Just when you thought you were in the clear, you are once again... on the spot! If you're reading this, you've stumbled right into my trap. I'll only let you go after you've honestly answered the following question: What's the last song you heard? Surprisingly, I've heard no music at all today, so my last song was David Ball's "When the Devil Wants to Wrestle." I had the Amigo album playing in the kitchen while I was burning my dinner on the stove last night. … [Read more...]

Here's a meme that's making the rounds on Facebook. I liked it enough that I wanted to share it outside my small network and give the rest of you a chance to do the same. So I call this mainstreaming the meme, even though I suspect Facebook might be slightly more mainstream than Country California at this point (I'm working on it). Basically, when you post it here, everyone can see it. I did mine on Merle Haggard. Brody Vercher of The 9513 fame did a good one on Guy Clark that perhaps he'll … [Read more...]

I encourage you to read that title in your best Jerry Seinfeld voice. There are quite a few major albums set to come out in the second half of 2009, which also means that there are quite a few lead singles hitting radio now. I don't know if I'm getting old and cranky or if all of Nashville has signed some pact to lead with the blandest stuff possible in 2009, but wow, this is discouraging. Recent singles that have bored (and sometimes disappointed) me, many from artists I count among my … [Read more...]

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...]