Recommendation IX: k.d. lang

Looks like I’m back now. I’ve had an incredibly busy week and have been doing a lot of studying and other things, so I knew I had to make a new entry while I had some time to spare. It takes me quite some time to write these up and get them published, so please try to be patient lol. Earlier this week, I found that much to my surprise and delight, Kevin @ Country Universe was inspired by me with this blog’s format (which is funny because he inspired me with this blog haha), so he now has a new feature on his site, appropriately titled “Choice Cuts”. Check out the first feature that spotlights a song from the great Emmylou Harris.

My ninth recommendation is: k.d. lang’s “I’m Down to My Last Cigarette” from her 1988 Shadowland album.  Don’t let her odd appearance fool you: this woman is amazing and has a voice that totally stands out on its own with a great amount of power that will hold you. I don’t remember the first time I heard it: all I remember is that I was curious about her several years ago, and I read up her biography online and wanted to know more (you can read up on her on Wikipedia here). I think the original interest in k.d. lang was because I found out she sang a song I liked from years back, called “Constant Craving”.  That song is a pop tune and I love it now, so I was surprised to read that she used to sing traditional country songs in her career before the pop songs. Seems like her appearance and the fact that she is not straight, made Nashville look down on her and reject her, even despite her immense talent. I won’t go too far into that since I want to talk more about the song, but it’s definitely an interesting topic to discuss, considering how radio is lacking some of the best country music it could have, but they don’t want it for mostly dumb reasons.

Recommendation VIII: Waylon Payne

I decided to make a new blog entry tonight since I have nothing else to do tonight lol. I had some plans but they fell through and I’m not doing anything at all right now except surfing the internet and listening to my iTunes at the same time, and then blogging this now as well. I actually wrote the beginning of this entry last night, but I ended up watching a movie with a friend and didn’t finish, so now I’m continuing this on today (Saturday) b/c I’ve got nothing to do tonight since my friends are not here lol. A new entry was needed anyway! :p

My eighth recommendation is: Waylon Payne’s “Her” from his 2004 The Drifter album. I don’t think I had ever heard of Waylon at all until I saw him on TV with Lee Ann Womack at the 2005 CMA’s in New York City when she won all those awards, deservingly. Later on, I saw his acting performance as Jerry Lee Lewis in the incredible Johnny Cash movie, Walk the Line, and he did awesome in his portrayal. Through these, I was definitely interested in Waylon Payne, but I didn’t know his music at all. I read that his mother was the late-and-great Sammi Smith (“Help Me Make It Through the Night”) and that he was named after Waylon Jennings. I did remember that Womack made a list of “music that you should hear” on Amazon.com and she said: ” Not only is Waylon a great writer–but the heartache in his voice is so believable…it just pours out of the stereo speakers. Achingly great album. ” I have listening to clips of the album and it sounds good and I will have to buy it sometime, but the song that stood out most to me was “Her”.

Recommendation VII: Dolly Parton

First of all, let me send out my condolences to all the people who have been affected by and/or lost a loved one in today’s tragedy at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. I’m in college right now and just reading about it, just makes me shocked and horrified. I still cannot believe how terrible this world can be at times and I hate when I am reminded of it like this. I know that deaths and murders happen everyday all across the world, but it’s not something I really think about. I had to make a new post today, and comment about it, and choose an appropriate song to fit the circumstances, but it can apply to lots of things in this world. Music can be a great way to help heal oneself from a loss and combining that with God’s assistance through prayer, your pain can begin to go away.

Having said that, my seventh recommendation is: Dolly Parton’s “Hello God” from her 2002 Halos & Horns album. I believe that this song is one of best songs ever written. I first heard it years ago when she sang it at the CMA’s or ACM’s one year (probably 2002). I remember that night pretty well too. The power had gone out where we lived, and I needed to get my homework done, so my mom drove me to the closet library So I could work on it. Our local radio station was airing the award show, and since the TV wasn’t working and I really wanted to see it, I just did my work in the car in the parking lot with my mom right by me, listening to the audio broadcast of the show. I remember hearing Dolly’s performance and I was really moved by the power of the lyrics, her vocals, and her emotion. Dolly Parton basically said what it seems like everyone in the world must be thinking (with the exception of some people), especially in this post-911 world where we question a lot of things that are happening then before (at least, I see it that way).

Recommendation VI: Alison Krauss

For this one, I didn’t know what to do. I had several lined up and it’s so hard to just pick one since they’re all excellent and have their own story to them. When I made the last entry, I wanted a group song. I was originally going to use AKUS (Alison Krauss & Union Station), but I had trouble picking a song from them to feature. Since I’m really big on variety and I think male and females have made a lot of great contributions to music equally, I try to alternate in between the genders in my entries, and I also wanted to choose a bluegrass one this time, so going with Alison Krauss seemed the natural choice.

So, my sixth recommendation is: Alison Krauss’s “Jacob’s Dream” from her 2007 A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection album. This is one of five never-before-released tracks from Alison and it’s just INCREDIBLE. I totally love the album and am so glad I got it earlier this month on April 3rd when it came out. Along with the new songs, there are 11 other songs on the collection (16 tracks in all), and this is one of the best albums I own, I gotta say. It is definitely worth the money if you are a fan of Alison’s voice and are willing to hear more music from her, so not just her bluegrass work with Union Station. I got this album because I really liked the clips I heard of the songs and I really wanted the songs from the Cold Mountain soundtrack that are on here lol. I already owned some of the songs from other albums, but that doesn’t matter: that just proves how talented Alison Krauss is.

Recommendation V: Diamond Rio

Alright: I’m back! I apologize for not updating this blog regularly: it’s been almost two weeks since that last one, and I’ve been really busy with Spring Break and coming back with a whole lot of class work to do (I still have work to do tonight: three papers, but I knew I had to do a new one, or I’d lose my audience lol). I still have tons more songs I am going to showcase and ideas to go with, so I really am going to try to do much more work with this! Looking back at the past four reviews, I know I needed to change it up even more for variety’s sake, so I decided to go with a group this time:

My fifth recommendation is: Diamond Rio’s “You’ll Find Me” from their 2002 Completely album. My sister actually bought this album for my mom because my mom loves their song and radio single, “Beautiful Mess”, and at the time, we only had a few albums to listen to in the car, so we’d listen to this one on road trips. I’m not going to lie, but when we first heard this album for the first few times, we didn’t really care for it too much. Even though, I love Diamond Rio a whole lot, especially for their radio singles in the ’90s, the album had to grow on me initially because I just wasn’t ready for it. Now, after listening to it several times, we can see that it’s just a really good album and has some great songs throughout. And of course, Diamond Rio’s harmonies/vocals and their playing are excellent on the songs.