My relationship with country music is fleeting. There was of course all the "hillbilly" music back in the 1940's, through the geniuses of Hank Williams and Bob Wills onward to the likes of Patsy Cline, and the guitar pickings of Chet Atkins. Then the marketable songs by Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Tanya Tucker, George Jones, and the like. Dolly Parton took country and ran to pop with it, around the same time that the movie "Urban Cowboy" did for the genre what "Saturday Night Fever" did for disco. That John Travolta got around didn't he?
Then there was the "new country" in the 1990's: Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Reba, and many others. Line dancing to "Achy Breaky Heart" and "Boot Scootin' Boogie" took place in many clubs around the country; in my area there was the Colorado Café, which I believe is still around. Country reinvented itself yet again in the late 2000's and earlier this decade, this time with a rock influence, given that the genre is in a so-called "decline" (we know better). One of the proponents of that movement was the Zac Brown Band, which was voted Best New Artist at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
Many of my friends loved country music, which to me was a bit too much; I loved (and still do) alternative rock. But there it was, coming at you from all directions. Take an hour drive out of northern New Jersey and that is just about all there is: country stations on the radio. You can't avoid it. And then I dated a woman from 2000 to 2003 who was originally from Texas (and has since moved back there). Let's just say that I got to see a few concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel NJ during that time: Tim McGraw, Toby Keith and a few others.
Since the advent of my blog, many current artists have been featured. Lady Antebellum had a couple big hits on my blog. Keith's "Red Solo Up" and "American Ride" were big hits with me, as was Blake Shelton's "Boys 'Round Here". Throw in a Miranda Lambert and Florida-Georgia Line and Darius Rucker and you for a time had a nicely balanced 100-song list. And then there's the Zac Brown Band.
After their Grammy Award win, I decided to check them out. Some really good songs that had a rock edge but definitely country. In fact, on my year end favorite list for 2010, the band had the most songs on it. Song dealt with the good life, or the trials and tribulations of a young person getting the girls, whatever. "Toes", "As She's Walking Away", "Highway 20 Ride", "Colder Weather" and "Knee Deep", the latter featuring Jimmy Buffet. And that pretty much sums up the talents of this band, all coming from their first two albums.
Well, their third effort, 2013's Uncaged comes out and the first single, "The Wind", I didn't much care for it (peaking at #90 on my chart), and for its part, the first one to miss Billboard's top 10 after a string of #1 and #2 hits. And so went my interest in them. But apparently I left too soon, as subsequent singles reached the top 2 again. Oh well!
Country had been absent for quite awhile...namely the beginning of 2015 when Rachel Allyn's "Restless Times (Call for Reckless Measures)" dropped off the chart. Not one country artist had appeared since. (Note: Although Taylor Centers has moved in a country direction, the Charlotte native's SNS top 20 song "Wild" was still considered to be in her former pop genre). Just recently there were more hip-hop artists (Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar) in my SNS 100 than country!
Brown's "Homegrown" becomes the first track in two years to make my list as the song debuts at #88, as predicted last week. So why did I abandon country? Well, part of that is because there were so many rock songs on my plate to listen, all stemming from my hiatus last fall. And exposure for artists in that genre are I find out from television performances. The song was the first single release from their fourth effort, Jekyll + Hyde, released back in January. There is a new song which topped the rock charts which featured Chris Cornell from Soundgarden, "Heavy is the Heart" as well as a just released third single, "Loving You Easy", but for now, let's take it one at a time. Country is back, at least for now, on my blog.
ALABAMA SLAMMER: Just a week after relinquishing the top spot with "Don't Wanna Fight", the quartet retakes the lead position with "Gimme All Your Love" which takes my fave award in only four weeks. As a result, it forces Omnia Hegazy's "Dust" down to #2. The Decemberists and Ed Sheeran enter the top ten, and My Morning Jacket advances to the top twenty.
THINKING OF NEW: The top debut this week goes to the new one by MS MR "Painted", at #71. This is the band that had a breakthrough in 2013 with their debut full length set Second Hand Rapture and had a Billboard top ten alt-rock hit with "Hurricane" which also mid-charted on my list. But it was the next single "Think of You" that exploded with me. That song hit my #1 for two weeks in the early summer and was very memorable, hitting #8 on my year-end list for 2014. "Painted" is from a yet-untitled album to be released most likely later this year, and is on the poppish side similar to "Think of You". It is uptempo and rhythmic as well until a half a minute in, at which time is slows down and becomes a bit more soulful. After that, the song goes through a variety of changes. A worthy effort.
EL-EL-ELLE: The other big debut this week is Elle King's "Ex's and Oh's". I have seen this Ohio native perform on The Today Show earlier this year. The song has been out awhile but had forgotten all about it until I heard it piped in at a pub recently. I definitely meant to get this one in gear for quite awhile. Her debut album "Love Stuff", was released earlier this year as well. The thumping beat leads into a vocal that is reminiscent of British soulstress Duffy who was part of the female soul explosion of the past decade which also included Amy Winehouse and Adele, in spite of King's American roots (she is currently based on Los Angeles). A very catchy song that should make my way up the list quickly.
FINAL NOTE: I am drifting behind on the blog again, so expect a few more entries in the coming days. Also I have set up more URL links to the songs and hope in a few weeks to have a link for every one of them.
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 2 | NUMBER ONE:
"Gimme All
Your Love"
Album: Sound & Color
|
4 |
| 2 | 1 | Omnia Hegazy - Dust | 9 |
| 3 | 3 | Alabama Shakes - Don't Wanna Fight | 12 |
| 4 | 9 | Tennis - I'm Callin' | 7 |
| 5 | 5 | Jungle - Busy Earnin' | 9 |
| 6 | 7 | Phoebe Ryan - Mine | 13 |
| 7 | 4 | The Black Keys- Weight of Love | 13 |
| 8 | 14 | The Decemberists - Calvary Captain | 6 |
| 9 | 11 | Launderettes - Red River | 14 |
| 10 | 18 | Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud | 11 |
| 11 | 6 | Corinne Bailey Rae - Bluebird | 11 |
| 12 | 17 | Kongos - I Want to Know | 8 |
| 13 | 8 | Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) | 14 |
| 14 | 23 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Big
Decisions"
Album: The Waterfall
|
5 |
| 15 | 10 | Hozier - Angel of Small Death and the Codiene Scene | 12 |
| 16 | 12 | Mark Ronson f. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk | 15 |
| 17 | 19 | Catfish & the Bottlemen - Kathleen | 16 |
| 18 | 22 | The Big Takeover - Dolphins | 11 |
| 19 | 21 | Florence + the Machine - What Kind of Man | 12 |
| 20 | 13 | Belle and Sebastian - The Party Line | 13 |
Tremors:
| 101 | 109 | Night Riots - Contagious |
| 102 | 108 | Broncho - Class Historian |
| 103 | 110 | Passion Pit - Lifted Up |
| 104 | 111 | Sam Smith - Lay Me Down |
| 105 | Lifehouse - Hurricane | |
| 106 | Train - Bulletproof Picasso |
| 107 | 112 | Sleater-Kinney - A New Wave |
| 108 | Glass Animals - Hazey |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.
No comments:
Post a Comment