My apologies for the downtime today. Although this site is hosted on Google's free and much-derided Blogger service (I'm looking at you, Wordpress snobs), the problem today was not with Blogger. Photocrap, Melodic Sunburst, and all your other favorite Blogger sites stayed up. There was apparently a massive attack on my domain registrar. They were apparently ill-equipped to handle it.To recap: free service fine, paid service non-functional. Crazy internet technology permitting, we'll be … [Read more...]
Quotable Country – 9/28/08 Edition
September 28, 2008 by 5 Comments
[Click the dot after each quote to visit the original source.]Rascal Flatts make a lot of good country music. But it wouldn’t be all that country if it wasn’t for guys like John Jeansonne. He’s the one who rosins up his bow and plays his fiddle hard during every Flatts show, and he’s been doing it for seven years. ● - - Meet John Jeansonne, the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dam.McDaniel was an integral part of the rise of country music during the "Urban Cowboy"-inspired 1970s … [Read more...]
Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly
September 27, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly:Country Music's Struggle for Respectability, 1939-1954University of Georgia Press, 2004Jeffrey J. LangeIf the mention of respectability in the subtitle of Jeffrey J. Lange's Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly leads you to expect a reception-based account of what was happening in country music between 1939 and 1954, think again. This book is not so much about how the public perception of country music changed during those years as it is about how the music … [Read more...]
It’s a Slow Friday
September 26, 2008 by 3 Comments
Nothing new here today - I'm busy working on some new tricks for October - but that just gives you more time to check out Alt-Country Day at Photocrap. And there will be new posts both days this weekend, so I recommend that you cancel all your other plans and be here.By the way, search engine traffic indicates that an alarmingly large number of people want to know everything there is to know about Rodney Atkins: where he gets his caps, what he looks like capless, what kind of jeans he wears, … [Read more...]
Challenge: Comment as a Superfan
September 25, 2008 by 16 Comments
One of the immutable laws of blogging is that any review critical of a mainstream act will eventually (often immediately) attract its share of nonsensical fan comments in defense of that act. Somehow, the very worst singers and groups usually seem to have the largest, most militant fanbases waiting to back them up at a moment's notice.Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to model ridiculous fan responses. Let's say I've just written a scathing review of the new single, … [Read more...]
Coming Soon: Book Reviews
September 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment
A fateful encounter with the country music section of a university library some months ago set me on a book-buying mission which never quite turned into a book-reading mission. As a result, I have a shelf half-full with country music books constantly reminding me of my sloth and ignorance. That shelf is the inspiration for the newest addition to the Country California lineup, a series of decidedly unhip book reviews which will hopefully become a valuable resource for those interested in … [Read more...]
TTTMS #3: Inaudible Influences
September 24, 2008 by 6 Comments
Things That Threaten My Sanity: Inaudible Influences I understand that singers aren't usually going to sound just like the people they claim as influences. That would be mimicry, not artistry. But I think they should sound somewhat like their influences. There should be something - the voice, the phrasing, the instrumentation, the lyrical preoccupations - that puts you in mind of an artist's heroes. Without reading the PR material. Without thumbing through the iPod. Without them having … [Read more...]
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