Album Reviews

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Album Review: Kacey Musgraves, <i>Same Trailer Different Park</i>

March 22, 2013 Ben Foster 14

Kacey-Musgraves-Same-Trailer-Different-Park

Kacey Musgraves
Same Trailer Different Park

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In just over half a decade, the now-24-year-old Texan Kacey Musgraves has gone from placing seventh on the 2007 season of Nashville Star and releasing a trio of independent albums to finally being granted some well-deserved mainstream exposure.  It was beyond a pleasant surprise when her beautifully written, critically lauded debut single “Merry Go ‘Round” became an honest-to-goodness Top 10 hit at country radio – a format not known for being friendly to intelligent, honest women.  Whether the industry will continue to support her remains to be seen, but Kacey Musgraves’ major label debut effort positions her as a ray of hope for country music at a time when such are very few – an artist who, if given the platform, just might have the potential to change country music for the better.

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Album Review: Tim McGraw, <i>Two Lanes of Freedom</i>

February 15, 2013 Ben Foster 8

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Tim McGraw
Two Lanes of Freedom

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Though Tim McGraw’s music was among the best to be heard on country radio in the late nineties and early two thousands, recent years have seen his choice of material embarking on a gradual downward slide before bottoming out entirely with last year’s Curb Records swan song Emotional Traffic.  With McGraw’s recent output being what it is, and with him now being in the clutches of  Scott Borchetta, it’s hard to approach Two Lanes of Freedom with high expectations.

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Album Review: Randy Houser, <i>How Country Feels</i>

February 2, 2013 Ben Foster 11

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Randy Houser
How Country Feels

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Randy Houser impressed the critics with 2010’s They Call Me Cadillac, but country radio yawned, and neither of the album’s two singles cracked the Top 30.  Houser’s Stoney Creek Records debut thus comes across as a mea culpa of sorts, as Houser shrugs his shoulders in defeat, and gets ready to do some good old-fashioned pandering.

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Album Review: Sara Evans, <i>Playlist: The Very Best of Sara Evans</i>

January 29, 2013 Ben Foster 3

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Sara Evans
Playlist:  The Very Best of Sara Evans

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While Sara Evans is reportedly in the studio hard at work on her forthcoming seventh studio album, Sony Legacy has released a new fourteen track retrospective of her sixteen-year career – the latest installment in the label’s Playlist series.  Coming nearly five and a half years after Evans’ 2007 Greatest Hits package, Playlist:  The Very Best of Sara Evans intersperses several of her biggest hits with a few less expected inclusions.  While there is some great material to be heard, there are a few missed opportunities as well.

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Album Review: Katie Armiger, Fall Into Me

January 17, 2013 Ben Foster 4

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Katie Armiger
Fall Into Me

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By now, Katie Armiger’s country music career comprises six years, four studio albums, and still zero bona fide radio hits.  Her label Cold River Records has nonetheless stuck with her since 2007, with her previous outing, 2010’s Confessions of a Nice Girl, producing her first chart singles in the #55 “Kiss Me Now” and the #42 “Best Song Ever.”  Her new album Fall Into Me has yet to reverse her fortunes at radio – Lead single “Better In a Black Dress” topped out at #42 on Billboard Country Airplay – but it no doubt contains more than enough tasteful, likeable pop-country material to keep current fans interested.

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Album Review: Wanda Jackson, <i>Unfinished Business</i>

November 25, 2012 Ben Foster 0

Wanda Jackson
Unfinished Business

The original rockabilly queen returns with a vengeance on her sassy, spirited new album Unfinished Business, following up last year’s solid Jack White-produced comeback set The Party Ain’t Over. This time around, Jackson swaps out White for Americana star Justin Townes Earle as producer as she takes on another set of classic cover tunes mixed with some newer material.

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Album Review: Terri Clark, <i>Classic</i>

November 20, 2012 Ben Foster 9

A great covers record, no matter how sincere the artist’s intentions, must provide a satisfactory answer to one question: Why should we listen to this artist’s versions of these songs when the originals are still there for us to enjoy?

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Album Review: Kathy Mattea, <i>Calling Me Home</i>

September 20, 2012 Ben Foster 5

Kathy Mattea
Calling Me Home

On her exquisite new album Calling Me Home, Kathy Mattea shows herself to be an artist who fully understands music as a medium of art and self-expression. Following down a path similar to that of her stellar Grammy-nominated 2008 effort Coal, but expanding upon it by dealing with a wider range of topics, Calling Me Home finds Mattea turning to her own roots for inspiration, and producing what just might be the finest album of her illustrious career.

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