Country California

[Click the dot after each quote to visit the original source.]

You framed me. ●
- - Ronnie Dunn (R) to songwriter Don Cook (D) on Obama’s use of “Only in America.”

It’s not a trend. Other genres of music wax and wane in terms of relevance or lifestyle elements. You see it with pop and hip-hop and R&B: The market changes over time. But Country is unique. It’s been around for a long time and it will be around for a long time to come. ●
- - … so we’re jumping on the gravy train and riding it as far as it’ll go. Time Inc. Entertainment Group president Paul Caine on the thinking behind People Magazine’s recent forays into the country music world. The article also includes an interesting list of the 50 most popular magazines among country music fans. Check it out.

To create Jewel’s glam look, stylist Melanie Shelley pulled the back of the singer’s hair into a ponytail then lightly teased the front at the roots and smoothed everything back with her fingers.
- - Some hard-hitting investigative journalism from the pages of the September 2008 People Country (on newsstands near you right now). Boy, I’m sure glad this magazine exists.

I’ve always loved this town. You can throw a rock and hit somebody in the head who is more talented than you. ●
- - That’s one way to take out the competition. Jewel on Nashville.

Nichols burst onto the country music scene in 1996 with a self-titled album, but didn’t really gain national attention until he released the single The Impossible in 2002, which climbed to No. 3 on the country music charts. ●
- - Really? A CD released on an independent label that made virtually no impact is now considered ‘bursting onto the country music scene’? This snark brought to you courtesy of Country California, which (apparently) burst onto the country music blogging scene earlier this year.

It might be unfair calling Jessica Simpson’s show at the Avalon Ballroom Wednesday a train wreck. At some point, a train knows where it’s going. ●
- - John Law at the Niagara Falls Review in an endlessly entertaining concert review. Recommended reading.

And DioGuardi has done some time on Music Row, writing songs for Underwood, plus Faith Hill, Jewel, Jessica Simpson, Martina McBride and a long list of the hottest pop stars. ●
- - The new American Idol judge has written for Underwood, Hill, Jewel, Simpson, McBride… AND some big pop stars? Isn’t that a little redundant?

Chuck Wicks, a reality-TV hunk in an AC/DC T-shirt, was aggressively mediocre, and Jewel, a vision in black and white, was aggressively flip-flop, going back and forth from her pop hits to her wannabe country hits and then branching off to jazz, folk, gospel and yodeling. ●
- - Brad Paisley’s opening acts aren’t getting much love from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Aggressively mediocre,” eh? I like it.

The only difference is I probably wrote 150 songs between 15 and 18 years old. Now I don’t write 150 songs. I write about 12 songs a year and I keep ‘em all. I used to get a pocketful of blow and a bottle of whiskey and sit down in front of a piece of paper and, you know, “oh, this is great,” and wake up the next day and not even be able to read my handwriting. ●
- - Justin Townes Earle on how his songwriting has changed over the years. Michigan Live’s Acoustic Cafe has a worthwhile audio interview with him.

Oak Ridge Boys have no plans to stop singing ●
- - Is it just me or does this headline (from the Abilene Reporter-News) have an air of disappointment to it?