Archive for September, 2006
Friday, September 29th, 2006
#80
Brand New Man
Brooks & Dunn
1991
Their monster debut album is still their most memorable, mostly because the formula sounded so fresh the first time out. There’s a contagious energy to the production and performances. It’s still their biggest-selling album to date, with only the follow-up, Hard Workin’ Man, coming close to the numbers they posted the first time out.
RIAA: 6x Platinum
Download This: “Brand New Man”, “My Next Broken Heart”, “Lost and Found”
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Thursday, September 28th, 2006
CAROLYN DAWN JOHNSON, “Taking Back My Brave”
This is much better than her last single. Lyrically strong, with a good vocal performance. The production kinda just lays there, though. Could’ve used more muscle.
DARRYL WORLEY, “Just Came Back (From a War)”
He’s looking for a place to lay the blame and either isn’t sure who deserves it or chooses not to say. The confusion, anger, and resentment of a soldier after coming home from a foreign war, coupled with a relief to be back to normalcy. The lack of focus makes it seem more sincere and human, rather than less.
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Thursday, September 28th, 2006
Over the past few years, with the establishment of iTunes and other online music stores, more music fans are getting their fix digitally than ever before. However, much like country consumers held on to the cassette format long after most music buyers had switched to CD, the digital boom has been impacting country music more slowly than other genres.
That’s not to say some country artists aren’t making out like bandits. When looking over the top 200 digital songs and digital albums to date, a lot of country names pop up.
Top 200 Digital Songs of All-Time
48. “Bless the Broken Road” – Rascal Flatts (747,496)
63. “Life is a Highway” – Rascal Flatts (644,082)
68. “Jesus, Take the Wheel” – Carrie Underwood (631,489)
69. “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) – Big & Rich (629,021)
73. “What Hurts the Most” – Rascal Flatts (611,239)
105. “Live Like You Were Dying” – Tim McGraw (487,521)
135. “Redneck Woman” – Gretchen Wilson (422,587)
143. “Not Ready to Make Nice” – Dixie Chicks (405,926)
174. “I Hope You Dance” – Lee Ann Womack w/Sons of the Desert (369,204)
180. “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” – Trace Adkins (385,125)
183. “You’ll Think of Me” – Keith Urban (359,788)
186. “Whiskey Lullaby” – Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss (356,113)
Top 100 Digital Albums of All-Time
12. Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way (113,001)
23. Rascal Flatts, Me and My Gang (89, 260)
65. Johnny Cash, 16 Biggest Hits (44,893)
72. Rascal Flatts, Feels Like Today (42, 441)
The numbers speak for themselves, but I can’t help but observe that Rascal Flatts seem to be dominating the genre these days (no pun intended.) I don’t think it’s so much that they’re a big digital act; they’re just selling such huge numbers overall that digital sales are pretty high as well.
They also show that the days of using a hit act to push an entire soundtrack may be numbered. The Cars soundtrack did pretty well, but over 600,000 people decided to just download the Flatts track instead of picking up the whole thing. That’s a trend to watch out for. Heck, it’s something I did this week. There was never a chance of me buying the whole Tony Bennett duets album, but I was quite happy to spend $1.98 to buy the duets with Dixie Chicks and Tim McGraw.
Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
#90
Put Yourself In My Shoes
Clint Black
1990
Following up what is arguably the greatest debut country album of all-time was no easy feat, but Black acquitted himself admirably with his second collection. The ballads are a bit stronger the second time around, and new stylistic flourishes like the Tex-Mex charm of “Gulf of Mexico” reveal Black’s ambition to stretch the boundaries of his music.
RIAA: 3x Platinum
Download This: “Where Are You Now”, “The Old Man”, “Loving Blind” (more…)
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
#100
Alibis
Tracy Lawrence
1993
Lawrence was one of the top hit makers of the nineties, and he achieved that status by releasing ridiculously catchy up-tempo hits coupled with beautiful, waltzing ballads. His second album, Alibis, was his artistic peak. A collection of remarkably clever songs like “It Only Takes One Bar (To Make A Prison)” and “I Threw The Rest Away” complement the four #1 singles that the album spawned. The title track is his best work to date.
RIAA: 2x Platinum
Download This: “Alibis”, “I Threw The Rest Away”, “Can’t Break It To My Heart”
#99
Horse of a Different Color
Big & Rich
2004
The mind-bogglingly creative debut album from one of country’s hottest new acts is a kaleidoscope of sound, melding together aural hallmarks of disparate genres to create a bold new vision of what country music can be. They’re best known for their humor, with songs like “Save A Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” and “Kick My Ass”, but their songwriting is impressively deep. A fresh perspective on spousal abuse (“Holy Water”) and a stunning mediation on mortality (“Live This Life”) show these guys are more than just a novelty act.
RIAA: 2x Platinum
Download This: “Holy Water”, “Live This Life”, “Save A Horse (Ride a Cowboy)”
#98
Watch Me
Lorrie Morgan
1992
This second-generation country star was at the peak of her popularity after her signature hit “Something In Red”, and the success of that hit encouraged her to be more ambitious with her material for her third album, Watch Me. Here we get a bold pop cover (“It’s A Heartache”), a sweet tale of best friends (“From Our House To Yours”) and a heartbreaking cheating tale worthy of Wynette (“I Guess You Had To Be There.”)
RIAA: Platinum
Download This: “I Guess You Had To Be There”, “Behind His Last Goodbye”, “From Our House To Yours”
#97
This Is Me
Randy Travis
1994
Travis was practically a relic in 1994, despite having been around for less than a decade, due to the influx of hot new country stars. Rather than rush to keep up, he took his time with This Is Me, and collected his strongest batch of material since Always & Forever seven years earlier.
RIAA: Gold
Download This: “Before You Kill Us All”, “The Box”, “Whisper My Name”
#96
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Soundtrack
2000
Bluegrass suddenly became cool when this soundtrack started flying off of store shelves, but it’s most notable for resurrecting classic country material for a new generation in a way not seen since Will The Circle Be Unbroken. Scoring a Grammy for Ralph Stanley and the attention given to Dan Tyminski for “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow” alleviating Alison Krauss’ guilt for hogging the spotlight of Union Station were added bonuses.
RIAA: 7x Platinum
Download This: “O Death”, “Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby”, “I’ll Fly Away”
#95
The Pilgrim
Marty Stuart
1999
Fans wishing for a repeat of Willie Nelson breaking through with a concept album were disappointed when radio and record buyers overlooked Marty Stuart’s fascinating The Pilgrim. It’s best heard as a whole, allowing yourself to be pulled into Stuart’s remarkable character study.
Download This: “The Pilgrim (Act III)”, “Sometimes The Pleasure’s Worth The Pain”, “The Observations of a Crow”
#94
Smoke Rings in the Dark
Gary Allan
1999
California country finally got a new star to call its own when Allan broke through artistically and commercially with this atmospheric country-rock collection. He suddenly announces himself as one of the genre’s finest male vocalists, with material to match his abilities. Listen to Madonna’s “Sorry” after Gary’s, and you’ll think that they are the story of the same breakup from two different perspectives.
RIAA: Platinum
Download This: “Learning To Live With Me”, “Smoke Rings in the Dark”, “Sorry”
#93
What If It’s You
Reba McEntire
1996
For the first time in years, she had something to prove. Reba’s collection of pop covers one year earlier, Starting Over, had sold well but created a backlash against her increasingly watered-down musical sound and over-the-top theatrical persona. Like a true pro, she responded by going into the studio and making her best album in years, a mature and adult collection of smartly written songs, heavy on the spunk and light on the instrumentation. The record still sounds fresh today, partly because she brought her road band in to back her up instead of relying on overworked studio musicians. She hasn’t made a great album since, nor one that sold this well, but this one’s a keeper.
RIAA: 2x platinum
Download This: “The Fear of Being Alone”, “Never Had A Reason To”, “It Don’t Matter”
#92
Everything I Love
Alan Jackson
1996
After their first greatest hits collection, artists often drop into a lower gear. Jackson, as usual, is a glorious exception to the rule. The energy and depth of this, his fifth studio album, is palpable, and he pairs some of his best self-written songs with great outside material. Ten years later, it’s still a wonderful listen.
RIAA: 3x platinum
Download This: “Between the Devil and Me”, “Little Bitty”, “It’s Time You Learned About Goodbye”
#91
Stumble Into Grace
Emmylou Harris
2003
In the third decade of her recording career, Harris suddenly decided to change the rules, and began writing the bulk of her material. Sure, she had written songs once in a while, scattered among her albums, and had penned her 1985 concept album The Ballad of Sally Rose, but with Red Dirt Girl in 2000, she was the primary writer for the first time since. That album was very good, but her pen fully blossomed on its follow-up, Stumble Into Grace. Here, for the first time, her own material is so captivating you forget she’s also the master interpreter of outside material.
Download This: “Lost Unto This World”, “Cup of Kindness”, “Can You Hear Me Now”
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
Something about these CMT lists just gets my juices flowing. This weekend, the cable network presented a barely publicized entry into their countdown series: 40 Greatest Albums. This one was apparently worth so little fanfare, it didn’t even warrant a host, but it was one of their most informative and entertaining lists to date.
Now, readers of this site will know that my area love of country music developed in the early nineties. Thanks to New Country magazine and a willingness to spend most of my disposable income on music, I have a pretty wide knowledge of all eras of country music, but I remain most interested and well-versed in the contemporary country era that was ushered in with the Class of 1989. I’ve already compiled a list of the 400 best singles of that time period, which can be read in the features section. I am now inspired to present the companion list: the 100 Greatest Contemporary Country Albums:1989-2006.
A few points that readers should be aware of:
1. Some artists have been such proficient album-makers that they could dominate this list to the extent that there’d be little room for others, even with a hundred slots open. Hence, I’ve limited the number of albums an artist can have on the list to three. For artists who have been adventurous over the last seventeen years, I’ve attempted to represent the diverse elements of their artistry with my selections.
2. Women dominate this list, and I make no apologies for it. My personal tastes lean towards female singers anyway, but I believe they simply made better music during this time period, particularly in the nineties, when the men were a sea of interchangeable hat acts.
3. Chart success is meaningless to me, as are the quality of the singles on each album. The albums on this list are here because they succeed as a cohesive piece of art. Some major country artists barely make a dent on this list, and some aren’t on here at all. That’s not a reflection of their talent or musical importance; they just make fantastic singles and their albums are mostly filler. Similarly, there are some artists and albums on this list that didn’t dent the singles list, which had an additional 300 positions. Sometimes songs don’t work as well outside the context of the album, or the label just picked the wrong songs to send to radio.
4. Hindsight is 20/20, and I know that I tend to like an album most the first year of release. With that in mind, albums released recently are lower on the list than I’d like them to be, just to allow for the fact that time may temper my opinions. The handful of 2006 albums on this list that would be higher had I not moved them down out of caution. If it’s been out more than a year, I’m comfortable ranking it as high as I feel it should be.
5. Personal taste is always subjective, so I’m sure there will be disagreement with some of my choices. If you think the list should look differently, feel free to write your own feature or alternate list; I’ll be happy to post it. I’m sure there are albums I would put on this list, but I haven’t heard them. Suggestions are always welcome.
6. Each album will feature the artist, title and year of release. If the album has been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, that information is included after the album write-up, along with suggested tracks to download.
7. Finally, no compilations are eligible for this list. CMT seemed to have the same policy, though they made the mistake of including Now That I Found You by Alison Krauss, which was a hits collection. Interestingly enough, the CMA made the same mistake in 1995, nominating it for Album of the Year initially; when the mistake was realized, it was removed from the ballot and replaced by the sixth-highest vote-getter, When Fallen Angels Fly, by Patty Loveless. Amazingly, and deservedly, that album went on to win.
Thursday, September 7th, 2006
MONGTOMERY GENTRY, “Some People Change”
The boys turn in a strong cover of a song that originally appeared on the Kenny Chesney album When The Sun Goes Down. The message is more powerful coming from two guys who have carefully crafted a drinkin’, rebel-rousin’ image. I could do without the choir at the end, but other than that, this is one of their better hits.
TIM McGRAW, “My Little Girl”
So sugary-sweet it can cause cavities. After the dazzling “When The Stars Go Blue”, this one’s a letdown.
FAITH HILL, “Stealing Kisses”
The most deeply moving and eloquent single of her entire career. Hill infuses Lori McKenna’s saga of a slowly sinking housewife with a bittersweet Wynette-worthy vocal. Radio has been playing the sweet fluff off of Fireflies; here’s hoping they stick around as Hill digs much, much deeper.
TODD SNIDER, “Looking For A Job”
Funny and biting, as usual. Snider is a fresh out of prison construction worker issuing a stern warning to his new employer: “Careful what you say to somebody with nothing, it’s almost like having it all.”
CHRIS THILE, “Brakeman’s Blues”
One of the most dizzyingly creative musicians working today previews his latest musical journey, which apparently will include old-time mountain music, complete with vibrant yodeling. A fascinating listen.
THE WRECKERS, “Leave the Pieces”
Somehow I missed reviewing this one. It’s catchy and well-produced, certainly pleasant to listen to. It seems like artists who would’ve fit in on top 40 radio when it was dominated by people like Hootie & The Blowfish and Sheryl Crow are ending up doing country these days. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but until adult top 40 makes a big comeback, the trend is likely to continue.
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