The JaneDear Girls

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2011 CMA Awards: Staff Picks and Predictions

November 7, 2011 Ben Foster 28

It’s that time of year again! The time when we all dutifully tune in to the CMA Awards show, raise our eyebrows at the “What the heck are they doing here?” award presenters, and afterwards complain about how totally un-country the whole show was. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t wait.

We’re pleased to share the Country Universe staff picks for this year’s CMA Awards, as well as our predictions of who the winners will be. This year we have some highly competitive categories in which predicting the winners is quite difficult, leading to some significantly divergent picks among our writing staff. Agree? Disagree? Join in the discussion in the comment thread below, and let us know.

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Single Review: The JaneDear Girls, “Merry Go Round”

August 20, 2011 Ben Foster 18

There isn’t much to love about The JaneDear Girls’ debut album (or their radio singles for that matter), and that’s putting it lightly. It’s a set characterized by uninspired, derivative songwriting, not to mention screechy vocals and tin-eared production choices. (John Rich – Who’da guessed?) But there was one song on the album that almost made all the other songs look good by comparison. Surprise! It’s their new single.

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Identity Crisis

January 31, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 49

I became a country fan twenty years ago, and have been fully immersed in the genre for about as long. I’ve read up on the history, heard pretty much every significant artist and recording, and can speak knowledgeably about the genres highs and lows over the past few decades.

We’ve never been this low. I think I finally understand why that is.