Country Universe

Starter Kit: Sara Evans

November 7, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 18

Sara Evans was one of the most successful female artists from the earlier part of the last decade, which was not a particularly good era for women as a whole. Her ease with both pop-flavored and purely traditional country allowed her to adapt to quickly changing trends in the genre.

This makes her catalog a fascinating one to sample. In compiling this Starter Kit, it would be easy to just list the hits. But I’ve left off some of her more overexposed tracks in favor of some gems that either didn’t quite dominate the charts or wasn’t sent to radio at all. I think her crossover numbers haven’t aged that well, anyway.

Be sure to let me know what I missed in the comment threads!

“Shame About That” from the 1997 album Three Chords and the Truth

The title track got all of the love, and the most airplay of the three low-charting singles from Evans’ debut album. But I think that this is the coolest little record, with Evans sounding like the female heir to Buck Owens as she can’t even feign sympathy for the ex who is now regretting his departure.

Catching Up

November 6, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 6

Daylight Savings Time means one more hour to kill surfing the internet. It’s as good a time as any to catch up on the CMA Awards, your favorite artists, and reviews you might have missed!

Just follow the links below to our archival pages, all of which have just been completely updated:

CMA Awards

Read about every nominee and winner in all major categories since the awards began in 1967, starting with a rundown of this year’s nominees in each category.

Artist Pages

Read all features and reviews from every artist that has ever been written about on Country Universe, along with a listing of all of their industry awards and RIAA-certified albums and singles.

Reviews

Our archives include every single, album, concert, music video, and DVD review we’ve ever published, listed alphabetically by artist.

Just want to see what we’ve written lately? Look back in reverse chronological order:

More new posts are on the way, including our annual rundown of Picks & Predictions for the CMA Awards and the return of Starter Kits, Favorite Songs by Favorite Artists, and Yesterday’s Songs. Stay tuned!

Sleepless Nights

November 3, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 22

I usually sleep pretty well. In bed by 9, up by 5. But last night, it didn’t work so well. I was up by 2:30 instead!

This episode, coupled with recently watching a very long and very entertaining documentary called Elm Street Legacy has me thinking about sleepless nights. Besides the obvious classic that this post title references, what do you think are the best songs about not being able to sleep?

Single Review: Gary Allan, “Kiss Me When I’m Down”

October 31, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 8

When you build a song around what is essentially a pun, you have to do one of two things. Either sell the pun so well that it overcomes its inherent corniness, or build such a strong song around it that the pun doesn’t make a lasting impact.

“Kiss Me When I’m Down” tries to do both, and is mostly successful. Allan sings it so well that the focus is as much on the pain in his voice as it is on the lyrics he’s singing. Plus, the title is used so infrequently that it can’t really diminish the song as a whole. But it doesn’t elevate it, either.

Single Review: Gretchen Wilson, “I’ve Got Your Country Right Here”

October 31, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 10

Where, exactly?

Besides the fact that Wilson has once again turned out a country pride anthem in the vein of “Redneck Woman”, she name drops several legends of Southern Rock while appropriating their style for her own.

Gretchen, I’ll give you a pass on Hank Jr. and Charlie Daniels, even though you sang about both of them on your first hit. But come on, the Allman Brothers Band? ZZ Top? Are you kidding?

Single Review: Easton Corbin, “I Can’t Love You Back”

October 31, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 5

Any song that starts with a guitar melody so eerily reminiscent of Rosanne Cash’s “Blue Moon With Heartache” is going to reel me in right away. Throw in an understated production that recalls early Alan Jackson, and the fact that Corbin is an actual country singer instead of just a country personality, and things get even better.

The song is beautiful. Really, really beautiful. Like so many great country ballads, someone who’s been left alone because a relationship failed can relate to it just as well as someone who has been left alone because they’re a widow. On the verses, Corbin sounds so good that he could’ve sent this to radio in 1992 and stood tall among the Mark Chesnutts and Collin Rayes of that time.

Single Review: Blake Shelton, “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking”

October 31, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 7

I’m not going to argue with quiet, since so much of country radio these days is way too loud.

So yes, “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” is laid back, almost too laid back. It certainly would be a snoozer with a lesser vocalist. But Blake Shelton demonstrates why he’s finally in the Male Vocalist race with the nuances that he brings to a song that could’ve been too dull or too leery in the wrong hands.

I like the creativity of some of the questions here, most especially when he wonders if she paints her toes because she bites her nails. I had to think about that one for a few seconds, but it made me crack a smile.

Pop Goes the Country

October 27, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 34

The new Sugarland album is a failure. Of this, I am sure. But as I wrote in my review, the problem isn’t that they made an eighties rock album. It’s that they didn’t make a good one.

Which got me thinking about others who made pop or rock albums after building a fan base as a country artist. Sometimes it works, and their pop/rock music is as good or better than what they did under the country umbrella.

So I ask this question:

What artist did the best job of transition from country to pop?

Album Review: Sugarland, The Incredible Machine

October 25, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 52

Sugarland
The Incredible Machine

There’s no point in dancing around it.

The Incredible Machine is a terrible album, an unmitigated disaster that manages to fail in ways that shouldn’t even be possible, especially on a mainstream album created by established professionals and released by a major label.

At its best, Sugarland has made successful music by combining clever musical arrangements with strong lyrical hooks, delivered by the inimitable vocal talent that is Jennifer Nettles. I would have deemed a full album being completely devoid of all three components inconceivable, but The Incredible Machine comes frighteningly close.

American Country Awards

October 18, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 22

I guess I’ve been living under a rock, because the First Annual American Country Awards caught me by surprise. I assumed it was some online poll and that was it, but, no. It’s apparently a full-fledged network award show airing on Fox in December.

I’m actually on board for this. For all the talk about country music being about the fans, there hasn’t been a proper fan-voted award show since the TNN/Music City News thing ended. The CMT Awards is the closest thing, but its category structure prevents it from being a Fan’s Choice CMA or ACM Awards. I also find it funny that the five nominees for Artist of the Year are the exact same five that I thought deserved CMA Entertainer nominations this year.

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