Taylor Swift & Kris Kristofferson Swap Songs/Compliments; Jerry Lee Lewis’ Duet Album Wasn’t Supposed To Be
- Writing for the L.A. Times’ music blog Pop & Hiss, Randy Lewis recapped last Thursday’s All for the Hall benefit with Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Taylor Swift, and Lionel Richie. Chris Willman wrote about the song swap for CMT.
- Zac Brown Band elicits strong feelings in The Washington Post‘s Chris Richards.
But Brown isn’t really peddling country music so much as a noxious mash of bar-band schlock, jam-band haze, freedom rock pomp and whatever it is that makes Dave Matthews induce dry heaves. The frontman’s proud, clarion tenor resides at the center of his band’s ambling licks, as he doles out lyrical wisdom-nuggets worthy of those motivational posters where dolphins leap out of the surf and into some Godforsaken dentist’s office.
- Country California: Quotable Country – 09/26/10 Edition
- Follow The Bluegrass Blog for frequent updates on events and happenings at IBMA World of Bluegrass this week.
- Who is hairier: Matthew McConaughey in a gorilla suit or Jamey Johnson? (via The Boot)
- Songwriters Dallas Davidson and Rhett Atkins teamed up with Outdoor Channel personality Michael Waddell to record a collection of songs about hunting and fishing. The album, titled Michael Waddell’s Bone Collector: The Brotherhood Album featuring Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson, will be released Sept. 28 on Warner Bros. Records.
- Author Rick Bass talked to Weekend Edition Saturday host Liane Hansen about his new novel about the country music sibling-trio The Browns and the defining qualities of their sound, which he calls Nashville Chrome. (Paul W. Dennis wrote about one of The Browns, Jim Ed, last year in his Forgotten Artists series.)
- Travis Tritt has been cast to play a part in the new movie Fishers of Men.
- Kenny Chesney tells Peter Cooper that he had an album recorded near the end of last summer, before he took a break from touring, but as he listened to the tracks something wasn’t right:
“I put it in my CD player and listened, and I called Buddy back before he’d even left the studio,” the country star said. “I said, ‘There’s 11 songs on this album, but we’ve really only got four.’ I wanted so bad to be finished, but it was a moment where I had to do some soul-searching as an artist. The songs sounded good, but they were passionless, and I knew in my heart that we didn’t have it.”
- Toby Keith recently performed “Bullets in the Gun,” the title track from his new album, for CMT Invitation Only. Watch the video here.
- Whatever music he’s playing, Toby Keith is a big draw:
“I have a side group called the Incognito Banditos,” Keith says. “It’s a blues group with me and some great session players, and we decided to do a show in New York at the Fillmore. I called up the venue and told them not to spend a dime on advertising, just to announce the show, and it sold out in five minutes.”
Four cover songs performed during that show will appear on some special editions of his new release: “11 Months and 29 Days,” “I’ve been a Long Time Leaving (But I’ll Be a Long Time Gone),” “Chug-a-lug,” and “Sundown.”
- Initially, Jerry Lee Lewis and his co-producers wanted to avoid recording a duets record, but there was an outpouring of requests to join the Killer on his new album, Mean Old Man. So much so, that Lewis only has three solo performances, one of which is Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
- My Kind of Country highlighted Amber Digby‘s 2008 album Passion Pride, and What Might Have Been.
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Here’s Matraca Berg performing her song “You and Tequila,” which will be on the new Kenny Chesney album as a duet with Grace Potter.
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September 27, 2010 at 11:51 am
Whoa! Somebody sure doesn’t like Zac Brown! I do not profess to be his biggest fan, but I never considered his music “freedom rock pomp.” (Though I have heard them do a little bit of bar-band schlock here and there)
September 27, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I like the first Zac Brown Band album, and I really, really liked most of the live disc, but I have to agree a bit with that review. So much of this seems to be way too “double rainbow.” Additionally, The carryovers from the live disc (Let it Go/Whiskey’s Gone/Colder Weather) don’t hold up as well as their live counterparts. I’ve only taken a first listen, so maybe I’m jumping the gun. I’m hoping it’s that, or simply the sophomore slump.
September 27, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I suppose we can deduce from Richards’ review of “You Get What You Give” that he is no fan of the Dave Matthews Band, or jam bands in general for that matter.
Where I’ll agree with Richards is that the album feels topically homogenous and sounds a bit too breezy throughout. However, I still consider it a more than satisfying, consistent album from beginning to end in that the musicianship feels natural, the songwriting is honest and there’s more meat lyrically overall, especially on “Colder Weather”, “Martin” and “Cold Hearted” (I loved “The Foundation”, but admit to having a criticism of the album for the lack of depth in many of the songs lyrically aside from “Highway 20 Ride” and “Toes”, though the organic production still lifted most of the songs regardless, especially the lyrically simplistic yet soaring “Free”)
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Keith’s blues influences are indeed brought to the forefront every once in a while. I feel they especially stand out throughout “That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy” (which I consider his best post-Dreamworks Nashville album amidst an overall forgettable ever-piling latter career discography) on tracks like “Creole Woman” and “Missing Me Some You”.
I have to say I think Keith seems to handle the blues more convincingly than his redneck schtick. If he expounds on the former more, some of his best career days may very well be ahead of him and as far as quality is concerned we may see a parabola effect of sorts (mostly appealing 90′s, mostly forgettable 00′s, mostly appealing 10′s).
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It gladdens me to see My Kind of Country dusting off the diamond that is Amber Digby’s exceptional album. I feel too many more successful albums dwell on a common thread, or a few select emotions, and thus make for reducing staying power. Digby’s album has a full palette of emotional appeal and textures, and is one of the more criminally underappreciated releases in recent memory.
September 27, 2010 at 3:09 pm
@noah Amen to the My Kind of Country/Amber comment. I was wondering why they were reviewing an older album, but checked their archives and saw that they had already reviewed her more recent work.
September 27, 2010 at 3:13 pm
As a part of their spotlight series, My Kind of Country is spotlighting new neotraditionalists this month, which is why they reviewed Bigbee’s older album.
September 27, 2010 at 5:08 pm
“You and Tequila” sung by Matraca Berg, is terrific.
September 27, 2010 at 5:29 pm
…being part of a line-up consisting of emmylou harris, kris kristofferson, vince gill and lionel richie and not being out of place at all – could there be a bigger compliment for talyor swift?
September 27, 2010 at 5:51 pm
I hardly dare to say it, but I think I could end up enjoying Toby Keith’s new album judging by the Amazon clips only.
September 27, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Leeann,
I really like his new single and if the rest of the record is half as good as that then it will be one of his best albums since his Mercury days.
September 27, 2010 at 6:19 pm
That new Toby Keith song almost makes up for the awful “Trailerhood”.
Hopefully it leads to a good album since the last one I really enjoyed was Honkytonk U.
September 27, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Hmmm…I like “Trailerhood.” Then again, I liked White Trash with Money too.
September 27, 2010 at 7:59 pm
I really liked the music video for “Trailerhood”. Does that count? (lol)
My favorite quote from the “All For The Hall” article:
“Previous editions of the fundraiser have emphasized veterans such as Harris, Gill, Kristofferson, Dwight Yoakam and others. The addition of Swift to this year’s show translated into a large, vocal contingent of teen and preteen girls, who erupted in a chorus of squeals when master of ceremonies Gill brought her on stage.
As the shrieking subsided, Gill quipped: “Thank you, thank you! I get that a lot.”
All I can say is that those teen and pre-teen girls have well heeled parents! Taylor is a hot pop culture icon at this point in time and its nice she’s using it to benefit others. Carrie Underwood always packs out the Opry when she performs, and that is also appreciated (and especially by Pete Fisher).
Wow, I could learn a whole bunch of cool new snarky put downs from Chris Richards! Way to go Chris!
September 27, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Leeann,
Why does it bother you that you may like Toby Keith’s new album? Some prejudice there eh?
On the topic of Richard’s review of the latest from ZBB: I find much I agree with in his review.
September 27, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Waynoe,
No, I’m not a fan of him personally and I won’t pretend that I am. I like some of his music, particularly his nineties output, but only pockets of his 2000s stuff. So, if that’s prejudice, it is what it is.
September 27, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Though I am not stating this of you Leeann, there are some who are not fond of him for some of his views. It is interesting that those same people will turn around and say that we should like certain other acts regardless of their views. It’s a double-standard.
His red, white, & blue, boot-up-the-butt, somewhat conservative refernces rangle many of the liberal bloggers and the like.
Of course, they then turn right around and tell us to love the Dixie Chicks for their music reagardless of their opinions.
Make no mistake, I tire at times of repetitive themes and Toby has them. We well know that he likes to include drinking and half-naked women in his lyrics and videos. I think he is getting a bit old to sing about things so juvinelle.
Nonetheless, the media double-standard spills over into the dream world of music criticism and it’s not hard to see where most come from.
Again, these assertions are not towards you but my feelings in general.
September 27, 2010 at 9:23 pm
I actually understand what you’re saying. I tire of his swagger and I don’t like a lot of his politics, not to mention that he really comes off as a beligerent jerk and opportunist much of the time. But I do judge his music on a song by song, album by album basis. He’s talented and smart. There’s no denying that.
September 27, 2010 at 9:25 pm
I’ve only listened to the Zac Brown album one time all the way through so far, but I like what I remember hearing. I haven’t delved into lyrics yet, but I like the over all vibe of the album.
September 27, 2010 at 9:27 pm
“I like some of his music, particularly his nineties output, but only pockets of his 2000s stuff.”
This exactly how i feel. His 90′s and early 2000 stuff was really good to me but since 2003 he hasn’t done anything that Ive really like
September 27, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Leeann,
Good enough.
September 27, 2010 at 11:48 pm
“I like some of his music, particularly his nineties output, but only pockets of his 2000s stuff.”
Bingo- you’ve said it far better than I could; and I hate to say this as I think he has a great voice, but he needs to write with other people. I find his latest output to banal.
September 28, 2010 at 10:47 am
I have to agree. Toby’s material in the 90′s and early 2000′s was much better than his recent releases. In my opinion, it seems he is too focused on coming up with clever/catchy hooks and stuck in the “I’m from the trailer park” type of songs instead of writing quality songs.
I think you are right about him needing to write with some other people. Give him some fresh ideas that are not the typical Toby songs and hopefully breathe a breath of fresh air into some new material for him.