Posted by: Cobra The year 1986 kicked off the career of who many would argue is a country music icon. Yes, his chart success has decreased in recent years, and sometimes, even in the prime of his career, it often didn’t reach the level it deserved. But Dwight Yoakam’s status in country music history is cemented.
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Posted by: Cobra Welcome to Week 2 of my non-country album recommendation of the week. This week, I am recommending Emerson Hart’s 2014 album Beauty in Disrepair. I referred to this album in my non-country recommendations in my Top 10 Albums of the Year post back in December.
Posted by: Cobra Victor Krummenacher's Hard to See Trouble Coming was released on January 6th. It's genre is squarely within the Americana realm. There's a heavy Country-Rock flair to the music. There’s a darkness to the music and while there seems to be some optimism layered deep within it, on the forefront there seems to be a much heavier layer of depression.
Posted by: Cobra This past week I traveled to Kentucky to visit the Country Music Highway Museum in Paintsville, KY. It’s a small local museum and not very large, but it is dedicated to celebrating artists born and raised in Kentucky, on and near historic Highway 23, known as Country Music Highway. Artists included there are Dwight Yoakam, Loretta Lynn, Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless, The Judds, and Crystal Gayle, among a few others.
Posted by: Cobra Stephen Chadwick's Let's Do This Thing reminds me a bit of Cody Johnson's Cowboy Like Me. When I reviewed that album back in November, I noted that while the music was straight authentic country, a good deal of the lyrics seemed to play into many of the tropes and pitfalls of mainstream country music. I also noted however, that I bought Johnson as a cowboy, and that he reminds me a bit of Chris Ledoux.
Posted by: Cobra Ask a country music fan what their favorite George Strait album is (excluding hits packages), and you're likely to get a wide variety of answers. A lot of people may even decline to answer on the premise that it's impossible to choose one favorite album among 28 albums that all maintain a traditional country sound in an ever-increasing pop-sounding industry.
Posted by: Troy By now, most people know about Ryan Bingham or they should. The man has won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his contribution to the "Crazy Heart" soundtrack with the song "The Weary Kind". He's steadily been gaining popularity since his debut album "Mescalito" and been on the upswing since.
Posted by: Cobra I have decided to introduce a new column to Hope For Country Music. I review a lot of country music albums and songs here, but I decided to begin giving a non-country music album recommendation each week.
This was partially inspired by a section of Country Perspective’s “Hodgepodge of Country Stuff” column, but honestly, this is something I’ve been considering doing for a while. I have a lot of non-country music in my music catalog, and while my primary love of music is country, I do have a wide array of tastes. Posted by: Cobra PLEASE NOTE: I ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED THIS ARTICLE IN JULY OF 2014 WHEN THE SONG WAS A PREVIEW TRACK FROM RICE'S THEN UPCOMING ALBUM IGNITE THE NIGHT. I HAVE MADE A COUPLE OF SLIGHT UPDATES (IN BOLD) AS WELL AS UPDATING THE RATING SLIGHTLY.
This song is about as unique as another season of Survivor. Maybe the contestants are different, maybe the specific setting is different, but it’s really all the same in the long run. There’s very little else to be said about this song, a preview track from Rice’s upcoming album Ignite the Night. It contains the same clichés as fifty other songs currently being played on your average mainstream country radio station. And it doesn’t do anything even remotely different with them. It contains the same auto-tune that you’ll hear in many of those other songs. It doesn’t do anything different in that regard either. And while the song may not be as up-tempo as some as Rice’s other offerings, it’s hardly a novel idea to have these clichés in slower songs either. Posted by: Cobra I have not yet heard Cody Canada and the Departed's first album This Is Indian Land, and I will admit I was not a huge fan of Cross Canadian Ragweed (forgive me for the fact that at the time they were around, my idea of country music was whatever was being shoved out on the Top 40 Countdown, though I've obviously since mended my ways).
However, I picked up HippieLovePunk when it was released. And I'm certainly not sorry that I did. Cody Canada certainly has a unique voice. It's similar to what I remember from Cross Canadian Ragweed, which probably explains why at the time I didn't particularly like it. Now I find it to be something that makes him stand out. This is a different album. It took me a couple of listens even to really find myself in-sync with the music, getting in touch with its rhythms. The first time I listened to it, I wasn't completely sure what I thought of it. Even among Texas Country albums, it's quite different. Then I started thinking about what I felt were standout tracks on the album. I found myself listing no fewer than five tracks that I felt were particularly strong. That in itself told me something. This was music I was really really liking. Particular tracks that I found myself considering among the best on the album were "Easy," "Got It," "Back Closer," "Stay," and "All Nighter" (which ended up being my favorite track on the collection). No two tracks are the same on this album. And I don't mean that in the same way that they're different just from what you'll hear on your local "country" station. There's a real diversity of sound here. The songs are all clearly by the same group, the same artist; but at the same time, you can imagine them forming an hour-long block of music on a radio station and still having a wide variety of themes and sounds in the mix. Give this album a listen. Give it a few listens. Give it time to gel and form in your mind. You won't be disappointed. |
LINKS
Here are some links to other pop culture websites and blogs worth checking out:
- Saving Country Music - Country Perspective - Farce the Music - Country Exclusive - This Is Country Music - Country Music Minds - Matt Lynn Digital Pop Culture Potpourri Writers
Cobra is a Human Resources professional from the Greater Cleveland Area with a love of good country music and a disdain for pop, rock, and rap mislabeled as country music. His favorite artists include (but are not limited to) Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers Band, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Turnpike Troubadours, Hayes Carll, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Trisha Yearwood, Dwight Yoakam, and Johnny Cash Archives
December 2017
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