So, thank you, for putting together this six-pack. I wasn’t much of a fan with the Nashville machine creations of country music that ran roughshod from the 70s into the 90s, but I am paying a little bit more attention to it now that Nashville seems to be pulling its head out of its ass. And, yes, let’s hope Mindy does something musically and has better luck with men in the future. While I am sure she doesn’t want to be remembered for this legal soap opera, some of us can chose to remember her for her music. I seem to remember a girlfriend loving “The Other Side of This Kiss”, which is where I’m going to start. Thank you.

Berg’s songwriting, as always, shows a keen awareness of genre conventions (the use of relatively plain, straightforward language, in particular, is one of her real strengths as a writer), while McCready’s exaggerated drawl and the choice of those aggressive fiddles as the lead instrument keep the single grounded in country. Compare this to any of Faith Hill’s hits from the same timeframe and there’s no mistaking which one actually resembles country music.

But the way the piano kicks in in the b-section and then the percussion takes the lead on the hook after the rest of the instruments drop out? Textbook pop production. If not for the cheesy crowd noises (the single’s lone flaw, and a relatively minor one I’m inclined to forgive anyway), I’d say it’s a damn near perfect single. As is, it’s easily one of my favorite mainstream country singles from the last 10 years– which isn’t intended as the faint praise it might sound like.

Of the other five singles here, only “The Other Side of This Kiss” works in the same inspired, pretty rare kind of way– Keith Urban and Carlene Carter have managed to pull off “pop-country” in a way that I can get behind, but there aren’t a huge number of other acts who’ve consistently shown a demonstration of why some things work as “country” and why some things work as “pop” and how it’s possible to make those things work together.

I think her best work is the result of top-notch production, but when she was really on, McCready was definitely an underappreciated singles artist– which makes her an ideal choice to kick off this feature.

I think her attitude was behind her lack of sustaining a career long before all the other personal problems.

I always liked her voice, and the way that she was able to make me feel the songs that she was singing.

There are so many artists like her, that deserve to be remembered for the music that they put out, not for other things that they did.