As a songwriter, though, her sensibility is firmly country. On “Just What I’m Looking For,” sung with Elizabeth Cook and Tim Carroll somewhere in the background, she’s feeling a little dangerous, throwing herself into the arms of a man she knows will probably be nothing but bad news in the long term. Meanwhile, title track “Under the Rushes” is a classic story song about emergent womanhood, delivered with strength and clarity from an omniscient distance. The album’s most country moment, though, is “Makin’ Love,” on which a duet vocal from Chuck Mead proves a nice but ultimately unnecessary bonus: Beasley could just as easily have carried the song on the strength of her own performance.

Whether Under the Rushes has any impact with the general audience or not, it should be on the radar of the Nashville recording community, if only so they can pillage it for wildly successful cover versions as they do (or once did) with new releases from Bruce Robison and Radney Foster. At her best, Beasley is that caliber of writer. Here Nashville, I’ll do some of the work for you: resilient Texas rocker “Heart Like a Wound” belongs on Miranda Lambert’s next album, and “The Little Things” is a classic Pam Tillis torch song. Oh, and if Beasley doesn’t have a hit with the title track, some other Americana chanteuse probably could.

An indie album on which I can recommend at least half the tracks is a rarity, so you can bet that checking out Beasley’s previous album, Good Samaritan, just got added to my musical to-do list.

Download the album now from Amazon MP3

Give It Away, Give It Away
Want to check out Under the Rushes for free? Comment below by next Friday (July 23) for your chance to win one of two extra copies from our prize shelf. You have nothing to lose and only good music to gain.

7/25 Update: Winners chosen. Congrats to Joe B. and Rick! We’ll be getting in touch.

Any jerk can start a blog, but it takes a particular kind of jerk to keep one going for two years. I recently became that kind of jerk. Country California began in late April of 2008, and here we are in late April of 2010.

Over the last two years, I’ve become less precious about this blogging thing – less concerned with how I might be perceived, more willing to simply be myself and suffer the consequences. If I lose interest in a particular feature, I’ll stop doing it until interest returns. If I come up with some nutty new idea that could end up being really stupid, I’ll take the chance and see what happens. (Fake News was once just such an idea.) I don’t want this to become a grind, so I’ll ease up the pace, or even put the blog on temporary hiatus, if that’s what needs to happen… because ultimately me staying interested is the best possible thing for the site, and the only thing that will allow it to continue. These are the things I’m thinking about, two years in.

My Gift to Me

Over the next couple weeks, I’m going to free myself of some blogger guilt by banging out some album reviews that have been weighing on my mind over the past months. If the balance of content tips more toward album reviews over that period, now you know why. Rest assured that I’ll be back to my old tricks in no time.

Donating and Advertising

I appreciate anything and everything people do to support the site – reading, commenting, linking, emailing, interacting with us on social networks, whatever. Just keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll be set. But, since I haven’t mentioned it on the blog before, there is a page for those interested in sending a couple bucks as a donation or wanting to advertise on the site. You can find that here.

Fake Jamey / Succinct Album Review Challenge (Giveaway)

Update (5/4/10): The response to this challenge has been… nothing… so I’m going to call it off and put the $10 toward Nashville flood relief, okay?

To celebrate two years, let’s do a giveaway challenge. It’s a giveaway challenge because entering is slightly more involved than usual. Here are your options:

• Do a Succinct Album Review of any album, new or old. All you need is a Post It, a pen, a CD, and something to take the picture with (like a camera). Make it pithy, humorous, nonsensical, whatever.
• Make your own Fake Jamey Johnson and take a picture of him doing something.
• For you overachievers, do a Succinct Album Review featuring your own Fake Jamey Johnson (like so). This option will count as two entries in the random drawing.

Whichever option you choose, email your picture to me at cmw@countrycalifornia.com (subject line should be something about a giveaway) and you’ll be in to win.

Once the entries are in, I’ll post all the submissions and put the winner to an anonymous vote. The picture with the most votes will get a $10 Amazon gift card, redeemable for any music your heart desires. Another randomly-chosen submission (remember, the third option gets two entries here) will win a mystery CD of my choosing. Everyone else will win the satisfaction of having participated.

If this giveaway proves as unpopular as I suspect it might, the first entry could be the de facto winner! Get your pictures in by May 8 to be considered.

And Finally…

Thanks for the last two years! It would’ve sucked without you.

With apologies to the three vocalists who’ve headed up the band since his 1996 departure, Marty Raybon is still the defining voice of Shenandoah. It was his voice that made hits like “The Church on Cumberland Road” and “Two Dozen Roses” so irresistible – a rare point on which Gary LeVox and I agree.

Raybon’s latest solo album, At His Best, was just released by GrandVista/HiFive today, so you probably don’t have it yet. With so many other albums coming out, maybe it wasn’t even on your radar until now. Well, what better way to discover new music than to win it for free from the only country music blog endorsed by 1998 Big Bass World Champ Steve vonBrandt?

Entering is as easy as can be: Just comment below with (a) your favorite Shenandoah song or (b) a haiku about Gary LeVox and we’ll call it good. You have through next Monday (April 12) to enter, then Fake Jamey Johnson will pull a random name out of his beard and send the package on its merry way. He might even throw in a little something extra.

Curiosity piqued? Get posting!

The album hits stores next Tuesday (March 9), but I want it to be on its way to the winner (you?!) by then, so you only have through Sunday to enter. I’ll notify the winner Sunday at midnight. If I get the address Monday morning, the CD will go out the same day – as good as a free preorder. But that only leaves four days for entering the contest, so you’ll have to act quickly.

For your shot at the prize, head over to our Facebook page, become a fan (if you still haven’t), and comment on the Gary Allan wall post. Almost too easy! So this time I’ll also leave the comments open on this post in hopes that someone will get all confused and put their entry in the wrong place… because I’m sort of vindictive and, obviously, pretty hard-up for entertainment.

Enough from me. Head over to Country California on Facebook and get commenting.

It doesn’t hit stores until Tuesday, but I’ve got your copy in hand right now. Well, maybe. I’ve definitely got a copy in hand… I’m just not sure if it’s yours yet.

To find out, let’s stir up a bit of activity at Country California’s Facebook page. Once you click over and ‘Become a Fan’ of the page (if you’re not already), you’ll be able to comment on the Easton Corbin wall post. Your comment there will serve as your entry into the giveaway.

Entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 3. A winner will be chosen at random shortly thereafter. You don’t have to remain a fan of the page once the giveaway is over, but, of course, we hope you will!

Just so we don’t get entries coming in two places, I’m disabling comments here and, again, directing you over there for all your Easton Corbin contest-winning needs.

Note: Because not everybody has a Facebook account (they’re free) or will bother clicking over, your chances of winning may be better than average this time around. We’ll see!

Easton Corbin’s Official Website

With Thanksgiving just a week away, you can now safely break out the Christmas music without appearing to be a lunatic. To help you kick the season off in style, Sugarland has charged us with the task of releasing two copies of their new Christmas record Gold and Green into the wild. And by the wild, I mean the elaborate mess of Christmas decor already beginning to consume your living room, porch, and front yard.

Gold and Green is about half Christmas standards and half originals, and it differs from Sugarland’s other recent work in that it’s more country-sounding and more of an equal partnership vocally, with Kristian Bush taking several leads. In summary, it’s quite Christmasy while still being very Sugarlandy.

As my old man used to say, if you eat that whole tin of flavored popcorn, I’ll belt you. But what I think he really meant was this: “you can never have too much Christmas music.”

To enter, comment with your favorite holiday snack. You have through Thanksgiving Day (11/26).

We’re pleased to be able to offer one copy of the new album from Big Kenny, the cooler half of Big & Rich, to a lucky commenter. The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farm Boy, released this past Tuesday as a joint venture of Glotown/Love Everybody/Bigger Picture, overflows with the vibrant personality of its singer, who wrote or co-wrote every song, co-produced all the tracks in his own home studio, and released the album on his own label. If you want to know what’s in the heart of Big Kenny, this is it.

As an added bonus, the distinctive ‘flower power’ album packaging can be planted… and will sprout a medley of about 20 different types of flowers. That’s pretty cool.

To enter the giveaway, simply comment with one of your favorite songs about conservation or respect for nature. Alternatively, say something about how cool Big Kenny is and we’ll call it good. You have through next Friday (11/20) to enter, but I recommend getting your comments in early so you don’t let it slip your mind and miss the deadline (always happens to me).

I think that about covers it. Get posting, kids!
_____
Here’s the music video for lead single “Long After I’m Gone,” shot on the family farm in Culpeper, VA.

Well, here’s a new way to know Whitney Duncan: she’s the lady who wants to hook you up with the free swag. Country California has teamed with Duncan and Warner Bros. Nashville to offer the following super cool prizes to lucky commenters:

Grand Prize
One (1) blue 2GB iPod Shuffle filled by and engraved from Duncan.

Almost-as-Grand Prizes
Signed copies of Duncan’s EP, Selections from Right Road Now, for three (3) lucky runners up.

To enter, just comment with (a) something nice about Whitney or (b) a joke that’s either very funny or very corny. Entries will be accepted through Tuesday, October 20 (i.e. you have one week). If you want to get all technical, the cutoff is 11:59pm Pacific Time on Tuesday night. Got it? Good. So, you should enter.

For more on Whitney, check out her website or Myspace or follow her on Twitter.

All you Whit fans will also want to hang around as she helps us launch a new feature later this week.

—–
Edit 10/22: Winners selected, and they are:

Signed EPs – Jake, Adam, Karen
iPod Shuffle – Anne

I’ll email you folks soon to get mailing addresses. Thanks to all for playing!

For now, though, the good people at Show Dog Nashville and UMGD have set us up with TWO (2) copies of Toby Keith’s fourteenth studio album, American Ride, which hits stores tomorrow. We want to give one of them to you.

You probably have a pretty good idea of what to expect from a Toby Keith album, so I won’t spend much time trying to entice you. But I will say that listening to the Rhapsody preview of this one reminded me that Keith’s albums are typically much better than his singles, so this could be worth checking out even if you’re not a fan of the title track. Also, free is a pretty attractive price.

To enter, just comment with your favorite Toby Keith song. Entries will be accepted through Friday.

Edit: Winners chosen and contacted. Congratulations to Dylan and Plain Jo!

Actually, I can, but I’ll need your help. MCA Nashville sent one extra copy of the new George Strait album (out tomorrow) on the condition that I pass it along to one of my readers. If you’re reading this, that’s you, and you’ve got as much right to it as anyone else. Might as well enter the contest!

Having heard the album, I can tell you that it’s one of the most adventuresome Strait collections in recent memory, but also one that is of a piece with the rest of his discography. That may sound pretty cryptic right now, but I’ll write more about it in the next day or two, then all will be revealed. Or you’ll just scratch your head and wonder what I’m going on about.

You don’t have to wait for me, though. You can enter now.

As you’ve almost certainly heard, Twang includes George’s all-Spanish rendition of “El Rey.” I don’t know if anyone saw that one coming, so for your entry in the giveaway I want to know what other unexpected things you think George should try now that he’s showing a bit more willingness to experiment. An album of classic country covers? Breakdancing in a music video? Just comment with your novel ideas.

It doesn’t matter if your suggestion is serious or goofy, or even if you want to skip my topic and riff on Strait in your own way: the requirements are pretty loose. But you do have to get some sort of Strait-related comment in by the end of Thursday (Pacific Time), as I’ll be randomly choosing a winner on Friday morning.

Just under 96 hours to go. Better get posting!

Added 8/14: The winner is grumpyoldman. Thanks to everyone for playing.