What do Arkansas and New York have in common, besides being states in which Hillary Clinton lived? They both have excellent up-and-coming country music groups that hail from those states. How catchy is the new song, "Amen," by Eden's Edge, about a conceited girl breaking up [...]

Continue reading "The Lunabelle's, Eden's Edge show lots of promise"

So, newcomer Brantley Gilbert is coming up with the songs, and established star Jason Aldean is popularizing them. Aside from the hard-core country music fans, few have heard of Gilbert. Aldean is nearly a household name, thanks to collaborations with Kelly Clarkson, and more recently, [...]

Continue reading "Who's Better -- Aldean or Gilbert? And, something cool from Western Flyer"

Yesterday was officially the first day of summer, but try coming down to Texas and telling folks that. It was also a big day in country music with the release of albums by Corey Smith and Justin Moore. As my views have evolved on country music, I've shared with you my opinion that the [...]

Continue reading "David Adam Byrnes -- Hidden Gem of June 21"

Arriving in Nashville for the CMA Festival is always an interesting experience. There's folks headed to the CMA Festival, and more headed south to Manchester, Tenn. for Bonnaroo. Now, before you say everyone at CMA is wearing cowboy hats and belt buckles and all of the Bonnaroo-goers are [...]

Continue reading "CMA Festival, Bonnaroo need separate weekends"

Visiting the Tour of the Stars is a an enjoyable experience -- if for no other reason than it gives you a chance to see the scenic northern Nashville suburbs of Franklin and Brentwood. And I learned quite a bit of the stuff listed below from our very informative bus driver. And it's a [...]

Continue reading "Review of Nashville Tour of the Stars Homes"

Nashville is such a paradox of country music -- the new, the old, the retro, the 'this-is-pushing-it, I'm not sure if it's still country'. Never was that more apparent than last night when I watched consecutive shows -- The CMT Music Awards at the Bridgestone Arena and [...]

Continue reading "Country Music, past and present, in one evening"

For the third time in five years, I will be making the trip to Nashville for the CMA Music Festival, but I'd never been to the CMT Music Awards. The CMT Music Awards will be hosted by none other than Kid Rock, and according to the Washington Post, it will feature a Thelma & Louise-type [...]

Continue reading "CMT Music Awards -- Less Than 24 Hours Away"

Let me just start this post by disclosing that I didn't watch a nanosecond of American Idol Season 10, save for the tryouts episode prior to the season beginning. But in recent weeks, I'd heard all about Scott McCreery and Lauren Alaina. I hadn't heard any of their music until a [...]

Continue reading "Scotty and Lauren -- A good sign for Country Music"