I guess I’ve never thought of Gary as “unmanly” before.:) Not all of his songs are depressing, by the way. It just may seem that way since his wife’s suicide. I’ve got plenty of Gary songs that are far from depressing on my playlist….you just have to go back a couple of albums. Then again, I suppose I don’t mind a depressing country song. It’s the light songs that can get to me sometimes.:)

Gary Allan deserves to be counted among the best today, but just isn’t for some reason. If one hears a Gary Allan song on the radio, his voice is almost instantly recognizeable, even if the song is unknown. The same cannot be said about many of the mainstream music right now. I even like his stuff from the albums that are less critically acclaimed.

At the very beginning of Phil Vassar’s career, I really thought I’d like him. He, however, is probably one of my least favorite artists nowadays. I’m not really sure what it is, but I don’t like his songs anymore and really don’t even like the songs of his that I once liked either. Weird, huh? I guess his voice isn’t as strong as it needs to be and all of his songs just sound fluffy.

Disagree about Blake Shelton and “Home”, though. Yes, it is a cover of a pop song, but I don’t think Blake had any motivation other than a real connection to it. Of course, Miranda had a little something to do with that. :)

It kills me to no end that Gary Allan hasn’t broken through in a big way yet; I think he’s the best male country singer of his generation. But I think the problem is that he hasn’t had that one signature hit yet. Don’t get me wrong – his catalogue has been consistently good since Smoke Rings In The Dark, even superb – but he hasn’t yet delivered a song that the entire audience goes bananas over, a single that cements who he is as an artist in people’s minds. Keith Urban had “Somebody Like You,” Josh Turner had “Your Man,” heck, Taylor Swift had “Our Song.” History is rife with examples of it, but I think it’s especially prevalent in today’s market. Allan has such good taste that he may never opt to record something that will sort of pigeonhole him like such songs can tend to; it’s hard to say. In any case, it’s one of my minor life wishes to see him win some sort of mainstream industry award; even the NARAS has ignored him thus far. And yeah. That’s it for my rant. :)

I bought Gary’s recent CD the day it was released and was very surprised by the choice to release Learning How to Bend. In my opinion We Touched the Sun, Like its a Bad Thing, Yesterday’s Rain and Trying to Matter are all better cuts. She’s So California strikes me as a tune that would do well on radio as well. It has a little Tom Petty sound to it.

I really like Gary Allan’s voice and style, however I haven’ t been crazy about the songs that he has released on this album – “Watching Airplanes” and “Learning How to Bend.” Are the other songs on his album better? I’m a picky CD buyer.

The remaining artists are completely forgettable for me. With all of Phil Vassar’s cheesiness, he could be the 4th Rascal Flatt.