For real this time. Not a leading question in sight.
What’s on your mind?
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I like doing physics labs. xD
Also I’m confused as to when Lee Ann Womack’s album comes out, the 7th or the 21st of October…
Cramming. But that’s neither here nor there.
John Maglite’s got a great post over at Country, California where he’s brainstorming the best country blog entries of 2008 for a year-end feature. If y’all have any favorites so far that haven’t already been mentioned, I’m sure he’d appreciate all the input you can give!
Also I found this on gactv:
“I don’t like self-titling things,” she told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “I think that’s lazy. I mean, they know whose CD it is — the name’s right on it. There’s a line in one of the songs (“Wheel of the World”): ‘God put us here on this carnival ride/We close our eyes never knowing where it will take us next.’ That just sums up my life.” -Carrie Underwood
I completely agree with her. And she said it to my local paper! Yay!
I agree with Carrie and Chris D. – take that, Pickler!
I’m refusing to sleep until I finish a certain album review. I’ve learned that writing a review that I love is one of the hardest things about blogging. How many ways can one gush about an album without sounding like she’s gushing? When I give an album 5 stars, which I haven’t technically done yet until this one, there’s just so much to justify. Okay, back to the daunting task at hand…
Thanks, Dan! As you said, I’d appreciate any and all suggestions. I just started reading CU part way through this year (I know, I know… sorry), so if any longtime readers want to fill me in on the best of early 2008 around here, that’d be great.
What’s on my mind? Well, I think I worked myself into a headache today, so I can’t exactly tell at the moment. I did get an old Rhonda Vincent CD in the mail, which I’ll probably enjoy more post-headache.
I’m figuring out a game plan for the Capitol Pub Crawl tomorrow. The must see list of the night is Emily West of course. Oh and thinking up questions to ask Whitney Duncan for an interview tomorrow. ;)
Chris D., the Womack album is the 21st, although I saw both dates previously as well.
John Maglite, let’s tell everyone to visit your site. It’s the only wise thing to do!
Leeann, looking forward to the review. Writing about albums that you enjoy will always be the toughest task.
Matt B, I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow.
What’s on my mind: I just returned home from seeing my friend Dan and his band Wildcard Family Revival here in East Nashville. Their music is eclectic, to say the least.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=193181619
Random thought: it’s so unfair how you wait for so long for something to come and then, when it finally comes, it seems like it’s over in five minutes.
I waited for months for the Lady A concert last week and it seemed like it was over in five minutes! It’s so unfair! But it was an awesome show and getting to meet them was amazing! I’m a true Lady A’er now!!!
Got off a Delta transatlantic flight a few hours ago.. heading to Europe. Wondering what all the Euros thought about the Country selections in the seatback lcd entertainment system.
Could we call this the Twitter thread? What’s on my mind: my tonsils hurt (uh oh), gotta take the boy to school & how will this down market affect me? Musically what’s on my mind: I’m ready for the new Old Crow Medicine Show album & should I buy Darius Rucker’s record after the middling reviews I’ve read?
what’s on my mind…
the mystery that is jessica simspon’s album topping the country album chart.. haayy.. the hype of it all.. she better thank her pop background…. oh well.. here’s to something new in the country scene, ei? hehe ^_^
What’s on my pea brained little mind huh? Well, let’s see:
We’re removing life support from another one of “our” sons today. The first of the “Fearless Five” to go. He’s 26 today. Life just sucks sometimes.
I’m wearing out Patty’s new CD. I really can’t believe how good her voice sounds. She sounds just so young. Great interview with her on GAC’s Master series. Still think Blake’s review was the best I’ve read in years. Been a great couple of weeks of Patty Loveless and that ain’t nuthin’ but a good thang! :-)
Fishin’ has been exceptional this end of summer/beginning of fall. Best in probably ten years. Everyone is dealing with floods, too much water, and our lakes are still dropping like a rock. We can’t get any rain and everyone else is getting too much.
I’m too old to cut this much grass. I’m selling the house and buying a condo that has pavement for a yard!
Daughters and Granddaughters are what makes the world go ’round! :-)
That’s about all the room I have in what passes for a mind. A mind is a terrible thing to have wasted! :-o
The fact that many of my friends and family still do not have power here in Ohio, and the cable company cannot seem to figure out how to get it up and running – so I would just love to get my life back to normal –
Stessing out a little but musically I’m going to have to eat my words here because I had predicted that Whitney Duncan’s “When I Said I Would” wouldn’t even chart but it got on there this week.
Thoughts on music I picked up this week.
Tim McGraw Collectors Tin (All I Want, Set This Circus Down, Live Like You Were Dying) – 16.99 – I’m not a big fan of Tim but I do like some of his songs and for 17$ I didn’t want to pass this one up.
Heidi Newfield What Am I Waiting For – 12.00 – I like her voice but the material is really boring.
Patty Loveless Sleepless Nights – 18.99 – I couldn’t find it the first week so when I saw it I had to buy it despite it’s high price. I’m falling in love all over again with Patty Loveless’ voice
Eli Young Band Jet Black & Jealous – 7.99 – I had never listened to them before “When It Rains” charted but I’m regretting having never done so. The album isn’t amazing but It’s a pretty good transition to major labeldom.
Darius Rucker Learn To Live – 9.99 – It’s okay but nothing too special, I’ll probably listen to it here and there but not my favorite.
Kristy Lee Cook Why Wait – 9.90 – I didn’t really enjoy her on American Idol and I don’t like her single but I always try to buy a debut album just in case. This isn’t horrible but it’s below average and forgettable.
Why is “What I Cannot Change” by LeAnn Rimes not a hit?
Because radio seemingly has ‘enough’ females at radio, whatever that means.
Also, I will confirm that LAW’s “Call Me Crazy” is being released the 21st. UMG’s promotional website says so. :)
I’ve been waiting for Recommend a Track all week, but this will do.
I decided to listen to Carrie Underwood’s Flat on the Floor after only hearing a few time before because I knew that I kind of liked it. But now I love it.
The energy in the song picks up immediately. Unlike a lot of songs that have somewhat interesting verses melodically, and better choruses, this song’s verses are just as exciting and energetic. Carrie’s vocals are of course very good as well. It’s just so fun!
There’s only one major problem that I have with this song. Whatever I listen to after it sounds so mediocre and dull, but it usually lacks the same amount of energy.
Now I’m sad that I have to wait 2 more weeks for LAW’s album. :(
i guess i been waiting for this opportunity for awhile, to rank me most overrated and underrated arts:
Overrated Female:
1. Miranda Lambert
2. Sara Evans
Underrrated Female:
1. Ashton Shepherd
2. Crystal Shawanda
3. Chely Wright
Overrated Male:
1. Gary Allan
2. Keith Urban
3. Dierks Bently
Underrated Male:
1. Brad Paisley..Yes i think he should be a bigger star than he is
2. Josh Turner..i know his day is coming, i just wish it would come sooner
Underrated Group/Duo
1. Lady Antebellum
2. dixie chicks
Overrated Group/Duo
1. Rascal Flatts
2. Sugarland…they’re good but im getting a little tired of them, and her shameless selling of her sexuality.
OK, lets hear some responses.
Scott,
I pretty much disagree with all of your choices, particularly the females Sorry.
Only two I agree with, Scott:
Ashton Shepherd is underrated (by mainstream country radio, that is), she’s a great singer and a good writer.
Rascal Flatts is definitely overrated, but almost anyone here would agree with that.
I also do like Lady A. and the Dixie Chicks, but I would never call them underrated, they are liked by a lot of people.
Everything else I disagree with.
Sorry, I also like Brad Paisley and Josh Turner, but by no definition are they underrated by anyone.
(Sorry for the double post)
Gary Allan is overrated? How is that even possible? Lady Antebellum is underrated? They’ve only been together 2 years and have been wildly successful in that short time. Yeah, I’m definitely in strong disagreement with most of those choices.
I’ll give him the Chicks, Turner, Shepherd and Chely Wright. Wright will most likely never be a mainstream focus again, but she’s put out some wonderful stuff since she departed the major label system.
Hey! I guess Lee Ann Womack previewed her album this past week, here’s a short post from a blog:
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/09/jamey_johnson_and_lee_ann_woma.html
The guy didn’t seem to like Jamey Johnson at all, but he said LAW “soared” and that her stuff was sad, but amazing. Sounds promising, eh?
And this post confirms the Oct 21st release date. :(
I need an ID on who is doing the rating in this over/under business. I would usually assume we were talking about critically overrated/underrated. In that case, given his recorded music only and not his live show (and a work ethic for which I have a lot of respect), I think Dierks Bentley is a bit critically overrated. I found his sophomore album rather dull until the last few songs and “Feel That Fire” isn’t leaving much of a mark on me, either.
And as a (probably overly) general comment, I feel like newspaper music critics in some markets (but not blog critics ;) ) have an almost reflexive tendency to genuflect at the feet of any artist whose music sounds traditional country, without applying the same level of scrutiny to lyric and vocal performance as they do music with a more contemporary country sound. The newspaper critics in the DFW area in particular come to mind.
But in any case, it sounds like Scott is talking commercially underrated/overrated. In that case, I’ll go with Patty Loveless and Trisha Yearwood being criminally underrated, Lee Ann Womack also being underrated, Rodney Atkins being massively overrated, and Little Big Town being underrated.
Speaking of Patty Loveless, while I love Sleepless Nights, was anyone else disappointed by her version of “Silver Spring” on the Imus Ranch Record. I had so been looking forward to this, and found it strange and ominous when a couple of reviews of the album didn’t so much as mention it despite it being the first track on the album. Now that I’ve heard it, I see why. The arrangement strips the song of much of its emotional heft and Patty doesn’t sound all that comfortable with the arrangement, either. It’s a strangely sterile performance. So now my favorite country artists are 0-2 with Fleetwood Mac covers (I absolutely loathed the DCX’s overcooked cover of “Landslide” — it took me a while to forgive them for it).
dudley, I felt that Patty sang very well, but the material and the production didn’t quite match her voice, and it hurt the performance a little. “Silver Springs” is an odd song to try to sing.
I felt the same way about the Patty cover. I’ve never been a Fleetwood Mac fan anyway. I don’t like any version of “Landslide”–not The Chicks, Fleetwood Mac or Smashing Pumpkins. So, I guess I just don’t like the song?
The Pumpkins version is just O.K., and I like the Pumpkins. The Chicks’ is a little better, but the only one I really love is the live version that Fleetwood Mac cut in the ’90s.
I was a little disappointed with “Silver Springs” too. I’ve always been a big fan of the song, but this wasn’t my favorite version.
I also wasn’t a big fan of the Chicks’ interpretation of “Landslide” when it first came out either. It took a live performance to change my mind.
ok, a couple explanations about my picks..sorry for the double post, but i feel the need to explain a few things. I totally forgot about Patty and LAW; they should both be on ym underrated females list, probably in my #4 and #3 positions respectively.
For acts like Brad, josh and Lady A, I simply feel like they should be bigger than they already are, and should be getting more attention from award shows for example (isnt it time for Brad to be Male Vocalist, Or Entertainer of the Year, etc)
No worries about the double post, Scott. Just to note, Brad has won the CMA Male Vocalist in 2007, and of course, the ACM prize for the last two years. He is very close to winning Entertainer I believe. I also feel that Josh Turner needs to build just a bit more momentum, but I see him having a long, successful career. And Lady A is just finding their feet, so I expect them to stick around for a while, too.
I think Brad PaisleyPie and Keith SubparUrban are incredibly overrated. Lambert underrated, Ashton OVERrated (like how she OVERsings), and Sugarland and Sara Evans sit about right, neither under or over, though Sara has UNDERdelivered as of late.
Sorry Marc I disagree about Brad I think he is some of the most authentic country music that’s out on the radio right now, his guitar skills are undeniable if anything he is under rated and deserves the EOTY award.
While “Landslide” was a decent cover, I think that Little Big Town’s cover of “Go Your Own Way” works quite well (although I suspect that’s because of their similarities to the band).
I’d love to hear a cover of F-Mac’s I Don’t Wanna Know; Keith Urban’s been know to do “Never Goin Back Again” live as well…
I don’t deny Brad’s talents, and I do enjoy his music. But I think he gets a bit too much credit from fans, though not enough from the “Industry”. And, while to to nearly the same extent, gets too much airplay like Urban. At least Brad is country. Urban’s just bad soft rock/pop. Not unlike RF and Jewel. I also hate seeing Kid Rock (Toby Keith level ignorance and lack of intelligence) and Sheryl Crow on CMT and the like.
Brad’s “overplay” is a lot due to the overplay of male artists in general compared to women. But that’s another thread for another day.
if anything, brad paisley is still underrated, however odd this may sound at this point in time. he’s in the same league as merle haggard and alan jackson. this side of the millenium, no other country artist has been more able to capture contemporary social developments and turn them into great songs. he can make you think, laugh and tear up – all on one album. his vocals are fine and talking about his instrumental skills would be like taking beer to munich.
following his development closely, is an opportunity similar to looking over van gogh’s shoulder, when he was painting – not to be missed.
Marc – I second yr Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow statement but I respectfully disagree with you re: KU…yes he does record a fair number of AC/Rock stylings but he’s a helluva lot countrier than Jewel (ugh) or RF. Have you heard his cover of Elton John’s Country Comfort?
Re. Kid Rock–it doesn’t matter whether he’s singing with Sheryl Crow, Allison Moorer, or anyone else. As far as I’m concerned, he absolutely, positively CAN NOT sing worth a d**n.