Tim McGraw
2014 Grammy Awards: Staff Picks & Predictions
The Country Universe staff has picked and predicted the 2014 Grammy Awards below, strange bunch that they are. Chime in with your thoughts, and catch the show on Sunday at 7 p.m. CST.
Album of the Year
Should Win:
- Sara Bareilles, The Blessed Unrest
- Daft Punk, Random Access Memories – Kevin
- Kendrick Lamar, good kid m.A.A.d. city – Jonathan
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist
- Taylor Swift, Red
Will Win:
- Sara Bareilles, The Blessed Unrest
- Daft Punk, Random Access Memories – Kevin, Jonathan
- Kendrick Lamar, good kid m.A.A.d. city
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist
- Taylor Swift, Red
Kevin: With electronic music so mainstream now, it would be wise and timely for NARAS to acknowledge the excellent comeback of one of its pioneers, especially as the year’s best country albums (Brandy Clark, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, etc.) and the year’s best rap album (Kanye West) didn’t score nominations in the top category.
Jonathan: Lamar and Daft Punk would both be worthy winners of an award that rarely seems to go to one. Hip-hop and R&B have notoriously struggled in the general field in recent years, so Daft Punk’s cachet with the rock contingent should give them the edge over Swift, who didn’t score the across-the-board support many were expecting from her this year. If the voters are feeling especially timid, though, watch out for “Brave” yelper Bareilles as a spoiler.
2014 Grammy Nominees
The nominations for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards have been announced. Taylor Swift has the top nomination connected to country music, earning her second nomination for Album of the Year. She took home the award four years ago for Fearless.
Here are the general category nominees, along with all country and country-related categories:
Album of the Year
- Sara Bareilles, The Blessed Unrest
- Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
- Kendrick Lamar, good kid m.A.A.d. city
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist
- Taylor Swift, Red
If Taylor Swift wins, she will be the first country-related artist in history to win the category twice with individual projects. Alison Krauss also has two victories, one for her collaboration with Robert Plant (Raising Sand, 2009), and another for her contributions to the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack (2002.) The award has only been won by country artists in two other years: Glen Campbell for By the Time I Get to Phoenix (1968), and the Dixie Chicks for Taking the Long Way (2007).
CMA Live Blog 2013
The festivities begin at 8 PM EST. Refresh for updates and check for winners above the fold:
Winners:
Entertainer: George Strait
Male Vocalist: Blake Shelton
Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert
Vocal Group: Little Big Town
Album: Blake Shelton, Based On a True Story…
New Artist: Kacey Musgraves
Vocal Duo: Florida Georgia Line
Song: “I Drive Your Truck” – Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, and Jimmy Yeary
Single: “Cruise” – Florida Georgia Line
Music Video: “Highway Don’t Care” – Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban; director: Shane Drake
Musical Event: “Highway Don’t Care” – Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban
CMA Awards: Entertainer of the Year (1967-2013)
Since its inception, the top honor an artist could be given at the Country Music Association awards is this one: Entertainer of the Year. Originally a revolving door of winners, the winner in early years was often not even nominated the following year. In 1981, Barbara Mandrell became the first artist to win the award twice. Alabama succeeded her with a three year run from 1982-1984. Fourteen years later, Garth Brooks became the first artist two win four times, a feat later matched by Kenny Chesney in 2008.
Here’s a look back at the award from the very beginning, along with some facts and feats about the category and its nominees.
1967
- Bill Anderson
- Eddy Arnold
- Merle Haggard
- Sonny James
- Buck Owens
One year after being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Eddy Arnold was named the very first Entertainer of the Year at the inaugural CMA awards in 1967. Don’t assume it was a sympathy vote. Arnold had three #1 hits in the twelve months leading up to the ceremony, as he was in the middle of his impressive mid-sixties comeback, a period best defined by the 1965 classic, “Make the World Go Away.” He remains the only member of the Hall of Fame to win this award after being inducted.
Single Reviews Round-Up: Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw ft. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, & Kip Moore
Rascal Flatts, “Changed”
Like “I Won’t Let Go” a few years back, “Changed” is built on a sweeping sentiment, rousing melody and very little else. That’s not an inherently bad thing; despite an ounce of detail about the confessor, “Changed” feels like a confession –it pleads and swells and submits. Add in an earnest and relatively restrained performance, and the song has legs.
Written by Gary LeVox, Wendell Mobley & Neil Thrasher
Album Review: Tim McGraw, <i>Two Lanes of Freedom</i>
Tim McGraw
Two Lanes of Freedom
Though Tim McGraw’s music was among the best to be heard on country radio in the late nineties and early two thousands, recent years have seen his choice of material embarking on a gradual downward slide before bottoming out entirely with last year’s Curb Records swan song Emotional Traffic. With McGraw’s recent output being what it is, and with him now being in the clutches of Scott Borchetta, it’s hard to approach Two Lanes of Freedom with high expectations.
