Top 100 singles of 2009

December 25, 2009 at 9:22 pm (Notes)

This is my list of my favorite singles of 2009. I used any single that charted only, none of the uncharting singles made the list (Jamie O’Neal’s “Soldier Coming Home” or Terri Clarks “Gypsy Boots” would’ve been top 20 for sure). These are obviously my opinions so if you don’t agree, tough, deal with it. Hopefully you can check out some of the higher listed ones. Also I’m going to put the peak positions and label it was released on for those interested.

01. Randy Houser – “Anything Goes” – (#16 / Universal South)

02. Zac Brown Band – “Highway 20 Ride” – (#27 / Atlantic)

03. Jamey Johnson – “In Color” – (#9 / Mercury)

04. Lee Ann Womack – “Last Call” – (#14 / MCA)

05. Jamey Johnson – “High Cost Of Living” – (#34 / Mercury)

06. Brad Paisley – “Welcome To The Future” – (#2 / Arista)

07. Taylor Swift – “White Horse” – (#2 / Big Machine)

08. Trace Adkins – “‘Til The Last Shot’s Fired” – (#50 / Capitol)

09. Jamey Johnson – “My Way To You” – (#52 / Mercury)

10. Holly Williams – “Mama” – (#55 / Mercury)

11. Sugarland – “Already Gone” – (#1 / Mercury)

12. Miranda Lambert – “More Like Her” – (#17 / Columbia)

13. Tim McGraw – “It’s A Business Doing Pleasure With You” – (#13 / Curb)

14. Lady Antebellum – “Need You Now” – (#1 / Capitol)

15. Taylor Swift – “Fifteen” – (#7 / Big Machine)

16. Keith Urban – “”Til Summer Comes Around” – (#18 / Capitol)

17. Clay Walker – “She Won’t Be Lonely Long” – (#44 / Curb)

18. Chris Young – “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” – (#1 / RCA)

19. Dean Brody – “Brothers” – (#26 / Broken Bow)

20. Miranda Lambert – “Dead Flowers” – (#37 / Columbia)

21. Trace Adkins – “Marry For Money” – (#14 / Capitol)

22. Brad Paisley – “American Saturday Night” – (#12 / Arista)

23. Brooks & Dunn – “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” – (#2 / Arista)

24. Sarah Buxton – “Space” – (#38 / Lyric Street)

25. Miranda Lambert – “White Liar” – (#6 / Columbia)

26. Tracy Lawrence – “Up To Him” – (#47 / Rocky Comfort)

27. Jason Aldean – “The Truth” – (#8 / Broken Bow)

28. Jeremy McComb – “Cold” – (#43 / Parallel/New Revolution)

29. Lee Ann Womack – “Solitary Thinkin’” – (#39 / MCA)

30. Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me” – (#1 / Big Machine)

31. Jason Aldean – “Big Green Tractor” – (#1 / Broken Bow)

32. Rehab – “Bartender Song” – (#60 / Republic)

33. Kellie Pickler – “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You” – (#23 / BNA)

34. Jack Ingram – “Seeing Stars” – (#54 / Big Machine)

35. Montgomery Gentry – “Roll With Me” – (#1 / Columbia)

36. Steve Azar – “You’re My Life” – (#52 / Dang)

37. Jamie O’Neal – “Like A Woman” – (#43 / 1720)

38. Jessica Harp – “Boy Like Me” – (#30 / Warner Bros.)

39. Zac Brown Band – “Toes” – (#1 / Atlantic)

40. Josh Turner – “Why Don’t We Just Dance” – (#11 / MCA)

41. James Otto – “These Are The Good Ole Days” – (#36 / Warner Bros.)

42. George Strait – “Living For The Night” – (#2 / MCA)

43. Caitlin & Will – “Adress In The Stars” – (#42 / Columbia)

44. Sara Evans – “Low” – (#59 / Arista)

45. Keith Urban – “Only You Can Love Me This Way” – (#1 / Capitol)

46. Toby Keith – “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song) – (#16 / ShowDog)

47. Reba McEntire – “Consider Me Gone” – (#1 / Valory)

48. Phil Vassar – “Prayer Of A Common Man” – (#53 / Universal South)

49. Mark Chesnutt – “She Never Got Me Over You” – (#49 / Lofton Creek)

50. Alan Jackson – “I  Still Like Bologna” – (#32 / Arista)

51. Sugarland – “Joey” – (#17 / Mercury)

52. Phil Vassar – “Bobbi With An I” – (#46 / Universal South)

53. Trace Adkins – “All I Ask For Anymore” – (#14 / Capitol)

54. Montgomery Gentry – “Long Line Of Losers” – (#23 / Columbia)

55. Love And Theft – “Dancing In Cirlces” – (#41 / Lyric Street)

56. Jypsi – “Mr. Officer” – (#52 / Arista)

57. Sugarland – “It Happens” – (#1 / Mercury)

58. Hank Williams Jr. – “Red, White And Pink-Slip Blues” – (#43 / Curb)

59. Alan Jackson – “Sissy’s Song” – (#9 / Arista)

60. Trent Tomlinson – “Henry Cartwright’s Produce Stand” – (#44 / Carolwood)

61.Carrie Underwood – “I Told You So” – (#1 / Arista)

62. Lady Antebellum – “I Run To You” – (#1 / Capitol)

63. Rodney Atkins – “15 Minutes” – (#20 / Curb)

64. Eli Young Band – “Guinevere” – (#60 / Universal South)

65. Brad Paisley – “Water” – (#51 / Arista)

66. Mallary Hope – “Love Lives On” – (#42 / MCA)

67. Brooks & Dunn – “Indian Summer” – (#16 / Arista)

68. Taylor Swift – “Fearless” – (#50 / Big Machine)

69. Kenny Chesney – “I’m Alive” – (#6 / BNA)

70. Billy Currington – “People Are Crazy” – (#1 / Mercury)

71. Keith Urban – “Sweet Thing” – (#1 / Capitol)

72. Carrie Underwood – “Temporary Home” – (#21 / Arista)

73. Josh Thompson – “Beer On The Table” – (#22 / Columbia)

74. Jake Owen – “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You” – (#2 / RCA)

75. Montgomery Gentry – “One In Every Crowd” – (#5 / Columbia)

76. Dierks Bentley – “Feel That Fire” – (#1 / Capitol)

77. Sarah Buxton – “Outside My Window” – (#25 / Lyric Street)

78. Crystal Shawanda – “My Roots Are Showing” – (#57 / RCA)

79. Reba McEntire – “Strange” – (#11 / Valory)

80. Whitney Duncan – “Skinny Dippin’” – (#48 / Warner Bros.)

81. Eason Corbin – “A Little More Country Than That” – (#19 / Mercury)

82. Holly Williams – “Keep The Change” – (#53 / Mercury)

83. George Strait – “Twang” – (#15 / MCA)

84. Bucky Covington – “I Want My Life Back” – (#32 / Lyric Street)

85. Lady Antebellum – “I Was Here” – (#54 / Capitol)

86. Phil Vassar – “Everywhere I Go” – (#36 / Universal South)

87. Michelle Branch – “Sooner Or Later” – (#46 / Warner Bros.)

88. Keith Urban – “Kiss A Girl” – (#3 / Capitol)

89. Bomshel – “Fight Like A Girl” – (#30 / Curb)

90. Steve Holy – “Might Have Been” – (#56 / Curb)

91. Toby Keith – “God Love Her” – (#1 / ShowDog)

92. Martina McBride – “Ride” – (#11 / RCA)

93. Carrie Underwood – “Cowboy Casanova” – (#1 / Arista)

94. Gary Allan – “Today” – (#21 / MCA)

95. Taylor Swift – “The Best Day” – (#56 / Big Machine)

96. Chris Young – “The Man I Want To Be” – (#33 / RCA)

97. Eric Church – “Hell On The Heart” – (#28 / Capitol)

98. Lee Brice – “Love Like Crazy” – (#35 / Curb)

99. Joe Nichols – “Believers” – (#26 / Universal South)

100. Carrie Underwood – “Home Sweet Home” – (#52 / Arista)

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Album Review: Miranda Lambert Revolution

October 25, 2009 at 8:03 pm (Album Review)
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I should say first I didn’t write this. I didn’t think I’d be able to objectionally review this one so I had a freind do it and I’m posting her thoughts. She’s not a big fan of Miranda but admits to liking some of her stuff. So without further ado here’s Kawenniiostha’s thoughs on Revolution (If you can properly pronounce her name I’d be impressed).

WHITE LIAR
sounds so old school at first, old school lyrics and rhymes, then throws in something like “turpentine” – even the chords and the instruments are old school, but it sounds like they’ve been run through a synth

ONLY PRETTIER
sounds like a drunken Carnival theme, and just as confusin’ meaning. What the hell she talkin’ about? There’s too much distortion to her voice. you pay more attention to the weird ass music then her voice and the godawful lame-ass notes of the hook, which is cute but gets washed out in the trying-too-hardness of the whole song.

DEAD FLOWERS
I know the hook is the beautiful imagery of a withered flower and all, but seriously, the hook totally falls flat. Instead of feeling for the “dead flowers” i felt for the dead hook. It didn’t do what it was supposed to. Not sharp enough, I guess? Probably blunted by lack of life. Being dead does that.

ME AND YOUR CIGARETTES
Now this one could have been awesomely great. If it weren’t for the damn synth in the back ground. Why couldn’t she have been more old school with this one? It might’ve been my new favorite anthem. The most especially depressing part is right after the line, the hook, “me and your cigarettes” there’s like, fucking bells or something, and it ends up sounding like a psuedo-christmas song! It reminds me kind of that new Coldplay song about Saint Peter or something, which makes me think if the Bible had a soundtrack, that song be’d on it.

MAINTAIN THE PAIN
I don’t even know what to say. Oh yeah, more fucking Synth, that’s what. Why? I don’t understand. I wouldn’t even count it as a country song.

AIRSTREAM SONG
Nice to see she ain’t breaking her neck tryin’ to be Bad-ass on this song. Its Lovely. I like it. So old school and …daintily feminine, rather than this leather clad-fuck-you-butchness vibe that I get from the rest of her songs.

MAKIN’ PLANS
… … Beautiful. I will lose faith in the world (what little I have left) if this never becomes a single. Only one I listened to more than once.

TIME TO GET A GUN
Nice. Can’t help thinking a man would sing it soo much better though, especially some deep rumbling whisky-voiced Jamey Johnson or the dude who sung “smoke rings in the dark”

SOMEWHERE TROUBLE
For some reason I buzzed out and then thought I was listening to “Cherry Pie” from Warrant, the 80’s hair metal band. Probably cause it sounds JUST LIKE IT. Right down to the singing-in-a-warehouse sound and the shouting backup singers.

THE HOUSE THAT BUILT ME
Jesus, why she keep going for the tough lesbo-thing when she does ballads sooo much better? There’s absolutely nothing wr- well wait, aside from that dreamy, whispy sound quality as if she’s standing ten feet from the mike and singing through about twenty layers of gauze- there’s nothing wrong with this song. The tone, the sound, the way she sings it, the catch and lyrics are all great. I don’t think its too radio friendly, but its award worthy (I think).

LOVE SONG
I missed this one entirely. It was like two minutes of Fluff that floated by and I forgot about it after it was immedietley out of sight, and didn’t even bother to look back to see where it might have gone.

HEART LIKE MINE
I don’t quite know what she’s trying to get at here. That Jesus is a kindred bad-ass Spirit? If that’s the case, well… I can’t see that going over very well. Its cute, like it, even though the last verse is really muddled, cuz I thought she was talking about her father, until I took out the lyric book and checked, “Nope, she means Jesus” which is awesome, but I think it could have been a longer song. She could have done so much more with it. Just cuz Jesus drank wine, he’s a bad ass? One or two more verses of this quirky kinda story might’ve helped.

SIN FOR A SIN
More echo. What’s wrong with this woman? Or her mixing crew? Is it a trend? TELL ME! Its a good song though, and while I have no respect for her Tough Gal image, the “toughness” is the universal cry of someone being cheated on, and the Biblical touch was nice. Doubt its radio friendly, though. Funny how all her better songs are not.

THAT’S HOW THE WORLD GOES ROUND
there’s too much going on in this song. She’s practically drowned out. sounds almost like an Irish ditty, which is fun, but then that dreamy sound too it, and the twenty or so layers of sound, the two rhythm guitars, the base guitar, the lead guitar, her double voice, the backup singers, the drums, a tambourine, then that fucking filter over it all…kinda turns off the spunk that the song originally had. If she’s just stuck with the rhythm guitars and the banjo, I think it would have been a winner. Oh, and the backup singers. They have to go, too. They always have to go.

VIRGINA BLUEBELL
Went for a R&B vibe here. Nice. But, that goddam echo bullshit thats in EVERY FUCKING SONG on this album is really starting to get to me at this point. It actually goes with this song, but by song 15 your still doin the same FUCKING thing you’ve been doin EVERY song, well….somethings wrong there. Maybe its her style, I dunno, but I can tell you that it gets old fast. makes me feel like she’s lying, sprucing up her voice to sound better because she can’t sing. Which is DUMB because she obviously CAN sing well. I do like the little discordant thing running under the whole song, till it takes over at the end. Don’t ask me what the song was about though. It tickled my ears, but it failed to make me listen. I kinda didn’t want to by this point, if I haven’t already made that obvious by now.

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Single Review: Krista Marie – “Tomboy”

October 9, 2009 at 3:29 am (Single Review)
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“Jeep Jeep” is going to go down as one of the worst singles of the year (“That Thang” or “Dreaming Love” beat it for me) but that doesn’t mean I was going to write her off. This one however might be the one to do it. I’ve liked songs of this type the whole “Gretchen Wilson Lite” thing doesn’t bother me as we had many doing the same with Garth Brooks in the 90’s. Krista Marie however doesnt’ sound genuine, almost like she’s trying too hard. There’s also something about her I just can’t figure out what it is , but it makes me not like her. D-


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Single Review: Emma Jacob – “Julianna”

October 9, 2009 at 3:27 am (Single Review, Uncategorized)
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Emma Jacob has a really great voice but hasn’t found a song to launch her career yet, hopefully this is the one. It’s nothing that we haven’t heard before, but she sounds great singing it, and it sounds like something a girl her age should be singing. The music is forgettable but her voice carries the weight, now she just needs to get played on the radio. B+

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Single Review: Ash Bowers – “Stuck”

October 9, 2009 at 3:24 am (Single Review)
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Well Jason Aldean has become a star now, so it’s time for his label to try mining that vein again. Unfortunatley this sounds all wrong, the production is loud and indistinct. At least with Jason there seemed to be something production wise that stood out, this is just all muddled together. The lyrics are typical and uninteresting and his voice blends right in with the background singers, I actually found one part where the BG singers sounded better… I’m just going to stop now. D-

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Single Review: Rascal Flatts – “Why”

October 9, 2009 at 3:21 am (Single Review)
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Ah Rascal Flatts a group I’ve never been able to get into, sure I see some modest talent in some of their early singles, and I can even understand why they are so popular but I can name only 2 songs that they’ve done that appealed to me. This ain’t one of them. First I got to say I Like that the production is pulled back a little on this one, it’s been a while since we’ve heard that from them, but the lyrics are mediocer at best. They’re just trying to pull the same strings they did with “Skin (Sarabeth)”. Having said all that this is one of their better singles so I’ll give it one of the better scores I’ve ever given them. C+

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Single Review: Fast Ryde – “Make It Rain”

October 9, 2009 at 3:17 am (Single Review)
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After pulling the plug on “That Thang”, Republic Nashville decided to mimic sister label Valory’s “Justin Moore” strategy.  Start with a song about a woman’s posterior and then go with a song that will “relate” to all the small town people in the country. Unlike last time though I hope it works for Fast Ryde. On their first single I had trouble distinguishing any kind of distinctive vocal abilities. On this one the harmonies really shine, the lryic has been done many times before but on todays radio it doesn’t really matter. I’m hoping to hear this one on the radio. B


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Single Review: Fast Ryde “That Thang”

August 30, 2009 at 2:10 am (Single Review)
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I’ve listened a couple of times, and I can honestly say I have yet to hear any appeal in this at all. It was the first song I couldn’t defend in someway from my co-worker who constantly makes fun of country music. (I even defend Rascal Flatts to some degree). I’m hoping that this stalls out before top 30, I actually feel sick whenever I hear this and only one other song has done this (Kate & Kacey’s “Dreaming Love” was the other). Seeing as both songs come from this year I stand by what I said in January; “I’m Really Depressed with the state of the indusrty.” 

I’m sure they have to have some kind of talent as they’ve been chosen to launch a record label, but I don’t hear much in this single. If I had to think of something positive to say about it, it would be that their voices aren’t very bland, only a little… seriously can’t come up with anything else, sorry guys. 

F

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Single Review: Sara Evans “Feels Just Like A Love Song”

August 16, 2009 at 4:14 am (Uncategorized)

                            

Sara hasn’t had a hit song since “You’ll Always Be My Baby” and even that wasn’t a big hit, and that was back in 2007.  It’s been almost two years of nothing from her so she needs a big comeback song. “Feels Just Like A Love Song” doesn’t feel just like a hit song. It sounds okay but this isn’t a song to relaunch a career, it actually sounds like something that got cut off of Taylor Swifts last album, and that may be what RCA is aiming for with this one. I’m hoping it’s a hit just so we can get another Sara album out there and hopefully the next single will be better. C

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Single Review: Reba McEntire “Consider Me Gone”

August 16, 2009 at 4:12 am (Single Review)
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For a while there I was considering Reba gone. For the last couple years she’s been putting out material that most consider below her talents. Well she’s back, maybe not fully but this new single shows many of the elements found in her excellent 90’s material. As usual excellent vocals, strong melody and her sassy attitude are all present here. It’s good to hear and this makes me even more exited for her album, cause if this is an indicator as to what would make a good single, then the rest of the songs are probably even better.  A-

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