Sad day: Heidi Newfield wastes her great voice on a super uncreative self-help song that recycles contemporary country’s favorite standby characters – women whose men mistreat them, and men who drink away their troubles –
Attempt #2 to follow up “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” finds Otto eschewing nostalgia to a groovy beat that sounds like something John Mayer might do at his sunniest and most simplified. There’s nothing really
It’s been a while since I’ve heard a mainstream country single that really surprised me. This one does. The song combines the basic theme of Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine” with the bluesy rollick
Cheating songs, once so commonplace on country radio, are now relegated to near-nostalgia. When Sugarland introduced the airwaves to their award-winning ballad, “Stay,” the industry marveled at the success of a song predicated on such a
What’s going on, Toby? Seriously, now: when one of the genre’s finest mainstream voices is stooping to tired numbers like this one, something is seriously up. “God Love Her” is an uptempo, Mellencampish toss-off about
Choose Your Own Adventure Page 1: A little girl and her father are outside on a sunny day, and he assists her as she rides her (bike, Page 2; horse, Page 3). Page 2: He
Darius Rucker has an everyman’s voice that is tailor made for singalong choruses, which is one of the reasons those early Hootie singles were so infectious. It’s also one of the reasons his transition to
I have a sneaking suspicion that Sarah Buxton will develop into a songwriter for the ages. She’s getting there already. “Space” builds a song around a classic break-up line – “I need space” – and
As a preview of his new album, Jack Ingram jumps back on the country radio wagon with “That’s a Man.” It’s a song with examples core values and admirable character that serve as a constant reminder
Tracy Lawrence, a far more distinctive vocalist than many of his contemporaries, received industry approval with his first CMA award last fall for the Vocal Event-winning “Find Out Who Your Friends Are”, his collaboration with