CMT Blog: Videos

Jimmy Buffett fans don't need to grab their flip-flops or mix their margaritas for this. All they need to do is sit back and relax and watch their favorite singer come together with Zac Brown Band for their upcoming CMT Crossroads. It doesn't air until March 2010 but it is taping next month in Nashville for an invitation-only audience. So let's use this space to like a suggestion box for songs. I'd love to hear Buffett try his hand at "Chicken Fried" and Zac Brown Band do "Cheeseburger in Paradise," but those are kind of obvious. What other beachy hits from Buffett's catalog should Zac Brown Band do? And what country-leaning Southern rock tunes of Brown's should Buffett tackle?

Winning and losing isn't something that usually comes to mind when thinking about music, but the guys in Reckless Kelly say that sometimes at the end of a concert you get one feeling or the other from a crowd. They definitely won Thursday night (Nov. 19) at Nashville's Exit/In. Opened by Scott Miller, the show ran past midnight for an audience that only seemed to want more.

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Charlie Daniels is already spreading the good tidings of Christmas. First of all, he's released a new holiday album, Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas, with guests like Jewel, Kathy Mattea and Aaron Tippin, as well as Suzanne and Evelyn Cox, the Grascals and Dan Tyminski. Instead of a duets project, Daniels lets the singers tackle a whole tune. (Tyminski's rendition of "The Christmas Song" is especially terrific.) Daniels also offers a nifty new original, "Mississippi Christmas Eve," and recites both an original short story ("A Carolina Christmas Carol") and a passage from the book of Luke.

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I've loved Miranda Lambert's music since day one so this kind of shocked me: She told The Tennessean newspaper that her latest album is the one she would hand out to her heroes. She said, "The fact that Patty Loveless knows my music at all, that made me really pumped. This is the first time I've made a record that I want my heroes to hear. This one, I'd hand it to my heroes with no hesitation." I hope that doesn't mean she's not proud of her first two albums. Like if she were to hand those to her heroes, would she seriously hesitate? I mean, sure, she's come a long way since "Me and Charlie Talking" but those efforts produced deeper cuts like "Bring Me Down," "New Strings" and "More Like Her." I can't speak for all Lambert's heroes, but I have a feeling they'd dig everything she's done since her debut in 2004. She should be proud of it all.

Let me preface this entry by saying that I love, love, love country concerts. I do wish, however, that an artist would ask me for advice just once on making the perfect set list. I know these artists have to do their big hits -- the ones everybody is paying big bucks to hear. And I know they need to promote their newest album with songs they have on the radio now, or ones they might want on the radio later. And then there are the covers that give everybody a little something unorthodox to remember them by: "Oh my God! You should have heard Keith Urban on 'Material Girl.' He was better than Madonna!"

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If you've ever wondered what performing on the CMA Awards would do for your career, I have three words: triple digit spikes. That's what happened for Lady Antebellum, Sugarland and Jamey Johnson. After winning two awards and performing the snowy "Need You Now," Lady Antebellum had their biggest sales week ever and a 130 percent sales increase from the previous week for their self-titled debut album. And Sugarland's current album, Love on the Inside, had a sales jump of 136 percent, while its concert companion, Live on the Inside, rose 110 percent. Even better, Jamey Johnson's That Lonesome Song jumped 286 percent after his performance of "Between Jennings and Jones" with Kid Rock, as well as his trophy for song of the year ("In Color"). That makes him the CMA performer with the biggest album sales percentage increase this week and he is grateful for every album he's sold, because like he said on stage, "I've swung a hammer for seven bucks an hour so I appreciate every single person who supports country music."

Photo credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Some of my earliest memories of really connecting with music come from a Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle Vol. 1: The 20 Greatest Hits CD that my mother owned, and usually it started with a guitar lick. The riffs that John Fogerty wrote with Creedence were so iconic and natural that I never gave any thought to his skill with his instrument. But according to this interview in The Tennessean, even after all of his success he felt guilty about his guitar playing and how he never reached the level of his inspiration, Chet Atkins. Disproving the old-dogs-can't-learn-new-tricks theory, he spent almost two decades practicing and now feels like he can jam with Buddy Miller -- who contributed to Fogerty's The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again album -- without having to apologize first. That's pretty amazing, if you ask me, and shows what determination can do. Needless to say, I am pumped to see what he's got this Sunday at the Ryman. Maybe it will be something like this trailer from his concert DVD, Comin' Down the Road.

Grammy nominations are right around the corner but their hard and fast rules are making it impossible for some major artists to take home a trophy come Jan. 31. Like Lady Gaga, who has been on top of the pop world and a household name but didn't make the cut this year because her "Just Dance" was nominated last year. But what's fair is fair, right? So if not Gaga, which newcomers are getting the most Grammy buzz? Variety is saying Zac Brown Band is the one country band to watch because they comfortably straddle the line between jam band and country act. "Easy-going melodies, like 'Chicken Fried' and 'Toes,' blend Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney, and have found favor with a broad swatch from college kids to baby boomers," the entertainment trade publication says. I wonder, though, what country artists are missing from that list? What say you, readers?

In his nostalgic new video, "Charcoal Sky," esteemed singer-songwriter Chip Taylor reminisces about placing nickels on the rails as a kid and listening to his father chat with the conductors. Taylor sets numerous family stories to music on a new album, Yonkers NY, with one of the two discs bolstered with personal anecdotes. Taylor is most recognized for writing "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning" -- which couldn't be more different -- but throughout his brilliant career he's also placed songs with the likes of Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Dusty Springfield. There's also a terrific new Chip Taylor anthology on Ace Records, with dozens of vintage artists offering their own renditions of his work, in case you're in the mood for memories too.

Oh great. Just what you want to see after you've stuffed yourself with turkey, gravy, cranberries, pumpkin pie and every kind of carbohydrate casserole known to man: the slim, trim and gorgeous Carrie Underwood doing what she does best. She'll be on CNN on Thanksgiving night performing for CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. With Anderson Cooper as host, the event will honor those selected by CNN's Blue Ribbon Panel and each hero will go home with $25,000 in recognition of their work. The big $100,000 prize will go to the hero of the year, who will be announced that night. There's no word on what Underwood will sing. Probably more patriotic upbeat stuff like "All-American Girl" versus the no-good man tunes like "Cowboy Casanova." Either way, watching Underwood on TV over the holidays is something we can all be thankful for.