CMT Blog

Jennette McCurdy Chases Her Nashville Dream

Craig Shelburne — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:18:28 +0000

For the thousands of young adults who are college-bound this fall, Jennette McCurdy's "Not That Far Away" is sure to resonate. However, this fresh-faced 18-year-old has already established herself with a budding acting career in Nickelodeon's iCarly. Now she's hoping to find her way into the country field with a contract on Capitol Nashville and a cozy, colorful video that finds her signing up for an open mic night. Since she looks so comfortable up on the stage, her family and friends in California probably don't need to worry too much. Check out the video.

Kenny Chesney's Song Made a Football Fan of Me

Alison Bonaguro — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:45:39 +0000

I've blogged before that I'm not all that interested in sports. Not as a spectator. Not as a player. And I think part of that stems from living in a neighborhood where people are so completely over-the-top about sports. You can't just sign your kid up for a baseball team at the local park district, you have to get him on a traveling team and plan your vacations around his all-star game schedule. And if he plays basketball, you'll need to sign up for special shooting clinics. And football? Well, he's going to need a personal trainer at the very least. It's gotten so bad that parents actually talk as if they are grooming 7-year-olds for college scholarships. But Kenny Chesney has changed my mind.

Now that his "Boys of Fall" is on the radio all the time, I can see the joy in football. Specifically, the team spirit of it all. I know that his song paints a very vivid picture of what a high school football team means in a small town: sports-page clippings on the coffee shop wall, players wearing their game-day jerseys in the hallways at school, calling out "Yes, sir, we want the ball," and helmets, cleats and shoulder pads. I can see all that in my head without even watching the video. But what I hear when I listen to the lyrics is the message about "I got your number, I got your back, when your back's against the wall." And most importantly, "You mess with one man, you got us all."

When I heard the title of this song, I just assumed it would be a deafening rocker that would serve as an anthem at pre-game pep rallies. I had no idea it would be a country ballad powerful enough to take me from an anti-football mom to the one who's counting the days until tryouts.

Photo credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Carrie Underwood, Mike Fisher Settle Into Ottawa

Alison Bonaguro — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:53:34 +0000

I know Carrie Underwood is crazy about her new husband, Mike Fisher, but is she seriously letting him handle the interior design of their new house in Ontario? That is true love right there. That's what Us Magazine is reporting about the new house Mr. & Mrs. Mike Fisher are building in Ottawa, where Fisher needs to be for his position with the Ottawa Senators hockey team. It must be so hard to choose where to live as a couple when both of you travel for a living and when your current homes are separated by more than 1,000 miles. I suppose they could've split the difference and set down their roots midway between the two, perhaps in Akron, Ohio, or Pittsburgh. But Ottawa won. Fisher apparently told Canada's CTV that he loves it up there and that "Home is where we are." Aw. How sweet is that?

Photo credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Director Roman White Gives the Scoop on "Mine"

Alison Bonaguro — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:57:33 +0000

Roman White is the man behind the new Taylor Swift video, "Mine." You can scour the Internet for details on the shoot (what designer was wore, how hot was that guy in it, is there some kind of kissing scene, where did they shoot it), and you will never find more comprehensive scoop than in White's own blog now that the video is officially finished. He rants a bit about how hot it was in Maine ("I'm talking eggs boiling on your buns HOT!"). And he reminisces about the producer getting accosted by a sea gull and about getting a Hugs A Lot bear from Swift at the end of the project. The shoot started on a 2,000-acre estate, then the cast and crew headed to a small town called Cape Porpoise. White doesn't give a premiere date for this insanely anticipated video, but since the song itself was released earlier than planned, maybe the same will happen with the video.

Photo credit: Peter Kramer

Rosanne Cash Has Composed Compelling Memoir

Craig Shelburne — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:45:10 +0000

Rosanne Cash's music has remained one of the constants in my life as a young adult. I've always felt a connection to her songs, even though I've never felt that "Seven Year Ache" or escaped from a hectic life by "Sleeping in Paris." After reading her new memoir, Composed, it seems that we also share an inherent urgency to travel, an early love for language and a determination to build a life in music. Fortunately, Cash is further gifted with the ability to write concise lyrics with an interesting melody to match, plus her earthy singing voice is so revealing. All the while she remains rooted to country music through her father, Johnny Cash, and their intimate connections to the Carter Family, but continues the circle on her own terms.

It's incredible to me that Cash was only 24 years old when she wrote "Seven Year Ache," my favorite song in her catalog, and one that she'd probably call a "postcard from the future" -- her habit of projecting how things would turn out, then writing about what she thought it would feel like. Looking back at the earliest years of her fledgling career, around the same time she had purple hair, Cash writes that she had "attitude but no confidence, passion but very little real focus." Certainly, that's changed.

Cash is now 55, which allows her enough distance to appraise her own legacy. She dismisses some of her earlier work, but deservedly feels satisfied with career milestones like her King's Record Shop album and "September When It Comes," her striking duet with her father. Country fans will enjoy anecdotes about first meeting Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill and even Patsy Cline, while Johnny Cash admirers will be happy for a glimpse into the relationship with his oldest daughter. Meanwhile, her chart history speaks for itself -- she notched 11 No. 1 country hits for Columbia Records in the 1980s.

I continue to find wisdom in her words, scribbling down this passage to bring focus to my own writing: "... as I get older I have found the quality of my attention to be more important, and more rewarding, than the initial inspiration." However, if you're skeptical about her prose skills, read her heartfelt eulogy for her stepmother, June Carter Cash. It reduced me to tears. Beyond that, Composed is an engaging read about humility, grief, family, creativity and just plain paying attention.

Eric Church Fires One Up in "Smoke a Little Smoke"

Chris Parton — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:09:06 +0000

Eric Church knows there's more than one way to handle any situation, and in "Smoke a Little Smoke" you can guess his preferred remedy. With lyrics touching on a breakup, we get the idea that Church is ready to let this one go -- and sit back and fire one up. Now, we all know smoking ain't cool, but obviously the image here is that Church is a badass who will smoke if he feels like it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a "spark 'em if ya got 'em" kind of guy, but in this case it might be nice to know a little more of the back story. Just a few lines about what it was like before she left could transform "Smoke" into an upbeat song with some real heft. How long did he have to hide that stash? How many Friday nights did he spend watching I Love Lucy? But second-guessing aside, one of the arrangement's most interesting features is its building-block approach -- it starts off with one guitar riff and builds up piece by piece. See if you can find similar elements in Church's newest video.

Martina McBride Crazy About Patsy Cline's "Crazy"

Alison Bonaguro — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:51:21 +0000

Nightline now has a segment called Nightline Playlist and they let the person they're interviewing do all the talking. In this story with Martina McBride, she raves about the music she loves for a good five minutes. She spends the first minute talking about what a career song "Independence Day" was for her and how important it was for her to not record fluffy girl songs or novelty songs. But then she goes on to list what's at the very top of her playlist from other artists. And they are: "Crazy" by Patsy Cline, "Mad Love" by Linda Ronstadt, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, "Friends in Low Place" by Garth Brooks and "Somewhere Over the Raindow," the Eva Cassidy version. "I never get tired of it," McBride says of the song she sings so well in concert.

Country Music Covers Uncover New Discoveries

Alison Bonaguro — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:06:54 +0000

If it was not for Jerrod Niemann's swift rise to fame, and his very infectious "Lover, Lover," I might never have heard of Sonia Dada. Neimann remade the group's 1992 hit, "You Don't Treat Me No Good," into "Lover, Lover." And if it was not for Kenny Chesney's "Down the Road," I might not have taken it upon myself to fall in love with Mac McAnally's music, as he sings the thoughts of a hesitant father on that tune. And really, I might not have paid enough attention to Kelly Clarkson until she and Reba McEntire came together for that unforgettable collaboration on Clarkson's "Because of You."

When two like-minded artists get together on a song (like, say, Kellie Pickler and Taylor Swift on "The Best Days of Your Life," or Trace Adkins and Blake Shelton on "Hillbilly Bone"), it makes perfect sense. But when they branch out a little (Taylor Swift and John Mayer on "Half of My Heart," for example), it always takes me by surprise. And I usually love the results. It's often the same with remakes of songs I'd never heard of. When Miranda Lambert put Gillian Welch's "Dry Town" on her Crazy Ex-Girlfriend album, I immediately looked into more of the Americana singer-songwriter's music.

There are days, though, when I like the cover song and the cover song only, like when Dierks Bentley put the 26-year-old "Pride (In the Name of Love)" on his new album, Up on the Ridge. I already knew the U2 song. Who doesn't? But I never really paid much attention to it. Never even liked it. Now that Bentley's singing it, with Del McCoury on vocals, I dig what they've done with it.

Some days I am exhausted just looking at the tall, tall stack of CDs on my desk. There is just so much music. But then on other days, like today when I have time to sit and think, I'm so glad that I can stop putting music into neat little boxes. It's better to have an open mind and let the music come to you.

Kanye West's VMA Stunt Can't Be Easily Forgotten

Alison Bonaguro — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:24:56 +0000

Kanye West wants a fur coat. Kanye West orders bellinis too early. Kanye West drinks New York City tap water. Kanye West likes his new collaboration with Beyoncé. And Kanye West is thrilled he has more than 600,000 followers on Twitter. And that's all well and good, for Kanye West. But have those 600,000 people forgotten what West did? Do they not remember that just about a year ago, he yanked the microphone out of Taylor Swift's hands during her MTV VMA acceptance speech for "Love Story" "You Belong With Me" and told her and the millions watching that, essentially, Beyoncé had the better video? I am not quite over that. So I don't know that I'd want to follow him. Plus, nothing says "It's All About Me" quite like a man with around 610,000 followers and 0 people on his following list.

Photo credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Be Careful at Concerts When Urine to the Music

Alison Bonaguro — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:45:22 +0000

If you're smart, you already know that you're never supposed to let your drink out of your sight at a bar, club, concert, whatever. There are all kinds of date-rape drugs that creepy freaks can easily slip in there without you knowing. And now creepy freaks have one more way to gross us all out. With their pee. This guy in Florida has been accused of urinating in cups and putting them on a bar in the House of Blues. And now he's out on bail. It's not clear whether he was doing it because he couldn't find a restroom, or if he was literally trying to get people to drink his pee just for kicks. In a dimly lit room, pee and beer would look very similar. So I may have to think twice now every time I'm at a show and the singer yells out that it's time for a holler 'n' swaller. Be careful out there.

Photo credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images News