Archive for November, 2008
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Fairy tale dreams collide with hard reality on “White Horse.” Swift effectively uses the standard imagery of the prince on a white horse, and there’s just something about the fairy tale not coming true that makes it feel a little more country and a lot more relevant than “Love Story.”
It’s worth noting that this is the best that Swift has sounded on record so far, and the understated vocal serves her well. She’s singing like an effective songwriter here, and the low-key confessional approach works well. Thankfully, before it goes all coffeehouse on us, a string section comes in to ratchet up the emotional intensity without detracting from her performance.
Written by Liz Rose and Taylor Swift
Grade: A-
Listen: White Horse
Buy: White Horse
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
On the eve of Thanksgiving, it’s a good time to say what we’re thankful for. Keeping the focus on country music, here are some things that are inspiring gratitude on my part:
New Channels of Distribution
The days of wandering around in the wilderness after you’re dropped from a major label are long gone. Today, even superstars like Toby Keith and icons like Dolly Parton are selling their music directly to the people. The great talents don’t need middlemen.
Great Singers on the Radio
Carrie Underwood. Toby Keith. Jennifer Nettles. Gary Allan. They’re plain great singers, making even ordinary material sound better than it is. Thankfully, they’re often working with excellent material, with powerful results.
DVR
There’s simply no way to navigate CMT and GAC anymore without having your mute button handy. The good shows can be recorded automatically (I’m looking at you, GAC’s Master Series) and the bad ones dodged. I’d make a snarky comment about CMT’s lack of music programming, but the reality is that I’ll take Nanny 911 and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition over Crossroads: Def Leppard/Taylor Swift any day.
What are some country music miscellanea that you’re thankful for this year?
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Jewel
Perfectly Clear
It seemed to be a suave career move. An Alaskan-born woman of the wilderness, wedded to a rodeo cowboy, embraces her down-home roots and heads for Nashville to join the ranks of modern country singers. Jewel fled pop music for the confines of Music Row with nary a whisper from critics. Her shift felt natural, instinctive, organic.
Though Jewel’s loyal sentiments towards country music have been admirable, they yield little creative inspiration on Perfectly Clear. During her lengthy pop career, Jewel built up a reservoir of melodic tricks, but too few of them are on display. Perfectly Clear is a mishmash of traditional rhythms that’s easy on the ears, but it’s an erratic and, at times, bland demonstration of her talent. The wide-open expanses presented by producer John Rich are a fitting stage for Jewel’s intricately-woven wordplay, but her gritty storytelling is seen only in flashes.
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Over the course of the next three weeks, Country Universe will be looking back on 2008. We’ll be starting by reviewing some albums that we missed over the course of the year. With such a wide diversity of country music released, there are bound to be some hidden gems that we didn’t catch the first time around.
What are some of the low-profile albums this year that you’ve enjoyed? Recommend a great album that other readers, and even our writers, may have missed!
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
If you’re going to comb through an artist’s catalog looking for missed hits, Tim McGraw is a good guy to start with. “Telluride” was on Tim’s Set This Circus Down album, which produced four #1 hits. It’s easy to imagine this one lighting up the charts, though it’s quite a bit less effective in the less experienced hands of Josh Gracin.
There’s none of the wry humor or devilish charm of McGraw’s reading here. If anything, Gracin’s overly earnest. McGraw gave a performance that connected with what the lyrics described – a one-night stand that was noteworthy for the action. Gracin sounds like he’s swooning over a long lost love. In case anyone out there’s still looking for proof of the difference between being a gifted singer and an effective one, here it is.
Written by Brett James and Troy Verges
Grade: C
Listen: Telluride
Buy: Telluride
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Mary Chapin Carpenter has been tapped by the Washington Times to write a regular column in the paper’s “Show” section, and her first article appeared on Friday, November 21. A press released last week lauded the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter for her eloquent honesty and unique perspective:
“Mary Chapin Carpenter is a creatively evolving, mold-breaking national artist and beloved regional icon,” said Daniel Wattenberg, Washington Times Assistant Managing Editor for Arts and Features. “We couldn’t be happier to have her contributing to the national and local multimedia platforms of The Washington Times. A column may be a new medium for Mary Chapin, but her voice — intimate, reflective and companionable — will be comfortingly familiar. Our readers are in for a treat.”
This is a deserving honor for a woman known for her sharp, lyrical writing style and a keen eye for the minute details that form our daily lives. So one wonders, who else would provide such relevant creative expression.
Which country artists would you like to see as working journalists?
Feel free to describe what role they would serve, and tell us why your choice would be such a logical candidate.
P.S. Congratulations to readers Kim and Soul Miner’s Daughter, who won our Darius Rucker and Faith Hill album giveaways, respectively. Email me with your shipping address, and we will send out your free copies shortly!
Monday, November 24th, 2008
It’s hard to imagine a time when the American Music Awards consistently trumped the Grammys in terms of viewing audience while also giving off an air of importance and prestige. Since the days of Dick Clark, the show has struggled for meaning, and the entertainment value is now trumpeted far more than the actual awards. Annie Lennox accepted a lifetime-achievement Award Of Merit trophy for her superior musical career and devotion to charitable causes, but her show-stopping performance of the spare piano ballad, “Why,” only served to highlight the “more style, less substance” attitude of a once-revered awards show.
The prominent winners of last night’s escapade included hip-hop and R & B staples Chris Brown, Alicia Keys and Kanye West (and deservedly so), but country music seemed like an afterthought. Music Row’s award winners last night were basically repeats of the CMA Awards, and Taylor Swift’s performance was the only one by a country artist. Swift provided a surprisingly capable (and in-tune) reading of her new single, “White Horse.” Displaying little of the nervousness that plagued her CMA Awards debacle earlier this month, she captured the gloomy nature of the song with great passion.
American Music Award Winners
Favorite Male Artist: Brad Paisley
Favorite Female Artist: Taylor Swift
Favorite Band, Duo, or Group: Rascal Flatts
Favorite Album: Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Trace Adkins
X
Making a major label album is a commitment to the art of compromise, and Trace Adkins provides a prime example of this exercise. His musical output has been schizophrenic, with playful absurdity and potent confessionals side-by-side on every studio album since his arrival in 1996. Courting the radio crowd while satisfying the artist within is a tough task, but even the split-personality albums that Adkins has authored provide glimpses of a fully-realized creative force.
On his tenth studio album, the appropriately-titled X (Ten), Adkins seems to be in stronger control of his destiny. After a runner-up finish on The Apprentice and his No. 1 smash “You’re Gonna Miss This,” he’s riding a new wave of confidence that results in a well-rounded, yet more disciplined album. X runs the emotional gamut from amusing to astute, and once listeners delve past the radio-friendly ditties, they’ll hear some of his most inspired work transpire.
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Monday, November 24th, 2008
We’re feeling like good guys here at Country Universe, so we’re giving away an autographed copy of Toby Keith’s latest CD, That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy. You can read Blake’s review of the album here.
That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy is Keith’s twelfth studio album, a self-produced set anchored by the #1 hit “She Never Cried in Front of Me” and its follow-up, “God Love Her.” Since releasing his debut album in 1993, Keith has been a mainstay on country radio, with dozens of hits to his credit.
With this distinguished history in mind, here’s the question you need to answer in the comments to be eligible for this giveaway:
What is Toby Keith’s best song, and why?
A winner will be randomly chosen from all eligible entries, which must include a valid e-mail address. We’ll pick the winner on Wednesday, November 26 at 8:00 p.m Eastern. You have until then to submit your entry.
Buy the Album Now:
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Typically, I listen to the songs on my iPod via the various playlists I’ve created. However, the other day, for some reason, I listened to my iPod on shuffle. These were the first two songs my iPod played: Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” and Todd Snider’s “Conservative, Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight White American Males.” No joke. Apparently, my iPod has a sense of humor.
The “joke” got me thinking, however, about country songs that tackle similar subject matter from opposite points of view or take divergent approaches to the same theme. It’s fairly easy these days to find songs with a similar take on a subject matter, but finding differing takes is a little more difficult. Browsing through my iPod, I came up with a few additional pairs: Carrie Underwood’s “All American Girl” celebrates the success of the stereotypical all-American girl, while Terry Allen’s “The Great Joe Bob” celebrates the downfall of the stereotypical all-American boy.
Sugarland’s “Stay” takes the point of view of the “other woman” cheating with a taken man. She wants him to leave his significant other and stay with her. Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, on the other hand, takes the point of view of the significant other, begging the “other woman” not to take her man.
Trisha Yearwood’s “Walkaway Joe” and Mark Wills’ “Jacob’s Ladder” take divergent approaches to the same theme. Both start out with a similar premise – a young girl leaving home with her young love against her parent’s wishes. However, things turn out vastly different. In ”Walkaway Joe,” the title says it all. In “Jacob’s Ladder”, however, things work out much better. The young couple find themselves married with a baby, and accepting grandparents.
What songs can you think of that take different approaches to the same subject matter?
Fairy tale dreams collide with hard reality on “White Horse.” Swift effectively uses the standard imagery of the prince on a white horse, and there’s just something about the fairy tale not coming true that makes it feel a little more country and a lot more relevant than “Love Story.”
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