handful of songs. The audience was graced with two performances of “Watching Airplanes” while the film crew took footage for the music video. In between songs Allan told an excited crowd that he’s been in the studio and turned in the work on his newest album last week.
- Country Mike wonders if Johnny Cash is overrated.
All things aside, Cash still had many classics and deserve his place among the legends. But it’s unfair for him to be put on a pedestal while countless others who built the genre are forgotten by today’s fans.
- For those of you who don’t think the Man In Black is overrated, check out this retro Johnny Cash afghan throw. (via Music City Syndicate)
- Get some free tunes from Aaron Watson.
- At only 32 years of age, Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines has bought her third house. Reuters is reporting that Maines paid $5.6 million for a home in an upscale Los Angeles suburb.
- Twang Nation has info on the new Shooter Jenning’s single, a cover of the Dire Straits cut “Walk of Life”, from his album The Wolf.
“Dave and I were able to live out some of our musical fantasies with this album, which includes horn sections, and some of the Grand Ole Opry background singers,” added Jennings “It’s a country album that shows my influences from guys like Hank Jr. and my dad, and a lot of the country from the 70’s and 80’s.”
- I didn’t get to see Appalachian State upset Michigan this past weekend, and I’m sure it was a doozy, but I highly disagree with Eric Church’s (an alumni of Appalachian State) comment that it was the greatest game in college football history.
- Melissa Block has a piece for NPR that talks about a 48-song two-CD set titled Music of Coal: Mining Songs from the Appalachian Coalfields. Also from NPR is this David Dye piece on Joe Ely. Both are pretty interesting.
- Michael McCall says that new albums from Sarah Johns and Sarah Buxton “suggest Nashville may be beginning a subtle but important shift in how it represents a young woman’s point of view.”
Johns and Buxton, both in their 20s, take gutsier chances with their subjects. Not only does Johns flip off a deceitful guy, but she addresses sex straightforwardly on “Touch Me” in ways rare in contemporary country music. Co-written with Jon Henderson and Lynn Hutton, the steamy ballad finds a young woman worrying that an ongoing relationship isn’t as physical as it was in the beginning. So she propositions her boyfriend with a direct invitation: “Tell me you want me right now,” she burns, her voice dropping into a lower register. By the chorus, she’s asking him to “kiss every inch of my body” and “whisper words I ain’t heard from you lately.”
- Dude, where’s Tim McGraw in the CMA nominations?
- George Strait duets with Kenny Chesney on “Shiftwork” from Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates.
It’s a good, solid, catchy, working-class salute set to a Caribbean beat. The kind of song at which these two guys excel. Maybe not Grammy time, but a nice song I’ll be happy to listen to more than once. I have to wonder, though, if the title of the song was once missing the letter “f”.
- All About Country is reporting that Garth Brooks is the first artist to open at number one on the R&R Chart for his single “More Than A Memory”.
Jessen notes one more factoid for Garth to paste in his memory books: “Memory” opened at a record-high No. 4 on the Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems most-played tally. The single, which arrived at radio on Monday, Aug. 20, amassed 4,349 plays.
- For his last night on Brad Paisley’s tour Jack Ingram found himself in a cage built from PVC pipes as one of Paisley’s infamous pranks. Ingram was given a microphone and hacksaw as he was wheeled out on stage. Two songs into the set he was still inside the cage, so Paisley sent a crew member to set him free.
- Adam Hood – “22 Days Too Long”
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September 5, 2007 at 2:28 pm Permalink
From our contemporary perspective, Johnny Cash’s songwriting is overrated. But we have to remember that what he was doing at the time was more progressive than it is in hindsight.
September 5, 2007 at 3:25 pm Permalink
Johnny Cash is the most overrated artist in the genre. Don’t get me wrong, I think that he’s fantastic and I (surprise) disagree with Jim’s comment that his songwriting is overrated (at least it’s no more overrated than everything else about him). My beef is that, for many avid music fans, Johnny Cash is the only country artist that they’ll listen to or that they could even identify. This trend intensified with the release of the American Recordings albums and . A lot of new artists who really don’t perform or understand country music but want to poach the country fan base cite Johnny Cash as a major influence. Perhaps because mainstream country is always aspiring to cross over to a broader fan base, lots of artists, industry folks and even historians have really been pushing the Cash image. I’m sick of hearing every band in the window on Broadway play “Folsom Prison Blues” three times a night while never touching Webb Pierce or Faron Young. I sense this attitude evolving, particularly among those who haven’t been exposed to much traditional country, that there’s Johnny Cash and then there’s everyone else. However, if I were to rank the greatest country artists of all time, I don’t think that Cash would make the top five (though he wouldn’t be far behind).
September 5, 2007 at 5:09 pm Permalink
Glad to hear that Natalie bought a home in California. I hope she stays out there.
September 5, 2007 at 5:12 pm Permalink
Cash did on his own terms what Nash-Vegas does in a more sterile and mundane way, cross over and appeal to other audiences.
This vision is underscored by his Sun days and his rockabilly roots, his disdain for the Opry, his embrace of folk in the 60’s and 70’s to his work with Rick Ruban, a rap and rock visionary, Cash may not be in the top 5, but he wouldn’t give two shits either.
September 5, 2007 at 11:33 pm Permalink
I agree with Matt that his songwriting isn’t overrated. With songs like “Flesh and Blood”, “I still miss someone”, “Drive On”, “Don’t take your guns to town”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, and so on, the dude hits that elite level of songwriting where you can’t really be “overrated”. (by the by, if you haven’t heard the VH1 Storytellers album of Willie and Johnny Cash, stop what you’re doing and get it, it’s freaking great)
But I am consistently frustrated when I have to explain my love of country music as follows:
“so Hollerin Ben, what kind of music do you like?”
“I like country music.”
(with disdain) “oh, country music huh”
“yeah, but good country music,” (damn you Kenny Chesney)
blank pause
“like Hank Williams”
blank pause
’sigh’ “like Johnny Cash”
“Oh! Johnny Cash! Yeah, I like Johnny Cash”
“That’s cool, do you like Merle Haggard?”
blank pause
’sigh’
(by the by, if it were the 80’s I would be cursing Eddie Rabbit, the 70’s would find me cursing Olivia Newton John, the 60’s would have me cursing…I don’t know, someone lame and countrypolitan Andy Williams maybe?, but the 50’s would not find me cursing Eddy Arnold, I love that boring singing bastard)
oh, and Adam Hood’s album rocks my world.
September 6, 2007 at 6:42 am Permalink
I love me some Gary Allan.
Does anyone else prefer Sarah Buxton’s songwriting to her singing?
September 6, 2007 at 11:55 am Permalink
Speaking of Gary Allan and his new album… Anyone come across a list of the songs that will be on it? I understand it will be released October 23rd.
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