CMT Blog: Albums

Dierks Bentley's latest album, Up on the Ridge, has quickly become a favorite among country fans. His music video for "Up on The Ridge" is also one of the most popular on CMT.com. Through his "Posted" page at CMT.com, Bentley took the time to answer fans' Twitter questions. Take a look.

@areyes03: Any new songs you're writing? I've been trying not to ... trying to just focus on and enjoy Up on the Ridge. But, I've had some ideas floating around up there for a while and I'm starting to think about getting back into it.

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Following his Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss on 2007's Raising Sand album, Robert Plant is back with a new project called Band of Joy, and this one promises to dig even deeper into Plant's love for Americana. For Led Zeppelin trivia heads, Plant and the late drummer John Bonham were in a group called Band of Joy before Zeppelin took off. But now the band is led by the sure hand of producer/guitarist Buddy Miller and features Patty Griffin, Darrell Scott, Byron House and Marco Giovino as they uncover dusty American gems. In his video for "Angel Dance," Plant revives the old Los Lobos tune and sets it to images of young people and, well, joy. There's a distinctive swampy, industrial chug to Miller's production, while Plant's vocals occasionally drift up near the upper reaches of his famed range. As a bonus of sorts, Louis Perez and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos act as chauffeurs to Plant in what works as a cool metaphor for his exploration of the American musical landscape.

If it's Tuesday, it must be time to put down the beers and head to Wal-mart. That's the life Blake Shelton thinks his fans are living. "My fans aren't necessarily looking for music on the internet. I wouldn't know how to stream music if you put a gun to my head. We're more the kind that sit around watching John Wayne movies, drinkin' beer and then when the album comes out, we go down to Wal-mart and buy it," he told me last week.

And the album's out today (Aug. 10). All About Tonight has six songs that Shelton can rave about without sounding too full of himself because he didn't write them. Like "Draggin' the River," a song about young love and the girl's dad who doesn't understand it. Fiancée Miranda Lambert joins him on that one. Shelton told me she wanted to cut that one herself, and he said, "Bullshit you will. You already did that once with 'The House That Built Me.'" Then she suggested it would work as a duet.

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Today (Aug. 10) is the day you can get in on what the Zac Brown Band has going on. Specifically, you can preorder the new album on the band's website and download the insanely cool first single which they sing with Alan Jackson. It's called "As She's Walking Away" and it will be on ZBB's You Get What You Give album due out on Sept. 21. (If you pre-order, you'll have access to all kinds of goodies like an exclusive lithograph, a cookbook, a T-shirt and trucker cap, some cooking rub from Brown's own recipe and a chance to win a free cabin on the band's Sailing Southern Ground cruise next month). The new album will also feature vocals from another singer you may have heard of, Jimmy Buffett, on "Knee Deep." These Zac Brown Band guys do not mess around when they pick who to collaborate with.

Josh Ritter and Tift Merritt are braving the Southern summer heat with a few tour dates together, but even if it was the dead of winter, this would still be a hot ticket for fans of the smart singer-songwriters. They're both skilled at choosing exactly the right words to tell their stories, and they realize that distinct melodies are just as important as the lyrics when you're playing a crowded club.

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Amid with a crowded field of superstar releases, quite a few indie country artists are returning with new albums this fall, too. The newest announcement comes from Joey & Rory, who have slated Album Number Two for Sept. 14 on Sugar Hill. I'm eager to hear "That's Important to Me" because I'm always charmed by its quiet and sincere message whenever they perform it. Plus, the duo partnered with Zac Brown Band on "This Song's for You," a heartfelt dedication to hard-working fans.

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"I hope you don't wake up with a case of the Mondays," teased John McCauley just after 1 a.m. Sunday night (Aug. 1). It was the end of his band Deer Tick's 90-minute set at Nashville's Exit/In, but the singer looked like he had a few more hours left in him. The performance showed the songwriter and frontman as a something of a hard-living but poetic outlaw. I found it really refreshing and it seemed like a few hundred others agreed. On their records, Deer Tick feature a smart brand of country-tinged folk rock, but live it's a different story. Phrases like "circuit-blowing" come to mind. But for all the high energy and PBR swilling, the songs are still beautifully crafted with lived-in lyrics and interesting arrangements.

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She has already admitted that her upcoming album, Speak Now, to be released on Oct. 25, is going to be full of songs that are kind of like open letters to the people in her life. She described the music as "things that I wanted to say in the moment that I didn't. Track by track, each song is a different confession to a different person." And from what I've been hearing about album's very first single, "Mine," Taylor Swift is ready to be that open book. One with a memorable hook, too. "You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter/You are the best thing that's ever been mine," she sings. The song is reportedly up-tempo, with a big chorus, and according to one radio station, unmistakably Taylor. It's about avoiding, then finding, love. And knowing Swift, the song with be as refreshingly honest as she is.

Photo credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

I was a Black and Tan virgin yesterday (July 29). But now? After hearing Gaelic Storm sing their new "Raised on Black and Tans" last night in Chicago, I had to properly celebrate the tiny little Irish side of my heritage. So as the bartender poured me this pale ale and stout after the show, I let it sink in as I thought about what is possibly my new favorite song.

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I've been carrying Ana Egge's Road to My Love album around with me for a couple of months now. Her enticing voice draws me right into her songs, which are often soft-spoken and beautifully vivid. So whenever I just need to chill out, this is the album I've been reaching for -- and it's really nice on solo drives, too. The project starts with "Storm Comin'," which builds gradually, just like a mid-afternoon summer rain. Later, "Quitting Early" rises and falls like a relaxing breathing exercise. Egge grew up in North Dakota and now lives in Brooklyn and both locales clearly influence her craft. "Bully of New York" is vividly written about crossing paths with a Central Park ranger with a heavy heart, while "Farmer's Daughter" describes that wanderlust that comes from living on the prairie. Her true gift is being able to write about all this without boring me to tears.

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