Archive for December, 2006
Saturday, December 30th, 2006
Five albums. Seven women. Fourteen million copies sold. The latest list comes to an end as I said it would in the beginning, dominated by the female artists who have been such a potent creative force during the genre’s boom years. These are the five albums that I’ve found to be the best over the last seventeen years, the ones that keep my fingers away from the skip button and make me linger in the car longer than I need to because the music is so damn good, I don’t want to stop listening to it.
#5
When Fallen Angels Fly
Patty Loveless
1994
Many of the artists that are praised for being staunch traditionalists bore the hell out of me. They seem to regurgitate and repeat the sounds and ideas of classic country music without moving the genre forward in any meaningful way. Patty Loveless, on the other hand, I’ve always seen as a progressive traditionalist. The records she has made with producer Emory Gordy, Jr. are drenched in steel guitar and fiddle, but the arrangements are more aggressive and fresh.
This new sonic approach fully bloomed on her seminal When Fallen Angels Fly, which won Album of the Year at the 1995 CMA’s. Here, the production is rustic without sounding rusty or dated, and Loveless’ pure honky-tonk voice is finally matched by the purest of instruments around her. The arrangements are as bold as the material, which includes a sharp cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “When the Fallen Angels Fly”, two Gretchen Peters ballads that explore love being found in a Vegas casino (“Ships”) and falling apart at the end of a marriage (“You Don’t Even Know Who I Am”), and deeply probing and brutally honest reflections on her own worth when falling in (“A Handful of Dust”, “I Try To Think About Elvis”) and falling out of love (“Halfway Down”, “Over My Shoulder”), and on the best track, trying to figure out whether its still love at all (“Here I Am.”)
RIAA: Platinum
Download This: “Here I Am”, “When The Fallen Angels Fly”, “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am”
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Tuesday, December 26th, 2006
#10
Tough All Over
Gary Allan
2005
An explosion of anger, regret and grief, Allan made the strongest album of his career in the aftermath of his wife’s suicide. “Best I Ever Had” may have started out as a mopey rock song, but Allan’s cover turned it into a mournful masterpiece. His self-written material, particularly “I Just Got Back From Hell” and “Puttin’ My Misery On Display”, finds him punishing himself for not paying enough attention to the warning signs, but also beginning to forgive himself and make his peace with God over the tragedy. An intense and powerful record that shouldn’t be missed.
RIAA: Gold
Download This: “Best I Ever Had”, “I Just Came Back From Hell”, “Ring”
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Sunday, December 24th, 2006
My 2005 list was dominated by established female artists returning to greatness, and this year’s list complements it well, as 2006 is dominated by male artists either reaching new artistic heights or returning to them. Overall, it’s been a good year, not quite as shockingly good as 2005 but filled with great music that I’ll be returning to in the years to come. Be sure to check out Paul’s list below, another collection of great albums that catches some gems from the Texas music scene, along with maintstream releases that received wide distribution.
#15
The Pilgrim: A Tribute to Kris Kristofferson
Various Artists
As good a tribute album as I’ve ever heard, thanks to a combination of excellent source material and interpretations by spiritual successors to the original artist. My personal favorites come from Todd Snider (“Maybe You Heard”), Marshall Chapman (“Jesus Was a Capricorn”) and Kristofferson himself (“Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends.”)
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Saturday, December 23rd, 2006
Dennis Linde, one of country music’s most clever and unique songwriters, has died. He was 63.
His songwriting credits include “Burning Love” (Elvis Presley), “Goodbye Earl” (Dixie Chicks), “Callin’ Baton Rouge” (Garth Brooks, New Grass Revival), “Bubba Shot The Jukebox” (Mark Chesnutt), “It Sure Is Monday” (Mark Chesnutt), “The Talkin’ Song Repair Blues” (Alan Jackson), “Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer” (Sammy Kershaw), “John Deere Green” (Joe Diffie), “Had a Dream (For the Heart)” (The Judds), “I’m Gonna Get You” (Eddy Raven)”, “My Baby’s Gone” (Sawyer Brown), “Night is Fallin’ In My Heart” (Diamond Rio), “Wild Love” (Joy Lynn White), “What’ll You Do About Me” (Randy Travis, The Forester Sisters, Doug Supernaw), “Where Have All The Average People Gone” (Roger Miller), and an obscure favorite of mine, “Hold On, Elroy” (Dude Mowrey).
Linde was the BMI Songwriter of the Year in 1994. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.
Friday, December 22nd, 2006
The Trisha Theory: Once Trisha Yearwood sings or records a song, it has been sung definitively. No other vocalist need bother tackling it; they will inevitably pale in comparison to Yearwood’s performance of the song.
I’ve come to develop this theory over time, listening to Trisha Yearwood completely always improve on, and often completely eviscerate, previous performances of songs she chose to tackle. Some examples:
- “Woman Walk the Line” – written and recorded by Emmylou Harris, then covered by Highway 101.
- “New Kid in Town” - The Eagles classic that was the only song that sounded better by the new country artist on their tribute album.
- “It Wasn’t His Child” – a Sawyer Brown holiday tune that Yearwood spun into greatness.
- “Try Me Again” - Linda Ronstadt wrote it and her version still can’t compare to Yearwood’s cover.
- “Lying To The Moon” – songwriter Matraca Berg stopped performing this song for a few years, she was so blown away by Yearwood’s cover of it.
- “I Don’t Paint Myself Into Corners” – Rebecca Lynn Howard sang her heart out, but couldn’t hold a candle to Yearwood’s cover of her song.
- “A Lover Is Forever” – Rosanne Cash cut it first, but Yearwood knocked it out of the park.
Going back through Yearwood’s studio albums, it’s shocking how few of the great songs she recorded first have since been covered, great as they are. I think this is because lesser singers are too intimidated to dare try. Yearwood’s perfect control and phrasing, along with her keen understanding of where the line between genuine and over-emotion is drawn, make her versions of songs end up the definitive ones.
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Monday, December 18th, 2006
As much as we love new music, reissues and compilations are what ultimately record the history of country music. Greatest Hits albums remain in print long after most studio albums have been cut out, while the very best studio albums are remastered and extended to emphasize their historical significance. In recent years, labels have been far more generous with the amount of tracks they will put on a release, and have even begun including bonus DVD content for added value.
I’ll run down my ten best reissues and compilations of the year, followed by Paul’s, who will also be contributing his list of Best Albums of 2006 later this month.
Kevin’s Top Ten Reissues & Compilations of 2006:
#10
21 #1 Hits: The Ultimate Collection
Buck Owens
Owens finally gets a single-disc set that collects all of his biggest hits, and more importantly, it’s released digitally, as Owens was one of the most prominent country legends to not have his big hits available for download.
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Sunday, December 17th, 2006
It wasn’t a banner year for the genre like 2005 was, but there were still a lot of good singles sent to radio and retail this year. Some were hits, some weren’t, but these were all in heavy rotation on my iPod, regardless of what radio did with them. And while 2006 may not have been my favorite year for country music, I must say that the top three songs rank among my favorite recordings of all-time.
#50
“Red High Heels”
Kellie Pickler
Sure, I ragged on this song as being the second coming of Mindy McCready, but let’s be honest: McCready had some damn catchy songs. Pickler’s debut has been stuck in my head since I heard it, so she’ll anchor this year’s list.
#49
“Tim McGraw”
Taylor Swift
Swift’s debut single got early press for its name-dropping title, but it’s a clear-eyed account of first love that is thankfully devoid of regret over lost innocence.
#48
“Just This Side of Heaven”
Hal Ketchum
Ketchum didn’t catch a comeback with this single, but he should have. It’s a country-gospel rave-up that makes the rafters ring.
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Saturday, December 16th, 2006
Country Universe will begin posting best of 2006 lists over the next two weeks, with a look back at the year’s best singles and reissues. Lists from established publications have already begun rolling in, with country making a respectable showing in some of them.
Rolling Stone includes four country albums in its Top 50 Records of 2006. Here’s their take on the four albums they included:
#14: Johnny Cash, American V: A Hundred Highways
The man in black was dying when he made this record, and he did not hide the truth of his condition. It is shocking to hear Cash fight to stay on pitch in “If You Could Read My Mind.” But there is a deep strength and dignity in his performances and in the wisdom of songs such as Hank Williams’ “On the Evening Train.” V also includes the last song Cash ever wrote, “Like the 309,” on which he growls and cracks wise like a guy on his way to a party instead of his last reward.
#19: Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way
The Dixie Chicks respond to their rough past few years with brass balls: This disc shows they didn’t regret speaking out against the Iraq War, and Natalie Maines sounds almost punk at times. There is also a whole lot of craft — Long Way is a widescreen pop record with gorgeous country rock, killer power ballads and fierce honky-tonk.
#33: Todd Snider, The Devil You Know
This veteran folkie’s third consecutive great album finds voices for an assortment of Middle Americans who “didn’t want to throw a fishing line in that old main stream.” Although Snider likes the coke-snorting Romeo, the hard-as-a-carapace slut, the dayworker just out of prison, the bank robber he lends his car keys, he doesn’t romanticize them. He just believes that with “a war going on that the poor can’t win,” each of them is enough like him to be worth a song. And generally that song is pretty damn funny.
#46: Willie Nelson, You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker
The outlaw-country king of Texas pays loving tribute to the state’s songwriting queen. Nelson played many of the songs on this album in his youth, on the way to his own songwriting fame, and he revisits them with such affection and Texas-dance-floor authenticity that you can almost smell the sawdust.
Rolling Stone also collected the Top 100 Songs of 2006, with the following two appearances by country tunes:
#20: “The Long Way Around” – Dixie Chicks
A heart-tugging guitar anthem for small-town girls with big dreams — and the best ersatz Springsteen song in a year that was packed with them.
#75: “Before He Cheats” – Carrie Underwood
Country-jukebox fave of the year — the American Idol sweetheart is reborn as a psycho stalker, slashing her man’s tires outside the honky-tonk.
Music industry bible Billboard has published its annual collection of top ten lists from critics and artists, with many country albums being cited. While Taking the Long Way by the Dixie Chicks was the only album to rank among the top ten most-cited albums by all of the critics, other country projects popped up often, with Alan Jackson receiving high praise for both Like Red On A Rose and Precious Memories, and Keith Urban topping one critic’s list for Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing.
Billboard also published top five lists from artists, including Carrie Underwood, who, bless her heart, topped her list with a 2005 album, and Eddie Montgomery from Montgomery Gentry, who ranks the latest Mary J. Blige CD above everything country had to offer this year. Other country artists who submitted lists include Gary Allan, Julie Roberts, Josh Turner and Danielle Peck. Extra points to Turner, who is the only country artist who cites the final Johnny Cash album, which many of the non-country artists included on their lists.
Sunday, December 10th, 2006
#15
Homeward Looking Angel
Pam Tillis
1992
If she hadn’t already released a mediocre pop album in the early 80′s, Pam Tillis would be able to claim one of the best debut albums ever with Put Yourself In My Place, which was her first of two collaborations with producers Paul Worley and Ed Seay. They streamlined the formula for their second album together, with Tillis-penned autobiographical songs like “Rough and Tumble Heart” and the title track fitting in nicely with first-rate material from Gretchen Peters (“Let That Pony Run”) and Chapin Hartford (“Shake the Sugar Tree.”) Tillis paid homage to Tammy Wynette (“Do You Know Where Your Man Is”) while pushing country as close to rock as she could get away with on “Cleopatra, Queen of Denial.” The result was an album that still sounds fresh today, fourteen years after it was released.
RIAA: Platinum
Download This: “Homeward Looking Angel”, “Rough and Tumble Heart”, “Shake the Sugar Tree”
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Friday, December 8th, 2006
As readers of this site know, I am a big fan of the Grammy Awards. They have a tendency to acknowledge many of the artists that I enjoy the most with their nominations every year, and often encourage me to check out music I’ve missed. This year is no exception, with a typically eclectic group of country artists populating the ballot. After discussing the General and Country categories, I’ll run down every other category that includes a nominee connected to country music.
General Field
The Grammys have been regularly including country nominees in the big four categories for nearly twenty years now, and this year five of the twenty nominees in the general field are associated with country music.
Record of the Year
- “Be Without You”, Mary J. Blige
- “Crazy”, Gnarls Barkley
- “Not Ready To Make Nice”, Dixie Chicks
- “Put Your Records On”, Corinne Bailey Rae
- “You’re Beautiful”, James Blunt
This is the first appearance for the Dixie Chicks in this category; they’ve been regularly nominated for Album, but didn’t have a blockbuster single out during the nomination window for Fly or Home. The biggest competition they have is probably James Blunt. Everybody knows that song and the three R&B-leaning hits are likely to split voters like they did last year, resulting in a Green Day win.
Album of the Year
- Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
- Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way
- John Mayer, Continuum
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium
- Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds
Interesting race. I had assumed if the Chicks were nominated, they’d lose to Bob Dylan. I’m shocked that Modern Times didn’t get a nod. It feels like the Timberlake and Mayer albums just came out, but voters have a long time to live with them before the awards in February. Still, I think Green Day would’ve won this award if their album had been released earlier. As for the Chicks, there seems to be a lot of buzz suggesting they may win this one, but I can’t get my head around this race. The Chili Peppers are overdue for recognition, so it may go to them for their awesome 2-CD set.
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