Country Mike Blog

Good news

Mike Sudhalter  |  October 11, 2007

I was disheartened after hearing that the CD release of Lee Brice has been pushed back again. But I found some excellent news about another native South Carolina native. Among the tracks on the new Josh Turner album will be "South Carolina Low Country." There's also a song called "Trailerhood." The title alone tells me it has to be great. I found a song on the track listing, "One Woman Man." I wonder if its an original or a cover of the Johnny Horton/George Jones classic. If its the latter, it would be great to hear Turner do that one. He did such a great job covering Hank Sr., Jones and Merle Haggard on his Live From the Ryman album, released in July.

The best album I've heard recently is by Oklahoma native Jamie Richards. I have to admit that I didn't think his first two albums were anything special, but the third one was a charm for this traditionalist. Fourteen songs, and all hard-core country. There's "You Don't Know Jack", referring to Jack Daniels, of course. Then, the hilarious, "Country Song Waitin' To Happen" and the good-timin' "Peace, Love and Hard Liquor" because as Richards sings, "if you can't get the first two, you can always buy the last".

My favorite song was "She Hates This Place", a tender ballad about a relationship between a honky-tonkin' man and a churchgoing woman. In the end, they compromise, which shows that love is so powerful.

The song got me thinkin' that men seem to have a deeper affinity for traditonal and classic country music than women do. Don't get me wrong, I don't know many folks - of either gender - that are huge Hank Sr. or Ernest Tubb fans. But of the few I do know, most are men. If you have think you know the reason why, e-mail me.

I have often said that I prefer traditional country to pop-country, but I do have appreciation for both. I enjoy when a country artist puts a country spin on a pop tune. If you search youtube, there's plenty of concert footage of these songs. I found Sara Evans singing "Here Without You" with 3 Doors Down, Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson collaborating on John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good". But my favorite was Taylor Swift and Tyler Hilton dueting on "Missing You," John Waite's 1980's hit. Since 1999, Brooks & Dunn has covered the song and Waite himself reprised it in duet form with Alison Krauss.

If you don't know of Hilton, he's the actor who played Elvis Presley in Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biopic film in 2005. He also played Swift's crush in her hit video, "Teardrops on My Guitar."

Taylor and Tyler do a nice job on the "Missing You" duet. I'd like to see them perform a traditional country song together as well.