Country is a weird genre. It’s like folk or R&B in the sense that genre purity makes a little more sense than it does in other genres. Every so often in country and folk, there is a return to something (mostly) more traditional. And there always seems to be a need for it. But, unlike …
Tag: Country
Trisha Yearwood (1991)
I have no investment in country music, so whether or not a particular album indicates “a star is born” is irrelevant to me. Perhaps if there was something truly distinct, I might notice but I don’t know that Yearwood’s from Georgia and, having heard numerous singers from many different genres, I’m not sure why Yearwood’s …
The Silver Tongued Devil and I (1971) by Kris Kristofferson
There are people who will tell you that Kris Kristofferson is the Greatest Songwriter of All Time. (Don’t believe me? Watch Country Music.) This is a preposterous claim on its face for at least two reasons. The first is that there may not be a GOAT songwriter in English or in any language. And second, …
Set This Circus Down (2001) by Tim McGraw
All I really know about Tim McGraw is that he likes to hold his cowboy hat on his head and he’s married to Faith Hill. I assumed he was a singer-songwriter, actually.
Feels So Right (1981) by Alabama
Alabama are one of the few country bands I sort of knew when I was young. For some reason, my father had a few of their records (not this one as far as I know) and my dad would play them sometimes, so I was exposed to Alabama’s sound before CMT existed (or we got …
The Trouble with the Truth (1996) by Patty Loveless
I don’t know Patty Loveless and I must say that, even after watching Country Music, I don’t really know much mainstream country music from this era. I’m familiar with country pop and what I like to call “arena country” (i.e. rock-influenced equivalent of country pop) but I’m not really familiar with what was the more …
Country Music (2019)
This is an engrossing, thorough, occasionally moving and, for its first six episodes, authoritative history of country music. It follows the usual rhythms of a Ken Burns’ documentary, which is something I thoroughly enjoy, and has the usual strengths and weaknesses of his approach to storytelling.
No Fences (1990) by Garth Brooks
I honestly thought Garth Brooks was a songwriter. I have a memory of channel-surfing and finding a show on which he and some other country songwriters were discussing songs they wrote. So I just assumed he wrote all or most of his material. Going by this album, his breakout hit, he doesn’t. (He co-writes 4 …
Rhinestone Cowboy (1975) by Glen Campbell
I am not a genre purist when it comes to music for the most part. Mostly, I am all for people combining genres together and evolving the sound of genres. Where I get lost in purity arguments is (sometimes) when genres are combined with slick pop music and this is seen as “evolution”. (It’s really …
Shut Up & Sing (2006, Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck)
Can you imagine being so angry at a band that you drove over their CDs with a tractor? I can’t imagine Jeff Tweedy doing something that will that would make me so angry I would drive over my Wilco CDs or light them on fire. I just can’t relate to it. At all.
Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian (1964) by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash always had a little bit of a rebellious streak in him, one which conflicted with what was acceptable to many Americans at time. (Think of the famous middle finger or, a few years after this, recording albums at prisons.) One assumes that is one reason why he made this record, aside from a …
Hootie and the Blowfish Live at the Budweiser Stage August 29, 2019
You read that right. Last night, I went to see Hottie and the Blowfish. The band I wrote this review about. I went because my girlfriend wanted to go. I hadn’t been to the Molson Amphitheatre Budweiser Stage in so long I almost forgot what it was like. It seems they have made it a …
Fly (1999) by Dixie Chicks
This is my second Dixie Chicks album and I feel like I just basically feel the same way about it. That’s a frustrating experience for me because I feel like I should have some kind of new take. Moreover, given the general feelings of fans that this is (slightly?) inferior to Wide Open Spaces, I …
Copperhead Road (1988) by Steve Earle
I have a weird bone to pick about records that weren’t recorded with the same group of musicians throughout. This doesn’t necessarily apply to guest vocalists, but it does apply to guests on other instruments. I guess my argument would be that I want a record to have a consistent sound and recording with different …
Sweet Revenge (1973) by John Prine
Many years ago – 15? – I was watching Austin City Limits as usual and John Prine came on. I had never heard of him before but I was blown away. ‘Who was this songwriter I’ve never heard of?’ I thought. I was blown away by his stage demeanour as much as his songs, probably, …
Shotgun Willie (1973) by Willie Nelson
The evolution of country music has been, needless to say, very different from the evolution of pop rock music. That evolution, which began later, and which is still very much ongoing, is something I am only partially familiar with, and it is an evolution that is often measured in very slight deviations and innovations, compared …
A White Sport Coat and Pink Crustacean (1973)
I gave a listen to Down to Earth recently, as I figured that I should give the infamous Jimmy Buffett a listen for the podcast, given his longevity, his popularity and his notoriety. But I read that he had essentially disowned that album – it is a pretty conventional singer-songwriter album that does not give …
Safe at Home (1968) by International Submarine Band
This record invented country rock. As such, it’s one of the milestone records of the 1960s. (Country infected popular music in the 1970s and the country rock phenomenon of the late 1960s and early 1970s and Safe at Home is a big reason why.) But with the benefit of hindsight I am tempted to criticize the …
Memorial Album (1953) by Hank Williams
I try not to listen to compilations unless I have a really good reason. The reason I try not to listen to them is simply because, especially with “Greatest Hits” compilations, someone other than the artist has decided what is on the record.
Sing Me Back Home (1968) by Merle Haggard and the Strangers
The way I think about music is dominated by the idea of artistic progression: did this artist improve or change from the last album. But country music poses a challenge to this outlook (just like soul does) because, for much of the genre’s history if not all of it, stasis or consistency has been deemed …
At My Window (1987) by Townes Van Zandt
Though I know of the legend of Townes, I’ve seen the documentary and I’ve heard a fair number of songs through covers, this is only the second album of his I’ve ever managed to get to. And so I cannot evaluate it against his other records,except for the one I’ve heard. That one, his debut, …
Johnny Cash With His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957)
If you’re familiar with Cash as a country singer, his debut will likely come as a bit of a shock, though the “Million Dollar Quartet” makes a little bit more sense.
Workingman’s Dead (1970) by the Grateful Dead
If you had been aware of the Dead in Spring 1970 but you didn’t live in San Francisco, you would have no way of knowing the band was birthed by a folk band in the mid ’60s. If you caught them live, you would have been familiar with how they were the first ever jam …
…Featuring Norah Jones (2010)
This is a compilation of some – though apparently far from all – of Norah Jones’ guest appearances after she became a star. (Though some feel more like duets.) I guess it’s a way for people to see what else she’s doing? I don’t know. Because the thing about this is that there’s a lot …
Mendocino (1999 Compilation) by Sir Douglas Quintet
Throughout the history of recorded music, there have always been these silly little labels who try to profit off loopholes in music contract regulations, by releasing records or compilations of music that is somehow exempt from copyright protection. This is one of those releases. And I fell for it. Years ago this happened to me …