Earlier this year when Kiefer Sutherland announced he was working on releasing a country album, the question arose as to what the result would be. Then he released a lead single called “Not Enough Whiskey” and it was surprisingly strong. Granted it was difficult to imagine this as anything other than Jack Bauer singing, but once you looked past that, it was definitely 100 times better than most of what populates mainstream country radio.
Posted by: Cobra
There’s always a suspicion when an actor turns to music that they are trying to capitalize on a popularity that they have achieved and channel it into a new medium. Sometimes it turns out well, like with Billy Bob Thornton or Hugh Laurie (who has put out two fantastic Blues albums). Other times, not so much, like with Don Johnson and David Hasselhoff.
Earlier this year when Kiefer Sutherland announced he was working on releasing a country album, the question arose as to what the result would be. Then he released a lead single called “Not Enough Whiskey” and it was surprisingly strong. Granted it was difficult to imagine this as anything other than Jack Bauer singing, but once you looked past that, it was definitely 100 times better than most of what populates mainstream country radio.
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Posted by: Cobra
In 2014, Cody Johnson released Cowboy Like Me, his fourth album. While I quite enjoyed the album, I felt that some of the songs fell into some of the lyrical traps that are often criticized in modern country music: songs like “Give a Cowboy a Kiss,” “Bottle It Up,” and “Proud” seemed to be songs that would get lost in the shuffle of many songs of the same ilk. Others however were much stronger offerings, like “Me and My Kind,” “Holes,” and the title track. And of course the album was true country music through and through, so it’s an album I’ve still enjoyed even with a few flaws. Still, I never felt it measured up to A Different Day or Six Strings, One Dream.
But I had high hopes coming into his latest album, Gotta Be Me. Posted by: Cobra Some classify Sean McConnell as part of the Texas Country scene, though for me it’s difficult to classify him in that group. When I think of Texas Country, I think of acts like Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers Band (both of whom McConnell has collaborated with), Turnpike Troubadours, Stoney LaRue, Courtney Patton, Jamie Lin Wilson, and Jason Eady. There’s a certain sound to the music that I hear and associate as Texas Country which is much closer to a traditional sound.
None of this is meant to be a knock against Sean McConnell – I simply don’t hear it as the same style of sound. Elements are there, especially on his previous release Midland, a fantastic album. However, when I hear McConnell, his sound leans more towards a cross between Texas Country, an acoustic style country, and the Americana/Country style similar to Jason Isbell. Posted by: Cobra It’s been a long time since I found an album that is such a polar opposite of itself. It wouldn’t even be fair to call this album “all over the place” so much that it bounces back and forth between some very good and some very bad songs, with a couple of middle of the road songs thrown in.
Posted by: Cobra “When people hear this record, they may not know what happened to me, but they’re gonna know how I felt about it.”
This was Blake Shelton’s promise about his new album a few months before it was released. Ever since Shelton’s popularity skyrocketed after the release of Pure B.S. (arguably his best album, in my opinion), the quality of his music has gone on a seemingly never-ending nosedive. Startin’ Fires was even still a decent album, but beyond that, Shelton basically sold out for popularity and money and stopped caring at all about making any kind of quality music. But Pure B.S. was released in the wake of Shelton’s divorce, and the emotion showed through. However, familiar with Shelton’s recent output, I wasn’t quite sure if he was up to the task of seeing the opportunity he had – Shelton could channel some real emotion here and get back to showing a talent he’d long since abandoned. But I was willing to give him a shot. Posted by: Cobra I recently commented on a YouTube video for Brantley Gilbert’s song “Saving Amy” (one of a few songs of his I actually enjoy) that I wished he would release more songs like that and “You Promised” and less like “Bottoms Up” and “Small Town Throwdown.” Someone replied to me that “the song is very personal for him and hard to perform, which is why he doesn’t release more like it or perform it live.”
God forbid a singer get personal or reveal something about himself in a song, I replied. No, that may tear down the douchebag image Gilbert’s worked so hard maintain. Posted by: Cobra This is in some ways a unique and difficult review to write. Sister Hazel is a band I grew up with and a band I’ve always been a fan of. I’ve seen them live multiple times and always look forward to new music from them. So I really wanted to like this album. But when I heard this was being marketed as a country album, I had some serious concerns.
And some of those concerns are assuaged, but some unfortunately came to fruition. Posted by: Cobra What if we started treating other forms of media the way country music is treated? That is to say, what if we started including anything and everything as whatever genre someone felt like calling it?
A couple of witty remarks from Haywood in The Shawshank Redemption don’t somehow turn the movie into a comedy. Nor does Phil Connors driving off the cliff with the groundhog in Groundhog Day turn that movie into an action movie. Trying to classify movies as something different than what they are, chances are, it wouldn’t go over to well. While people may still go see the movies, the misclassiications would be laughed at. Maybe these above examples seem ridiculous, but given the current state of country music where a token banjo somewhere in the background of a song, the examples aren’t ridiculous at all. Because apparently, those minor little things automatically make a song country. Detractors of the current state of country music are often asked “well why do you get to decide what’s country and what isn’t?” But the fact is, no one is “deciding” that music is country. I don’t listen to REO Speedwagon and decide that it’s rock-and-roll. It just is rock-and-roll. Genre is a fact – it’s not an opinion. That’s not to say music can’t have multiple influences or even fluctuate between a couple of different genres. Often times it does. In fact, country is a genre that has often been known for including multiple influences. In fact, country and southern-rock have often been very closely linked with many great artists having music that could fit into either one of those genres. Country and folk also are very closely linked. Kip Moore’s recent album is an example of this. The album is actually more rock than it is country, but it’s almost more roots rock. There’s an authentic feel to it. While there are a few cliché-laden songs, the album doesn’t give in to a whole lot of trend-chasing. But country music has always had something that defines it as country. And today’s “country” music has flat-out abandoned those aspects. Yet somehow, it’s still considered country by the masses. So, why is music special in this regard? Why is music, especially country music, so often miscategorized, both by the industry and by listeners when other forms of media, like movies, are usually properly categorized? There are a couple of potential answers that I can think of. 1) There are a lot of music fans who classify themselves as fans of a genre. And many of these artists who are miscategorized as country would never make many waves in the genres that they should be classified: pop, rock, EDM, etc. And sadly, country becomes a dumping ground for anything and everything that wouldn’t sell elsewhere. As a result, country music is saddled with the Cole Swindells and the Florida Georgia Lines – the rejects from other genres. Movies are a bit different. When a person sees a movie trailer, their first concern is likely not the genre, but whether the movie itself looks good. While many might have a favorite movie genre, most movie-goers won’t immediately classify themselves as fans of only one or two genres. And actors and actresses themselves also tend to move between different genres – so when a movie-goer will see anything with their favorite actor, this makes the classification of the genre much more solid – marketing it to fans of a specific genre isn’t as necessary. 2) The elements that make a movie part of a certain genre are, to some extent, much more limited, and therefore, it is much more difficult to pass off as a genre it is not. With music, there are many elements that can and do make something part of a certain genre (e.g. country). Not every single element of the genre will be in every single song. A lot of the time, and understand its overall feel to be able to know the genre. It takes an actual ear for music in addition to knowledge of the genre and its components. What we have instead is deceptive marketers having musicians throw in token elements to deceive the most easily manipulated of listeners. This may shed some light on why music is treated differently than other forms of entertainment. While there may be a lot of bad movies, generally, they will be classified into the proper genre. It’s time to give music the same respect. It’s time for the music industry to stop lying to people and start classifying music as it should be classified. Posted by: Cobra 2015 saw a lot of great songs come out from a lot of great artists. 2015 also saw some good songs come from otherwise underwhelming artists who put out underwhelming albums. The following is a list of 25 essential songs from 2015. These are not necessarily the "best" 25 songs of the year (though some may deserve to be on such a list). Also, this list is not a ranking. Unlike ranking albums, ranking songs can be a lot more difficult. So, rather, this is simply a list of 25 essential songs from 2015. I also expanded my rules a bit from what I did with my albums list: 1) I included songs from artists who made impacts on the Americana charts, even if they were not necessarily country 2) I could have chosen the entire Randy Rogers/Wade Bowen album and filled ten slots - so for that reason, I decided to limit entries to ONE song per artist (or rather, per album). Again, this list is not a ranking. I sorted alphabetically, by artist. "Gone Before You Met Me" Alan Jackson Angels & Alcohol "Smoke Break" Carrie Underwood Storyteller "When the Stars Come Out" Chris Stapleton Traveller "I'm Comin' Over" Chris Young I'm Comin' Over "So This Is Life" Courtney Patton So This Is Life "Old Friend" Dean Brody Gypsy Road "That Old Flame" Don Henley w/ Martina McBride Cass County "Second Hand Heart" Dwight Yoakam Second Hand Heart "Record Year" Eric Church Mr. Misunderstood "Everything I See" George Strait Cold Beer Conversation "Just Some Things" Jamie Lin Wilson feat Wade Bowen Holidays & Wedding Rings "All I've Got" Jana Kramer Thirty-One (Deluxe Edition) "Speed Trap Town" Jason Isbell Something More Than Free "Where the Night Goes" Josh Ritter Sermon on the Rocks "Dime Store Cowgirl" Kacey Musgraves Pageant Material "That Was Us" Kip Moore Wild Ones "Faded Gloryville" Lindi Ortega Faded Gloryville "Unfair Weather Friend" Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson Django & Jimmie "El Dorado" Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen Hold My Beer, Vol. 1 "Broken Heart Tattoos" Ryan Bingham Fear and Saturday Night "Til the Morning Comes" Stoney LaRue Us Time "Like Lovers" Striking Matches Nothing But the Silence "Humble and Kind" Tim McGraw Damn Country Music "Ringing in the Year" Turnpike Troubadours The Turnpike Troubadours "Suffer In Peace" Tyler Farr Suffer In Peace Chime in below. What are your thoughts? What were your favorite songs of the year? Posted by: Cobra Wow. 2015 went by FAST. The year has gone as quick as it came. And with the end of the year come the traditional end-of-year “Best of” Lists, and I am not exclusion.
As with 2014, mainstream country music saw some horrendous releases. But mixed in with those were a few glimmers of hope on the horizon, an indication that maybe, just maybe, a tide might be turning. As the year moved on, there seemed to be some signs that 2016 might see some improvement. I’m going to start a bit differently this year. I’m going to give a few non-country recommendations and a few honorable mentions in the country genre (I mean, to me, it seems a bit anti-climactic to countdown a list to Number 1 and then end the list with honorable mentions that didn’t make the cut. Am I right?) So, first, a few non-country recommendations that I found to be particularly strong releases this year: |
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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