New Music Off New Albums You Should Buy

Canadian Singer-Songwriter Lindi Ortega just released Tin Star, her fifth full length album this month. She has a voice that mirrors the women pioneers of country music and songs so good that it would make those Nashville office songwriters hang their heads in shame. The title track tells the life of a struggling independent musician trying to survive in the treacherous depths of music row.“Like an old tin star, I’m beat up and rusting lost in the shining stars of Nashville, Tennessee.” This song broke my heart, I hate how it has to be this way. When indie artists write songs like this, the point isn't to make you feel bad for them. Their songs about their struggles trying to find a place to fit all come from the fact that they are slowly accepting the unfortunate truth of the life they are trying to lead. Success should be based on talent and passion for your work, it's just not, but no matter what the world tells you, you just got to keep going. “If the music wasn’t running through the blood in my veins, I might just walk away, but the music keeps on running through the blood in my veins, and it just makes me stay" Talk about passion. 



I'm sure you've heard the song in the Chevy Silverado commercial sometime this year. "Strong" was sung and written by Will Hoge. After the nationwide publicity of that song he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. His most recent album Never Give In was released this month. He is nine studio albums in and just got his first number one hit ("Even If It Breaks Your Heart" recorded by The Eli Young Band) after 15 years in the business. It just goes to show that if you're determined and you stick with it, you never know what can happen. What happened here is great music that is starting to turn some heads around.




After writing for credible country artists today like Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, Brandy Clark just released her first album 12 Stories last week. If you like Kacey you will love Brandy Clark. Stylistically, their songwriting is quite similar. The topics tend to lean on the darker side, middle class life, small town lies, addiction, and a whole lot of truth. We need powerful women like her to teach a thing or two to these guys who rule the country charts. 







Punk rock country folk americana, whatever, Austin Lucas defies 
genre lines and does so greatly. This album Stay Reckless is not your typical americana album, even though he is often put into there. It's sad when you need it to be, happy when you want it to be, it's heartbreaking and uplifting, it's country and rock and roll. It's a lot of things and that's why I like it.  

Chase Rice? Seriously?

Warning: This is a rant. 

One of the co-writers of "Cruise," country music's "biggest song ever" is now here and ready to prove to the world that not only can he write ridiculous, immature, frat boy country songs, but he can sing them too. His new EP titled Ready Set Roll already reached number 1 on iTunes. It was his second release after his two previous records Country As Me and Dirt Road Communion. Obviously you already know what you're getting into when you're listening to this, but his EP is honestly one of the worst things I've heard ever. Every single song is a stupid party anthem or one about a truck. It's pop, it's rap it's anything but country. You know what? I don't even want to call it pop or rap because it's offensive to the true fans of those genres. What it is, is bad sellout music, that's all. Songs like these are by guys who want nothing more than a year or two of money and fame until they are forgotten and never heard from again. They don't care though, they probably already made enough money to last them for years. Who cares if it's ruining a genre, who cares! I'm sorry you can call me an elitist music snob if you want, but people like this don't deserve the attention they are getting. I am a teenage girl and I can tell you I have written songs that are way more mature and have more depth than anything that comes out of this guy's mouth. In a song called "Party Up" (Featuring Colt Ford, of course) there's a line that says "Sip a little whiskey c'mon baby kiss me. Lemme get a drip of your frisky gypsy." What? There's another song that makes a seemingly obvious sexual advance "Girl when you gonna let me put some country in ya?" I can just hear the teenage girls screaming waiting to get some "country" in their oblivious selves by this ultra douchenugget. Then there's another song called "Look At My Truck." Look at it! LOOK AT IT! Do I fit in with your crowd now? DO I? Can't you see how country I am? I got this huge lifted truck covered in mud, I am the superior! I am the countryest of all countrys! I am so sick of this crap. I don't know why people still buy into it. Then there is a song about beer, the "best beer of his life" apparently. Two other songs about driving around with a hot girl in a truck. He tries to keep it all hip and modern by adding cool little vocal effects, hip hop beats, and by rapping the verses, but he fails tremendously. This album is not even just a shame to country music, it's a shame to all music. It really sucks but country is only getting worse. This is not musical evolution this is bad, soulless, stupid music. The new rapping trend is kicking in full force, and since it continues to do so well the end looks to be further and further down the road. It seems that there are a fewer number of people staying true to themselves each year. My hope is that people get sick of this stuff soon and real music can have a chance once again. 

Album Review: "Brothers Of The 4x4" by Hank 3

Many look at Hank 3 as one of the founders and as the king of underground country music. Even though this album didn't come close to beating some of his previous albums like Straight To Hell or Lovesick, Broke and Driftin' he still should be looked at as one of the front runners of real, modern country music. I was a bit turned off at first to this album because of the name "Brothers Of The 4x4." My first thought was "Oh no truck songs!" Although it does get repetitive he does sing about the rebellious country lifestyle in many of his songs like he did in his previous albums. Things like driving trucks, hunting and drinking all come up, but unlike the mainstream country songs he proves you can sing about those things and make genuine country music.

The biggest problem I had with this album was the fact that it was just too long. There are 16 tracks; most of them are in the 5-6 minute range, but some exceed 7 or even 8 minutes. There were so many verses and instrumental breaks that could have been shortened and would have improved some songs greatly. Other songs shouldn't have been there at all. This easily could have had fewer, shorter songs and could have been one of his best albums. Songs like "Hurtin for Certain," "Held Up," "Lookey Yonder Commin" were just there to fill up space. I could have done without them. The 8:34 opening track "Nearly Gone" was really good. I barely even noticed the fact that it was super long, but the effect on the vocals took away from his voice and signature yodel. Lyrical content was also a big problem, the excess filler tracks made many themes seem overdone. You won't go to 3's music for deep inspirational songwriting. The music is what makes you love it most of the time.

The sound of this album is as country as country gets. It's pleasing to the ears of those who love real country music. He does have a lot of outside sound effects and instruments as well though. There's everything from vocal warps to metal drum fills. His metal influences are okay because unlike the pop ones used in pop country, they're for originality, not mainstream acceptance. There are songs like "Possum in a Tree" that sound like they could be on a Hank Sr. album. I tend to favor the slower, more traditional leaning songs anyway. "Deep Scars," "Loners 4 Life," and "Farthest Away" were instant hits for me. Slow songs with a good beat and a fiddle and banjo make my heart happy. I think lyrically those were probably the best and the ones that hit closest to home. "Ain't Broken Down" was also one of my favorites. A sped up version of that song called "Broken Boogie" was also included and I actually like the more intense faster one better. Would he benefit from another producer and a co-writer? Maybe, but I respect him unbelievably for wanting to make all of his records on his own. He loves and believes in the music he makes and creates something that is truly his, nothing like anyone has ever done before. Some people may love it, some may hate it, but I am glad to have it in country music.

Essential Tracks: "Loners 4 Life" "Broken Boogie" "Possum In A Tree"
Rating: B+

Two For Tuesday: Guns 10/1/13

Take a look at all the mainstream country songs that talk about guns. That's because they know typical conservative country fans will fight for gun rights, especially in the times we live in today. Most of the time the gun songs are all flag waving 100 percent pure American redneck songs. They really don't say much other than give people a reason to stand up and shout "Merica" real loud then shoot off a few rounds and drink a beer. On the flip side of that there are gun songs that justify their use because of the troubled society we live in.

Justin Moore- "Guns"

It's not the fact that I disagree with his views in this song, because I don't. I just think songs like this show the true ignorance of mainstream country singers and fans. He talks about how crazy it is that people want to take away guns when you can buy them at Wal-Mart. Do you really think people want to take away the cheap shotguns from Wal-Mart? Of course not, that's not the problem. There's no purpose, no solution, no answer or justification for the problem he arose. The thing with this song and others like it, is that it's only purpose is to rile up Justin's super redneck fanbase. The concert crowd will belt along to this song because guns and America, hell yeah!

Jackson Taylor & The Sinners- "Old Henry Rifle"

Instead of just blurting out cliche patriotic lines, this song actually has a point. It talks about American pride from a viewpoint of a person who is fed up with the government, society, and everything in general. It's about holding your ground and standing up for your rights and trying to keep America from heading to a complete downfall.