Country California

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He’s phenomenal, isn’t he? He’s brilliant. ●
– - Well, at least John Rich still has a fan in Sean Hannity.

All the cast and the people working on the show make it really as easy for you as they can, but there’s a certain ’scared-ness’ that comes with doing live stuff. ●
– - Imagine SNL guest host Tim McGraw’s surprise when he discovered that you can’t autotune a comedic performance.

Fearless has racked up the highest first-week sales for a country album since November 2007 when the Eagles sold 711,000 copies of Long Road Out of Eden. ●
– - So Swift’s new album racked up the best first-week sales in the format since the last time another huge act was erroneously classified as country?

The only possible explanation for the success of a band as bland, dull and just plain dumb as the Eagles is that people did a lot of drugs in the ’70s. Bad clothes, bad haircuts, vapid lyrics masquerading as social commentary, too many lead singers, faux country accents, AM-radio-lite-rock guitar sounds, and all that cocaine: This is exactly what happens when session musicians are given the opportunity to step out of the shadows. ●
– - I take it this Steve Catanzarite fellow doesn’t like the Eagles much.

Bon Jovi’s Next Album Won’t Be Country, Sambora Says ●
– - Neither Was Their Last Album, Snarky Blogger Says

Ashlie Kolb: I’m here with Mr. Bucky Covington. How are ya?
Bucky Covington: If I was any better, I’d be you, sweetie. ●
– - Okay, but that would actually be pretty weird, Bucky.

If I blow a lick on the guitar, I always say, ‘Well, that’s pretty good for a songwriter.’ If I write a song that doesn’t work, I say, ‘Well, that’s not bad for a producer.’ Whatever it is that I’m not doing is my real job. ●
– - Mac McAnally on a perk of being a singer/songwriter/musician/producer.

Do you ever write songs that aren’t about boys?
I like writing songs about boys and relationships. And when someone breaks up with me, I like to write about it, because I feel like I have the last word. That’s the fun part. ●
– - Quick follow-up question, Taylor. Actually, same question as last time, but this time if you could just actually answer it in your response.

I think that the current commercial country music is pretty much crap, and I don’t dig anything about it. I don’t think it is honest. It’s the same song over and over. You got the guy song and the girl song. All the guy songs are the same, all the girl songs are the same. And you got writers out there trying to write that same song just because it was successful. And you got a bunch of ’80s power ballads with steel guitars. That’s about all it is. I don’t have any respect for it at all. ●
– - Billy Bob Thornton is harder on contemporary country than I am.

George Jones doesn’t sound like he was influenced by any other singer. He sounds like a steel guitar. It’s the way he blends notes, the way he comes up to them and comes off them, the way he crescendos and descresendos. The dynamic of it is very tight and really controlled — it’s like carving with the voice. ●
– - James Taylor waxes poetic on the Possum.

And so when you listen to this record, you’ll hear the silly side of me, you’ll hear the hurt side of me, you’ll hear the fun side and the go-have-fun-and-party side. So I think we’ve got all the elements covered. ●
– - The problem with Randy Houser’s album: of the four sides it shows, three are basically just rewordings of the same thing (silly, fun, go-have-fun-and-party).

Country Weekly: What do you consider the biggest waste of time?
Jessica Simpson: Blogging! Reading blogs.
– - From the December 1 issue of Country Weekly. I’ll try not to take it personally.