December 2014 – Country Universe

The Best Albums of 2014

December 31, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 9

2014 was a banner year for country music albums. In addition to the predictably solid entries from the Americana, folk, and bluegrass scenes, some excellent albums also surfaced from the unlikeliest of sources: mainstream, radio-friendly

The Best Singles of 2014, Part 2: #20-#1

December 30, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 15

The countdown concludes with our top twenty singles of 2014. Check out the first twenty entries here, and look for our countdown of the year’s twenty best albums tomorrow. #20 “The Devil is All Around”

The Best Singles of 2014, Part 1: #40-#21

December 29, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 11

Does failure to reach a consensus indicate a year that lacked quality, or a year that had enough interesting singles that subjective taste is enough to prevent a consensus? This was the dilemma faced by

CU10 Flashback: Single Review/Shameless Rant: Miranda Lambert, “The House That Built Me”

December 29, 2014 Ben Foster 7

I discovered Country Universe in the spring of 2010 and quickly became a regular reader. At the time, Dan’s review of Miranda Lambert’s much-lauded release “The House That Built Me” was a recent post. Besides making

Best of 2014: The Ballot

December 27, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 12

Country Universe has finalized its year-end lists for 2014, and we’re getting ready to roll it out to our readers. This year, we considered 125 albums and 342 singles for our annual list, narrowing our

The Twenty Best Albums of 1994

December 26, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 5

The twenty best albums of 1994.

Single Review: Easton Corbin, “Baby Be My Love Song”

December 19, 2014 Ben Foster 9

“Baby Be My Love Song” Easton Corbin Written by Jim Collins and Brett James Easton Corbin was a refreshing arrival at country radio when he first hit airwaves a half-decade ago, toeing the line between what

Best Singles of 1994, Part 4: #10-#1

December 16, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 20

Alan Jackson is the MVP of our top ten singles of 1994.

The Best Singles of 1994, Part 3: #20 – #11

December 15, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 2

Joy Lynn White kicks off part three of our Best Singles of 1994 list.

In Memoriam: Dawn Sears, 1961-2014

December 12, 2014 Ben Foster 6

We at Country Universe are very saddened to hear that Dawn Sears passed away yesterday at age 53 after a battle with lung cancer. She is survived by her husband Kenny Sears and their daughter Tess.