Country California

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Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker Coming to Nutter Center ●
- – I won’t say a thing. Not. A. Thing.

I started freaking out and jumping up and down. I honestly never would have predicted this — eight nominations! I’m ecstatic, and blown away and so, so thankful. ●
- – Taylor Swift on her ketchup packets Grammy nominations.

TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT!!!! SHE HAS NEVER THANKED GOD FOR ANYTHING, UNLIKE CARRIE, RASCAL FLATTS AND OTHERS THAT THANK HIM FIRST!! THEY ARE THE ONES THAT ARE MOST THANKFUL AND BLESSED! ●
- – Comment on above article suggesting that Swift is a godless diva.

Stoney Creek Records Releases New Single from Megan, “Tradin’ My Halo For Horns”
- – Two points of interest in this PR email: Megan Mullins is going all “Before He Cheats” on us, and her success is so certain that we’re to preemptively start calling her by first name only, a la Cher. Her last name appears nowhere in the email. (For likelihood of this gambit’s success, see: Marcel.)

I think if that record came out today, it’d have to be a country record. It’s a sign of how far country radio has come. Country radio’s everything from the pop-country of Rascal Flatts to the dirt country of George Strait to R&B country and everything in between. That’s all in there. ●
- – Darius Rucker on Cracked Rear View and the “dirt country” (?) of George Strait.

Faith Hill will star in the 11th annual A Home for the Holidays special airing Dec. 23 on CBS. Guest performances will include Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood. ● (emphasis added)
- – WHAT?! Sorry, couldn’t resist. That whole incident was blown way out of proportion.

I get to sing from the heart and I don’t feel like I’ve ever really done that before. Its therapeutic, not in a way like ‘me and my best friend had a fight and I write about it.’ Its therapeutic in a way that I’m a private person and one thing people say constantly about me is she doesn’t say much. ●
- – Carrie Underwood on her new album, with a possible Swift jab. Please blow this way out of proportion.

Kristin Chenoweth and Christina Applegate, we do a fun thing together. Three blondes get together and do something really cool. ●
- – Underwood on her holiday special. Okay, I’ll watch, but if it doesn’t involve hot pants and tickle fights, I will walk away feeling that I’ve been manipulated.

Being well-known has nothing to do with being a great artist. If it did, Tom Waits would be a multimillionaire. ●
- – Jack Ingram, who’s pretty well-known.

It’s gotten a lot more image-conscious. I don’t think the puffy sort of redneck like Garth Brooks would be allowed in now. It’s all young men and women; it doesn’t seem like adults are allowed to play country music anymore. You never see somebody like George Jones or Merle Haggard come along anymore. ●
- – Mark Stuart (sans Bastard Sons) suggests that 1990s Garth wouldn’t be pretty enough for country radio in 2009.

Well, under the current model of what’s going on, I’m in the top three of your most country artists out there. ●
- – Depressingly enough, as far as radio goes, Luke Bryan might be right.

But I have to do music the way I feel it and the way I think people wanna hear it. Whether that makes me sell a million albums or a hundred million albums, I’ve got to do it that way for my happiness. ●
- – Even so, should one million be the low end of his (Bryan’s) sales expectations? Maybe a tad optimistic.

I like the tears and the realness in the voices, and it’s not overproduced — no smoke and mirrors. ‘Willie’s Place’ on XM Satellite Radio is all I listen to. ●
- – Kellie Pickler. It’s nice to hear of a country artist actually listening to country music.

One of the things that’s appealing about country music, in general, is that it’s dealing with human emotions that people can relate to. We can all relate to not only the fear of failure, but the fear of success and what we do to ourselves when we get successful. Once you get to the top of the mountain, there’s only one place to go. You roll down. So, how do you deal with that? A lot of us deal with it by numbing ourselves. That’s our strategy. We slow ourselves down. So, I can relate to that, just as a human being. Just being alive, you struggle with that. ●
- – Jeff Bridges, who’s getting Oscar buzz for his turn as down-on-his-luck country singer Bad Blake in the upcoming film Crazy Heart (in theaters December 16), on the appeal of country music.

Lady Antebellum Cover Makes Country Look Cool ●
- – I object to the implication that country has to be made cool. It is inherently so.

Carrie, by far is the best thing that has ever happened to country music, or any other genre of music. This girl is pure class!!!!! She is so…..talented and has a vocal range like no other. Just because she is wearing the outfits that go along with the song, “Cowboy Casanova”, means she is only acting out that part. She is a wonderful Christian girl with very deep seeded moral values. ●
- – Carrie superfans are the gift that keeps on giving.

Put a choir on anything, and it gets good. ●
- – For the love of God, keep Kristian Bush out of the producer seat.