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Retro Single Reviews: An Introduction

June 20, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 20

Despite some amazing album artists – a Willie Nelson here, an Emmylou Harris there – country music has always been a singles format. Over the past seven years, we’ve charted the development of some artists from the very beginning, like Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band, just by reviewing their singles.

With Retro Single Reviews, we’re going to go back in time to tell the story of the genre’s biggest artists from the very beginning, by reviewing all of their singles in chronological order.

Here’s how it works: At any given time, we’ll be working our way through the catalog of five artists. When we complete one of them, we’ll add a new one to the rotation.

The first five artists are:

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Crunching the Numbers: June 2011

June 19, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 14

It’s been a few months since we checked in with SoundScan. Here are the cumulative sales for both current and catalog country albums that are selling enough units to make the charts these days.

7 million +

  1. Soundtrack: O Brother, Where Are Thou? – 7,632,995
  2. Carrie Underwood: Some Hearts – 7,110,972

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Single Review: Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter, “You and Tequila”

June 18, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 12

In some parallel universe where I had actual musical talent and the opportunity to record an album, I suspect I’d forgo the pile of demo tapes sent to unknown artists and just look for awesome album cuts from great songwriters.

Matraca Berg’s catalog of recorded cuts would be a good place to start, an epiphany that serves Kenny Chesney well. Berg is usually associated with female artists, and indeed, this song was originally recorded by Deana Carter, who also co-wrote the song. But Berg’s pen has been responsible for some great moments from Keith Urban and Randy Travis, so it’s no surprise that Chesney does well with this one.

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Single Review: Shania Twain, “Today is Your Day”

June 17, 2011 Kevin John Coyne 22

Shania Twain returns with her first single in six years, and it’s kind of a beautiful mess.

Kind of beautiful because it’s the most nakedly sincere she’s been on record, especially as a vocalist.

Kind of a mess because it sounds like a fan-made pop remix of a damn good country song.

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