Surprise Guests Dropped by Asleep at the Wheel Performance at Antone’s

(Warning: shameless self-promotion) Pertaining to both the link to my review and the link to upcoming books, if you are a reader, I have a couple more book reviews coming up this week and several more before the end of the year.

Its not surprising Taylor Swift’s album sales are increasing due to all the nationwide TV network exposure she’s been getting lately. From the Dick Clark created “American Music Awards” to lighting the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center in NYC, it seems Taylor’s face is everywhere these days. Also the release of a special edition version of her debut album with a couple of new songs added is pure marketing genius by Scotty Borchetta at Big Machine.

What mystifies me about all this is what other people hear in Taylor’s music that they find so attractive in a sonic sense. Taylor seems to be a very level headed and sweet gal, but I just don’t find her music all that pleasant or significant and don’t grasp the big hullabaloo and fuss being made about her. I guess its just sour grapes as I am a big fan of female country artists like Ashley Monroe, Megan Mullins and Sarah Buxton who are truly talented and far more deserving of commercial success and recognition than screechy voiced teenybopper Taylor. Can anyone enlighten me on this subject?

Taylor is just a very good songwriter, in my opinion. Many folks outside of her target demo do have some sour grapes because there is a difficulty connecting with the things she’s writing about–the subject matter might seem juvenile to some–but from an artistic and craft (nuts and bolts) standpoint, what she’s doing is exceptional for her age. Those artists that were previously mentioned are very good artists, but their songwriting is not as refined or as commercially cohesive as Swift’s–the exception being Sarah Buxton, who is a great writer but who has this voice that just sounds a bit jarring when put up against the vanilla of Carrie.

As far as the jump in sales, Peter is right–”Teardrops” is at AC, and the record sounds great. I was surprised when they sent that track to radio because it just seemed too dreary to work, and the poped-up mix fills the record out, in my opinion.

Also, Taylor’s been getting a decent push from her Holiday collection (Target exclusive).

Paul Shaffer sent in the following to the Wheel’s MySpace page:

“It was wonderful, as always, to work with Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel. Their own set was terrific and they had just the right amount of nuttiness to work with me. Jimmie Dale Gilmore has the voice of an angel. His tribute to Freddy Fender was superb. Billy Gibbons totally rocked the house with some Texas blues and a fitting tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan. When Willie Nelson’s sister Bobbie joined us all for “Peace in the Valley” it was the icing on the cake. Antone’s was the perfect club for this stellar evening.”