Country Singles Jubilee 8.17.09: The Good Morning America Edition
Posted by Jasper Jones on 08.17.2009
This week's Jubilee includes the latest from Phil Vassar, Luke Bryan, and Gary Allan. Plus, inside you'll find a odd Cross Canadian Ragweed song and a classic from Willie Nelson. As a bonus, this week's Jubilee also takes special look at Brooks & Dunn.
Welcome back, Jubileers! By now I am sure that you all know about the retirement of legendary country music duo Brooks & Dunn. It's a real shame that Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn will no longer be making music together. Dunn has one of the best voices in music, and there has never been a better wing man than Kix Brooks. It was time to move on though. You can't really blame the guys for calling it quits. They've done just about everything they can do as a duo. They conquered country music a long time ago. I imagine with twenty-six Number 1 singles, five Number 1 albums, and a million awards, they got bored. Breaking up gives the guys new challenges as solo artists. In honor of the retirement of one of the greatest acts in country music history, I present my Top Ten Favorite Brooks & Dunn Songs!
Gary Allan is one of my favorite current country music artists. Somehow his songs always seem so different from your conventional country tunes. Being born in California, not the south, and having a touch of that Bakersfield sound might be a reason for that. Songs like "Smoke Rings in The Dark", "Songs About Rain", and "Best I Ever Had" all had a air of mystery to them that intrigued me. Plus, his stone cold country songs like "Her Man" and "It Would Be You" are country through and through. Of all the Gary Allan singles, there has been only one that I really didn't care for at all. "Tough Little Boys" annoyed me because I hate sappy country songs about children.
"Today" is Gary Allan's latest radio single. It's the lead off single to his forthcoming eighth studio album. It's a somber, moody song driven by piano and strings about a man who lost everything he ever wanted when he saw his former lover getting married to another man. The subject is un-original, but Allan does an adequate job with it. It's a bit too overproduced and slick for me. "Today" is not going to make a Top Ten Favorite Gary Allan Songs list, but it's not a total loss. Allan's raspy vocals and passion shows a true connection to the song. He's able to really make you feel his pain through his voice, which is a lost craft with most modern country singers.
Favorite Lyric: "Today, today it really hit me/ That she don't really miss me/ She's found a new beginning/ And I'm wishing i had one more chance/ God knows it's too late for that"
Rating: 2.5/5
Luke Bryan - "Do I"
Luke Bryan is a fun guy. It's fun to turn up his music and sing along with your intoxicated friends. "All My Friends Say" and "Country Man" are great "good time" songs, proven by their chart performances. They were a Top 5 and a Top 10 hit respectively. However, when Bryan is not hamming it up and having a good time with his songs, they usually suck. Take "We Rode In Trucks" for instance. It's boring, cliched, and awkward. I never have and never will understand some people's obsession with big trucks. You can haul stuff. Big fucking deal. Did you know that he wrote Billy Currington's 2007 Number 1 song "Good Directions"? Once again, Bryan had success with a clever, "good time" song. Stick to what you know man. It works.
"I Do" is the lead off single to Luke Bryan's second studio album Doin' My Thing, set to be released later in the year. Bryan co-wrote the song with two-thirds of Lady Antebellum, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelly. The other third of the band, Hillary Scott, provides back-up vocals on the song. It's about a couple who have have grown distant. The man asks the woman point blank if she still wants him in hopes of re-sparking the relationship. The song itself is great. However, the production is awful and there is no power, passion, or worry in Bryan's vocals at all. This song would be much better suited for someone who could really drive home the emotion and importance of the song. Someone like Garth Brooks, Conway Twitty, or Martina McBride if you reversed the sexes. There is a second version of "Do I" that just features Luke Bryan and a piano. It's a much better version of the song and should have been the one released to radio.
Favorite Lyric: "I can lean in to hold you, or act like I don't even know you/ Seems like you could care less either way"
I had no idea that Phil Vassar had written so many hit songs for other people. He wrote "I'm Alright" and "Bye Bye" for Jo De Messina, "Little Red Rodeo" for Collin Raye, "My Next Thirty Years" for Tim McGraw, and "Right On The Money" for Alan Jackson. Those, plus all of his own hits like "Just Another Day In Paradise", "In A Real Love", and "Last Day of My Life", make Phil Vassar one accomplished songwriter. I've never been a huge fan of his, but I can recognize the man's accomplishments.
"Bobby With an I" is the lead off single to Phil Vassar's upcoming fifth studio album, Phil Vassar and the Smokin' Ivories. It's a hilarious, catchy little ditty about a guy who dresses up like a woman so he can get free drinks at the bar on ladies night. It's a great gimmicky country song that seems like something Jerry Reed or Bobby Bare would have released back in the 70s. The lyrics and the melody are incredibly catchy and the chorus is easy to sing along with. Plus, it has that odd ability of getting stuck in your head after just one listen. There really is no other way to describe this song other than just letting you hear it and see the video.
Favorite Lyric: "In his pink party dress, you never would guess/ he benches 335"
Willie Nelson is an American treasure. He's one the last remaining outlaws and one of the last remaining connections to country music of a different era. If you don't like Willie Nelson, you aren't my friend. That's a deal breaker right there. Willie is 76 years old and still puts out multiple albums a year, tours regularly, and creates better music than folks half his age. The man has the respect of his peers. You'd be hard pressed to find another musician who dislikes him. In his fifty years plus in the music business, Willie Nelson has racked up twenty-nine Number 1 singles and eight Number 1 albums. He's recorded with a plethora of legendary singers from Ray Charles to Waylon Jennings to Johnny Cash. He's been in many movies, written four books, done extensive ecological work , and won countless awards. He's one busy old man.
If I ever have a band, we'll cover "City of New Orleans" in our live set. It's a song that I've loved since I can remember liking music. The version of it that I'm most familiar with is Willie Nelson's. It was actually written by Steve Goodman and recorded by countless artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, Judy Collins, and Jerry Reed. Goodman passed away just before Willie Nelson's version of "City of New Orleans" was awarded a Grammy for Best Country Song in 1984. It can be found on Willie's 1984 album of the same name. It's about a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans and makes various American observations along the way. It includes the famous line "Good morning America, how are ya?". I love the harmonica work and Willie Nelson's voice and vocal style are absolutely perfect for this iconic tune. "City of New Orleans" is awesome on so many levels and gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. It describes America during a simpler time when folks weren't so self-centered and it wasn't always "ME ME ME!". It's also a "train song" at heart, and speaks about the railroads being replace by the 18 wheelers of today. The song feels alive, like it has a soul. It's not just another song, but one with a true purpose. It inspires me to be a better person and proves that Americans are inherently good people. "City of New Orleans" is the kind of song that makes me proud to be an American.
Favorite Lyric: "Good morning America, how are you?/ Say don't you know me, I'm your native son"
I Bet You've Never Heard This Song
Cross Canadian Ragweed - "Carney Man"
Cross Canadian Ragweed is band I had known about for quite some time, but I really hadn't gotten into them until the last couple of years. Through them I discovered other Texas/Oklahoma artists like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jack Ingram, The Slow Rollin' Lows, and The Eli Young Band. They haven't had much success on the singles chart (their highest charting single was 2005's "Fighting For" which peaked at Number 39), but their last three albums have all been Top 10 hits. Their newest album Happiness and All Other Things... is set to drop on September 1, 2009. It will include twelve new tracks and a couple of live ones including a cover of Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground". I can't wait to hear it.
"Carney Man" is one of my all time favorite Cross Canadian Ragweed songs. It can be found on the band's debut album, Carney. It's a very, very different song, and if you know me, then you know different is great! It's about a fellow who really wants to be a carney and join the circus. Once he does though, he realizes that the job really sucks. The song is oddly insightful though. Lyrics like "A human cannon ball/ I'll rise above it all/ Up higher than they trapeze, I can fly/ Oh God I'm gonna die/ I am a carney worker, I make two bucks/ Every hour come to find out, this job it really sucks" makes you realize that their's more to this song than what's on the surface. It's one of the most requested songs at every Cross Canadian Ragweed concert and the crowd goes wild and sings along to every word. Any song that repeats the phrase "You need a corn-dog, I can tell" is perfect in my book.
Favorite Lyric: "I'll sit and work the gate/ Or I can guess your weight/ I'll even sell the corn-dogs, I don't care/ As long as I am there"
That's it for this week, folks! Come on back next Monday for some more good times. Until then, keep lookin' for your blue angel and remember that you should have been a cowboy!
