Sammy Kershaw’s Political Bid Fizzled By Incumbent
- Porter Wagoner remains in a Nashville-area hospital and has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
- With four kids at home Kelly Willis put her musical career on the back burner. She didn’t feel like she had time to write until an interviewer reminded her that she could do other people’s songs. One thing led to another and out popped Translated From Love, an album about love that endures.
- Shooter Jennings describes the country music business as an extension of high school social cliques.
- The brief history of Kris Kristofferson’s career. The secret to writing like Kristofferson? Studying 17th-century English metaphysical poetry along with the poets William Blake and William Shakespeare. Sounds daunting.
- Carrie Underwood’s comments about the incident involving LeAnn Rimes writing on her website that Underwood didn’t pay her dues or deserve the award she got are quite humorous.
“She had megasuccess early on, and you know she wasn’t a 12-year-old playing in bars,” Underwood says. “I didn’t really think that much of it coming from her. If it had been somebody who had spent 20 years working to get this and then they got it, that would be a little different.
- Incumbent Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu received 57 percent of the votes to defeat Sammy Kershaw in his bid to become Louisiana’s lieutenant governor.
- NPR’s latest Del McCoury Band goodness, including audio, video, pictures, and interesting anecdotes from his fabled career.
- Kelefa Sanneh of the New York Times highlights a lyric from the new Underwood album that sounds a whole lot like a TV commercial, and after reading it, I can see it easily being part of the radio spots for “Real Men of Genius.” Maybe she’s propositioning Bud Light for a sponsorship to play up her country persona. Sanneh also has a few thoughts on the new Gary Allan album:
But especially compared with his excellent and elegant 2003 CD, “See if I Care,” this one seems a bit thin. Omnipresent electric guitars eat away at the starkness that has defined some of his best songs. And sometimes they simply push him in the wrong direction, as with “Wrecking Ball,” a gruesome bluesy romp.
- Rumor has it that Jessica Simpson plans on moving to Nashville.
- Merle Haggard says it’s good that Bob Dylan included “Workingman’s Blues #2″ on his latest album because it gives him the chance to do “Blowin’ in the Wind #2″.
- The material isn’t new, but the new album from Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame and Alison Krauss is sure to raise more than a few eyebrows. Produced by T Bone Burnett Raising Sand draws songs from the catalogs of Gene Clark, the Everly Brothers, Townes Van Zandt, Allen Toussaint, Mel Tillis and Tom Waits. About the two singers, Burnett says, “They both sound like they’re singing from some other time. Alison sounds like she just stepped out of the Black Forest, and Robert sounds like Ozymandias,” the Egyptian pharaoh.
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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
Alison Krauss // Carrie Underwood // Gary Allan // Jessica Simpson // Kelly Willis // Kris Kristofferson // LeAnn Rimes // Merle Haggard // Porter Wagoner // Robert Plant // Sammy Kershaw // Shooter Jennings
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October 22, 2007 at 10:02 am Permalink
Carrie, Carrie. I love you, dear, but LeAnn was in fact, a 12 year-old singing in bars. And, at the age of 25, she’s been doing this at least semi-professionally for around 15 years now.
October 22, 2007 at 10:40 am Permalink
if you want further proof that country music is indeed like high school (per shooter jennings in the earlier story), look no further than the carrie underwood story. it sounds like they’re all in high school. “so and so said you’re fat”. “do you like timmy or bobby?” “she’s so…like, you know, yesterday.” for God’s sake.
October 22, 2007 at 11:42 am Permalink
Who cares about due-paying? When an artist is making quality music, I couldn’t care less whether it takes them 20 years or 2 weeks to get there. I thought LeAnn’s comment was pretty classless at the time that she made it and I still feel that way. Carrie doesn’t exactly take the high road in her response and she overplays the “struggle” that she went through on American Idol. Furthermore, while she is a bit too dismissive of Rimes’ career path, she does have a point: LeAnn Rimes isn’t exactly an authority on due-paying.
October 22, 2007 at 11:46 am Permalink
I don’t know, Matt. Rimes has had a tumultuous career, especially considering that she was exiled from country music (due to, shocking, careless comments) and has had to claw her way back into our good graces.
October 22, 2007 at 12:00 pm Permalink
True, but she got back into country music at an age that would still be young for an artist to get into it, and at that time she had several mega-hits to her name and had sold more albums than most artists sell in a lifetime.
October 22, 2007 at 3:10 pm Permalink
I applaud Rimes for calling it like it is. I think Faith Hill’s reaction was raw emotion, and therefore wasn’t ‘kidding.’ Seeing that Faith whimped out, someone had to stand up and say what everyone else was thinking. I was shocked and extremely disappointed that the CMA gave the award to the flavor of the week. That award belonged to Faith Hill or Sara Evans. I don’t think Underwood should have even received the nomination, let along won; Rimes was one of the few females to have a #1 hit that year (”Something’s Gotta Give) and that nomination was her’s.
October 22, 2007 at 10:50 pm Permalink
I hope Rimes issues a response to Underwood’s misinformed statements. I guess that’s what happens when the Sony BMG puppet masters aren’t controlling the puppet 24/7 and telling her what to say; she shoots from the hip with misguided facts.
October 23, 2007 at 10:09 pm Permalink
Aw, heck! I’m into 17th Century Metaphysical poetry (John Donne is my favorite) so I guess I could give Kris Kristofferson a run for his money.
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