Tag: Country

Album Review: Karly Driftwood – Too Mean To Die

I’ve noticed a recent trend in country music for songs about how hard it is to make in Nashville – like ‘This Town is Killing Me’ by Caitlyn Smith, ‘Dreams Don’t Come True’ by Angaleena Presley and ‘Ten Year Town’ by Hailey Whitters. Honest thoughts about the crushing reality of pursuing success are also recurring themes on this new album ‘Too Mean To Die’ by Karly Driftwood. Her dreams haven’t come true, not even close, but maybe that just gives her something to sing about. Continue reading “Album Review: Karly Driftwood – Too Mean To Die” →

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EP Review: Kathryn Legendre – Making It Up

Traditional country music has been having a good 2019 so far, with releases from the likes of legends Reba McEntire and independent acts like Charlie Marie and Steel Blossoms. Austin’s Kathryn Legendre is another name to add to this list – she’s a singer with a honky tonk heart and songs good enough to make you joyously weep into your whiskey. This new EP Making It Up is only twenty minutes and five songs long but every single one is a knock out. Continue reading “EP Review: Kathryn Legendre – Making It Up” →

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EP Review: Charlie Marie EP

Rhinestone cowboys sometimes glitter so brightly in the sun, it’s hard to see beyond the surface. You can play dress up easily, put in some pedal steel – does that make you an authentic country artist? And then there’s the complicated debate about artists combining country with pop and hip hop. To be honest all this arguing about ‘what makes you country’ often just ends up giving me a headache. What I do know is that I just really want to hear great songs and a great singer, whatever genre. Of course I admit I have a soft spot for vintage sounding country music and am always looking to support artists who honestly embrace that style. Charlie Marie hails from small town Rhode Island, which might be far from Nashville but her music is comfortingly familiar classic country. Continue reading “EP Review: Charlie Marie EP” →

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EP Review: Maddie & Tae – One Heart To Another

Everyone from die hard fans to causal observers can plainly see that there is a serious problem in the mainstream country music genre. Women are not getting air play or streaming spots on major playlists and this has a knock on effect on chart placing, touring and festival bills. A few years back Maddie and Tae managed the impossible by breaking into the charts with Girl In a Country Song, which hilariously sent up the sexism of the industry and the bro country tropes. They followed that up with a well received debut album and yet here we are four years later, still waiting on a second album, while endless faceless male nobodies hit the charts with ease. The fact that this new release, One Heart to Another, is only an EP is a little disappointing but it is a relief to finally hear new material from the duo, plus the bonus news is that they have been invited to go on tour with Carrie Underwood. Continue reading “EP Review: Maddie & Tae – One Heart To Another” →

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Album Review: Reba McEntire – Stronger Than The Truth

Credit must go to Reba McEntire for making a concerted choice to record a classic country album, working with a range of songwriters to make music that appeals to her already established audience. She makes no play for younger fans or the radio or even rootsy Americana fans either. Stronger Than The Truth sticks close to the slick, polished brand of country that made her name and the result is something listenable, credible and really damn enjoyable. Continue reading “Album Review: Reba McEntire – Stronger Than The Truth” →

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Dolly Parton’s Discography – Here You Come Again (1977)

In the middle of the eternal debate about what defines the country music genre it’s interesting to consider some of these late seventies Dolly Parton albums. She aimed for the pop market but hoped to keep her country fanbase happy too. By 1977 Dolly was on her twentieth solo album in ten years. She’d written every style of country song you could think of. Pop music was limitless in a way that country music could never be – sonically and commercially. Dolly wanted the same success as Elvis or Elton John – not just an occasional cross over from the country charts. Jolene proved she could take country with her over to the mainstream and on Here You Come Again she again attempted to find a place in both worlds. Continue reading “Dolly Parton’s Discography – Here You Come Again (1977)” →

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Album Review: Maren Morris – Girl

If being ‘country’ is about where you’re from and how you sing then Maren Morris has a Texan twang which should be perfect the genre. Her debut single My Church promised much – here was a singer who could sell authentic sounding country pop in a radio-friendly way. When her debut album was released it divided critics, some of whom were disappointed by the more pop leanings of the rest of her music. Those who were less concerned with genre heard a confident young singer with a talent for catchy hooks, who has since managed to find herself a place on country radio despite the odds against women succeeding in that notoriously male-dominated format.

Her second album Girl comes after recent Grammy nominations in both the country and pop categories. The traditionalists will find little to get behind here, but those predicting a full jump to EDM after her crossover guest spot on Zedd’s ‘The Middle’ are wrong. Morris forges her own path with an appealing blend of country, pop and r’n’b. Continue reading “Album Review: Maren Morris – Girl” →

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