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Gary Allan - “Learning How To Bend”
Songwriters: Gary Allan, James LeBlanc, and Matt Warren
“Learning How To Bend”, the second single from Gary Allan’s Living Hard, is a refreshingly mature lyric that allows Allan to show off his vocal abilities. The genius of the lyric is the duality in which it can convey the emotions of a person who has found [...] -
Luke Bryan - “Country Man”
Songwriters: Luke Bryan, Galen Griffin, and Patrick Jason Matthews
Luke Bryan’s third single, “Country Man,” goes for adds on March 24. It mindlessly lists anything that could be superficially associated with being a country man and will hopefully give him an advantage in attracting a woman, but despite all that, it’s an infectious little [...] -
Tim McGraw - “Kristofferson”
Songwriters: Reed Nielsen and Anthony Smith
Tim McGraw’s choice of singles from his album, Let It Go, has been puzzling and the release of “Kristofferson” doesn’t do anything to curb that trend. It’s arguably one of the more traditional tracks from the album, but McGraw shamelessly namechecks the songs namesake ala Keith Urban’s “Hank Don’t [...] -
Brad Paisley - “I’m Still A Guy”
Songwriters: Kelley Lovelace, Lee Thomas Miller, and Brad Paisley
In Brad Paisley’s world there is nothing more descriptive than a list. I know what you’re thinking, “Like Whitman?” Unfortunately not. Brad’s lists shed no real light on his subject, his lists offer no interesting insights, in fact, his lists seem to serve no real purpose [...] -
Reba McEntire (f. Skip Ewing) - “Every Other Weekend”
I often criticize the current state of country radio. I say it’s too homogeneous, too fluffy, too commercial. I write about artists and songwriters who pander to their perceptions of what the audience expects. Yes, I complain about a lot of things that I think are wrong in this genre, this format, and this [...]
Continue reading "Reba McEntire (f. Skip Ewing) - “Every Other Weekend”"
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Michael Dean Church - “Why Can’t You Forgive Me”
Songwriters: Steve Dukes and Jeb Stuart Anderson
Newcomer Michael Dean Church enters as a serious contender to become country music’s first breakthrough “MySpace artist.” While Pop has seen grassroots support for artists like Lily Allen and Soulja Boy translate into critical and commercial success, the country music circuit has remained a bit behind the curve, [...]Continue reading "Michael Dean Church - “Why Can’t You Forgive Me”"
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Star De Azlan - “She’s Pretty”
In today’s radio climate, it’s hard to break new female artists, especially if they’re traditional. Star De Azlan is a new female artist with a remarkably mature voice that has a certain traditional quality to it, so by all expectations, she shouldn’t have much of a chance… but, she has one thing going for [...]
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Rascal Flatts - “Every Day”
Songwriters: Alissa Moreno and Jeffrey Steele
Machoism, patriotism, alcoholism, romanticism… and if emoism isn’t part of the list of country music concepts yet, you can certainly add it with Rascal Flatts’ release of their latest single, “Every Day.” Rascal Flatts is usually an easy target and a lot of criticism might be unfairly levied upon [...] -
Emily West - “Rocks In Your Shoes”
One of the most disheartening things about the current state of mainstream country music is its abject lack of personality. There are few new artists who possess genuine, non-fabricated star quality, and fewer even who seem to have anything particularly interesting to say.
Enter Waterloo, Iowa, native Emily West, a Capital Nashville newcomer with a [...] -
Clint Black - “Long Cool Woman”
Songwriters: Allan Clarke, Roger Cook, and Roger Greenaway
What’s happening in a world when Clint Black releases only the second single of his career that wasn’t written himself and it follows the first? And when is he going to give his next album a title and release it? It seems like he’s grasping at [...]
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We've labored long and hard to come up with our list of the Top 10 Country Albums of 2008. Click here to see who claimed the honor of the year's top album, as chosen by The 9513's staff and writers.
Don’t confuse disappointing with worst, as that list would most likely be dominated by obscure indie knockoff bands along with a couple of mainstream releases. There has to be a modicum of expectation that’s dashed upon the release of an album for it to qualify for the year’s most disappointing.
Join host Kelly Dearmore as he shines the light on several noteworthy album releases you might have missed and interviews various artists, from Sarah Borges to Trent Willmon and Reckless Kelly to Wade Bowen, in the first two episode of The 9513 podcast.
Jim Malec counts down the top 20 country music news stories of 2008. How many times do you think John Rich will be mentioned?Current Discussion
- Leeann Ward: While I was surprised to see this song at the top spot, it was a pleasant surprise. I think ...
- Brody Vercher: @Drew - Here's an article cached by Google from The Tennessean.
- northtexas: Jewel commented in her blog: People's Choice Awards Recap Posted in From Jewel on January 7, 2009 Hi! So the awards ...
- Drew: Is there any link to the Eddy Arnold accusation story? I'm interested to read the whole thing.
- Jim C.: Is there such a thing as 'the Americana scene'? Maybe just Russell is projecting his own thoughts on his crappy band.
- Paula_W: The People Choose Underwood and Flatts At People’s Choice Awards What people? Not me!
- Nashville4U: Great to see Carrie Underwood win those awards but Rascal Flatts....I don't know if they deserved that one. Also that ...
- Brady Vercher: Britt's demo is tacked onto the end of the final track, "Bruised," on her Little Wildflower album, but like Rick ...
- Rick: Let us not forget that Catherine Britt was the co-writer with Rory Feek on "Sweet Emmylou". Catherine recorded a rough ...
- Jim Malec: I think "Sweet Emmylou" is the kind of song that few people are capable of writing. There's a reason why ...
