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Carnival Ride
Release Date: 2007-10-23
Sales rank: 50
\NCarrie Underwood’s Some Hearts, hastily made and released some five months after she won the 2005 American Idol crown, was surprisingly solid and tuneful. For her follow-up, producer Mark Bright steers her toward the big Martina McBride skies, with a plethora of strings and huge emotional crescendos. Underwood co-wrote four songs, mostly with the tried-and-true tunesmiths who made Some Hearts soar. On the torchy heartache ballad "I Know You Won’t," she gives a beautifully nuanced and controlled performance, but if that song would suit any number of lush female pop stars from Celine Dion on down, "Flat on the Floor" rocks hard while preserving co-writer Ashley Monroe’s Appalachian angst. Still, there are missteps: the easy tears of the unlikely war ballad "Just a Dream," a too-obvious attempt to repeat the sass of "Before He Cheats" ("The More Boys I Meet"), and the Shania-ish bad-girl-on-Cuervo stomp of "Last Name." The big payoff, then, is how much 24-year old Underwood has improved as a vocalist. How often listeners line up for this Carnival Ride depends on their attitude about country music’s continual melding with pop, and how they feel about a princess upstart taking home the awards that used to go to her heroes. --Alanna Nash Carrie Underwood Photos More from Carrie Underwood 
Some Hearts |
American Idol Season 4 - The Showstoppers |
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Learn To Live
Release Date: 2008-09-16
Sales rank: 54
As the front man of Hootie & The Blowfish, Darius Rucker has already experienced success - earning 2 Grammy awards and selling over 25 million albums worldwide. Now, embracing his country roots and a music he has always wanted to make, Darius is attracting the attention of country fans who are discovering his voice for the first time, and rewarding Hootie fans with new music featuring one of the most unique voices across any genre of music. Featuring his debut country single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", Learn to Live features 12 undeniable country hits and a voice that is unarguably Darius Rucker. "I have always written country songs...for me, this is really just part of the natural evolution of my career. I plan to be doing this for a long time. This isn't a one album deal - it's a career thing," explains Rucker. |
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Love On The Inside
Release Date: 2008-07-29
Sales rank: 93
Mercury Nashville's super duo Sugarland will release their third studio album entitled, Love On The Inside, July 29. Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush co-wrote all tracks and have teamed up with Byron Gallimore again to produce. Sugarland premiered the album's debut single "All I Want To Do" live on the Academy of Country Music awards. The single is available at Amazon MP3.Jennifer Nettles’ voice is unmistakable: energetic, ferocious, and joyful. You can’t ask for anything better when it comes to this country band’s third album. Songs like "All I Want to Do" and "It Happens" are more upbeat than Sugarland’s previous efforts, while "Keep You" and especially "Take Me As I Am" stray from the genre to evoke the spirit of Heart. --Ernesto Sánchez (People en Español  ) La voz de Jennifer Nettles es inconfundible. Enérgica y aguda, feroz y alegre. Nada mejor para aderezar el tercer disco de esta banda de country que con canciones como "All I Want to Do" y "It Happens" logran sonar más contentos que en sus previas producciones, mientras que en la balada "Keep You" y sobre todo en "Take Me As I Am," sobrepasan la frontera del género recordando el espíritu de aquella banda de los ochenta llamada Heart. --Ernesto Sánchez (People en Español ) |
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Gossip In The Grain
Release Date: 2008-10-14
Sales rank: 67
1. You Are The Best Thing
2. Let It Be Me
3. Sarah
4. I Still Care For You
5. Winter Birds
6. Meg White
7. Hey Me, Hey Mama
8. Henry Nearly Killed Me
9. A Falling Through
10. Gossip In The Grain |
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That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy
Release Date: 2008-10-28
Sales rank: 91
New studio album from TOBY KEITH. Contains 11 new tracks including "She Never Cried In Front of Me", a major impact ballad about love lost. |
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Troubadour
Release Date: 2008-04-01
Sales rank: 86
The follow-up CD to George Strait's platinum selling and CMA Album of the Year, IT JUST COMES NATURAL, is TROUBADOUR. George Strait truly is a modern day troubadour - now in his 28th year of making music,George continues to be an artist driven by his passion to make music of the highest quality. TROUBADOUR features the smash single "I Saw God Today".Well into his third decade at the top, album # 37 for George Strait maintains the consistency and high quality that's marked the vast majority of his work from the start. Like Alan Jackson, he's has always been more comfortable in conventional country fiddle and steel guitar settings, and that's largely where he remains with Troubadour. Even the good-natured, Caribbean feel of "River of Love" is closer to vintage Strait than Jimmy Buffett. The more somber "House of Cash" is a duet with Patty Loveless. It tells the story of the tragic, 2007 fire that took the home of Johnny Cash, and reflects on what could not be obliterated by the flames. Strait reverts to classic, Lone Star State form with "Make Her Fall With Me Song," a honky tonk shuffle in the style of Ray Price or George Jones, while the gorgeous western swing-driven "That West Texas Town" is a duet with Dean Dillon. With Troubadour Strait avoids surprises, if only by virtue of his continuing skill working wonders within a time-honored style. --Rich Kienzle |
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Raising Sand
Release Date: 2007-10-23
Sales rank: 85
The musical collaboration of the decade, Raising Sand is the sound of two iconic figures stepping out of their respective comfort zones and letting their instincts lead them across a brave new sonic landscape. Despite hailing from distinctly different backgrounds, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant share a maverick spirit and willingness to extend the boundaries of their respective genres. This spirit, expertly honed by producer T Bone Burnett, has resulted in an album pitched three steps beyond some cosmic collision of early urban blues, spacious West Texas country, and the untapped potential of the folk-rock revolution.
Supported by the unparalleled musicianship of Marc Ribot, Dennis Crouch, Mike Seeger, Jay Bellerose, Norman Blake, Greg Leisz, Patrick Warren, and Riley Baugus, Plant and Krauss -- as both solo and harmony vocalists -- tackle an intriguing selection of songs from such tunesmiths as Tom Waits, Gene Clark, Sam Phillips, Townes Van Zandt, The Everly Broth! ers, and Mel Tillis. Raising Sand finds Robert Plant and Alison Krauss exploring popular music's elemental roots while still sounding effortlessly, breath-takingly contemporary.
The song "Killing the Blues" is featured in the new JC Penney American Living Campaign.Perhaps only the fantasy duo of King Kong and Bambi could be a more bizarre pairing than Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Yet on Raising Sand, their haunting and brilliant collaboration, the Led Zeppelin screamer and Nashville's most hypnotic song whisperer seem made for each other. This, however, is not the howling Plant of "Whole Lotta Love," but a far more precise and softer singer than even the one who emerged with Dreamland (2002). No matter that Plant seems so subdued as to be on downers, for that's one of the keys to this most improbable meeting of musical galaxies--almost all of it seems slowed down, out of time, otherworldly, and at times downright David Lynch-ian, the product of an altered consciousness. Yet probably the main reason it all works so well is the choice of producer T Bone Burnette, the third star of the album, who culled mostly lesser-known material from some of the great writers of blues, country, folk, gospel, and R&B, including Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Milt Campbell, the Everly Brothers, Sam Phillips, and A.D. and Rosa Lee Watson. At times, Burnette's spare and deliberate soundscape--incisively crafted by guitarists Marc Ribot and Norman Blake, bassist Dennis Crouch, drummer Jay Bellerose, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, among others--is nearly as dreamy and subterranean as Daniel Lanois's work with Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball). Occasionally, Burnette opts for a fairly straightforward production while still reworking the original song (Plant's own "Please Read the Letter," Mel Tillis's "Stick with Me, Baby"). But much of the new flesh on these old bones is oddly unsettling, if not nightmarish. On the opening track of "Rich Woman," the soft-as-clouds vocals strike an optimistic mood, while the instrumental backing--loose snare, ominous bass line, and insinuating electric guitar lines--create a spooky, sinister undertow. Plant and Krauss trade out the solo and harmony vocals, and while they both venture into new waters here (Krauss as a mainstream blues mama, Plant as a gospel singer and honkytonker), she steals the show in Sam Phillips' new "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us," where a dramatic violin and tremulous banjo strike a foreboding gypsy tone. When Krauss begins this strange, seductive song in a voice so ethereal that angels will take note, you may stop breathing. That, among other reasons, makes Raising Sand an album to die for. --Alanna Nash |
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The Unreleased Recordings
Release Date: 2008-10-28
Sales rank: 95
At the peak of his career in 1951, Hank Williams recorded 143 songs for the Mother's Best Flour Company. Hank sang with his regular studio band and recorded his hits as well as many songs he never recorded commercially anywhere else. From this amazing legacy, Time Life is proud to release this historic 3 CD, 54 track collection drawn from the very best of the Mother's Best recordings. |
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Love On The Inside [Deluxe Fan Edition]
Release Date: 2008-07-22
Sales rank: 83
When Sugarland releases their third album Love On The Inside July 22 it'll be all about the fans. Lead members Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush wanted to deliver more than the average album to their loyal supporters. Together they created a Deluxe Fan Edition that will include 17 tracks (12 regular and 5 bonus) in special packaging with an expanded CD booklet, as well as access to download exclusive music video and "behind the scenes making of the album" footage.
Sugarland premiered the album's debut single "All I Want To Do" live on the Academy of Country Music awards. The single will be available at Amazon MP3 starting 6/24. Sugarland Photos Sugarland: Love on the Inside Cut by Cut
"All I Want To Do"
The duo’s intent here was to have a lot of swing to the lead single of this album. To funk it up a bit, and keep it very hooky. Musically, this number’s somewhere between Bonnie Raitt and Jack Johnson, with some Marvin Gaye and Van Halen thrown in. "I love the flirty sound," says Jennifer Nettles. "We just always want to bring different energies, and we got to play on the lighter side this time." If you listen close, the easy percussion from Matt Chamberlain gives the song its sexy heartbeat.
"It Happens"
Sometimes, you just gotta let go. That’s what this gritty little tune’s all about, says the duo. "We always say we should take the music seriously, but not ourselves," Nettles says. When the guitar comes in at the top, you know this is going to be a little more 80s pop than down-home country. Think "Walking on Sunshine". Because this tune wraps it all up with some very advisable lyrics: "Let go, laughing". And Nettles thinks the ironies, like getting in a fender bender with your ex and his new girl, shows listeners what a grand sense of humor the universe has. It’s a very uptempo way to look at a world that’s out of your control.
"We Run"
New love. Young love. Green love. There’s an excitement to that experience that Sugarland has captured in this intoxicating bluegrassy rocker. Nettles admits this grew from a seed of an idea that Bush had, since he grew up playing mountain music in Tennessee. And this song lends itself to that Appalachian sound, that driving four-on-the-floor beat. You can’t really describe that feeling, so the duo chose to show it rather than tell it. The imagery--of pockets of dirt and reckless weather on the breath--convey how beautiful, messy and powerful love can be.
"Joey"
Teenage love doesn’t always have a happy ending. Especially when a tear-jerker like Bill Anderson has pen in hand. He helped Nettles and Bush craft this modern take on the traditional teen tragedy, and yet much more alternative influences went into the vocals. "We ended up with a haunting wail in the chorus and this R.E.M. background vocal," says Bush of the melancholy music. "It’s simple and dark." The rich texture of this song is built around all those "what ifs" that run through your mind as you explore regret. "Nothing mitigates loss," says Nettles "But everyone has regrets, so we can all relate."
"Love"
Nettles’ powerhouse pipes take center stage in this ballad. And that strength comes though in the form of questions, about how you can possibly define love. Is it the face of a child? Kindness in the eyes of a stranger? In a hotel room in Washington D.C., when Sugarland was chasing down the theme of the whole album, the topic of love came up. "No way could you ever narrow it down," Nettles says of their writing time with Tim Owens ("Settlin’"). There’s love lost, love found, new and old loves. So this tune gets right in the middle, and makes some reaches musically. Bush’s powerful voice is featured for the second half of this song. "When we were writing the back half, Jen said ‘I want you to sing these words I wrote just for you,’" recalls Bush. "I will always feel special singing those words."
"Genevieve"
Nettles said that Bush had the whole first verse worked out. That verse--and his pure, sweet mandolin work--were inspiring enough. But when the idea for some three-part harmony came up, it only made this dirge of a country heartache even better. Nettles says it reminded her of some of the southern Baptist hymns she grew up on, and likes that the story’s not clear cut. "It’s a beautiful thing when we get to play characters that are complicated." There’s a mystery of who this character is that is coping with such a dramatic loss. It’s a little twisted. But that creates an even stronger pull into the lyrics.
"Already Gone"
A waltz-time lope? On a country album? Writing with Bobby Pinson ("Want To"), the duo was determined to do a song in six-eight. And to keep it very personal. "This is the story of coming of age, literally and emotionally," says Nettles. And it’s such a healing tale, about a woman who is growing up, leaving home, falling in love and saying goodbye.
"Keep You"
Is it possible to write an emotional song about being numb? It’s like writing a song about being loud by being quiet, Nettles and Bush think. That irony, blended with a bittersweet epiphany of knowing it’s time to walk away, make this one of the most contemporary done-me-wrong songs of our time. "Subtlety and nuance make all the difference in this song. Painting emotions with broad strokes is easy, but this time we’re using a toothbrush to dig through the finer emotions," says Nettles, comparing the duo to archeologists. And the vocal range she plays with throughout keep this song on the edgier side, because of the way she explodes into huge notes that few singers can even attempt.
"Take Me As I Am"
When the curtain opens, there’s a woman in a hotel room at night. As the song unravels, so does the mystery of why she’s there. In this character-driven narrative, with a Pat Benatar influence and some solid electric guitar work, the empowering message is clear. When you reach that point, when you are comfortable in your own skin, the line about "I’m not perfect, but I’m worth it" makes all the sense in the world. This could very well be the anthem of the unsung heroes who walk among us every day. "This is a very grown-up place to get to in your life," Nettles explains.
"What I’d Give"
Written with Kenny Chesney’s long-time lead guitarist Clayton Mitchell, this one builds a lingering story around some Faces era guitar and mandolin stylings. The kind that Sugarland thinks make for a story of their own. Usually in country, the song ends when the bow is tied off neatly with a lyric. But after the last lyric ends, they still had more to say musically. Nettles vocals are sultrier than they’ve ever been, and she likes the romantic implications of the lyrics. And both she and Bush agree that if you aren’t making out halfway into this six-minute yearning, then you aren’t ever going to be.
"Steve Earle"
If you know anything about Steve Earle, this song will thrill you with its comic pining for his songwriting. If you don’t know him, it’ll certainly pique your curiosity. Both Nettles and Bush share a fondness for Earle’s brand of country. It taught them that country was still viable, and gave them confidence to reimagine the sound. And when the duo found out what a shameless romantic Earle was, they had to set all his comings and goings to music. This upbeat barn burner fueled by a big pedal steel, is a playful way to process a painful subject. Nettles looks at it this way: "There comes a point in life of a troubadour when the character can become heroic. Even legendary."
"Very Last Country Song"
Aptly named, the last song on the album is a look at what would happen if nothing ever went wrong again. "If life stayed the way it was, if those conditions weren’t in our lives, then this would literally be the last country song," says Nettles. Everything is as it should be was the impetus and inspiration behind this song. Co-writer Tim Owens told the duo that someone had once asked him why country music was always so sad. Owens’ answer was that if bad things never happened, then what would we have to write about? The ethereal tones underneath this song stay quiet enough so the insight into the human condition can be felt. Like when you can hear Nettles smile as she sings the verse that looks back on the unexpected joy of an unexpected child.Jennifer Nettles’ voice is unmistakable: energetic, ferocious, and joyful. You can’t ask for anything better when it comes to this country band’s third album. Songs like "All I Want to Do" and "It Happens" are more upbeat than Sugarland’s previous efforts, while "Keep You" and especially "Take Me As I Am" stray from the genre to evoke the spirit of Heart. --Ernesto Sánchez (People en Español ) La voz de Jennifer Nettles es inconfundible. Enérgica y aguda, feroz y alegre. Nada mejor para aderezar el tercer disco de esta banda de country que con canciones como "All I Want to Do" y "It Happens" logran sonar más contentos que en sus previas producciones, mientras que en la balada "Keep You" y sobre todo en "Take Me As I Am," sobrepasan la frontera del género recordando el espíritu de aquella banda de los ochenta llamada Heart. --Ernesto Sánchez (People en Español ) |
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Lucky Old Sun Deluxe
Release Date: 2008-10-14
Sales rank: 114
This deluxe version is a 2-CD connected slider pack that contains 4 bonus live tracks. It also includes a chance to be one of two lucky winners of the "Kick it Off with Kenny" contest, in which the winners will be flown to the opening of Kenny's 2009 tour (date/location are pending). The connected element allows you to download the video to the album's smash single "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven," as well as the highly sought after animated pirate video introduction used on Kenny's 2008 "Poets and Pirates" tour. There is also a link to Kenny's website and a link to view Kenny's catalog videos. |
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