CMT Blog: 2009 December

This is my last blog of the week, the year and the decade. So I have one last chance to look back before I start looking ahead. And this time, I want to go out reflecting with a smile on my face. You know as well as I do, a lot of country artists out there can give you something to smile about. But three of them have made me laugh out loud countless times in the last 10 years: Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley. Not so much with their songs, although some of Paisley's lyrics are downright hysterical -- "I don't highlight my hair, I've still got a pair" -- but with their live show banter.

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Roots music authority No Depression may not be in print anymore, but that hasn't stopped them from asking tough questions and pulling in a lot of reader opinions on their Web site. Like this one, where writer Grant Alden asks, "Whose output is more essential -- more worth absorbing, listening to, and giving shelf space to -- the assembled works of Johnny Cash, or those of Merle Haggard?" Yikes. Talk about stirring the pot. He goes on to talk about his experience with both artists, even talking about a Haggard show he'd seen at the Ryman ("I'd expected a brilliant show, a rebellious middle finger full of life, but he just ran through the numbers as if he were in Branson") and theorizing that you may not need the complete works of Cash to complete you ("Cash can be summarized in a well-chosen two-or three-disc compilation with no dimunition of his gifts, nor of his importance"). I will reserve my opinions on this and let the readers weigh in below in the comments box.

Many of my top albums from 2009 are by some of my longtime favorite artists. So as we prepare to enter a new decade, I'd like to acknowledge the musicians who have been creating notable music since long before some contemporary country artists were even born. For example, Reba McEntire notched her first Top 10 hit in 1980. George Strait wasn't far behind when "Unwound" arrived a year later. In an astonishing feat of longevity, McEntire's Keep on Loving You and Strait's Twang both debuted atop the Billboard 200 this year, tracking sales among all genres of music. I can't even tell you how eager I am to see these two on tour together in 2010.

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How could we even consider ending the year without at least one more outsider announcing her country music intentions? Well, enter Mickie James. The WWE Diva (a fancy name for a female professional wrestler) has a country single coming in February and an album in March. But don't let her badass image fool you. James says she's written poetry and stories all of her life and played the violin in high school. She's done her homework, too. "As in any entertainment industry, you have to see the sheep in wolf's clothing and you have to be able to differentiate who's being real and who's just hopping on board for all the wrong reasons," she said of the ins and outs of Nashville. "Lucky for me, I'm very blessed to have come across some really, really good people and gotten them on my team." Let's hope she's for real and that the single is a real smackdown.

Photo credit: © 2009 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Streaming a music video means you are watching it on purpose. It's a little different than watching it on TV, where you are just watching whatever comes on next. Streaming means you clicked on the play button deliberately. So when I see the year's Top 10 list of streamed videos on CMT.com, I'm not surprised that Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler and Taylor Swift are all over it. But why is this Zac Brown Band video for "Whatever It Is" the only one from a guy? I mean, I love the video. Just kind of stumped as to why there's so little male representation on the list. Where are Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Trace Adkins? There was a time when men dominated country music so maybe this girl-heavy list is a sign of a shift.

Yesterday (Dec. 29), I wrote about the three artists who made my last 10 years very traditionally country. But today I am thinking about the ones who made it meaningful, which pretty much comes down to the artists who made me cry. Sometimes my tears were tears of joy, the kind you cry when a song brings you to the epiphany that you are so blessed. And sometimes, they were just plain old tears. Like a lot of fans in the country demographic, I'm a woman and a mother and I am an emotional wreck from time to time. Especially when songs from Alan Jackson, Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney come on.

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I must just be a hopeless romantic because I can never get enough of songs about being so completely in love that you do crazy things. Like dance in a storm in your best dress. Or songs that capture the boost of courage that love gives you. Like how a first kiss can make you a little more brave. So I am so glad Taylor Swift has finally released the title track off Fearless. It's the fifth one from the album, which is only about a year old, and while all the songs have done remarkably well on the charts, I have to say this might just be my favorite. It's not a particularly traditional-sounding tune instrumentally. There is too much guitar for that. But the story of this kind of love that's fearless, flawless and really something keeps it grounded in country.

Radney Foster's new video for "Angel Flight" is his solemn way of honoring the brave men and women of America's armed services, especially those making their final journey home. Featuring backing vocals by Darius Rucker, the song is narrated by a pilot whose job it is to fly home soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Filmed at a Texas Air National Guard base, we get a rare look at one of the actual ceremonies for these returning heroes. All royalties from the song will benefit the Texas National Guard Family Support Foundation.

Approaching the end of this year I compiled a whole bunch of lists, such as indie albums you might have missed, women in country music with Christmas albums and my favorite country albums of the decade. So I figured I'd stir that all together and come up with this hodge-podge ranking: 10 women who made cool albums in the 2000s. I'd have to start with Loretta Lynn, who won two Grammys for the lively Van Lear Rose, which she and Jack White recorded in my neighborhood. And because I'm always drawn to songs about the myriad frustrations in life and love, there's no telling how many times I listened to Lori McKenna's Bittertown or Allison Moorer's Miss Fortune. None of them received substantial radio airplay, but they were all in heavy rotation at my place.

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Before this week, this year and this decade are officially over, Carrie Underwood is gonna squeeze in one last good deed. She's working with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and has joined fellow classy chicks Tyra Banks, Oprah Winfrey, and first lady Michelle Obama for this new Fur-Free and Fabulous campaign. (Not to be confused with PETA's "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign that some celebs have signed up for.) All these women are pretty vocal about their refusal to wear fur in any way, shape or form. So when Underwood's watching soon-to-be-hubby Mike Fisher's hockey games, she will just have to find other ways of staying warm at all those cold, cold ice arenas.