The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Taylor Swift’s polarizing sweep of last year’s CMA Awards won’t be repeated when the trophies are handed out on Wednesday, Nov. 10 in Nashville. The multi-format superstar has had a relatively quiet year as she prepares for the release of her third album, Speak Now, due on Oct. 25. Swift’s four victories, including the coveted [...]

Continue reading "The 44th Annual CMA Awards: Who Should Be Nominated"

A source with apparent knowledge of the search for new American Idol judges named Shania Twain as a possible candidate. Austin Music Source’s John T. Davis recapped night one and night two of Butch Hancock‘s five-night No Two More Alike concert series at the Cactus Cafe. Hancock, like his songs, looked more or less ageless, [...]

Continue reading "‘American Idol’ Targets Shania; Reba Announces New Album; Jamey Johnson Talks About ‘The Guitar Song’"

Come this fall, the original Sugarland trio will have a reunion of sorts, only it’ll be in the courtroom. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush will square off against Kristen Hall in a lawsuit that the latter filed claiming that she is owed more than $1.5 million. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Bill Rankin has more details, including [...]

Continue reading "Sugarland Founders to Reunite In Court; Buck Owens Revealed; Taylor Swift Single Released Early"

In country music, home is where the hits are. Small town living is the go-to topic for Music Row writers looking for a cheap hook. In the rural utopia they‘ve invented for today’s country radio, a few hard-and-fast rules apply: Saturday nights are spent in a hell-raisin’, hard-drinkin’ fury; Sunday mornings are saved by amazing [...]

Continue reading "Miranda Lambert – “The House That Built Me”"

By September of 2009, Miranda Lambert had already won over critics and sold more than a million records (a spectacular number, considering the lukewarm support afforded her by country radio). It was Lambert’s third album, however (Revolution, released 09/29/09), that fully (and finally) ascended her into the upper tier of this era’s country music icons. [...]

Continue reading "Miranda Lambert Wins Artist, Song Of The Year in The 9513′s 2nd Annual Country Music Awards"

It’s tempting to suggest overexposure to the Flatts’ own soulless brand of emo country as a possible reason “Why” the troubled character in this song (call it “How Do You Get That Lonely” redux) brought his life to an abrupt end. But that review has already been written countless times. At this point, the freshest [...]

Continue reading "Rascal Flatts – “Why”"

While Miranda Lambert’s debut album Kerosene offered a refreshing burst of artistic exuberance and a relative disregard for the conventions and methods employed by her then would-be peers, the album suffered from a certain narrative naivety and a notable lack of artistic refinement. With her sophomore effort, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Lambert brought her artistic vision into [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Miranda Lambert – Revolution"