Remember, you have through Thursday to enter our Christmas giveaway for a shot at winning some cool prizes, including George Strait apparel and autographed CDs. All the necessary details are here. That's old news. The new news is this: Now through Thursday, there's one way - and only one way - of gaining a second entry in the drawing (effectively doubling your chances), and that's by participating in the Childhelp deal at Farce the Music. This is my way of throwing a little support behind … [Read more...]

Christmas shopping is fun, but who has the time? Or the money? Clearly, it's time for a holiday giveaway. Courtesy of our friends at Universal Music Group, we have some cool swag that is sure to impress the country music lover in your life. And hey, there's no shame in self-gifting. Items up for grabs include: George Strait's Here for a Good Time CD with matching gray "Here for a Good Time" T-shirt (size L) Sunny Sweeney's Concrete CD, autographed Eli Young Band's Life at Best … [Read more...]

For all their chart dominance, country music's males have a filler problem. It afflicted recent releases by Blake Shelton and Chris Young. Eric Church wasn't immune, and neither is Luke Bryan. According to Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe, though, Bryan's recently-released third album, Tailgates & Tanlines, isn't without its charms: "Too Damn Young" is an obvious exception, trading equally in nostalgia and regret, and "You Don't Know Jack" transcends the trappings of the typical … [Read more...]

Eric Church has seen his success snowball to a whole new level recently, with first week sales of his new album more than quadrupling those of 2009 sophomore set Carolina. That's good enough to turn a lot of heads on Music Row, and good enough to land him ahead of Kelly Rowland and Adele on the all-genre albums chart. In fact, Church is the first core country artist to top the Billboard 200 without the benefit of any previous top five country singles since 1967, a fact that has even Billboard … [Read more...]

Listen, we know. As much as you love music, you've got to keep food on the table, gas in the tank, your kids in clothes, and enough change in the ashtray for consolatory trips to your local watering hole. It probably hasn't gotten any easier lately, so we've put together a prize pack of four great 2010 albums for one of you. It includes the following: Joe Diffie's Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album (review at The 9513) Hellbound Glory's Old Highs and New Lows (review here) The Grascals' The … [Read more...]