Reviews

Song Review – Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard “It’s All Going to Pot”

Reviews 45 Comments

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If 2013 was the “Year of the Song” and 2014 was the “Year of Sturgill Simpson,” 2015 may just go down as the “Year of the Collaboration.” The Congress of the United States has yet to recognize 4/20 as a holiday, or that the possession of the leafy green is legal in all 50 states, but it made for the perfect excuse for Willie & Merle to release the first single from their upcoming collaboration called, “It’s All Going to Pot.”

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Album Review – Dwight Yoakam’s “Second Hand Heart”

Reviews 58 Comments

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There’s just a cool factor about Dwight that appears will never wear off, regardless if the hips don’t shake and the knees don’t knock as much as they used to, or even if he’s the perfect specimen for male pattern baldness under the low brim of that cowboy hat. He’s still Dwight, and that caramel voice and cutting yodel will never be deprecated.

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Song Review – Granger Smith’s “Backroad Song”

Reviews 63 Comments

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I can remember it almost like it was yesterday. Granger Smith released a hilarious song and video under his pseudonym Earl Dibbles Jr. called “Country Boy Song,” and we were all falling over each other and high-fiving at how it was the perfect illustration of just what a scourge laundry list country songs had become. This was the early in the summer of 2012. The term “Bro-Country” was over a year from being coined.

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Album Review – Pokey LaFarge’s “Something in the Water”

Reviews 15 Comments

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Some 70 years behind the times and yet still cooler than the rest of us, Pokey LaFarge is like the musical equivalent of the Austin Powers character brought out of cryogenic freeze to do battle with the forces of bad music by reminding the world of a time when popular songs still embodied taste, composition, and a timeless charisma instead of the diarrhetic pap dictated by the fickle tastes of 15-year-olds.

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Song Review – Joy Williams’ “Woman (Oh Mama)”

Reviews 40 Comments

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It appeared nearly preordained that The Civil Wars weren’t built to last for the long term when you really pondered how bright they burned each time they took the stage. Now Joy has released a new single called “Woman (Oh Mama)” ahead of a solo project named Venus, and as you may be able to surmise from the titles, it is a very woman-centric foray into the power of the female identity.

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Album Review – Sarah Gayle Meech’s “Tennessee Love Song”

Reviews 16 Comments

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Haunting stages at The Bluegrass Inn or Robert’s Western World on any given night is the ravenesque Sarah Gayle Meech. This isn’t the overnight sensation approach to making it in the music business. This isn’t about moving to town and pitching your songs to superstars in buildings out on Music Row. Sarah Gayle Meech’s approach is one that’s cousin to the blue collars she sings for every night.

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Song Review – Tyler Farr’s “A Guy Walks Into A Bar”

Reviews 73 Comments

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Last time I was paying attention to Tyler Farr, he was touching off a firestorm for singing about parking his truck in his ex’s yard and whipping beer cans at her window. Then Colt Ford and the cast of Duck Dynasty showed up in the video, machine gunning out rolls of toilet paper at this poor chick’s abode just because she finally figured out Tyler Farr had a big bag of nothing and gave him the boot.

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Wade Bowen & Randy Rogers Score Big with “Standards”

Reviews 26 Comments

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Not your run-of-the-mill country protest song, “Standards” makes use of sharp wit and country stylings to land a poignant and cutting point about the plight many musicians face when they interface with the music industry. Though protest songs droning on and on about how Nashville is no longer country are just as cliché as the songs they’re criticizing, “Standards” has an appeal beyond…

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The Raelyn Nelson Band Seek Revenge in New “Brother” Song

Reviews 13 Comments

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Raelyn Nelson and the Raelyn Nelson Band are just too much damn fun. The granddaughter of Willie is like a modern day country music Punky Brewster with a sound and energy reminiscent of the nascent 90’s country punk scene when things were just a little more unhinged and energetic, yet still rooted in the country music spirit more so than what most of what modern country offers today.

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Roo Arcus’ “Cowboys & Sunsets” Does Traditional Country Right

Reviews 33 Comments

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Beneath the surface of Australian country, traditional artists still fight for attention and find it amidst both Australian and international listeners. Roo Arcus is one of those traditional country artists, and one who can quiet American naysayers arguing an Australian can’t birth authentic country songs, and not just from the songs that his life has inspired, but the country lifestyle Roo Arcus leads.

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Album Review – Allison Moorer’s “Down to Believing”

Reviews 20 Comments

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Down to Believing nestles right down in that classic alt-country approach of building up from a country foundation, but then striking out with a decidedly rock and roll sound. It’s a bold, full experience that in some ways reminds one of the nascent alt-country period when the sounds were still fresh and renewed, yet still had the essence of what made you a country fan to begin with.

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Chris Janson’s Embarrassing “Buy Me A Boat” Becomes Hit

Reviews 117 Comments

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Chris Janson becomes the perfect pitchman for exuberant and unhealthy American consumerism in the wholly-unoriginal, culturally-deprecated, and easily-forgettable Bro-Country track “Buy Me A Boat.” Burying any of the wisdom found embedded in countless American music standards about how things such as love and hard work are the way to true fulfillment and happiness.

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Kelsea Ballerini Seeks Breakout with “Love Me Like You Mean It”

Reviews 90 Comments

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Just what country needed—a cute little pop girl pretending to be country, and pushing all the female singers who actually are country yet another step towards the back of a line that they’re already being crowded out of because of the sausage fest at the top of the country charts. Oh, and give an assist to country expat Taylor Swift who tweeted out her admiration for this song.

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Brandi Carlile Soars in “The Firewatcher’s Daughter”

Reviews 30 Comments

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Brandi Carlile is exactly the type of strong-willed, vibrant and inventive female artist country music needs, yet country’s charts continue to be crested by the likes of interlopers such as Sam Hunt. Can we trade Sam Hunt to rock for Brandi Carlile, players to be named later, drafts picks, and/or cash considerations? Everyone wants to talk about where to find relevant female talent for country music, well here it is.

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Album Review – Grandpa’s Cough Medicine’s “180 Proof”

Reviews 12 Comments

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Hailing from the Florida region, Grandpa’s Cough Medicine is not exactly your grandpa’s bluegrass band, but they’re not solely a speed freak punk-gone-bluegrass outfit either. Combining the meticulous and highly-skilled artistry of authentic bluegrass traditions and modes with a punk-ish attitude and tempo, and adding a little bit of ribald and offbeat humor in their lyricism….

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Gary Allan Finds His Big Sellout Moment with “Hangover Tonight”

Reviews 149 Comments

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This is Gary Allan’s big sellout moment ladies and gentlemen. No pretenses, no qualifiers, just come out and act like you’re into what Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett are into at the ripe age 47. This is even a bigger sellout moment than Tim McGraw with “Truck Yeah” and Jerrod Niemann with “Drink To That All Night” because you half expected those moves from those knuckleheads. But Gary Allan?

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Song Review – Eric Paslay’s “She Don’t Love You”

Reviews 41 Comments

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Some would argue it has been a dereliction of Saving Country Music duties that the name Eric Paslay has failed to be exclusively featured here for your reading edification previously. When you’re populating lists of mainstream artists that traditionalists or independent-minded fans might find appealing, this ginger-headed 30-something from Abilene, TX signed to EMI Nashville is an easy candidate to include.

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Review – Whitey Morgan Covers Van Zandt’s “Waitin’ ‘Round To Die”

Reviews 19 Comments

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Whitey has been telling fans to not expect the similar Waylon vibe of his last albums on Sonic Ranch, and we see this coming to fruition in this Townes cover. Expansive, epic, dynamic, and moving, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s really delve into the spirit of the song and make it sound new. And most importantly from a lead single, it gets you really excited about what Whitey has in store with the new release.

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Song Review – Mumford & Son’s Go Electric on “Believe”

Reviews 46 Comments

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On March 9th, 2015, the suspenders depressingly slumped off the collective shoulders of America’s over-educated and under-employed string bands, the hipster mustaches had a little less starch, and the slide in banjo sales turned into an downright tailspin as the British outfit that symbolized the very apex of 2012’s old-timey (and in many ways, unfortunate) acoustic craze officially went electric.

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Song Review – “Biscuits” by Kacey Musgraves

Reviews 99 Comments

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Yes, she’s the mainstream country star who isn’t afraid to actually act and sing a little country, is fearless enough to actually have the audacity to say something with her music, and has found a way to be decorated by critics while still upholding enough of a commercial standard to be recognized by the CMA’s and ACM’s. But despite all your squinting to make Kacey Musgraves into what you want her to be…

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Blues Review – Steve Earle’s “Terraplane”

Reviews 29 Comments

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So the elder Earle wanted to make himself a traditional blues record, huh? Well, not that I don’t defend his right to do whatever he wants as a music artist, but it doesn’t make it smart or sensible or gainful or right. It’s a little self-indulgent, frankly, don’t you think? At least on the surface that is. What do we need Steve Earle making blues records for? Are there not enough of them?

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Song Review – Ashley Monroe’s “On To Something Good”

Reviews 33 Comments

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Ashley Monroe has all the assets that it takes to be a top tier female country music star, and in an environment where the industry seems to be desperately looking to anoint them. A beautiful, astounding singer, excellent songwriter, yet three years into her major label deal and she still feels like the consummate critical darling/commercial outsider.

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