http://www.countrystandardtime.com/cdreviews.asp Country music CD reviews from CountryStandardTime.com Copyright 2007, Country Standard Time 2 Feb 2012 15:44:13 GMT 2 Feb 2012 15:44:13 GMT 60 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4738 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4738 P>Darrell Scott has penned songs for some of country's biggest stars, so no doubt there's a line queuing up at his studio door to see what's available on his new self-produced record. Brad Paisley already laid claim to Scott's Out in the Parking Lot, but hearing Scott and Texas troubadour Guy Clark sing and strum this... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4798 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4798 Tim McGraw is the ultimate country music Zelig. Match him with a great lyric, and he's like the voice of a prophet. But put him with fluff, and he's no better than a news reader anchorman on a slow news day. McGraw is at his best on Better Than I Used To Be , a song as spiritual as you want it to be. It could easily be applied to... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4796 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4796 Until now, Kellie Pickler has become known in country circles more for her bubbly, Dolly Parton-esque personality than for her singing. Granted, she has had some strong singles, notably the autobiographical I Wonder , but one could be forgiven for lumping her in the pile of most former American Idol contestants who hover in and around country music, but never really make an impact.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4803 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4803 Kathleen Edwards made a few changes since her last album "Asking For Flowers" came out. For one, she is in a new working and personal relationship with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, and for two, she's said this new album is her branching out from the "four-chord" singer-songwriter realm her first three records deliciously reeked of.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4812 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4812 There are unlikely supergroups and some that are inexplicable, and then there's the Little Willies. If you randomly sampled the catalogs of slinky jazz/pop chanteuse Norah Jones and atmospheric pop/rock guitarist Richard Julian, any subsequent pondering on the nature of acollaboration between the two would probably not veer anywhere near... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4802 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4802 It could be said that there are actually 2 gospel sides of Jamie Dailey and Darren Vincent presented on this 12-track collection. Having taken the bluegrass world by storm the last few years, it's not surprising that there's a healthy helping of hard-driving bluegrass gospel on the table, but like many raised with the music of Bill Monroe and his disciples, they're also steeped in the world of Southern gospel.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4787 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4787 Tim McGraw brings an international flavor, at least lyrically, to his new holiday single, Christmas All Over the World When the bells start ringing, it suggests, "no matter where you are, it's going to warm your heart," according to McGraw. With its lyric, McGraw names numerous countries and cultures and says a little bit about how each celebrates the season.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4801 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4801 Lyle Lovett's Christmas EP "Release Me" is only truly jolly to a point. After all, The Girl with the Holiday Smile begins with Lovett storytelling, "I met a hooker at the grocery story." It's not the sort of thing that would fit in either It's A Wonderful Life or Miracle On 34th Street. However, in Lovett's twisted little world, prostitutes belong right alongside Christmas trees and mistletoe.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4794 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4794 Willie Nelson is acclaimed as both a songwriter and a guitar player, but he has also rightfully earned a stellar reputation as an interpreter of classic songs. On "Remember Me Vol. 1," Nelson takes another successful stab at covering standards, this time from the rich annals of country music history.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4785 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4785 Christmas can become an overblown extravaganza if we let it. Christmas music can also suffer the same sad fate if we're not careful. Lindi Ortega understands such tragic possibilities, which is why her "Tennessee Christmas" EP is such a delight. These four songs are all performed with acoustic simplicity, without any glitz or glamour.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4786 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4786 A notable gathering of alt. country dignitaries celebrate Texas singer/songwriter Guy Clark's recent 70th birthday with this 2-disc collection. Willie Nelson takes a turn on one of Clark's best known tunes with the often covered Desperados Waiting For A Train , which Nelson himself recorded with The Highwaymen. Fellow Highwayman... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4791 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4791 It's an instance of truth in advertising that Joe Nichols calls his new holiday album "A Traditional Christmas." Traditions are mostly wonderful things. Few would enjoy Christmas, for example, if it was celebrated completely differently every year. However, Nichols' new traditional album is a little too faithful to these... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4778 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4778 David Nail is a rare mainstream country artist who actually stands out from the rest of Music Row's regulars. Instead of leaning towards one of the two dominant styles of Nashville country, pop or rock, Nail blends country with soul and R&B. When he builds upon his strengths, the songs shine. The single misstep, Grandpa's Farm, ... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4788 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4788 There are all different kinds of holiday songs: everything from silly verses about grandparents dying at the hooves of reindeer, to those sad characters that only get home for Christmas in their dreams. DJ Miller's Snowman in Birmingham is the painful kind of song. He sings about a carpenter father that can never build the thing a son... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4770 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4770 A greatest hits collection released earlier this year helped remind country fans that Joe Nichols has been producing hits for a good decade now. While the sound of country has become much more pop and rock oriented since Nichols started, he has stayed relatively true to the traditionalist sound. While it hasn't always garnered him consistent chart-topping smash hits, it has given him a sizable fanbase - count George Jones and Merle Haggard among his admirers.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4799 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4799 The Gathering is the combined talents of Laurelyn Dossett (of Polecat Creek), Rhiannon Giddens (of the Carolina Chocolate Drops), Mike Compton (John Hartford Band, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes), Joe Newberry and Jason Sypher. Bluegrass may be the base style of this holiday music collection, but gospel elements also run thick and strong throughout the CD.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4774 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4774 Go ahead and insert a banjo joke here, the comedic side of me says, since Noam Pikelny won something called the 2010 Steve Martin Prize for excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, but it's hard to make fun of someone who has taken the oft-maligned instrument to new heights of melodicism and musical invention.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4807 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4807 In the pre-Beatles era, the term "longhair" was often applied to the world of classical music, and the title of this collaboration between a quartet of stellar string musicians from widely divergent genres suggests that legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer - both among the premier classical musicians of their generation - are letting their hair down for a romp through the bluegrass world in which Stuart Duncan and Chris Thile are equally prominent.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4780 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4780 With the recent announcement that he has left The BoDeans, this release becomes not a side project for Sam Llanas, but serves to launch a full time solo career. While Llanas is best known for the roots rock sound of The BoDeans, this project delivers mellow ballads. Much of the focus is on lost love and failed relationships. In Cherry O, ... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4746 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4746 It's hard to believe, considering what Vince Gill has accomplished over the past three decades, but the triple threat singer-songwriter-guitar picker may be in the most creative, productive stretch of his lengthy, remarkable career. Five years after Gill's Grammy-winning 4-album 43-song box set "These Days," his latest 12-song... Country Music News