“Real Men of Genius” Salutes Dierks Bentley
- Dierks Bentley joins “Mr. Push Up Bra Inventor” and “Mr. Tiny Thong Bikini Wearer” as one of the subjects immortalized in Anheuser Busch’s “Real Men of Genius” radio spots. In the ad, he’s saluted as “Mr. Sad Country Song Songwriter” (listen).
“Getting a ‘real men of genius’ spot is pretty much the pinnacle for a dude that likes to drink beer, and I’ve had to nurse a lot of hangovers over the years to reach this status,” jokes Bentley.
- Big Rock Candy Mountain strongly advises you to stay away from Scarlett Johansson’s album of Tom Waits songs, calling it “one the vilest steaming piles of horseshit we have ever heard” and “worst album, not of the year, but of the decade.” The good news is The Mountain digs the new Hayes Carll album and his Tom Waits cover, “I Don’t Want To Grow Up.”
- Texas Music Matters’ song of the day, “Every Drop of Water,” belongs to Jerry Jeff Walker.
- James Otto topped the R&R and Mediabase country charts with “Just Got Started Lovin’ You.”
- A second season of CMT’s “Gone Country” is under way with John Rich returning as host. Actress Sean Young, ‘N Sync’er Chris Kirkpatrick and former Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson are among the celebrities vying to have their single released to country radio.
- Mike Ness, the lead singer of Social Distortion, is currently on tour without his punk band, performing some of his rootsier music and occasional covers of songs by the likes of Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins. The Houston Chronicle’s Andrew Dansby has a short Q&A with the singer about music and tattoos.
- Taylor Swift will be joining Rascal Flatts for their Bob That Head summer tour.
- Country Universe kicked off a new feature, “Six Pack,” in which six essential singles or tracks from a particular artist or theme will be featured. Mindy McCready is featured to get the ball rolling.
- YouTube video of Ashley Monroe performing “Has Anybody Ever Told You.”
- If you didn’t have a chance to pick up a copy of last week’s Country Weekly (shame on you!), Jim Malec’s review of Lady Antebellum’s debut album is now available online at the CW website.
- Tyler Cowen attempts to answer the question, “what is the best country music?”
- The film Palo Pinto Gold will premiere tonight in San Antonio, but won’t return until distribution is secured and DVD and cable contracts are certain. Mel Tillis, Roy Clark, Trent Willmon, Kinky Friedman, Robert Earl Keen, Kevin Fowler, Jarrod Birmingham and Rodney Hayden are country singers who have a role in the film.
- Alison Bonaguro posted several close ups of country singers’ tattoos. See if you can guess which tattoo belongs to which singer.
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May 6, 2008 at 9:57 am Permalink
Man, I love Mike Ness and Social D! He is a true veteran who has seem some rough times and he has come out on the other end and is rocking! He has Jesse Dayton touring with him, which makes that one of the single coolest bills of recent times!
May 6, 2008 at 10:21 am Permalink
Thanks for the link to the new YouTube video by Ashley Monroe. Seeing those musicians in a home studio doing this as a labor of love is inspiring. Ashley has survived a trip through the “Major Label Nashville Music Machine” career grinder and come out stronger for the experience. The concert footage is likely from her recent showcase at Nashville’s “3rd & Lindsley Club”. I wish they’d stream their shows online like the FUEL Club….
What I find interesting is that the traditional country twang of many of the songs on “Satisfied” has been replaced by a mellow folky sound. I applaud Ashley’s artistry but ask what type of radio format would play such music other than maybe NPR stations or satellite radio? It was nice that Sony-BMG brought Ashely to the attention of mainstream country fans with her Ronnie Dunn duet music video. Hopefully many of those fans will purchase her new music when it becomes available. MySpace marketing is the wave of the future for indie artists….
While at YouTube check out Ashley’s new companion video for the song “Some People Call It Love”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrRN-qgaIik
May 6, 2008 at 10:59 am Permalink
I love how Taylor Swift is on the Bob that Head Tour….. 17’s year old’s Bobbin heads… I love it.
May 6, 2008 at 5:17 pm Permalink
Both of the songs featured in the YouTube videos are available for purchase on Ashley’s myspace page.
As I watch the videos, and listent to the songs, I like them as much as the original music that I heard from her, and I like her statement that some of the songs that she wrote while with Sony were more aimed at being radio hits and not written from her heart and that these were written from her heart, which is how she started writing.
May 7, 2008 at 4:39 am Permalink
Mike Ness really wears his twang on his fully tattooed sleeve in concert.
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