Country Music Front Porch: Now & Then: January 15, 2011 and 1996

Last week's "Now & Then" featured a comparison to the same week from 1995. This week we take a look at the current top 5 Country Music singles, and compare them to the top-5 from fifteen years ago, 1996. While Tim is at #1 for the second week in a row with his sell-out pop-sounding "Felt Good On My Lips", it interesting to see that his wife, Faith Hill had the #1 Country song in 1996, with "It Matters To Me". Oh how the mighty have fallen. Faith's song (in my humble opinion) is by far, the best song she has ever recorded. It reminds me so much of Tammy Wynette, it's a bit scary.

Songs 1 through 4 this week are unchanged from a week ago, and include Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party", which I must admit is starting to grow on me. Adean is a decent singer. His songs can be a bit on the rowdy side, and that's ok if it's believable and his songs seem to be that way. I often complain about the pop-sounding Country songs that are out there today. Where I fully believe that Tim McGraw sold his soul to stay relevant, I can't say the same about Carrie Underwood or Kenny Chesney. Carrie is in a class all by herself. She could have easily have gone the pop route after winning "American Idol" a few years back, but chose to stick with country and we all have benefited from that. Sure she is guilty of a few cheesy songs like "Last Name" and "Undo It", but the seem to work.

Kenny Chesney has a style all his own that also works for me, and even though "Somewhere With You" tends to remind me of an 80's rock song, it seems to still have a level of sophistication that McGraw's lame lines like "Oh-Oh-Oh-I wanna go crazy" sorely lack. Of course I haven't reached the deepest lows of this week's countdown. That would be Keith Urban. Sorry folks. I can't stand this guy. Sure he's a good guitar player, and I think he would be great in somebody's band, but on his own, I just hear a whiny boy singing. And it makes me change the radio station every time he comes on.

Now getting back to 1996. Tim McGraw is also on that countdown (just like in last week's "Now & Then, which featured 1995). His song "Can't Be Really Gone" is one of his more appropriate "Country" songs, unlike this week's #1 song. Brian White had a promising career until it all fell apart, and we really don't know why that happened. I honestly don't remember Jeff Carson. And then there's Shania. She could be blamed for turning Country Music into "pop". But I don't blame here at all. It's kind of like the Kenny Chesney thing. Some people can pull it off, other can't, and more should never try.

This week's video comparison allows you to take a look at today's pop-country vs. a country cross-over song from 1996. See if you can tell the difference in the music.

Here are the top five Country songs from both eras.

Week of January 15, 2011
#1 "Felt Good On My Lips" - Tim McGraw

#2 "My Kinda Party" - Jason Aldean

#3 "Mama's Song" - Carrie Underwood

#4 "Somewhere With You" - Kenny Chesney

#5 "Put You In A Song" - Keith Urban