by Julian Spivey Eric Church did something unique on Friday night (April 26) as the Day 1 headliner at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. The country music superstar effectively took the audience to church, while also managing to piss off many in the process. It feels like the kind of thing only Church could do. I watched the set via the Amazon Music stream on Prime Video, which will continue to take place over the next two nights at the festival. Church completely threw his regular show to the side and did something I’ve never seen him do and I’m not sure he’s ever done before. He crafted a specific set filled with some of his greatest hits intertwined with many of music’s greatest hits in general that revolved around his song “Mistress Named Music” off his 2015 album Mr. Misunderstood, which was something he certainly seemed to be on Friday night. It seemed to be a night of paying tribute to the music that shaped him starting with mostly gospel and branching into soul and even a bit of West Coast hip-hop, mostly written and popularized by black artists. Church performed atop a stool, just his guitar and a large mostly black group of vocalists behind him in front of a set adorned with stained glass windows. It was the kind of set that led to a man named Jason Feffer on Twitter bringing up an interesting theory: “I wonder if all the angry MAGA #Stagecoach viewers understand the point that Eric Church is using his platform to make. That similar to Rock n Roll, Country music owes everything to black – primarily gospel – music.” I don’t know if there’s any truth to that theory or if Church was just being Church (a man known for doing things his way) but it struck me as interesting, especially amidst all of the talk recently surrounding Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album. The use of politics in Feffer’s tweet might have some shaking or scratching their head but as someone who was following the controversy that Church’s set brought up on Twitter politics seemingly had a lot to do with the conversation. There were many upset by Church’s set claiming the artist was “virtue signaling” and one even stated: “Hey, get over your white guilt and play some fucking country music” even though much of what Church performed on Friday night was country music. Also, Stagecoach may be deemed country music’s Coachella because it shares a venue but Nickelback was performing at the same time as Church at a different location on the grounds and tomorrow night will feature a set by Post Malone. Church’s music sounded a good deal more country than the artist on the Mane Stage (it’s intentionally spelled that way) before him, Jelly Roll. When I set down to watch Church’s set I expected to do a normal concert review of a normal Church set filled with hits from his 20 years in the music business. But it turned into something much more interesting to me with all of the vitriol I was seeing online. I’ve seen Church live in concert at least five times and he’s always done his normal show of playing the hits and fan-favorites. I would expect him to do so on his tour. People come out for those shows to see him specifically and they’re going to want the Church music they expect. I think that’s to be expected. But when you go to a festival you’re not just going for one artist. You’re going to see a bucket load of artists and you’re going as much for the spectacle of it all. I think if an artist wants to try something new or interesting it’s the perfect opportunity to do so and Church seems to have crafted a special night of music to him specifically that he wanted to share with this audience – maybe he had a pointed message behind it or maybe he didn’t – and that’s his prerogative. His stage, his show. And if you didn’t like what you saw tonight please go to one of his tour stops because you will get the kind of show you want from him. Frankly, I enjoyed it. I didn’t need to see him sing “Drink In My Hand” or “Homeboy” again. It was a lovely change of pace to get to hear him do Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher,” Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” and The Impressions’ “People Get Ready.” It was a kick hearing him bust out a Corb Lund tune (“Dig Gravedigger Dig”) of all things. And when he did perform his songs like “Sinners Like Me,” “Like Jesus Does” and “Springsteen” they were done in soulful, fresh new ways that gave new life to them. I was entertained by the entirety of Church’s performance – the songs, the response online and just the guts to go out there and try something new and different and not give a damn what others thought of it. Isn’t that what Eric Church has been all about?
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by Julian Spivey Music legends Elton John and Bernie Taupin were honored with The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on March 20 in Washington D.C. for over 50 years of songwriting excellence. The tribute, which featured an all-star performance of the duo’s biggest and best songs, aired on PBS on Monday, April 8. Elton John and Bernie Taupin were the third songwriting duo honored with the Gershwin Prize, which began in 2007, behind 2012 recipients Burt Bacharach and Hal David and 2019 recipients Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Other recipients include Paul Simon (2007), Stevie Wonder (2009), Paul McCartney (2010), Carole King (2013), Willie Nelson (2015) and Joni Mitchell (2023). Elton John and Bernie Taupin have been working together since the late ‘60s with Taupin supplying the lyrics and Elton John composing the music to go with them. The partnership has led to No. 1 classic hits such as “Crocodile Rock” and “Bennie and the Jets,” as well as other hits like “Your Song,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Rocket Man” and many more. Surprisingly, some of the duo’s biggest hits like “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Crocodile Rock” and “Candle In the Wind” didn’t appear during the nearly two-hour Gershwin Prize tribute concert. The concert featured 11 performances by a group of music superstars like Metallica, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and former Gershwin Prize recipients Garth Brooks and Mitchell. Among my favorite performances of the evening were the two by Carlile, who began with 1971’s “Madman Across the Water” and later performed “Skyline Pigeon” in tribute to friend Ryan White, the American teenager who died of AIDS in 1990 after contracting it via blood transfusion. The friendship helped lead to Elton John’s charitable AIDS foundation. Elton John performed “Skyline Pigeon” at White’s funeral in 1990. The liveliest performance of the evening came from Metallica’s rocking cover of “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” which the telecast honestly needed for a little kick in the pants with many of the tributes being nice but not exactly up-tempo (except for Billy Porter’s “The Bitch is Back.”) Porter also hosted the ceremony. Jacob Lusk, who was a contestant on the 10th season of “American Idol,” did a lively performance of “Bennie and the Jets,” but it started a bit too lounge-singer-y for my taste. Garth Brooks was the only artist other than Carlile with two performances and they were very Garth-y selections with him doing “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” and “Daniel.” I preferred “Daniel” of the two, but I also prefer that song of the two in general. Maren Morris did a nice performance of “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” while Charlie Puth gushed about being included in such a tribute to his musical hero before performing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me.” More highlights from the show were Annie Lennox’s soulful show opener of “Border Song” and Joni Mitchell’s take, with altered lyrics to fit her life, on “I’m Still Standing.” “I’m Still Standing” has never been one of my favorite Elton John songs and I quite enjoyed Mitchell’s jazzy take on it. Before Elton John and Taupin received the Gershwin Prize and said a few words each, Elton John took the stage with his backing band, who had performed much of the evening with the guest stars, for terrific performances of “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” a non-single deep cut that has always been one of my favorites of his, and a rocking performance of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” After Elton and Taupin were awarded the prize, the show wrapped up with a beautiful performance of my all-time favorite Elton John song, “Your Song,” with Taupin leaning on the piano and watching the entire performance. It was a fitting performance and sight for the two legends who have provided so many great popular tunes for more than half a century. by Julian Spivey Tim McGraw brought his many country hits spanning over three decades to the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. on Saturday, April 13 for a packed crowd of adoring fans. Having never seen McGraw live before I didn’t know whether he had entered the “legacy act” portion of his career or if he was still selling out arenas and now I know at nearly 57 years old and not having a major hit in nearly a decade that he still packs them in. If BOK Center wasn’t sold out on Saturday night it was damn near it. McGraw began his set off with the lowest point of the evening and of his career with his nonsense 2012 song “Truck Yeah,” which barely cracked the top 10 on country radio airplay so I’m surprised it’s something he hauls out as a tour opener a dozen years later. I will admit the crowd didn’t hate it nearly as much as I did. McGraw’s set would improve from there with greatest hits scattered throughout with some new songs like the title track to his most recent album “Standing Room Only” from last year and “One Bad Habit,” seemingly from an upcoming album. The hits varied for me with myself typically preferring the ones that were 20-plus years old as opposed to some of his more recent ones like 2010’s No. 1 “Felt Good on My Lips” and 2012’s “Shotgun Rider.” My favorite performance of the main set was of 1997’s No. 1 “Just to See You Smile,” which I’d been concerned he wouldn’t perform because it hadn’t appeared all that much on the Standing Room Only tour that kicked off about a month or so ago. Other performances of major McGraw hits from the mid-to-late-‘90s that made my night and seemed to be a sentiment shared by the arena as a whole were his 1995 No. 1 “I Like It, I Love It,” his 1998 No. 1 “Where the Green Grass Grows” and his 1999 No. 1 hit (Tim McGraw has a lot of No. 1s in his career) “Something Like That,” which was probably my wife Aprille’s favorite performance of the whole show. There were some slower songs from McGraw’s repertoire that I was happy to see him perform live and weren’t ones I really thought he’d do very often – both coming from 2002’s Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors – “Watch the Wind Blow By” and “Red Rag Top.” I was very surprised by the crowd’s reaction to “Red Rag Top,” a song that takes on the heavy and, especially for country music controversial, topic of abortion. It’s a song I don’t remember being very keen on when it came out but was probably far too young to truly understand all of its meaning. I re-listened to it again as an adult a while back and it’s certainly among the best of his career. It was very awkward though during the song’s long instrumental outro when McGraw began waving his arm back and forth in the air to get the crowd to do the same thing as if it wasn’t a tragic song. There were some curious choices in McGraw’s setlist. I didn’t mind getting to hear his faithful cover of the Elton John classic “Tiny Dancer,” which appeared on Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors and was even released as a single, but I probably would’ve preferred another of the artist’s many hits that he didn’t get to on the night like maybe 1997’s “Everywhere” or even something newer like 2014’s top-10 “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” in its place. Then there was the strange decision to throw his 2004 crossover pop hit “Over and Over” with rapper Nelly into the setlist – which I knew was going to happen because I’d been following his setlists online but I’d assumed the show would have Nelly’s part via video. So, this performance was essentially McGraw just repeating the chorus over and over (no pun intended) to his band. McGraw later utilized Taylor Swift’s vocals for a performance of “Highway Don’t Care,” making the “Over and Over” performance all the stranger without Nelly. McGraw ended his set with a rocking performance of 2003’s No. 1 “Real Good Man” before returning shortly for a nice three-song encore that began with my all-time favorite McGraw song, “The Cowboy in Me.” With lyrics about questioning one’s actions and all-around not understanding all the reasons for doing what one does, it has always spoken to me internally. It was one of those “always wanted to see this live” performances. McGraw followed “The Cowboy In Me” with his most recent No. 1 hit “Humble & Kind,” from his 2016 album Damn Country Music, which won Song of the Year at the 2016 CMA Awards for its songwriter, the excellent Lori McKenna, as well as Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards. “Humble & King” is a terrific life advice song, which led into perhaps the biggest live advice song of McGraw’s career and one of the most massive hits country music has seen in the last quarter-century with 2004’s “Live Like You Were Dying.” I’ve always known “Live Like You Were Dying” was a great song but like many anthemic songs it began to grow annoying due to oversaturation fairly early in its life cycle and is one I’ve often skipped over the years, but it was a no-brainer way to finish out an evening of many of the massive superstar’s biggest and best songs. Carly Pearce opened up the show on Saturday night and gave a performance that showed me she should be headlining her own arena tour, although she doesn’t seem to mind tagging along with McGraw. Pearce has had quite the career since her debut album Every Little Thing nearly seven years ago and is on the brink of releasing her fourth studio album Hummingbird in June. She’s already released two singles off the new album to streaming sites, the title track and “My Place” (it looks like previously released singles “We Don’t Fight Anymore” and “Country Music Made Me Do It” will also be on the album) and debuted a new one on Saturday night, “Truck on Fire,” which is in the vein of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” and many Miranda Lambert singles and will likely be a hit. She also performed great renditions of “We Don’t Fight Anymore” and “Country Music Made Me Do It” on Saturday evening. My favorite performance from Pearce’s set was when she took on both roles in “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” her 2022 No. 1 country radio hit duet with fellow singer-songwriter Ashley McBryde, which earned the two a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. The song has a unique spin on the cheating song theme in country music. Being on tour with McGraw, Pearce also took the opportunity to pay tribute to McGraw’s longtime wife and fellow country music legend Faith Hill with a cover of Hill’s 1995 hit “Let’s Go to Vegas.” I’d been wanting to catch McGraw on tour for some years but he hasn’t been too close to my neck of the woods in a while and was thrilled when I saw Pearce would be his opener. I look forward to hearing that new album of hers come June. by Julian Spivey John Mellencamp brought his heartland rock & roll music to the Robinson Center in Little Rock, Ark. on Wednesday, April 10. The Rock Hall of Famer performed as he likes to say: “Some songs you know, some songs you don’t, some you can sing along to and some you can dance to.” And, his 90-minute, 19-song set was hard to argue with when it comes to that statement. There were classics, some newer stuff, some that everybody in the crowd knew all the words to and some that got people out of their seats, even at the usually stuffy venue, to groove with. The evening didn’t get off on a high note though as it began with an almost 30-minute film consisting of classic black & white film clips that seemingly mean something to Mellencamp and I could tell were meant to add an aesthetic and some nostalgia to the overall performance but much of the crowd just was not into it at all. You would hear groans permeating through the venue with each ensuing clip. This had me a slight bit nervous as if the crowd might piss off the cantankerous rocker, who had given an Ohio audience member an earful last month after they rudely interrupted an emotional monologue before a song. Mellencamp had threatened to end his concert then and there before walking off stage and returning a while later (probably after being encouraged to do so). When the music did begin, with a performance of “John Cockers” off his 2008 album Life, Death, Love and Freedom, it never disappointed – though I will admit on those “songs you don’t know” it was a little harder to follow along with the lyrics. I’m unsure whether this was a venue issue or the band’s setup. Among my favorite performances of songs, I wasn’t familiar with on Wednesday night were “What If I Came Knocking,” off 1993’s Human Wheels (of which he also performed the title track), and “The Eyes of Portland,” off his most recent album Orpheus Descending from last year. The track about the issue of homelessness and the apathy when it comes to figuring out the problem was a touching moment of activism from an artist no stranger to such things. The Little Rock crowd was mostly pumped for the “songs you know and can sing along to” portion of Mellencamp’s set, which included about nine of what I’d refer to as his “greatest hits,” most of which were packed in the last third of the set. “Paper in Fire,” a No. 9 hit from 1987’s The Lonesome Jubilee, and “Small Town,” a No. 6 hit from 1985’s Scarecrow, were the two earliest “hits” during the set that got things going. Over the years “Small Town” has climbed the list of my Mellencamp favorites to the point where it’s probably my favorite song of his to see live since he never does 1981’s “Ain’t Even Done with the Night” it seems. During the middle of his set, Mellencamp slows things down a bit with less accompaniment from his talented rock band. This is when he performed “The Eyes of Portland,” gave his touching monologue about his grandmother that he always gives before performing “Longest Days” and then performed his usual stripped-down version of “Jack & Diane,” probably his most famous song which went to No. 1 (his only of his career) in 1982. Some fans could be heard grumbling about it being the stripped-down version but Mellencamp is 72 years old and going to do whatever he wants to do. He is and seemingly has always been the walking definition of the term “no fucks given.” The final seven songs of Mellencamp’s set could be put up against just about any artist of his era. Starting with the downtrodden farmer anthem “Rain on the Scarecrow” came one fantastic performance after another including “Lonely Ol’ Night,” “What If I Came Knocking,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Cherry Bomb” and “Hurts So Good.” Seriously, try topping that. I’ve seen a good many legends in my time and that finish has probably only been topped by a few. by Julian Spivey Beyonce released her eighth solo studio album Cowboy Carter on Friday, March 29 to much acclaim. The album, which has been labeled as “Beyonce’s Country Album,” features many types of sounds, including country, R&B, soul, house, funk, rock, pop and even opera. Despite being a veritable melting pot of different sounds and genres, Rolling Stone magazine made waves late Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the album’s release, by stating: “Beyonce has made the greatest country music album of all time.” In a review, written by Ron Masekela, Cowboy Carter was hailed as the greatest achievement in the nearly 100-year history of the genre known as country music. Masekela wrote: “Step aside Red Headed Stranger [Willie Nelson’s 1975 concept album], step aside Coal Miner’s Daughter [Loretta Lynn’s 1970 autobiographical album] and step aside all you Honky Tonk Heroes [referencing Waylon Jenning’s 1973 release], the Queen of Country Music (and We Don’t Mean Dolly Parton) has arrived.” Cowboy Carter was first hinted at on Super Bowl Sunday when Queen Bey was featured in a Super Bowl ad for Verizon, in which she said: “OK, they ready. Drop the new music” and the songs “Texas Hold ‘Em,” a country-pop dance number, and “16 Carriages,” an introspective ballad about growing up,” appeared on streaming sites. When the album was released on Friday it included interstitials by country legends Nelson, Parton and Linda Martell, who could’ve been country music’s first black female star had her 1970 album Color Me Country been better received within Nashville. The album also included a reimagining of Parton’s 1973 country classic “Jolene,” in which Beyonce as the narrator is a bit more threatening toward the hussy trying to steal away her man. Masekela said: “Much like what Whitney Houston did with Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You,’ Beyonce has taken Parton’s original, breathed new and improved life into it and come out with a better version that could only make Parton weep, wishing she had an ounce of the talent Beyonce exudes.” Cowboy Carter also includes a touching cover of The Beatles “Blackbird,” written by Paul McCartney, which Masekela called: “Absolutely transcendent. I’m not sure who this McCartney fellow is, but as long as he sticks with Beyonce he’s bound to go places.” Beyonce doing country music has caused some consternation and controversy within the country music industry. Within an hour of Masekela’s review dropping on RollingStone.com, the popular country music website Saving Country Music sent out a tweet or an X or whatever they’re calling it these days saying: “DEI, DEI, DEI. That’s all this is!” When we attempted to reach Rolling Stone founder and longtime editor Jann Wenner, who had a major controversy in September of last year when he was quoted in a New York Times interview as stating “[black and female artists were] not in his zeitgeist” and later doubled down by saying “none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level,” about his creation labeling Beyonce’s album as the greatest country album of all time we simply received a one-sentence response: “Look how they massacred my boy.” by Julian Spivey The 2024 Country Music Hall of Fame class will be announced on Monday, March 18 by Hall of Fame duo Brooks & Dunn at 10 a.m. (CST) from the Hall of Fame rotunda in Nashville. Each year’s class features a member from the Modern Era, Veterans Era and Non-Performer, Songwriter and Recording/Touring musician category. The Modern Era consists of artists eligible for induction 20 years after they first achieved “national prominence.” The Veterans Era will be an artist eligible 40 years after they first achieve “national prominence.” The Non-Performer, Songwriter and Recording/Touring musician category is rotated every three years. In 2022, music executive Joe Galante was inducted. In 2023, songwriter Bob McDill was inducted. So, 2024 will see a recording and or touring musician inducted. Because of the selectiveness of the induction process only having three people inducted per year and one per category, there’s no shortage of talented and deserving members of the country music family waiting in line to be inducted. Here are the three artists I would include on my ballot this year if I were a voting member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Modern Era This would be a good time for the Country Music Hall of Fame to induct Toby Keith, who undoubtedly deserves induction into the hallowed halls based on his volume of hits, record sales, popularity, etc. It would’ve been nice for him to be inducted while he was still among us but the truth is he probably was still behind some other candidates. His death in early February from cancer at age 62 may expedite his induction. Though, Keith was somewhat of a controversial figure, even within mainstream Nashville, due to political views and his role in helping oust The [Dixie] Chicks from the industry. That might cost him some votes. But if I had to guess he’ll likely be the inductee in this category this year. However, despite believing Keith is a worthy candidate he wouldn’t be on my ballot because the Hall of Fame continues to snub the artist who has been my preferred inductee for many years now … Dwight Yoakam. Yoakam is closer to being eligible for the Veterans Era choice now, his debut album came out 38 years ago, and I think he’ll likely have to wait for that to happen before he’s inducted. Yoakam truly helped save country music in part when he burst onto the scene in the mid-80s by keeping the Bakersfield Sound made popular by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard alive and well and for nearly 40 years he’s always stayed true to that sound. Yoakam has sold more than 25 million records in his career and has the admiration of nearly everyone in the business, but he never had many country radio megahits or won many country music awards and having been based in California for his career he might be considered too much of an outsider to rack up enough votes in a company town. He’ll continue to be my choice in either the Modern Era or eventually the Veterans Era categories until he’s eventually inducted. Veterans Era One artist who passed into the Veterans Era category within the last few years and should have somewhat of an easier time making the Hall of Fame now that he’s reached this status is John Anderson. Anderson never had all that many huge hits with five No. 1s to his name (“Wild & Blue,” “Swingin’,” “Black Sheep,” “Straight Tequila Night” and “Money in the Bank”) but has always been a beloved figure among his fellow artists. The most fascinating aspect of Anderson’s career for me is he had some huge hits in the early-to-mid ‘80s and then kind of disappeared on the charts throughout the second half of that decade before making a huge comeback with 1992’s Seminole Wind, which spawned four top-10s hits including “Straight Tequila Night,” which might be his most famous. Anderson has one of the most unique voices in all of country music and it’s time he’s put among the legends where he belongs. Recording or Touring Musician The Country Music Hall of Fame seems to like to induct living members into the Hall of Fame, which is understandable but can sometimes lead to deserving musicians who have been gone a long time getting the short end of the stick. I feel that’s been the case for Don Rich, maybe one of the most famous sidemen in the history of country music. Rich, who was as synonymous with the Bakersfield Sound as anyone (can you tell I love the Bakersfield Sound?) as Buck Owen’s guitarist, fiddler and band leader in The Buckaroos. Unlike most acts in country music at the time, in the early ‘60s, The Buckaroos would perform with Owens both in the recording studio and on tour. It is Rich playing lead guitar on most of Owens’s biggest hits like “Act Naturally,” “Together Again,” “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” and “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me).” Tragically, Rich’s life was cut short at just 32 years old when he was killed in a motorcycle accident on July 17, 1974. His achievements as one of the greatest guitar players in country music history should’ve been awarded by now, but it’s never too late. by Aprille Hanson-Spivey The “Queen Bey” has made her way to country radio. It seems like there’s no shortage of opinions about this move since Beyoncé expertly dropped her first two singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” during a Super Bowl LVIII commercial on February 11. It was a teaser to the full album Cowboy Carter which will debut March 29, the second act to her 2022 Grammy-nominated Renaissance album. “Texas Hold ‘Em” specifically is historic, hitting No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and staying there for the past four weeks. She’s the first Black woman ever to claim the top spot on the Billboard Country chart and has two songs in the top 10 with “16 Carriages” at No. 9. Obviously, the fans approve. But I have to say I’ve seen a lot of negativity online — big shocker — acting like Beyoncé shouldn’t make country music. I saw one meme circulating about cutting off the song as soon as it started. I don’t get that vitriol at all, though making sense of online negativity is a losing battle. In my mind, I’m shocked it’s taken her this long to make a country album. She’s a Texas native, a powerhouse singer-songwriter and already dabbled with country successfully on songs like “Daddy Lessons” on 2016’s Lemonade. Plus, she’s Beyoncé. She’s earned the right to take whatever musical risks she wants. While I’ve never done a deep dive into her discography, I will always have my favorite Beyoncé songs floating around my Spotify playlists, dating back to Destiny’s Child. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is now one of them. The song is written by Beyoncé and five other writers, Brian Bates, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nathan Ferraro and Raphael Saadiq, which honestly seems like a lot for this song. It’s probably way fewer than normal sadly since country songs these days are either written solo or by an entire football team. Right from the first lyrics “This ain't Texas (woo), ain't no hold 'em (hey) / So lay your cards down, down, down, down,” the song hooks you. It’s got a fun Texas swing style about it, particularly the lyrics about “headin’ to the dive bar we always thought was nice.” It’s basically about a woman persuading her man to swing her around the dance floor. Sure, it throws in some random “country-ish” things — tornados, rugged whiskey, a heat wave, a hoedown — but at least it doesn’t mention a truck. In Beyoncé’s song, it’s a Lexus. I applaud that honestly, because not every Southern person owns a truck. I love that she enlisted masterful musician Rhiannon Giddens to play banjo and viola on the track, giving it an even more country vibe. The song does throw in a pop-ish sound and lyric in the middle of the catchy chorus: “Don’t be a bitch, come take it to the floor now (woo).” I find myself singing that line randomly, so it was a solid choice, even if it meant wandering a bit into a city club sound. What keeps this from being a great song overall is the last few lines. Sure, it’s fine to deviate a bit, and throw in that catchy ‘bitch’ line, but what in the name of Texas is up with the whispery lines, “Furs, spurs, boots / Solargenic, photogenic, shoot.” Both lyrically and musically they don’t match the rest of the song and it’s unnecessary. I hate that the song didn’t stick the landing because the rest is fun. If ‘Texas’ is a must-have popular radio hit, then “16 Carriages” serves as the more retrospective country ballad. Written by Beyoncé, Atia Boggs, Dave Hamelin and again Saadiq, the song, likely an ode to her rise to fame, has had a good amount of critical acclaim. In an American Songwriter article, Alex Hopper pointed to the most likely fan theories about what “16 carriages” actually refers to, her time touring or specifically when her career launched as a teenager. To me, it seems likely that both are true. While the song isn’t exactly classic like Willie’s “On the Road Again,” when he talks about touring, it’s an important song for Beyoncé to release. It’s her opportunity to share, from a more country perspective, what she’s been through in the spotlight for so many years, with lyrics like, “It’s been umpteen summers, and I’m not in my bed / On the back of the bus in a bunk with the band / Goin’ so hard, gotta choose myself / Undеrpaid and overwhelmed / I might cook, clеan, but still won’t fold.” I love how later in the song she refers back to these lyrics, changing it to “38 summers and I’m not in my bed” and pointing to how much she misses her kids. In those old Westerns, there were sacrifices for a cowboy lifestyle. In ‘16,’ Beyoncé is painting that picture of sacrifice with a Western backdrop, but for her art. While it’s nowhere near as catchy as, say, the Destiny’s Child song, “Survivor,” it’s very much a survival story. The percussion in the song makes the listener feel the drudgery in the journey of making her art. Yes, Beyoncé has a blessed life, but she’s worked hard for it. Creative people know the grind and the sacrifices made to chase our dreams, so the song is very relatable. Much like the great choice to include Giddens, Robert Randolph is the steel guitarist star on this track. It just gives it a very country feel, even with Beyoncé’s fast pacing on the verses. I’ve been more drawn to “Texas Hold ‘Em” because it’s the fun song out of the two. But I think “16 Carriages” should be praised. I hope these two singles indicate the kind of musical mix the Cowboy Carter album has in store for fans. by Julian Spivey February marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Jimmy Buffett’s Living and Dying in ¾ Time, his fourth studio album overall but his second after going down to Key West, Fla. and developing the type of beach bum Shakespeare persona he would take to stardom. Here’s a look at Living and Dying in ¾ Time track-by-track: “Pencil Thin Mustache”
This is such a Jimmy Buffett way to kick off an album with a wild song waxing nostalgic about some of the popular culture of his childhood that many probably remembered fondly at the time but few probably understand today. Whether you get the references or not – and my favorite is the autographed picture of Andy Devine (which, yes, I’ve searched on eBay for) – it’s a helluva lot of fun to sing along with. I don’t understand why pencil mustaches were ever en vouge but thank God they were if not for anything other than this song. “Come Monday” For as long as I can remember there’s been Jimmy Buffett in my life thanks to my dad and for as long as I can remember my favorite Buffett song has been “Come Monday,” the second track off Living and Dying in ¾ Time. Maybe it’s because in addition to constantly hearing it on multiple albums my dad had: this one, the Beaches, Boats, Bars & Ballads compilation and every live album Buffett ever recorded, it was also one of two widely played Buffett songs on the radio, along with “Margaritaville,” of course. Buffett is a very underrated songwriter and I think this lovely little three-minute ditty about longing to get back to the one you love is the best he’s ever done. Written for his future wife while he was on tour it has some of the loveliest sentiments ever put to song with the line: “We can go hiking on Tuesday/With you I’d walk anywhere” being one of my all-time favorite lyrics by any songwriter. “Come Monday” would be the first song to put Buffett on the map as it was his first Billboard Top 40 going to No. 30 on the chart and has seen long-lasting life on oldies, classic rock and classic country radio formats. “Ringling, Ringling” I can’t help but wonder if my dad didn’t spin Living and Dying in ¾ Time as much as some of the other Buffett albums when I was growing up because the next three songs on side A of the album: “Ringling, Ringling,” “Brahma Fear” and “Brand New Country Star” are three I don’t remember hearing all that much growing up and are probably still among the least listened to tracks from Buffett’s ‘70s output today. “Ringing, Ringling” is a nice little country tune about the tiny town of Ringling, Mont., which used to be a station stop on the transcontinental main line of “the Milwaukee Road,” a train line that went out west from the Midwest until such travel stopped being as prevalent and the town pretty much died off. Buffett sings about the “dying little town,” but though some of the lyrics sound depressing, the country and western sound gives it more of a bouncy sound than one might expect. “Brahma Fear” Living and Dying in ¾ Time is more country-sounding than Buffett’s previous album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean from the year before and much more country-sounding than A1A, which would come at the end of 1974. The steel guitar whining on “Brahma Fear” proves as much. “Brahma Fear” sees Buffett reminiscing on how he wanted to join the rodeo but discovered upon growing older that a whaler boat is more his speed. Buffett would find himself singing about having a “Caribbean soul and some Texas hidden in his heart” on his next album, but “Brahma Fear” sees him experiencing that mixture earlier. “Brand New Country Star” “Brand New Country Star” is Buffett’s first co-write on Living and Dying in ¾ Quarter with Vernon Arnold. I can’t be convinced Buffett isn’t singing about himself in the titular role, especially with a chorus that ends with: “He can either go country or pop.” The “go country or pop” was always a hard line to toe for Buffett during his career, especially in the ‘70s and probably explains why he would both have trouble with radio hits but also found a new sound all his own. “Livingston’s Gone to Texas” “Livingston’s Gone to Texas” has always been one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett deep cuts and it must’ve meant something dearly to Buffett himself because it’s one of a few songs he recut from his first two more folky albums from earlier in the ‘70s. “Livingston’s Gone to Texas” appeared on Buffett’s sophomore album for Barnaby Records called High Cumberland Jubilee in a more stripped, lowkey folk-sounding song that I prefer to the more produced, more beachy, more strings version on Living and Dying in ¾ Time. The song should be a sad folk-country ballad, so I don’t vibe as much with the beachy keys Michael Utley gives it here, which folks are probably more familiar with. Don’t get me wrong, the Living and Dying version is still pretty country with its whining pedal steel guitar courtesy of Doyle Grisham. “The Wino and I Know” Jimmy Buffett opens side B of Living and Dying in ¾ Time with “The Wino and I Know,” which has always been one of my favorite deeper cuts from Buffett’s discography. In 2020, when artists couldn’t tour and perform live due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buffett asked fans which of his deep cuts they most enjoyed, and a handful were picked out and turned into a docuseries on YouTube directed by his daughter Delaney. “The Wino and I Know” was one of those songs and in the video, he calls it one of the first songs he ever wrote when working as a bar singer in New Orleans and wanted it to be about New Orleans street life. I’ve always loved the couplets that follow the title in the lyrics, especially “the wino and I know the pain of back bustin’/like the farmer knows the pain of his pickup truck rustin’.” “West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown” Speaking of terrific Jimmy Buffett deep cuts, next up on the album is “West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown,” which is certainly one of my favorites and one of the most biting songs ever recorded by Buffett. It’s one of those my dad always skipped when we were younger because of the dreaded “F-word” in the lyrics, but damn if it’s not one of the best “F-bomb” drops in music history. The story talks of a Nashville woman who came from a well-to-do upscale family but never quite fit in and was ostracized from their community. I’ve always identified with the rebelliousness of the woman in the song. “Saxophones” “Saxophones” is an interesting track for Jimmy Buffett in that it doesn’t have any saxophones (there are horns on it). But that’s kind of the point too. The song is about how Buffett can’t even get played on the radio by the local DJ in his hometown of Mobile, Ala., but maybe if his music had a big baritone sax on it they would play it. It’s a fun little number that Buffett updated for his 2003 greatest hits compilation Meet Me in Margaritaville to feature the sax more prominently. I like Buffett’s vocals better on the original but the updated version is certainly funkier with the addition of the titular instrument. “Ballad of Spider John” “Ballad of Spider John” might be the most underrated song on Living and Dying in ¾ Time and it’s one of the best non-Buffett writes of his discography. It’s a song I find myself loving more and more as the years go by. The song was written and originally recorded by Willis Alan Ramsey on his 1972 self-titled album that wound up being his only album seemingly partially due to a record label conflict but also of his own accord. “Ballad of Spider John” sees an older con man telling a stranger of his regrets and how his life of crime cost him the one thing he dearly loved in life – his sweet Lily. The tale is one of nostalgic despair and ends with an all-time great lyric: “Old spider got tangled in the black web that he spun.” “God’s Own Drunk” “God’s Own Drunk” is an interesting track for Jimmy Buffett in that it’s one of the few spoken word performances of his career. “God’s Own Drunk” was a monologue by early American comedian Lord Buckley about a non-drinker tasked with watching his brother’s moonshine still before becoming inebriated off it and coming into contact with a Kodiak bear. The comedic monologue set to music became an early concert staple for Buffett before he was sued by Buckley’s son in 1983 for copyright infringement. Buffett would perform an unrecorded song called “The Lawyer and the Asshole” in concert in place of the song. It’s unknown what the result of the case was but Buffett would go in to occasionally perform the song again live beginning in 1988. This year, I made a New Year's resolution that would shock everyone!
Since 2007, I have been a diehard Swiftie. After realizing my best friend would never love me the way I loved her, I got into my red 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier on a rainy afternoon to escape. I turned on KSSN 96 FM, our local country music radio station and the first lyrics I hear are: "I bet she's beautiful, that girl he talks about, and she's got everything that I have to live without." This tale of unrequited love completely captured the love, the pain, the sadness, the helplessness, and the overwhelming feeling of longing for her to be with me. Taylor Swift's "Teardrops On My Guitar" took a really sad moment in my life and offered me the spiritual hug that I needed. She let me know she had experienced the same thing I was going through and made my feelings feel validated. I was not alone. When an artist connects with you in that way, you want to hear more, so I did. The more I heard from Swift, the more I fell in love with her. It is a completely normal thing for people to feel connected to particular songs because of the way they relate to our lives. In my experience with this though, it might be one or two songs from an artist that applied to me and I did not connect with other entries in their catalog. This has never been the case with Taylor Swift throughout all 18 years of her career. Every album has helped me unlock feelings that I either presently have or have had in the past but could not put into words. It felt like Swift was unlocking all of the pain for me and being the therapy I needed to finally process so many emotions that I had never dealt with before. So, as the years went on and more albums released, I became more and more obsessed with this artist and her validation of my feelings. I feel like we as a society do not talk about what we go through enough. People seem to live their dream lives with their dream jobs, their dream children, and their dream white picket fences. It is an isolating feeling for someone who knows they do not have their lives together and knows they can never attain that level of "perfection" that others put out into the world. Through many experiences in my life, I have felt completely gaslit about the way things have transpired. I have been made to feel crazy for the way I think and have people tell me that the feelings I have are not genuine or meaningful. While I have had to deal with this, Swift has been there for me through a song telling me it is going to be OK. While this bond that formed between me and Swift's music was innocent and in a way, beautiful, it turned into something that is not OK. I may be a Swiftie, but I am also a Christian. I believe that there is one God and that He created the heavens and the Earth. I believe that He sent His Son, Jesus, down to die for my sins because of his overwhelming love for me. I believe that if you repent and get baptized for the remission of your sins, you will be in Heaven if you continue to remain faithful to God throughout your life. I believe that I should be living my life for Him, studying the Bible, and seeking to live my life in a way that would be pleasing to my Creator. I feel like I should be searching for ways in my life to please Him instead of spending so much time listening to my favorite musical therapist. Now, we have arrived at the New Year's resolution that I made: I have decided to start limiting how many Taylor Swift songs I am allowed to listen to in a single day. She has become a complete obsession and an idol in my life. It is not a bad thing to like music or to like an artist but it IS sinful to idolize a person. All of the time I am devoting to Swift, I should be devoting to God. I do not think it is wrong to listen to Taylor Swift’s music so I will continue to but do so in moderation. The overwhelming hours I have given to Taylor Swift, I should be giving to God. The amount of time I have given God this last year needs to be the amount of time I give Taylor Swift this year and vice versa. The important thing to remember here is that God is a jealous God. Exodus 34:14 says, "For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." While I would not blatantly say that Taylor Swift is a god out loud or necessarily think of her that way, I have been placing her on the pedestal that I should be placing God on. Whether I have been intentionally doing it or not, it is still wrong. The parameters that I put on myself were for me to listen to only six songs per day for the first week, go down to five songs for the second week, four songs a day for the third week, and get down to three per day. Three per day is what I will be allowed to listen to when it is all said and done. I did give myself one condition. If it is an album release week, I can listen to the new album several times and not only have to listen to three songs per day. After seven days with the new album though, I return to just three songs per day. Does this mean that I am going to lose my passion and intense love for Taylor Swift's music? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I am still so excited that Swift just became the first artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy Award four times, that she was TIME Magazine's Person of the Year, and I will be at the store on April 19th, ready to purchase my copy of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. I also have become a huge fan of the Kansas City Chiefs! I started watching just because of her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, but now I love the entire team and enjoy watching them. I have never really enjoyed watching sports but my son has and this has brought us closer together. This is not an article bashing Swift in any way, shape, form, or fashion. She is in my opinion, the greatest artist of our lifetime, the G.O.A.T., and an amazing role model for my daughters. I think we can let anything in our lives get in the way of us having a relationship with God and that it does not always intentionally happen. Some of these things are even good things. Like, it is not wrong for my son to play baseball but is it right for him to play a game on a Sunday morning instead of going to worship? NO! He is picking a worldly thing over the opportunity he gets to give God the glory and the praise that he deserves! My New Year's resolution of limiting my consumption of Taylor Swift’s music is a decision I made to bring me closer to God. When I am standing before God on Judgment Day, I know that this decision will have been the right decision to make. I think it is important for us to always self-reflect and make decisions that will help us become the best version of ourselves. This decision will bring me closer to being the person that God has called me to be. by Julian Spivey Cody Johnson brought his Leather Tour to Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Ark. on Saturday, February 10 for a fantastic night of country music that included many tracks off his 2023 album that shares the tour’s name. Johnson is an interesting and truly rare case of an artist who got his start in the sort of subgenre of Texas Country Music and eventually found success in the Nashville mainstream after years of hard work because his music was both just too good to continue being hidden away and had enough of that mainstream shine to it to appeal to a wider swath of fans. He spoke often about work ethic – both of his own and that of Americans in general during his show on Saturday – and while I don’t necessarily believe him when he claims a lack of work ethic in today’s world in general, I do believe his hard work through nearly two decades of performing in smaller venues had led to today where he’s able to sell out the state’s largest venue. Johnson began his set on Saturday night with a couple of my favorite tracks from his 2014 album Cowboy Like Me, which was the first album of his that I bought and made me pay attention to his music – this was back when he was a budding star in the Texas Country Music scene. Those songs were “Me and My Kind,” about a girl who’s had enough with cowboy exes that she’s sworn them off for good, and the lovely “Dance Her Home,” about finding love in a honky tonk. They were two of my favorite performances of the set. One thing I learned from Johnson’s set is I didn’t give his most recent release Leather all that much of a listen-to after it was released in November of last year – late-year releases tend to fly a bit under my radar. He performed six songs off the album on Saturday night, including real gems like the title track and “Work Boots.” But it’s the song “Dirt Cheap,” about an older gentleman’s refusal to sell his farm and the reasons why, that has me believing it to not only be the best track on the album, but an instant classic in Johnson’s repertoire. Some of my other favorite performances from Johnson’s set included the beautiful love song “With You I Am,” from his 2016 album Gotta Be Me, and “On My Way to You” and “Dear Rodeo,” both on 2019’s Ain’t Nothin’ to It. I enjoyed Johnson and his talented backing back The Rockin’ CJB’s rip-roaring cover of the Charlie Daniels Band classic “Long Haired Country Boy.” The moment that truly made the entire night was when Johnson saved his best for last with his first No. 1 hit “’Til You Can’t,” off his 2021 double-album Human. “’Til You Can’t,” which won Song of the Year at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in 2023 for its writers Ben Stennis and Matt Rogers, and Single of the Year at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards for Johnson, is a terrific reminder of all of the important things you shouldn’t put off until tomorrow because tomorrows are never promised. It was truly an amazing concert moment seeing and hearing the sold-out audience singing along with Johnson on the song. After the song finished, Johnson took the time to sign many autographs for fans along the front rows of the arena, which you rarely see from artists at these types of venues. He would come out for a great two-song encore that included the fantastic “Diamond In My Pocket,” from his 2011 album A Different Day, the oldest song of his discography performed on Saturday night. He ended the evening with a nice rendition of the Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings classic “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” Johnson’s set was fantastic, but having to endure the performance of Chris Janson before him took a lot of mental fortitude on my part – though it honestly became so ridiculous that my wife and I just basically made a joke out of the whole thing. The great thing about Johnson is his authenticity. You can tell he’s for real. Janson, on the other hand, felt like if Larry the Cable Guy was a country singer – it was every dumbass redneck stereotype you could think of rolled into one. The guy broke into the Pledge of Allegiance abruptly, he got down on one knee as if to pray to show his appreciation for the crowd, he had his son come out to sing a song with him in which the young boy sang about loving beer, he had his “smoking hot wife” come out and after she left made a joke about how much time he spent “doing that.” It was like “Hee Haw” on meth. Janson went through his “hits” and also seemed to enjoy throwing much better classic country songs into his set willy-nilly like he couldn’t get through one of his own without playing someone else’s better song. Among the biggest hits of his career that he performed on Saturday were “Drunk Girl,” “Fix a Drink,” “Good Vibes” and his biggest hit from 2015, “Buy Me a Boat.” Dillon Carmichael opened the evening and if you enjoy country songs about beer and trucks you’ll probably enjoy his stuff, but I know from hearing some of his earlier stuff that he’s a bit better than what he appeared to be on Saturday night. |
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April 2024
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