Country Universe

Single Review: Lee Brice, "Love Like Crazy"

June 3, 2010 Dan Milliken 3

I guess I like the origin of this song, which has a modern narrator marveling at how an elderly couple has actually managed to endure their whole lives together. It’s a nice little bit of social commentary.

But wouldn’t you know it, the thing quickly devolves into just another “how to live your life” chorus, like “Help Somebody”/”Don’t Blink”/”Voices”/”You’re Gonna Miss This” all over again. Seriously, when did mainstream country become all about old people rattling off sound bites at young people?

Single Review: Dierks Bentley, “Up on the Ridge”

June 3, 2010 Dan Milliken 11

I don’t know about y’all, but Dierks Bentley has been on this swift downward trajectory for me ever since his killer trio of “Every Mile a Memory”, “Long Trip Alone” and “Free And Easy (Down the Road I Go)” back in ’06/’07. I don’t know whether his team got spooked by Long Trip Alone‘s low sales and tried to force crowd-pleasers out of him or if he just ran out of interesting ideas on his own. Either way, it’s been a bummer.

Single Review: Lady Antebellum, “Our Kind of Love”

June 3, 2010 Tara Seetharam 15

Lady Antebellum’s key strength is delivering gritty, tangible emotion that can breathe life into the glossiest of production and the vaguest of lyrics. That’s what elevates “Need You Now” to an aching confession, and that’s how, on a song that compares innocence to a condiment, Hillary Scott’s vocal performance alone manages to tell an evocative story.

Album Review: Court Yard Hounds, Court Yard Hounds

June 2, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 15

Court Yard Hounds
Court Yard Hounds

I suppose this puts the “Natalie Maines dragged the other two Chicks away from their roots” theory to rest.

The debut album from Court Yard Hounds, the duo comprised of sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, is an adult pop affair. This isn’t disappointing in its own right, being only a few degrees less country than the excellent Chicks album that preceded it, but what’s absent is both the urgency of that album’s material and Maines’ powerhouse delivery of it.

Album Review: Dixie Chicks, Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks

June 2, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 32

Dixie Chicks
Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks

For those of us who were living and breathing country fans from 1998 to 2006, the idea of a Dixie Chicks compilation is unnecessary. Some of us have all four albums and listen to them in different proportions, while a fairly large part of their audience haven’t bothered with them since 2003.

Single Review: LeAnn Rimes, “Swingin'”

June 1, 2010 Leeann Ward 27

John Anderson’s early 1983 hit, “Swingin’”, is the song that propelled his mainstream country music career. The quirky song that chronicled the mundane details of young infatuation is more loved for its unadulterated cheesiness than for being anything akin to a masterpiece. In fact, it sounds delightfully dated today, which only accentuates its cult appeal.

Single Review: Josh Turner, “All Over Me”

May 31, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 7

Josh Turner’s an excellent singer.

No news bulletin there. You need excellent singers to elevate good material to great entertainment. He’s able to pull off that trick with “All Over Me.”

Single Review: Billy Currington, “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer”

May 31, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 3

The song title combined with Billy Currington’s recent track record had me ready to hate this one. But he’s rediscovered his “Good Directions” groove here, and he makes the qualities of a reprehensible person sound downright appealing.

Single Review: Jack Ingram, “Barbie Doll”

May 31, 2010 Dan Milliken 8

Country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll – mostly the lattter two – combine for a hearty serving of frat boy fun on Jack Ingram’s latest single. “Barbie Doll” has been a fan favorite since its initial release on Ingram’s 1999 set Hey You, but this latest iteration boasts a driving arrangement that may finally get the track on mainstream radio.

The song marries Ingram’s straightforward hook sense to Todd Snider’s rambling barroom-sage style, wringing as much talk as it can out of a pretty slight premise (“dude, that girl you’re checking out is a total B-word”) and culminating in a big group shout-a-long.

Single Review: Toby Keith, “Every Dog Has Its Day”

May 30, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 12

If I follow the metaphor correctly, Toby Keith’s the dog and his lady is the bone that’s been tossed in his direction.

“Every Dog Has Its Day” approaches “Bad Dog, No Biscuit” in the pantheon of horrifically cheesy and terribly executed country metaphors. It should be beneath the dignity of one of the genre’s finest male vocalists ever.