Josh Thompson is not a hat act… but kinda sounds like he could be.   He’s the real deal and he writes too.  In Fact, he

New music now out...

had a hand in writing every track) on his new CD “Way Out Here” just released this week on Columbia/Sony Records Nashville.  The new CD - download on iTunes.-is a nice break from the pop country that’s starting to be back in vogue with the Nashville Country labels.

Thompson is from Wisconsin and his debut album, out this week, is fun to hear.  I don’t know of many country stars that grew out of Wisconsin but I do know first hand there’s a lot of farmland to grow some country ”way out there”.    Maybe that’s why his traditional – but rocking – country sound comes across as fresh and not a remake of someone else’s stuff.    In fact there’s a lot of “country boy” themes in his new collection of songs… but Thompson’s found new ways to express it.    Not “redneck” or “hillbilly” but he sings about being from “Way Out Here.”

His  ”You Ain’t seen Country Yet” is worth a good laugh with a line about making love to the sounds of a Haggard casette (if you haven’t…”you ain’t SEEN country yet”).   Add in his rapid fire toungue twisting twang on radio hit “Beer On The Table” and you got a fun mix that defines what Thompson does.   As a bonus there’s a serious side painted in “Sinner”  that will resonate with the bible belt country fans too.

Thompson is currently playing to packed clubs with Eric Church on the Jagermeister Tour.

Listen for the nod to the legends with “Blame It On Waylon” and an ”old” Kenny Chesney flavor on the well-written “Back Around” that sounds like it could be a current radio hit anywhere in the country.

Overall Grade: A  surprise collection that proves traditional leaning country can still sound young and fresh.

Download:   Beer On The Table  although it may disappear from the radio top twenty soon it’s a song that should have hit.

Delete: None – this is one to listen to cover to cover.

Miranda Lambert on the 2009 Sun City Carnival Tour

Country spitfire and covergirl Miranda Lambert will please a bunch of RanFans this week.  A RanFan is the name of her fan club members and they are going to be fired up over the release of the spunky blones latest CD “Revolution.”

The CD is bound to build Lambert’s fanbase.  There’s something for all of them.  The gun lovers, the romantics, and the singer songwriter fans.

In fact, Lambert wrote or co-wrote 4 of the 15 tracks on the project.  Impressive, and kind of surprising seeing that she hasn’t really been widely known as a songwriter.

Revolution was Produced by Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke and has a roots but comfortable feel with some spiffy transitions between a few tracks.

A few notable tunes: “Time To Get a Gun” will surely be a wild singalong live…. and “Love Song”  is a surprisingly traditional tune ( a collaboration with not-so traditional Lady Atebellum members Charles Kellyand Dave Haywood).  But the romantics in the audience will prefer the softness of “Makin Plans.”

Lambert Enjoying The Spotlight

Lambert covers a lot of grund and rarely missed except on “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go” that tries to rock in a country sort of way but ends up just being noise.

Lambert’s radio singles have mostly struggled in the past ( Revolution’s “Dead Flowers” is better as an album track) but she may have finally gotten over the hill.  If you’ve been a RanFan from the start (Nashville Star and “Me and Charlie” in October of ‘04) you’ll love “Revolution.”  If you just discovering the pisot from Lindale, Tx after “GunPowder and Lead”  you’ll probably become a fan.

Grade:B+

Dowload:  “LoveSong” or the single “White Liar”

Delete:  “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go”.

You can’t tell a book by it’s cover but you CAN usually tell the target audience of a cd by it’s packaging. That’s the case with Kellie Pickler’s self-titled cd out this week.  Hot pink with stars.  Yes… that reflects the music on this project.  Cute fun for young girls but Guy’s won’t find much here other than her great lookin’ photos…

Everything on the cd seems targeted to the 18-24 year old woman. From the catchy lead single that’s on the radio now “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” to the somber “Somebody to Love Me.”   There’s a lot of syrup here for such a cute, young, funny, girl.

Pickler is very funny on TV and somehow it’s hard to translate that talent to song.  She takes a stab with the wedding crasher tune “Rocks Instead of Rice.”  (Think LeeAnn Womack’s I’ll Think Of A Reason Later part 2).  I for one would like to see that long rumored sitcom she was offered back after American Idol come to life.   She is great on TV (especially her Leno bits) and that could only help her stature in music.  So far this is an opportunity missed. 

 
One track that works is the bouncy final track called Going Out In-Style where Kellie describes how she wants to spend eternity…. ashes spead in the shoe department at Sacks Fifth Avenue. Again not much for a guy… This Ones for the girls.

OVERALL GRADE: C+

DON’T MISS:  The Track “Best Days Of Your Life” (co-written and also featuring Taylor Swift.)

The new Sugarland song came on in the truck over the weekend – I was driving with my seven year old son, Jack, in the back seat. He doesn’t usually pay much attention to Dad’s radio… But two minutes in I heard him singing “wanna doo – uh – ooh ooh ooh – ahwoo – uh -ooh ooh ooh.” I even woke the next morning singing it on my way to the shower. Hard to deny a hook like that.

Jennifer Nettles and Cristian Bush have created something fairly unusual in Country Music these days. They have segued from a folkie new country trio into a CMA Award winning superstar duo with a Pop appeal. Seems like they’ve become overnight successes but in reality have been pluggin away for awhile. It’s been years since they’ve worked the small clubs in the SouthEast seperately with The Jennifer Nettles Band and Billy Pilgrim (Google ‘em). The new cd “Love On The Inside” showcases Nettles strong vocal presence and also keeps Bush’s sidekick additions up front. In fact, both Nettles and Bush co wrote every song on their third cd. A admirable feat even if they enlisted third writers on many track. They produced a dozen tracks (17 on the “Deluxe Fan Edition out 7/22) that deliver on all their core fan’s expectations.

Nettles and Bush could have easily taken the new cd’s sound towards pop or too folk rock but they did a fantastic job of blossoming their unique gifts and perspective and make it mainstream country. Radio programmers will like it and they are sure to have two more years of radio success to fuel their A List headlining concerts (with some strong openers they should continue to be able to fill 7000 + seat areas). Sugarland Kicks off a 25 city tour with Kellie Picker and Ashton Shepherd on July 22nd).

Most are already infected with the pure pop debut single “All I Want To Do” that leads one to think the whole CD will be kind of bubblegum and a bit too pop. Not true. All I Want To Do was a smart but daring choice for their return. It just sounds different than most songs on the radio. But me and my son can attest… it gets in your head.I love the fact that there are artists in country still stepping out and being big performer if a little different. I remember thinking the same thing when Nettles performed on stage at the awards shows with Bon Jovi. It would have been easy for her to play second fiddle to someone like that and be safe. Instead she worked the vocals… worked the stage and looked WAY more fun than BonJovi. She sells it with fearless performances. Did the same thing on their recent headlining tour.Bush has a strong presence in the duo’s make up too. Don’t count him out. On-stage he pumps up the energy… and on the new cd his plucky mandolin adds to their signature sound.

There is some hard core solid songwriting here too. The lead single is followed by another potential single “It Happens” that sounds like mainstream country fun.”We Run” launches into a very bluegrass sound. Listen for “Joey” (co written with Bill Anderson) featuring some fantastic lyrics and has more of the folkie rock REM sound they really works and “Love with” a U2 sounding riff throughout.Other tracks include a barn-burning funny “Steve Earl” kinda tribute song that is undeniably country. The album is capped off perfectly with a “Very Last Country Song,” a potential radio hit. The bands website explains: Co-writer Tim Owens told the duo that someone had once asked him why country music was always so sad. Owens’ answer was that if bad things never happened, then what would we have to write about? “Last Country Song” explores that thought with another stripped down performance reminiscent of mega hit “Stay.”

Overall Grade: B+

Don’t Miss: “All I Want To Do” and five bonus tracks on the Delue Fan Edition. This – for now – is the only place to get their live “Life In A Northern Town” (with 07 tourmates) and the live “Come On Get Higher”

Fast Forward: “Genevieve” misses the mainstream mark but fine as an album cut.

With "Back When I Knew It All" climbing the radio charts it’s clear to me Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry are really a few thing about what their fans want. 

It’s easy to lose track of guys like Montgomery Gentry.   They’re kind of in the shadows of the noisy headliners keeping to themselves… until suddenly you realize… whoa… they’ve go about twenty songs you can sing along with and have sold a ton of CDs.   With their new project "Back When I Knew It All" hitting stores this week they get a bit noisier while taking the next step to A list.

From my calculations this will be Montgomery Gentry’s 7th cd since 1999’s debut Tattoos and Scars.  Eighth if you count a "Super Hits" compilation.  They’re doing great but still not household names.  However it looks like longevity will be Eddie and Troys friend with a solid new batch of songs and a smart concert booking and party partnership with Toby Keith’s summer tour. (In Charleston 6/29.)

In fact, Toby has a rockin’ duet (or is that now a trio) with MG on the record that’s sure to please the roughneck crowd.  "I Pick My Parties" has some radio potential although I’d REALY like to hear a recorded live version.

"We’ve always been consistent about choosing songs that deal with the working class, songs people can identify with," says Troy Gentry and you have to agree when you hear the new material.   There’s a lot of southern rock and a lot of soulful soul searching.  More heart than is expected from two Kentucky tough guys.

The old fire and brimstone preacher cranks up to the first track then it’s immediately to The Big Revival and setting the table with a full glass f moonshine.   Next… "Long Line Of Losers" one of many that opens with a classic southern rock slide guitar and cranks up from there.  There’s plenty of tempo to please the party crowd.  In fact "One In Every Crowd" (co written by Eddie) is perfect writing for the duo and is worth a good laugh.

The song choices are right on for their fan base.  The ballads sound so good I’d like t hear a few more.  "You Only Get One Trip" has a classic feel (great line: "order up the good wine… soak up the sunshine."

More than anything else the CD shows off the duo’s heart in their signature hillbilly way.   Who else is making hard work look cool these days.  Check out "It Ain’t About Easy" and you’ll be ready to plow the field.

Expect to hear three or four on country radio over the next year… I’d expect "One In Every Crowd" and the Toby duet (If they have singles rights).  No doubt Eddie and -
TRoy are still in the radio game for two more years with this collection of smart song choices and with the summer tour they’ll have a big stage to show off some new Montgomery Gentry stuff. 

Hear "Back When I Knew It All"  HERE for Free.

Keith Urban never even had achance to get an official standing ovation at his amazing concert last night in Charleston. Instead, they stayed on their feet for the entire show (including encore). It was the stuff rock stars are made of.

Keith’s set was preceded by a strong showing by Carrie Underwood… but when Urban hit the stage (impressive one at that with at 200 + foot catwalk) it was electrifying without being campy and without the star having to “milk” the crowd in the least.

Urban opened the show with Once in A Lifetime Love in silhouette with massive high definition video behind. The video was about the best you’ll see (Chesney may have more screens… but Urban had a certain 70’s mega concert STYLE).

Just after his next two songs Where The Blacktop Ends then Find A Way Back Keith talked to the Charleston crowd… and spotted a fan sign that read “Can We Get a Picture With YOU?” So he called he three girls from Mt. Pleasant ON STAGE to do it right! Lisa and Jordan have a few keepers for photos… If you missed it… we caught the moment Click Here For More).

The Rest of the Set List:
Faster Car
Raining On Sunday
Stupid Boy
(instrumental)Band Intros
Better Half
Making Memories Of Us
You’ll Think of Me
Stop Draggin My Heart Around (with Carrie Underwood)
I Told You So (with 19 drummers from Coastal Carolina!)
Days Go By
Guitar Rock Medley: (I lost track after Walk This Way and Stairway to Heaven licks)
Good In My Shirt
Piano Intro / Tonight I Wanna Cry
Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me
Somebody Like You

Then Urban got personal with the song This Time to Nicole Kidman, “I have a very pregnant wife at home and I’d like to dedicate this one to her” he said as he plopped a Sony Camcorder on the piano to record US.

The show wrapped (about an hour and a half longer than I expected… 11:50p before I got to the car) with confetti, Better Life, a shout to the troops and the finale dedicated to all the fans “that made the decision not to leave until the very end.” Keith wrapped with one of his more recent hits Everybody and the near capacity (maybe 500 shy of a sellout) waited for autographs and straggled out.

Without a doubt Keith Urban is a future country / rock legend and last night I saw a show reminiscent of Springsteen in his prime.

Carrie’s Set List:

Troubadour is the new George Strait CD (out Tuesday 4/1).  It’s also the name of one of my new favorite songs.  

Troubadour – the CD and the song – both live up to most all the heritage that those definitions convey.  There’s a real timeless, almost old fashioned, feel to most of the songs. I’ve never been a typical Strait fan.  I liked individual songs.   After tracking through what will become his 38th album
I’m hooked.  Come to think of it – I doubt Strait ever really loses a fan… just keeps gaining them.   Just as he keeps gaining accolades and awards too; the album’s stellar first single, “I Saw God Today,” already set a personal mark when it debuted at No. 19 on the country radio charts—higher than any other song he’s released in his career.

Look for "I Saw God Today" to be another #1… there will be more here too… and I can only hope the title track will be sanctioned for radio play.

Willie Nelson has been so prolific over the last few decades it’s easy to forget that he’s one of modern American masters of music.  Now at the age of 74, wit over 100 albums under his belt, you have to wonder how much longer Willie can keep up his touring and recording pace.

Now, at a time when he could be slowing down, he has released one of his best albums to date;  an album produced by country superstar Kenny Chesney (and longtime Chesney Producer BuddyCannon). The CD "Moment of Forever" is in stores now and is a solid  offering.

Nelson fans will love the fact that, no matter how influential the producer, if you have Willie singing it will always sound like a good old Willie Nelson CD.  Chesney and Cannon do nothing to tarnish Willie’s catalog.  In fact they add some really special tracks to the library.  

When gaging Chesney’s contribution it’s obvious to first look at his duet with Willie "Worry Be Gone."     With Kenny’s latest single (another duet with another legend George Strait) skyrocketing up the charts it’s unlikely "Worry" will be a radio single but I think it couold’ve worked. 

The reality is mainstream radio has always been fickle with Willie.   The airplay love affair ended about 1989 after 21 or so number one country hits.   Nown it looks like he has to packaged in a duet to get airplay (like Mendocino Country line and Beer For My Horses).  Plus I’m not sure the label machine ever gets it quite right with him.

Nelson – the songwriter – contributed three songs: "Over You Again," which he wrote with sons Micah and Lukas, and two that he wrote solo, including the hilarious "You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore" ("Did you hear the one about the dirty &%$!/Oh, I forgot . . . you don’t think I’m funny anymore"). Chesney and Cannon also delivered songs for the project.

Willie’s Grave Digger Video
Jessica Simpson in Willie’s "You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore Video

My Grade: B+
Don’t Miss: "The Bob Song" (A pirate treasure. Yes that’s Big Kenny who wrote the cut).
Fast Forward: "Louisiana" (written by Randy Newman is about 2 years late and misses the mark unless you’re from the state.)

Track List:
1. Over You Again
2. Moment of Forever
3. The Bob Song
4. Louisiana
5. Gravedigger
6. Keep Me From Blowing Away
7. Takin’ On Water
8. Always Now
9. I’m Alive
10. When I Was Young and Grandma Wasn’t Old
11. Worry B Gone (duet with Kenny Chesney)
12. You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore
13. Gotta Serve Somebody

Alan Jackson really pegged the name of his new cd. It’s called Good Time and it just could be Alan Jackson’s defining work which is a bold statement considering Jacksons career spans decades over years.

After a few forays straying from tradional country (the bluesy Alison Krause “Red On a Rose” and the sucessful “Precisous Memories” collection of Hymmns) The new CD hits stores Tuesday and is produced by longtime collaborator Keith Stegal and is pure Alan.

So what’s unique about this album. First off, it’s the first entire CD on which Alan has written every word. There are seventeen tracks. Pretty impressive.
Secondly, all the songs are new, unique, and sound like big Alan Jackson hit songs. It’s real deal country music.

I’ve never been a core Jackson fan. I’ve always simply just liked his ditties like “Little Bitty” and even duds like the more recent “Talking’ Repair Song Blues.”
But tracking through “Good Time” on a long drive yesterday I found myself singing along to almost every single song on the disk. These are songs I’ve never heard before. Alan’s writing some powerful hooks.

The vocoder craze continues in the lead track with the sing along “G with an O an O with a D a T with an I an M with an E that spells good time.” It’s a fin way to start and a likely radio hit if released.

Alan blazes through “Small Town Southern Man” – already a big hit on radio. Slows it down for the clever and well written “I Wish I Could Back Up.”

After that expect solid drinkin’ songs (“If You Want To Make Me Happy”); island songs (the solid “Laid Back in Low Key – Cay); and even his true country version of Nineteen Something (“1976″).

Another highlight is the somber “You’ve Got Me Right Where I Want You” I can’t believe that lyric has not been written before.

This is a great way to fight single song downloads. Just make every track on the CD a keeper. No filler here just pure country that guarantees Jackson’s prominence on country radio for another two years. Listening beginning to end lives up to the album’s name.

Alan Jackson has sold more than 49 million albums, has penned 21 of his 31 #1 records, and is the most nominated artist in CMA history. The three-time CMA Entertainer of the Year topped the album charts not once, but twice, in 2006, with the success of Precious Memories and Like Red on a Rose. GOOD TIME is his first album of all country material since 2004’s WHAT I DO.

My Grade: Solid A
Don’t Skip: “I Still Like Bologna” – Better than a cliché “WWW Dot Memory” the song takes a real country look at tech and appreciation for life’s simpler pleasures.
Fast Forward: Past “Country Boy” – a slightly forced and cartoonish Jackson song.

>Daniels, who just turned a hearty 71 years young last week, says he’s always proud to perform for the vets and our troops. “They’re the best we’ve got.” He Says, “There are no finer Americans than the ones wearing that uniform they’re just the best.”

Daniel’s has been busy these days as he promotes his newest release called “Deuces” on his very own Blue Hat Records.
“Deuces” (as in duets) pairs the unmistakeable voice of the CDB with some usual suspects (Gretchen Wilson on “Jackson” and Montgomery Gentry with “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye”) some surprising choices (Darius Rucker and an acoustic Brad Paisley).

Charleston’s very own Rucker has one of the more surprising duets with a Dylan tune. “I knew Darius had to be a Bob Dylan fan… so I said how ’bout doin’ “Like a Rollin’ Stone” and it was compatible with him so I cut the track and we just went in and did it. It was that simple.”

Brad Paisley wraps up the CD with a special intrumental track (it’s rumored Paisley has an upcoming instrumental album of his own in the works).

“Jammin’ For Stevie,” the Paisley track, came together as a jam session says Charlie, “We had Stevie Ray’s old Band Double Trouble in town for another project and they were in the studio and we had Brad come out and bring his guitar and them and myself and one of my guitar players stood in the studio and wrote this one. It’s just a jammin’ thing.”

My Grade: B-
Don’t Miss: Jammin’ For Stevie w/ Brad Paisley
Skip: Brooks and Dunn on Long Haired CB

Deuces Tracks include:

Brad Paisley (Jammin’ For Stevie)