Just in case you didn’t get enough of a Chicks Fix watching the Dixie Chicks on Austin City Limits this weekend, here’s an outtake from their recent VH1 Storytellers appearance. The Chicks talk about their cover of the Patty Griffin tune “Truth No. 2″, which originally appeared on their 2002 album Home, and was slated to be the fourth single until all hell broke loose over Maines’ on-stage comment about President Bush.
Most noteworthy is the beefed-up arrangement that the song has received since they began performing again this year. Thankfully, the fiddle is just as prominent as ever. Also, note the lyrical change in the third verse, where “You say that I lack the proof, baby that might be so” becomes “baby, that’s just not so.” Much more assertive, don’t ya think?
Four years later, this is still one of my three or four favorite Chicks songs. It looks like it will remain in their set list for a long time.
Ever since I started doing single reviews on this site, I’ve been amazed how much the songs sent to radio blend together. The guitar hook on this song sounds exactly like the one that powers Carrie Underwood’s “Wasted” to me.
As a single to kick off a career, “I Got More” doesn’t have quite enough. The band doesn’t have a distinct sound that surfaces here. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the Dixie Chicks, but hell, even Little Big Town and The Wreckers sounded distinctive from the first record. That’s so crucial to breaking through that it shocks me how few bands show no personality on their first impression.
It’s an average song with an average performance. Two listens and I’ve already forgotten it. Since I don’t believe in grade inflation…
Take the most generic girl-power Jo Dee Messina anthem – not a good one, like “Bring On the Rain”, but one of those interchangable ones like “Not Goin’ Down” or “That’s the Way”. Remove all remaining charm and originality from the lyric, drain all life and energy from the production, and add the most pathetically wimpy lead vocal imaginable, and you have this single.
How can we be encouraged to stand up by a man who sings like he pees sitting down?
The finale from the stellar documentary Women of Country, this has more female talent on one stage than you’re ever likely to see again.
For those of you who need introductions, the artists who solo are, in order: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Wynonna, Kathy Mattea, Michelle Wright, Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Pam Tillis, Trisha Yearwood & Emmylou Harris, and Tammy Wynette. Legends ranging from Kitty Wells and Patsy Montana to Rose Maddox and Jeannie C. Riley can be spotted on the stage after Wynette finishes the bridge.
Todd Snider tells the highly entertaining story about how he came to write “If Tomorrow Never Comes”, which quite deliberately bears the same name as a certain Garth Brooks hit.
Good Lord, this is actually painful to listen to, like she didn’t bother to clear her throat before hitting the studio. It’s a shame, since the song is actually quite good, the type that Tanya Tucker could’ve knocked out of the ballpark during her rowdy days. Britt just can’t deliver the melody consistently enough to form a hook.
Fact is, it’s time to stop signing cute blonde girls who don’t have the music chops and start looking for some real artists. A&R departments should listen to these demos right after listening to a Trisha Yearwood record, instead of while salivating over glossy photos of the latest pretty young thing.
This is one of those times when I hear a record and I’m just not sure what purpose it serves. It’s from an actress on the CW show 7th Heaven. The song is filled with cliches we’ve heard a million times before about parking under the stars and falling in love – take away the country superstar name-dropping and it’s basically the Taylor Swift single. The song does no favors showcasing Mitchell’s voice; she’s all over the place and doesn’t have her own style. So what exactly is the point of the record? Don’t they have the good sense to realize this isn’t going to launch a career for a new artist, especially one on an independent label, where the promoters have the deck stacked against them already? With country radio not even playing Reba these days, I somehow doubt a much lesser star from the same network has a shot.
In honor of American Idol kicking off a new season tonight, here’s the Carrie Underwood performance that won me over, and as you’ll see in the end of the clip, got Simon Cowell to predict: “Not only will you win this show, you will sell more records than any other previous Idol winner.” Pretty accurate so far.
Cole Deggs & The Lonesome, “I Got More”
Rascal Flatts, “Stand”
Catherine Britt, “What I Did Last Night”
Beverley Mitchell, “Heaven On Earth Down Here”
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