2009 April | Country California

Country Stars Respond to Vern Gosdin’s Passing

April 30, 2009 by Trailer 3 Comments

News that country music legend Vern Gosdin passed away early Wednesday morning brought an outpouring of sorrow from some of Nashville's biggest stars: Just-ousted Dancing With the Stars contestant and "Stealing Cinderella" singer Chuck Wicks: "Wow man, that's just sad. Uh, he was uh, he did that song about um, drinking right? He'll definitely be missed!" Julianne Hough, Chuck's girlfriend/dance partner and a fellow country singer interjected: "No Chuck, he did the one about that jukebox … [Read more...]

Album Review: Byron Hill – Stay a While

April 30, 2009 by C.M. Wilcox 6 Comments

On his third studio album, songwriter Byron Hill strays from what I previously called the 'back porch appeal' of his first two albums. Where those earlier efforts were simple, efficient acoustic affairs, Stay a While finds Hill bringing more sounds into the mix, including electric guitar, keyboards, piano, and even organ on some tracks. The result is a somewhat more lush-sounding record, one that will probably be a bit less jarring to ears accustomed to a radio-ready production style. Hill, … [Read more...]

The Last Vern Gosdin Giveaway

April 29, 2009 by C.M. Wilcox 29 Comments

Winners announced: Dylan and Janice May, I'll be contacting both of you for shipping addresses. The giveaway is over, but you're welcome to keep commenting with thoughts about Vern. You might recall that I have a bit of a history of giving away copies of a certain Vern Gosdin hits collection. Well, the legend passed away early this morning, so I'm going to do it one last time to mark the day. I came to Vern Gosdin rather late in his career - he had already suffered multiple strokes and all … [Read more...]

Gretchen Wilson Rereleases “Redneck Woman”

April 29, 2009 by C.M. Wilcox 5 Comments

Former country music hitmaker Gretchen Wilson is hoping to return to the country charts after a long stay on the unemployment charts. With any luck, her comeback hit will be the new version of "Redneck Woman" that shipped to radio stations yesterday. "When the file showed up, we thought it was a mistake, like our system had accidentally reverted to 2004" said Don 'Hambone' Griffin, an afternoon drive personality on San Jose's KRTY. "But then we checked Gretchen's website and it turns out that … [Read more...]

Unremarkable ’90s Album Cut Day

April 27, 2009 by C.M. Wilcox 23 Comments

I'm going to go ahead and name tomorrow (Tuesday, April 28) as Unremarkable '90s Album Cut Day. Though the men and women of the '90s - okay, mostly the hat acts - sometimes get a bad rap as being less than distinct, their single releases were usually palatable and sometimes great. If you want to experience the '90s in their full cheesiness, you have to dig up those songs so bad they were deemed unsuitable for radio release alongside lyrical marvels like Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" or McGraw's … [Read more...]

Quotable Country – 04/26/09 Edition

April 26, 2009 by C.M. Wilcox 6 Comments

Click the bullet after each quote to visit the original source. That sucker's bald, and I like 'em bald. ● - - Fan explains why she traveled to Stagecoach to see Kenny Chesney. Obviously, the country audience has plenty of room for all the current songs about how country we all truly are and how we're all actually from a small town where mom and dad were high school sweethearts and you were the high school quarterback or the homecoming queen. Back when we all really came from Mayberry. … [Read more...]

Aging Portrait of Tim McGraw Discovered in Attic

April 24, 2009 by C.M. Wilcox 4 Comments

A member of a painting crew employed at the Nashville-area home of country music star Tim McGraw, whose boyish good looks have made him a female fan favorite for the past 15 years, accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up in the attic, where a sudden gust of wind through the cracked window blew the veil off of a terrifying portrait of an aging, almost unrecognizably disfigured McGraw. Although the man quickly replaced the veil and exited the room, he was left confused by what he had … [Read more...]