Country Universe

Album Review: Tim McGraw, Two Lanes of Freedom

February 15, 2013 Ben Foster 8

Tim McGraw
Two Lanes of Freedom

Though Tim McGraw’s music was among the best to be heard on country radio in the late nineties and early two thousands, recent years have seen his choice of material embarking on a gradual downward slide before bottoming out entirely with last year’s Curb Records swan song Emotional Traffic. With McGraw’s recent output being what it is, and with him now being in the clutches of Scott Borchetta, it’s hard to approach Two Lanes of Freedom with high expectations.

2013 ACM Nominations

February 13, 2013 Ben Foster 84

After just enough time to catch our breath after the Grammys, this year’s ACM Awards are right around the corner. The 2013 nominees were announced today, and are presented here with brief commentary from yours truly. Eric Church leads the pack with seven nominations, followed by Hunter Hayes with six, and Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift with five each. Please share your thoughts on this year’s nominees in the comments section.

Grammy 2013 Live Blog

February 10, 2013 Dan Milliken 25

The telecast starts at 8 PM Eastern/7 Central, and we’ll be launching our coverage about a half-hour prior. We’re trying out the newfangled live blog client again, hopefully with better prep and results this time! Please let us know if you have any issues accessing the client/the site in general in the comments section, or at our Facebook or Twitter. -DM

Grammy Pre-Telecast Winners

February 10, 2013 Kevin John Coyne 0

Grammy Pre-Telecast Winners

Here are the winners in country and country-related categories, including all-genre categories that include a country-related nominee:

Best Long Form Music Video: Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros & Old Crow Medicine Show, Big Easy Express

Song Written for Visual Media: T Bone Burnett, Taylor Swift, John Paul White & Joy Williams, “Safe and Sound”

Americana Album: Bonnie Raitt, Slipstream

Bluegrass Album: Steep Canyon Rangers, Nobody Knows You

Folk Album: Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile, The Goat Rodeo Sessions

Country Duo/Group Vocal Performance: Little Big Town, “Pontoon”

Country Song: Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins, “Blown Away”

Single Review: Lady Antebellum, "Downtown"

February 10, 2013 Jonathan Keefe 13

Credit where credit is due: After a run of two full albums’ worth of singles that were each exponentially more tepid than the last, Lady Antebellum realized the urgent need for a course correction. “Downtown,” the lead single for the trio’s fourth album, may not be a return to the roots-rock sound of their promising debut, but it’s a definite, deliberate shift in style from the somnolent lite-AC pap that had become their signature. Lady A needed to do something different, and “Downtown” certainly is.

Grammy Awards 2013: Staff Picks and Predictions

February 8, 2013 Ben Foster 15

We’re only two days away from the annual event billed as Music’s Biggest Night – the 55th Grammy Awards. Among the live performances scheduled for the night, the country music genre will be represented by the likes of Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, and Carrie Underwood. In addition, genre favorite Zac Brown is scheduled to participate in a star-studded tribute to the late Levon Helm along with Elton John, Mumford & Sons, Mavis Staples, and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, while T. Bone Burnett will as musical director for the tribute performance.

We at Country Universe have busily pored over the list of this year’s nominees, and now we’re pleased to share our picks and predictions for the all-genre, country, and country-adjacent award categories. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments section, and tell us who you think will emerge victorious. Tune in for the live broadcast on Sunday, February 10 at 8:00 pm Eastern on CBS. We will be live blogging the show here at Country Universe, and we hope you will drop by and join in the fun.

Retro Single Review: George Strait, "Overnight Success"

February 5, 2013 Ben Foster 2

1989 | #1

Written by veteran songwriter Sanger D. “Whitey” Shafer (who had previously supplied Strait with hits such as “Does Forth Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” and “All My Ex’s Live In Texas”), “Overnight Success” was released in the fall of 1989 as fourth and final single from George Strait’s album Beyond the Blue Neon. It peaked at a respectable #8, breaking a streak of eleven number-one hits, but continuing Strait’s run of Top Ten hits that stretched back seven years.

Album Review: Randy Houser, How Country Feels

February 2, 2013 Ben Foster 11

Randy Houser
How Country Feels

Randy Houser impressed the critics with 2010’s They Call Me Cadillac, but country radio yawned, and neither of the album’s two singles cracked the Top 30. Houser’s Stoney Creek Records debut thus comes across as a mea culpa of sorts, as Houser shrugs his shoulders in defeat, and gets ready to do some good old-fashioned pandering.

Album Review: Sara Evans, Playlist: The Very Best of Sara Evans

January 29, 2013 Ben Foster 3

Sara Evans
Playlist: The Very Best of Sara Evans

While Sara Evans is reportedly in the studio hard at work on her forthcoming seventh studio album, Sony Legacy has released a new fourteen track retrospective of her sixteen-year career – the latest installment in the label’s Playlist series. Coming nearly five and a half years after Evans’ 2007 Greatest Hits package, Playlist: The Very Best of Sara Evans intersperses several of her biggest hits with a few less expected inclusions. While there is some great material to be heard, there are a few missed opportunities as well.

Single Review: Jake Owen, "Anywhere with You"

January 25, 2013 Ben Foster 14

If a song has nothing to say beyond what’s said in its title phrase, what’s the point of writing the song in the first place?

Album Review: Tim McGraw, <i>Two Lanes of Freedom</i>