Country Universe

Grammy Pre-Show Winners

February 8, 2006 Kevin John Coyne 0

Country winners announced so far. Some surprises: Best Country Female: Emmylou Harris, “The Connection” Not crazy about the song, but c’mon, it’s Emmy. Her first win in this category since the 80’s. Best Country Male:

Grammy Nominations

February 4, 2006 Kevin John Coyne 0

Here’s a repost of my first Grammy reactions, which haven’t changed with time. My picks are highlighted in red. A Complete list of nominees is available here. The show airs this Wednesday, Feb. 8, on

Album Reviews: Rosanne Cash, Linda Ronstadt

January 28, 2006 Kevin John Coyne 3

I spend a good chunk of my salary on music, and it seems wasteful not to pass it on when I’ve made a particularly worthy purchase. Here are some recent purchases that I think are

Best Country Albums of 2005

December 31, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 3

How good was 2005 for country albums? Well, any one of the top ten albums this year could’ve been #1 in another year. Provided are some tracks for you to sample if you’re thinking you

Best Country Singles of 2005

December 27, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 1

Three days later than intended, thanks to a Blogspot glitch, here’s the first of a few year-in-review entries. Given the incessant single listing on this page lately, it seems only right to kcik things off

Fifty Favorite Country Duets of All-Time

December 8, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 17

When your reader base consists of about twenty people, you can honor their requests fairly easily. An anonymous person commented that they would like to see me do a countdown of the best country duets

Single Reviews: Dec. 3, 2005

December 3, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 1

2005 will soon come to an end, but there’s still time for one more round of single reviews before starting with the inevitable year-in-review lists. For the thirteenth and final time this year, here we

400 Best Contemporary Country Singles: #25-#1

November 27, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 4

The 400 Best Contemporary Country Singles Part 16: #25-#1 #25 “Dancin’ Circles ‘Round The Sun (Epictetus Speaks)” Rodney Crowell 2005 Peak: did not chart I don’t want to begin quoting lyrics from this song, since

My CMA Picks

November 14, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 0

I’m not even going to try to handicap this year’s CMA Awards. It’s been years since I’ve been able to intuitively call these races. But I will be happy to share my preference for each

400 Best Contemporary Country Singles: #50-#26

November 9, 2005 Kevin John Coyne 0

The 400 Best Contemporary Country Singles Part 15: #50-#26 #50 “Meet In The Middle” Diamond Rio 1991 Peak: #1 Diamond Rio burst on to the country music scene with an ideal showcase of their talents: