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Single Review: Tim McGraw, "Better Than I Used to Be"

December 23, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 10

Flipping through an old country magazine, I read a review of Tim McGraw’s then-new album, Everywhere.

The journalist noted his surprise at the title track, which demonstrated more subtlety and gravitas than he’d previously thought McGraw was capable of.

That was so many years ago that it’s hard to remember that McGraw was something of a novelty singer back in the day, a step or two above Billy Ray Cyrus but not quite up there with Joe Diffie.

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2012 Grammy Nominations

December 1, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 31

The nominations for the upcoming Grammy awards have been announced.

For the first time in many years, there isn’t a contender in the Record, Song, or Album category that has any connection to country music. Couple that with the reduced number of country categories, and there isn’t too much to write about this year.

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Deep Down in 2011

November 28, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 43

Lately, I’ve been playing “Deep Down” on a loop, and it got me thinking…

What if one of the big female artists of 2011 were the first to release this song?

If Carrie Underwood recorded it in 2011, the song would be praised as one of the best she’s ever recorded, but she’d be criticized for over-singing and over-producing it.

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