With the Academy of Country Music Awards (and another free-form live blog chat thing, if anyone's interested?) coming up on Sunday, this seemed like a pretty good time to remind myself that music doesn't have to suck. So, I set my media player shuffling (14,000+ tracks) and listened to... and wrote down... the first 20 songs that came up. And you know what? I do feel a little better now. If you're so inclined, give it a try for yourself and share the results below. Most doctors agree that … [Read more...]
Going Outlaw with Mark Chesnutt
March 30, 2010 by 13 Comments
What are your favorite outlaw classics? That's the question Mark Chesnutt had to consider in choosing songs for Outlaw, his upcoming cover album. Given that Chesnutt is about as fine a vocalist as anyone could rightly desire, and his Waylon-inspired 2004 album Savin' the Honk Tonk was an absolute knockout, I'm pretty excited to hear the new project. The appropriately '70s-centric track listing was recently posted to the singer's Facebook page, and is reposted below. What do you think of … [Read more...]
Musical Discoveries of the Year, Part II
December 2, 2009 by 22 Comments
Back in April, we had a discussion about some of our favorite discoveries of the year so far. Well, there has been a whole lot of year since then. In fact, since the last time we did this, I've added well over a hundred albums to my media player - probably edging toward 200, though I don't have the patience to get an exact count. Obviously, I haven't spent much time with a lot of that material - between my own acquisitions and stuff submitted for review, there aren't enough hours in the day. But … [Read more...]
Least Favorite Songs by Favorite Artists
October 21, 2009 by 23 Comments
This would fit well on one of our questionnaires - I think we've already done favorite songs by least favorites artists, in fact - but it's not time for another questionnaire yet and I'm interested in doing this one today. So here we are. I don't give a hoot for fans who think their favorite artists are beyond reproach. To my mind, the ability to find fault (or at least acknowledge the possibility that fault might reasonably be found) with our favorite artists is a sign of character. That's … [Read more...]
Ladies and Gentlemen, Your 2009 Playlist
September 10, 2009 by 2 Comments
Thanks for all of your 2009 playlist suggestions! I took one recommendation per person, and when more than one song was recommended from the same album I pretty much just went with whichever one I liked best. A few tracks don't appear because they're not on Amazon or the albums haven't yet been released. But don't let that keep you from checking out the new Guy Clark as soon as it's available. Seriously, don't miss that one; it's a peach. These are just 30 second clips, so it shouldn't … [Read more...]
Let’s Make a 2009 Playlist
September 8, 2009 by 39 Comments
I'm in recovery mode after a long weekend of travel... which was apparently a weekend of calling me out on my scathing(!?) review of the new Chris Young album here in the topsy-turvy internet world... so bear with me as I get back up to speed. Since there was no Quotable this past Sunday/Monday, we'll double up on it next week. (The material is collected, but I'd rather get rolling with this week than get bogged down in processing old news. Snarking takes a lot out of you.) The volume of new … [Read more...]
On the Spot #5
August 25, 2009 by 48 Comments
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...]
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