Country Universe

Gloriana, “Wild at Heart”

February 21, 2009 Dan Milliken 32

Do I need to point out the obvious? A two-guy, two-girl harmony group who play rustically instrumented music that sounds heavily influenced by late 70’s/early 80’s pop-rock? I mean, I’m sorry, but is it this

Jessica Harp, “Boy Like Me”

February 21, 2009 Dan Milliken 8

Well, color me surprised. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of personality from That Other Girl From The Wreckers, but Jessica Harp’s debut single as a solo artist is a silly little sugar-pop of

LeAnn Rimes Takes “What I Cannot Change” to No. 1

February 21, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 19

You read that right. This week, the highly praised and Grammy-nominated LeAnn Rimes single “What I Cannot Change” finally reached #1 – on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reQpz4JtjQw While the song’s admirers most

Justin Moore, “Small Town USA”

February 20, 2009 Dan Milliken 19

What can you say when the song title tells you upfront how generic the song itself is going to be? I mean, the thing practically reviews itself, doesn’t it? Seriously, though, the problem here isn’t

Country Role Models

February 20, 2009 Guest Contributor 18

The most recent edition of Rolling Stone features precocious teenage country superstar Taylor Swift on its cover, and also contains a eight-page spread covering her “very pink, very perfect life.” As we have come to expect

Blake Shelton, “I’ll Just Hold On”

February 20, 2009 Guest Contributor 23

Blake Shelton has the kind of natural talent and charisma that most performers in Nashville can only dream of. His voice is smooth and strong, sexy yet comforting. It is neither too feminine nor too

Discussion: Greatest Country Songs

February 19, 2009 Guest Contributor 30

Boys like me and Nick Hornby love lists. (I mean, Nick Hornby and I. Whatever.) Hornby, the author of A Long Way Down, How to Be Good and, most famously, High Fidelity, is known for

Little Big Town, “Good Lord Willing”

February 19, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 1

The new Little Big Town single is a hook-laden treat that combines a rustic acoustic sound with the loudest country-rock guitars this side of Jason Aldean. It’s the kind of performance that you’d expect from

Six Pack: K.T. Oslin, Part Two

February 19, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 5

The following is a continuation of a guest contribution from Country Universe reader Cory DeStein, who wrote Part One. You can read that entry here. There have only been a handful of exceptionally literate female

Flavorless Producers

February 18, 2009 Leeann Ward 16

While on the surface, music revolves around artists and the songs they sing, it’s the music producers who are ultimately essential to the finished product that we all hear and critique. Most producers have a