Comments on: CU's Top Albums of 2012

By: Winter Round-Up: It’s February? | Tara Seetharam

Winter Round-Up: It’s February? | Tara Seetharam — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 06:14:38 +0000

[...] the first of the year, the Country Universe staff compiled our 2012 lists of top singles and albums, our most diverse sets to date. Have I mentioned how lucky I am to collaborate with these [...]

By: JD

JD — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:26:27 +0000

Sweethearts of the rodeo! Man, glad there back! and the song, you can’t hold me back!!!!
awesome!!!! Good luck gals! Now this is country where is should be!

By: Martha Redbone Lands on Many End of 2012 Best Lists! « QuigleyMedia

Martha Redbone Lands on Many End of 2012 Best Lists! « QuigleyMedia — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:15:45 +0000

[...] Country Universe’s Top Albums of 2012 [...]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:17:47 +0000

Love that this bridges the Americana world and mainstream country. Bright spots in both, but they seem to be growing into more and more divisive camps.

By: Gretchen Peters: Grammy Nominated, Nashville Singer-Songwriter: Hello Cruel World makes two more year-end lists

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:20:42 +0000

[...] Country Universe lists the album at #27 on its Top Albums of 2012. “Dense, poetic, and uninhibited, modern songwriting legend Gretchen Peters turns her inner [...]

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 02:02:23 +0000

Dan,
If you haven’t already, you should listen to “Caroline” by Brandi Carlile. It’s a pretty fun honky tonker like song. I believe I’ve read that she’s got country roots, due to her mom singing country music.

By: Dan Milliken

Dan Milliken — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 01:42:40 +0000

Commenter's remorse - didn't mean my half-joke theory about the reception to W&R as insultingly as it might have come out. The comparison to Four the Record is very apt.

By: Jonathan Keefe

Jonathan Keefe — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:02:50 +0000

Agreeing with Leeann and Ben. Wreck & Ruin is no Rattlin' Bones, but it hits on many of the elements (a playful sense of self-awareness in the songwriting, a purposefully chosen aesthetic that suits its material well, thematic through-lines that enhance but don't overwhelm the project) that make an album work for me. "Sick as a Dog" is a disaster, sure, but I'm comfortable with having ranked the album at the bottom of my top 10. I don't see it as getting a pass on name recognition: That's really not this crew's MO. It seems to be a similar situation as last year's #4 album, Four the Record, another album that can stand on its own merits but just isn't done any favors by direct comparisons its immediate predecessor(s). Also, I hadn't heard about Carlile's wardrobe choices, but that's amazing.

By: Ben Foster

Ben Foster — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:14:04 +0000

I'm with Leeann on Chambers and Nicholson. I don't put Wreck & Ruin on the same lofty plane as Rattlin' Bones, but I think it's a very fine album in its own right, and one that thus earned a spot on my year end list. I see Mattea's Calling Me Home more as a building and expanding upon Coal than simply being Coal, Part 2, and I actually like it a bit better than its predecessor. It has been a while since I last heard Coal though.

By: Dan Milliken

Dan Milliken — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:00:26 +0000

Same. Always loved her voice, but never really bothered with her material until Bear Creek. Now I feel energized to go back and explore those earlier, folk-rockish albums, but she's so natural at the country-tinged stuff that I hope she'll keep doing some of that after this album.