The 9513 Last.fm Chart Update (5-31-09)

So much for thinking that a two-hour special devoted to George Strait would make him the sure-fire #1 artist on the charts this week. The best he could do was tie for fourth with Patty Loveless at 22 listeners. Sugarland is on top this week with 24 listeners, and Alan Jackson and Johnny Cash are in second place with 23. The Artist of the ’00s did manage to beat the Artists of the ’90s (Garth Brooks with 21 listeners), ’80s (Alabama, 8 ), ’70s (Loretta Lynn, 9) and ’60s (Marty Robbins, 5) at least.

Alright, so who’s going to be the artist of the ’10s, then? Sugarland? They’ve got some momentum already, but the odds of Jennifer Nettles not going solo at some point are slim. The other artists in the Top 10 include Brad Paisley (20 listeners), George Jones and Lee Ann Womack, (19 each) and Tim McGraw (18). Of those, it would seem that Paisley stands the best chance of having a good decade-long run. You can’t rule out either Carrie Underwood (15) or Taylor Swift (14), of course, though the fact that this Artist of the Decade award isn’t open to popular vote might hurt them in the long run. Maybe it’s someone who’s just starting to make an impact in country music or is still standing in the shadows. Jason Aldean (15)? Bomshel (somewhere between 0 and 2)? If you’d like, post your pick in the comments section and then bookmark this page for reference in 10 years’ time.

On the Top Albums Chart, Sugarland takes the top spot with Love On The Inside, along with perennial favorite Call Me Crazy from Lee Ann Womack (13 listeners apiece). Right behind them were Fearless from Taylor Swift (12) and Sounds So Good by Ashton Shepherd (11). Strait had Somewhere Down In Texas and Troubador in the Top 10 with 10 listeners each. Just outside of the Top 10 was That Lonesome Song by Jamey Johnson, which I finally got around to buying last week. If only the country blogs had written more about the guy; I would have picked it up a lot earlier if I knew it was that good. Appropos of nothing, kudos to Johnson for making sure scraggly beards don’t become the sole property of indie folk singers. Take that, Iron & Wine guy.

“Amarillo By Morning” – the George Strait version – was the Top Track of the week, with 8 people listening to it. I’m trying to decide if John Rich‘s rendition in the tribute concert made them nostalgic for the original version, or if they listened to it to clear the Rich version out of their heads. “Troubador” also made the Top 10 with 6 listeners. Ashton Shepherd’s small but mighty fan base gave her three tracks in the Top 10. Also featured in the Top 10 are future Grand Ole Opry members Montgomery Gentry with “My Town” and non-Opry member Lee Ann Womack (wrap your head around that) with “Last Call.” Keith Urban, last seen on TV doing a pretty good job singing Marty Robbins‘ songs, had his decidedly non-Robbins song “Kiss A Girl” in the Top 10 as well. To continue our Strait theme, we had three people each listen to “Walk Of Life” by Shooter Jennings and Dire Straits. I have nothing against Shooter, and I’m all for artists singing whatever they want to sing, but I don’t know why anyone would pick his completely average cover version when the original song is pretty much perfect.

For free music this week, check out a couple of songs from John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives. According to his Last.fm bio, he’s spent his career being this close to having some major breakthroughs (being a member of the V-Roys, touring with Ryan Adams) and came even closer to retiring from music altogether. That would have been a shame, as the two songs available for download on Last.fm, “Lookin’ For A Thrill” and “Otherwise,” are pretty good. They sort of remind me of Marty Stuart’s music – catchy, nice lead guitar, and less than 2:30 long. Check them out, and thanks for reading.

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

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