Music. According to Kim.

All right, so we covered day 4 and what I dubbed as JakeCarrieStormGate 2013. Now we move backwards to Saturday, day 3, which gives us yet another controversy. This time involving the surprise guest. A guest which has me wondering just what on Earth the CMA was thinking. Actually, scratch that, I can guess what they were thinking: having this artist showing up on the TV special airing August 12th will make for good TV. Or rather, what they believe will be good TV. I may be way off base here, but lately it feels like there's people out there who seem determined to prove that country music is cool. And do so by trying to cater to fans of other genres. It's the only explanation that makes sense. The problem? Well, first it implies that country music isn't cool already and that's nonsense. Country may in fact be at the height of its coolness. Look at how just about every singing competition has a country judge now. People say that having Keith Urban on Idol or Blake Shelt...

I'm a big fan of the shuffle feature. Sometimes there'll be a specific album I want to listen to and in those cases I usually end up listening to the songs in order. But most of the time I'll listen to music on shuffle. Whether it's a certain artist I'm listening to or one of my many playlists. I like the randomness of it. Of course, as anyone who listens to their music on shuffle knows, it can make for some pretty interesting transitions. Downright strange ones at times. Especially if you're like me and have some playlists that have a little bit of everything on them. It is said shuffle feature that inspired this post, which is going to be the first of who knows how many. I see this being an ongoing thing. See, the other day I was doing something on my computer and listening to music and it went from Carrie Underwood to Janet Jackson. As I was listening to the Janet Jackson song, it occurred to me that Carrie Underwood could probably do an interesting cover...

I want to take a moment and say that my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was affected by Hurricane Sandy, particularly those in New Jersey and New York. The pictures and footage they've been showing are just heartbreaking. They have a long road ahead of them and it's not going to be easy. Let's not forget about these people in the days to come. And of course, let's say a few prayers for all of the firefighters, police officers and all the other emergency responders in these places, along with all the crews that are going to be working to restore power to those who lost it. I know there's a lot of information out there about ways we can help, but I thought I'd provide some links here as well: The American Red Cross:  http://www.redcross.org/hurricane-sandy?scode=RSG00000E017&subcode=paiddonationsbrand&gclid=CIS7wZ66qrMCFYd9Ogod0HcA_g World Vision:  http://www.worldvision.org/?lpos=top_img_wvLogo The Humane Society:  http://www.humanesociety...

Ah, Album of the Year. One of the biggest awards of the night, second only to Entertainer in my opinion. My choice for Album was an easy one. Another category where I was able to make my pick right away. Without further ago, here are the nominees for Album of the Year: Chief , Eric Church Four the Record , Miranda Lambert Home , Dierks Bentley Own the Night , Lady Antebellum tailgates and tanlines , Luke Bryan And my choice for Album of the Year? Chief , Eric Church. No question. What do I think of the other nominees? Starting off with what I'm sure many will consider one of the favorites for this award, Miranda Lambert's Four the Record . This album has gotten a whole lot of praise from critics, fans and other artists alike. But in all honestly, I'm just not feeling this one. I think Miranda is a lot better than this album. In fact, I know  she is. I loved Kerosene,   Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Revolution . This album was a bit of a disappointment and one that...

I'm going to start this off with mentioning that the eligibility period for this years CMAs started on July 1st, 2011 and ended on June 30th, 2012. I point this out because I was pretty surprised by a couple of the songs up for this award. Not because I don't like the songs, but because it seems like it's been so long since they were released. Come to find out, when a song comes out doesn't really matter. What matters is when it reaches its peak chart position - which has to be somewhere in the top fifty. So there we go. I still think it's weird that a couple of these songs are in the running, but then, I am not a member of the Country Music Association. For anyone interested in how the voting process works and what the criteria for all the awards is, you can read about it  here . That all said, my picks have more to do with my own personal preferences and factors that I think should be considered. That should go without saying, but I wanted to make it clear. Me...

Before I get to my review, I want to give a shout-out to the Dierks Bentley Congress aka the @dbcongress. They are members of the Dierks Bentley fan club dedicated to supporting and promoting Dierks any and every way possible. They have a blog page,  found here , which includes links to their Facebook page and twitter account that you'll find to the right when you click on the link. If you're a Dierks Bentley fan and aren't following them, you really should be. They're pretty much my go for anything Dierks related - articles, interviews and so on. They also keep everyone updated on where his songs are on the charts and post all sorts of links to places to request or vote for his songs. Well worth the follow, I assure you. Last month they had the opportunity to interview the three gentlemen who wrote "Tip It On Back" - Ross Copperman, Tully Kennedy and Jon Nite. I strongly recommend that you go and read it as it's a very enjoyable read. You can find it  h...

Last post! I enjoyed the ACMs this year, but to be totally honest, I'm going to be happy to be done with them. I said I was going to write about every performance and that I have - took a little longer than I wanted it to, but  that's all right. I'm going to get to the remaining five performances shortly, but just a heads up for what's coming. In two words: album reviews. I have a bunch in my list to do and am hoping to get at least four done this week, if not more. I'll be starting off with Craig Morgan's This Ole Boy , Amy Dalley's Coming Out of the Pain , Casey James  by Casey James and Chase Rice's Dirt Road Communion . That's more than likely going to be the order I do them in. Also on the lineup: Changed  by Rascal Flatts, Hard 2 Love  by Lee Brice, Up All Night  by Kip Moore and Josh Abbott Band's Small Town Family Dreams . I might do one where I review a handful of EP's since there's been some new ones put out lately as well. Al...

So, yeah, I've said in a previous blog that I think that 2012 is going to be the year of Dierks Bentley and in listening to this album again in preparation for this review, I'm even more convinced that it's true. I think that Home  might just be the best album that he's ever put out and it's nice to see so many positive things being said about it. Some quick thoughts before I go a little deeper into it: - I love albums that have a nice flow to them, when it feels like each song naturally leads into the next in a way that works and makes sense. I think  Home  has a very nice flow to it. - One of my favorite things about this album is that it has so much life to it. I think there's a certain energy to it that's hard for me to describe. - I really like how it was produced. - One of the marks of a great album is one that you can listen to all the way through without skipping over songs and I think that this album is like that. I have songs I like more than...

When I first started this countdown, I had no idea that I had so much to say about all of these videos. There's been a few where the words haven't come easily and others where I couldn't seem to stop myself. It's been an interesting experience for me and hopefully interesting for my readers as well. We're now going to be getting into the top 10 and I'm very excited about reaching this point. In a year of great videos, these were the cream of the crop, in my opinion. So let's begin...

Okay, so we've had a lot of great artists and videos featured so far and now it's time for a whole new batch of people as we head into the 20s. But we can't get there until we finish the 30s, now can we? I feel like I usually have more to say at this point, but I think I'm just going to jump back in.