My Country Music Ballot, 2006

[koganbot]

[For the Nashville Scene's Country Music Critics Poll]

Frank Kogan's Country Critics Ballot, 2006

TOP TEN COUNTRY SINGLES OF 2006:

1. Marit Larsen "Only A Fool" (EMI)
2. Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats" (Arista)
3. Taylor Swift "Tim McGraw" (Big Machine)
4. Eric Church "How 'Bout You" (Capitol)
5. Ashley Monroe "Satisfied" (Columbia)
6. Dierks Bentley "Settle For A Slowdown" (Capitol)
7. The Dixie Chicks "Not Ready To Make Nice" (Sony)
8. LeAnn Rimes "And It Feels Like" (Curb)
9. Toby Keith "A Little Too Late" (Show Dog/Universal)
10. Little Big Town "Good As Gone" (Equity)

TOP TEN COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2006:

1. Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift (Big Machine)
2. Various Artists - Totally Country Vol. 5 (Sony BMG)
3. Eric Church - Sinners Like Me (Capitol)
4. Alan Jackson - Like Red On A Rose (Arista Nashville)
5. Toby Keith - White Tra$h With Money (Show Dog/Universal)
6. The Wreckers - Stand Still, Look Pretty (Maverick)
7. Montgomery Gentry - Some People Change (Columbia)
8. Shooter Jennings - Electric Rodeo (Universal)
9. The Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way (Sony)
10. Jessi Colter - Out Of The Ashes (Shout! Factory)

TOP FIVE COUNTRY REISSUES OF 2006:

1. Various Artists - Classic Country: Sweet Country Ballads (Time Life)
2. Todd Snider - That Was Me: 1994 - 1998 (Hip-O/Universal)

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST MALE VOCALISTS OF 2006:

1. Alan Jackson
2. Toby Keith
3. Dierks Bentley

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST FEMALE VOCALISTS OF 2006:

1. Natalie Maines
2. Taylor Swift
3. Julie Roberts

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST SONGWRITERS OF 2006:

1. Taylor Swift
2. Liz Rose
3. Toby Keith

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST DUOS, TRIOS, OR GROUPS OF 2006:

1. Montgomery Gentry
2. The Dixie Chicks
3. The Wreckers

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST INSTRUMENTALISTS OF 2006:

1. Mark Wright
(Gonna keep voting for this guy until you add a producers category)

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST NEW ACTS OF 2006:

1. Taylor Swift
2. Eric Church
3. Jace Everett

COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST OVERALL ACTS OF 2006:

1. Taylor Swift
2. Eric Church
3. Alan Jackson

Some Genres Change

I'm fascinated by the question "What is country?" but at the same time it's not my question, since I've never thought for a moment that I myself am country. So my ballot is loose-limbed and ready to dance around the question, without caring about the answer. Germany's entry in the Eurovision contest was Texas Lightning's "No No Never," a country song, or more accurately a good little Europop tune dressed up in country hats. Is that country? It's the country of someone's imagination, would have made my list somewhere around 35 or 40, if I'd gone that long. My number one is by Marit Larsen, a playful, impish Norwegian ex-teenpopper, now a singer-songwriter who's bookish and explores the complexities of her own mind, the small self-torments that magnify and confuse. And for her one and only country song she knocks out this little hoedown that's light as angel food cake, but it's cake that's spiked with a bit of hard rum. And it's perfect and it's wonderful. Would the American country audience be interested if they heard it? Won't happen, but maybe Marit's what they're waiting for; because they've embraced the Wreckers, consisting of another two ex-teenpoppers, one of 'em, Michelle Branch, being the woman who sang modern teen confessional's first big hit in 2001. Despite her confessional sound, Michelle never had anything particularly interesting to confess - she's no secretly brilliant Ashlee - and on the page the Wreckers' lyrics are weepy and empty. But heard through the Wreckers' harmonies, the songs have the same beautiful teenpop ache as always, now welcomed in country. And girly teen Taylor Swift may be the genre's new master, creating scenes with perfect detail, sung with an unerring balance, not too heavy, not too light, but whipsmart.

Comments

[pot80.livejournal.com]

Isn't "The Sinking Game" also a country song of sorts?

[koganbot]

I don't think so. I suppose it has a country element (harmonica), which might be enough to count it as country, if you want to, though I'd say the waltz-carnival-jazz-cabaret feel overwhelms this. Actually, "Come Closer" comes a little closer to country, has fingerpickin' on something like banjo or mandolin, but again the feel is way more something else - spritely pop fantasy, I'd say. (Pretty amazing, how much she puts into her songs without coming across as a Bjork or Fiona going "Watch How Many Disparate Artsy Elements I'm Putting Into My Songs").

As for my ballot, the least country-sounding song is LeAnn Rimes' "And It Feels Like"; my only justification for including it is that LeAnn is the one singing it. Not that Faith hasn't headed in this direction, but she's been chastened and so has reloaded with country signifiers. As had LeAnn on her previous album, but not this one. Which never got a U.S. release. According to Wikipedia it was due one but the release was canceled so as not to compete with her previous album, which had unexpectedly scored another big country hit. I don't buy that explanation. I think the new album was too noncountry for America, and the record company decided it only had a chance overseas.

[pot80.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of the beauty of that Marit Larsen is in how incredibly hard it is to pin down the majority of those song. I'm not fully sold on "Only A Fool" being a full-on country song, for example.

[koganbot]

It's a full-on Marit song, more than anything, but I do think the "country" in it is deeply embedded in the structure - the melody and the rhythm, not just the instrumentation. I could imagine Roger Miller singing it. Of course, "country" is up for grabs, and with some songs on country radio you'll have twangy singing, and fiddles and banjos, on melodies and rhythms that wouldn't have been considered country twenty-five years ago. So for some records it's just accent and instrumentation that are the country determinants. (I wasn't paying much attention to the genre twenty-five years ago, but my guess is that country was just as much up for grabs then, though with somewhat different elements in play: maybe if country's disco leanings had taken hold more, LeAnn's "And It Feels Like" would be considered unproblematically country now. It's not disco per se - it's a diva slow dance, basically - but it lives in something of a disco space.)

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Frank, did you like any of LeAnn's actual country releases this year? "Some People" would compete for my top 10. Also, given your opinion on the album, any opinion on the song "Some People Change"? Are there any songs on the Monty G album that would contend for your country top 10 if released next year? Personally, "Hey Country" is my fave on the album.

Thirdly, "If You're Going Through Hell" by Ronnie Atkins, number 1 song of the year on the country charts (presumably because "Before He Cheats" chart run gets split up into multiple years), would contend for my top 10 as well. Any opinions on that one?

[koganbot]

Greg, I wrote this about "Some People Change" (song, not full alb) on the rolling country thread:

Have heard only the title song. Doesn't hit me nearly as hard as it seems to be knocking over everyone else; well sung, well played, surely, hazy wah-wah against precise chording, and I'd be surprised if the Chesney version were as good (never heard it); but this is slow, and the chorus carries a heavy wall of rock sound not unlike late '70s Springsteen (Edd mentioned the Springsteen connection upthread), which just isn't my favorite style. Not nearly as alive and fun as "She Couldn't Change Me." Change schmange. And as for the message of life transformation, this song goes through motions that "Jesus Take the Wheel" does for real. On the other hand, the gospel choir at the end actually lifts the music - I'd almost call it exciting, and I'm generally a hater of gospel choirs in rock songs. The choir in "Like a Prayer" is one of the few others I can tolerate. I'll probably like the album - MG are my favorite band of the '00s (unless you count Ying Yang Twins as a band, and come to think of it, YYT are probably as much a band or not a band as the Montgumbos).

And "Hey Country" might well make my country 10 if it's released as a single next year. I wrote about it on my MySpace (scroll down to October 29).

(By the way, if you want to look at the rolling country and the rolling teenpop threads while ilX is down, I've got them saved through mid November and will email 'em to anyone who wants them.)

[koganbot]

On "Some People" LeAnn's doing a nice bit of soul, contains herself well, letting fireworks be an unexpressed potential for most of the song and then executing them with precision when she finally lets loose. But I'm somewhat bored with the melody and pacing, so by the end I don't care about the letting loose, really.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I'd love a copy of both of 'em. Was hoping to print them out while they were available (plus that Paris thread and maybe ASHLEE EMO OH NO) but alas.

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

The country element vs country song thing made me stop putting Bubba Sparxx here...

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

The country element vs country song thing made me stop putting Bubba Sparxx here...


http://youtube.com/watch?v=x4zUFMAZAL4
and here is the link to the seashores of old mexico, a song that should be everyone's top ten single list.

(taylor swift is obv. loveable and talented, but the tim mcgraw song doesnt really gell for me, it strikes me as a kind of showbiz obsqueiness, though meta reasons for not liking a song are problematic, i guess)

[koganbot]

Showbiz obsequiousness isn't a meta issue - it's in the title and lyrics, after all. But after a couple of listens the issue becomes insignificant: the song isn't about the narrator's feelings towards Tim McGraw, they're about her feelings towards her ex-boyfriend. Best new lyrics I heard all year, I think. They balance so perfectly that anything I say probably overstates the mood one way or another; but in the first chorus when she goes "When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song" it's simply sweet, but by the third chorus those words carry hurt and bitterness and a whole expanse of sadness, and a hint of aggression, as well (as if to say, "may that song haunt you," though that overstates it) - while retaining the sweetness.

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

the meta issue isn't the lyrics themselves, but trusting people not to make a v. close reading of them...

[mcatzilut.livejournal.com]

How about Hannah Montana?

[koganbot]

Not country at all, other than a few bits of rockabilly reverb and occasional traces of twang. Not in the melodies or the rhythms. (Though come to think of it, how would I characterize her sound? Showbiz melodies mulched into rock riffs? [What do I mean by showbiz melodies?]) Wouldn't have made my list anyway; nothing as gripping as Jessi's "Starman" or "So Many Things" (which sounds like "Sister Morphine") or some tracks on the Ralph Stanley and the Jace Everett, for that matter. I will admit that "Hannah Montana" would make a great country name - as would "Miley Cyrus," and it has a pedigree. Of course, if I adored Hannah I'd rationalize her inclusion, letting the pedigree lead the way.

Jewel/Country

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Frank,

I have no idea where to post this and I'd do it on ILX if still up. But you mentioned somewhere about the possibility of Jewel being accepted into the country mainstream thanks to the new young artists being influenced by her. And, what do you know, just now I saw a commercial on TV for Nashville Star (the country version of American Idol), and what do you know, but who are the hosts this season? Cowboy Troy and Jewel. You don't have a TV, so you might not know that and I thought you might be interested.

Re: Jewel/Country

[koganbot]

Greg, thanks for the info, and ilX is back up. I've just started a new rolling teenpop 2007 thread. I'm sure someone will start the country equivalent in the next several days. [UPDATE: Link now here.]