Wynonna once sang about driving down an old road that “can take you back to the place but it can’t take you back in time.” The road she longed for doesn’t exist in physical reality, but as Tim McGraw observes in his new single “Still”, they do exist in your mind, provided you allow yourself the quiet and stillness needed to travel down them.
This is the part of the review where I should continue waxing philosophical and pretending there is a professional distance between myself and this song, that the “A” grade that follows is based on a purely objective and thoughtful analysis of the record’s components and how they come together. That would be a lie.
The truth is that my memories are my only tangible connection to most of the significant people and places in my life, and while the details may differ from what McGraw describes in this song, the process of reconnection is the same. I just need to be still, to allow the quiet and alone that are needed to go back in time again.
What I love about this song is that it juxtaposes the business of everyday life with the need to slow down and take a moment to just remember where you’ve already been. It’s not so much about going back in time itself. It’s not a romanticized nostalgia where the present is flawed and the past is perfect.
There really is no perfect time in life. Going back to days gone by would mean sacrificing those people and places that have come along since then, not to mention all of the lessons learned along the way. I’ll never walk on this earth with my father again, and so many of my closest friends are tied to places and ways of life that I can visit in passing but will never live in again.
Yet the fact that I’m happier now than I’ve ever been is not a repudiation or rejection of any of them. They’re still with me, never more than one quiet moment or unexpected reminder away. Time’s great gift is that the best memories are what remain, and those are the ones that we revisit in our mind. Perhaps it’s really God’s great gift in the end.
So anyway, “Still” makes me feel all of these things. I get a warm feeling when I hear it and I tend to hit repeat once or twice. Good enough for an A in my book.
Written by Lee Brice, Kyle Jacobs, and Joe Leathers
I slept through the Grammys this year. I’m not being figurative here. I was literally asleep before the show began, and I read about the telecast winners the next morning.
In the days since, there has been a lot of chatter, including some at Country Universe, regarding both her wins and her performance on the show. Reading through the comments for the first time yesterday, I was struck by how passionate both sides are when debating Swift’s worthiness to be a Grammy winner, standard bearer for country music, or even a recording artist at all.
I’d like to suggest that there is no moral dilemma being created by the success of Taylor Swift. Country music has been around for a long time before she came along, and it will remain long after she’s gone, whether that’s a year from now or fifty years from now.
I say this as someone who is remarkably indifferent to Swift, even though I tend to agree with the major criticisms of her. Can she sing? Dear God, no. At least not on a live microphone. I’m sure that pairing her with Stevie Nicks was the travesty that it’s being described as.
But it’s not like country music hasn’t been embarrassed before. Anyone who witnessed John Michael Montgomery’s atrocious butchering of “I Swear” on the Grammys or saw the Cyrus Virus at its mullet and exposed armpit peak can attest to that. Country music will survive.
Did she win in the country categories with music that is essentially pop? Sure she did. But so have everyone from Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton to Shania Twain and Juice Newton. Grammy voters have never been purists and crossover music is as much a tradition in the genre’s history as what is generally referred to as traditional country music. Country music will survive.
Did she win a vocalist award over far better singers? Of course she did. But so did K.T. Oslin and Mary Chapin Carpenter, the latter of whom won four consecutive trophies for four consecutive ditties. Swift’s victory came with a song that’s fairly substantive, at least. Country music will survive.
Will Taylor Swift fade in popularity once her tween/teen audience matures? Possibly, but there’s no way to predict that. The history of popular music is filled with superstars who made their name by appealing to teenage audiences. Some, like the Backstreet Boys and Tiffany, quickly faded into obscurity, but others, like The Beatles and Madonna, are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Should she be the genre’s standard bearer right now? Enough record buyers and award show voters seem to think so. They’ve been wrong before, but they’ve also acknowledged great talent early on, so who knows?
Personally, the subject matter of Swift’s songs coupled with vocals best experienced through closed captioning keeps me from getting on board with the star du jour. But I don’t think it’s a good or a bad thing that she’s experiencing commercial success and getting industry awards as well. It’s just a reflection of the marketplace. Just because I don’t personally like something doesn’t mean that others can’t find meaning in it, and with music being entirely subjective anyway, I just don’t see what the moral issue is here.
If you like other artists more, great. Listen to them. Taylor Swift being on the radio doesn’t stop Pam Tillis from being on my car stereo. Award shows voting Taylor Swift the best vocalist doesn’t stop a dissenter from feeling that anyone else is better. There’s no moral issue here; just a difference of opinion.
Now if Meryl Streep loses to Sandra Bullock for Best Actress at the Oscars, then we can talk about moral injustices…
Since this was a solo blog, doing a Grammy Wish List has been an annual tradition. I’m not too excited about this year’s Grammys, to be honest. 2009 was a weak year in my opinion, and the shortened 11-month eligibility period didn’t help matters. But a tradition is a tradition, so here are my picks in the eleven categories that I care about this year:
* denotes my personal wish:
Record of the Year
Beyoncé, “Halo” *
The Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling”
Kings of Leon, “Use Somebody”
Lady Gaga, “Poker Face”
Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me”
It’s always nice to see a country radio hit in there, but I honestly can’t stand “You Belong With Me.” I dig the Kings of Leon song, but the record that I enjoy the most here is “Halo.” Some pundits have suggested that Beyoncé threw her chances at this trophy by submitting “Halo” instead of “Single Ladies”, but I like that song even less than “You Belong With Me.” Love “Halo”, though.
Song of the Year
Lady Gaga & RedOne, “Poker Face”
Hod David & Musze, “Pretty Wings”
Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”
Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, “Use Somebody” *
Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me”
Great to see Liz Rose in there, too, but I still can’t stand the song. I think “Use Somebody” is a great composition that could easily be a hit in other formats if the right artist covered it. Are you listening, Sugarland?
Best New Artist
Zac Brown Band *
Keri Hilson
MGMT
Silversun Pickups
The Ting Tings
Zac Brown Band don’t quite live up to the hype, but they come a lot closer than last year’s nominee, Lady Antebellum.
Best Country Album
Zac Brown Band, The Foundation
George Strait, Twang *
Taylor Swift, Fearless
Keith Urban, Defying Gravity
Lee Ann Womack, Call Me Crazy
There isn’t an album here that is built for more than cherry-picking. Strait’s set has the most cherries.
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Miranda Lambert, “Dead Flowers”
Martina McBride, “I Just Call You Mine”
Taylor Swift, “White Horse”
Carrie Underwood, “Just a Dream” *
Lee Ann Womack, “Solitary Thinkin’”
The only women who brought their A-game to this category are Swift and Underwood. “White Horse” might be the better song, but Underwood’s is the better vocal performance by a country mile.
Best Male Country Vocal Performance
Trace Adkins, “All I Ask For Anymore”
Billy Currington, “People Are Crazy”
Jamey Johnson, “High Cost of Living”
George Strait, “Living For the Night” *
Keith Urban, “Sweet Thing”
I love the Strait song, so it’s my pick, but this is one of the only strong categories this year and I wouldn’t mind seeing any of these five win.
Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals
Brooks & Dunn, “Cowgirls Don’t Cry”
Zac Brown Band, “Chicken Fried”
Lady Antebellum, “I Run to You”
Rascal Flatts, “Here Comes Goodbye”
Sugarland, “It Happens” *
No A-game here, but Sugarland’s B-game is better than the rest.
Best Country Vocal Collaboration
Dierks Bentley & Patty Griffin, “Beautiful World”
Kenny Chesney & Mac McAnally, “Down the Road”
Brad Paisley & Keith Urban, “Start a Band”
Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis, “I Told You So” *
Lee Ann Womack & George Strait, “Everything But Quits”
Some amazing pairings here, but Underwood and Travis are the only ones with the material to match the talent.
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Adele, “Hometown Glory”
Beyoncé, “Halo”
Katy Perry, “Hot N Cold”
Pink, “Sober” *
Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me”
Pink is an awesome songwriter, and easily the most substantial female pop star to come along in the last decade. “Sober” is one of her best.
Best Pop Vocal Album
The Black Eyed Peas, The End
Colbie Caillat, The Breakthrough
Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted
The Fray, The Fray
Pink, Funhouse *
It’s not quite as good as I’m Not Dead, but it comes close.
Best Dance Recording
The Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
David Guetta and Kelly Rowland, “When Love Takes Over”
This one’s certain to be a big hit, so you might as well pick it up cheap. Today’s Amazon special is the new Lady Antebellum album Need You Now for $3.99.
Gilbert O’Sullivan spent six weeks at #1 in 1972 with “Alone Again (Naturally)”, a song that is so sad it should’ve been a country song a long time ago:
There’s only one artist that could improve on this, and that’s Alison Krauss. She’d be a perfect fit for a song that starts with a man being stood up at his own wedding, ends with him mourning both of his parents, and finds him doubting God’s mercy, God’s very existence.
I’m sure we’ve discussed this before, but it’s been a while:
What classic pop song would you like to hear covered by a country artist?
I had such a negative reaction to “Strange” that it kept me away from the new Reba McEntire album at first. So imagine my surprise when the second single from Keep On Lovin’ You, “Consider Me Gone”, turned out to be my favorite single from her in thirteen years.
Everything that “Strange” wasn’t, “Consider Me Gone” was: introspective, self-assured, fully believable and completely adult. It left me more receptive to McEntire’s music than I have been in a long time, so I eagerly dived in to the title track, which is now the latest single.
While it doesn’t approach the perfection of “Consider Me Gone”, I must say that it’s still a good deal better than the bulk of this legend’s output. It’s really unfair to compare her to the newer acts that dominate the radio. Among the women, only Carrie Underwood is in her league as a vocalist, and she doesn’t have the extra thirty years of life experience to draw upon that Reba does.
That’s why Carrie Underwood makes great music that expresses the twenty-something experience. We need Reba to do the same for the fifty-somethings. When she makes age-appropriate music, she sounds awesome. “I Keep On Lovin’ You” is in that vein, a solid anniversary song that is clearly about a relationship that has already weathered several storms, and even though more are on the horizon, these two mates will keep sailing together.
It’s held back only by a slightly too-slow pace and fairly bland melody, which would be far more noticeable in the hands of a less proficient singer. The production is subtle, almost completely stripped down at first. Thankfully, there is a warm steel guitar that keeps this one out of coffeehouse folkie territory. And when her voice begins to soar toward the end, those good, old-fashioned “Somebody Should Leave” goosebumps come rushing in.
Beautiful Fool
Kathy Mattea
from the 1997 album Love Travels
Our antiseptic approach to the legends of American history often results in the life’s work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being reduced to four words and a three-day weekend. To prevent this in my own mind, I often revisit “Beautiful Fool”, a Don Henry composition that can be found on Kathy Mattea’s 1997 album Love Travels.
What I love about this song is its realism and its willingness to take on two voices of perspective at the same time. As an older woman reflects on King’s impact on her country and the sacrifices he was willing to make, she remembers her far less charitable opinion of him when he was alive: “Walter Cronkite preempted Disney one night, and all us kids were so upset. We thought you were a trouble instigator marching through our TV set.”
I particularly appreciate the line in the bridge that connects him to other peacemakers. Peacemaking is often confused with passiveness, when it actually requires far more work than reflexive response with violence. “Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ. History repeats itself so nice. Consistently we are resistant.” King modeled his use of nonviolent resistance after Gandhi’s success in India and used the Gospel to make the case to the fence-sitters, a powerful approach given that the same Bible was being used by his opposition to make the case for continued segregation and denial of human rights.
The description of him as a “beautiful fool” captures both the cynicism that was directed at him for attempting to “fight a fight without a fist” and the deep admiration for him trying, even if it was arguably in vain. I suspect that it requires a good dose of hopeless naïveté to change the world, especially when surrounded by cynics who tell you that it’s a waste of time to try. There will always be more of the cynics. After all, cynicism is little more than naïveté without the concern for humanity and willingness to put in any effort for a cause other than your own.
The song is open to wide interpretation, but I feel that the final verse captures when the narrator moves from being a cynical observer of King to one who sees him appreciatively as a beautiful fool: “I saw you on the black and white with blacks and whites applauding you. I saw you on another time without a sign of life in you.”
When did being able to sing reasonably well cease to be a requirement for country music?
Nashville mythology claims it all comes down to the song, but the singer and the production have always been just as important components in great country records. Generally speaking, country singers have always been able to…sing. Even the ones that weren’t distinctive or sounded like the latest George Strait clone were able to carry a tune.
With all due respect to Lady Antebellum, I’m tired of this nonsense. This song isn’t sung well, and it’s certainly not interesting enough to warrant suffering through the painful mediocrity of the lead vocal. As for the harmonies? Give them all the Vocal Group trophies you want – heck, Rascal Flatts has five of them – it doesn’t change the fact that there’s no discernible difference between this band and a faceless group of backup singers helping a solo artist out in the chorus. The metaphor that the entire song is built around is applied to so many different things as to render it meaningless.
Then again, if you think that you’ve grown up good and slow like American honey, steady as a preacher and free as a weed, then you don’t need my help selecting the music that’s right for you. We have very different tastes.
For me, I’m simply worn out by all of this filler music, and I have no interest in elevating it to a higher standard because the music surrounding it is of equal or lesser value. We’re going to need much stronger standard bearers than this among the new generation if we’re going to get through this decade.
The results are in for the Tenth Annual Nashville Scene Country Music Critics’ Poll. This year’s survey was created with the input of 77 nationally recognized country music critics, but there’s one that I’m sure you’ll agree is tremendously cooler and more insightful than the rest – our very own Dan Milliken. Here’s just a sampling of his commentary, more of which can be read here:
One of the fascinating patterns of mainstream country in 2009 was that, as the sound moved further and further away from country music as we traditionally know it, the lyrics tried and harder and harder to pick up the slack. Seemingly every other song shipped to radio these days is about the singer’s inherent “country-ness,” either explicitly (“She’s Country,” “That’s How Country Boys Roll,” “I’m a Little More Country Than That”) or implicitly (“Small Town U.S.A.,” “Bonfire,” “Backwoods,” “Whistlin’ Dixie”). There’s a palpable self-consciousness to the trend, as though songwriters, labels and artists know they’re stamping out a large part of the genre’s core identity, but really, really hope you won’t notice.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: We’re proud of you, Dan. Great work!
Wynonna once sang about driving down an old road that “can take you back to the place but it can’t take you back in time.” The road she longed for doesn’t exist in physical reality, but as Tim McGraw observes in his new single “Still”, they do exist in your mind, provided you allow yourself the quiet and stillness needed to travel down them.
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