September 2013 – Country Universe

Single Review: Zac Brown Band, “Sweet Annie”

September 30, 2013 Kevin John Coyne 17

Zac Brown Band’s laid back approach can make it easy to miss when they are actually digging deeper with their lyrics.

Their music often sounds designed to fade into the background, particularly on their radio singles, which usually land somewhere between faceless and mildly interesting, but rarely compelling in any meaningful way.

Single Review: Ty Herndon, “Lies I Told Myself”

September 29, 2013 Kevin John Coyne 5

I’d imagine that to young fans who have discovered country music in the last couple of years, the new Ty Herndon single will sound remarkably dated.

Win a Signed Copy of Alan Jackson’s The Bluegrass Album

September 24, 2013 Ben Foster 32

UPDATE: Contest closed. Congratulations to our winner, the second of the two commenters named John.

Do you love bluegrass music? Do you love Alan Jackson? Or do you just love great music? We sure do here at Country Universe, so it’s our great pleasure to thank you for your support of our site by giving away a copy of Alan Jackson’s fantastic new release The Bluegrass Album – signed by our favorite singer of simple songs himself, no less!

Single Review: Florida Georgia Line, “Round Here”

September 21, 2013 Ben Foster 12

I smell a holding pattern.

Single Review: Luke Bryan, “That’s My Kind of Night”

September 19, 2013 Ben Foster 33

Let’s start with the positives.

It has a banjo. I like banjo.

A Conversation with Lynn Anderson

September 12, 2013 Ben Foster 10

Lynn Anderson was born the daughter of songwriters Casey and Liz Anderson, and went on to become one of country music’s brightest stars in the 60’s and 70’s. Over the course of sixteen years, she amassed an impressive string of eighteen Top 10 country hits including chart-toppers such as “You’re My Man,” “How Can I Unlove You,” “Keep Me In Mind,” “What a Man My Man Is,” and most notably the Grammy-winning platinum-selling crossover smash “Rose Garden.”

2013 CMA Nominations

September 10, 2013 Ben Foster 92

This year’s CMA nominees were just announced this morning by Sheryl Crow and Florida Georgia Line from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. This year’s crop features many of the usual suspects, as well as a few surprising inclusions and exclusions. The full list of nominees follows with some brief commentary. Musgraves, Shelton and Swift lead with five nominations each, followed by Florida Georgia Line with four. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Single Review: American Young, “Love is War”

September 8, 2013 Kevin John Coyne 8

There’s a country radio station in NYC proper for the first time in nearly twenty years. The last one went off the air before I was old enough to drive, so when I found out it existed, I immediately checked it out.

Then I immediately checked out. It’s not listenable to me. It’s playing all of today’s hits and those from the past couple of years, and sometimes a song that I like will come on, but it’s always sandwiched between filler that hurts my ears.