Music. According to Kim.

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.

As I've said before, I think it's interesting to read reviews of songs before I review them myself. Not because anything I read influences what I write, but because I like to see what other people think of a song. And in reading some reviews for "Carolina" I've concluded that some people just don't know what to think of Parmalee. So what usually ends up happening: they say it's not country and the review becomes more about that than the song itself. Sometimes the accusation is valid; most of the time it's an excuse to give a bad review. Now don't get me wrong - these people are free to write what they want about it and free to feel how they feel about it. I just think that a lot of times people are too quick to say a song or artist isn't country. My thoughts on whether or not Parmalee is country? Well, the past few days I've been on what I'm going to call a Parmalee binge: watching performance videos and interviews, in an attempt to g...

Going to start off by saying that I hope had everyone had a very Merry Christmas! And here's wishing everyone a better year in 2013. If you've caught my tweets on twitter, you may have seen me mention coming up with my top artists and albums of 2012. I'm still thinking about it and deciding who and what I want to include. In addition to my top artists and albums, I'll also be coming up with a list of which new/relatively new artists to keep an eye on in 2013. And maybe they'll be some other lists in there too. I haven't decided. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. But now it's time for a song review. I usually try to review songs pretty soon after they get released to radio or, in some cases, when the video comes out. "Beer with Jesus" has been out of radio for a couple of months now and the video came out just over a month ago, if I remember correctly. I was debating not reviewing it because of that, but obviously changed my mind. For...

I've decided that Brett Eldredge is my new Chris Young. And now you may be wondering if I've lost my mind. Let me explain. I was first introduced to Chris Young when he was on Nashville Star in 2006. I liked a few of the other contestants that season, but the week he did "Drinkin' Me Lonely" he became my favorite. So I was so happy when he won and was fully expecting him to take off. And he didn't. It wasn't until 2009 when he got his first #1 with "Gettin' You Home" and things have been going pretty good for him since. So what does any of that have to do with Brett Eldredge you're wondering? Easy. I spent so much of the time just waiting for Chris to have that hit that would launch him into the next level of his career. I had so much faith in him as an artist and I just knew that he was a superstar in the making. He had everything - a great voice, a great personality and, as his female fans would probably agree, he's pretty eas...

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...

The opening line: the single most important line of a song. Why? Because it sets the mood and feeling of the song. That first line should be so strong that it grabs the listener and gets them invested in the song. It can make the difference between actively listening or not. Every great song that's been written has had a great opening line.  Some examples: "He said 'I'll love you 'til I die" "She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette" "A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher" "It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty, Delta day" "Hello darlin', nice to see you, it's been a long time" "Cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold" "Sara Beth is scared to death to hear what the doctor will say" "It was all I could to keep from crying" I could keep going, but I think you get the point. So let...

So if you somehow have made it this far and never listened to Randy Houser, I would strongly urge you to start. Why? Because he's among the best male vocalists in country music today. And one of the most underrated. For some reason he seems to fly right under the radar of a lot of country fans and that's a shame. He signed on with Stoney Creek Record, sister label of Broken Bow Records, earlier this year and "How Country Feels" is his first single with them. If I'm not mistaken, this was released a couple of months ago and seems to be making an impression. I've seen a bunch of good comments from other fans and can't help but feel that this song could do some very good things for Randy. Why do I think so? Well, keep on reading and I'll tell you.

You know, there are times when I can't help but get a feeling that an artist is about to reach a new level in their career. Their songs start doing better and better, more and more people start talking about them - there's a lot of signs that it's going to happen.  And if you ask me, this is exactly where Katie Armiger is right now. Her last couple of singles have done pretty well and "Better In A Black Dress" is the fastest rising single in her career to date. That next level is right within her reach and this could very easily be the song to get her there.  Yeah, I really like this song. Find out why after the cut.

I've liked Edens Edge from the first time I saw their video for "Amen" and was so happy when it was announced that they'd be joining the Changed tour with Eli Young Band, Little Big Town and, of course, Rascal Flatts. This is such a huge opportunity for them and coming at such a good time for them what with the release of their new single, "Too Good To Be True" and their self-titled debut album, which just came out a couple of weeks ago. I got to meet them on the 23rd of June and have to say that in addition to being great musicians and singers, they are very nice and sweet people. I really don't have enough nice things to say about them and want to encourage anyone who gets a chance to see them, to do so. I will be reviewing their album as a whole, but for now I'm just going to focus on the new single. Here we go.

When I get to the end of the month I always promise myself that I'll try to write more posts in the following month than I did in the one that's ending. As you can tell from the monthly post numbers, I haven't succeeded in doing that. I was pretty consistent from February through May and then June happened. I'm not going to get into specifics, but I will say that I just didn't feel up to writing much for a few different reasons. Hence the lack of updates. But as you can clearly see, I'm back. That's a good thing since there's a lot to write about. Song reviews for new songs by Edens Edge, Randy Houser, Parmalee, Andy Gibson, Katie Armiger and Kip Moore to name a few. Albums reviews of Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Edens Edge and Jana Kramer. A few other kinds of blogs about random things and I'll be introducing you all to a band of guys was are based in Virginia and call themselves Steelshot. All I'll say about them for now is that I don't b...

"Shotgun Rider" in a word? Infectious. I bought this song on iTunes a week or so ago and for whatever reason hadn't listened to it until now and I kind of love it. Neal McCoy is another of those artists seem to be just outside of that radar I keep talking about. I wonder why that happens; I'm sure it happens to everyone. I think there's a lesson to be learned here about not being so into your favorite artists that you don't listen to other people. Obviously, your favorites are your favorites for a reason and of course you're going to listen to them, but I encourage everyone to not develop musical tunnel vision as I'll call it. Don't be afraid to branch out some, listen to someone different whether they're new to the music scene or whether they've been around for a while. You might just come across someone else to like or if nothing else, discover some great songs you didn't know existed. I'm going to pose a challenge to everyone rea...

It seems like there's a lot of people out there who believe that an artist needs to be living out the songs that they sing about. "New to This Town" has been criticized because it's about a guy who is trying to get over a broken heart and Kix has been married for over 30 years. Apparently that makes the song strange to listen to. It's a criticism I don't understand. Being a great artist isn't about only singing songs about whatever you may be going through at a given moment; being a great artist doesn't mean you have to be living your songs down to the letter. A truly great artist finds something to relate to in the songs they sing and is able to put themselves in the moment to make it feel real. Their job is the sell the song in a way that's believable, regardless of what their personal experiences may be. As it is, Kix may have been married for over 30 years, but I'd be willing to bet that at some point in his life he's had his heart ...

All right, so I'm so behind in my reviews and want to start getting caught up. This song has been out for a little while, but I still wanted to talk about it so that's what I'm doing. And you can obviously see. Getting right to it. "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" was written by Will Hoge and Eric Paslay and is performed by the Eli Young Band. This is basically a song about holding onto your dreams even if it hurts. The idea is another well used one, but it's well used because people will always be able to relate to it. In this case, it's specifically about trying to make it in the music business, but can easily apply to just about any dream. I'll be honest and admit that I had to warm up to this one a little bit. For me, the first couple of times I heard it I didn't get pulled into the lyric and the song just didn't really resonate with me. This is one where you need to focus on the words, I feel like. I liked it more when I did that.  I...

I always like when artists expand their horizons a bit and put out songs about a subject they've never sung about before. Or maybe they have done songs about said subject before, but have never released any as a single before. Or maybe they've put out songs about the same subject, but from a different perspective. Whatever the case may be I like when artists branch out some. Better to be diverse than to keep releasing songs that are essentially the same in sound and especially subject and mood. Which is why I was happy to find out that Justin Moore would be releasing "Till My Last Day" as a single. He's had a handful of singles, some of which have done very well - "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" anyone - but he hadn't put out a love song. Until now. I like when artists do this because it gives them an opportunity to showcase another side of themselves, add another dimension to who they are as both a person and an artist. So automatically I have ...

It seems like it's been forever since Carrie Underwood put out a new single. She sang with Brad Paisley on "Remind Me" last year and if I'm not mistaken, she didn't have any releases of her own. Well, no longer. "Good Girl" came out a couple of months or so ago and this review is perhaps a little late. I have read a couple of reviews and remember them as positive. The country fan reaction seems to be split. Based on comments I've seen, a lot of people love this song and a fair amount of people don't. This one seems to be slightly polarizing. I've actually put off reviewing this partially because of that fact. But not for any longer as you can clearly see. Before I get into my thoughts about this song, I want to say that I like Carrie and think she's good for the genre. She has a lot of songs that I love and I wish I could say the same for this one. It's at this point that I'm going to remind everyone that reviews are meant to be...

I have an odd relationship, or whatever you want to call it, with American Idol. I was interested when I heard about it and watched the first three seasons, got annoyed with the third season and didn't watch the next only to start watching again during the fifth season. I loved the show during its sixth and seventh season, but started getting annoyed with it in the eighth. Sometime between then and now I've gone from being annoyed with it to now hating it as I see it for what it really is. I could go into more detail about that, but I won't. At least not here; maybe at another time. I'm sure many of you are wondering why I'm bothering to bring it up in the first place. Well, it's because I decided to do a review of "Water Tower Town" by the current American Idol for my next song review. Now, if you're a fan of American Idol, you might not like what I'm going to say next, but I ask that you stay with me because it'll end up being importa...

Random fact #1: I've been fortunate enough to get to meet a bunch of country artists and the first ones I ever met were Ira Dean, Heidi Newfield and Keith Burns - formerly known as Trick Pony. Random fact #2: Ira was the first in line so he's actually the very first country artist I'd ever met. This was roughly nine year ago, give or take. Random fact #3: Remembering the latter part of the last fact is now making me feel old. Even though I'm not really. It's been a while since Trick Pony broke up and it still bums me out that didn't get any bigger than they were. They had some great songs that I still love today and if you've never listened to them before, look 'em up. I feel very confident in saying that they'll have at least a handful of songs that you'd like. Some suggestions for ya: "Pour Me", "Just What I Do", "On a Night Like This", "On a Mission", "Love Be Still", "Sad City"...

"Where words fail, music speaks."      - Hans Christian Andersen "Part of getting over it is knowing that you will never get over it."       - Ann Finger "He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man."     - Antoine de Saint-Exupery "One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. The word is love."    - Sophocles Okay, so this is a pretty different kind of opening for me, I admit. I was listening to "Over You" on repeat as I do and was thinking about what the song is about and what it is and that gave me the idea to look up some quotes about love and loss and pain and music. There are so many great quotes out there that it was hard to narrow it down, but I'm pretty happy with what I chose. All of the above seem to apply to this song. Before you continue to my thoughts on the song, I'd like you to take a second or two and read them again. I i...

What's your favorite color? It's a pretty straightforward question, isn't it? You don't have to answer, though I certainly won't mind if you do. For me, my favorite color has always been purple - more on the darker end of the spectrum. I don't know what your favorite colors are, but I would expect you to answer with, well, a color. Maybe, like me, you have a soft spot for purple. Or maybe you're more of a green sort of person or maybe you're a fan of red. Or maybe, just maybe, your favorite color is neon like the person in this song. It's an interesting song concept and one I like. There's been a bunch of songs about the love people have for bars and "Neon" is among that group. But instead of focusing on the beer like most of these songs do, it focuses on the neon. Kind of a different take and if there's ever a way to make a subject feel new again, this is the way to do it. Let's break this down...

It seems like most successful artists have a certain kind of tempo or groove or feel that is so incredibly them . It's when the band and artist are just cooking and where it seems like they are the most at home. That's what it's like; a home base. If you listen to any artist enough and start paying attention, you'll start to pick up on it. For an artist like Josh Turner, his sweet spot as I'll call it, is when he does songs like "Your Man". For Keith Urban, take something like "Put You In a Song". If it's Alan Jackson, it'll be something like "Chattahoochee" and if it's Kenny Chesney it'll be in songs like "Livin' In Fast Forward". I'm not sure I'm explaining this well or not, what I'm basically saying is that there's certain songs that you just know belong to the artist in question. What does all of this have to do with Rascal Flatts? Easy. "Banjo" is like that; my very first ...