Reba McEntire

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Picking the CMA Nominees: Female Vocalist of the Year

August 19, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 77

In the Entertainer and Male Vocalist races, I’ve been making the case for fresh blood. In those categories, the routine nominees are mostly past their peaks, and there’s room to let some rising stars in on the action.

Oh, to be able to make the same case for the Female Vocalist race. Let’s take a look at last year’s nominees:

2009

  • Miranda Lambert
  • Martina McBride
  • Reba McEntire
  • Taylor Swift
  • Carrie Underwood

For the first time in this category’s history, I believe voters are facing a dilemma that plagued the Vocal Duo category for most of the nineties: there just aren’t enough worthy nominees to finish out the category.

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Single Review: Reba McEntire, “Turn On the Radio”

July 7, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 79

How to review this new Reba McEntire single?

I could…

A. Write something short and not particularly clever:

Turn off the radio!

B. Moan that this is a record beneath the talents of a future/should already be present Country Music Hall of Famer:

Why is the great voice that brought us “You Lie” and “Somebody Should Leave” singing this?

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Single Review: Joe Nichols, “The Shape I’m In”

July 3, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 6

I remember thinking when I first heard Sara Evans sing “Cheatin'” that it was the best record Reba McEntire hadn’t recorded in a long time.

Listening to the new Joe Nichols single “The Shape I’m In”, I’m thinking the same thing about George Strait.

Perhaps it’s just because “The Breath You Take” is still a fresh disappointment in my mind, but I can’t help thinking Strait would’ve knocked “The Shape I’m In” out of the park.

That being said, Nichols does a good job himself, in a vocal performance that is so inspired by Strait it might as well be an homage.

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How Very Nineties: George Jones & Friends, and other All Star Jams

June 13, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 11

New fans of country music in the nineties were hit over the head with the assertion that country music was one big family. Nothing demonstrated this mythos better than the all star jams that cropped up during the boom years.

There were some variants of this approach. A popular one found a veteran star teaming up with one or more of the boom artists to increase their chances of radio airplay. George Jones was big on this approach, with the most high profile attempt being “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair.” Seventeen years later, it’s amazing to see how young everyone looks – even Jones himself!

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ACM 2010: Ladies Night

April 19, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 75

Female artists dominated this year’s ACM Awards in a way that would have been unimaginable just five years earlier, with nearly all of the major winners of the evening coming from a female solo artist or a band that prominently features a female vocalist. More significantly, this year’s ACM dissented from the CMA this fall in the marquee categories of Entertainer and Female Vocalist, which makes this fall’s CMA Awards that much more unpredictable.

Here’s my spin on the show’s highlights:

Carrie Underwood wins Entertainer of the Year

Perhaps we should have known not to underestimate the fan base of Ms. Underwood, who helped deliver the singing siren her second consecutive win for Entertainer of the Year. With Taylor Swift dominating the Grammys and CMAs, it was easy to forget that Underwood has continued to do quite well in her own right. Her string of hits at radio – eleven consecutive top two hits, nine of which reached #1 – is unprecedented. She’s also had ten gold singles, three of which have sold platinum or better. Her third album, Play On, has moved her cumulative album sales past eleven million.

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