Month In Review: February 2007
I wanted to highlight what I think is some the best of our content on The 9513 from the month of February. I’m mainly doing this for the newer readers who haven’t visited the Archives yet, and to get some feedback on what features people like and dislike.
Album, Concert, & Book Reviews
It’d be impossible for us to review everything that happens each month in the country music world, but below is a book, some albums, and a concert that at least one of us has reviewed in the past month. We do accept reviews from other writers who would like to publish something on this site as well, so send us an email if you have something you’d like to say.
- Book Review: True To The Roots
- Album Review: Daryle Singletary - Straight From The Heart
- Album Review: Lucinda Williams - West
- Album Review: Amber Digby - Here Come The Teardrops
- Album Review: Jason Michael Carroll - Waitin’ In The Country
- Concert Review: Brooks And Dunn ‘Rock My World’
Recommended
This is a relatively new category that is similar to reviews, except that it’s only stuff we like and have been listening to a little bit during the month. You’ll notice that the length of the articles generally won’t be as long as reviews either. It’s basically a category that allows us to recommend anything that we like so that you can get a sense of the stuff we enjoy and help you decide whether our recommendations are credible in your mind.
Exclusive Interviews
Everybody has some questions that they’d like to ask different artists and we’re no different. So we’ve been emailing artists and their record labels asking for email interviews with the artists. We realize beforehand that artists are extremely busy and probably get requests like ours all the time, but the labels and the artists are usually gracious and grant us the chance to ask a few questions. They let us know that they might not be able to get to our questions, but we send them anyways. We try to mix the repetitive, boring questions that you find on other sites with some of our own that may get a smile or two from the artists to try and keep it entertaining (whether we succeed in being entertaining is probably a matter of opinion). Those who were generous enough to answer our questions this month are below.
- Interview: Brigitte London Discusses Austin, Nashville, And Drinking Whiskey
- Interview: John Michael Montgomery Talks About Catfish & Frog Legs
- An Interview With Rodney Hayden
Your Take
Everybody has different opinions, so we use this category/feature to ask you what your opinion is on certain topics or issues. So far I’d say it has been one of our most successful categories.
- Your Take: Why Haven’t Greatest Hits Albums Become Obsolete?
- Your Take: Are Genre Jumpers Ruining Country Music?
- Stonewall Jackson VS. The Opry: Whose Side Are You On?
- Dale Watson Embarrassed By Country Music
MySpace Artist Of The Week
We’ve had a MySpace Artist Of The Week for a while, but it didn’t appear to be a popular feature so we’ve started phasing it out. However we’d still like to highlight different artists from MySpace, so instead of highlighting artists on a weekly basis we’ll probably spotlight artists only when we come across those who we think you guys would like.
Miscellaneous Features
- Country Music Blogs And Their Golden Age Counterparts
Established media outlets have the means to provide the most country music news, but blogs have some of the best content and you know that you’re not being fed PR speak from the labels and such. This is our tribute to some of the best country music blogs. - Mailbag: The First Edition
Glancing through our traffic statistics we found that a lot of people discovered The 9513 by searching for answers to specific questions. Jenna answers some of those questions in her first edition of the mailbag. - CMT Music Award Nominees: YouTube Edition
All of the nominees for the CMT Music Awards and a link to their video on YouTube.
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We have two special Glen Campbell prize packs to giveaway. Each winner will receive a CD copy of Meet Glen Campbell and a limited edition vinyl copy of the album. To enter the drawing, reply with a comment about Glen Campbell. Tell us anything you want.
Forgotten Artists: Goldie Hill Had Carl Smith and Goldie Hill been born 30 or 40 years later, they might have been like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw–the dominant married couple in country music.
Forgotten Artist: Wynn Stewart Both Buck Owens and Merle Haggard have cited Wynn Stewart as a major influence on their careers, yet somehow, he was never able to translate his enormous talent into extended and consistent success for himself.
Miranda Lambert - “More Like Her” This kind of material, as opposed to her tough-chick-done-wrong romps like “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Gunpowder and Lead,” is where her real promise lies
Joey Rory - “Cheater, Cheater” It’s actually downright frivolous, but that just makes it all the more fun. And really, are you allowed to say “ho” on country radio?
Josh Gracin - “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)” Despite initial marketing that touted the album as deep and personal, “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)” is anything but deep or personal.
Josh Turner - "Everything Is Fine" Turner is the rare example of an artist who records material that’s both quality and trademark.
Darryl Worley - "Tequila On Ice" A groovy mid-tempo that sways, a refreshing reprieve from the exhausting pace of a format that clamors for loud music and swelling choruses.
Blake Shelton - "She Wouldn't Be Gone" It’s all about nailing the melody rather than providing a legitimate interpretation that accentuates the lyrical content, although Shelton does do a pretty good job of injecting what limited emotion he can.
Don’t look now, but Darius Rucker, lead singer of 90s rock group Hootie & The Blowfish, has a country hit on his hands. What you probably haven’t heard is that Rucker is the first black artist to chart a single in the country top 20 since Charley Pride last did it in 1988.
News that former Sugarland member and co-founder Kristen Hall is suing her ex-mates, to the tune of $1.5 million, goes a long way towards providing a bit of context regarding the Atlanta singer/songwriter’s sudden departure from the group.
In Memory of Don Helms (1927 - 2008) Helms dated back to a time when an excellent four or five piece band and a good singer were all that were needed to make great country music. No drums, no light shows, no production tricks in the recording studio–just good music.Tagged In This Article
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