Today’s a fairly big release day for long time country music fans, as two legends release sets today: Reba McEntire, who returns after five years with Love Somebody, and Dwight Yoakam, who is back with Second Hand Heart, which is only his second album of new material in the last ten years.
We’ve already review the lead Reba single and lead Dwight single. We’ll have reviews up of both albums at a later date, but they influenced today’s Daily Top Five: What are your most recent purchases?
I’m still an albums guy, so I’m going to list my most recent five albums purchased, but feel free to list tracks instead, if you’re more the a la carte type.
My five most recent (country) album purchases are:
- Shelby Lynne, Temptation
- Shania Twain, Still the One: Live From Vegas
- Rhiannon Giddens, Tomorrow is My Turn
- Punch Brothers, The Phosphorescent Blues
- Jason Isbell, Sirens of the Ditch
You can read the CU reviews of Giddens here, and Punch Brothers here, and there’s a good chance you’ll be reading about the Lynne set when we finish our 1993 lists. Also, a great Starter Kit for Jason Isbell can be read here. (Start with Southeastern, if you don’t have it already, before moving on to Sirens and the rest of his catalog. You should have all of his catalog. He’s that good.)
What are your five latest country purchases?
1) Reba Love Somebody
2) Garth Brooks Man Against Machine
3) Little Big Town Pain Killer
4) Lee Ann Womack The Way I’m Living
5)Deana Carter Southern Way Of Life
I’m sad to say I don’t buy much albums unless I love the ppl because I subscribe to Spotify.
Waiting impatiently for the new Easton Corbin cd. Not sure if it’s going to be released or not, but I sure hope so. Here’s my latest purchases:
1. Sam Hunt – Montevallo
2. David Nail – I’m A Fire
3. Little Big Town – Pain Killer
4. Thomas Rhett – It Goes Like This
5. Zac Brown Band – Greatest Hits So Far
Rhiannon Giddens and Punch Brothers are part of my favourite albums of 2015 so far. According to my iTunes, my most recent country purchases are:
1. Reba McEntire – Love Semebody
2. Kristian Bush – Southern Gravity
3. Will Hoge – Small Town Dreams
4. The Band Perry – Better Dig Two
5. Garth Brooks – Ultimate Hits
I subscribe to Google Play Music to cut down on music purchases but it’s only made me purchase more music.
1) Will Hoge Small Town Dreams
2) John Moreland High On Tulsa Heat (pre-ordered for 4/21)
3) Little Feat Waiting For Columbus
4) Wade Bowen Live At Billy Bobs
5) William Clark Green Ringling Road (pre-ordered for 4/21)
Like many people I subscribe to Spotify to keep my music costs down, so I really only buy music from a few artists that I know will give me a good product, smaller/indie artists, and one stubborn superstar who will probably never be streaming. My last five are:
1. Curtis McMurtry – Respectable Enemy
2. James McMurtry – Complicated Game
3. Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night
4. Justin Townes Earle – Absent Fathers
5. Garth Brooks – Man Against Machine
Anyone who hasn’t yet should check out both of the McMurtry albums. Both are full of just terrific, and very vivid, songwriting.
1. Second Hand Heart – Dwight Yoakam
2. Tennessee Love Song – Sarah Gayle Meech
3. Rhiannon Giddens – Tomorrow is My Turn
4. Fear and Saturday Night – Ryan Bingham
5. Diamonds and Gasoline – Turnpike Troubadours
I pre-ordered the John Moreland and Chris Stapleton on vinyl also but obviously haven’t been released. Looking forward to both of those immensely.
Also, Harriett, I love Waiting for Columbus. A great, underrated album.
1 – Striking Matches – “Nothing But the Silence”
2 – Western Swing Authority – “Now Playing”
3 – Amy Black – “One Time” and “This Is Home” (package deal at a show – buy 1 for $15 or both for $20 – couldn’t resist.)
4 – Hal Ketchum – “I’m the Troubadour”
5 – Gary Burr – “Juggler’s Logic”
I often buy just a few songs on i-tunes rather than the full album, e.g., Eric Paslay’s “She Don’t Love You” and “Less Than Whole”. I didn’t carefor the other songs on his debut album.
I’ve purchased a bunch of individual tracks, but off the top of my head, these are the five most recent albums that I’ve purchased.
Ralph Stanley and Friends, Man of Constant Sorrow
Rhiannon Giddens, Tomorrow is My Turn
Punch Brothers, Phospherescent Blues
Suzanne Jarvie, Spiral Road
Robert Earl Keen, “Happy Prisoner: the Bluegrass Sessions
Randy Rogers Band- Rollercoaster
Mindy Smith- One Moment More
First Aid Kit- Stay Gold
Meghan Trainor- Title
Jack White- Lazaretto
Most recent for me (in order from latest to #5):
You Gotta Sin To Get Saved–Maria McKee
Everlasting–Martina McBride
Duets–Linda Ronstadt
Amelita–Court Yard Hounds
The Stand-In–Caitlin Rose
I still strongly prefer to buy full albums. Starting with the most recent, my last five purchases are:
1. Dwight Yoakam – Second Hand Heart
2. Kristian Bush – Southern Gravity
3. Brian Wilson – No Pier Pressure
4. Jon Wolfe – Natural Man
5. Striking Matches – Nothing But The Silence
Just sticking to the country albums I’ve bought most recently and excluding a couple of pre-orders (Shelby Lynne, Zac Brown Band, Alabama Shakes):
1. Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Ruffian’s Misfortune
2. Allison Moorer, Down to Believing
3. The Mavericks, Mono
4. Aaron Watson, The Underdog
5. Father John Misty, I Love You, Honeybear
Oops! I bought the Steve Earle and Allison Moorer albums somewhere within those albums that I listed, but I can’t quite remember where they fit in the order of the latest five albums that I’ve purchased.
1. Dwight Yoakam-Second Hand Heart
2. Conway Twitty-20 Greatest Hits
3. The Boxmasters-Somewhere Down the Road
4. Cody Canada and the Departed-HippieLovePunk
5. Garth Brooks-Man Against Machine/Darius Rucker-Southern Style (bought both on the same day)
Chris Stapleton-Traveller is on preorder and I donated to the Jason Michael Carroll kickstarter so they will be in on May 5th
@Leeann,
… And I forgot Robert Earl Keen!
I know you said you’d have a review later, but can we just stop for a second to say how big of a turd Reba’s new album is? I’ve been eagerly awaiting the thing for a while now, and it was such a letdown. Normally there’s at least one great song on a Reba album, but there were very few songs that I thought were even okay. Dwight, on the other hand, was far more impressive in my opinion.
1. Johnny Cash Rockabilly Blues (Vinyl LP)
2. I’m With Her Crossing Muddy Waters (Vinyl 7″ Pre-Order)
3. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell The Traveling Kind (Vinyl Pre-Order)
4. The Mavericks Music For All Occasions
5. Punch Brothers The Phosphorescent Blues
I do have an unfair advantage since I was able to score advanced copies of the latest albums from: Reba McEntire, Shelby Lynne, Gretchen Peters, The Mavericks, and the Soundtrack to the Glen Campbell documentary.
01. Striking Matches – ‘Nothing But The Silence’
02. Brandi Carlile – ‘The Firewatcher’s Daughter’
03. The Mavericks – ‘Mono’
04. Trisha Yearwood – ‘PrizeFighter: Hit After Hit’
05. Gretchen Peters – ‘Blackbirds’
06. Allison Moorer – ‘Down To Believing’
07. Fifth Harmony ‘Reflection’
5-7 were bought at the same time.
I just realized how great the last 5 (7) albums I’ve bought are so I went back a bit futher to see what else I’ve been buying and I’m loving all my purchases this year.
08. You + Me – ‘Rose Ave.’
09. Neko Case – ‘The Worse Things Get…’
10. Kasey Chambers – ‘Bittersweet’
11. The Earls Of Leicester – ‘Earls Of Leicester’
12. Kelly Clarkson – ‘Piece By Piece’
13. Angaleena Presley – ‘American Middle Class’
14. Bill Anderson – ‘Life!’
15. Carlene Carter – ‘Carter Girl’
16. Georgia Holt – ‘Honky Tonk Woman’
17. Jim Ed Brown – ‘In Style Again’
18. Wade Bowen – ‘Wade Bowen’
19. Karen Jonas – ‘Oklahoma Lottery’
20. Sturgill Simpson – ‘High Top Mountain’
21. Mary J. Blige – ‘The London Sessions’
22. Tami Neilson – ‘Dynamite!’
23. Nikki Lane – ‘All Or Nothin”
24. D’Angelo & The Vanguard – ‘Black Messiah’
25. Blake Shelton – ‘Bringing Back The Sunshine’
26. Betty Who – ‘Take Me When You Go’
27. First Aid Kit – ‘Stay Gold’
28. Gary Clark Jr. – ‘Blak And Blu’
29. Jeff Copley – ‘Evergreen’
30. Lauren Lucas – ‘The Carolina Kind’
31. Native North America Vol. 1
32. The Secret Sisters – ‘Put Your Needle Down’
33. Shovels & Rope – ‘Swimmin’ Time’
34. Ashley Ray – ‘Call Me A Ray’
I think the weakest album is the most mainstream country one (Blake’s). Whats interesting to me is this year counting only the country purchases I’ve only bought 1 ‘Mainstream’ album, where only last year about 95% of my purchases were mainstream stars. Arguably Trisha Yearwood fits into the mainstream but I wouldn’t call her a radio star anymore. She’s now a legacy artists.
I think this speaks highly about the quality of output by most mainstream stars.
Upcoming purchases
Rhiannon Giddens – ‘Tomorrow is My Turn’ (Would’ve bought this already if it was available near me.)
Cody Canada & The Departed – ‘Hippielovepunk’
T. Graham Brown – ‘Forever Changed’
Lindsay Lawler – ‘Two Peaches Six Cookies’
American Aquarium – ‘Wolves’
Steve Earle & The Dukes – ‘Terraplane’
Aaron Watson – ‘The Underdog’
Aaron Tippin – ’25’
Wade Hayes – ‘Go Live Your Life’
Jon Wolfe – ‘Natural Man’
Daryle Singletary – ‘There’s Still A Little Country Left’
Kristian Bush – ‘Southern Gravity’
Will Hoge – ‘Small Town Dreams’
Reba McEntire – ‘Love Somebody’
Little Texas – ‘Young For A Long Time’
Dwight Yoakam – ‘Second Hand Heart’
Dean Brody – ‘Gypsy Road’
Zac Brown Band – ‘Jekyll And Hyde’
Catherine Britt – ‘Boneshaker’
Shelby Lynne – ‘I Can’t Imagine’
Chris Stapleton – ‘Traveller’
Emmylou & Rodney – ‘Travelling Kind’
JD Souther – ‘Tenderness’
Logan Brill – ‘Shut Eye’
Darrelll Scott – ’10 Songs Of Ben Wellington’
K.T. Oslin – ‘Simply’
Dale Watson – ‘Call Me Insane’
Anderson East – ‘Delilah’
Jordan,
I love your list!!
1. Sawyer Brown – Out Goin’ Cattin’ (CD)
2. Sawyer Brown – Sawyer Brown (CD)
3. Ronnie Milsap – RCA Albums Collection (CD’s)
4. Eddy Raven – Temporary Sanity (CD)
5. Sawyer Brown – Somewhere In The Night (CD)
Going off topic here, but I want to thank Richard above for listing Ronnie Milsap’s RCA Album Collection. I had no idea these albums had been released in a cd packaged set and am ordering them today. I had so many of these on vinyl or 8 track growing up and can’t wait to hear them all again on cd for the first time. Richard, I am so thankful to you for making me aware of this. You’ve made my year.
@caj
No problem. It is a great collection. I wish the music industry would start doing the same thing for many other artists collections that have been ignored on the CD format or have CD’s that have gone out of print and now command ridiculous prices. Eddie Rabbitt comes to mind. You can now get his stuff on itunes but the actual CD’s are pretty much impossible to find unless you want to pay a ridiculous amount.
Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis Cheater’s Game
Robert Earl Keen A Bigger Piece of the Sky
Robert Earl Keen Ready for Confetti
Rhonda Vincent Only Me
Rhonda Vincent All-American Bluegrass Girl
1. Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers, Hold My Beer, Vol. 1 (Ready for Monday)
2. Aaron Watson, The Underdog
3. Garth Brook, Man Against Machine
4. Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt (Can I get my money back?)
5. Brantley Gilbert Just As I Am (as a whole, not bad. More memorable than Aldean’s)
I went to a Record & CD convention this weekend in Orlando and purchased a bunch of jazz CDs – the only country I purchased was Johnny Gimble’s FIDDLIN’ AROUND album on vinyl and a CD set – A PROPER INTRODUCTION TO GEORGE JONES. The latter set is okay but the digital remastering could have been better
Brian: ” 4. Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt (Can I get my money back?)”
Ha! No! You had to have known what you were getting yourself into.:)
Just the other day I heard Jamey Johnson’s Guitar Song (Bought it the year it came out) and started wondering why I don’t have more of his stuff. Well, I had some money in the Itunes account and purchased The Lonesome Song.
As for other perchases:
Zac Brown’s new album on pre order
Kenny Chesney’s greatest hits album, Hemingway’s Whiskey, and The Big Revival
I’ve bought quite a few things over the last few months, but most of them plucked from the cheap used bins at Half Price Books. If I exclude those, my five last full-price purchases have been, in reverse purchase order:
Beauty Is… – Ray Price
Blur the Line – Those Darlins [vinyl]
Bakersfield Deluxe Edition – Vince Gill & Paul Franklin [Cracker Barrel exclusive]
Drinkin’ – Merle Haggard compilation
Moonraker Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – John Barry