Wednesday, May 23 2012
Confronting the Enemy: Rascal Flatts
I vigorously defend lots of country music that sends others running. Yet there is one band that drives me absolutely batty. I need to confront and dissect this visceral feeling that their music is the worst, ever. It's time to face my enemy: Rascal Flatts.
Tuesday, April 24 2012
Black Country Communion: Darius Rucker and Lionel Richie
Despite country's southern roots, there remains a dearth of black artists. Darius Rucker dipped his toes in those muddy waters in the past, but alas, Lionel Richie's new country album doesn't wade in much deeper.
Monday, March 12 2012
Psycho Country: Your Favorite Singer is Out to Kill Me
The perfect smile of your favorite country star might be hiding something sinister. Country songs can get kinda crazy.
Thursday, February 23 2012
Americana May Be Country, But Country Is Rarely Americana
Like punk rock and heavy metal, country music has a formula and violating that formula is a kind of betrayal, a heresy for which one may not be forgiven. In Americana, such betrayals and unexpected turns are often welcomed.
Monday, January 30 2012
The Mythical Country
Where are these towns and neighborhoods that Montgomery Gentry sing about? The Mythical Country; the country that exists in the collective imagination of Nashville songwriters and singers, and that of the audience.
Monday, January 9 2012
Queer Country: Chely Wright’s Coming Out
The upcoming documentary, Wish Me Away, centered on country singer Chely Wright chronicles the pains of coming out in Nashville and raises questions about why more country musicians haven’t come out.
Monday, November 21 2011
When Indie Musicians “Go Country”
A lot of these indie musicians who wouldn’t call themselves "country" sound more country to me than Rascal Flatts or, for that matter, than Fleet Foxes, who are described as “alt-country”.
Monday, October 17 2011
Old Country Comfort: How the British Might Save American Music (Again)
The British saved rock 'n' roll, reignited the blues, and may just make country music more American.
Thursday, October 6 2011
Country Music’s Me-First Jesus
These days, a country singer will bow down to Jesus at least once by the end of his album, even if he spent the rest of it cheatin’, mistreatin’ and fightin’. Jesus is that reliable way to feel good even if you’ve been acting bad.
Wednesday, July 20 2011
Is Country Music Treading Water in 2011?
It's been a dead enough year in country music to make fans wonder what's going on. Is the genre taking a year off, or just jogging in place for a while?
Monday, May 16 2011
Martina McBride’s Songs Inspire a New Generation of Country Singers
In one fell, sweet-voiced swoop, Martina McBride gives voice to the struggles of women in contemporary times.
Friday, April 22 2011
Fit to Be Tied: Country’s Angry Women
Modern country music is in love with a new trend: women inflicting violence on men, when the men deserve it... and even when they don't.
Wednesday, March 16 2011
What’s Real About Country Music?
The implication of "Real" and "This Is Country Music" is that some forms of entertainment are more real than others, and country music is the most real. Yet what does it mean for a song to be real? What’s real about music, anyway?
Wednesday, January 26 2011
The Past Is Never Past: How Country Music Remembers
Each year brings a slew of rock 'n' roll reissues or tributes, celebrating the anniversary of landmark albums from the past. Country music, however, tends to view its past differently.
Tuesday, November 9 2010
A Mexico State of Mind
Songs about Mexico run rampant through the commercial country landscape, but which Mexico are they singing about?
Tuesday, September 14 2010
Six Packs Ain’t Nothing More Than EPs With a Working-Class Name
EP sounds like an academic term. “Six pack” makes people think of beer, of a tough-guy’s abs, or Six Pack, the 1982 race-car comedy starring Kenny Rogers.
Wednesday, August 18 2010
Sam Bush: Still Rockin’ That Bluegrass Train
In the pantheon of bluegrass pickers, Sam Bush is the default leader. Still, Bush remembers playing onstage with Bill Monroe in the early '70s, and after he showcased his kinetic picking technique on the mandolin, Monroe leaned over and told him to “stick to the fiddle”.
Tuesday, July 20 2010
The World According to Country Radio: It’s Pretty Basic, Baby
Country is a genre with its own sense of time. New songs on country radio aren't necessarily new. The songs aren't interested in capturing a point in time, instead, they're all about depicting the essentials of life.
Monday, June 14 2010
The Importance of Being Ernest: Easton Corbin and the Country Boy Hemingway Code
Easton Corbin's debut reads like a 'Farewell to Arms' for the truck-pull set and lays out a hero's code for existentialist country boys everywhere; that is, the practical application of action over thought.
Monday, May 10 2010
So, Taylor Swift, How Far Do You Wanna Go?
Taylor Swift’s Fearless tour in Kansas City saw her go so far as to perform a mid-song hug-a-thon with her audience -- rather like a presidential candidate working the crowd -- except, as my brother said, “I went to a John Kerry rally, and he didn’t hug anybody.”
Thursday, April 15 2010
Pour Some Sugarland on Me: Why Country Music Is the New Classic Rock
Question: Since everyone seems to love the big arena-rock of the '80s, why don't they make records like that anymore? Answer: They do. It's called country music, now.
Monday, March 1 2010
The Arrogance of Toby Keith
Arrogance is central to Toby Keith's music. Yet it's an arrogance tied to the notion that human beings are essentially deluded. Everyone thinks they're absolutely right, and everyone is usually wrong.
Monday, February 8 2010
Willie Nelson in the Twilight Glow
At 77, Willie's hair is now down to his tailbone, and you can see his trademark red locks fade to gray about midway up his back -- it's like examining the rings of a tree.
