Music. According to Kim.

I would say that this became one of the albums I've anticipated the most, not just speaking of 2017 but in general. Why you ask? Because it's Home Free for starters and if you're new here, I love these guys a lot. They have become one of my all time favorite groups and the reason why should become apparent once you listen to them.  Seriously, I know a lot of the people who read this are reading it because they already love them. I'm hoping that this might inspire those of you who haven't heard them yet to hop of the Home Free bandwagon. They've released music videos for a few of the songs and I'll be including those in the post, so you don't even have to leave the post to hear them if you haven't. The videos are all great so let me go ahead and say that you're welcome ahead of time. The other reason I've been anticipating this album? Because it's the first non-holiday album that they've released with their newest member Adam ...

This album came out back in January, but I found myself listening to it the other day and wondered why I didn't review it. Better a few months late than never, right? Lauren Alaina is quickly becoming one of my favorites. She's one that I can't help but root for; I want to see her do well. Her first album came out over five years ago - really, probably closer to six years by now. She was still a teenager then. It's been interesting watching her mature and develop as an artist in the space between these two albums. There's so many situations where someone will experience some level of fame as a teenager - in Lauren's case, she was on the tenth season of American Idol - and they'll get to a point where they start become almost obsessed with proving that they aren't a kid anymore. Often in ways that involve them turning their backs on the young fans who made them famous in the first place. Ironically, in these cases, all they really end up showcasing is...

I'm pretty sure that this is the first lullabies album I've ever gotten. I don't have any children of my own, but this appealed for me for two reasons. The first being that it's be The Hound + The Fox and I've come to really like them. If you don't know, The Hound + The Fox is the husband and wife duo of McKenzie and Reilly Zamber. I did a video spotlight on them earlier this year which you can find here, if you're interested. When they announced that this album was coming, I knew that I'd be getting it.  The other reason this album appealed to me is that as some of you reading this might know, I struggle with anxiety. Music can be such an important tool in helping to deal with certain things like anxiety. And a lullabies album seems like a good way to go as you expect the songs to be calming. Plus it's The Hound + The Fox and they make beautiful music. This album is no exception to that. So how about we look at each track by itself? It'...

One of the great things about living in Nashville is all of the writer's rounds that take place around town. I'm sure that you can find writer's rounds in other towns too, but it seems like they happen all over the place and all the time here. There's so many venues to be found throughout venues and more seem to pop up all the time. I first saw Kenny Foster when I went to see country trio Steel Union at Belcourt Taps one night last year. They had some of their friends come up to do a couple of songs as the night went on and Kenny was one of them. I saw him again a few months later at a writer's round. Truth be told, sometimes writer's rounds can be kind of hit and miss. You find songwriters of all kinds and skill levels. There's some who maybe aren't ready to do a round just yet. But sometimes you find a gem. It's times like that when you realize just how special Nashville is. And I'd place Kenny Foster in that category. He's personable a...

I was so happy when I heard that Steel Union was finally releasing an EP! If you've never heard of Steel Union, they're a fairly new country trio comprised of Rachel Potter, Donny Fallgatter and Josh Matheny. And they are wonderful. I have written about them before and there's one member that I've written about a few times on here: Rachel Potter. She's become one of my favorite female singers and once you hear her sing, you'll know why that is. She has such a great Broadway quality voice which works considering that she's actually performed on Broadway. She released a great album back in 2015 called Not So Black and White and you can find my review of that here . It was one of my favorite albums of 2015 and I still listen to it pretty often.  That said, as much as I like her solo stuff I am absolutely loving Steel Union. Donny Fallgatter has a great country voice while Josh Matheny brings some raspiness into the trio which I like. He's also the...

A while back I was listening to one of my playlists, on shuffle as is often the case, when "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'" by Travis Tritt and featuring Marty Stuart came on. I couldn't remember the last time I had heard it, but I found myself singing along with it. The song seemed to stay with me over the next couple of days. It just kept getting stuck in my head. Finally, I decided I needed to go back and listen to the album it's on.  I don't know about anyone else, but I don't listen to albums in their entirety as often as I probably should. Listening to this one got me thinking about how I need to start making a habit of going back and listening to older albums every now and then. That got me thinking about how in this culture, everyone is always looking for the next big thing. The next hit. The next superstar.  That's not always a bad thing. There's certainly new artists I'm excited about and there's some albums coming out that I...

Every time I listen to Chris Young sing, I wonder how it's possible for all of the country music award shows to ignore him. Oh sure, he has been nominated a few times, but he gets snubbed more often than not. I'll never understand it. He is one of the best male singers that the genre has to offer and all of his albums to date have been wonderful. He's a great performer and as nice as they come. So what gives?  Of course, when all is said and done, Chris is doing very well these days. His popularity has grown so much since I first saw him on Nashville Star  and it's been fun to watch. It Must be Christmas  is his first Christmas album and it's a great one. True to form. That wonderfully warm and rich voice of his is on full display. He doesn't take too many risks on this, choosing to go with a more traditional approach. It suits him well. Very well indeed.  So let's talk about each of the tracks. 

For this second installment of this mini-ECHO series or whatever you wish to call it, we have a mishmash of things. This was originally only going to be a song review, but where's the fun in that? Actually, I was thinking that this would be a good way to cover as many ECHO related things as possible. Because sometimes you need to go all out with something. In this case, that something would be introducing the world (well, my readers) to the wonders of this group. We have an EP review, a mini-video spotlight and a song review all mixed up together.  This is the first time I've attempted something like this, so we'll see how it works out. Go with it.

All a cappella roads appear to lead back to Geoff Castellucci. I say this because it seems like a bunch of the a cappella artists that I've come to love have had something to do with him. Those of you who know the story of how I became such a fan of a cappella music know that it all began with a medley. A medley that was performed by Home Free. A medley that I would later learn was arranged by Geoff and his arranging and rhythm producing partner in crime, Layne Stein. A medley that sparked my love for Home Free which in turn led me to VoicePlay. If you've spent any time on here over the past couple of years, you are well aware that I am a full-fledged VoicePlayaholic. It was through Geoff that I learned about ECHO earlier this year. Geoff Castellucci, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of a cappella music, y'all. It is here that I feel obliged to offer a word of warning for anyone who may dare to keep reading past this point.  If you choose to proceed, you must do so with the utmost...

First things first. You may have heard about the terrible wildfires that have been plaguing parts of the South. I've been to Gatlinburg, TN a couple of times and it's such a beautiful part of the country. It's a wonderful place to visit and so seeing all the footage of it burning broke my heart. As of right now, three people have been killed and who knows how many buildings have been destroyed. They could really use our help right about now. If you can, and feel led to do so, here's where you can donate to the American Red Cross:  https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation . You can also donate to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee who will be giving grants to nonprofits helping out. If you're unable to give at this time, please keep the people of Gatlinburg in your thoughts and prayers. Everything helps. Now, today's EP isn't new, but it's a good one. I mean, it's Rachel Potter.  I've said it about her before, but Rachel is the kind o...

Leave it to the talented men of Home Free to do something that usually kind of annoys me, but doesn't when they do it. You see, Full of (Even More) Cheer is more or less a re-release of their album Full of Cheer . My issue with re-releases is that most of the time, they throw on a few new songs without doing anything to the rest of the album. In those cases, I'd rather they just put out an EP of the new songs. I do recognize that there are various reasons for doing this and I think a lot of the time, it's out of the hands of the artist. Even still, I usually end up giving your average re-releases the side-eye. This album, however, gets a nod of approval from me instead. Partly because I love Home Free too much to ever give them the side-eye. But mainly because they actually changed things up. Bless 'em. The first big change? Well, Full of Cheer  came out before Chance joined the group. So into the studio he went so that this new album would reflect the current line-...

I said that I would be reviewing this and there's no time like the present. In listening to this, I've concluded that Chris Rupp is basically the musical equivalent of a chameleon. Especially when thinking about some of the other videos that he's put out this year alone. His taste in music is evidently quite varied and part of the fun of being a fan of his is seeing what he'll do next. He's not one to be pigeonholed into one style of music. This is perhaps an odd comparison, but in some ways he reminds me a bit of Eric Church in that respect. Namely, that he basically makes whatever kind of music that he wants.  Luckily for those of us who follow him, we live in a time where he's free to do this. Thanks to Patreon, content creators are able to produce any kind of content that they want without needing the support of a major label. It really is a wonderful thing. It also makes you think about how limiting being on a major label can be. Aside from having the ...

Man, there's been some great Christmas albums that have come out recently. I've reviewed three of them so far. To recap: we've talked about A Hollens Family Christmas  - and I've just added in Peter's most recent video from it. I gushed over the gorgeousness that is Voctave's The Spirit of Christmas  album and I've raved about Brett Eldredge's Glow . Today's album, however, is from 2012. Sadly, I was living a VoicePlayless existence back then. Now that I've become a full-fledged VoicePlaya, there was no way I could let this holiday season go by without talking about their holiday album, Peppermint Winter . I mean, how could I? It's a great album and one that needs to be heard and purchased.   No, really, you should buy it. This is VoicePlay doing what they do best. Taking songs - several of which have been done countless times - and making them their own. This collection of songs is so distinctively VoicePlay. It's fun and downright ...

I've thought that Brett Eldredge is among the best male singers in country music for a while now. After listening to Glow , my opinion has changed a bit. I think that Brett Eldredge is among the best male vocalists in music, period. Glow  is Brett's third album and he's never sounded better. Considering how good he sounds on his other two albums, this is indeed saying something. In case you weren't aware, Brett is a big fan of Frank Sinatra. I've heard him sing some Frank Sinatra before, on his YouTube channel and on his Snapchat Bedhead Jams. I always love when he does, which is one of the reasons why I adore this album. To say that Brett is channeling Frank Sinatra on this album is an understatement. There's times when you'd swear you were listening to Frank. This is largely due to his vocals, but the fact that he's singing along with a full symphony doesn't hurt. Out of all the different directions he could've gone with Glow , he decided t...

I first wrote about the men and women of Voctave back in August during my month of Disney. I did a video spotlight on their beautiful "Disney Love Medley" that featured Kirstin Maldonado and Jeremy Michael Lewis. You can find right that post right  here . I definitely recommend checking that out, if only to watch the video. This is another a cappella group that I've basically fallen in love with and one that really makes me miss being in a choir. Voctave consists of Kate Lott (soprano), Tiffany Coburn (soprano), Ashley Espinoza (alto/soprano), Sarah Whittemore (alto), Chrystal Johnson (alto), E.J. Cardona (tenor), Tony De Rosa (tenor/director), Kurt von Schmittou (baritone), JC Fullerton (bass) and James Ray (tenor/arranger). They're a bigger group than most of the other a cappella groups I listen to and they put out this wall of beautiful harmonies when they sing. Honestly, the word beautiful doesn't even do them justice. They are vocally stunning and captivat...

This is going to be part album review and part an introduction to a group that some of you might not be familiar with yet. With some videos thrown in for fun. First things first: who is 7th Ave? It's a new quartet founded by one Chris Rupp. You know, as in the guy who also founded an a cappella group that I'm quite fond of: Home Free. Yeah, him. Earlier this year, he announced that he would be leaving Home Free to pursue other musical interests. I'll be honest and admit that this news made me sad at first. It's always sad when someone leaves a group that you love. I've had it happen multiple times. That said, I think that this departure was the easiest to handle for me. I say this because Home Free is still very much intact and making great music with new member Adam Chance. And Chris has more or less been a music making machine; we never really had time to miss him because he's been producing so much content. Let's recap: he put out a beautiful piano albu...

Something strange has happened to me. I used to have a fairly strict rule about waiting to listen to Christmas music until December. Or rather about choosing to listen to it on my own, since it seems like the stores start playing it earlier and earlier. But generally, I like to save Christmas music for December. Now as you're of course aware, it is definitely not December yet. It's definitely still November. And yet, I find myself writing a review of a Christmas album. This is mainly for three reasons. The first being that it seems like there's a lot of Christmas albums coming out. I know that I, in all likelihood, will not be able to write about all of them. But there's a few that I'm definitely planning on getting to. Seemed like a good idea to start now. The second reason I wanted to write about this album? It's the first new album that I've listened to in its entirety and it's great. The third reason? Peter has worked so hard getting it right and ...

Two Story Road is the husband and wife duo of Brandon and Jamelle Fraley. Brandon has toured with Gretchen Wilson and Danny Gokey while Jamelle used to sing backup for Carrie Underwood. They met each other while they were both attending Belmont University and the rest is history. They released their self titled EP last December. The trouble was I first listened to it while I was listening to all of the other music I got in 2015. It sort of lost in the shuffle after having listened to so much other new stuff. Please note that that is in no way a reflection of the EP itself; I did like it quite a bit. It was more a case of listening too much new stuff too close together. I'm a little ashamed to say that I hadn't thought about it in a while until the opening song, "Arson", came on when I had my music of shuffle. I'd had my music on in the background while focusing on something else so I hadn't really been paying too much attention to what was playing. At least...

Country. Pop. Rock. Eileen Carey's music blends all three styles together in a way that feels uniquely hers. I've just been trying to think if there's any other artists out there like her right now and I can't think of any. Eileen grew up in Ohio and relocated to California over 20 years ago. An independent artist, she has made quite a name for herself in California. That said, she spends a fair amount of time in Nashville and come to find out, she used Nashville musicians to track the songs of  Let It Go with all of the vocals recorded in Los Angeles. Oh, what a world we live in. I feel like you can hear influences of both places throughout the album. Let It Go is Eileen's fourth album and features three covers and eight originals. Five of which Eileen co-wrote and I was pleasantly surprised to see that another artist I like, Amy Dalley, co-wrote the other three. She (Amy) wrote "Anything That Reminds Me Of You" with her husband, Jack Sizemore, who i...

Welcome to my first EP review of 2016. I've kind of backed away from reviews for the most part, but when I listened to Heartbreak  by Natalie Stovall & The Drive, I knew I had to write about it. Suffice to say, I really like it. The key word for this EP is strong. I don't just mean strong musically or strong lyrically, although it is definitely both. It is also strong, vocally speaking. But what I love about this EP is that all six songs come from a place of strength. Not from partying like one of the boys. Not from a bottle. The kind of strength that comes from within. I feel empowered and uplifted after listening to it. I would recommend this EP to anyone who enjoys great music, but women especially. This is one every woman should have in their music collection. I've yet to see Natalie Stovall & The Drive live, but this makes me hope I get an opportunity to at some point. The sooner, the better. These songs are great and they deserve to be heard. Let's talk ab...