The 9513 Last.fm Chart Update (6-28-09)

To answer my question from last week: Yes, George Strait did hit the 30-listener mark, and he did it by blowing away the rest of the field, a solid eight listeners ahead of the closest competition. With about 26 studio albums to his name and tons of compilations and holiday albums, Strait is one of the most prolific artists in today’s country music. Say you’re only a casual Strait fan and have, say, a quarter of his albums and a greatest hits package to cover his older stuff. That’s still about seven albums, or as many albums as Sugarland, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift have, combined. If you’re a Strait completest and have to have everything that he’s ever recorded, that’s probably upwards of 400 songs, which would be a sizable chunk of any music collection.

Of course, Strait can still learn a few lessons from his elders. After all, 26 studio albums is a slow year for Willie Nelson.

Two of the people tied for 2nd place with 22 listeners have very respectable discographies of their own: George Jones and Johnny Cash. The third one, Dwight Yoakam, has been maddeningly inconsistent with his output, particularly in the last decade or so. I love Dwight, but he lost me starting around 1996 when he became determined to release every kind of album BESIDES a new studio album. There was a live album, a covers album, a Christmas album, a greatest-hits package or two, an international release with a mix of covers, a couple of movie projects and an acoustic album. In between all that, he released A Long Way Home, but for the life of me, I didn’t even notice it was out until a year or so later. He hasn’t put out any new material since 2005 either, with a live album and a Buck Owens tribute done instead.

Rounding out the Top 10 is a lot of guys, with Trisha Yearwood (#6, 20 listeners) being the only female solo artist to be found. I remember when this chart slanted heavily toward the female country singers, but we’re trending very Y chromosome lately. At least Neko Case is in the Top 20 (#15, 17 listeners), but we’re probably an album or two removed from where she could be considered even alt-country instead of indie rock.

Hayes Carll’s Trouble In Mind is #1 on the Top Albums chart with 15 listeners. Texas is known for some of the best country songwriters around, not to mention some of the nicest, best-looking bloggers, and Carll is following nicely in the tradition that’s brought us Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell and the Brothers Robison. I’m still waiting to see which Nashville singer will take one of Carll’s songs and have a Number One hit with it. Nashville takes over from there, with two albums from Carrie Underwood (Carnival Ride with 13 listeners, Some Hearts with 11), Love on the Inside from Sugarland (11) and That Lonesome Song from Jamey Johnson (11) in the Top 5. Also in the Top 10 is Dolly Parton’s Backwoods Barbie (10), but there’s no way to tell if it was the regular release, the Target exclusive, the Wal-Mart exclusive, the Best Buy exclusive or the new Cracker Barrel exclusive.

The #1 track for this week, with 8 listeners, is… “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson. Yep. Well, it’s a little out of place in a country music group, but you don’t get to be King of Pop by having a narrowly defined fanbase. It’s no surprise that even country music fans would pull out their copy of Thriller and honor Jaskson’s passing by playing some of his greatest songs. Better to remember him that way than to remember the reclusive manchild with an unhealthy attachment to children and a desperate need for a SWAT team of psychologists. And considering one of the other songs with 8 listeners was Gloriana’s “Wild at Heart,” you could make the case that it’s not the least country-sounding song at #1 this week. The other two tracks to share the top spot are “Amarillo by Morning” by Strait and “Anything Goes” by Randy Houser. Also in the top 10 are a couple other Jackson songs, “Beat It” and “The Way You Make Me Feel”, as well as Neko Case’s “People Got a Lotta Nerve” and Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried.”

Freebie of the Week: Glossary is a Tennessee-based rock band, but the Americana vibe is definitely strong. My friend who turned me on to them compared them to Son Volt, which is pretty accurate. According to their Web site, they’re working on a new album now, but their last one, The Better Angels Of Our Nature, was released for free in 2007. “Little Caney,” “Only Time Will Tell” and “Gasoline Soaked Heart” are a few of my favorites. They’ve got a few more albums out, and they occasionally offer Angels with hand-made CD packaging, so this is a good introduction to the band.

To see this week’s charts and join our group, head to http://www.last.fm/group/The+9513.

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