Clint Black

One Liner: A purely beautiful voice on one of the key 90's country stars

Wikipedia Genre: Country,
Home: Katy, Texas

Sunday at 7:30 (against Ludacris)

Thoughts:  I have this very clear memory of one Clink Black song.  And it is for sure my favorite song of his, off of my favorite album of his.  I remember being in high school, and a friend brought over the CD of 1993's No Time to Kill to my house.  I don't recall why we did this in the bed of my truck, but teenagers frequently don't make sense.  Several of us sat in the bed of my tiny little red Ford Ranger truck, with the little sliding window on the rear glass open, so that we could all listen to "State of Mind."  I loved it then and I love it now.  In part, because truer words in a song have never been written.  7.7 million streams.

First of all, let me apologize for that video because it cuts off the pointlessly rad harmonica solo that normally leads into that song.  "Ain't it funny how a melody, can bring back a memory.  Take you to another place and time, completely change your state of mind."  One billion percent.  My whole life is triggered by memories of certain melodies.  I wake up every morning to melodies.  I try to spend every waking day hearing more melodies.  That song is a jam.

And yet, in the Clint Black discography, it doesn't even make his top ten.  Wack.

Clint Patrick Black is an absolute country star.  22 number one hits.  10 Grammy nominations with one win.  CMA's Best Newcomer.  Member of the Grand Ole Opry.  

He was born in New Jersey (of all places), but they moved to Katy, Texas when Clint was only a year old.  He taught himself harmonica and guitar, and wrote his first song at 15.  For years, Black supported himself as a construction worker, bait cutter (ugh), and fishing guide while trying to get noticed singing at local bars.  By 1987, when he was about 25, he finally signed with RCA.  In 1989, he released Killin' Time, and blew up.  That album boasted four straight number one songs on the Billboard Hot Country charts and was almost immediately certified platinum.  Of those big singles, the one that apparently had the staying power is "Killin' Time," the top single by a long ways with 82.6 million streams.

Classic.  Also, I want to go to that bar immediately.  Here's the deal with this guy - his voice is freaking perfection.  He's got the deep dimples and the smiling eyes and the perfect hat, but his voice is just the smoothest damn thing ever.  Great song, and his only track with more than 40 million streams.  "Better Man" from that one is also great.  1990's Put Yourself in My Shoes didn't have the hot singles, but still sold bunches.

Around the time of his third album, he sued his manager for taking too much under their contract - some $4 million in royalties.  Those difficulties delayed the release of Black's third album, which didn't come out until mid-1992.  The Hard Way did well enough, but Wikipedia seems to intimate that the delay in its release hurt Black because the country music scene changed while he was litigating.  I wonder if that is why he never became one of the top megastars.  Like in my 1993 mind, he was as big as Garth and Alan Jackson, but I don't feel like he gets mentioned in the same breath as those guys now.

As I mentioned before, the next album, 1993's No Time to Kill is my favorite of these albums.  The title track is great, the duet with Wynonna ("A Bad Goodbye") is a good power ballad, "Tuckered Out" is a good dance number, and "A Good Run of Bad Luck" is a slinky classic.  Also a top streamer now with 20.6 million spins.  After that album though, I know some of the hits but not the other parts of those discs.  1994's One Emotion was followed by 1997's Nothin' But the Taillights, with its excellent title track that reminds me of some Nascar ad I saw 25 years ago.  19 million streams.

Great stinkin' song.  Rock and roll mingled with country and some fun and clever bits in the storytelling.  If you listen along you'll grin.  1999's terribly named D'Lectrified boasts what must be a wedding song, called "When I Said I Do," with 18.5 million streams.  2004's Spend My Time has terrible streaming numbers (like, not one song over a million), and the same with 2005's Drinkin' Songs & Other Logic, 2007's The Love Songs, and almost all of 2015's On Purpose.  "Summertime Song" from that disc tries to get back to the glory of "State of Mind" and does an okay job of it.  But it's the album opener with just over a million listens.  2020's Out of Sane (confusing title) is his most recent disc, and it likewise didn't get much play.  Just so you can hear a more recent track, his cover of "Everybody's Talkin'" is the top track from that one with 795k.

More easy listening rock than country there.  His voice still sounds fantastic though.

I'd absolutely go to this show.  I love it.

Lee Ann Womack

One Liner: "I Hope You Dance" and some other classics with a great voice.

Wikipedia Genre: Neotraditional country, country pop, Americana
Home: Nashville (via Jacksonville, Texas)

Saturday

Thoughts:  Another one of these where I feel like I should know who this is, but before clicking play on the first track, I couldn't have told you anything she sings.  But, for sure, her top song is very well known.  But we'll get there.

Her original sound brought up comparisons to Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette.  She was born in Jacksonville, Texas (like fellow TSI poster-person Neal McCoy!) in 1966. the daughter of a disc jockey who frequently took her to work.  After high school, she attended South Plains College in Levelland, Texas (freaking amazing song, by the way, named after that town) because it was one of the first in the nation to offer a degree in country music.  She left Texas and transferred to Belmont College in Nashville, where she interned at MCA Records, but apparently had a kiddo and left school before a degree.  That daughter, Aubrie Sellers, actually came to ACL a few years back and I dug it.  After a few years of raising her daughter, she scored a recording contract and got into making music for real.  Since then, she's scored a Grammy, five Academy of Country Music awards, and six Country Music Association awards.

Her first album is an instant classic.  At least it sounds that way to me, listening to it for the first time 27 years after its release.  1997's Lee Ann Womack starts out with "Never Again, Again," which only has 2.2 million streams on Spotify, but sounds like the most classic of classic country.  The second song title cracks me up, because it is listed on Spotify as "A Man With 18 Wheels - From "Black Dog" Soundtrack."  Which sounds translated from Chinese or something, and also is a factoid that seems devoid of usefulness since I've never heard of that movie.  A quick research and it starred Swayze, Meat Loaf, and Randy Travis, and has a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.  Seems like a Patrick Swayze movie would be one that everyone knows, but apparently not.  It would be fun to go through his whole filmography just to see the ups and downs.  Anyway, the big hit from this opening album is "The Fool," which was her first top 2 single.  6.1 million streams.

Classic heartbreak ballad that is well-sung and lovely.  Also, cheesy as hell and the schmaltzy kind of thing that turned me off of country when this sort of song was up against (holy hell, I just looked at the top Billboard songs of 1997, and it is just a wasteland of crap I never listened to - Puff Daddy, Third Eye Bling, "Pony," B.I.G., and Sheryl Crow.  The majority of that list is freaking wild, man.) uh, other music.

Her next album was 1998's Some Things I Know.  Even the low-stream-count songs are really nice - I never realized how much she sounds like Alison Krauss.  By the way, I have to look up how to spell Alison Krauss every time I type it.  Shout out to her parents for keeping me on my toes with the double-letter-intensive-name-without-double-letters.  Two big songs on that disc - "A Little Past Little Rock" (5.3 million streams, but doesn't sound familiar to me at all), and "I'll Think of a Reason Later," which is a jam with 11.2 million streams.

I really like that one, the petty ass lyrics about hating someone (although because it was a million years ago this was looking at a photo in the newspaper instead of on social media) are top tier.  Great stuff.  Strangely, some of these songs have super low stream counts, like the otherwise good "When The Wheels Are Coming Off" that features Ricky Skaggs.  Streaming numbers are just weird for older albums that were likely heavily purchased via physical media back in the day.

But the big blockbuster album finally landed with #3, 2000's I Hope You Dance.  The first track, again, really sounds like Krauss.  But it is the title track that is her biggest hit by a mile.  117.8 million streams.

Her looks at the camera are so severe, and that dress is really something.  This feels like the kind of song that has become a staple at graduations and weddings.  But I'll admit that I like some of the lines, even if they are dripping in schmaltz.  The background harmony singers also kind of rule.  But that tune not only hit #1 on the country charts, but also crossed over and made the top 15 of the regular Billboard chart as well.

After that, 2002's Something Worth Leaving Behind, 2002's The Season for Romance (Christmas songs), 2005's There's More Where That Came From, 2008's Call Me Crazy, 2014's The Way I'm Livin', 2017's The Lonely, The Lonesome, & the Gone, and some recent EPs all fail to come anywhere near those highs.  One of the 2008 ones even has King George on it, but only 260k streams.  The closest is "I May Hate Myself in the Morning," from that 2005 album, with 10.6 million.

That seriously sounds to my ear like a cover - I swear I've heard someone else sing that before.  But, lovely little tune, that is well-sung and good lyrically.  Also, her look had radically changed from those early videos where she's rocking brown hair cut in the Rachel style, to the blonde-wavy-from-the-beach look here.

Call Me Crazy is actually a solid album, even through it didn't get the spins of other discs.  I'd go watch this.  Not the top pick for me for the whole weekend, but her voice seems like it is still as strong as ever and she has some really good ones.

Nolan Taylor

One Liner: Soulful, bluesy country from a dude who apparently can only exist in the woods.

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, bluesy country
Home: Blanchester, OH

Saturday

Thoughts:  My guy sort of looks like that Oliver Anthony goofball with the "I hate when poor people can buy cookies" song.  Grew up in a tiny town in Ohio, with an estranged mom battling addiction and mental health.  One profile I read gave this background: "He discovered The Grateful Dead through his dad and developed an appreciation for Pinegrove. Throughout junior high, he studied classic MTV Unplugged concerts by the likes of Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. Even though he primarily focused on wrestling, working out, football, and baseball, he finally picked up a left-handed guitar in high school. After graduating, he spent years gigging around West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky, playing anywhere and everywhere. In 2023, a video of Nolan performing “68” in the woods went viral with 2.6 million YouTube views on the Radio WV YouTube Channel."  I don't know what Pinegrove is. But that is a good story of perseverance and working hard.

That "68" song is still his top tune with 4.1 million streams.

Playin' in the holler!  That sounds freaking lovely until he kicks it in and starts yelling.  I hadn't really thought about left-handed guitars as being a thing, but now it looks weird to see him hold it that way.  And a brutal song - I need my wife to hear it about her sister who is always using her.  So much emotion in that song.  Wow.

Sometimes, his voice does a little bit of that pop voice that the ladies use, and it bugs me.  But overall, he's got a really nice voice.  No real albums, just singles until 2023's Life & Love EP.  None of those songs have done a ton on streaming, so I'll give you a different 2023 single with 871k streams.  "Wicked Ways."

Is he allowed to go inside, or is he somehow required to only be in the woods?  Almost more of a blues song than a country song, but again, his voice is the big draw there.  Much less memorable on the lyrics than the first one up above, just a relatively basic love song.

I like it.  Not the best thing on the poster or anything, but these are good songs and well played.

Charley Crockett (2023)

One Liner: If Hank Williams Sr. liked to get soulful and bluesy every once in a while

Wikipedia Genre: Blues, country, Americana
Home: San Benito, Texas

Sunday

Thoughts:  I really like him - despite him coming to ACL twice (2018 and 2021), I have not gotten to see him do his thing.  He is always up against someone else or has an early slot.  Well no more, he's gotten to be pretty big time by now.  

Dude sounds like Hank Williams Sr. with a little soul.  Like someone turned "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" into a human being who liked to sing.  Got a little rockabilly swing sometimes, got some straight blues other times, a little cajun swagger other times.  Pretty cool sound.  According to Rolling Stone, the guy claims that he can trace his ancestry back to Davy Crockett.  Which is kinda rad.  Originally from San Benito, a tiny chunk of the Valley (home of Freddy Fender and this water tower that I used to pass all the time when going to Harlingen).

But since leaving home, he has apparently wandered the earth for several years, including stints in Europe, busking on the streets of New Orleans and the subway platforms of New York City, and then in both Austin and Memphis.  In one thing I read, there are some people who are mad at his backstory, claiming it is embellished to get him street cred, but I don't see any reason to hate on the guy.  Maybe he didn't really live on a couch in Paris or whatever, but his music stands on its own without any thought about any of that.

Very large output - Ten+ albums, 2015's A Stolen Jewel, 2016's In the Night, 2017's very cool Lil G.L.'s Honky Tonk Jubilee, 2018's Lonesome as a Shadow, 2018's Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza, 2019's The Valley, 2020's Welcome to Hard Times, 2021's 10 for Slim, 2021's Music City U.S.A., 2022's Jukebox Charlie, and then 2022's The Man from Waco.  I started at the top and have played my way through here a few times now, and I'm enjoying it each time.  Especially that 2017 album, which is all covers, and all cool old classic tunes like "The Lost Highway" and "I Saw the Light."  Lonesome as a Shadow is also very good.  Although it got critical love back in the day, I won't say that the first album is great - more bluesy than the later stuff.  And not as tight, sounds self-produced.  But that's all good, right?  Start basic and then level up.  And Welcome to Hard Times and then Man from Waco are classic as well.  I just spent all day repeating it and it sounds great.

In addition to the music being good - I love the aesthetic.  The album covers have classic type-faces and looks.  His look is just perfectly throw-back creased.  His sound is a classic throwback too.  It reminds me of the way the Black Keys have crushed it with an old school look and sound - this guy is right there with them.

Another odd note from his Rolling Stone profile, he grew up dirt poor in a trailer park, but says he grew up listening not to roots music or country, like you might expect, but instead to chopped-and-screwed hip hop.  Weird that this would be a thing in the Valley.

First, I'll give you a shot at his most streamed tune - "I Am Not Afraid," which has 25.8 million streams.

Pretty chilled little love ditty.  That is a live version, which loses a little bit of the warmth of the original, which has a deeper, more solid bass line going underneath it all.  His second most streamed tune comes from that covers album, this is "Jamestown Ferry," which has 19.8 million streams.

Apparently, a Tanya Tucker song.  I'm not familiar with it.  Maybe they'll do a duet together at the Fest!  Beyond the great pedal steel-work, I'm not sure that is my favorite of his tunes.  Every time "I Wanna Cry" starts up, I think its gonna be "Live Forever" from the Highwaymen.  Totally rings a bell.  Fine song, but not old Billy Joe Shaver's classic.  "Goin' Back to Texas" is cool as well.

Another tasty morsel, the title track from the 2020 album.  "Welcome to Hard Times," with just over 18.4 million streams.

See!  Even the type face on that video looks dope and old-school!  HIs voice is so warm - he makes me think of Paul Westerberg too.  Good tune.  I also did some full on reviews of his music over the years, see below.

"Charley Crockett - Music City USA.  I dig this guy.  He came to ACL last year but I missed the show.  But he has a great sound and an entire schtick about his look and sound.  It's great classic country stuff.  That being said, nothing on here really stands out.  It's all good, but there isn't some moment on this album that changes my overall opinion of him from listening to the older albums this summer.  It's still him droning along over the top of the plunk-plunk of the two-step beat.  Long album too, with 16 songs!  Seems rare for country music.  The top track is the second one, "I Need Your Love," with 2.2 million streams.

A little Dap King flavor to go with the country.  Dig it.  Love his videos - does a super cool job of classic visuals that still look dope.  I need to get my cowboy hat re-shaped, man.  Not that I'm going to try to pull off his look, I'd look like a dork, but I ought to shape it and wear it more.  Anyhoo, I'm going to keep the album around because I'm into the guy, even if this one in particular doesn't bowl me over."

"Charley Crockett - The Man From Waco.  My Man Charley is having a moment.  I love it.  This is some serious throwback tune stuff - full of classic country flourish and songwriting chops that don't sound at home at all in 2023.  And yet it sounds awesome to me and is getting him some festival poster spots and concert tours.  Even just the cover of the album is a throwback that looks awesome.  Dig it.  I was hoping that "Time of the Cottonwood Tree" was going to be the hit, as I think it sounds really cool.  But instead, it is "I'm Just a Clown," with just over 3 million streams.

I wish I had the panache to wear a cowboy hat all curled up and perched on his head like that.  Boss.  But yeah, nothing particularly groundbreaking in any of these tunes, just really pleasant-sounding country tunes with good vocals and great accompaniment."

What I'm listening to right now is a 2023 Live at the Ryman album, and it is freaking tasty.  The band sounds spectacular, and his voice is a warm pool of honey flowing across a pillowy biscuit.  This could be a really fun show.

Turnpike Troubadours

One Liner: Top notch red dirt band with intelligent writing

Wikipedia Genre: Country, Americana, red dirt
Home: Oklahoma

Sunday

Thoughts:   They came to ACL In 2014, and I wrote an extremely brief review of them at the time.  Maybe I should go back to those sorts of cursory reviews!  Also, for some reason, I used to color the text in my blogs.  Why, Jack?

"Yes.  Great name.  Good sound – alt country/roots rock with prominent violin.  Funny to look at their play count versus Calvin Harris – his most popular was over 100 million, their most popular has 840k.  But, maybe because I’m from Austin and not Monaco, I think these guys are really good.  One song that I have heard somewhere – maybe KUTX or KOKE.  Wrecked [now with 13 million streams in 2023, and not in their top ten on Spotify]:

Yeah, that is a good tune.  I’ve now listened to both of their albums on Spotify and they are damn solid.  Their internet presence is light, but I found out they are from OK.  Which is OK.  Here's another bit with lots of YouTube views [that video is dead, and I can't tell what it was supposed to be]: These guys are definitely worth a listen."

But also, "Good Lord Lorrie" from that second album, with 54 million streams, is also a good one.

Before that album, their debut was 2010's Diamonds and Gasoline.  It has two big songs - "7 & 7" has 63.9 million streams, and their top streamer overall is "Long Hot Summer Day" with 69.3 million.

The violin keeps it grounded in the country world, but it also comes on like a southern rock and roll track.  Seems like a good sing-a-long for a crowd.  "7 & 7" is a good one too, it reminds me more of the Old 97's than some of these other tunes. I like the rock-forwardedness of it. "Diamonds and Gasoline" is a nice little ballad.

Their third album actually got a full-on review from me at the time, although none of the songs on that album made much noise on a streaming-count basis.  "Turnpike Troubadours - The Turnpike Troubadours.  Odd to name their third album after the name of the band.  Seems like a first album move to me.  But whatever, I found these guys when listening to the bands for ACL in 2014 and liked the sound a lot.  Pretty classic americana sound heavy on the fiddle.  Their second most listened-to track on Spotify from the album, the opener "The Bird Hunters" is a good one, but I'll give you the most listened-to track, "Down Here." [14.5 million streams right now in 2023]

Definite classic sound, along with a video of small town rodeo cowboys.  Relaxed vibe and likely a good singalong track.  And my favorite piece of the album is the Old 97's cover "Doreen."  I like the 97's well enough anyway, but this is a good cover.  I'd also point out "Ringing in the Year" as a standout track.  Solid album."

After that, it seems like I just let them slip off of my radar entirely.  Which is a little annoying to me.  But their next disc was their biggest hit, reaching #1 on both the US Indie and Folk charts.  2017's A Long Way from Your Heart also topped out at #3 on the Country charts.  "Housefire" might be my favorite of these, but two other tunes have more streams - "Unrung" with 23 million and "Pay No Rent" with 28.8 million.

I had a moment listening just now where this felt a little like a Revivalists song.  The pedal steel is so good in this one, and I love the imagery at the beginning of the clicking of the dominoes being shuffled.  Takes the "lives rent free in my head" trope and turns it into a love song.  Nice song, good album.  Kicking myself that I let them disappear from my rotation, this is nice stuff.

Let's go in to the  back story here though.  Band was formed in 2005 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and they made a debut album so that they would have something to sell at live shows.  I can't find that one, called Bossier City, on the streaming services.  There are apparently six current members, but several have left the band over the years.  According to Wikipedia, they went on indefinite hiatus in 2019, and then they popped back up in November 2021.  Pretty good timing to just skip the whole pandemic thing.  Apparently, Evan Felker, the band's frontman and main songwriter, was having some trouble with the drink that caused the band to have complete chaos of cancelled shows and angry fans for a while.  After the hiatus was announced, Felker got sober, remarried his wife for the second time, had a daughter, and went off the grid for a bit.  "We were in the bars — for 10 years, I was in a bar every night. If you expose yourself to that long enough, you’re going to wind up needing some help. I know I did. I don’t miss it. I don’t miss that. I miss playing music, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t miss being drunk and telling the same stories over and over again, not at all.”

So, good for him.  Rehab and COVID lockdown was super helpful for him, and also let the other guys go out and realize what they missed with this band.  Some of them did solo stuff, or played with other bands, but they all missed this one.  So, they are apparently all back in the fold and excited to keep doing what they do.

And what they do is finally release a new disc of music, 2023's A Cat in the Rain.  I reviewed this one a few weeks ago.  

"Turnpike Troubadours - A Cat in the Rain.  I needed to dig into these guys anyway, they are coming to the Two Step Inn next April.  I remember liking some of their older albums, but they've definitely fallen off of my radar over the years.  I think this album is really good - polished in a way that I wish old Zach would do!  Like, the second song, "Brought Me" is super clean and tuneful with great harmonies.  Has an almost Irish/country vibe that is really comforting.  The opening track is the top streamer though, with 8.1 million streams.  "Mean Old Sun."

I like that lean into the banjo, kind of an aggressive tune to open the album that otherwise is not an aggressive-sounding collection of songs.  And their look is interesting.  Lead singer is straight country, then the rest look like they repair cars on the side.  Good tune though.  Whole album is good - these guys sound like the next evolution of the Texas country sound."

So, I'm all in.  Fixing to add that "Pay No Rent" song to a mix playlist for the wife, and promise to keep playing these tunes after this is over.

Ludacris

One Liner: Classic 90's rapper with funny skits and a fast (and furious) flow

Wikipedia Genre: Hip Hop
Home: Atlanta

Sunday

Thoughts:   Fascinating.  In my mind, I'm like, hell yeah, I know Ludacris.  But his top song on Spotify, by a ton, is a complete mystery to me.  And the second track I sort of remember, but as I'm listening to it right now, I realize that it might be terrible.  

Oh, no, wait.  His first three albums are chock full of good stuff.  2001's Word of Mouf and 2003's Chicken-N-Beer, that is where I know this dude.  Those albums are freaking great.  I think I must have downloaded those from Napster or something like it back when they came out, because I definitely know them from start to finish.  Goofy as crap.  Lines like "cracked more nuts than Delta airlines" or "y'all got it all wrong like women in tuxedos" are clunky, but it is over the top of a cool ass intense beat.  

His first album was 2000's Back For the First Time, and it shows off his flow as well as his sense of humor.  The skits can be legitimately funny.  But the big hit was the one featuring Shawna, called "What's Your Fantasy."  100.6 million streams.

I absolutely downloaded that track and played it on WinAmp at my first job out of college.  His tempo is breakneck and amazing.  2001's Word of Mouf blew up in a bigger way though, with multipole big hits on that album.  "Rollout (My Business)," "Move Bitch," and "Area Codes," all from Word of Mouf, are classics.  ALSO, this video freaking RULED with that weird-headed little avatar dancer guy.  68.2 million streams.

His flow, over that beat, is just bouncy perfection.  "Saturday (Ooh Ooh)" is also a fun song on there.  The skit about white people rapping his songs is funny too.  "Move Bitch" still brings it because of Mystikal.  97.4 million streams.

Weird that both of these videos started with State Farm commercials starring Luda himself.  Also, listening to this song with the censored version is lame as hell.  Around this time, Luda was also getting a bunch of guest spots, with guys like Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon, and Missy Elliott.  Later he was on the huge song "Yeah" from Usher.

But his next big disc was 2003's Chicken-N-Beer, with the huge hit "Stand Up."  It is another album with some funny stuff going on and a lot of silliness, but I was surprised to see how few streams the disc has overall.  Lots of songs on here with less than a million.  Anyway, "Stand Up" was produced by Kanye West, and has 56.4 million streams.

Fascinating.  All of these videos are preceded by Ludacris State Farm ads.  It is like he had a plan for this to become a dance sensation song, but then forgot to actually create the dance and just said to do what he does.  He really likes to mess with size of things, and terrifying things like the little Luda baby.

Before we continue with the newer albums, we need to actually dig in to the man behind the jokes.  Christopher Bridges is his real name - thus the "cris" in the Ludacris - and he's a 46 year old from Champagne, Illinois.  He moved to Atlanta when he was nine, and started rapping then.  He tried a little bit of college at Georgia State, but then in 1999 he released his first album called Incognegro.  Around this time, he was interning at Hot 97.5, and ended up also serving as a DJ there under the name Chris Lova Lova.  Incognegro was later repackaged with some other songs to become Back for the First Time.

Also, as you likely know, he has become a relatively big time actor because of his role in the Fast and Furious movies.  But he was also in Crash, Hustle & Flow, New Year's Eve, and a ton of other flicks.

After those first albums, he kept pumping out discs pretty regularly for a few more years - 2004's Red Light District, 2006's Release Therapy, 2008's Theater of the Mind, 2010's Battle of the Sexes, and then 2015's Ludaversal.  I actually reviewed that whole album back then:

"Ludacris - Ludaversal.  My immediate instinct is to think that Ludacris is a joke.  I don't know why that is, I guess the acting, because I thought 2001's Word of Mouf and 2003's Chicken and Beer were both pretty dang good.  His raps are funny at times, but still hard enough at other times to be more than just a joke.  He's a fan of the ridiculous skit in between songs (this album goes with a guy who took viagra and can't get his dong to relax, and so the 911 operator goes to his house to help him out), but he also gets strong beats and has a really good flow over the top of them.  The most popular songs on this album have Miguel and Usher, respectively, on them doing some R&B crooning, but I liked the track with Big KRIT, Come and See Me:

Oh, and "Beast Mode," which is straight braggadocio, with some really great one liners, and Marshawn Lynch bouncing around in his video, is also a damn solid track.

Good disc."

Here is a weird anecdote: "On August 27, 2002, political pundit Bill O'Reilly called for all Americans to boycott Pepsi products because they hired Ludacris for promotional purposes and O'Reilly objected to Ludacris' style and attitude. The next day, O'Reilly reported that Pepsi had fired Ludacris. Six months later, Russell Simmons and his hip hop action summit threatened a boycott of all PepsiCo products on the grounds that Pepsi had subsequently hired Ozzy Osbourne for a commercial even though Osbourne is notable for use of profanity and explicit lyrics. Eventually an agreement was reached that resulted in PepsiCo donating $3 million to Ludacris' foundation and other inner city charities."  What in the world.  2002, and they were still objecting to a rapper's style and attitude?  Ludacris isn't even that wild!

Regarding those other albums, the biggest tracks were "Get Back" from Red Light District (68.1 million), "Money Maker" from Release Therapy (74.2 million), and "How Low (101.9 million) and "My Chick Bad" (164.7 million) from Battle of the Sexes.  It appears that the last song, his biggest streamer, is so large because of remixes with Nicki Minaj or Trina and Eve, and then lots of TikTok love.

He obviously figured out the right spot to kill the algorithm, but that song is definitely one of the weakest of his popular tunes.  Boring beat, overly repetitive, no where near as good as the classics.  Stupid TikTok.

I mean, he's got a ton of fun, classic tracks.  I have a feeling that his show ought to be good too, with his acting abilities and funny personality.  But also, I'm more likely going to want to go see Clint Black or Charley Crockett up against his time slot, so I doubt I'll catch the show.

Jake Worthington

One Liner: Real deal old school country from a young fella.

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but Country
Home: La Porte, Texas

Sunday

Thoughts:   Absolutely classic country sound from a Texan who came in second place on a recent season of The Voice.  I read a Texas Monthly article about him earlier this year and fired up his tunes while I was in the shower, and it is a really good classic sound.  

He's been making country music since he was only 14, learning the ropes from his granddad who he called Paw Paw Guitar.  His granddad's advice?  "Boy, sing like you've got a jalepeno stuck in your ass, you'll get it."  Which is really weird advice, and I'm not so sure that Jake sounds like he is following the advice either.  When he was 17, he drove to Houston to try out for The Voice at NRG Stadium, and he made it to L.A.  His first episode was him looking choir-boy clean-cut, singing Keith Whitley and getting chosen by three different artists.

His family going apeshit after each choice is freaking amazing.  I don't watch this show, but that is a beautiful thing.  Of note, that season also featured Morgan Wallen, who was eliminated long before this guy.  Take that racism!  He lost to someone named Josh Kaufman, which I have never heard of but is apparently a soul singer from the Tampa Bay area.  He had a funny quote in that Texas Monthly article, saying that he dreaded when The Voice tour went to Houston because he didn't want anyone he knew to see "that shit," meaning him harmonizing with 12 other contestants on lame pop songs like Imagine Dragons.  Which is funny.

That experience led to loads of promoters trying to sign him to become another bro country dude in Nashville, but that wasn't what he wanted to do.  He turned down those offers, and sooner or later had to buy a crappy van and just go out on his own tour.  His Voice fans didn't like his twang, and he was struggling, about ready to quit.  But out of no-where, the CEO for Big Loud called him (the kind of label with Florida Georgia Line, Morgan Wallen, and fellow TSI artist Ernest) and said they thought his throwback sound could work.  "When England called him in Amarillo, Worthington worried that Big Loud wanted him to record something with drum machines. By the end of the call, though, England had started to calm Worthington’s fears. “He told me, ‘We don’t wanna pussyfoot around country music,’ ” Worthington recalls. “In my mind, there ain’t nothing else that needs to be said.”"

Handful of EPs where he still looks like a child, but then his lone album is 2023's Jake Worthington.  Top song is the first one - "State You Left Me In."  771k streams.

He's shed the baby-face and sounds like an old grizzled veteran of the country scene.  Some guy who played with George Strait and Randy Travis.  And in the tradition of many a country song, a good old fashioned double-meaning in the chorus as well as a sweet chord change.  I wish he wouldn't do quite so much work with his neck while he sings.  But otherwise, this is phenomenal.  If you are a fan of country music, that nails every note.  "Single at the Same Time" is the next biggest track on the album, but I want to give you "Next New Thing" instead.  292k streams.

I need to go to that dance hall.  Cool stuff.  Another one that really sounds like the classic stuff, although this time less like King George and more like Brooks & Dunn.  Laying the cheese on thiiiick in front of a smoke machine haze.  And I can't take the Ernest-assisted "Pop Goes the Whiskey."  "lookin' for a tipsy that'll fix me for good this time" is just too much for me.

I'd absolutely give him a shot.  I hope that he can take down some of the goofy ass drum machine country with this throwback sound.

Neal McCoy

One Liner: A killer classic of 90's country cheese, and then some other detritus

Wikipedia Genre: Country
Home: Nashville (via Jacksonville, Texas)

Sunday

Thoughts:   I literally just said, out loud, "oh hell yeah, this one rules!"  This is one of those cheesy ass 90's hits that I somehow know the lyrics to, without having any clue who sings it.  This is that guy.  And after that massive hit, I've got nothing, although some of those other songs are fine.  The mega-hit is "Wink" from his 1994 album No Doubt About It.  35.8 million streams.  Join me in the pleasures of this moment.

C'mon.  Just look at his ass on the cover of that album.  And then the fact that his lady gives him that wink and, slam bam, he's feelin' alright.  Gimme that feeling every day.  The title song to that album was his other major hit.

My man's real name is Hubert Neal McGaughey, Jr., so he made a really good choice in switching that name up.  He is from Jacksonville, Texas, born to a Filipino-American and Irish-American, and sang in his church choir before forming an R&B band.  He went to junior college near home and was working selling shoes at the local mall while performing at bars and clubs.  His big break came in 1981, when he won a talent contest and scored an opening spot for Charlie Pride ("Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'," etc.).   

He released a few albums prior to that 1994 breakout, but none of those did much.  But both "Wink" and "No Doubt About It" hit number 1 on the country charts and even charted on the Billboard Hot 100.  Album went platinum as well.  After that, he really never caught that same magic, even though a few of the next albums had some charting songs.  I'm going to give you two more songs to enjoy though.  His second most-popular track on Spotify right now, "The Shake," is also familiar to me and came from his 1996 greatest hits album, the only new song on that disc.  19.1 million streams.

That video is awful and amazing both.  And the fact that he went from the Wink to the Shake.  I wish he would have spent his entire career singing about one word actions that make him turned on.  The Kiss.  The Smile.  The Toot.  The Cough.  The Snore.  The Tinkle.  But after this one, he kind of got forgotten until a recent hit that is both dumb and clever.  2005's That's Life has his second-biggest streamer with "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" at 31.6 million streams.

Cheesy but still kinda funny.  And he even got Rob Schneider as his guest star!  Big time!  Just so bad.  But also, a catchy tune that I can definitely see people wanting to yell along to at the concert.  "LIFE LOOKS GOOD GOOD GOOD!" is just right.

I kept going through his catalog for a few days, and there is an AWFUL cover/homage to "Wink" that is called "That Drink, by something called George Birge and his drum machine that makes me sad.  "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" is lovely.  And a lot of these songs are pleasant enough - he has a great voice and a goofy enough sense of humor to pull off both the Nashville cheese and some nice tunes.  I can't recall which one by now, but there was a cover in here that struck me as especially good.  This likely wouldn't be my first pick over many of the artists on this poster, but I enjoyed it.

Predicting ACL 2024: Bonnaroo announced

Folks, I have been severely delinquent in my guessing games this year.  I keep thinking to myself that I need to write a post about why I think Rhianna may be at the Fest next year, and then I get busy with other crap or write up another Two Step Inn artist and I don't get it done.

Anyway, it is usually pretty helpful to see what artists are doing the other major festivals, to see who might be on tap for Zilker Park in the Fall.  And what I really need to do is actually take the time to research these artists to show that they either have the time to show up or they can't be there, and make my predictions.  However, this is just a hater post.  Nothing substantive here, just me being an old man shaking his fist at the sky to say if ACL tries to tell me that Post Malone, Pretty Lights, and Fred Again are three of my four headliners, I am throwing hands.  I love the Chilis, but they won't be back to ACL.  Just a brutal lineup (excepting Maggie Rogers, Jason Isbell, Khrungabin, and Gary Clark Jr.).  Damn.

Kassi Ashton

One Liner: Bad pop/R&B with the slightest country flavoring

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - pop country and R&B country
Home: Nashville (via California, Missouri)

Sunday

Thoughts: Not loving this - feels more like R&B than country.  She covers "Genie in a Bottle," which could have been kind of fun and clever, but instead is just a slightly slowed-down pop/R&B cover of the song.  Does nothing interesting.  She frequently does that thing with her voice like the young pop stars do where they kind of "oyyyrr" at the end of words to add some sort of action to them, or squeak a little when you know they don't need to.  "Pretty Shiny Things" is the song that is making me write these things right now, and I'd like it to end.

And the things most people are writing about her also feel like oversaccharine descriptions of a marketer: "Repeated listens to Kassi Ashton’s new single, “Drive You out of My Mind,” can create the same effect as too much coffee: elevating heart rates, rhythmically overstimulating the brain and infusing a general sense of urgency, all in the best way. It’s a relentless piece of work, an intense ball of focused energy."  That is some gook.  Tremendous buildup of gook!  She wrote that song with a songwriter who has worked with Dua Lipa and Little Big Town.  And it is by far her biggest single, with 20.2 million streams.

Don't love it.  Although it is definitely better than the super poppy "Field Party" or the annoying sound of "Taxidermy."  Her other hit, also about driving, is called "Dates in Pickup Trucks," and it is better (even if still too pop forward for my tastes).  9.9 million streams.

Ugh.  Just cringing at the delivery of those first few lines.  I like the idea of the song, a date where you just drive around with a little somethin-somethin in your Sonic cup.  But the actual execution of the song just makes me want to run the other way.  

I also have to just note the forehead mole.  It is very distracting for me.  I never want to pick on appearances, being that nothing about me is perfect by any means, but it just seems like a really weird detail to leave alone when trying to break into a business that puts a lot of emphasis on looks.  That doesn't seem like it would be a big deal to remove, but they just keep it prominent as hell in her photos.  

Just to check, her first single, named after her hometown of California, Missouri, is just as weak for me.  Too much affectation on her voice, not sure what she is trying to get done.  I'm sure the 200 people who live in that town love it though!

But my main beef here is that I just definitely do not like any of these songs.  Very pop forward, almost R&B, and even if the subject matter might be a little bit country, this does nothing for me.

Sierra Ferrell

One Liner: Chameleonic bluegrass and Americana with an interesting voice

Wikipedia Genre: Alternative country, bluegrass, Americana
Home: West Virginia

Sunday

Thoughts:  Ooooh, she's got a track on Zach Bryan's newest record!  Now his legion of fans are going to descend on her!  Also, one of these tracks sounded really familiar, well, it's because she appears on Margo Price's song "Radio," which I hadn't known before.

Anyway, this is some fun stuff - she kind of hops genres in a way that none of the other folks on this poster have been doing.  Some bluegrass action in here, some classic country sounds, some swing, some Latin-sounding rhythms, folk, Americana.  All over.  She apparently grew up poor in West Virginia, which evokes images in my head of Katniss Everdeen's home in the Hunger Games movies.  After leaving WV, she started a nomadic lifestyle, busking for money all across the country.  During those times, she found a love for swing music and then bluegrass.  She self-released a few albums through YouTube before she signed a deal with Rounder and released the first album that is available on Spotify, 2021's Long Time Coming.  Since then, just some singles and collaborations (she sang background for the Black Keys on Dropout Boogie!), no new album yet.

Her top track is the ZB collab, of course.  "Holy Roller" with 30 million streams.

Fine.  I doubt I will ever understand the ferocity of my daughters' love for him, but that song is nice.  Ferrell definitely sounds good on it.  Her second-most streamed tune is from that one album, "In Dreams" has 22.5 million streams. (and an alternative version has 8.3 million too!)

More of a traditional country or Americana sound there, but her voice is really good.  Kind of Dolly-ish with an ephemeral warble.  She's also on a Shakey Graves song, a Ray LaMontagne song, and stuff by the likes of Old Crow Medicine Show, Early James, and others.  "Bells of Every Chapel" features Billy Strings doing Billy Strings things.  "Why'd Ya Do It" has straight up conjunto accordion like some little Austin band playing La Zona Rosa (RIP) during lunch service in the late 90's.

She's really interesting.  I'd love to get my hands on even more music, because her 2023 single and covers of "Seven Spanish Angels" and "Coat of Many Colors" are really good.