CMT Blog: 2009 April

I've been to a lot of kids' baseball games in my life. More than I can count, really. And even with my own son playing in them and really good snacks, they somehow never had quite the same magic that this weekend of games will probably have.

That's because Keith Anderson will be there, throwing out the first pitch Friday evening (May 1). And because Tim McGraw is supposed to be making an appearance at the games, maybe even with his wife. Now that is my kind of baseball tournament.

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The big guy has written a little blog about his recent trip to Afghanistan. In a message posted Tuesday (April 28) on the U.S. Department of Defense Web site, Toby Keith noted he'd just completed 15 shows in five days. He couldn't write much because he says "this damn C-17 is shaking my penmanship somethin' fierce as we're leavin' Bagram." Overall, he says the troops were energetic but that the danger was at an all-time high. He's basing that assessment on the fact that they had to be escorted on gunships. But he maintains that the U.S. military and their commanders are in complete control. And as you'd expect, the whole experience has inspired some more songwriting from Keith. "I also wrote a new military song for this visit. It's called 'The Ballad of Balad.' Funny song about an Army recruiter. It made hard core, crusted, jaded FOB [forward operating base] Sgt. Majors laugh out loud," he said. If it's half as good as "The Taliban Song," I'm sure it'll be a hit with civilians as well.

Over the last few months, my mailbox has been bursting with independent roots music. Within this hand-picked playlist, you'll find adventurous bluegrass bands (such as The Greencards), quite a few alt-country bands and a hearty helping of singer-songwriters. If you find an artist you like, go see them play. Going out to hear a cool band is still one of my favorite things to do, no matter the season.

"Outskirts of Blue," the Greencards
"And It Didn't Even Bring Me Down," Los Lobos
"North and South of the River," Jeremy Garrett
"Wishing for a Rainbow," the Flatlanders
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Keith Urban's new video is for "Kiss a Girl," but it's not finished yet. He did set us up with the raw footage, though. It looks like it will be mostly computer generated with Urban and the band doing their thing in front of a green screen. No doubt, it will end up looking real and totally natural, but isn't it a little funny to see him and the gang get all worked up when you know they're just in a studio with nothing but a film crew around? I can't imagine having to just turn it on like that. Urban makes it look easy, but try to picture yourself as the one in front of the camera when the director yells, "Action!" Man, that's got to be awkward feeling.

Actually, it was more like two minutes. And it wasn't so much of a "ride" as much as it was a spectator sport. But when Britney Spears hit the stage at Chicago's Allstate Arena on Tuesday night (April 28), Jake Owen was right there with her. While she sang "Breathe on Me," he remained seated on some kind of a leather chaise. (And maybe blindfolded and handcuffed. It's kind of hard to tell with all the folks she had milling about onstage.) While Britney, um, dances for him. I have no idea how our beloved country boy ended up on her big showy Circus tour. But it looks like it was a lot of fun. For Britney, anyway. Owen just has kind of an aw-shucks-but-yee-haw look on his face.

Give the girl a high school diploma, and the next thing you know, she's testifying in front of some kind of subcommittee in the nation's capital. That's what Gretchen Wilson will be doing on Tuesday (May 5). She's going to get about five minutes to sum up why adult education and family literacy are so vital. And she should know. Wilson received her GED at age 34 after dropping out of high school when she was a teenager. She will be joined by other big shots on the committee who are joining forces to find new and better ways to stay committed to the Workforce Investment Act. I'm sure her voice of experience will go a long way with the decision makers in Washington. As long as she doesn't go there all jacked up with a Skoal ring, saying she's one Bud wiser.

It's a shame that a death is often what prompts us to realize what we're going to miss. It's not that I didn't appreciate Vern Gosdin, who died Tuesday night (April 28). After all, most of us who love country music would put him in a hallowed category of singers that includes George Jones, Ray Price, Merle Haggard and a handful of others. But I have to confess that I haven't spent a lot of time listening to Gosdin's music in recent years. Still, his recordings of "Set 'Em Up Joe," "Chiseled in Stone" and "That Just About Does It" will be etched in my mind forever. In revisiting some of those songs today, I realized that those performances endure largely because of the way those records sound. Instead of today's standard production procedure of layering the instrumentation to create a dense, gigantic sound, producer Bob Montgomery was smart enough to give the music some space and let it breathe. In doing so, he showcased the key element -- Gosdin's incredible voice. Gosdin's death will probably cause some people to whine that the young artists of today have no knowledge or appreciation of the masters who came before them. To disprove that theory, check out Jake Owen's version of Gosdin's "Is It Raining at Your House." Taped recently during an appearance on CMT's Unplugged at Studio 330, the fact that he chose to perform this particular song says a lot about how Owen became a country singer in the first place.

This is exhausting, really. Keeping up with all the ways a country singer can put himself out there online. And then you add a few imposters to that mix, and it's a full-time job just weeding out the fakes and phonies from the real thing.

Take Tim McGraw. He has roughly 395,000 friends on MySpace, about 94,000 fans on Facebook and some 7,042 followers on Twitter. Those, I think, are really him. Mostly because I believe the Twitter feed when it says, "This is the official Tim McGraw Twitter feed that is being set up for Tim. Please don't be fooled by cheap imitations! :) Stay tuned."

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My husband and I won tickets to the Grand Ole Opry through CMT Music Pass, and the concert was amazing! We felt like children again standing at the stage with all of the kids there to see Taylor Swift. She is so beautiful and charming. We also got to see Keith Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens (he was so funny telling jokes on stage), Riders in the Sky, Gloriana, Jimmy Wayne, Jean Shepard and, of course, Trace Adkins!! (My family was so jealous!) Each artist got to sing around three songs. They were all so entertaining and interactive with the crowd, and it was very exciting to get to take so many pictures of them. My husband and I want to thank CMT.com and everyone who made this possible for us. See Taylor Swift's upcoming tour dates.

"Here Comes Goodbye" is so last week. And Rascal Flatts are so movin' on. They need to pick their next single off their latest album -- and they want you to help. Well, you and the 3,700 other people who have already voted. It only takes about two seconds to give the band your two cents. Just make sure you listen to the whole album a few times so your vote is an educated one. As of this blog, "Summer Nights" has a good strong lead. And it would make sense to release that one right at the start of the summer concert season, with everyone feeling sexy and hollering if you're ready. But "Love Who You Love" and the title track, "Unstoppable," still have a shot at the top. I've already given my opinion, but let's see what all you Flatts fans have to say.