Open Thread

No, no. We’re not talking about your standard “love songs” here. Sure, country music is filled with some of the finest odes to romantic love this side of Solomon 8:6. But once in a good

Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America” has been used for both the re-election campaign of President Bush and the current campaign of Senator Obama.   That’s caused a bit of a stir, given the Republican leanings

Since all of you love to play with your iPods (or maybe that’s just me and I’m projecting it), let’s do Recommend a Track a little differently this week. Put your iPod on shuffle, and

In the 1950s and 60s, it was common practice for country artists to make their own versions of previously-recorded classics.  Although these instances are few and far between in mainstream country music, a number of artists

I don’t think I ever felt older than I did today.  I had a graduate class a bit earlier in the day, and also had to visit financial aid and such.  I was surrounded by

A Billboard Chart Beat reader noted a current trend on the pop charts: Hi Fred, Thanks for an always informative and entertaining Chart Beat column! On the entertaining side, I made an observation this week

While they’re not as common as they used to be in country music, sometimes good songs about workers still surface.    Tim McGraw’s “I’m Workin’” on his most recent album was a highlight, and Trace Adkins’

Don’t know why I’m so into kiss-off songs for this feature, as this is my third in a row.  This week, I’m recommending “I’ll Be Gone”, a killer track off of Clint Black’s 1989 debut

I’m surprised by the amount of discussion on yesterday’s open thread, but apparently bad album artwork gets people talking. The criticism of the Lee Ann Womack cover got me thinking about her well-received album artwork