Ben, Since you are claiming the jury is still out on Bingham, I hope you can catch an acoustic gig of his one of these days. You are right that his live shows do not exactly scream “country”. The songs that are more rock oriented are stripped down and then paired with that wonderfully-gravelly voice. At that point it truly is country. Remember, there isnt anything wrong with Real Country that rocks out….

Hayes has played large festivals before…he’s just new to the people who think country music began with Garth Brooks.

And, to add to my take…Luke Bryan is awful in all facets…not just live.

yeah, further correspondence with Ms. Swift (that would inevitably lead to a charmed romance) is now but a pipe dream. sigh.

I didn’t catch Bucky’s whole set, so I didn’t see the cellphone thing, but after playing Brick in the Wall for like 5 minutes he “broke it down” to the kick and the bass and asked the crowd if they knew what song this as yet. It’s like “uh…yeah, you’ve been playing it for like 5 minutes already. It was the performing of the song that gave it away.”

Brad -

I’m definitely open to catching more Bingham, which is why I qualified my statement with “as far as I can tell”.

That being said, having rodeo credentials doesn’t mean much to me a far as helping to define him as a country music singer. A cowboy or cotton farmer can play speed metal just as easily as a short order cook or a door to door salesman can play country music.

I certainly haven’t written him off for all time though.

Declaring Hayes Johnny-up-and-comer wasn’t tongue in cheek. I’m not very familiar with his press history, and I may be showing my ignorance, but I’m pretty sure that his latest record was the first on a major label, and that the buzz he has right now is unprecedented for him.

I know that he isn’t a local kid selling burns of a self-released demo, but I think that a guy who has just put out a record on a Universal imprint, had Flippo write about him in his cmt.com column, and is playing one of the biggest country music festivals in the country can be called Johnny-up-and-comer.

but I’m glad we can agree on some things!

I saw Taylor Swift in concert with Danielle Peck and Jimmy Wayne back in December 2006 at the Chumash Indian Casino and basically decided I didn’t care if I ever saw her perform live again. From your description nothing about her act has changed in a year and a half, so don’t hold your breath. On the other hand Danielle Peck with just a guy on an acoustic guitar for accompaniment really did a fine job and stayed on pitch! I’d gladly see Danielle again, and especially if the show was all acoustic…

I get not getting Bingham because his style is not every person’s cup of tea…but to say: “as far as I can tell, Bingham isn’t a country guy and that puts him outside my field of interest.” is quite interesting. Bingham is a former rodeo cowboy who has lived each word of the lyrics you seem to think are only texture for the music. Go back and listen to the words again. “Southside of Heaven” should give you goosebumps if you read up on Bingham’s bio. Check out the interview pieces on YouTube. He is the real deal. I wonder if people thought Chris LeDoux was crazy back in the day when he was putting on a rock show for his tunes.

And Hayes Carll is far from “Johnny up and comer”…unless that is tongue in cheek, I don’t know how to quantify that. His first record came out in 2002 and he has been an Americana/indie darling since them. Chet Flippo and other national journalists have been heralding him for over five years.

You did get some things right…Dwight Yoakam is still the man…Taylor Swift is horrible live…and Luke Bryan is awful

I don’t think you should expect another hand written thank you note from Ms Swift.

One question: Did Bucky ask you to take out your cell phone and hold it over head?