“I’m just a ghost in this house. I’m just a shadow upon these walls. As quietly as a mouse, I haunt these halls…”
… Totally describes my activity amongst these parts the second part of this year! I didn’t even bother to lurk. I’m hoping to change that and post again. I really got disinterested and I chose to dedicate my time towards other things, even though the blog was probably the most popular when I left it. It just gets hard to post so often, so I apologize for my self-imposed exile, but alas I am back (I will make a personal blog entry in the future with my new discoveries).
Anyway, over the last few days I’ve been thinking of which songs to put on my list. I really didn’t listen to too much commercial country radio this year, because XM Radio and my iPod are superior in all ways possible to that, and my ears craved other genres’ music a bit more. That said, what I did hear on today’s country was not very good anyway haha. My list is based on the songs I did hear and enjoyed and I’m sure there are some great tunes I missed, but this is what I’m gonna give you, so you better like it!
Top 10 Favorite Country Music Radio Singles of 2009:
- 10. “Seein’ Stars” – Jack Ingram w/ Patty Griffin:
- I’m well aware that this single was kinda just released but since it doesn’t seem to be doing that well, I decided I might as well bunch it onto ’09 (though I hope it turns around and becomes huge in 2010). The reasons I like it is why it will probably bomb: because it’s more alternative country than mainstream, it’s slow-paced and radio probably doesn’t have any idea who Patty Griffin is! I love the simplicity of it and their vocals go together really well in the chorus. I hear this on XM and every time, I like it more.
- 09. “Busted” – Patty Loveless:
- People are probably going “what?” with this one. I know it wasn’t really a single single and had zero airplay on the radio, BUT it says on Wikipedia that it was a single, so that’s good enough for me for this one! Loveless’s album, Mountain Soul II, is THE best country album of the year, in my opinion, and seeing as I’m not doing anything album-related for year-end countdowns, this is my way of honoring it. This highly covered Harlan Howard song hasn’t been done exactly like this: above the cotton-picking to coal mine lyric change, Patty’s emotional mountain voice really shines here. Despite the depressing state of the narrator’s life, the song makes me smile through how good it sounds. The addition of Del McCoury for sure makes that smile bigger.
- 08. “People Are Crazy” – Billy Currington:
- I’ve read reviews saying that the production of this isn’t that country, and though maybe it’s just my 90′s-radio-upbringing messing with my ears, it sounds super country to me, compared to everything else. I appreciate the fact that Billy is recording different styles of music and this one was a pleasant surprise. I agree that some of the lyrics, like the so-called chorus, could definitely be better done however the song as a whole is very nice. His phrasing in certain parts recall classic country pieces, which I think is pretty cool, and the steel-usage is too. I think if I sang this song, I would probably change “crazy” with an expletive though haha.
