Eric Church
Single Review: Eric Church, “Cold One”
Sneaky, clever guy, that Eric Church.
Way to totally upend expectations lyrically and musically. The song is set up to be one of those “drinkin’ in the sun anthems,” with a paint-by-numbers kinda country production to boot. Then a few lines in, the guy gets dumped by the cold one who left him “one beer short of a 12-pack.”
Single Review: Eric Church, “Give Me Back My Hometown”
“The Outsiders,” the title track and lead single from Eric Church’s new album, may have strayed too much into the realm of metal for its own good, but it served as a strong mission statement. Like him or not, Church is one of the few male country singers today who are willing to stray from the country-party-dude template, and even his songs that don’t quite hit the mark are more interesting than most singles currently on the radio.
2013 CMA Awards: Staff Picks & Predictions
They’re as hope-dangling and ridiculous as they’ve ever been, those Country Music Association voters, and the CU staff has picked and predicted their 2013 awards below. Let us know what you think, and check back for our live blog on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST!
Entertainer of the Year
Should Win:
- Jason Aldean
- Luke Bryan
- Blake Shelton
- George Strait
- Taylor Swift
Will Win:
- Jason Aldean
- Luke Bryan
- Blake Shelton – Dan, Ben, Jonathan, Kevin, Tara
- George Strait
- Taylor Swift
Single Review: Eric Church, “The Outsiders”
A fun and catchy anthem for rebels who aren’t rebelling against anything in particular.
If Eric Church is anyone’s successor these days, it’s probably Hank Williams, Jr. There’s no specific ideology or established enemy in Church’s latest single, but it’s such a barn raiser that it’s very easy to side with him anyway. “The Outsiders” taps into that quintessentially American desire to champion for the underdog, and it does it quite well.
Freakin' "Accidental Racist," Y'all
In case you spent yesterday outdoors and missed it, Brad Paisley released his eyebrow-raising new collaboration with rapper LL Cool J, “Accidental Racist,” and the Internet’s eyebrows shot up into outer space.
Summarizing this song and all it entails feels, frankly, beyond me. It has to be experienced firsthand. Listen to it if you can find a clip that hasn’t been taken down, or download it on iTunes. But here are the lyrics:
CU's Top Singles of 2012
Something you probably already know about us here at Country Universe: We love country music. A lot. While truly great country music has become scarce on country radio, we are fortunate to live in an age in which modern technology has made great music more accessible than ever, regardless of whether Top 40 radio dares touch it.
At the close of each year we separate the grain from the chaff, and share the music we discovered over the past year that made us glad that we stuck with our genre of choice. We at Country Universe have put our heads together to create the following lists of favorite singles and albums of 2012.