Porter Wagoner, “Committed to Parkview” While Amy Winehouse sings about not going to rehab, country legend Porter Wagoner does a sympathetic roll call inside the walls of the Parkview mental hospital. Recorded by the Highwaymen
Clint Black, “The Strong One” So this is much better than all those treacly love songs that were Clint’s bread and butter in the mid-nineties. He’s much more effective singing about the perfect woman in
Emerson Drive, “You Still Own Me” So about six months ago, “Moments” was sent to radio, and after hearing it, I pretty much had to take back everything mean that I’d ever said about this
Alison Krauss & Union Station, “Simple Love” All of the new tracks from the recent Alison Krauss compilation A Hundred Miles or More are worth hearing, but this is one of the best. It’s
Billy Currington, “Tangled Up” Currington follows up his multi-week #1 “Good Directions”, a charming country shuffle, with “Tangled Up”, which has Currington trying on Keith Urban’s boots and finding that they don’t quite fit. His
Blake Shelton, “The More I Drink” It’s hardly been noticed by the country music media, but Blake Shelton has turned in a surprisingly strong traditional country album, chock full of fantastic heartache and drinking songs.
Toby Keith, “Love Me If You Can” Toby makes a surprisingly earnest attempt to soften his image, wishing we could all just agree to disagree before our debates turn to angry words, and praying for
Kenny Chesney, “Never Wanted Nothing More” Chesney previews his upcoming studio album with a surprisingly twangy single, all plucky banjos and the like. At first it seems it’s going to be another one of his
Sara Evans, “As If” I don’t think I can name another female country singer who has produced more consistently entertaining and interesting singles in the last decade than Sara Evans. “As If” is the
Brooks & Dunn, “Proud of the House We Built” It’s a decently good lyric that celebrates a love that started with nothing and still is fairly modest, but worthy of pride nonetheless. I have trouble