The 9513 - Country Music Blog

The class of freshman traditionalists who eagerly took to the airwaves around the turn of the millennium is now graduating to hits collection status, with Joe Nichols’ simply-titled Greatest Hits hot on the heels of November collections from Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton. The Nichols collection is the skimpiest of the lot, clocking in at [...]

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Despite being considerably shorter than the anticipated full-length sophomore release, this uncreatively titled collection actually contains more of Sweeney’s own songwriting than Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame, the 2006 record that first set fans and critics abuzz about the prodigiously talented Texan. In fact, Sweeney has cowritten every one of these five tracks—and that’s mostly for [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Sunny Sweeney – Sunny Sweeney EP"

Lori McKenna, 42, scored her big break in 2005 when she landed cuts on albums from Nashville starlets Faith Hill and Sara Evans. The next year Warner Bros. Records signed her to a recording contract and she appeared with Hill on an episode of Oprah. It was all heady stuff for the Stoughton, Mass. native, [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Lori McKenna – Lorraine"

Despite his love of namedropping classic country singers—on this record, “ol’ Hank” and George Jones get cited, and of course there was “Johnny Cash,” the 2007 single that had nothing to do with the Man in Black aside from the statement that he will “rock your ass”—Jason Aldean still has more in common with Molly [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Jason Aldean – My Kinda Party"

You can take the girl out of Butcher Holler, but you can’t take Butcher Holler out of the girl. Even during Nashville’s glitziest period, Loretta Lynn was both part of that glamour and apart from it: a country girl living not so comfortably in the city. All those frilly, rhinestone-studded dresses never could cover up [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Various Artists – Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn"

Until recently, Rounder Records was the oldest active independent label in America—and arguably the most successful not just in terms of sales but in cultural impact. Founded in 1970 by three Tufts students, the fledgling company originally focused on bluegrass, especially the new strains that were coming out of New England. However, it wasn’t long [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Various Artists – The Rounder Records Story"

The lack of dramatics on today’s playlists have threatened to turn country radio into a complete yawn. Enter, stage left: one of the genre’s most talented ambassadors, Reba McEntire, who can deliver a masterful vocal performance like few others in the format. With a stunning string of 59 Top 10 singles, McEntire’s astonishing consistency is [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Reba McEntire – All the Women I Am"

More than anything else, life is all about timing. And perhaps more than any other genre, country music is the sonic equivalent of those ups and downs, represented by painful peels of the steel guitar, simple lyrics written by hillbilly Shakespeares and unbridled celebrations of births and rebirths alike. It doesn’t take a rehasing of [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Randy Houser – They Call Me Cadillac"

The musical restlessness that inspired Sugarland to drop in a reggae bridge on “Stuck on You,” especially contrasted against the conservatism that inspired country radio to cut the offending passage, is the duo’s most endearing and most frustrating trait. Playing to an audience they believe has tastes that go beyond twang, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Sugarland – The Incredible Machine"

A debut hit that was an ode to the old home place. A voice that could soar up high just as easily as it could dip down into honeyed Whitley-like tones. That one long, anguished note toward the end of “Ships That Don’t Come In.” If we didn’t know Joe Diffie had some bluegrass in [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Joe Diffie – Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album"