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.

Catching Up With Sugarland

I decided, don't be a jerk, Shelly. Yes, I don't listen to country radio, but maybe I need to know what's going on, before I make snap judgments.

I have surmised that the top three acts in country music nowadays are:

1. Taylor Swift
2. Sugarland
3. Kenny Chesney

So, before I go shooting off my mouth, I think it's incumbent upon me to know what the heck I'm talking about.

Since I'm sort of off-kilter anyway, I thought I'd start with #2.

I became vaguely familiar with Sugarland when they released their song, "Baby Girl", although at the time, I think I attributed the song to someone else. Sara Evans maybe? Their voices are similar.



This song was from the time when Sugarland was still a trio; before they dumped Kristen Hall (probably because she skewed too old for the "young" country market).

Shortly thereafter, I stopped listening to country radio. So, I had no idea, really, what Sugarland was up to.

Later, I heard some buzz about Bon Jovi "going country"; and lo and behold, they did a country song and video featuring none other than Jennifer Nettles.

Well, I always liked Bon Jovi, so I thought I would check it out:



So, other than the Bon Jovi video, from 2004, when "Baby Girl" was a hit, to 2008, I was pretty much clueless as to what Sugarland was up to.

Then, recently, I heard about this cool new song, that Sugarland recorded with another group that I am completely unfamiliar with, Little Big Town:



But, hey, guess what, kids! This isn't by any means a new song. This is a remake of a hit '80's single by a group called Dream Academy.



Then, I kept reading online about how annoying the song, "All I Want To Do" was. Well, I don't think it is. People were bitching and moaning about the "all I want to do-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" line. Well, in my opinion, that's the hook. If it wasn't for that line, the song would be totally forgettable. Judge for yourself:



Probably, Sugarland's most famous, and controversial single was "Stay". I'm not going to pass judgment. It's an honest emotion. I will say that the video is more striking than hearing the song on the radio.



So, much as I hate "new" country, I have to say that Sugarland is the real deal. Of course, it's all Jennifer Nettles, really. It's sort of like how Daryl Hall was really the star of Hall & Oates (no offense, John).

As much as this group might try to stray from the country music fold, that voice is never going to be anything but country.

So, see how open-minded I can be? Talent is talent. There's no mistaking it. If she plays her cards right, Jennifer Nettles will have a lasting career in the country music world. No doubt about it.

Just wait, though. I haven't written about #1 or #3 yet........

~~~

50 Years Ago! Top Country Hits Of 1958

Okay, fifty years ago - really? Geez, it seems like only yesterday, or maybe 20 years ago at the most. Okay, it doesn't really seem like yesterday, because I was only 3 years old in 1958, so I hardly remember these songs when they were hits.

I thought it might be fun to see what was hitting the charts, lo those 50 years ago. And to contrast the country music of then to the country music of now.

Well, we all sorta know where country music is now, and it's not pretty.

I think this quote from Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland) in the latest Entertainment Weekly pretty much sums up the general attitude in Nashville today:

At the very least, Nettles sees Nashville changing.

"What is country anymore?" she asks.
What, indeed?
The article goes on to call Sugarland's third album "an unusually diverse CD that attempts to expand the template of mainstream country by embracing old-school R.E.M, Marvin Gaye, even hair metal.

"We've earned the space to express ourselves," says (Kristian) Bush.
O-kay! So, now we know, I guess.

So, let's cleanse our palates with some offerings from the year 1958.

This first video is one of many hits for Johnny:

JOHNNY CASH - BIG RIVER


"We've earned the space to express ourselves". Give me a break.
Ray Price had a bunch of hits in 1958. Here's one of the best:

RAY PRICE - INVITATION TO THE BLUES

Recognize the harmony singer? Look closer. Why, it's the songwriter himself, ROGER MILLER!


Well, here is one of my all-time favorite singers:

FARON YOUNG - ALONE WITH YOU


Here is someone you don't see anymore (well, he's passed away, but you know what I mean.) Don Gibson had FOUR number one hits in 1958. Here's one:

DON GIBSON - OH, LONESOME ME

I think this song was covered numerous, numerous times by many artists. Good for Don.

Remember this? Yes, this is not the 1958 performance. Conway did re-record this song a few years after he made this song a HUGE hit. The 1958 performance was grainy and had poor sound quality. The one here will just make you dizzy (sorry). But I still like the sound better on this one:

CONWAY TWITTY - IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE



You know, people tend to forget Webb Pierce, but there was no one bigger in country music in the late 1950's. Not to cast any aspersions, but he did insist on a co-writing credit for any song that he recorded. But I guess it was a win-win situation for all. At least Mel Tillis holds no hard feelings about that (I read his autobiography). I guess either you accepted Webb as a "co-writer", or you didn't get your song recorded at all. Not a hard decision when you have a family to feed.

Here's one written by Mel:

WEBB PIERCE - TUPELO COUNTY JAIL



Again, not a video from 1958, but still worth watching! Yea, I'm a huge Marty Robbins fan. Here he is, singing:

THE STORY OF MY LIFE


Well, this is not a 1958 rendition of this song (because Hank Locklin wasn't old and bald in 1958), but you have to give this guy credit! Much like Ray Price, even at an advanced age, he's still going strong!

HANK LOCKLIN - SEND ME THE PILLOW THAT YOU DREAM ON


Interestingly, a lot of artists we think of as "rock" actually had big hits on the country charts in 1958. Elvis, for one. I can't find any of those videos, but his hit songs from that year were:

Hard-Headed Woman
I Beg Of You
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
Don't

By the same token, the Everly Brothers were major country stars that year:

All I Have To Do Is Dream
Devoted To You

And this one:
(No, this video is not from 1958. The one from '58 was very poor quality.)

THE EVERLY BROTHERS - BIRD DOG

Oh yea, there was one other guy who seemed to have racked up a bunch of hits that year. He was sort of country, then rock, then country again.

Let's have a gander, shall we?







Oh yea, and THIS one:


One more time:



Okay, so where were we? Oh yea.

"We've earned the space to express ourselves."
Ha ha ha ha!

You ain't earned nothin' yet, honey.