Megaticket Recycled Line-up Could Signal End Of Bay Area Country Concerts

Earlier this month, concert promoter Live Nation announced the line-up for it's 2012 "Country Megaticket" concert series.  This series of shows brings country artists to various Live Nation venues throughout the summer concert season.  It's a great opportunity for fans to see their favorite artists on tour.  If you have never purchased the Megaticket before, this could be something great for you, assuming you are a fan of all of the artists on the line-up.  But if you have bought the Megaticket before, this could be an expensive disappointment. 

The problem with Megaticket is the same problem with country music in general.  A national concert promoter has determined who you, the fans of country music want to see in concert.  They have decided the acts that will sell-out arenas and amphitheaters nationwide, based on their popularity.  And in doing so, they have eliminated the majority of country music's best acts.  Even worse, Live Nation apparently feels that giving fans the same acts year after year is a great template for success. 

 

The 2012 Megaticket line-up for Shorline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California is a perfect example of this.  Four of this year's headliners are re-runs from 2011.  These include Toby Keith, Sugarland, Rascal Flats and Jason Aldean.  The other two shows will be headlined by Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert.  Is this the best that Live Nation could do?  Where are George Strait, Martina McBride, Reba, Alan Jackson, Zac Brown Band, Tim McGraw and Blake Shelton?  Country mega group Lady Antebellum is listed as one of the series' headliners, but they have been omitted from the Mountain View line-up. 

In some cases, the opening acts are equally, if not more appealing that the headliners.  The Band Perry will open for Brad Paisley.  Chris Young and Jarrod Niemann will open for Lambert.  And if I was going to the Rascal Flats show, I'd head for the exits after Little Big Town performs. 

While the line-up may be impressive to some Bay Area country music fans, this year's series is going to be a huge challenge for Shoreline and Live Nation.  Last April, the Bay Area's San Francisco-based country radio station KBWF (the Wolf) switched formats to sports talk, leaving the San Jose's KRTY the only country radio station in the region.  Shoreline Amphitheater is located in KRTY's market, which will certainly help to bring local fans to these shows.  The bigger question is how many out-of-town fans will head back to Shoreline to see headlines that they have already seen from previous Megaticket series'?

My prediction is if the 2012 Megaticket season fails to produce sell-out concerts at Shoreline, it could signal the end of the country series in the Bay Area.  Without strong, local radio support, Live Nation will be forced to promote these shows on television and elsewhere, which will take away valuable dollars from their bottom line.  Other markets across the nation get ample country music shows throughout the year.  The Bay Area is one of the largest population centers in the U.S. that does not see country music shows on a regular basis.  If Megaticket 2012 is not a success, Bay Area country fans may be forced to travel to Sacramento, Fresno or Nevada to see their favorite performers in 2013 and beyond.

Classic Country Album Review: ALABAMA - Triple Play

Because today's country music basically sucks, I have decided to introduce you to some of country's best classic artists and their albums.  What a better way to start this series than with a review of one of s Sony Music's "Triple Feature" collections?  Now if you are not familiar with the "Triple Feature" series, it features three early cd's by various artists from the various Sony Music labels.  The best part about these collections is they are priced at around $10 each.  They can be found at most big box retailers like Best Buy, Walmart and Target. 

The "Triple Feature" collection for Alabama is a great introduction to one of country music's all-time best bands.  The collection includes each of Alabama's first three albums.  These were originally recorded before the days of the compact disc, so it's nice to have cd's available for all of them.  The cd's include "My Home's In Alabama", "Feels So Right" and "Mountain Music". 

If it's legendary Alabama songs you are looking for, look no further, besides the title tracks from each cd, you will find all of the band's early #1 singles.  These include "Tennessee River", "Why Lady Why", "Feels So Right", "Love In The First Degree", "OldFlame", "Close Enough To Perfect", and "Take Me Down".  There's nothing I can say about these legendary country songs that hasn't been said before.  They helped to lay the foundation for a country music resurgance in the 1980's.

What I enjoyed about going back to these albums was listening to the album cuts that never made the radio airwaves.  These songs showed the incredible depth of talent that this band had.  Anybody who knows Alabama, can't mistake the voice of lead singer Randy Owen.  But what many of us probably don't remember are the vocal talents of guitarist Jeff Cook and bassist Teddy Gentry.  These albums will re-introduce you to their great voices. 

Some of the best album cuts from these cd's include "Some Other Place, Some Other Time", and "Hanging Up My Travelin' Shoes" (from My Home's In Alabama), "Ride The Train" and "Burn Georgia Burn" (from Feels So Right), and "Words At Twenty Paces", "Green River" and "Gonna Have A Party" (from Mountain Music).

If you are looking to add some real country music to you country collection, take a trip back thirty years and discover (or rediscover) some of the best music of country super group, Alabama.  Several other artists are featured in other Triple Feature collections.  Keep checking this blog for future reviews of other collections.

Album Review: COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn

2011 saw the release of at least two country music tribute albums.  One of these collections is a long-overdue salute to country queen, Loretta Lynn.  Appropriately titled "Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn", this colletion features twelve songs from a variety of artists that span various genres of music. 
There are several highlights on this album, all of which are the songs by actual country music artists.  The other acts fall short in their efforts to put their own spin on these classic songs.  As we hear from some of country's best, you just don't mess too much with the real thing.  Take Faith Hill's rendition of "Love Is The Foundation" as an example.  This is the best tribute you can ask for.  Faith simply lent her voice to a beautiful song and kept the arrangement the same as the original.  I wouldn't be surprised if Loretta felt this song was the best on the album.  Faith Hill needs to record her own album of tribute songs.

Other memorable recordings on "Coal Miner's Daughter..." included Carrie Underwood's very nice version of "You're Lookin' At Country".  Gretchen Wilson leads the album off with "Don't Come Home A Drinkin" (with lovin' on your mind)".  Alan Jackson and Martina McBride have one of two of the albums Lorretta Lynn/Conway Twitty duets.  Their version of "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" is one of the album's best songs.  The last song on the album is Lorett's signature song, "Coal Miner's Daughter", performed by Loretta herself, with Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert.  Loretta and Miranda were fine, but I could have done without Sheryl.  Dolly Parton would have been much better on this song.

That leads me to the other (mostly non-country) acts who contributed to this album.  What's the point here?  Kid Rock? The White Stripes? Paramore???  Ok, scratch Paramore.  The female rock band actually did a pretty nice job on "You Ain't Woman Enough (to take my man)".  But the others were terrible.  Lucinda Williams sounded like a drunken Lacy J. Dalton on "Somebody Somewhere".  On the Loretta/Conway song "After The Fire Is Gone", Steve Earle and Allison Moorer showed us how NOT to do a duet.  Don't ask Steve Earle to sing with you. 

Reba teams up with The Time Jumpers to sing the little known western swing song, "If You're Not Gone Too Long".  This is one that I'm not very familiar with.  I had to listen to it three times before I could write something.  At the end of the day, it's not bad.  Equally not bad is Lee AnnWomack's version of "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl".  It's just ok, compared to the other country songs on the cd.  Finally we return to The White Stripes and Kid Rock who had their own contributions to this cd.  The Stripes did "Rated X".  It was fairly miserable to listen to.  But compared to Kid Rock's version of "I Know How", it guess it was decent.  Why somebody would ask Kid Rock to sing on a Loretta Lynn tribute is beyond me?

This is a pretty good album that could have been great.  All they had to do was keep it country, with country singers and country arrangements.  Just listening to the contrast between The White Stripes and Carrie Underwood (who's songs are next to each other) you can tell the differenc between a country album and the other.  But if you love Loretta Lynn, this cd is woth the purchase price, if only for songs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 12.  I give this album 3 out of 5 cowboy hats.

CMA Disappoints...AGAIN!

I wasted another 45-minutes of my time, fast-forwarding through a 3-hour CMA Awards Show. This pop-fueled, "country" show was nothing more than a preview of the American Music Awards. In fact, ABC should pull the plug on one of these shows since they are pretty-much the same. Actually, I think I'd prefer the AMA's because at least they represent a genre (or genres) of music. The CMA's represent anything, and everything BUT country music.

But I must post a review, if for no other reason than to add some content to my blog. So here it goes.

The Good: Brad and Carrie did a pretty good job hosting the show again. The writers obviously put some time into penning their script. Bringing Hank Williams Jr. out after the ESPN/FOX situation was great fun. And anybody who believes that ESPN dumped Hank's song from Sunday Night Football because of a political comment should visit Montana's newest ocean-side resort for their next vacation.

Performance-wise, I was only pleased with a couple: The tribute to Glen Campbell with Brad Paisley, Vince Gill and the Aussie that I can't stand was pretty good. Chris Young got to sing a song (Voices) as a nominee for best new artist. It was great to see Chris, but he should have been nominated for that award 4 years ago, and it would have been nice if they let him sing a song from his current album (I'm just sayin'). The Band Perry deserved each award they won. They are this year's good act. Like Easton Corbin was last year. No sign of him at the CMA's. Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter did a great performance of their hit "You and Tequilla".

The Bad: Let's get real. What else was good? Brad and Carrie's performance sucked. And what's with all the special guests. Greg Allman, I can take, but who the hell was the guy who sang with Sugarland? And then all the other non-country artists. It wasn't as bad as the ACM's from earlier this year, but it was pretty close.

The Ugly: What's up with the hoochie-mama dancers for performances by Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan. As if the lyrics aren't degrading enough to women, do we really have to see America's best redneck dance crews on the stage, prancing around like a bunch of drunks showing off their badonkadonks? As if listening to this crap wasn't enough, now we have to see crap too? And I watched it in HD!

Not to give away my age, but when I was a teenager, there was this hit movie about dancing and pop music. It was a decent film that put Kevin Bacon on the map. That film was "Footloose". Besides being set in a bible-thumping redneck town, the film had nothing to do with country music. But today, country music has "evolved" so much. The remake of this film has a remake of the title song being performed by a country star. For those of you who like the computer abbreviations, all I can say is WTF?

The Joke: As with all of these shows, the biggest joke was and still is Taylor Swift. The teeny-bop queen of pop-country won country music's highest honor without winning another award. REALLY? AGAIN? This was the second time in three years this brat has taken away Entertainer of the Year. And quite frankly, I'm getting sick and tired of complaining about her. I don't know what else to say. I am embarrassed to be a fan of country music, and embarrassed to have to write these reviews, as long as I have to type that name.

Sorry to be such a downer here. But country needs to die, and die soon. So it can get its act together and come back as a real genre of music once again. Until then, I'm not sure if I can sit through another awards show, or write another review about it. But to be fair, I will watch next months American Country Awards on Fox to see if they can do any better. But I won't hold my breath.

Review: CMA Music Festival Broadcast

The CMA Music Festival aired this past Sunday night on ABC. Billed as "Country's Night To Rock", I'm sure it sent many true Country Music fans running to other networks, dvd's, movie theaters or just to bed early. Not me! I was in the mountains of Northern California, enjoying the peace and quiet of a rustic cabin and the sounds of crickets and a creek outside. There was no television or radio. In fact, I didn't even have cell phone service for three days. So I would have to wait until I returned home to watch this show on my DVR.

I had to go out and purchase new batteries for my remote control after I was done with this show. That's because I spent the better part of the 3-hour program holding the fast-forward button. The majority of the performances from country's top "superstars" were tired, overplayed songs that would normally be forgotten, but for some reason, ABC and the CMA had to remind many of us why we dont' listen to their type of Country Music anymore.

Take country legend, Reba McEntire for example. Oh, I'm sorry. I keep forgetting it's just "Reba" now. She mailed-in a performance of her year-old, dreadful song "Turn On Your Radio". I guess I should be thankful she wasn't ripping off Beyonce or Kelly Clarkson. But this song really sucks. I guess it would be fine if a twenty-something was singing it. But we get this song from the same person who gave us "Is There Life Out There", "Rumor Has It" and "Little Rock"? To say Reba has sold her soul to the corporate devils that now own Nashville would be putting things mildly.

Forget the expression "tried and true". When describing some of the performers and songs from Sunday night, I can only describe this show as "tired and through". Big & Rich? They reminded me of why I couldn't stand them when they first hit the scene. And their song "Fake I.D." from the upcoming remake of "Footloose" should be a pretty clear indication of the kind of flop that film will be.

Then there's Brad Paisley. What can I say? I have a love/hate relationship with this guy. He opened the show with a horrible summer song called "Working On A Tan". I don't know what was worse, the song itself, or the redneck flash mob sequence that occurred when thousands of people tried to dance along with video screen images from 1960's beach movies. Pathetic! At least Paisley redeemed himself when he sang "Old Alabama" (with Alabama) later in the show.

While Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood were missing from this show, there were a few highlights. Like Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson singing their power duet "Don't You Want To Stay". Little Big Town and Lady A. gave pretty good performances, and The Band Perry was very impressive.

The show devoted an entire segment to American Idol winner Scotty Mcreery and runner-up Lauren Alaina. This showed them arriving at Fan Fair, meeting fans and playing in a celebrity softball game. Then the got to sing with two of their own idols, as Scotty sang "Be Your Man" with Josh Turner and an emotional Lauren sang "Anyway" with Martina McBride. But for me, the highlight of the night was the show's final performance. Zac Brown Band sang "As She's Walking Away" and the crowd erupted into the biggest roar of the night when Alan Jackson took to the stage to join them in this great song.

All-in-all, I rate this program as a "typical" program for today's country. Overexposure is the running theme that the format has adopted. With early ratings indicating an increase of one million viewers over last year's show, today's pop-country is still riding a wave where television ratings are concerned. If I was watching the show as it aired, I would have turned the channel early on. Thankfully I had my remote control in hand and watched the program on DVR. And this is the only reason why I was able to avoid trashing Taylor Swift in this review...

...At least until November's CMA Awards.

Album Review: "Neon" by Chris Young

After a two-year wait, Chris Young has released this third studio album, "Neon". This is the follow-up to Young's moderately successful 2009 release, "The Man I Want To Be." And like a fine wine, the 26-year old former"Nashville Star" winner is getting better with time. "Neon" seems to represent a shift in direction for Young, and is his most "country" album to date.

This album is heavy on love songs and light on the rowdy ones. This is a good sign, as Chris Young seems to have finally found his "lane". Make no mistake, with his range, Young can sing just about anything. But his vocal style seems to fit the love songs best.

Take the album's first single "Tomorrow" for example. From those smooth low notes to the high ones, Young's voice seems to soar. The album's best song is the title track, "Neon". Not since 1991's "Neon Moon" made Brooks and Dunn country superstars, have I heard such a great song about neon. Twenty years ago, this song would have been a huge hit. Unfortunately, today's country is different from the B&D days, which means this song probably won't get any radio play.

Getting back to the love songs, Chris sings to (and about) women in a way that takes us back to old school country. And what a breathe of fresh air this is. Songs like "You", "When She's On" and "She's Got This Thing About Her" are perfect songs about love. And the upbeat "Lost" seems tailor-made for country radio, and could be the albums biggest hit, while NOT being it's best song. But none of these songs portray women as sexual objects like so many of today's country hits do.

"Save Water, Drink Beer" is the lone rowdy-ish song on the album. It's a pretty good song about getting through a drought by drinking beer (That old well is plumb dry/The city put a limit on the water you can buy/We don't mind/'Cause round here/We save water and drink beer).

This CD closes with "She's Got This Thing About Her". Some critics will call this song cheesy, because of its string arrangement. But those would be the critics who blasted George Strait's "I Cross My Heart" for the same reason. Critics who don't get country music should never review it. This song has a nice subtle touch to it and wraps the experience of "Neon" up perfectly.

"Neon" is Chris Young's best album to date. Young co-wrote seven of the ten tracks on the CD. The only problem with the album is that it leaves you wanting more. This is also a throwback to the REAL country days, when albums had only ten songs on them and you wanted more. There is not a bad song on "Neon". Hopefully country radio will embrace this album so that it will yield several hit singles. Those who prefer to download their music must heed my warning and be sure to by the entire album, and not just one or two singles. If not, you will be missing some great music.

Concert Review:Alison Krauss & Union Station, June 25, Berkeley, CA

It's hard to believe more than eleven years have gone by since I last saw Alison Krauss and Union Station in concert. But that's how long it was between concerts for me. This past Saturday night at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, that long wait came to an end. As a first-time visitor to the Greek, I heeded the prior warnings to "bundle up" as the temperature drops once the sun goes down and the fog begins to roll in at this open-air amphitheater.

Alison and the band treated the crowd to a two-hour show featuring many songs from their latest album, "Paper Airplane", along with a bunch of selections from the past ten years. The show opened with the title track of that CD, sang beautifully by Alison and performed flawlessly by the band. Next in line was the 2nd song from the same album, "Dust Bowl Children", which Dan Tyminski sang the lead vocals. Among the other songs from the new album were "Dimming Of The Day", "Bonita and Bill Butler" and my personal favorite, "Miles To Go".

Other highlights from the show included songs from Krauss' last compilation, "A Hundred Miles Or More" as well as albums with Union Station such as "Lonely Runs Both Ways", "New Favorite", and "Forget About It". The band blended traditional bluegrass songs with the more contemporary sound that Alison has become known for during the past decade. Some of these highlights included "Ghost In This House", "Let Me Touch You For Awhile", "Baby, Now That I've Found You", "Oh Atlanta", and Tyminski favorite "Man Of Constant Sorrow", which was made famous when George Clooney "lip-synced" it in the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou".

To listen to Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS) perform live is to be transported to a musical world that few get to truly experience. In a world where flashy effects, auto-tune and even pre-recorded tracks are commonly found in concerts, this band had kept it simple and real, while pushing the envelope and boundaries of musicianship. Live or recorded, you will simply find no better a band than this one in music today.

Krauss' amazing vocals shine on every song she sings. But she also plays a mean fiddle on many of their songs. Dan Tyminski sings lead on the more traditional bluegrass songs and plays mandolin and guitar. Ron Block plays guitar and banjo and sings some harmony vocals. Barry Bales plays upright bass as well as electric bass. He also sings background vocals as well. Both Bales and Block have written some of the band's songs. Jerry Douglas joined Union Station as a special guest more than ten years ago. He is a quite simply a master of the dobro and lap steel guitar. Douglas' contributions to the band have been nothing short of amazing and he fits right in with the rest of the group who have been performing together for more than twenty years.

If I had to pick something negative from this show it would be the lack of songs from the earlier years of AKUS, as well as the omission of some of Alison's more well-known mainstream hits. It would have been nice to hear songs like "When You Say Nothing At All" and "Whiskey Lullaby" (even without Brad Paisley). And a show without songs from earlier albums like "I've Got That Old Feeling", "Too Late To Cry" and "Two Highways" would have been welcome at this show, and they would have shown more of the band's versatility.

Opening the show, from Portland, Oregon was a musician who went by the name of M. Ward. His brief set seemed to warm-up the audience as they continued to file into the amphitheater. The Greek Theatre holds about 8,500 people. I would estimate a crowd of near 6,000 at this show. It's hard to tell if the absence of a country music station in the Bay Area had any affect on the crowd size, because Krauss' songs were never played on country radio anyway. Overall, the Berkeley seemed a bit subdued. There was very little crowd participation during the bluegrass numbers, and many people seemed to not appreciate or be familiar with most of the songs. I even noticed several people making early exits before the show ended. Their loss.

But for those like myself who have followed Alison Krauss and Union Station for more than twenty years, this was a wonderful show by an amazing group of musicians. The band is currently touring the U.S. and Canada to support their new album. If you have the chance to catch their show live, I highly recommend that you do. You will not be disappointed.