Country Mike Blog

Dancin' With Country Music

Mike Sudhalter  |  May 27, 2007

I never knew who Julianne Hough was until I previewed her song "Will You Dance With Me?" on iTunes. I purchased the song, and realized that it had an excellent contemporary country sound to it.

I did a google search on Ms. Hough, and found out she was on the television program, Dancing With The Stars. I've never watched that show, but if this ballad is any indication, I hope Hough focuses more on singing than dancing.

Speaking of discoveries, I remembered a song I heard quite a while ago, titled "I Kissed Miss Mississippi" and couldn't remember who sang it. After searching for it, I found out it was a band named Hilljack. And I knew the voice sounded familiar because the band's lead singer, Paul Jefferson, was a solo artist in the 1990's.

Anyone remember "Check, Please". It was fast number with a similar storyline to the Alan Jackson song, "I Don't Even Know Your Name".

One of the upcoming artists north of the border is Shane Yellowbird and he's got a fun single called "Pickup Truck". It's a double entendre about pickup lines. There hasn't been a funnier pick-up truck song since "Pickup Man" by Joe Diffie.

The other night, I described many of the country music festivals that I'd attended. I missed one from 1999, and that was a festival in Lancaster, Pa. I went to the show on a date, and we didn't stay to see the headliner, Toby Keith. This was shortly before he became a superstar with "How Do You Like Me Now". I remember listening to Ty Herndon, Linda Davis and the Warren Brothers, but the most impressive part was the number of Pennsylvannians that showed up for this massive concert.

It probably didn't hurt that it was free. Regardless, I would go have a honky-tonkin' good time with the folks in central Pennsylvannia any day of the week.