The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Let’s get this out of the way first: Any new music from Charley Pride is cause for celebration. Country music’s biggest African-American star is also among the best pure singers the genre has ever known, one of the few guys to be fully trusted with the songs of either Hank Williams or Jim Reeves. Remarkably, [...]

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Songwriters: Jamey Johnson and Rivers Rutherford On his latest single, a Southern rock kernel of truth, Jamey Johnson bows down to the ample power of heartache. The Alabama native gives a mischievous performance that fits perfectly with the song’s miserable sentiment: “I’m a heartache hungry and huntin’, someone I can eat alive.” The Guitar Song, [...]

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Songwriters: Rivers Rutherford, Annie Tate and Sam Tate Perhaps the biggest surprise among the Grammy nominations in the country field was the presence of “I’d Love to Be Your Last,” the sparse ballad that serves as a pleasant coda for Gretchen Wilson’s latest album, I Got Your Country Here. On a project filled with boisterous [...]

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On David Bradley’s “Hard Time Movin’ On,” a down-and-out, depressed man succumbs to his busted heart in the middle of the night. Against his better judgment, he calls his ex to confide the misery he’s been mired in since her departure. A comforting voice is the only cure in these dark hours, pride be damned. [...]

Continue reading "David Bradley featuring Rodney Crowell – “Hard Time Movin’ On”"

Songwriters: Rory Lee Feek, Tim Johnson, Joey Martin Feek “We are 100% ourselves here,” says Rory Feek – one half of the husband/wife country music duo Joey + Rory – about their sophomore project on Sugar Hill Records, Album Number Two. So far, first single “This Song’s For You” fell short of communicating this Tennessee [...]

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The first question for any cover or tribute like this is, Why? Why mess with a song that’s already pretty damn great to begin with? Why try to mess with nostalgia or improve on the original? Do they have something new to say through the song, or is there something cynical in the enterprise? This [...]

Continue reading "Loretta Lynn with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow – “Coal Miner’s Daughter”"

Songwriters: Andrew Dorff, Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins He’s been described as a maverick and an outlaw, but when Gary Allan is more a lonely soul than bad boy, and teamed with a well-written song, he’s stunning to hear. His own brand of singing–one part grit, two parts ache–quivers with emotion, and he not only makes [...]

Continue reading "Gary Allan – “Kiss Me When I’m Down”"

Toby Keith’s recent singles have been something of a tossup. For every quality song like the genuinely moving, genre-blending “Cryin’ for Me (Wayman’s Song),” there’s a not-so-great song such as “Every Dog Has Its Day.” The title track and second single of Keith’s newest album is more closely aligned with the former. “Bullets in the [...]

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Songwriters: Tom Douglas, Tony Lane and David Lee Where are Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler when you need them? With its stylistically studied and self-serious approach, super-group Lady Antebellum’s latest single “Hello World” would work better as fodder for the punny pair–or any other comedic duo–as a left-of-the-mark Saturday Night Live skit than a pseudo-inspirational [...]

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Songwriters: Jerrod Niemann, Rachel Bradshaw and Richie Brown Newcomer Jerrod Niemann knows the value of a little repetition. Not the monotonous, expected kind featured on country radio and favored by flavors of the month, but the well-designed rhetorical device that turned out the catchy “Lover, Lover” and sent it to the top of the country [...]

Continue reading "Jerrod Niemann – “What Do You Want”"