Country Singles Jubilee 9.28.09: The Who's That Lady Edition
Posted by Jasper Jones on 09.28.2009
It's the ladies turn! This week's Jubilee covers five female country singers flying under the radar of mainstream country radio. We've got hot babes and cool tunes inside!
Welcome back, Jubileers!
Country Music Tidbits
Is That Really Necessary?
Rascal Flatts will be releasing a special limited edition of their Greatest Hits: Volume 1 album on October 6th, 2009. It contains thirteen of Rascal Flatt's biggest hits, an audio interview with the band, and a foldout poster. The album also contains a bonus disc of four live tracks: "Take Me There", "Winning At A Losing Game", "Me and My Gang", and "Summer Nights".
The Americana Awards Results Are In!
Buddy Miller and his wife Julie were the big winners at the annual Americana Music Association award show. Buddy Miller took home the Artist of the Year award, he and his wife won Album of Year for Written In Chalk, and the couple won the Group or Duo of the Year award. Some other winners included Justin Townes Earle for Emerging Artist of the Year, guitarist Gurf Morlix for Instrumentalist of the Year, and John Fogerty won a Lifetime Achievement award. The show ending with a rendition of Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken" preformed by an assortment of Americana acts including Sam Bush, Jim Lauderdale, Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris, and others.
MUSIC TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I discovered Kasey Chambers one night during a poker game at friend's place. We had the TV turned on to one of those digital channels that just plays music. That night we left it on the "alternative country" station and I was exposed to some really great stuff. I discovered a great album by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris called All The Road Running, got my first taste of Tom Russell, and heard "Pony" by Kasey Chambers for the first time. "Pony" was unlike any country song I had ever heard before. It made me realize that country music can be presented in many different ways and that country radio was cheating me out of a vast array of sounds.
Kasey Chambers is an Australian native and has had much more success in her homeland than in the US. She's won eight Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) music awards and seven Australian Performing Right Association (APRA) music awards including Best Country Album, Best Female Artist, Album of The Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Song of the Year ("Not Pretty Enough"). Needless to say, she's a big star in her home country. Chambers has four Number 1 country records in Australia, but the highest she has charted in the US is Number 13 with her 2001 album Barricades & Brickwalls. She has yet to chart a US single.
Songs to Check Out By Kasey Chambers: "Pony", "Not Pretty Enough", "Like a River", "Rattlin' Bones", "The Captain", "Colors of a Carnival"
I've got a love/hate relationship with Mindy Smith's music. Her lyrics are impeccable, but her melodies and hooks are almost non-existent. There are exceptions to that rule though. "Come to Jesus", the above posted song, has a eerie feel coupled with excellent lyrics that sucks the listener into the song. Usually though, Smith's songs are full of great lyrics and imagery, but lack that certain quality that keeps you coming back to listen again. You've got to be a fan of lyricism to really enjoy her music. If she can find the perfect ballance, Mindy Smith could do wonderful things in the mainstream. All she needs in a really great producer to come along polisher her stuff up just a bit.
Smith's music doesn't fit into just one category. It could be described as folk, country, bluegrass, Americana, rock, pop, alternative, and most the time any combo of those previously listed. This could be another factor that keeps her off country radio. She's all over the place. However, to a listener like myself who craves originality and diversity, she's perfect. Vocally, she sounds a lot like the love child of Patty Griffin, Alison Krauss, and Shawn Colvin. If you feel like kicking back and listening to some great country music with thought, emotion, imagination...listen to some Mindy Smith records. If you want to listen to country music void of human contact, all about the money, and full of ridiculous cliches...be my guest and listen to any Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, or Kid Rock album. It's your choice.
Songs to Check Out By Mindy Smith: "Jolene" (With Dolly Parton), "Come To Jesus", "Out Loud", "Highs and Lows",. "Please Stay", "One Moment More"
Lucinda Williams
I happened across Lucinda Williams at work one day. I'd been familiar with her name and knew that she was an "on the fringe" country singer, but I had never heard any of her music. Someone sold us or traded in her album World Without Tears, and I popped it into the store's stereo. I was hooked from the first three songs. Williams has a distinct voice and a certain charm and wit to her songs that make you feel like you know her. She can be a bit abrasive, like on "Joy", but she can also sound as sweet as a angel, like on "Over Time".
You have to admire the woman's tenacity. She's been kicking around the music world since her debut album, Ramblin', in 1979. It took her almost twenty years before she had an album that charted. Peaking at Number 65, 1998's Car Wheels On a Gravel Road was a huge critical hit and even won her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. She hit critical acclaim again in 2007 with her ninth studio album West, which was a commercial success too. Her highest charting album to date is her latest. William's 2008 album, Little Honey, was her first Top 10 album, peaking at Number 9 in the US.
Songs to Check Out by Lucinda Williams: "Joy", "Over Time", "Ventura", "Righteously", "Passionate Kisses", "Drunken Angel", "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings"
Rhonda Vincent
My mother introduced me to Rhonda Vincent. She fell in love with Vincent's "If Heartaches Had Wings" and had me listen to it one day. It's a really great song about a girl who's fairy-tale dreams ended up a nightmare. Vincent's voice is just as good as Faith Hill's, Carrie Underwood's, and any other of the leading female country singers' voices. What I believe is holding Rhonda Vincent back from being a top female country artist is her use of bluegrass elements in her music. On the other hand, I commend her for staying true to what SHE wants to do and not what country radio dictates that she should do. Vincent's music normally features the banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and other instruments associated with bluegrass music, country music's "bastard" sibling.
Rhonda Vincent has scored six Top 10 bluegrass albums in her near 20 year career, three of which hit Number 1. However the highest she has peaked on the country charts is Number 20 with 2003's One Step Ahead. Her highest charting country single is the aforementioned "If Heartaches and Wings", which peaked at Number 48 in 2004. Vincent tried her had at mainstream country music in the early 90s. She released a couple of albums from 1991 to 1996 that failed to make a blip on mainstream country's radar. Videos for those singles can be frequently seen on CMT's Wide Open Country program however. Vincent returned with a hybrid of country and bluegrass with 2000's Back Home Again.
Songs to Check Out by Rhonda Vincent: "If Heartaches Had Wings", "Heartbreaker's Alibi", "I'm Leavin'", "You Can't Take It With You When You Go", "I Sang Dixie"
Rosanne Cash
Much like her former husband Rodney Crowell, who I featured in the last Jubilee, Rosanne Cash has had a bit of mainstream success. In fact, she's had much more success than Crowell. Crowell only had a string of Number 1s from 88-98. Rosanne had three Number 1 songs in 1981 ("Seven Year Ache", "My Baby Thinks He's A Train", and "Blue Moon with a Heartache"), two Number 1 songs in 1985 ("I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me" and "Never Be You"), two Number 1 songs in 1987 ("The Way We Make a Broken Heart" and "Tennessee Flat Top Box"), and three Number 1 songs in 1988 ("If You Change Your Mind", "Runaway Train", and a cover of The Beatles' "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party"). Rosanne Cash was a big hit in the 80s, but since then she's had little to none mainstream success. However, the daughter of the legendary Johnny Cash has never stopped making great music.
The 90s was a tough time for Rosanne Cash. She had just divorced Crowell when she released 1993' The Wheel. It reflected her feelings following the split and received critical praise but little commercial success. Unfortunately, most of Rosanne's album were doomed to repeat this same performance. 1996's 10 Song Demo and 2003's Rules of Travel followed the same path, critical praise but little commercial success. Her father, Johnny Cash, passed away in late 2003 and this provided new fire for Rosanne's music. Her 2006 album, Black Cadillac, brought her back into a bit of mild mainstream success. The album peaked at Number 18 on the country charts. It features songs inspired by the death of her mother, her father, and step-mother. Rosanne Cash has certainly matured over the last 25+ years. In fact, it seems her music has matured beyond the attention span of current radio country music.
Songs to Check Out By Rosanne Cash: "Seven Year Ache", "Tennessee Flat Top Box", "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me", "Black Cadillac", "Burn Down This Town", "Radio Operator", "Hold On", "September When It Comes" (with Johnny Cash)
That's all for this week, folks! Tune in next Monday when The Jubilee returns to it's normal format. Come on back!
