Country Mike Blog

Miley Should Go Country, Michael Jackson and More

Mike Sudhalter  |  June 27, 2009

Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" is getting played on country radio; she has a lot of potential as a country music artist. If I was advising her, I'd say that's the way to go. Pop music will move on to the next big thing, but Cyrus has a chance to have a long, successful career in country music. Who would have ever thought that her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, would ever be relevant in country music again?

I'm loving the new album by Ashley Monroe. I believe it's digital online, but what a talent. She sounds like Lee Ann Womack and looks like a beauty queen.

Looking back at CMA Music Festival, I loved Darius Rucker's cover of Hank Williams Jr's "Family Tradition," and can't wait to hear Luke Bryan's next album. I don't think there's a prettier fiddle player than the one in Bryan's band; his set at CMA was way too short to introduce the band.

Michael Jackson tragically and unexpectedly passed away on Thursday. I don't understand how he kept that 'King Of Pop' title all these years. Much props to MJ for his work in the Jackson Five and early 80's solo work. But it's too bad that he never developed the type of consistency of others who started their careers in the 80's.

George Strait launched his solo career in country music around the same time that Jackson did in Pop, and he's been consistently at the top of the charts ever since the early 1980's. But Strait never gets the amount of attention that Jackson did because he's all about the music and has little drama on or off the stage.

Strait earned the title of King of Country during the 1980's and showed us why he deserved it in the 1990's and 2000's.