Single Review: Kellie Pickler, “Makin’ Me Fall in Love Again”
Kellie Pickler has quietly become one of the most played female artists on country radio, the unthinking man’s alternative to fellow top twenty regular Miranda Lambert. She’s done it largely with fluff, but there’s no real shame in that. Sylvia made a whole career out of it an won a Female Vocalist trophy along the way. Granted, it was from the ACM, but a mantle decoration is a mantle decoration.
So the question is, how good is this fluff? As the man who trashed both “Red High Heels” and “Best Days of Your Life” but eventually added them on to my favorites playlist, I say with caution that it’s mediocre. I can’t see this one growing one me. Just not enough of a hook. It’s like they got the color and the texture right but forgot to put the sugar in the cotton candy.
Forgotten Hits: Sammy Kershaw, "Yard Sale"
Yard Sale
Sammy Kershaw
#17
1992
Written by Larry Bastian and Dewayne Blackwell
Great country songs can find heartache in the most mundane places. For George Jones, it was “a lip print on a half-filled cup of coffee that you poured but didn’t drink.” For Sammy Kershaw, a nineties star heavily influenced by the Possum, it was a family picnic table of discounted items.
“They’re sorting through what’s left of you and me,” he sings, and like in the Jones classic “A Good Year For the Roses,” it’s the steady observation of sights and sounds that tell the story. As he notes that there must be half the town on the grass and on the sidewalk, he muses, “Ain’t it funny how a broken home can bring the prices down?”
Words to Live By
Earlier this week, Tara Seetharam posted about songs that resonate for reasons beyond the lyrics. This got me thinking about something close to the opposite: What about songs that stand out because of a particular lyric, a line that takes on a life of its own beyond the song?
I first heard “Too Many Memories” on the Patty Loveless album Long Stretch of Lonesome. It was later recorded by Hal Ketchum. It’s a good song, no doubt, but the kicker that ends the second verse has grown into words to live by for me:
What makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret.
I’ve used that quote countless times, and as I get older, it gets ever more true.
Is this just me, or do any of you also have lines from songs that are words to live by?
RFD-TV: The Best Thing Ever?
Like many country fans who discovered the genre in the nineties, CMT and TNN were central to my experience of discovering music. When CMT shifted to non-music programming, GAC quickly became the channel of choice. But as that channel grew in popularity, it shifted its emphasis to only mainstream country music, losing the diversity that defined it in its early years.
When moving late last year, I switched cable companies. Initially, I thought the best country-related channel I’d gotten in the switch was CMT Pure, which plays only music. Unfortunately, older videos are limited to a 1/2 hour of programming called “Pure Vintage”, a pale comparison to the three-hour early morning extravaganza “CMT Classic” that once ran on CMT proper in the wee hours of the weekend.
By a fluke, I discovered RFD-TV, which bills itself as “Rural America’s Most Important Network.” I could care less about the horse and agriculture shows, but with country music, this channel has hit the jackpot.
Concert Review: Martina McBride and Trace Adkins
By Guest Contributor Cory DeStein.
Over the river and through the snow to the ‘Shine All Night Tour’ we go…On this particular Saturday night a friend and I traveled through the snow and ice to attend the Martina McBride and Trace Adkins tour stop at the Peterson Event Center, here in Pittsburgh. This is the third time I have been fortunate enough to experience a Martina tour, along with the ‘Timeless’ and ‘Waking Up Laughing’ tour, and like those performances the country diva did not fail to deliver.
In front of a black back drop Trace kicked off the show, much to the delight of fan club section nestled quite noticeably to the right of the stage, rose onto the stage with his opening number “I Got My Game On” one of the many novelty songs he charmed the audience with throughout his one hour set.
Trace has one hell of a powerful voice, but he sadly didn’t go out of his way to show it throughout the show. He rather focused more on hits like “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” “Hot Mama” “Swing” and “Rough and Ready” along with other similar tunes. Towards the end of his set, he introduced his recently crowned ACM Song of the Year, “You’re Gonna Miss This.”
UP!
Lately, I’ve been all about upbeat, positive music.
I know that this is a reflection of my general mood these days. I’m optimistic by nature, but I feel like life’s been abundantly good lately after a pretty tough run. Given my lifelong connection to music, it’s no surprise that I’m seeking out happy music, skipping past the sad songs that I used to linger on back in the day.
Needless to say, I’ve been skipping a lot of country songs. I’ve listened to more pop in the past couple of months than I have in years. I want my country fix, but I have no interest in downers right now.
Can anybody recommend some country tracks that are just a bucket full of sunshine?
Album Review: Easton Corbin, Easton Corbin
Easton Corbin
Easton Corbin
There has been a fair amount of positive hype surrounding newcomer, Easton Corbin, as of late. He has been lauded as the next George Strait (not that George Strait is going anywhere quite yet, by the way!). Since he isn’t afraid to prominently feature the steel guitar on his self-titled debut record, such comparison is natural if not justified, though Corbin’s voice is not yet as strong as Strait’s.
