Grammy Live-Blog 2012
11:33 Ben: I had a blast. Big thanks to Dan for doing a bang-up job leading the live blog, and thanks to everyone who partipated in the comments. See y’all at ACM season!
11:32 Tara: Thanks for hanging out, y’all! Tonight’s show kind of grew on me, with its surprising focus on the music (how quaint). And lest we forget: when Adele wins, we all win.
11:27 Dan: And we close the show with a spirited “Carry that Weight” with Paul McCartney, The Boss, Dave Grohl, and a bunch of guitar dudes I’m ashamed to say I don’t recognize. Slow night, but some really nice moments!
Whitney Houston: 1963-2012
On the eve of the Grammy Awards, music lost one of its greatest voices, as Whitney Houston died at age 48.
Her only tangential connection to country was a big one. Her cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” is one of the most successful singles in history, spending 14 weeks at #1 and pushing its parent album, The Bodyguard soundtrack, to sales of 44 million worldwide.
Grammy Awards 2012: Staff Picks & Predictions
The 54th annual GrammyAdele Awards air this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern. Look for appearances by Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley and Lady Antebellum as well as country-ish performances by Jason Aldean, Glen Campbell (with the Band Perry and Blake Shelton), Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. We’ve picked and predicted the awards below – share your thoughts, and be sure to drop by on Sunday night for our live blog!
Single Review: Lionel Richie featuring Shania Twain, “Endless Love”
Lionel Richie’s new country duets project, set for a March 27 release, sounds like the kind of thing that could either go very right (Jennifer Nettles, “Hello”) or very wrong (Rascal Flatts “Dancing On the Ceiling,” anyone?). We get a taste of the new project with this re-working of Richie’s classic pop duet with Diana Ross, “Endless Love,” sung this time as a duet with Shania Twain.
David Nail’s new single “The Sound of a Million Dreams,” from his current album of the same name, could be seen as something of a musical mission statement. It is a tribute and testament to the power of a well-crafted, deeply resonant song.
Single Review: Jason Aldean, “Fly Over States”
This is way better than its title gives it any right to be.
As a native urban dweller, I totally get how the country life can get overlooked. Sure, the country folk can be just as oblivious to our ways of life, but it’s not a fair equivalence. We can overlook them without even knowing we’re doing it, but the fly over states have no way to hide from us.
Retro Single Review: Dolly Parton, “My Tennessee Mountain Home”
1973 | #15
These days country radio is peppered with songs about where the singer supposedly grew up. Though often commercially successful, they tend to fail on an artistic level. Why? They very often lack some vital ingredients: Detail. Authenticity. Sincerity. That’s why Dolly Parton’s classic “My Tennessee Mountain Home” outclasses nearly all of them.