Recommendation XXXVI: Vince Gill (triple-track)

Now we’ve hit a milestone (for me, at least)…: number 36. This one is real special for me because it’s my lucky number (won’t tell ya why), so I needed a special artist to go with it. I had trouble choosing the artist and the songs that I’d select from them. I know it needed to be a triple track one (hmm, that sounds like a better title than “threesome”, doesn’t it?. Okay, I’m changing it to that now, because the former was almost borderline weird-ish, though it wasn’t intended to be), so I finally made a choice I was satisfied with. This post will be a kinda long one, so prepare yourself for it: take out a comfortable chair and a nice glass of something to sip on…

My thirty-sixth recommendation is/are: Vince Gill’s “Out of My Mind” and “What You Don’t Say” from his 2006 These Days album, AND “Kindly Keep It Country” from his 1998 The Key album.  Yes, yes, it is Vince!  I really couldn’t imagine not discussing him and his music, and it took me quite a while to get to him, but the time has finally come.  Vince Gill is truly one of my absolute favorites and he’s one of the one most talented people in the music industry, ever.  He can sing, write, produce, and play at the highest quality there can be, and that makes him an all-around five-star musician.  I was a fan of his back in the ’90s when I was a little boy, and I didn’t realize how great he was until I bought the Souvenirs album (a greatest hits collection) some years ago and remembered all those songs I loved back then.  As of this moment, I own 71 of his songs (not including the songs I own that include his harmonies/background vocals) and I do plan to add more (he’s probably worked with everybody that I’ve reviewed on this site already lol).  Choosing the three tracks for this recommendation was not an easy task , but I made up my mind.

Recommendation XXXV: Anita Cochran w/ the Voice of Conway Twitty

Lately, I’ve been watching some documentaries through my NetFlix because I ran out of movies I was immediately interesting in seeing, and I’ve learned that they’re really compelling to watch. The last one I saw (well, we saw… since my family watched it with me because I wanted them to) was Sicko, the latest documentary by Michael Moore. I know, I know. I think he’s kinda annoying too, and I know there’s got to be some exaggeration in the claims, but I got the general truth from it, and I thought the film was put together real well. It was about how insurance companies take extreme advantage of the American people and man, it is horrible. Didn’t know they were so evil. Recommended for anybody to watch. I’ll definitely have to research more on that. Anyway, onto my next selection… (and ooh, #36 is coming up pretty soon, my lucky number…)

My thirty-fifth recommendation is: Anita Cochran’s (with The Voice of Conway Twitty) “(I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin’ Song” from her 2004 (I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin’ Song – Single album.  I have no idea the first time I heard Anita’s music…but I know she hasn’t had too much success on the country charts.  I know she had that hit #1 duet with Steve Wariner (“What If I Said”), which I gotta admit, I never really cared for, even though I like both of them.  I think it’s too adult-contemporary-sounding and way too lovey-dovey for me lol.  Otherwise, I don’t think there’s any other hits from Ms. Cochran, which is a shame because she’s really talented.  Her vocals are somewhat like Wynonna Judd‘s (I don’t like to refer to Wynonna by just her first name alone lol because her last name is part of who she is), but otherwise, IMO, Anita Cochran‘s got a voice distinct from other females.  I thought I should mention this quickly (but it certainly isn’t needed lol): Anita’s first and last name spoken together have got a James Bond/Austin Powers girl-like thing sorta goin’ on with it, if you say them together (…I know, too R-rated, but I thought it would be kinda funny to bring it up real quick.  Forgive me.).

Recommendation XXXIV: Sheryl Crow

All I can say to this site’s audience: thanks so much for waiting.  It means a lot to me that people still check out this site regularly even when I don’t post too often.  With my time off from school, I’ve got my good times and bad: it’s nice not having to stress over work and papers (my film class woulda been so fun though), but it is killing me not being able to hang out with my many buddies and others back there.  I feel like I’m missing out and will miss out on lots of stuff, and I’m thinking I might not be able to return in 2009.  But I came up with a plan to visit my friends early than planned before 2008 is over, so I’m excited about that (will be kinda expensive though…lol).  Anyway, I can guess what most of you are thinking when you saw the picture on the side: what’s she doing on the site?  She’s not country! I know she may not be considered “country”, but she’s done several works within the genre and she has integrated it somewhat in her style throughout her whole career.  She’s worked with Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Jack Ingram, Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill, and others, and even her duet with Kid Rock (“Picture”) sounded more country than most songs on country radio, so I think she’s earned at least a recommendation (She even had another single on the country charts with the poppier single, “The First Cut is the Deepest”, if you can remember that.)

My thirty-fourth recommendation is: Sheryl Crow’s “Anything But Down” from her 1998 The Globe Sessions album.  Sheryl is one of my favorite rock/pop artists and I like a fair amount of her work.  I’d have to say that “All I Wanna Do” (the much much better of the songs with that name.  Yeah, I said it, and I do mean it, Sugarland.) is my favorite song of her’s because it’s so catchy and reminds me of the ’90s.  It’s got a slight country feel to it with the steel guitar that’s used prominently in the track, and her voice is always easy to notice.  Even when she turned pop with “Soak Up the Sun”, she was still as good as ever (though, her rockier, edgier stuff is preferred).  I remember when I was young, I confused her with Martina McBride when I saw her lol, especially with her music video for the James Bond movie, “Tomorrow Never Dies” (now I don’t really see any similarities, except that they had real short hair in the past).  My only complaint about Ms. Sheryl Crow is that she seems to kinda mumble when she performs live and while it it part of her style and isn’t done on purpose, it gets somewhat distracting.  But whatever, she’s still a great music icon.

Recommendation XXXIII: Garth Brooks

Howdy there. Guess what? I’m back at the library, and able to blog once more. I had an exciting last week with all the hype that came with the Democratic National Convention here in Denver and it was crazy to see all those huge amounts of people out and about in downtown (I woulda really liked to have experienced seeing one of the protests though haha). I liked hearing the speeches last week and am looking forward to listening to all the speeches that will be given this week with the Republican National Convention (I was really thrilled to hear Brooks & Dunn‘s “Only In America” come on the speakers after Obama gave his speech – that was pretty cool). Now, we’re dealing with Gustav, and it’s good to hear that it’s not as bad as expected and New Orleans was better prepared this time. Lately, I’ve been watching the news a lot, so I’m pretty aware of things going on (which is good for a young guy like me… I should know this stuff). Right now, it is almost 1:30am and Tuesday morning, and I’m typing up my first draft to post later today (I am lovin’ having the day off)…

My thirty-third recommendation is: Garth Brooks’s “Don’t Cross the River” from his 2001 Scarecrow album.  This is actually a first for iCF Music (and surprisingly, the first time I’ve ever mentioned Garth in this blog, I think).  It’s a first because usually the music I recommend is available for legal download on iTunes or somewhere else (I wouldn’t recommend obtaining it illegally either), but unfortunately, Mr. Brooks and his decision doesn’t leave me any choice in the matter because songs of his’ cannot be purchased individually (you have to buy the entire album somewhere online or offline).  His argument has something to with songwriters and something else, or whatever (can’t remember exactly, but it did make sense)… though I think putting your music on iTunes and other online stores makes it easier for fans (and the environment, to an extent) because buying songs individually is better for the wallets and IMO, lessens the risk of illegal downloading.  But whatever, that’s a whole other issue lol, and I want to get to the music and the man.  Garth Brooks is one of my very top favorites (my fifth most favorite artist) and I think he’s incredible.  He’s so good that my most favorite song of his’ keeps changing and it’s tough for me to pick just one (I think I’ve got the top narrowed down to either “That Summer”, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)”, “The Beaches of Cheyenne”, or “The Dance”.