Brad Paisley
Grammy Wish List
Yesterday marked the end of the eligibility period for the 2010 Grammy Awards, which will be presented in January. To accommodate the earlier award ceremony, this year’s period lasted one month shy of a year: October 1, 2008 – August 31, 2009.
It’s been something of an underwhelming year musically from my perspective, but I have a few nominations that I’d like to see:
George Strait
- Best Male Country Vocal Performance: “El Rey”
- Best Country Album: Twang
Strait’s been on a roll since It Just Comes Natural, releasing his most consistent string of albums since the mid-nineties trifecta of Easy Come Easy Go, Lead On and Blue Clear Sky. It’s often been said that Strait could sing the phone book and make it sound great, and “El Rey” proved that he’d do just as well with la guía telefónica.
Todd Snider
- Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: The Excitement Plan
This category has been great at acknowledging artists who essentially make acoustic music that isn’t particularly commercial, with previous winners including Nickel Creek and Emmylou Harris. Snider put out one of his strongest albums this year, and he’s long overdue for some Grammy love.
Brad Paisley
- Best Country Album: American Saturday Night
- Best Male Country Vocal Performance: “Welcome to the Future”
- Best Country Instrumental Performance: “Back to the Future”
Paisley has reaffirmed himself as a creative force to be reckoned with and deserves to be amply rewarded with multiple Grammy nominations this year. The rock edge to his token instrumental track is a refreshing new take on his guitar-playing virtuosity.
A Conversation with Katie Cook
Katie Cook has been a staple on Country Music Television since 2002, hosting various series and specials such as CMT Most Wanted Live, the MWL concert series, MWL Star, MWL Stacked and the popular weekly entertainment magazine show, CMT Insider.
But her experience with country music is actually three-fold: along with being embedded in the industry as a television host and interviewer, she’s also the daughter of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Roger Cook, and she’s both a singer and songwriter herself – she released an album in 2000 as part of a band called Reno and continues to hone her songwriting skills. Cook took some time to share with Country Universe her opinions on the state of country music, the evolution of CMT and her recent White House visit, among other topics.
Picking the CMA Nominees: Album of the Year
This year’s eligibility period runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. In those twelve months, there have been some solid albums released, and while there isn’t a wealth of treasures to choose from, there are enough good albums to round out this category.
Here are the five albums that I would nominate for Album of the Year:
Joey + Rory, The Life of a Song
The past twenty years have brought several excellent breakthrough albums by groups, especially those by Sugarland, Little Big Town, Brooks & Dunn, Diamond Rio, and Big & Rich. This set by Joey + Rory is better than all of them, and is selling quite well despite limited airplay.
Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song
It’s been nominated for ACM’s trophy and for the Best Country Album Grammy, but Johnson’s best shot at winning has always been with the traditional-leaning CMA voter membership. If both Sugarland and Taylor Swift secure a nod, he’s a shoo-in.
Picking the CMA Nominees: Male Vocalist of the Year
The past two decades have only brought eight winners in the CMA Male Vocalist race, with only two of them – Toby Keith and Clint Black – winning only once. Compare this to the Female Vocalist race, which has brought twelve winners during the same time frame, though even that race has become more streaky of late, with Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood combining for seven victories in the past eleven years.
Is it time for an overhaul in the Male Vocalist race? Yes and no. There’s no denying that some of the multiple nominees/winners over the past nineteen years remain the genre’s strongest male voices. Still, there’s room for some others at the table. The problem is that there are so very few of the genre’s male artists that are genuinely at the top of their game. Even most of the men listed below have had weak singles this year.
Still, if I picked the five nominees for the 2009 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year, they would be:
Jamey Johnson
If Johnson earns fewer less than five nominations at this year’s CMA Awards, I’ll be shocked. In fact, I think he’ll earn six, with the surprise nomination being in this category. These aren’t predictions, though, so I’ll state that while I’m not particularly a fan of Johnson, his success at retail with a traditional project that has only received airplay for one single is darn impressive. Along with Brad Paisley, he’s one of only two artists I’ve listed that were determined by genuine merit, not process of elimination.
Blaine Larsen, “It Did”
You may already recognize this song from Brad Paisley’s 5th Gear album. But then again, you may not, since it’s not especially memorable, anyway. Much like Paisley’s “Then”, “It Did” sentimentalizes that life just keeps getting better and better with each progressing milestone (courtship, wedding, baby).
Paisley’s version is superior in production quality while Larsen’s warm voice outshine’s Paisley’s vocals. However, in either case, the melody and lyrics are particularly bland with Larsen’s unimaginative pop infused production managing to turn an already unengaging song into something next to insufferable. Furthermore, this song just wasn’t worth recycling in the first place.
Picking the CMA Nominees: Entertainer of the Year
Just last week, the second ballot for the 2009 CMA Awards was sent to voters. Now, they are charged with the task of picking five nominees for each category.
How about we help them out? I’ve listed the five artists that I believe are most deserving of an Entertainer of the Year nomination. Share your own top five and your reasoning in the comments.
Over the course of the next two weeks, we’ll do the same with all of the other major categories.
Entertainer of the Year:
The nominees should be:
Brad Paisley
Much like George Strait before him, Paisley has carved out a career that is defined by its consistent success. He’s an increasingly large draw on the road, and his latest album shows that his creative juices are flowing again.
Album Sales Update: July 2009
It’s time for an album sales update, our first since May 23. Brad Paisley is off to a strong start with American Saturday Night, selling 130k in its first week. That’s about 70k less than his previous two studio albums – Time Well Wasted and 5th Gear – opened with, but not a terrible drop-off, considering the state of the music market.
Meanwhile, the new studio albums by Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban are slowing down considerably, now being outpaced on a weekly basis by 2008 releases by Taylor Swift, Zac Brown Band, Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum.
Among younger acts with a new album in 2009, the most impressive sales are coming from Jason Aldean, while 2008 releases from Kellie Pickler, Billy Currington, and Randy Houser are showing new signs of life.
Biggest disappointments? It’s hard not to look in the direction of Martina McBride, who has barely cleared the 100k mark on her new studio set. Lee Ann Womack’s 2008 set just made it over that mark, too. Then again, one only needs to have sold 455 copies to make the chart this week, with the anchor position going to Wynonna with that total. Her covers album Sing – Chapter 1 has sold 41k to date.
Here are the latest totals for albums released over the past three years that are still charting:
2009
- Rascal Flatts, Unstoppable – 842,000
- Keith Urban, Defying Gravity – 452,000
- Jason Aldean, Wide Open – 384,000
- Kenny Chesney, Greatest Hits II – 281,000
- Dierks Bentley, Feel That Fire – 219,000
- Martina McBride, Shine – 104,000
- John Rich, Son of a Preacher Man – 103,000
- Eric Church, Carolina – 94,000
- Rodney Atkins, It’s America – 88,000
- Jake Owen, Easy Does It – 81,000
Brad Paisley, “Welcome to the Future”
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Paisley said about his newest single: “It’s really rare that you feel musically that something you do is more important than just entertainment. And I feel like this song is maybe more important than just entertainment.”
This statement will be met with many a raised eyebrow, and understandably so, as it comes from the artist who previously breathed musical life into ticks, alcohol and MySpace. But interestingly, it’s the same intuitive, sharply clever perspective behind Paisley’s novelty songs that allows him to so tastefully tackle the socially-conscious “Welcome to the Future” – a solid, moving track that is both musically and, as Paisley said, thematically relevant.
Brad Paisley, American Saturday Night
Anyone who has been following my reviews and commentary will know that popular mainstream country music has really been wearing thin on me. As much as it may seem to some people that I enjoy harping on mainstream artists, I truly do not. The fact is that it is pretty disheartening to me, because mainstream country music is where I came into this music that I regard so highly. Therefore, its marked decline is discouraging to say the least.
One of the few mainstream artists that I’ve been able to enjoy in the past few years has been Brad Paisley. His last regular album, 5th Gear was a disappointment for me, however. So, I anticipated this new album, American Saturday Night with both excitement and trepidation, especially since I was not impressed with the lead single, the generic “Then.” I knew that if I ranked it with 5th Gear, Paisley would end up being yet another current artist that I’d have to write off, which would tragically leave me with one less mainstream artist I could embrace—something my short list could not afford. To my relief, not only does Paisley’s new release not rank as low as the aforementioned album, but it may even surpass, Time Well Wasted, the Paisley album that I’ve touted as his best for the past few years.