Country Universe

Carrie Underwood among EW’s 2007 Entertainers

November 23, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 3

Apparently going for a “yearbook” theme this year, Entertainment Weekly has released its annual list of top entertainers, with Carrie Underwood acknowledged in the “Most Popular” category: Faith Hill was only kidding, folks, when she

Martina McBride, “For These Times”

November 18, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 8

Martina McBride deserves a tremendous amount of credit. She’s one of the only mainstream country artists, male or female, who consistently seeks out material that deals with issues beyond love found and lost. We

Big & Rich, "Loud"

November 18, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 9

Talk about your accurate titles. This is the ultimate distillation of that in-your-face element of Big &a mp; Rich’s music. If you enjoy that element, you’ll love this record. If you’re like me, and you

Slant’s Jonathan Keefe on the new Trisha Yearwood

November 15, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 4

I’ve been playing the new Trisha Yearwood CD non-stop for two days now. I’m really digging it, but what else is new? It’s not like this woman has ever put out a bad album. That’s

Alan Jackson, “Small Town Southern Man”

November 11, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 46

How lucky a parent is to give life to a country music legend. To have your life story told by a master storyteller, to be immortalized on record by someone who can take your everyday

Shooter Jennings, “Walk of Life”

November 11, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 3

Musically, this is great. Entertaining to listen to because of a fantastic performance from the band, I’d be giving it an enthusiastic review if Jennings himself had shown the same energy and charm with his

Terri Clark, “In My Next Life”

November 11, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 2

It’s not the embarrassing disaster that “Dirty Girl” was, but it’s not quite a return to form, either. She’s already done this before with “I Wanna Do it All”, only now it’s a list of

Travis Tritt, "Something Stronger Than Me"

November 11, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 3

Travis Tritt channels his inner Joe Cocker, and with satisfying results. He doesn’t use his lower register nearly enough, so it’s so wonderful to hear him doing so here. The song builds with intensity without

Tracy Lawrence, “‘Til I Was a Daddy Too”

November 11, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 10

Tracy Lawrence was one of the very best singles artists of the early and middle nineties, rattling off one top five hit after another, each one of them catchy and memorable enough at the time.

Whiskey Falls, “Falling into You”

November 11, 2007 Kevin John Coyne 3

So many country singles sound exactly the same in terms of production, particularly with new acts, that it’s a bit jarring hearing the guitar player not do what you expect him to do, or hearing