Archive for October, 2008
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Sad day: Heidi Newfield wastes her great voice on a super uncreative self-help song that recycles contemporary country’s favorite standby characters – women whose men mistreat them, and men who drink away their troubles – and offers zero consolation for either beyond “it’s gonna be alright.”
I’ll give the seasoned songwriting team some credit: the tune is pretty dang catchy, and I can see how this all might have sounded somewhat fresh had the song been released at some point in the 60′s. But by now, it’s just been phrased like this way too many times.
Written by Marv Green, Hillary Lindsey, Chris Lindsey & Aimee Mayo
Grade: C
Listen: Cry Cry (‘Til the Sun Shines)
Buy: Cry Cry (‘Til the Sun Shines)
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Attempt #2 to follow up “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” finds Otto eschewing nostalgia to a groovy beat that sounds like something John Mayer might do at his sunniest and most simplified. There’s nothing really “country” here, and the fairly unique theme isn’t quite done justice by the song’s predictable lyrics. But it’s a reasonably enjoyable number anyway, and Otto remains a talent to watch.
Written by Shannon Lawson & James Otto
Grade: B-
Listen: These Are the Good Ole Days
Buy: These Are the Good Ole Days
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
#10: Kathy Mattea
AIDS Ribbon Presentation
1992
In a courageous move, Kathy Mattea drew attention to the AIDS epidemic at the 1992 ceremony. The entertainment industry was making special note of the disease by wearing red ribbons to promote awareness; however, the Country Music Association wished to steer clear of controversy. They promoted green ribbons to the artist, meant to signify environmental awareness, but Mattea refused to follow suit. She had asked the CMA to help her script a short speech on the issue, but their ignorance of her request demonstrated their disapproval.
As Mattea presented that night, she wore three red ribbons along with the green one. She also announced the names of her three friends who had died from the disease. The Country Music Association failed to share her activism and commitment to the cause, but her determination created discussion about the issue and elevated its importance in the Nashville community. Two years later, Mattea led the creation of Red Hot + Country, an album to raise funds for AIDS education. The 1992 ceremony was the starting point in this quest, and though Mattea has earned four CMA awards, including Female Vocalist of the Year in 1989-1990, this was her defining moment on country music’s biggest stage.
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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
It’s been a while since I’ve heard a mainstream country single that really surprised me. This one does. The song combines the basic theme of Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine” with the bluesy rollick of Tanya Tucker’s “It’s a Little Too Late,” and the result is a swaggering little sass-fest that sounds like nothing else on the radio right now.
There are hitches: the central image of exposed “roots” proves too frivolous to carry the song along the whole way, and as interesting a vocalist as Shawanda is, she sounds a little green behind the mic here, like she’s not yet sure how to harness her massive voice on record.
But the funny thing about this single is how it almost seems to be less about the song itself and more about the message conveyed through the combination of sound, style, performance and sentiment. It’s like Shawanda and RCA are daring the same radio programmers who embraced “You Can Let Go” to take up their swords for an artist who isn’t afraid to show her true colors and sing outside the box – and that’s pretty friggin’ cool.
Written by Whitney Duncan, Christi Dannemiller, & Robin Lee Bruce
Grade: B
Listen: My Roots Are Showing
Buy: My Roots Are Showing
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Toby Keith
That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy
As the introduction to his novel, Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut warned, “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
In country music this sentiment rings especially true, where image control is just as central to an artist’s success as the actual musical product, and Toby Keith has mastered the art of projecting a distinct identity. The Oklahoma native has reveled in his chosen niche as a rebel-rousing ambassador for in-your-face country, assisted by his presence at the forefront of the patriotic, post-9/11 movement, but this position has also overshadowed the accolades he’s earned as a top-shelf singer and songwriter. And with Keith’s increasingly visible profile came a divisive shift in terms of his public perception. His brash attitude and bold statements on the politics of everything from Nashville record labels to national security issues garnered supportive fervor and rabid furor in equal parts.
Nevertheless, a defining decade for the defiant superstar has generated tremendous success (his 14 #1 country singles is most of any artist since 2000) that’s easily matched its considerable controversy. At the beginning of the period, he’d just started his climb up the country music ladder, culminating in his win for Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2001 CMA Awards. That honor stood as a testament to one of the most distinctive vocalists of his generation, capable of both emotional ballads and rowdy rockers. But as significant as his change in public image or his charge towards superstar status, the slow regression of his musical output since that point is just as notable. With his new album, That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy, a number of songs are only propped up only by the larger-than-life character that he’s orchestrated, and Keith continues to explore routes that lead away from his singular skills.
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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
#11: Garth Brooks
Entertainer of the Year speech
1991
The star of Garth Brooks was burning brighter than ever by the time of the 1991 ceremony. His win for the 1990 Horizon award was only a precursor to his tremendous success of the following year. Brooks’ “The Dance” had earned him a Single of the Year nod in 1990, and his timeless anthem “Friends in Low Places” did one better by taking the Single trophy in 1991.
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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Waylon Jennings & the .357′s
Waylon Forever
If country music has taught us one thing over the last decade, it is to never underestimate an aging legend. With much of Nashville doing everything it can to zap tradition and creativity off the mainstream radar, recent efforts by Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell, Porter Wagoner, and Dolly Parton, among others, have quietly upheld the genre’s standards, in many cases producing some of the finest records of those artists’ esteemed careers.
The standard approach among these sets has been to build on an artist’s proven strengths with a younger-minded producer who understands what made the artist great in the first place. It’s a very smart compromise, rejuvenating the old-fashioned while still honoring an artist’s essential identity, and given its successful track record, one might expect the posthumous Waylon Forever to follow the same path and thereby fall easily into the hallowed company of Cash’s American Recordings or Lynn’s Van Lear Rose.
But a cursory listen-through the eight tracks here will quickly put such notions to rest. Waylon Forever is not a hiply updated reminder of what its namesake did throughout his multi-decade career, even as it features no less than six songs Jennings had previously recorded (with “I Found the Body” and a cover of Cream’s “White Room” being the newbies). It might not even be prudent to call the set a proper “album.” It sounds more akin to an unfinished home experiment with a little extra shine, which makes sense given the unusual circumstances leading to its production: son Shooter began recording the project with Waylon in 1995 (which found the former sixteen years old and the latter seven years from death), and the two reportedly arranged the songs here with some of the younger Jennings’ then-inspirations (Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Pink Floyd, Cream) in mind. The result is a disjointed, scrappy, often weird, and occasionally quite inspired set of recordings that longtime Waylon fans will find fascinating and everyone else will likely scratch their heads at.
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Category Album Reviews
Tags: .357’s, Cream, Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, Porter Wagoner, Shooter Jennings, Skinny Puppy, Waylon Jennings
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
On behalf of Vagrant Records, Country Universe is pleased to offer a free mp3 of “Outlaw S***,” one of the more fascinating tracks on Waylon Jennings’ recent posthumous release with the .357′s, Waylon Forever. Listen to the track and share your thoughts in the comments, and read the review of the full album one post up!
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Tonight, CMT is screening the movie Beer For My Horses, based on the Toby Keith and Willie Nelson smash a few years back. Keith co-stars with my favorite blue collar comic, Rodney Carrington. Nelson also makes an appearance in the flick.
There have been several other country songs turned into movies. “Harper Valley P.T.A.”, “Is There Life Out There” and “The Gambler” are only a select few. There are still tons of great story songs that could get the film treatment, though. “Independence Day” could be a harrowing domestic abuse film, while “Chattahoochee” could capture the innocence and southern charm of being a teenager in Georgia a generation ago.
Which country songs do you think would make good films?
Monday, October 27th, 2008
#12: Trisha Yearwood
Female Vocalist of the Year
1997
Trisha Yearwood had been nominated for numerous CMA awards in the past, but she’d often been surpassed by her peers. Her lone victory before the 1997 awards show was for her small part in the Eagles tribute Common Thread, which won Album of the Year in 1994. But one of country music’s truly gifted vocalists made significant progress within a span of ten minutes on September 24, 1997.
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