Review: Carrie Underwood “Two Black Cadillacs”

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”

Country To Country-UK’s First Country Music Festival

C2C: Country To Country To Be The UK’s First Ever Country Music Festival In 2013. For the first time ever, country artists will be teaming up to perform at a country music festival in London. The festival is C2C: Country To Country and will be two days of music at The O2 London in March 2013. On Saturday and Sunday, March 16-17, country artists including Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Vince Gill, Little Big Town, Brantley Gilbert, Kristian Bush, LeAnn Rimes and more will take the stage to entertain the UK’s biggest country fans. “I love the idea of a country music festival in London and I’m so excited that so many amazing artists are coming together for Country to Country. I feel honored to help represent country music, and I know it’s going to be a really fun weekend!” -Carrie Underwood The O2 and SJM Concerts in association with the Country Music Association have established C2C with the intention of it becoming an annual event.

2013 Country Music Tours

Your One Stop for 2013 Country Music Tour Details! In the past couple months there have been a lot of exciting tour announcements for the 2013 concert season from some of our favorite country music artists! From George Strait‘s final tour to Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley‘s co-tour there is a whole lot to look forward to in the next year. To help all ya’ll out, we’re gonna keep it all straight for you right here with links to all the details you need! We’ll be adding in the artists and links as more tours are announced, so be sure to check back with us often. If what you’re lookin’ for isn’t listed below try visiting this post’s sponsor CountryMusicOnTour.com! George Strait “The Cowboy Rides Away 2013-2014 Tour“ Rascal Flatts “2013 Changed Tour“ Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley “2013 Locked and Reloaded Tour“ Jason Aldean “2013 Night Train Tour“ Luke Bryan “2013 Dirt Road Diaries Tour“ Kenny Chesney “No Shoes Nation 2013 Tour“ Taylor Swift “2013 Red Tour“ Eric Church “Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour 2013 Dates“ Keith Urban “2013 North American Tour“ Carrie Underwood “Blown Away Tour 2013 Extended Dates“ Tim McGraw “2013 Two Lanes of Freedom Tour“ Blake Shelton “2013 Ten Times Crazier Tour“ Scotty McCreery “2013 Weekend Road Trip Tour“ Justin Moore: “Outlaws Like Me 2013 Tour”. Brad Paisley: “Beat This Summer 2013 Tour.” Darius Rucker: “True Believers 2013 Tour.” Rascal Flatts: “Live & Loud 2013 Summer Tour.” Quick Question: Who are you most excited about seeing live? Comment below and let us know!

A Taylor-Free Award Show?

In a spectacular ACM Awards Show tonight, one thing was blaringly clear: Taylor Swift is NOT an industry darling anymore! Taylor Swift may have performed during tonight’s Academy of Country Music awards show, but that’s the only stage time she’d get as the peer-voted industry award show shunned the pop princess. Miranda Lambert walked away with 3 awards including Top Female Vocalist and Album of the Year, Carrie Underwood takes away Entertainer of the Year for the second year straight, and Taylor… well Taylor’s probably counting the days till the next fan-voted awards show so millions of texting teens can keep her thanking Mom and God with her shaking hands and ever-surprised face. So what led to this lack of industry peer votes for team Taylor? Perhaps over-saturation? Much like the Hannah Montana craze, have many grown adults heard Taylor’s tunes courtesy of their little girls radios so often that they are now on absolute burnout? Perhaps. Or perhaps, and far more likely, Taylor has been outdone by pure talent. With such a rock-solid performance of “The House That Built Me” from Miranda Lambert, the flaws in Taylor’s live vocals were painfully clear. Add to it the almost too-technically-perfect Carrie Underwood, and the timelessly amazing Reba McEntire all on the same show, and suddenly Taylor is looking more like the little kid they let in for fun. I KNOW I’ll get a ton of hateful comments, but please, just for one minute, do the math and open your mind to the idea that the perfect princess may not be so perfect after all.Country Music Photo Gallery

2010 ACM Award Winners – Full List

Congratulations to all the amazing winners from the 2010 ACM Awards The 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards are over and all the winners awarded. Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum and more gave some of their best performances to date. Meanwhile Taylor Swift, Laura Bell Bundy, and Rascal Flatts all seemed to struggle with the live audio. Top it all off with Carrie Underwood winning Entertainer of the Year! 2010 ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD WINNERS ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Carrie Underwood TOP MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR Brad Paisley TOP FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR Miranda Lambert TOP VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR Lady Antebellum TOP VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR Brooks & Dunn TOP NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR *Luke Bryan ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)] *’Revolution’ – Miranda Lambert (Columbia Nashville) Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)] *’Need You Now’ – Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville) Produced by: Lady Antebellum, Paul Worley SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)] *’Need You Now’ – Lady Antebellum Composers: Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott Publishers: EMI Foray Music (BMI), Darth Buddha (ASCAP), Dwhaywood Music (BMI), Hillary Dawn Publishing (SESAC), Radiobullets Publishing (BMI), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Year Of The Dog Music (ASCAP) VIDEO OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] ‘*White Liar’ – Miranda Lambert Producer: Tameron Hedge Director: Chris Hicky VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company] *’Hillbilly Bone’ – Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins (Reprise Records / Warner Music Nashville) Producer: Scott Hendricks HUMANITARIAN AWARD – Montgomery GentryCountry Music Photo Gallery