Jennifer Nettles Celebrates Birthday With the Start of Love on the Inside Tour

Nelson does the standard “What a Difference a Day Makes,” Big & Rich do the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)” and Williams does Nelson’s and Waylon Jennings’ “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” Gill cut Porter Wagoner’s “Satisfied Mind” the day after Wagoner’s funeral.

• Charlie Louvin – Steps To Heaven
• Darius Rucker – Learn To Live
• Eli Young Band – Jet Black and Jealous
• Eric Durrance – Angels Fly Away (Digital)
• Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson – Rattlin’ Bones
• Kristy Lee Cook – Why Wait
• Redd Volkaert – Reddhead

“I don’t know if it’s that Midwest thing, but I still hold out hope that my best stuff is ahead instead of behind. I feel like I’m about to write something better than I’ve written, or just not better in the sense of, ‘Whoo, that is great,’ but more to the point and simpler and more direct and with a better melody and some sort of melody/lyric combination that takes you somewhere special.”

The point of his new “Reddhead,” which hits stores Tuesday, might be to show that Volkaert is more than just a guitar player. He writes or co-writes seven of the 14 tracks and his rich, deep voice is featured in the mix, but ultimately the CD comes off as an instrumental album with vocals. Whether he’s exploring western swing on Bob Wills’ “End of the Line” or blues with “Call the Pound” or his caustic relationship ditties (co-written by Laura Durham) such as “Is Anything Alright,” “We Need to Talk” and “Just Because I Don’t Care,” the lyrics seem to serve as spacers between all the spectacular picking. In every genre he tackles, Volkaert can hold his own with anyone.