Music. According to Kim.

The best songs are always going to be the ones that have personal meaning to the person singing them. The ones that tell you something about the artist. Something real and genuine instead of cheap and manufactured. This is the great appeal of country music. At its best, it's a genre focused on real people singing about the real lives of real people. This is not to say that artists in other genres never sing about real life, but this is where country music shines. No genre tells a story quite like country does. People like it because they can relate. Or, at the very least, they like it because they can feel it. This is the kind of song that you feel. Chris Janson wrote "Holdin' Her" with the very talented James Otto. It's essentially the story of Chris Janson, told in about four minutes. Starting with his drinking days and how the love of the woman who would become his wife changed his life for the better. In the second verse, he sings about the birth of his daug...

Today's video is a lyric video, the first one I've ever written about. I thought about waiting to see if an official music video would he coming out, but decided not to. It was a conversation I had with someone on Twitter changed my mind. They were talking about how much they liked the song and we both agreed that Craig Campbell is horribly underrated. So I decided to go ahead and write about the lyric video. I know a lot of you are familiar with lyric videos, but in case anyone is not, they're exactly what they sound like. A video where the lyrics of the song are written out. This was something that I've seen fans do when they like a song, but now more and more artists are putting them out. These are usually released before a "regular" music video gets put out. It's a great way to introduce a song to an audience these days. If you've been frustrated with the lack of old school country on the radio, "Outskirts of Heaven" will be most wel...

Today we're going to kick things off with a stroll down memory lane to help convey just why I've been so ridiculously and overly excited about today's video. It was on March 13th, 2015  that I uploaded my first post about VoicePlay. It was the first time I'd dedicated an entire mini-novel post to a non-country act. But I just had to write about them, so I did. It was called Stepping out of the country with VoicePlay and included a few of their videos. Their ACA Top 10 Broadway countdown being the video I'm referring to in this first excerpt.  ...I'd like to take a second to talk about the very end of the video when Earl is talking about them wanting suggestions for future aca-countdowns. Notice how country was included in his examples...I'm so curious about what songs they'd include if they did one and what they'd do with the songs they chose...I'm going on record as wanting an aca-country countdown. I want it a lot. No, not want. Need. Thi...

As I've said, when it comes to dealing with my rheumatoid arthritis, there's a lot of things that help. Then there's the big guns: my faith and music. Sometimes you need a combination of the two. This is why all of the videos featured in this third installment of this series are by Christian artists. You know, there's been so many horrible things happening lately. It seems like there's not a day that goes by where you don't hear about some new tragedy. I read an article the other day about how Christians should stay silent when terrible things like the senseless killings of the Dallas police officers happen. This makes absolutely no sense to me. If anything, it's times like this where Christians need to be more vocal. Why? Because in times like this, people need hope. They need to look away from the tragedy; they need to look above. As a Christian, I believe in Jesus. The one true God. The source from which all good things come. There may be people who wi...

Last week I got to see Parmalee at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time in well over a year. That's way too long, in my opinion. I didn't realize just how much I'd been missing those boys. Suffice to say, it was great seeing them perform again and this was the first time I got to see them perform three songs at the Opry. The other times I've seen them at the Opry, they only got to do two. It was a good set, with their new single "Roots" in the middle. I'd heard the song and really liked it, but it occurred to me that I somehow hadn't gotten around to watching the video which came out last month. And I call myself a fan. Tsk tsk. So I watched it, finally, and the fact that it's getting a video spotlight should be some indication of how much I like it. Honestly, I've been meaning to do a video spotlight for one of their videos for a while and couldn't decide which one. After watching "Roots", it became evident that this was the...

Ah, the Fourth of July. The day that we Americans celebrate our independence from the British. The day we celebrate our freedom. I read an article the other day talking about how we've made it more about the date instead of the actual reason for the holiday. We do that with a lot of things. That writer argued that we should get back to calling it what it is: Independence Day. It's a valid point. After all, people gave their lives for the sake of freedom. Freedom that we still enjoy today, freedom that some would try to take away from us. All the more reason to remember the significance of the day. It's not about the fireworks or the food. Not that there's anything wrong with either of those. There isn't. They're some of the ways we celebrate; not what we celebrate. Note the distinction. These days it sometimes seems like a crime to have pride in your country and that is a crying shame. I would hope that everyone would be proud of their country, be they my fe...

We've come to the third and last of the 1 Minute Musicals. Three different subjects. Three different styles. As I said in my "Stuck in Traffic" spotlight, I think these are a great introduction to VoicePlay. They give you a good taste of their versatility and their talents as both a group and as individuals.  M y hope is that at the end of this one that those of you previously unfamiliar to the group are inspired to check out their other videos and albums. These three musicals are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what they can do. They're all so talented and I believe in them so much and want others to as well. It is in that spirit that I'm going to be serious for a bit before embracing the silliness that's coming. It's VoicePlay singing about Miley Cyrus; of course, there's silliness ahead. It's July 1st which means that today is my birthday. I've spent the past couple of days  thinking a lot about my life. About what these five guys...