As I pushed off for the Country Music Half Marathon last Saturday, I began to think what had attracted all these thousands of visiting runners to Nashville. I had 13.1 miles to find some answers. The CMT Music City Mile began just before we hit Music Row, home to the publishing companies, studios and labels that keep Nashville ticking over. Big banners in front yards congratulated songwriters on their latest hit -- part of the village feel that Nashville offers over other industry towns like L.A. and New York.
One of the coolest country videos I've seen in a while is Josh Turner's "Another Try." In the opening shot, a suitcase shoots up from the ground, over the bridge and right into his hands. Sounds like it could be cheesy, but it isn't -- thanks to the latest film technology. Plus, I know exactly where that bridge is, because I ride my bike out there in the summer and fall, and it always makes me nervous because it's so high.
Posted: April 4th, 2008 at 10:51 am| By: Tom Roland
Batter up!
Major league baseball started its season in the U.S. on Sunday by unveiling a new ballpark in Washington, D.C. And if you want proof that baseball and country music belong together, think back to last year's World Series. It was over in four games, but in two of them, it was country stars -- Carrie Underwood and Trisha Yearwood -- who sang about "the home of the brave."
Country music doesn't confine itself to the major leagues, either. Taylor Swift's version of the anthem inaugurated the 2007 season for the Reading Phillies. Little Big Town, who practically toured ballparks doing the "Banner" for several years, led off the Nashville Sounds' season five years ago. And 15 years past, Vince Gill did the same thing, though he skipped a line of the song in the process, probably blinded by the rockets' red glare.
Earlier this week in Texas, Jack Ingram delivered the national anthem for the Houston Astros' home opener, and on Monday, Neal McCoy will do the same when the Texas Rangers open their home schedule. Charley Pride -- who trained, as is his tradition, with the Rangers this year -- sang the opening-day anthem for the team two years ago. During this week a year ago, Clay Walker was voicing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Houston's Minute Maid Park.
Singing is not the only connection country stars have to baseball games, though. When the Arizona Diamondbacks won their first game 10 years ago this month, it was a moment of pride for Glen Campbell, a minority owner in the franchise. And 60 years ago, a pitcher with the Henderson Oilers in Texas got injured in his final game: That guy went on to be a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Jim Reeves.
Every week, I like to see who's at the top of the country sales chart, even though it's usually the same folks - Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, etc. But this week I decided to start from the bottom up. You might be as surprised as I am at these low sales by familiar names.
Let's start with the hits compilations released late last year. Faith Hill's The Hits isn't even halfway to a half-million copies, so no gold album there. Back in 1999, Breathe sold more than seven million copies. Meanwhile, Trisha Yearwood's Greatest Hits hasn't cracked 90,000 copies yet. Songbook: A Collection of Hits, from 1997, sold more than four million copies. Both of these singers have released some amazing songs over the years, and they put on a good face for country music (even when that face is screaming out, "WHAT?!?!?) but I think they simply waited too long. Their careers have kind of cooled off in the last few years. Plus, in the digital age, if you already have the older albums on your computer or iPod, you can just add the new tracks for a few bucks.
I would imagine that Blake Shelton and Joe Nichols will release Greatest Hits albums in the next year or so, because their current albums simply aren't moving. Shelton's Pure B.S. is just under 265,000, after nearly a year on the chart. You can add about 11,000 copies to that total when you consider the additional sales of his Collector's Edition, which certainly includes repeat buyers. Nichols is being outsold by Jason Michael Carroll and Bucky Covington, although they're toward the bottom of the chart too.
And who's at the top? Alan Jackson, with Good Time, showing that there is still a place for longevity on the country sales chart - but not as much as you might think.
I saw Trisha Yearwood live this weekend for the first time. And all I could think was, "Why did I wait 17 years for this?" I've loved her since the first time I heard "She's in Love With the Boy." Who hasn't, really? Back then, I had no idea what a hayseed plowboy was, but I didn't need to. She could've been singing some horrible hip-hop song and it still would've had her signature powerful, beautiful sound.
It's a sound she usually puts to good use on the soul-searching ballads and bittersweet downers. But now that she's blissfully happy -- I'm guessing because knows the freeing feeling of turning 40 and because she married Garth Brooks -- she had a few not-so-depressing songs in her set list. "Cowboys Are My Weakness" is classic country, not just in the lyrical adventure of falling for a guy who brings you fresh daisies in a coffee can, but in the way she embellishes every word, with falsettos and growls and runs that prove nobody else could ever do that song justice. Ever.
So while I'm bummed that it took me this long to get to one of her shows, I feel like my love of country has kind of come full circle. The country of the early 90s is the music that shaped the presets on my car stereo and fueled my endless CD purchases. It's easy to get caught up in the flurry of activity around the hot-right-now artists, with all the spins and promos and buzz that Nashville serves up. A concert like Yearwood's, though, brings you back to the moment you fell in love with the actual music. One of the songs she played off her newest album was called "Drown Me." It's about wanting to be drowned equally in alcohol and honesty. And after I left her show, I could totally relate. Because I felt liked she didn't just pour the pure country music on me. She drowned me.
What's Tim McGraw gonna do with a 50,000-square-foot warehouse? Could the north Nashville property he rented for a month be a practice hall? Or just storage space for his upcoming tour merchandise?
Ever since I first heard "This is Me You're Talking To" on Trisha Yearwood's new album, I could hardly wait to hear it live - and I finally got the chance on Wednesday night (March 5) during a private show in Nashville. CMT Radio Network and her label, Big Machine Records, sponsored the showcase, and since it was an industry thing, there was a lot of chatter in the background. But not from me. I was rapt. When she brought out Garth Brooks for a few songs, he said, "It's hard to follow the greatest voice in country music."
One of my friends had never heard Trisha perform before, and she loves that new song just as much as I do. She couldn't believe how those powerful notes come just as naturally as breathing when Trisha sings. It's true - she doesn't have her hands flying everywhere when she nails that high note, and she does make it look easy. (Check out the video above to see what I mean.) The new song may not end up being one of her biggest hits, but I'm pretty sure I'll be listening to it for many years to come - kind of like my fondness for Faith Hill's "Let Me Let Go" and Martina McBride's "Phones are Ringing All Over Town."
Since we're in the midst of Country Radio Seminar, everybody is looking for a hit, as well as the artist who's going to deliver it. Trisha's had so many hits over the years, and she told the crowd that she's made it a point to never sing a song that she didn't love. She said the worst thing would be to record a song that she hated, just because it sounded like a hit, and then she'd have to sing a song she hated for the rest of her life. "The second-worst thing," she added, "would be to record something that sounded like a hit that you hate - and then it isn't, and you sold out for no reason."
That's good wisdom. Here's my favorite thing she said all night: "Sometimes you don't know why you like a song. It just sticks with you." I've written about music for 10+ years now, and it's refreshing to realize that you don't need to fully understand why you're in love with a song. But when Trisha's singing it, that goes a long way toward explaining it.
A few weeks ago, in an odd deviation from my regular gig as a country journalist, I reviewed a Barry Manilow concert. Pop has never been my thing, but he puts on quite a show. It was virtually impossible not to sing along with all his catchy hooks. About halfway through the show, he announced he was going to cover some of his favorite songs. I prayed like I have never prayed before that he wouldn’t sing a country song. “Please, God, if you can hear me over the screams of these middle-aged women, do not let Barry Manilow sing ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.’” There’s a time and a place for covering songs outside your genre, but there’s never one for a non-country star to sing a country tune.
While I think it’s perfectly acceptable when Sugarland does Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” it would not be OK for, say, Fall Out Boy to do Brooks & Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” When Tim McGraw does the Steve Miller Band hit “The Joker,” he claims it as his own, but if Avril Lavigne were to cover a 70’s song, like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” it wouldn’t work. Why? Why is it OK for country artists to get their rock/pop/rap on, but it doesn’t work both ways? My thoroughly biased theory is that adding a country vibe to any song just sounds good. Banjo solo in a Fergie song? Hell yes. Twangy vocals on a Sean Kingston song? Why not? Steel guitar backing a Matchbox Twenty song? Totally.
There are plenty of good examples already out there: Kenny Chesney doing John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good,” Johnny Cash doing Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” Carrie Underwood doing Guns ‘N Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and now Keith Urban doing Steve Forbert’s “Romeo’s Tune.” Each artist reworked the song and one-upped it, at least to my ears. I can go from hating to loving a song in about 30 seconds if you add a fiddle or threw a cowboy hat on the front man.
As for Manilow, he never did do a country song that night. Eight years ago, he did a show in Nashville and had artists like JoDee Messina and Trisha Yearwood join him on his own hits. He didn’t do theirs. So he must’ve known then what I know now: country can cover pop, but it just doesn’t work the other way around.
As I pushed off for the 
Batter up!
Every week, I like to see who's at the top of the country sales chart, even though it's usually the same folks - 
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A few weeks ago, in an odd deviation from my regular gig as a country journalist, I reviewed a 
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of 
