Author Archives: Vickye

About Vickye

Vickye was born and continues to live in England, and discovered country music at the age of 13 through the internet. She loves Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton among others, but Taylor Swift is a secret guilty pleasure because she used to be a proper fangirl! She's in her final year of doing 'Popular Music Studies' at college, loves reading country music academia and has her own blog on country music, For The Country Record. She hopes one day to finally visit Nashville.

Blake Shelton Sure Be Cool If You Did Single Review

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Blake Shelton Releases New Single “Sure Be Cool If You Did”: Review. It was shrouded in secrecy and only announced a week or so prior to release, but January 1st saw Blake Shelton release his brand new single, “Sure Be Cool If You Did“. This follows the huge success of his 2011 album “Red River Blue“, with the charting “Honey Bee“, “God Gave Me You“, “Drink On It“, and “Over“, all of which reached #1 on the Billboard Country Charts. To add to that, his 2012 Christmas album, Cheers, It’s Christmas reached #8 on the Billboard 200 and has so far sold around half a million copies, not bad for a Holiday album that’s only been around a couple of months! So after all this success and personally enjoying Red River Blue immensely, I had high expectations for Blake’s new single to start 2013 off with a bang. And it did start off with a bang, if you consider a bang to be not as loud as you thought and trailing off a little at the end. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid track, but it’s sincerely lacking where I think for someone who is so talented and successful. Not So Country. The song errs on the side of country pop, with smooth strings and a nice solid guitar and drums unit that is equally smoothed over. This is accompanied by finger snaps, little acoustic guitar licks, a chorus and echo effect on his vocals during the second verse, and lead guitar dropping in every now and then to play the riff. That and the occasional note of steel guitar are the only things which really make me think COUNTRY country, but that’s not really my issue with this because the country charts these days are full of songs that don’t sound as typically country (it’s just a measure of this era in country music). A Little Too Safe. Mainly, I feel that the song is very safe. It’s a nice track, the line ‘and you’re standing in the neon, looking like a high I wanna be on’ is one of my favorite parts of the song for no other reason than it sounds nice the way they’ve constructed it, lyrically and musically. It’s similar to “God Gave Me You“. It’s very smooth, polished, pop with guitars and a touch of twang which was fine in “God Gave Me You” because that was a really catchy, lovely song with a great chorus. This new song is equally as sweet but there’s just something missing for me. Just A Little Boring. It’s not the lyrics, which tell the story of someone falling in love with a girl in a bar, and saying that she doesn’t have to stay, or carry on, but it’d sure be cool if she did. That kind of “I’m a man, I’m so casual… PLEASE COME HOME WITH ME” that I’ve definitely heard before. It depicts how a real man would say it pretty well, and Continue reading Blake Shelton Sure Be Cool If You Did Single Review→

Brantley Gilbert More Than Miles Video: Review

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Brantley Gilbert’s More Than Miles Is A Story Worth Investing In – Video Review. Brantley Gilbert may be a tough country rock star, but he’s certainly good at love songs. Take “My Kind Of Crazy” for example, from 2010. It’s songs like that that really capture the essence of people’s emotions. Also, “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do“, from 2011, was another one that really hit the ball out of the park. Now, with “More Than Miles“, his latest release, Brantley sings of the agony of leaving the one he loves to go follow his dream, before realizing that he’s made the wrong decision. I read somewhere that this song was about his ex-girlfriend (fun fact: she was featured in the video for “My Kind Of Crazy“). Either way, for such an emotionally-charged song as this, it would have to have a good video, and I’m pleased with the results. The Video: Step by Step. For once I can actually say a country music video just follows the story of the song (simplicity is underrated these days), and depicts Brantley parking his truck in the drive of a motel, just outside Nashville’s city limits, almost like he can’t bear to go beyond. Though I think the sign for Nashville being right by a motel is a little unrealistic, but hey, we’ll go with it, it’s a music video! The story continues as Brantley stares at the photo on the dashboard of a girl, as shown in the lyrics, and he goes to get a room (in true slow motion dramatic style, of course). Again and again during the video it cuts back to a close-up of Brantley playing guitar and singing the song in the motel room, and we really get a little suspense of disbelief that he’s written the song in a motel room just like that. Because the video follows the song so well, it makes us believe the lyrics were written in truth (particularly given the ex-girlfriend theory mentioned above), and this is really the fundamentals of a country music video. We get shots of Brantley attempting to write songs, but screwing up the pieces of paper because he supposedly can’t write without the inspiration of his girl, he can’t focus because of the break-up. The filter on the camera is a grayish blue, and this symbolically sets the deepening mood as Brantley stares into the mirror in his room, and paces around leaning into walls and staring into space. When actually called out like that it seems a little false, but it works within the context of the video. Later, we get Brantley walking to a bar, where a band are playing, but he’s distracted by the lovers kissing and becomes contemplative. He even rejects the advances of a very attractive woman , who then seems to be approached by another guy ‘wanting a go’ as it were, and Brantley gives him the pass to go ahead. I was a little confused by this part Continue reading Brantley Gilbert More Than Miles Video: Review→

Brad Paisley Southern Comfort Zone Video: Review

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Brad Paisley’s Southern Comfort Zone Video Is An Unlikely Masterpiece: Review I am a big fan of Brad Paisley so I was excited for the music video for “Southern Comfort Zone“, a brilliant song about Southern pride still encouraging people to see the world, and then be glad to come home! The video appears to have been recorded while Brad conducted the recent leg of his European tour, and The Band Perry even have a couple of cameos since they opened for him during the tour. In addition, he visited the Masai tribe that he donated cows to a couple of months back, and filmed the remainder of the video there. It’s a lot different than Brad’s previous music videos, and certainly very different from your average country music video. The idea behind involved Brad running through various cities, and seems designed to show an almost-seamless fit between places and his journey. Eight countries in eight days, apparently. Amateur Quality = Relatable. The beginning of the video consists of Brad playing the beginning of the song, just him and an acoustic guitar, by a truck, seemingly in the African safari. It is a delightful clash of cultures, but done more subtly than expected, and the writing across the screen to declare the title of the song and artist is in childish font. This pretty much sets up the whole ethos of the video, in that it is oddly, and yet fantastically, amateurish. Sometimes the camera doesn’t focus properly and you experience it focusing in and out. A lot of the time Brad is simply running down random streets in various cities and passers-by stare at him over their shoulder. The beginning and the end of the video where Brad is playing guitar is the live sound, and it doesn’t sound exactly like the polished studio recording. Some of the camera angles aren’t up to much and you get the feeling a lot of it’s been filmed on a handheld. Sometimes the camera holds its shot on completely unknown people and things. Whilst Brad is running someone occasionally throws him a new jacket which he catches and throws on like it’s nothing. He walks into a pub in Ireland and the crowd gathered sing the chorus of the song loudly and unabashedly. He plays guitar next to a real life giraffe and jerks it away slightly when the giraffe goes to try and eat it. Throughout Brad appears unassuming and without star status, he is simply ordinary. Everything is done with the utmost casual vibe, we get no theatrical expressions and sometimes the colors are fairly dull. And that makes me completely love this video. No Glam = Down To Earth While, I like the glitz and the glam and the creative videos that clearly have been worked hard on, there’s something about this that is fun, and perhaps even more interesting than other videos that have had hours of work and a lot of money put into them. This feels Continue reading Brad Paisley Southern Comfort Zone Video: Review→

Lee Brice I Drive Your Truck Video: Review

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Lee Brice Gets Intense with “I Drive Your Truck” Video: Review. This song is one of my favorites of the past year for its deep meaning and emotional intensity, so I was excited to finally see the video. The main structure of the video follows the narrative very closely at times – a man who isn’t Lee Brice but looks suspiciously like him – is standing by a truck that holds everything described in the first verse, before driving it along some back roads and around a field, and handing the keys back to (presumably) his wife. In fact, it is the most song-faithful music video I have seen in a long time, and there are benefits and perhaps disadvantages to this. The Video. Because I like literal videos, unless there is scope for really playing with confusing meanings and images, I liked the faithfulness of this video to the original song. This song would not suit doing something else with the video because of the emphasis on the emotion and story, so the video needs to reflect that. Even the sunset/sunrise dusty filter on the camera is how I imagined it, and perhaps is a cinematic representation of how people think of the rural South, the farms and back roads. It certainly adds something to the setting! The video movement is very slow at first which fits the pace of the song, cutting between the leading man simply staring into the truck and Lee Brice gently singing the song, not looking at the camera as if it’s too painful, and apparently standing in a field of wheat. A lot of work has been done setting the whole thing up to really represent an actual story and make the song really come to life. I have to commend the director on the subtle but very effective change in pace as the song builds momentum leading up the chorus. To add to that, as soon as the chorus kicks in Lee Brice is suddenly playing with his band in the wheat field, which taps into country music’s video focus on physically playing the song. There perhaps could have been scope for slightly more airtime of the narrative rather than Lee, but I suppose it’s him the video is promoting. Also, there could have been a montage of ‘memories’ which would have perhaps helped reinforce the meaning of the song, but that’s quite over-used so perhaps they decided to keep it very simple and let the song do the talking. I do think the actor in the narrative could have been a little more physically dynamic, and produce a wider range of expressions, because he appears a little more numb than the song suggests and dealing with loss provides a variety of different emotions that could have been shown here. However, I think I’m just being really picky, and the video works really well as it is. The Emotion. During the bridge, the slow motion takes on fast and aggressive movements in Continue reading Lee Brice I Drive Your Truck Video: Review→

Review: Carrie Underwood “Two Black Cadillacs”

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Carrie Underwood “Two Black Cadillacs” All Sass And No Innovation? – Review Following the huge success of her album’s title track, “Blown Away“, Carrie Underwood has released “Two Black Cadillacs” a dark narrative creeping up on the footsteps of its predecessor. Whereas ‘Blown Away’ told the story of a young girl leaving her abusive, alcoholic father to die in a tornado, it’s successor revels in the death of a man, whose cheated on and lied to wife and mistress have plotted to murder him for his misdemeanors. The Sound of the Song. Just as the two songs previously released from this album, this new single is more pop coumtry and makes no pretenses about it, and equally to “Blown Away“, the sound is big, dark and dramatic. Much use is made of the electric guitars, heavy driving drums, the wailing string section, the creeping piano riff in a minor key, that combined with the choir (singing bye bye, bye bye) really builds this song up. It doesn’t stop there, however, and there’s a lot going on musically in this track, with an extended instrumental at the end that makes full use of the musical ideas available, leading to a fade out. Carrie’s vocals are strong, convincing and really put the song across well and so far it all looks promising. The Lyrics. The lyrics are good and I’m glad to know Carrie had a hand in writing them (I just have a personal preference for artist writing their own material). The narrative describes the man in question’s wife calling a number on his phone and discovering he had a mistress, who equally didn’t know he had a wife, in order to make us feel sympathy for both parties. They decide to kill him to get revenge, and the song revolves around the scene of the funeral, where each woman’s black Cadillac pulls up, and they meet for the first time, my favorite line being the pinnacle of the story “it was the first and last time they saw each other face to face, they shared a crimson smile and just walked away, and left the secret at the grave”. There are some problems though… Firstly, although I like the lyrics, I feel like there could be a lot more powerful imagery involved and although they tell the story well, there’s plenty of room for embellishment that just wasn’t realized. The song does build up, but the instrumental lacks some energy in my opinion, and although there’s a lot going on musically, it all contributes to just a thick guitar-based sound. You have to listen carefully to realize that they’ve put a lot of effort into building up the song. However, my biggest problem is that is just sounds like another “Blown Away“. It’s nice to see more lyrical substance from Carrie and some more dark and twisted themes but musically it just doesn’t do a lot compared to what has come before. I’m disappointed that she chose to release them Continue reading Review: Carrie Underwood “Two Black Cadillacs”→

Lee Brice: I Drive Your Truck Single Review

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Lee Brice “I Drive Your Truck” Straight To A Country Hit? – Review. Lee Brice missed out on being honoured as winner of the New Artist Award at the 2012 CMA Awards, but that’s to no detriment of his music. He’s not new to the scene as the nomination suggests, but released an album in 2010, Love Like Crazy that managed to get to number 9 in the charts. I’ll be honest in saying that I’d never heard of him until the release of “A Woman Like You” that shot in to the number 1 country spot, with its follow-up “Hard to Love” coming in at number 4. His new release “I Drive Your Truck” is certain to do well, and I predict a solid number 2 for this country/pop belter that really pulls at the heartstrings. The Story Behind the Single. Lee has previously said that he’s dedicating this song to his granddad, and that when he heard it he just ‘had to record it’. With that background information it’s easy to make sense of a certain interpretation of the song, the lyrics telling the story of a man driving the truck of a loved one who is no longer with them, and trying to cope with the sudden news of death. It’s a theme which is universal, even if not everyone copes with death by driving that person’s old truck, and Lee recognizes that, “people got their ways of coping, oh and I got mine”. Lines such as “that flag and stone ain’t where I feel you anyway” are particularly heartbreaking and I know will be endlessly quoted by people who relate to that very same sentiment. Why This Single Is So Great. Lyrically it’s fantastically crafted, (so hats off to the songwriters Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Jimmy Yeary) and is definitely worth listening to properly and pouring over the lyrics for this reason. Musically, it’s a driving kind of song (appropriate) with its ‘driving’ beat and downwards guitar strumming, piano adding a more delicate and softer approach and providing the main riff. There’s also a pedal steel guitar in there to offset the pop/rock feel that is evident through a lot of Lee Brice’s music, for a more country element. Essentially, it’s a power ballad, which is what really makes this song work and emphasizes the feelings of intense emotion and desperation when a loved one dies. Predictions for Lee Brice… This is one of the best lyrical efforts I’ve heard in a long time, and the instrumentation and Lee’s meaningful and slightly straining vocals (great for the song’s mood) are only there to support the lyrics, but only in that they don’t overpower the meaning of the song. With “I Drive Your Truck“, it’s all in the specific details and imagery that makes it so universal and beautiful, because as they say, “it’s always the little things.” Fantastic song, and I can see big things to come both for Lee and this release, as it Continue reading Lee Brice: I Drive Your Truck Single Review→

Country Music Tours: Why They Matter

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Why Country Music Touring Continues To Be The Life Of The Industry. I love when artists and bands tour. Particularly for the more popular ones, I seek out the dates before they’re released, get the pre-sale if I can, wait for half an hour on the website before it even lets you buy tickets. The excitement of being lucky enough to grab some seats near the front and the dismay at having to pay Ticketmaster huge booking fees, to do, well, not a lot; ordering for a few of your friends and texting them the seat numbers afterwards; making a countdown; updating Facebook about it; writing it on your calendar; listening to the support acts’ music on YouTube. And then the weeks leading up to it, dreaming and fantasising about what songs they’ll play, the things they’ll say to the crowd, what they’ll be wearing and whether they’ll do impromptu meet’n’greets after the show. Live shows are more than one event that lasts for 3 hours on a school night. They last for months, building up to the big day, particularly if you’re younger and you don’t get to go see people live too often, because your parents won’t pay for all of them. Impact On Industry. It’s important to the country industry too. Going back 100 years to travelling medicine shows, touring was a huge source of income for country singers, where recording was expensive and couldn’t always access hard-to-reach rural communities where the musicians lived. Back in the day the majority of advertisers stayed well clear of the ‘hillbillies’ and their ‘hick music’ on country radio, or at least country slots on radio before it became a popular format, so radio generally couldn’t pay the people who came on to play live (before it became largely record-based). So touring was very important, and it remained important for country music to be able to interact with its fans, as it is such a fan-orientated music. Today country touring is huge, and despite massive success in record sales and radio airplay it remains the biggest source of an artist’s income, for most anyway. This is because unless they’ve signed a ‘360’ deal, artists will get all the profits of a tour, after everything has been paid for, and I mean everything. The record label don’t get anything. In recent years the ‘360’ deal has come in, meaning 360 degrees of payments going to the record company, as in they get paid from everything an artist does. It’s a shame, but due to much of music going online and not brining as much extortionate profit as the industry was used to in the 1980s, they’ve become greedy and tried to extract more money from their roster. Connecting Artists and Fans. But touring – it’s a fantastic way to connect with your favorite artists. When you really love an artist, you establish your own personal emotional connection with them and their music, and seeing them live is a climax of musical perfection Continue reading Country Music Tours: Why They Matter→

Kelly Clarkson Don’t Rush: Single Review

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Guest Post: Kelly Clarkson Forays Into Country with ‘Don’t Rush’ – Single Review. I, like I assume many others are, am still confused as to Kelly Clarkson’s nomination for CMA Female Vocalist of the Year (Olivia Newton-John Gate anyone?), as the only country I was aware of her making was the country mix of her previously pop song ‘Mr Know It All’ and a duet with Jason Aldean on ‘Don’t You Wanna Stay’. Correct me if I’m wrong. So in mind of this, it seems almost as if Kelly has made an effort to make country music to sort of prove her worthiness, duetting with Vince Gill (always a good start) on her new single, ‘Don’t Rush‘. I’m not doubting that Kelly could have a real country career if she wanted to and make proper country music, but this seems like an attempt to please all camps. The song is in a soul/R&B style that reminds me very much of Kelly’s first album, Thankful (music which I’m pretty sure she claimed not to have had much part in making, preferring rockier stuff, coincidentally), but from the off we’re confronted with a steel guitar. However, it doesn’t come across as being played in a very country manner, and reminds me more of the Hawaiian roots from which it originates. The sounds are far more focused on a soul swung beat, and the ‘country’ elements such as the steel guitar and the twangy electric guitar solo become part of the song as opposed to infusing it with country. You can barely even hear Vince, you have to actually listen properly just to hear his background vocals, and when they sing overlapping alternate “baby don’t rush”s towards the end, he just sounds like a session musician brought in to fill up the mix. Nothing is really made of his contribution whatsoever, and it feels as if she’s getting by on his name in order to get airplay on country stations. It is what I would call a ‘lazy Sunday’ song, a chilled, lying in the sun kind of soundtrack, and it’s pleasant enough on the ears without begging me to play it again. The chorus has a nice melody but not fantastic or terribly catchy. It just all sounds a little average to me, trying to hop on the back of her decidedly random CMA nomination and the fact she scored Vince Gill to join her in the studio. Or rather, sing quietly over her vocals after she’d long left to go get pizza. I have always liked Kelly Clarkson (Breakaway was the soundtrack to my 2005/2006), but with so many people attaching themselves to the country brand for the privileges involved these days, I’m automatically suspicious when I hear something like this. However, it’s not bad as such, just not as good nor as country as I expected, so if you would like to buy it you can get it on iTunes although I can’t currently find a link. Listen Now: Kelly Continue reading Kelly Clarkson Don’t Rush: Single Review→

Women In Country Music

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Guest Post: Women In Country Music – Where Is Our Place? Historically, women have been ignored when charting the people and events of country music’s illustrative past. This has occurred both in the story of the music and of the industry respectively, yet women have often been seen as fans near-equally to men; the bored and lonely housewife who finds solace in the country music emanating from her kitchen radio. The women who are not socially permitted to reside in the classic Honky-Tonk, unless they want to be perceived as promiscuous, good-time women. Artist-wise they were the ‘girl singer’, the ‘pretty face’, generally marketed as more country pop, for commercial gain, their ‘repressed sex appeal’ being exploited. And they did not belong in the industry, as this was far too complicated for them. This is the general collective memory of women’s contributions to country music up until the 1960s/1970s, and often it’s simply not accurate at all. The scene was in abundance of Honky-Tonk singing women, female musicians, feisty souls who were pioneers in their field for saying what the ordinary women were desperate to speak out about. Patsy Cline has often been seen as revolutionary, but in comparison to these ladies of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, she was one of the first ladies of the Nashville Sound, designed to sell records with smooth arrangements and submissive to the patriarchal industry. Industry-wise it has been noted that very few women worked at record labels or similar establishments; however Jo Walker was the executive director of the CMA since 1962 (soon after its inception in the late 1950s) until 1991. This is significant because this period of time was arguably the most prosperous for the CMA and for country music commercially, nationally and globally. Through extensive promotional campaigns, fundraising events and construction of the Country Music Hall Of Fame & Museum, CMA Awards, Country Music Foundation, and Fan Fair (among others), I would argue that she has been one of the most important and influential people ever to grace country music in any way, shape or form. Way to take one for the girls, huh? But her contributions are much-documented, admittedly. However, something that is often ignored is the role of women in country music fan clubs during the 1950s. Before the genre really invested in professional PR and fan clubs, they were set up by fans, run by fans, and were a vital promotional tool for the artists. And the best part? About 95% of the people fronting and organising these were women. They would disseminate regular publications (quarterly, monthly, etc) with updates about the artist, whilst also promoting other similar artists and those new and up-and-coming. They would encourage the fans they were reaching to spread the word of country music, to phone up radio stations and request that artist’s song, and would consult with the artist themselves as a PR partnership. There would be so much work that these women, often housewives and mothers looking for a Continue reading Women In Country Music→