Jackson, Church lead charts
Thursday, June 14, 2012 – Alan Jackson debuted atop the Billboard Country Albums chart for the week ending June 23 with "Thirty Miles West," his debut with after spending his career on Arista. He displaced Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away," which slipped to second. Underwood also lost the top spot of the Country Songs chart with "Good Girl" slipping to fourth. Eric Church held the top spot with Springsteen.
Luke Bryan was third on the albums chart with "tailgates & tanlines." Lionel Richie was fourth with "Tuskegee." Newcomer Jana Kramer debuted in fifth with her first disc. Pistol Annies jumped from 28 to 18 with "Hell on Heels," following their TV appearance on the CMT awards show last week. Hunter Hayes moved from 22 to 19 with his self-titled debut. "KIN: Songs by Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell" debuted at 32nd. "Act of Valor: The Album" jumped from 42 to 35.
On the songs chart, Bryan was second with Drunk On You, up three. Brantley Gilbert jumped from seven to three with You Don't Know Her Like I Do. Eli Young Band was fifth with Even If It Breaks Your Heart, up three. Dierks Bentley broke into the top 10 as 5-1-5-0 was up 1 to 10th.
Blake Shelton's Over" was 19, up 4. Zac Brown Band debuted at 27 with The Wind.
On the Bluegrass Albums chart, Trampled by Turtles remained first again with "Stars And Satellites." "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile" was second, "The Gospel Side of Dailey Vincent' third; "Rare Bird Alert" from Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers fourth and "Who's Feeling Young Now?" from Punch Brothers fifth.
On the Bluegrass Albums chart, Trampled by Turtles remained first again with "Stars And Satellites." "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile" was second, "The Gospel Side of Dailey Vincent' third; "Rare Bird Alert" from Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers fourth and "Who's Feeling Young Now?" from Punch Brothers fifth.
On the overall top 200 albums chart, Jackson was 2nd, Underwood 9th, Bryan 11th, Richie 16th and Kramer 19th.
More news for Eric Church
CD reviews for Eric Church
Caught in the Act: Live
"God send a country music Jesus to save us all," sings Eric Church on this new collection of live recordings, but he's not talking about himself. Church may be a country music hit maker but he's not exactly traditional-sounding; there are times here where the band is rocking hard enough that it's closer to AC/DC than anything remotely 'country.'
Church's big hit Springsteen is here, of course, closing the album and including a cleverly placed snippet of an »»» |
Chief
Eric Church is a mainstream country artist being marketed as a modern outlaw. His music does owe more to Southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynrd than pop, but it is still radio friendly country music.
However, this shouldn't be held against him. His first two albums had a number of great songs, and "Chief" builds on that success, while adding a heavy dose of experimentation. At times, he stretches his trademark sound by bringing in obvious outside influences. »»» |
Carolina
After stepping on to the scene nearly three years ago with hits like How Bout You, and Guys Like Me, , Eric Church returns with a sophomore album that tries hard to mine the same sounds. He combines that rough around the edges, good ol' boy attitude on some songs with a more sensitive, straight-forward approach on others. And the good thing is that he's equally impressive with both on most of the 12 songs.
Church starts with a couple of outlaw-esque rockers, the rollicking Ain't »»» |
Editorial: Walking the talk –
When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»
Concert Review: Size doesn't matter to Winslow-King –
Luke Winslow-King may have a fine new CD out ("The Coming Tide") on a long respected indie country/roots label (Bloodshot), but that didn't mean the throngs were going to fill the club. In fact, in a second night of shows in the Boston area, Winslow-King drew a handful of people. Well, make that literally two handfuls of people.
As in 10 people.... »»»
Concert Review: McGraw has plenty of fight left –
Despite the fact that Tim McGraw is five years sober, fit as a triathlete and touring behind a number one album, he is still in an unenviable position. As he approaches 50, McGraw has to stay a step ahead of the current crop of young country hunks with TV shows, cross format radio airplay and wider appeal. But as he proved at First Niagara's... »»»
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... »»»
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Wilderness
"Wilderness" is another twisted menagerie of The Handsome Family songs. Once again, husband Brett Sparks sings their songs, sometimes in a bellowing gravedigger voice, after adding music to wife Rennie's lyrics. This time out, each and every tune is named after an animal, insect or other such nature creature. However, Rennie studies animals the way Flannery O'Connor wrote about humans, which is with the weirdness and character flaws in primary focus. »»» |
Love Is Everything
George Strait may have reached his seventh decade, but he shows zero signs of slowing down. In fact, Strait seems to be getting even more consistent as he gets older. Strait doesn't stray all that far from the formula that has resulted in superstar status. First and foremost, that means his sonorous voice is mixed far above the music, a very good thing. »»» |
Dark Dirty Mile
Jason Boland and the Stragglers have released a new country album that sounds old. This isn't to imply that the sound is aged in a negative way; they have a classic country maturity that isn't heard too much these days with the exception of Jamey Johnson. For those not familiar with the music of Boland, the first track is a great way to decide whether this is your kind of country music. The title track is a mid tempo country song reminiscent of the late Waylon Jennings. »»» |
Golden
Lady Antebellum probably needed a change in direction after "Own the Night" dropped in 2011. The material was overly geared towards taking dead aim at the radio jugular. That isn't the case this time out on the trio's fifth release because most of the songs veer away from being obviously radio fodder (except for the current single Downtown with its soulful beginning and strong vocals from Hillary Scott), but that also doesn't man that this was the right change. »»» |
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