Articles by Dan Milliken

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ACM Live Blog 2011

April 3, 2011 Dan Milliken 90

Hello.

This is going to be a really important show, you guys.

WINNERS

Entertainer of the Year: Taylor Swift

Top Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert

Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley

Top Still-Deciding Vocalist:

Album of the Year: Lady Antebellum, Need You Now

Song of the Year: “The House That Built Me”

Single of the Year: “The House That Built Me”

Couple of the Year:

(^ Not to be confused with) Top Vocal Duo: Sugarland

Top Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum

Top New Artist: The Band Perry

Top Till You Drop:

Vocal Event of the Year: Zac Brown Band & Alan Jackson, “As She’s Walking Away”

Music Video of the Year: Miranda Lambert, “The House That Built Me”

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Single Review: Chris Young, “Tomorrow”

March 30, 2011 Dan Milliken 18

How to put it? I would listen to this man sing about IBS. I would listen to him sing a long-form denunciation of my inherent value as a human being – possibly my mother’s and little sister’s, too. Chris Young’s baritone is like the aural incarnation of warm fuzzies, and most everything it touches/fuzzes goes down easy – even those lame, creaky-hinged Music Row assembly songs scattered across Young’s first two albums.

So, granted: This single was probably going to sound all sexy-cool no matter what. Happily, though, we can all enjoy with a little less cognitive dissonance this time, because “Tomorrow” makes a serious play at substance. Young is finally a radio star now, and he’s using his powers to inject some actual psychological complication back into the format.

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Lil’ Wednesday WTF

March 16, 2011 Dan Milliken 16

“If I Die Young”…pop remix.

To the Perrys’ credit, I guess, the song is too deeply country-folky to convince as a straight-ahead pop ballad. Not to the Perrys’ credit…what would be so bad about a little string-band action on Top 40?

*Shrug*

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Single Review: Josh Turner, “I Wouldn’t Be a Man”

February 7, 2011 Dan Milliken 21

I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t feel like this
I wouldn’t be a man if a woman like you
Was anything I could resist
I’d have to be from another planet
Where love doesn’t exist
I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t feel like this

Hmm.

Well, this is kind of an unusual situation: a modern country singer choosing to resurrect an old country song…that was never that good to begin with.

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Single Review: Josh Kelley, "Georgia Clay"

January 12, 2011 Dan Milliken 7

He may be the latest of many pop dudes gone country, but I’ve got a feeling Josh Kelley could actually stick around for a while. Just because it makes business sense. He’s famous enough to enjoy name recognition, but not enough to seem like a desperate has-been for switching teams; plus you don’t need your music to be especially “country” to market it under that name now anyway; plus I suspect that lots of Lady Antebellum fans will be willing to give Charles’ big bro a shot.

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Single Review: Luke Bryan, “Someone Else Calling You Baby”

October 13, 2010 Dan Milliken 20

I so wish the web had video of the acoustic performance of this song from GAC’s Origins: Luke Bryan. I caught it on TV a few weeks ago and thought, “this guy actually has something.” If I could embed that performance here, I think you’d probably agree.

The song is basically a demand for a clean break-up, so you can guess the scenario. She asked for time apart, he granted it, now hints are floating around that she’s found someone else.

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Single Review: Taylor Swift, “Mine”

August 11, 2010 Dan Milliken 85

Where do you go from the top of the world? It’s a question all kinds of music icons have had to answer, but it’s hard to imagine most of them facing Taylor Swift’s level of pressure. Consider her standing: an American Sweetheart adored by young people and respected by their parents, staple of multiple radio formats, winner of commercial music’s very biggest awards, but facing sharp backlash for embarrassing live vocals, for a narrow songwriting perspective, and all in the most media-pervasive climate ever, a fame minefield where one bad move can mean national embarrassment – and all, of course, before she turns twenty-one.

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