Well, hello there.
And so, we continue. Even through travel, and work, and all sorts of fun and exciting things cannot stop this creative mind. You know, with the word "creative" kind of loosely defined. And "mind," too. Anyway, there are a few things I want to get to before I let you in on the next song that I've written. And it's actually a really special and unique one, so here's hoping you like that.
First off, allow me to share with you some new albums that I've discovered. Every summer, I go on this crazy rampage to re-invigorate my seriously undernourished country music collection, and I think I've done a particularly wonderful job this year. If I may say so myself. I was going to do this chronilogically, but it's been a few weeks and I no longer remember the chronology, but I'll do my best. The first couple of CDs I got to supplement those I had already had included
The Foundation, the successful debut album of the Zac Brown Band;
Shine, the latest Martina McBride; and
Unleashed, the redneck album of one Mr. Toby Keith. The last I got simply because the radio that I had been listening to lately kept playing a few songs from that album and they kept getting stuck in my head! And those aren't my favourite ones, anyway. I like "Huckleberry" and "Rodeo Moon." As for the Zac Brown album, my absolute favourite song is the most successful single, "Highway 20 Ride." That's one song that I cannot get enough of. And I've talked about it before, so I'll move on before you get bored and stop reading. "Chicken Fried," the first single, is also wonderful. The other songs on the album haven't particularly wowed me, I have to say. And finally, the Martina McBride is no departure from her earlier albums, too much, as it is full of the optimistic, girl-power songs that she is known for. But my absolute favourite song from this album is the second song, the first single released, "I Just Call You Mine." Simply beautiful. It's...just breathtaking. I just want to listen to it over and over and over again, but it's so powerful that I can only listen to it a few times before I need a break. I recommend it to all. The next batch included the albums
Southern Voice, the newest one by Tim McGraw; and
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems, the laidback album from the early 2000s from Kenny Chesney. They're both such different artists that you can tell the difference immediately, and, particularly with these albums, it seemed to me that to listen to them was to know the artists at their very core. Of course, neither one of them writes their own stuff (well, Kenny Chesney does now, but he didn't then), so that may be impossible, but still. I don't think I have an absolute favourite song on either album, but I like them all, which is probably the best anyone can say about an album. I had already had "Young" and "The Good Stuff" from
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems, so I know those are wonderful, but I also like "Big Star." As for the Tim McGraw album, there are a lot of chilling songs, that almost shake you. "Good Girls," "If I Died Today," "You Had To Be There," "Forever Seventeen," and "Love You Goodbye," are among those. And therefore, I can't choose a favourite. The next couple of albums that I got were
Fly and
Wide Open Spaces (which is alphabetical; the other way around if you're into chronological production) from the Dixie Chicks; and
Pull My Chain by their nemesis, Toby Keith. The ones I do like from the latter album are "I'm Just Talkin' 'Bout Tonight," "I Wanna Talk About Me," and "My List," but for the rest, you have to get past the fact that he loves himself so much. As for the Dixie Chicks, just so you know, I'm only ashamed that they aren't from a cooler state than is Texas. They're so talented and so beautiful and so expressive that you just want to sit there and listen to the songs and then go and find them and give them a hug. Of course, these albums are those before IT happened, and they're typical '90s, in that there is very little background music, and the instrumentalisation is generally weak, but what the songs are lacking in music they make up for with vocal talent. I already knew many of the songs from their
Top of the World Tour Live album that I already had, but of the ones I didn't know, my absolute favourite from
Wide Open Spaces, their debut album, was "You Were Mine." I don't think I can describe the chills that run through my veins still when I hear "he's two and she's four / and you know they adore you..." It's just spectacular. "Let 'Er Rip" is also a pretty cool song. Uptempo, and it's got verve. As for
Fly, "Cowboy Take Me Away" has always been one of my favourites of theirs, as well as "Goodbye Earl." Here's a fun little sidenote: I love listening to a song by Toby Keith, and then interrupting it with a song by the Dixie Chicks. I feel like I helped them fight back a little bit. The next batch of albums (the last, I promise) included
That Lonesome Song, the breakout - but not debut - album of Jamey Johnson's;
Unstoppable, the latest Rascal Flatts album;
Some People Change by Montgomery Gentry and sponsored by one of my favourite places, Cracker Barrel;
American Ride, another and the newest Toby Keith (yes, yes, I know);
When the Sun Goes Down, and old old old album of Kenny Chesney's;
Justin Moore, the self-titled debut of one Justin Moore; and, lastly,
Defying Gravity, Keith Urban's latest venture. I'll try to make this as brief as possible, dwelling the most on the last album. The only song that really means anything to me on the Jamey Johnson album is "In Color," which I had already had, although "The High Cost of Living" is terrifying in its message. It's probably because the level of hurt and mistakes and mess-up that he was living with when he wrote the songs is one I've never experienced (thank goodness!) and therefore can't connect to, but they make pretty darn good and near-Johnny Cash-level country songs.
Unstoppable was very mainstream, compared to
That Lonesome Song, but my favourite song is "She'd Be California"; I found it odd that, with all three of them happily married, the majority (and by majority I mean 8 out of 11 songs) of the album was about loss and pain and moving on after heartache, but then I saw that they don't write their songs either, so that explained it. "Why" was tear-inducing for me, literally, and "Summer Nights" was also very fun to listen to. The Montgomery Gentry album was wonderful, from start to finish, but my favourite songs are "Takes All Kinds" and "What Do You Think About That." Although, "Twenty Years Ago" does still make me cry, and there are too many songs to choose from to also name. There is a connection to the Kenny Chesney album in the title song, "Some People Change," in that both have it on their albums, but I don't know if Kenny Chesney has the original and Montgomery Gentry made a cover of it, or if the song is an older one and both Kenny Chesney and Montgomery Gentry made a cover of it. Things to ponder. But the Kenny Chesney album is equally wonderful, although in a different way, of course. "There Goes My Life" and "I Go Back" had been songs that I had already known, but get only more beautiful the more times I listen to them; "The Woman With You" is probably my favourite song on the album, though, followed also by "Keg In the Closet." As for Justin Moore, well...I do actually like "Backwoods," as I had heard it often before, but as a women and as someone who isn't from the South and therefore lacks that entitled mentality, I didn't much appreciate the rest of his songs, particularly "Hank It," "Back that Thing Up," "I Could Kick Your Ass," and "Good Ole American Way." New Toby Keith in the making? Oh, yes. Speaking of, on Toby's album, I particularly like "American Ride" and "Ballad of Balad," because of their melodies, not so much their lyrics. I think I've talked about the former on this blog before, so I won't much go into specifics. "Cryin' For Me (Wayman's Song)," also one I have mentioned before, is also terrific, if you want a sad song. And lastly, here I come to the piece de resistance, Keith Urban's
Defying Gravity. I am in love with this album, from start to finish, and back again. My absolutely absolute favourite is "If Ever I Could Love," the second song on the album, and I cannot get enough of it, I really can't. It's beautiful, and sensitive, and passionate, and gentle, and rhythmic, and poetic, and a triumph all at once. "Kiss A Girl," "My Heart is Open," and "Thank You," (to pick out just a few more) are also absolutely spectacular. But then they all are. The first time I heard "Thank You," which closes out the album, I was so overcome by the tremendous amount of love he pours into that song that I couldn't help but get teary-eyed. That's the dream, isn't it? And the last album that I just got around to importing into my iTunes was the final Doc Walker that I had bought in Montreal,
Everyone Aboard. And it is phenomenal as well, from beginning to end. I had always liked "North Dakota Boy," but "The Show Is Free," "Just Drive," "Forgive Me (For Giving A Damn)," and "Heroes in the Sun" are just as good.
And that concludes that superlong-winded section of the blog post. Phew, I hope it wasn't that annoying to get through.
I would like to address my style of writing these blog posts. Yes, my paragraphs are insanely long and hard on the eyes; I will try to account for that and keep both my comments brief and my topics less interesting. I separate paragraphs based on content, and therefore that paragraph was incredibly long, and I'm sorry!
That having been said, on to the next order of business. And that's the "ACM Presents 'Brooks & Dunn: The Last Rodeo,'" which aired on CBS a few weeks prior to the actual ACM Awards. For those of you who don't know, the event was being held in order to celebrate the career of the record-breaking, powerful duo of Brooks & Dunn (composed of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn), which is breaking up in August after over 20 years together. It's all really sad. In order to fully appreciate the duo, the Academy of Country Music called together a few of Brooks & Dunn's closest friends, all of whom sang a different hit Brooks & Dunn song. Lucky for you, I took detailed notes. What follows is a recapitulation of the events.
To begin, Miss Taylor Swift opened the show, welcoming the artists and the fans to the event, and recounting her favourite Brooks & Dunn memory, which was when the two called her into their bus during a tour in order to show her Ronnie Dunn's "Taylor Swift impression," throwing his head around the way only she does (if you don't know what I'm talking about, I only hope that someone rescues you from the rock you've been living under). She had even caught it on tape, and played it for the crowd. When she introduced the duo and they both walked out, saluted the crowd, and took their places on the couch of honour, Kix Brooks told her, "That's the first time in twenty years that I've ever seen him mess up his hair," to which she responded, "Twenty years....to me, that's like a lifetime." Cue the laughter.
After this opening, Keith Urban came on stage and told his favourite Brooks & Dunn memory, which was in the early '90s, before Keith Urban was Keith Urban; he and his band were playing in an obscure hole in the wall, when in came Kix Brooks and his wife, listened to the set, and invited Keith and his band to tour with the duo for a few weeks. "I thought he was completely hammered," joked Keith, and Kix Brooks spoke up from his couch, saying, "I was." Keith Urban performed "Brand New Man," to much applause. He was followed by the one and only Miranda Lambert, whose story consisted of a makeshift dance party on the Brooks & Dunn tour bus when Kellie Pickler got a hold of the iPod, and put on "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry, to which Ronnie Dunn danced harder than either of the girls. I would've paid anything to have seen that! She then sang, "Hillbilly Deluxe." The reigning Artist of the Decade, George Strait, was up next, and his performance of "Boot-Scootin' Boogie" was accompanied by Kix Brooks playing the harmonica from the couch.
After George Strait cleared the stage, one of the co-producers of the event, Matthew McConaughey, took a microphone and, prior to introducing the next act, joked around for a bit, saying that if needed, he could do a cover of a Brooks & Dunn hit. I myself was thrilled when he and his ego left the stage, leaving room for Kenny Chesney and "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone." The one and only Brad Paisley was next, and he performed "Workin' on My Next Broken Heart" just wonderfully. The next hit Brooks & Dunn song was performed by a fellow duo, Sugarland, whose lead singer, Jennifer Nettles, came onstage sporting a (fake) tattoo of Ronnie Dunn's face on her arm. "Eat your heart out, Taylor Swift," she said amid general amusement, "I can make him do that impression of you whenever I want," flexing and relaxing her arm and making Ronnie Dunn dance. Kristian Bush then sat behind the piano and Jennifer Nettles took a microphone and they both presented "Red Dirt Road." Jason Aldean, who was next, merely took the stage and basically said, "I'm a huge fan," and sang "How Long Gone." Clearly, despite his number 1 songs and his chart success, he's not (yet?) on that top tier of country music which would have allowed him a first-hand memory of Brooks & Dunn. However, the next artist is. And she is Reba McEntire, duet partner and close friend of the duo's, who got visibly emotional performing their latest (last) single, "Indian Summer." It's hard to tell which version I like better, the one she performed or the duo's original.
The chipper star of that tween show,
iCarly, Miranda Cosgrove, appeared on stage next (not that I watch that show, mind you, I'd rather stare at the wall) and told the audience that she is a Brooks & Dunn fan because one of their songs hit number 1 status the same day she was born. The duo looked absolutely thrilled that they're that old already. She then introduced Taylor Swift, who did a wonderful interpretation of my very favourite Brooks & Dunn song, "Ain't Nothin' 'Bout You," filled with much of that head maneuvre she does so well. Following in her wake was the enormously successful Lady Antebellum, whose Hillary Scott shared that when she was a child, her mother had been a backup singer for the duo and that she had spent many nights backstage during a show. She and Charles Kelley then launched into the hit duet Brooks & Dunn released with Reba McEntire, "If You See Him/If You See Her."
There then appeared a screen onstage, upon which was projected a video of Maya Angelou, thanking Brooks & Dunn for their work trying to bring peace, particularly with their song, "Believe," which Jennifer Hudson then took the stage to sing. Not that I understood a single word she sang (except for perhaps the word 'believe'), but she has such a tremendous voice that it almost didn't matter. The message was conveyed nonetheless. Carrie Underwood was up next, with the song "Neon Moon." Chilling stuff, that song. She was followed by none other than Darius Rucker, who performed "Hard Workin' Man." Rascal Flatts was the next act, with "Getting Better All The Time." None of these performers had any memories to share. Either that, of I was washing dishes at the time and couldn't get to a pencil to write them down. I mean, I was really washing dishes, I remember that. But I don't remember if there were stories. I apologise.
Faith Hill, however, had a cracker of a memory which she shared that night, prior to performing "The Long Goodbye." It was the story demonstrating how Brooks & Dunn are the masters of practical jokes, as all tours are accompanied by practical jokes of all sorts. During the one and only time she had ever toured with the duo, they were in Canada the last week; one night, she was falling down with exhaustion and excited to go to bed, only to find "a slimy eel defrosting in the sheets." In order to get back at the duo, she had them held up at the Canadian-American border and subjected to a strip search. "They never asked me to tour with them again," she laughed. After she had finished, she presented them with a box of eel from a Chinese restaurant, which they devoured right there on stage. Her husband followed as the last solo performer of the event, with "Ain't Nowhere to Go."
Following Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire came back on stage and invited Brooks & Dun to join her, recounting all of their records and listing all of their accomplishments and awards. She then presented them with an ACM Milestone Award, for all they've contributed to country music. There was a super long standing ovation, a well-deserved congratulations, afterwards. She next invited them to pick up their instruments of choice and implored them to "Play Something Country," which they did, inviting all of the performers of the night to join them onstage and sing along. It was a joyous ending to a beautiful night and a long and successful career.
I hope you noticed that I broke up the paragraphs for you. Is that better?
And now, after this marathon blog post (I don't know how that happened), we finally reach the last portion, which is my own song. At the beginning, I mentioned that it's special and unique. And it is. In the wake of that spectacular event known as Eurovision, I decided to challenge myself (as I had done before, see "Zach is Looking Hot Tonight") to write a duet, because it's not something I had ever done before and I wanted to see if I could succeed. And what came out of the challenge was "I Did." See for yourself if I succeeded.
I Did
(male)
I remember thinking, "Look at that, man, that girl's smile couldn't get any finer,"
I remember thinking, "Maybe I should throw caution to the wind and wink at her,"
and I did
(female)
I remember thinking, "Was there just sunshine in his eyes, or did he really wink at me?"
I remember thinking, "Maybe I should go to him and introduce myself casually,"
and I did
CHORUS:
(both)
Maybe I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you
but I did
Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do
but I did
No one believed in love at first sight
but I did
(male)
I remember thinking, "It's been two years, I should ask her to marry me,"
so I did
I remember thinking, "I'm going to say 'yes' when he gets down on one knee,"
and I did
CHORUS:
(both)
Maybe I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you
but I did
Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do
but I did
No one believed in love at first sight
but I did
(female)
No one believed in love at first sight,
and
BRIDGE:
(female)
they said it was a flirty thing, a summer fling
and that we weren't meant to last
(male)
but we've proved them wrong, still going strong
soaking up the time flying by so fast
CHORUS:
(both)
Maybe I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you
but I did
Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do
but I did
No one believed in love at first sight
but I did
yeah, I did
(female, spoken)
I still do
(male, spoken)
I do, too
Well, please let me know if you think I succeeded. Thank you for all of your input! I appreciate any time you take to write some feedback back to me.
Much love, and
thank you for the musik!
NBK
