Billy Currington
Single Review: Clay Walker, “Like We Never Said Goodbye”
As the title suggests, Clay Walker’s latest single plays out like the alternate ending to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw’s fiery “Like We Never Loved At All.” Whereas the latter finds the woman agonizing over her ex moving on, “Like We Never Said Goodbye” tackles a smaller, more predictable range of emotions as its characters rekindle their relationship over wine. On paper, it’s the less interesting road taken.
Top 40 Singles of 2011, Part Four: #10-#1
The countdown concludes. Scroll down to the bottom to hear samples of each song and to share your comments.
Top 40 Singles of 2011, Part Four: #10-#1
#10
Love Done Gone
Billy Currington
Individual Rankings: #1 – Leeann; #1 – Jonathan; #13 – Tara
While many might get caught up in Billy Currington’s smoldering love songs, he’s really most effectively charming when he loosens up and has a little fun. While “Love Done Gone” is technically about lost love, Currington’s breezy performance along with the festive horns makes it seem more freeing than heartbreaking. As a result, the song turns out to be his most compelling since “Good Directions.” – Leeann Ward
Nashville Scene: 11th Annual Country Music Critics’ Poll
The 11th Annual Country Music Critics’ Poll has just been published by Nashville Scene. It covers the 2010 year of country music. The participants of the poll consists of country music critics who spend their time listening to and analyzing stacks of music throughout the year in order to knowledgeably write about it for the purpose of either promoting excellent music or warning against the not so good stuff. Kevin, Dan and Tara are among these prestigious critics.
Each year, invited critics submit their ballots with their favorite music and artists in the appropriate categories. The poll includes the best albums, singles, male and female artists, reissues, live acts, duos and groups, songwriters, new acts, and the over all artists of the year. While the results include the usual suspects, they are mixed with some surprises or names that aren’t commonly associated with mainstream country.
Some of my favorite results include Raul Malo tied at #8 with Gary Allan for top males and Elizabeth Cook at #2 for top females, not to mention Sunny Sweeney’s “From A Table Away” landing at the #3 spot for singles. The most amusing result, however, is Jamey Johnson and Taylor Swift in the top two spots for songwriters.
Crunching the Numbers: January 2011
Feel that chill in the air? It’s not just climate change, friends. The music industry is suffering through historic lows in record sales, the worst since SoundScan started tallying them in 1991.
How are country artists faring? Let’s take a look at cumulative sales for current albums. Sales are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Top Selling Current Country Albums
Single Review: Billy Currington, “Let Me Down Easy”
I think if we can give Blake Shelton the award for Male Vocalist in 2010, we might as well start thinking about giving it to Billy Currington in 2011. He’s giving Shelton a run for his money in putting out milquetoast material that’s elevated into listenable by a charming vocal performance.
“Let Me Down Easy” is not going to appear in one of those deluxe coffee table books of song lyrics. Coffee napkin, maybe.