ACM’s “Artist of the Decade”: George Strait Review (Aired 05.27.09)

Rumors of my death are not clear, nor are they true.  I’ve been wanting to post but kept putting it off and did not have the time to execute it.  This review was a good way to get something in, without it being a recommendation.  I’m hoping this does not take too much time to write lol (but hopefully, still be long), so here goes!

Yeah my review is a bit postponed… it’s about a week and a half later and people probably don’t care about it anymore.  I ended up watching the tribute show the next evening after it aired because my eyes were glued to the Nuggets vs. Lakers game that night (my team lost, of course lol)…but anyway, I’ve been looking forward to this tribute show ever since I heard about it months ago.  The taping for this show took place the night after the ACM Awards in April.  George Strait is THE man and my favorite artist of all time, and it’s so cool to see this (sometimes) fine lineup of artists honoring him by performing his songs from throughout his career.  Overall, I immensely enjoyed and wish CBS would air re-runs so more people could see it.

Sugarland opening the show with their version of “Adalida”.  I usually don’t care for Jennifer Nettles‘s voice, but it worked really well here and you could tell she and the guy were passionate about it.  Though the lyrics are more suited for a male, it didn’t matter.  Love that Cajun feel!  YouTube performance video link.

Toby Keith followed with “Unwound”.  It had noticeably a slightly updated production but still kept the same basic sound, and Toby did an excellent job.  I haven’t heard his voice sound this good and spirited in years!  You don’t hear this song too often (unless you play it on iTunes), so it was a treat to hear it on here.  YouTube performance video link.

One of my personal favorites, Brooks & Dunn were next.  They chose, well Ronnie Dunn chose, for them to sing “The Cowboy Rides Away”.  This is a fine example of how well traditional country, a theme of cowboys, and B&D go together.  It even got Kix Brooks to sing along, in more than just harmony, equally on the chorus.  I really loved that, and Ronnie sang the hell out of the song.  YouTube performance video link.

The following performance was unique.  First, because the song choice is one of my least favorite Strait songs ever, and a song I don’t ever really listen to: “It Ain’t Cool to Be Crazy About You”.  The production on the original song, IMO, is so so boring and poppy, but with the second surprise, that being a duet of the song with Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, it was given new life and a more than tolerable listen.  They did a sweet job and it was nice to watch (Blake was also really funny in his opening words in regards to his Pure Country ode).  YouTube performance video link.

In a change to a non-Strait part of the evening, in a nod to past Decade Artist honorees, they added them into the show, with Keith Urban performing a medley of Marty Robbins‘s hits ["Singing the Blues", "El Paso", "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)"].  I admit that Urban’s voice sounded good, but I still don’t buy him as a country singer, so the covers, to me, felt awkward and took too long.  He did better than three other people though, so I’ll consider it “OK”.  YouTube performance video link.

myTunes 36 Most Played Songs (12.10.08)

I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time – revealing what my top played songs are on iTunes.  By default, the most played playlist is set at 25 or something, but since 36 is my lucky number and 36 just happens to fit perfectly in the height of laptop screen monitor (to where I didn’t have to scroll down to see the whole list), it worked out so so good.

Revealing this list, for me, feels like letting out my public tax return information to the public lol (well, it wouldn’t be big at all, but just imagine that I’m a celebrity and this is now common knowledge).  I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, though some of my choices and rankings of some songs and artists might surprise/turn off/turn on some people, so it’s your choice on what you’ll decide to think of me from now on hahaha.  Whatever, though.  We all have our guilty pleasures/inner demons :p.

I’ll list it backwards, from #36 to #1.  It’s pretty accurate (well, these are based on plays from when I uploaded the tracks to my laptop’s iTunes in summer 2006, and from iPod plays, so it’s based from then).  You will see my varying tastes, from traditional/pop/alternative/rocking/country,bluegrass, rock, pop, and alternative rock.

These below are my stats, as of this moment, Tuesday night, December 9th. 2008 @ 11:23pm (out of about 39,000 plays):

51st GRAMMY Award Nominations / CMT Giants: Alan Jackson

I know I haven’t posted in a while (been busy and lazy and uninspired lol).  Since I did my afterthought review on the CMAs in November, I figured I’d do one for these two important items (as you can see from my glorious poster-like creation on the right side in this entry lol):

- The 51st Grammy Award Nominations

and

- CMT Giants: Alan Jackson

I decided to combine my thoughts into one post, since I’d rather not make two separate ones (I like them big posts!  Tags’R'Us).  Believe me, there are better ways of organizing these opinions, but I don’t feel like worrying about it lol.  They are placed in different sections.  Scroll down for the CMT Giants review.

The nomination for the 2009 Grammy Awards were announced a few days ago, and I’ve already commented on them already at a few sites, but here’s my more extensive analysis.

First of all, as I first read through the list, I was absolutely thrilled by their choices.  The Grammys has a respectable tendency in its history to appreciate and honor actual good music (well, in the country genre, at least.  I’m not sure about other genres.), and while they do have some questionable choices sometimes, they are definitely a lot more smarter and better judges when it comes to art and music than people are for say… country award shows (yeah, record sells always equal talent, don’t they Nashville?).  The Grammys enormously pleased me with the Dixie Chicks wins last time.  Anyway, like other people online have commented, the nominations for 2009 (or is it for 2008?  Whatever it is, for the upcoming awards) are really exciting and one of the best they’ve ever came up with.  I’m not going to list all the nominations or the categories, but I’ll give my opinion on what songs I want to.

Let’s start in the country genre (here’s an easy list to look at for country related noms from CU and here for the full noms), and let’s look at the nominations for “Best Female Country Vocal Performance”.   I thought they were pretty good, though I wouldn’t necessarily place Martina McBride‘s song in that category (it’s a decent song, but there are better choices).  I’ve never heard LeAnn Rimes‘s song until just right now: wow, very good vocals and not a bad song.  My choice (unsurprisingly) would be Lee Ann Womack‘s “Last Call”.  I wouldn’t mind if Carrie Underwood or Trisha Yearwood‘s songs won, because I love those ones too.  I’m glad Taylor Swift was left off.

Now: “Best Male Country Vocal Performance”… I’m not really blown away by any of those songs, but they’re not horrible horrible choices.  I gotta go with my man, George Strait, though.  I’ve grown quite a liking to “Troubadour”, as I heard it more as a radio single.

“Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals”.   Hmm… I’m gonna have to go with Lady Antebellum.  But wow, I just listened to The Steel Drivers‘s “Blue Side of the Mountain” and I love it… edgy mountain-sounding vocals with hard-driving bluegrass instruments.  Will definitely check them out!  Looks like Chris Stapleton sings for them… forgot about that.  I’d be fine if Sugarland‘s song or Brooks & Dunn‘s won too, but definitely don’t want Rascal Flatts to win a thing.

I really like the choices with “Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals”, except for the obvious song that stands apart from the rest: the Kenny Chesney/Strait duet (which is only saved by George, but is still not a good song).  You know I’m dig the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant song (more on them later), and the Strait/Patty Loveless duet (my two most favorite male and female artists singing and honoring Johnny and June Carter Cash?  Excellence-ness.  And I hope they win).  Oh yeah, I’m not too fond of “Life in a Northern Town”, like I mentioned in my song review months ago (I would rather hear Chesney and Strait’s tune, to be quite serious).  I enjoy Trisha Yearwood‘s (with Keith Urban‘s harmony) song, so if she won, I wouldn’t cry.  It’s very nice.

42nd Annual “Country Music” Association Awards

Just read some interesting live blogs (CU & The9513) covering last night’s award show and while my opinions lined up with their’s at times, I also had disagreements.  I did actually watch the whole show last night, “live” as it came to my Mountain Time home (so, in other words, an hour behind), because I wanted it to be fresh this year for me, and I know going online would mess up any surprises.  I also actually watched the live red-carpet show on CMT.  Since I did not do a live blog, I thought I might share my opinions right here as a day-after analysis.  And I ain’t gonna hold back…

(you like my picture above?  I made it green because, you know, after all is done and said, that’s what the awards were all about.  The green… and I don’t mean the environmentally-friendly kind)

On the red-carpet pre-show.  It was decent, but I was kinda wanting to see other people than the ones they interviewed. Remember, I’m going by my memory here, so I might miss out on some details.  Two things I remember: Jack Ingram‘s wife, Amy’s, oddly short dress: wow… don’t know what she was thinking lol, but no worries (I’m a guy, yes, but I thought it was a strange choice).  And I guess Alan Jackson‘s daughters are all into the pop-country craze, which I found interesting.  So cool to see him and his family, though.

For us, the awards didn’t televise until an hour after the red-carpet show, which I always hate because I wish I could see it live live.  Brad Paisley and Keith Urban started into the show with their duet, “Start a Band”, which I thought was cool that it was the first time they performed it together live, but I wasn’t too impressed, and waited for what was next.  When Brad finally performed his own song, “Waitin’ On a Woman”, it was nice too, but I wasn’t crazy for it.  Keith’s new song is anything but country, though I found myself liking it, for some reason (like I’ve noticed and posted before, I seem to like his really pop singles lol).  Not country at all but not bad.

I thought Paisley and Carrie Underwood, overall, did a fine job as hosts.  Of course, could have been done better, but it is a tough job to do, so I give them props for that.  Carrie did an amazing execution of “Just a Dream”.  I think it was a good idea to have the war widow speak before that because it gave it more meaning.  Definitely one of the best and moving performances of the night.  Also, congrats on her “Female” win.

I was stoked that George Strait won for “Single of the Year” for his excellent song, “I Saw God Today”.  I was pretty sure that “Stay” was going to win.  While we’re on the topic of King George, I gotta say his win for “Album of the Year” was even greater because I really like Troubadour and it was even more special that Lee Ann Womack got to present it to him (with Josh Turner) because they have such admiration for one another and George is one of her biggest heroes and she had won that award for the amazing There’s More Where That Came From years before.  I bet she’ll be accepting the award next year for Call Me Crazy.  Even better that producer, Tony Brown, went up there too! (he produced Strait’s & Womack’s latest projects).  Moving further in the program, honestly, George’s performance of “River of Love” was definitely not something I was looking forward to because I don’t really care for the song (too Kenny Chesney-like) but I think his vocals and the steel guitar save the song from being a total failure (in anybody else’s hands, it would be really bad).

Kellie Pickler.  I really don’t know what people see in her, to be honest.  Her personality is really cute, but dumb blondes don’t really do anything for me, unless I know the person and can’t tease them up front.  I thought her performance was the worse of the night.  I think she tries too hard and the music was way louder than her vocals.  Just a bad performance through and through.  Horrible.

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 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.

iCF Single Reviews #3 (Week of July 6, 2008)

I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many posts, because this massive amount of posting within days is not the norm around here lol, but I just felt like writing tonight. Just felt inspired by other blogs that I read today. Blogging can be very…therapeutic and admit it: it’s pretty fun (just like in real life, I like to express my opinion when I feel like it). O.K. Here’s Numero Tres… and just like last time, the numbers I chose are kinda odd, but I’m going to pick up where I left off last time: #17 and go to #36 (since that’s my lucky number ;) ). I’m getting my chart rankings from Radio & Records‘ site once again, though it is last weeks’ chart I’m using since they have yet to post the latest, but it doesn’t matter. On with the show…

17. “Learning How to Bend” – Gary Allan:

- When Gary started coming out with more rock/pop-sounding material, I was a bit weary. I did love his remake of “Best I Ever Had”, but I missed his more countrier stuff. With his new album, Living Hard, and its first single, “Watching Airplanes”, I initially didn’t like that song. I grew to love it because of the video and its footage of my Colorado’s Red Rocks and now I’m loving it. With this new one, it sounds good, and keeps with the heavy rock sound with strings and such, but I’m not feeling it totally. The chorus, especially, feels too much like the previous single. I don’t consider it “country”, but otherwise, overall, it’s not a bad tune. I wish Gary all the best (btw, does it bother anybody else when people misspell his last name into “AllEn”? I guess I’m nitpicky lol). 3.5 out of 5 stars. Buy here!

18. “Holler Back” – The Lost Trailers:

- I read a review somewhere a while back that mentioned that the idea of the song came from Gwen Stefani’s pop hit, “Hollaback Girl”, and that was interesting. I think this uptempo is somewhat catchy but for the most part, just sounds “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” and kinda annoying like the pop song (funny side note: coincidentally No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” is on the radio right now as I’m writing this haha). Hopefully, The Lost Trailers have more offer than this, and can distinguish themselves from the other groups with similar names (too many of them!). 2.5 out of 5 stars.

19. “Every Day” – Rascal Flatts:

- Yeah… already reviewed that one last time. Still… 1.5 out of 5 stars.

20. “Do You Believe Me Now?” – Jimmy Wayne:

- I’ve come across this single several times on the radio and seriously thought I was listening to a rock station or something. The song could totally be played there with its heavy use of loud electric guitar and drums, even with it’s slight mandolin usage. Sounds like something Rob Thomas would release, which is not particularly bad because he’s a good singer, but does it belong on country radio? I really like Jimmy’s voice a lot and will forgive him for it, and the song alone is pretty good, so I’ll let it slide. 3.5 out of 5 stars. Buy here!

21. “That Song In My Head” – Julianne Hough:

- The beginning of this song reminds me Jo Dee Messina’s current single lol (I like to make a lot of connections, you see. And Jo Dee’s tune will be reviewed later on in the post). I think the song is alright. The voice is Kellie Pickler-ish (which is not good in my books) but I won’t hold that against her because Hough’s voice is better (she’s also very easy on the eyes). I do understand how it is to have a song stuck in your head all day: even bad ones do, and that’s when it drives you crazy. I like this dancer/singer’s effort but this is not a song I’d want stuck in my head: it’s too ehhh for me. 2 out of 5 stars.

22. “Troubadour – George Strait:

As anyone should know by now, I love George’s music (he’s my #1), but his current single fails to impress me. Even when I first heard it, I thought it was O.K. and even Vince Gill’s harmony wasn’t enough to change that. I dunno… I like what the lyrics say but something about it doesn’t grab me. I wish they didn’t release it as a single, but I may change my mind if I hear it enough and I like it more. I really hope the next single is his duet with Patty Loveless, “House of Cash”! (Oh btw, I also wish George would write more… he said he isn’t motivated, but his older songwriting work was good, especially the greatness of “I Don’t Want to Talk It Over, Anymore” from his box set.) 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation XVII: Rebecca Lynn Howard

Hello all, I am back with a new recommendation! I’ve been thinking about this one for a while since my last entry and I’ve always had this next song on my list: there was never any doubt that I would use it. But, before that, I’ve got to give out another shout-out to The 9513 (which has recently been redesigned) for their very fine gift to me: a digital copy of Josh Turner‘s latest album, Everything Is Fine. They gave it to me for free, because I simply made a post at their site for their one-year anniversary and I won randomly, along with thirty-nine other people! I had thought about giving away select free iTunes music before, but I never knew how to do it, so that gave me some ideas for later, so check back for that ;-). With Thanksgiving coming around so soon, this next recommendation is somewhat related because it deals with a very special member of the family who one cannot thank enough: Mom.

My seventeenth recommendation is: Rebecca Lynn Howard’s “No One’ll Ever Love Me” from her 2005 No One’ll Ever Love Me – Single album on iTunes. This is the first song that I’ve ever reviewed that is just a single and not part of any released album, and it’s available right through iTunes, so you better get it fast, in case iTunes ever takes it off. I was first introduced to Rebecca Lynn Howard‘s music through her (only) hit radio single, “Forgive” years ago. Even though, I don’t really consider that song that country, it was a superb way to highlight her fascinating power country vocals to the audience, and I really liked the video that came with it. After hearing the song a considerable amount on the radio, I already liked her, and eventually, I heard her duet with Ronnie Dunn on “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and WOW…such a traditional country song and so catchy with their vocals and the honky-tonk feel (the duet is from the immensely awesomeness of the Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers tribute album, which I’ll choose a song from later on in a future entry). Anyway, Rebecca is severely underrated and you can hear more of her vocal work on her debut self-titled album and Forgive, and other projects, like background harmonies in Patty Loveless‘s Mountain Soul and Vince Gill‘s These Days.