Rediscovery

My husband, who is not a country fan, mentioned the other day that somebody at work had the radio tuned to the country station, and he heard a song he really liked.

He asked, "Have you ever heard of someone named Alan Jackson?" ha ha ha

Well, yes! I believe I have!

For a country fan, that's akin to asking, "Have you ever heard of a group called the Rolling Stones?"

Let's travel back in time, shall we? If one remembers the 1970's in country music, she will admit that it was the worst of times (I'll leave out that part about "the best of times", because there wasn't much of that). What I remember about the seventies is Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell, and that's about it. A bunch of pop-country "stuff" (to be polite). Even poor Charley Pride was embarrassing himself, recording crummy throwaway songs. That was when I finally, reluctantly, twirled that radio dial over to the rock station. And I'm glad I did, because I really love the rock/pop music of the eighties. But that's neither here nor there.

I've mentioned before here that when I finally gave country music another chance in the eighties, I found out that I'd missed a bunch of stuff. There was some guy named George Strait, who was introduced to me by my parents, of all people! They'd bought a VHS tape of one of his concerts, and I was over visiting one night when they had the tape running. Reluctantly (to myself), I admitted that this guy was damn good. (I was a complete snob about country music at that time, much like now). So, I thought, hey, this guy is good; I wonder if there are any others out there. Right away, when I punched the button for the country station, I heard this one dude, Dwight Yoakam, who was doing some hillbilly rockin' country sort of thing.

The first cassette tape I bought, once I decided to give country another whirl (and yes, they were cassette tapes then), was by the Sweethearts of the Rodeo. I carried my boom box from room to room while I was cleaning, listening to that tape: "I'm a midnight girl in a sunset town". I thought I was kinda cool and avant-garde (idiot).

From there, it snowballed. I started watching CMT. I waved goodbye to Huey Lewis and the News. I'd now found Randy Travis.

In 1989, a trio of new singers debuted. One was named Garth Brooks, and he had some maudlin song about tomorrow never coming. In his video, he wore a black hat and a striped shirt, and strummed his guitar. I found it utterly boring, but for some reason, a bunch of people seemed to be overly excited about it.

Then there was this guy, Clint Black. He also wore a black hat, but he was singing about killing time. His songs had a recognizable beat; they weren't sappy pop. They were stone country. One could two-step to them.

The third guy had a debut that would be best forgotten. He was clearly uncomfortable "acting" in the video (special bonus: check out that HUGE cell phone!) The song, too, was, shall we say, under par. Check it out here:

(Or apparently not, since it seems to have been removed. Suffice it to say, it wasn't very good, or it would still be available for viewing).

I chalked him up as another flash in the pan. Good looking, nice voice, but bad song.

The next time I saw him, lo and behold, he had a song that captured my attention, every time that video came on. And this guy wore a WHITE hat. THIS TIME they didn't make him try to "act"; they just let him sing:



Had Alan only had "Blue Blooded Woman" in his arsenal, he would be back fixing cars in Georgia today. His record company made a huge misstep in releasing that song first. Fortuitously, he had "Real World" in his back pocket, and that is the song that cemented him as a star to watch. It's still one of the best country songs ever, in my opinion.

So, I was on the alert for new Jackson songs and videos, and he never disappointed. The next one that instantly springs to mind, for me, in chronological order, of course, is this one (but I'm a sucker for black and white):



You can't fault this one:



By 1982, Alan was WAY more comfortable in front of the camera. I liked this a lot:



As much as I liked "Chatahoochie", I LOVED this one (maybe my favorite):



All I can say is, YEE HAW.

That deadpan "yee haw" is one of the best lines ever uttered. It will live forever in the annals of country music. I've heard "yee haw" yelled and shouted, but before this video, I'd never heard it spoken in such a sad way. Perfect.

Alan (or his record company) apparently did not deign to film a music video for this song. Big mistake. Aside from "Rhythm and Blues", this is one of Alan Jackson's best songs, ever. Killer chorus.



The other thing I like about Alan Jackson is, he doesn't forget. He recorded an album, titled, "Under The Influence" (great title, by the way), in which he included songs from his bar gig days, and bless you, Alan Jackson, you recorded this Jim Ed Brown song. Campy, maybe. But to me (and to Alice, if you're listening from heaven), this was one of the coolest country songs from the sixties:



So, there are a bunch of Alan Jackson songs I could include here, but then, this post would go on forever. Let me just say, though, that here in the real world of the year 2011, Alan is still relevant. Here is the Zac Brown band, featuring ALAN JACKSON:



And yea, I guess if you are around long enough, they'll even include you in a commercial:



And, oh, by the way, THIS is the song that introduced my husband to Alan Jackson:



So, have I ever heard of Alan Jackson?

I do believe I have.

Yee haw.

Artist of the Decade

I just watched the ACM Artist of the Decade show today. Yes, I DVR'd it (I have no patience for commercials).

Wow - what an entertaining show!

Why don't they have stuff like THIS on TV more often? As in, ever.

I won't even quibble that they waited until George's THIRD decade before giving him the honor. Hey, a decade is a decade. Who wouldn't like to have a whole decade devoted to them?

Surprisingly (to me), the performances that I enjoyed the most didn't come from the "icons" of the industry, for the most part.

Here are some of my favorites:

Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert - IT AIN'T COOL TO BE CRAZY ABOUT YOU

What George said to Blake: "I thought you were standing on a step."
What Blake thought George said to him: "Get your ass out of here!" (ha ha - priceless!)



Jamey Johnson ("I don't even think you like me very much") & Lee Ann Womack - GIVE IT AWAY



Dierks Bentley giving George a CD of one of his songs (another stellar moment!) - BLUE CLEAR SKY



LeAnn Rimes - DOES FORT WORTH EVER CROSS YOUR MIND



Brooks & Dunn "I have every George Strait album ever made" - THE COWBOY RIDES AWAY



Alan Jackson

I don't know if Alan ever gets comfortable on the stage, even after all these years, but hey, who better to do THE FIREMAN?



Sugarland - ADALIDA (although it was a bit odd for Jennifer to be singing a love song to a gal, but whatever; it's still a good song and a good performance).



There were four tributes to the previous "artist of the decade" winners. One of those performances was good, two of them were AWESOME. The other one I'm not going to even bother to include, because this gal (who shall remain nameless) is more wooden than the ash tree in my front yard.

Here's the good one:

Mongtomery Gentry - tribute to ALABAMA - MOUNTAIN MUSIC



Martina McBride's AWESOME tribute to GARTH BROOKS - THE DANCE (and this made me cry)



***Keith Urban's*** AWESOME AWESOME tribute to Marty Robbins - MEDLEY OF HITS (Wow, Keith - I had no idea you were such a great singer!) HANDS DOWN my favorite performance of the night.



Worst performances of the night? Taylor Swift, with her thin, reedy voice. Jamie Foxx (whatever), that wooden gal singer with her tribute to Loretta Lynn (I think she was thrown off by her hair falling in her eyes). The wooden gal's husband. Conspicuously absent were a couple of the so-called biggest acts in country music. Karma will get you, boys.

Garth Brooks (gotta love him) presenting the award to George:



THE MAN - OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY and THE GANG, with TROUBADOUR



I love the look on Garth's face. He isn't even singing along. It's just a look of pure joy. The same look that we have when we hear a George Strait song.

All hail The King.

The CMA Awards - More For You in '92

We're countin' 'em down, folks! Gettin' nearer to the finish line (at least my finish line). At a certain point, this whole CMA awards retrospective will need to end for me, not because I've run out of years, but because I will have run out of patience (with country music, that is).

But that time is not now! In 1992, country music was still alive and kickin' (which is also the name of one of my favorite local bands from that time, Alive & Kickin' - wonder whatever happened to them).

First, of course, a bit of background on the year that was 1992.

In perusing the world events of that year, I find that war broke out in Yugoslavia, and there were some other unpronouncable countries in the news, such as Bosnia and Herzegovinia.

Closer to home, Ross Perot announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Watch it here:



And I REALLY, REALLY miss Phil Hartman.

In the world of movies, A League Of Their Own was a hit:



In pop music, and delving right into the CMA awards, I am thrilled to include probably the biggest hit of 1992; country or non-country.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR ACHY BREAKY HEART - Billy Ray Cyrus


Sure, it got sickening. But not "Friends In Low Places" sickening. And dang it, it's catchy and I LIKE it. If you watched CMT back then, like I did, you saw this video scores of times. And what better lyrics than, "you can tell my arms go back into the farm"? What?

The sad news, aside from Billy Ray's mullet, is that he has spawned some sort of freakazoid teen daughter, who has consumed the music business with her questionable "singing skills", but yet has ensured Billy Ray a very comfortable retirement, albeit at the expense of we, the listening public. But hey! Much like the line dancing of yore, we are adaptable! And we aren't actually forced to listen to her! So it's a win-win. I guess.

The MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR was once again Mark O'Connor. Yes, Mark had a good run (for a couple of years), but selfishly, I'm hoping that he doesn't continue to win, because frankly, the number of Mark O'Connor videos is severely limited.

But, for at least this time around, here's one, called, "Bowtie":

Watch more On the Mark videos on AOL Video

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR went to Alan Jackson (the fifth finger of the hand that was the nineties ~ I guess you have to read my previous posts to make sense of that).

I'm a sucker for those minor chords and, of course for anything relating to Hank Williams, so this song by the tall lanky Georgian is tops in my book.

Here's Midnight In Montgomery:



SONG OF THE YEAR was this one, written by Vince Gill and Max D. Barnes (wonder what the "D" stands for, and why he feels that it's necessary to include it ~ but I'm just riffing because I already included this song in my last retrospective, and I don't really have anything more to say about this song, except that I'm a fan of it!

Here is, Look At Us:



Was this Vince's only award in 1992? No. It wasn't! Vince was also named MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR.

I'm ecstatic that I was able to find this beautiful live performance of Vince, singing, "I Still Believe In You":


Vince Gill I Still Believe in You (live) - The most amazing bloopers are here

Finally, FINALLY, I get to include one of my favorite country artists EVER, in the pantheon of CMA award winners.

The VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR was won in 1992 by Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt, for "this one", coincidentally called, "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For A Long Long Time)":

Marty Stuart |MTV Music

Seems that there was a new VOCAL DUO on the scene in 1992; a couple of guys named Ronnie and Kix. Wonder whatever happened to them.

In the great tradition of Billy Ray Cyrus, these two guys cornered the line dancing market in the 1990's. Yes, set foot inside any honky tonk at that time, and one would immediately be accosted by this song (not that that's a BAD thing). One of the greatest country voices, combined with one of the most enthusiastic duet partners, made for one class act; the act they call BROOKS & DUNN.

Here's Boot Scootin' Boogie:

Brooks & Dunn |MTV Music

The VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR is one that I can definitely get on board with ~ Diamond Rio!

I actually had the opportunity to see the group in concert at a casino, and as I was eating my dinner, I noticed poor Gene ("mandolin") Johnson just trying to eat his steak dinner in peace, while numerous fans came up to his table to bother him. I thought, how rude. I was sitting at a table right behind him, and I wouldn't have even considered bothering the poor man. All he wanted to do was enjoy his baked potato. Poor guy. But the concert (later) was fantastic! Here's Mirror, Mirror:

Diamond Rio |MTV Music

It's so nice to see some fresh faces on the awards stage, for a refreshing change. And here's another.

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR - Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter |MTV Music

I always liked Mary Chapin. Where did she go?? Oh, here she is. Still singing, still writing. Not incognito, per se; just not getting played on the radio anymore....but then again, who over age 30 is? Well, I, for one, am glad that Mary Chapin got her award in 1992 (and maybe even one in 1993 ~~ time will tell).

The HORIZON AWARD in 1992 was bestowed upon another great female vocalist, Suzy Bogguss. Yes, another "old" (a year younger than me) artist that radio threw away. I think Suzy had the last laugh, though. She took charge of her career, and by the sounds I heard on her website, she still sounds wonderful.

Here's a nice live performance from Suzy, of "Someday Soon":


This all leads us, of course, to the ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR award.

No offense to Garth (and his hat), but I'm hoping (for my blogging purposes) that Garth doesn't win again for awhile. Because I am having a heck of a time finding Garth videos, and the ones I do find aren't really faves of mine (but that's just me....and my hat).

This single was actually released in 1990, but eh. I do what I can do.

Garth Brooks is/was a great artist, and a heck of a nice guy, and I know that I sound rather blase about him, but he just never was one of my idols. So shoot me.

Anyway, after that wonderful introduction, CONGRATS, Garth. Oh, and here's "Unanswered Prayers":



COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME

Frances Preston

Frances Preston began her working life as a receptionist at a life insurance company in Nashville. (Did all those people back then work for a life insurance company? I read about this all the time. Is Nashville, unbeknownst to me, the life insurance capital of the world?)

Luckily for Frances (and through hard work, too, I'm sure), she went on to eventually become president and CEO of BMI. I'm guessing there was a pay raise, too.

Since I have no video of Frances, here's a picture:














(Frances is second from the right).

George Jones

It actually took until 1992 for George to get into the Hall of Fame?? The HOF is not known for its promptness.

Well, what's there to say about ol' George that hasn't already been said? Nothin'. So, let's just enjoy some videos, instead, okay? (and I purposely looked for some older performances).

Walk Through This World With Me



The Race Is On



White Lightning (vintage!)



Milwaukee, Here I Come (with Tammy Wynette)



One Woman Man



Love Bug



She Thinks I Still Care



The Grand Tour



A Good Year For The Roses (with Alan Jackson)



And, of course:

He Stopped Loving Her Today



That's a pretty dang good career, Possum. In the interest of brevity (ha!), I left a lot of great ones out.

Congrats, George Jones, for your belated entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

So, 1992, in a (really huge) nutshell. We saw the yin and the yang of country music, from "Look At Us" to "Achy Breaky Heart". We saw big hats. We saw some classic singers that we won't ever hear again on the radio. We saw the Possum put most of them to shame.

All in all, a pretty good year.

~~

The CMA Awards - Welcome To The Nineties!

Yes, I have counted down (or up, as the case may be) the CMA awards, all the way from 1967 through 1989. Whew! That's a lot of years. And frankly, I needed to take a break. It started to feel like a homework assignment after awhile, and you know, I have enough "have to's" in my daily life, as is.

But now I'm back! I'm not one to leave a job unfinished, so I'm back and refreshed and ready to tackle the nineties!

First, as usual, a bit of background about the year 1990.

In the news, well, the first Gulf War began.

Here's the first President Bush announcing that fact:



I really have no comment about this, other than that George H.W. Bush should've followed my lead and finished what he started. Could've saved us a lot of grief.

But, if I've said it once, I've said it a whole bunch of times, what we really remember about a given year isn't that world event stuff; it's pop culture!

One of the top movies of 1990 was this:



I could've gone with the top, top movie of the year, "Pretty Woman", but I decided not to be so cliche. But suffice it to say that 1990 was apparently the year that the chicks got their flicks.

In the world of pop music, Michael Bolton was being overwrought, as usual. (I wonder if Michael still has that mullet). Here's one of the top pop songs from 1990 (yes, really):



Another top pop hit from the year featured Wendy, Carnie, and Chynna (thus "Wilson Phillips"). Here's "Hold On":



Which leads us to the 1990 CMA Awards.

Once again in 1990, the Musician of the Year award was won by fiddlin' Johnny Gimble. I'd thought I'd exhausted all the Johnny Gimble videos, but I found a new one! Here's Johnny with Floyd Tilman, doing a number called, "I'll Keep On Loving You":



The Vocal Duo of the Year was, yes, once again The Judds. Sure, in this twenty-first century world, the Judds might seem like old-hat. But there's a handful of artists (and I think I could actually list them on one hand) that typify the 1990's, and on one of those fingers I would count Wynonna and Naomi.

Here's "Born To Be Blue":



Enjoyably (for me), a new name appeared in 1990 to take home the Vocal Group of the Year award. And that new name was the Kentucky Headhunters.

Here are the (older) boys performing on the Marty Stuart Show, doing my favorite and yours, Dumas Walker:



Glad to see that Fred Young still has his coonskin hat!

Anybody who ever stepped foot inside a honky tonk in the early nineties knows this song, inside and out. Who hasn't two-stepped to this song? Well, I, for one, definitely have. And I like the Kentucky Headhunters!

The Vocal Event of the Year is bittersweet for me. Keith Whitley had already passed away, and his widow, Lorrie Morgan, recorded her vocals over a demo that Keith had done of a song called, "Til A Tear Becomes A Rose". Alas, there couldn't be a video of the two performing this song together, but I still wanted to include it. This is a beautiful recording.

Here's "Til A Tear Becomes a Rose", by Keith Whitley and Lorrie Morgan:



The Song of the Year was written by Don Henry and Jon Vezner, and was recorded by Jon Vezner's wife, Kathy Mattea. The song was "Where've You Been":



A beautifully written song, to be sure. Just not country, really.

Which leads us to the Female Vocalist of the Year award, and that award was bestowed upon Kathy Mattea. Here is "Battle Hymn of Love" (and I actually like this song better than the other one, but maybe that's just me):



The Male Vocalist of the Year was another one of those "count on the fingers of one hand" artists, Clint Black. Amazingly, I had to find this video on MTV. Sad. Here's Clint's single from 1990, "Put Yourself In My Shoes":

Clint Black - New Music - More Music Videos

That new-fangled award, Music Video of the Year, was given to this celluloid performance. It's kind of sweet; kind of heart-rending. Tony Arata wrote this song:

Garth brooks - the dance (clip)
Uploaded by rawestern

The Horizon Award winner in 1990 was, inexplicably, Garth Brooks. I guess my thought is, by 1990, Garth wasn't really what one would consider a "newcomer". Maybe the CMA was catching up.

Garth had a couple or three big hits in 1990, but I had to include this one, just for the fact that the song annoyed me so much. Granted, the first one or two times I heard it, I thought it was catchy. After the 2,501'st time I heard it, I just wanted to pound my car radio into millions of pieces. Seriously. I remember driving home from somewhere?......and that damn song came on the radio once again, and I just wanted to kill myself. Luckily, I didn't actually kill myself. If I had, I wouldn't be able to post this video.

And yes, Garth is one of the five fingers of the 1990's. And yes, I was never a big Garth fan, but I did see him in concert with my mom (the last concert I ever attended with my mom), and yes, he was impressive. So, (ten gallon) hat's off to Garth Brooks.

And here you go:

GARTH BROOKS - FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES
Uploaded by rawestern

On the other hand, the Single of the Year is a song that still holds up! And I really don't want to kill myself when I hear it! I guess that's why it was named single of the year!

Here's Vince Gill (with a shadowy Patty Loveless singing harmony), doing "When I Call Your Name":



By my calculations, that only leaves the BIG award of the night, Entertainer of the Year. I spent way too much time trying to find videos of this guy's hit songs from 1990, with no luck. Finally, in desperation, I decided, the hell with it, and I decided to go with this instead. And YOU'RE WELCOME:



Ah- Ha! (as Bob Wills would say). Yes, my favorite artist of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 1990's entertainer of the year, George Strait.

Hall of Fame

Yes, in the deepest recesses of my memory, I remember seeing this guy on TV (black and white TV). And frankly, to a five-year-old, this guy was sort of scary. I mean, he had that deep voice, and that Snidely Whiplash mustache.

Turns out he wasn't really scary and mean. I learned this from watching reruns of "I Love Lucy". And any guy who would say, "Bless your little pea-pickin' heart" was okay in my book. My thin little book of five-year-old knowledge. Still, I much preferred my daddy.

Anyway, this is a really poorly-thought-out tribute to Tennessee Ernie Ford, but I'm kind of tired, and I've been writing and researching for a few hours, but you can see him for yourself here:



Thus ends my first foray into the world of the CMA's in the 1990's.

I do want to recap the fingers of my one hand, however. Here's what I came up with:

The Judds
Clint Black
Garth Brooks
George Strait

That leaves one more finger, and I have a feeling that there will be a couple of more names popping up as we peruse the decade that is the nineties. Which means that I am going to have to grow one additional finger. I can live with that. Being deformed and all. It's all for a good cause.

See you in 1991.

CMA Nominations - A Look Back - 10 Years Ago

Since I was a bit confused by this year's CMA nominations - I wasn't sure if the list was from 2008 or 1998 - I thought I'd take a look at the nominees from ten years ago, just to see what was up way back then....when I was still fairly young, thin, and still had that dewy, line-free complexion.

Oh, and the music was better, too.

One thing I noted, right off the bat, is that they had fewer categories! That's a plus! Let's stop muddying the waters, I say. You can have 538 categories, and that still doesn't mask the fact that the music today is crummy.*

*The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author. The CMA takes no responsibility for the words that may or may not be typed on this page. Side affects include headache, nausea, diarrhea, extreme hunger pangs, listlessness, difficulty sleeping, difficulty breathing, black, tarry stools, indigestion, night sweats, day sweats, rosacea, clinical depression, anxiety, and conditions yet to be discovered. Your mileage may vary.

So, without further a-dew, here are the 1998 CMA nominations:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Brooks & Dunn
Garth Brooks*
Vince Gill
Tim McGraw
George Strait

*Remember when Garth Brooks was relevant? See 1989 - 2001, Chris Gaines, some concert in Central Park, dismissed Capitol Records executives, striped Roper shirts.
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Garth Brooks
Vince Gill
Tim McGraw
Collin Raye
George Strait*

*Remember when George Strait was relevant? See 1981 - present, legends of country music, will most likely never be topped, at least 56 number one songs, awards too numerous to mention, the post-modern granddaddy of country music, what all those other guys wish they could be.

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Faith Hill
Patty Loveless
Martina McBride
Lee Ann Womack
Trisha Yearwood*

*Remember when Trisha Yearwood was one of the most admired female country music singers? One of those who actually could sing? Guess what - she still is.

HORIZON AWARD

Trace Adkins
Dixie Chicks*
Jo Dee Messina
Michael Peterson
Lee Ann Womack

*Remember when the Dixie Chicks were nice?* Before they got all strident?

*The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author. The Dixie Chicks take no responsibility for the words that may or may not be typed on this page. Side affects include angry protests, placard carrying, sign-waving, bitter blog scribblings, left-wing Grammy award winnings, country music abandonment, and self-righteousness. If symptoms persist, please see your duly-elected President. Your mileage may vary.

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

Alabama
Diamond Rio
Dixie Chicks*
The Mavericks
Sawyer Brown

*See above.

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

Bellamy Brothers
Brooks & Dunn*
The Kinleys
The Lynns
Thrasher Shiver (is this a typo? Who the...?)

*Remember when somebody other than Brooks & Dunn won this award? I don't.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Come On Over - Shania Twain
Everywhere - Tim McGraw*
Long Stretch of Lonesome - Patty Loveless
One Step At A Time - George Strait
Sevens - Garth Brooks

*What?

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

Eddie Bayers - drums
Paul Franklin - steel guitar (hey! they still used them then!)
Brent Mason - guitar*
Matt Rollings - keyboards
Brent Rowan - guitar

*I could be wrong, and frankly, I'm too lazy to look back at my previous post, but aren't the musician nominees the same in 2008 as they were in 1998?

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

A Broken Wing - Martina McBride
Holes In The Floor Of Heaven - Steve Wariner*
I Just Want To Dance With You - George Strait
This Kiss - Faith Hill
You Don't Seem To Miss Me - Patty Loveless (with George Jones)

*Remember this song? I barely do.

VOCAL EVENT/VIDEO

Still don't care* *

*If it involves Faith Hill in any way, then I'm better off not knowing.

SONG OF THE YEAR

A Broken Wing (Sam Hogin/Roger Cook)
Holes In The Floor Of Heaven (Billy Kirsch/Steve Wariner)*
How Do I Live (Diane Warren)
I Just Want To Dance With You (John Prine/Roger Cook)
It's Your Love (Stephony Smith)

*Considering the other nominees, I can't really complain about this one. Can you?

Okay, maybe I looked back a bit too fondly to 1998. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say.

But, you know, you have to take the CMA's with a grain of salt. There's a whole bunch of politics and back-room finagling, and tit-for-tat, going on. I don't exactly know what that means, but it sounds plausible.

But, in perusing the hits of 1998, I found one that didn't get any nominations, but, believe me, is WAY better than anything that Tim McGraw or Brooks 'n Dunn, or Garth Brooks, for that matter, released.

So, for your video enjoyment, I offer this:

Blast From The Past - Top Country Hits Of 1994

1994 was an interesting year for country music. By 1994, country music was starting to teeter on the brink. The brink between good music and pap (or a word that rhymes with "pap").

I was still very much into country music at that time, but the warning signs were starting to appear.

Nevertheless, there were some great songs that year.

Here's one that I loved to torment my kids with. I really, really like this song, but when he gets to the "Ad-MIT" part, I used to turn the volume up really high on the radio. My kids hated country music, and this, to them, was the ultimate in corn. I happen to think it's great.

"Thinkin' Problem" is my favorite song from 1994. Cool video, too.

DAVID BALL - THINKIN' PROBLEM


Speaking of cool videos, here's another of my faves. This group, unfortunately, was sort of a one-hit wonder. Speaking of wonder, I wonder whatever happened to:

THE TRACTORS - BABY LIKES TO ROCK IT


What an entertaining video! Excellent!


Say what you will about Garth Brooks, but he respects his fans. He always strived to keep ticket prices low, and he's not stingy about sharing his videos on YouTube, the way some paranoid artists are.

I saw Garth Brooks in concert, and while I wasn't one of his rabid fans, I must say, he put on a great show. He put his all into his performances. I went with my mom - the last concert she and I ever attended together. I have fond memories of that.

And here's a (really grainy, too dark) picture to prove it:

Bad picture aside, here is Garth Brooks: CALLIN' BATON ROUGE


I kept saying to people, when this single came out, somebody else recorded this song! Everyone looked at me like I was nuts (although that does tend to happen a lot), but I was right! New Grass Revival did this song first. Turns out, Garth reunited this band when he did the recording. Good job, Garth. Good job, Wayne (oops, I got my pop culture mixed up there for a second).


Well, you well know how I feel about Dwight Yoakam. I guess I rank him right up there with the very best that country has to offer.

And this video is no exception. I remember, he was on David Letterman's show, and David was making fun of what Dwight says at the end of this song. I guess it's, "Ahhhhh, SUKI". Whatever that means. Not that it matters. This is a song that'll get you dancing, believe me.

DWIGHT YOAKAM - FAST AS YOU


How about that??


This seems like an opportune time to note that, while George Strait had three hit singles in 1994, NONE OF THEM are available for embedding. Hmmm, did I mention "paranoid" earlier? Thanks, MCA. Because, you know, heaven forbid that we might want to WATCH a George Strait video, or add it to our blog.

This doesn't negate the high esteem in which I hold George. It's not his fault. It's the stupid record label. But, geez, c'mon.

For the record, George's hit songs from 1994 were, "Love Bug" (a remake of an old George Jones song ~ NOT a Buck Owens song, as the press wrongly noted), "I'd Like To Have That One Back", and my favorite, "The Big One".


And now Alan Jackson. No embeddable videos. MCA again. Alan had a hit single in 1994, "Livin' On Love". LUCKILY, I found the version that was created for the hearing-impaired. I guess MCA relented and decided that hearing-impaired people could embed this video. The corporate mind works in mysterious ways.

ALAN JACKSON - LIVIN' ON LOVE



Not to leave out the females, but again, I'm having issues finding embeddable videos.

Luckily, I found this live performance by Patty Loveless of:

I TRY TO THINK ABOUT ELVIS


Patty is one of the best country singers of the modern age. I don't know what happened to her career of late. I guess she's been usurped by the new, plastic versions. They're the newest models in the showroom.


MARTINA MCBRIDE - INDEPENDENCE DAY


I like Sean Hannity as much as the next Republican, but I really hate that he uses this song as his theme song. Does he get what this song is about? It's not a patriotic song. I think he should actually listen to it. Then he'd be kind of embarrassed, I would think.

That aside, I was glad to find this version.


Now, for something a bit more mellow. Here's another artist who is grossly underrated:

LEE ROY PARNELL - HOLDING MY OWN



Remember Collin Raye? He was really big in the nineties. Especially with that song, "In This Life". Don't you think that was, at one time, the number one wedding song? I always thought it would be a perfect funeral song. Not to be maudlin. But I love that song, and, I guess, if they played that at my funeral, I wouldn't complain (ha!)

But Collin had more than one good song, and this is a really good one. I always thought, whenever I heard this on the radio, that if I could write a song this good, I could die happy (oh, here we go with the "funeral" stuff again). But, honestly, this is a great song. I guess the writer was Tom Douglas. And I'll admit, I don't know anything about him. But, like I said, he wrote a great one.

COLLIN RAYE - LITTLE ROCK



Here's a group that I love. Diamond Rio. Marty Roe. What a singer.

I saw this group in concert, too. I saw them at a casino, in an intimate setting. I loved that show.

Before the show, my then-husband and I were having dinner in the dining room, and I noticed Gene Johnson, the mandolin player, trying to eat his dinner. People kept coming up to him, interrupting his meal. And he was really nice. I thought, geez, what a bummer. He can't even eat his steak. How can people be so rude? I was (am) a big admirer of Gene, but I would never, NEVER, go up to him while he's trying to eat his dinner, and bother him. But I guess that's just me.

DIAMOND RIO - LOVE A LITTLE STRONGER



LARI WHITE - NOW I KNOW


This is another underrated singer/songwriter. Again, I can't help but wonder whatever happened to Lari White. She was big in the nineties. Rightfully so. I was a big Lari White fan. I had a couple of her CD's. I imagine she's writing now. Sorry, but I can't keep track of everybody.


Here's a good one! Remember the Mavericks? Oh, c'mon. Yes, you do! Raul Malo? This guy had (has) quite the voice.

The name, "The Mavericks", has a sentimental meaning to me. Because my friend, Alice's band, originally was called The Mavericks, until somebody complained that the name was already in use, and they got one of those "cease and desist" orders, so Alice's band became "Rocky Top".

That's neither here nor there. Here are The Mavericks (Miami version) doing:

THERE GOES MY HEART


Here's another nineties kind of guy, Clay Walker. I had a friend back then who was a HUGE Clay Walker fan. And I liked him, too. Here's his big song from 1994:

LIVE UNTIL I DIE



We started out with my favorite song from 1994; "Thinkin' Problem". Well, here's my SECOND favorite. I love this song, and I couldn't tell you why. I just do.

LITTLE TEXAS - MY LOVE








I guess 1994 wasn't so bad after all. And I left out a bunch of stuff. Because I couldn't find videos. Joe Diffie. He was a big star in 1994. Vince Gill. It's not my fault that none of his stuff is available for embedding.

I still say, however, that 1994 was a watershed year in country music. It's sort of when the music died, and "something else on the horizon" took its place. Pity. I really miss it. Cuz it was REALLY GOOD while it lasted.

Blast From The Past - Top Country Songs - Part Quatro

Another installment in a continuing series........top country hits of a certain year (a certain year when the music was still good).

This time........1991.

The top song of 1991 was "Don't Rock The Jukebox" by Alan Jackson:



Other number one hits from 1991 were:

Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks - Garth apparently doesn't allow any of his videos to be posted on YouTube. Must be only available at WalMart or something.

Brother Jukebox - Mark Chesnutt (Mark's first number one) - Sorry, video is unavailable, so here's a different Mark Chesnutt song (well, you gotta improvise sometimes. I like this song better anyway.)





Walk On Faith by Mike Reid



I'd Love You All Over Again - another number one from Alan Jackson (I included this song on a mix tape for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. This was also Alan's first number one song.) - 1,470 videos on YouTube for Alan Jackson, and this song is not among them. I guess we'll have to hum it to ourselves (it's in waltz time - and a one, two, three, one, two three.)



Two Of A Kind, Workin' On A Full House - another Garth Brooks selection (well, obviously, this video isn't available, either.)

If I Know Me - George Strait (sorry, this one is a no-go also.)

Meet In The Middle - Diamond Rio (their debut single. Diamond Rio was the first country group to have their debut song go to number one on the charts) - This video IS available on YouTube, but not for embedding. Apparently, record companies do not like free publicity for their artists. So, here is another Diamond Rio song, albeit from 1997:



The Thunder Rolls - Garth Brooks again (never mind)

She's In Love With The Boy - Trisha Yearwood (her first #1) - also unavailable. Like husband, like wife.

You Know Me Better Than That - again, George Strait (sorry, Strait fans)

Brand New Man - Brooks & Dunn (their first #1 hit) - here's a very headache-inducing live performance (I mean visually, not audially.)



Anymore - Travis Tritt


Someday - again, Alan Jackson



Shameless - Garth again (no loss)

My Next Broken Heart - Brooks & Dunn (their record company is awfully possessive, too)

So, to sum up 1991, it was the year of Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Diamond Rio, and, of course, George Strait.