Archive for July, 2008
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
“Cold Beer and a Fishin’ Pole” is a title that would make new Hall of Famer Tom T. Hall beam with pride. He might be thrown off by the odd electronic effects throughout the record, and the general rock feel of the production, but the song at the root of it all is hard-core country. Usually, songs like this are sung with an exaggerated twang, but Willmon’s delivery is without a hint of it, as if he knows that he doesn’t have to pander because he’s authentic already.
Written by Casey Beathard & Phil O’Donnell
Grade: B+
Listen: Cold Beer and a Fishin’ Pole
Buy: Cold Beer and a Fishin’ Pole
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Buddy Jewell’s message to Mexicans: We like your drinks. We like your food. We just don’t like you. Charming.
Tell me again how this guy beat out Miranda Lambert?
Written by Buddy Jewell & Allen Sostrin
Grade: D
Listen: This Ain’t Mexico
Buy: This Ain’t Mexico
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that this isn’t a countrified version of the Juvenile hit. Alas, it’s just a hillbilly rave-up that finds a country boy trying to get a city girl used to farm life, using backing up a truck as an awkward sexual metaphor (“Throw it in reverse and let Daddy load it up.” Seriously.)
To his credit, Moore throws himself fully into the lyric like he’s Joe Diffie singing a mid-nineties novelty number. I’d like to hear him use that personality on more interesting material, and leave songs like this to Rodney Carrington, who is the master of the dirty country song.
Grade: B-
Listen: Back That Thing Up
Buy: Back That Thing Up
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
His song “She Left Me For Jesus” was one of those rare intentionally funny songs, but Hayes Carll is just as capable of turning in a sincere and reflective song of unrequited love. His vocal and delivery is like a wonderful hybrid of Lyle Lovett and Todd Snider. He harmonizes effectively with the female backing vocalist, and there’s a wistfulness to his delivery that heightens the underlying longing in the song’s lyric.
Written by Hayes Carll
Grade: A-
Listen: It’s a Shame
Buy: It’s a Shame
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Worley goes mellow on his first single for his new label, Stroudavarious Records. The song is so laid back that it’s easy to miss the charming lyric. While it’s nice to hear him explore the nuances of his voice, this would benefit from a stronger backing track with more compelling instrumentation.
Regardless, it’s nice to have him back. Darryl Worley’s one of the past decade’s most underrated talents, and while this song isn’t among his greatest performances, it’s a reasonably good effort.
Grade: B
Listen: Tequila on Ice
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
UPDATE: Topic picked! From Greg in the comments, seconded by J.R.:
“is is there a not so very known artist (either independent label or mainstream) that I should look out for?”
Good question! Who are the ones to watch these days?
____________________
I got nothin’.
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Randy Travis
Randy Travis has one of the most distinctive voices in country music. Moreover, his unbridled twang is credited for helping to pull country music out of the doldrums of the Urban Cowboy phase that plagued the eighties.
With his unmistakable rich baritone, Randy Travis was able to hook me from the first time I heard his voice sing “Before You Kill Us All” in 1994. Since then, of course, I have been pleased to be able to go back and discover his music that began in 1986 with Storms of Life and continues to this day with his recent release of his July 2008 offering, Around the Bend.
While his deep catalog of music, which consists of 17 studio albums, has made it somewhat difficult to choose just 25 of my favorite Travis songs, I have enjoyed the excuse to immerse myself in his music for the past week in preparation for this list.
#25
“Pray for the Fish”
Rise and Shine (2002)
This tongue and cheek account of a baptism finds a man who must have been quite a scoundrel prior to his redemption: “Then the preacher said/People take a moment or two/There’s something we need to do/Pray for the fish/They won’t know what’s coming/When the sin starts rolling off the likes of him/Lord, be with them they ain’t done nothin’/Please, won’t you just leave them a little bit of room to swim/Pray for the fish.” Randy’s delivery makes this song fun and not judgmental.
#24
“Love Lifted Me” (with Mack Powell from Third Day)
Worship & Faith (2003)
This song starts slow and gives the illusion that it’s going to be another somber rendition of an oft sung song, but it is pleasantly deceiving. After delivering a few slow bars, the song picks up the pace with a rousing rootsy production. The addition of Third Day’s Mack Powell, with his soulful growl, is a welcome one. Travis turns this song that I usually find mundane into something fun and uplifting.
#23
“A Man Ain’t Made of Stone”
A Man Ain’t Made of Stone (1999)
I love Travis’ vulnerable, yet passionate, vocal delivery in this song. This man thought it was important to seem strong and unflappable, but realizes that she needed to see the softer side of him at times. Unfortunately, he reached this conclusion too late. Her leaving unearths his emotions and he abruptly learns that “a man ain’t made of stone/A man ain’t made of steel.”
#22
“An Old Pair Of Shoes”
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (1992)
As one might expect, Randy can turn out a good self pitying song with the best of them. Using an old pair of shoes as his metaphor for feeling unimportant, he complains, “There’s a hole in my soul/And I’m really feeling used.”
#21
“Too Gone Too Long”
Always & Forever (1987)
This starts with a cool guitar riff that makes the song instantly identifiable. Travis’ is telling his ex that she’s “been too gone for too long”, which means it’s too late to come crawling back now. My favorite line is the bitter punch of “It’s been so long since you walked out my door/Now you’re just an old song that nobody sings anymore.”
(more…)
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Sugarland
Love on the Inside
(Deluxe Fan Edition)
All of the seeds of potential that were scattered among the first two albums by powerhouse duo Sugarland have fully blossomed with Love on the Inside, their deep and richly rewarding third set. The significant artistic growth this time out is a wonderful surprise, given the incremental improvements that their second album made over their charming debut disc.
The album opens with the omnipresent lead single “All I Want to Do”, and while many have framed it as a “love it or hate it” song, I find it to be just a likable opening to an album that steadily builds. “It Happens” has their signature “Something More” spirit that they also revisited on “Settlin’”, but the lyrics are much sharper this time around, with crisp attention to details, like the “walk of shame” one takes when they’re late for work, or the off-hand reference to her car as “trusty rusty.”
It’s the little details that make the songwriting so strong on this record, like on “We Run”, where doing things you know you shouldn’t is compared to “a string on a sweater that you pull, but you know better.” On “Joey”, co-written with Bill Anderson, the story of a drunk driving death is told through a series of questions tinged with regret, with the survivor wondering if all of the little things that could’ve happened differently would’ve changed the tragic outcome.
(more…)
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Long time readers will remember that back in 2006, Country Universe benefited from the contributions of Paul W. Dennis. I’m happy to report that he’s now writing a feature for The 9513 called Forgotten Artists. The first one is on Johnny Darrell. Paul is a walking encyclopedia of country music history, as many of you already know from his comments on the country music blogs. I look forward to reading more entries in this new series!
Friday, July 25th, 2008
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Back when Trisha Yearwood’s Real Live Woman album came out, my friends and I had trouble getting past the first track. We kept playing “Where Are You Now” over and over again. I recall one of them saying that the first time they heard the line, “I’m good one of a kind, but I would rather be two”, she had to skip back and play that line again, it was so good.
That’s a great line, but I heard another one yesterday that was even better. The closing track of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Stones in the Road is “This is Love”, and it’s as close to an epic as she’s ever written. This is the line that floored me all over again, as if I was hearing it for the first time instead of the thousandth:
“If you ever wish for things that are only in the past, just remember that the wrong things aren’t supposed to last.”
So much truth in so few words.
What’s the best line you’ve ever heard in a song?
“Cold Beer and a Fishin’ Pole” is a title that would make new Hall of Famer Tom T. Hall beam with pride. He might be thrown off by the odd electronic effects throughout the record, and the general rock feel of the production, but the song at the root of it all is hard-core country. Usually, songs like this are sung with an exaggerated twang, but Willmon’s delivery is without a hint of it, as if he knows that he doesn’t have to pander because he’s authentic already.
on 
on 
on