Darryl Worley and John Rich show how Country music SHOULD BE DONE!

Darryl Worley : Sounds Like Life To Me
My PICK OF THE WEEK!

If you buy any Country music this week, make it Darryl Worley's new single "Sounds Like Life To Me".

The "great" and the "good" of Nashville offered me two pop songs this week (Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum) claiming they are "Country" music, and they showered me with a variety of other styles too.

So  Darryl Worley's single - title track of his new album - leapt out of the speakers at me.  Hellfire, it's a danged COUNTRY SONG!!!

It's vibrant, Worley sounds like he means it, the lyrics are a little humorous and a little pathetic and it has a tune!!

It's what Country music in 2009 SHOULD sound like.

Worley fell out with his last label because he wanted to be a (speak it softly) Country singer and they wouldn't push the album he produced. In the words of George Jones it was "too Country".

So go buy this song and support COUNTRY MUSIC!

John Rich: Shuttin' Detroit Down

"Shuttin' Detroit Down" is Country music doing what it SHOULD do: making pithy and meaningful comments about things that actually affect people's lives.

John Rich tackles the inequality of the credit crunch and the way taxpayers the world over are bailing out bankers who made fortunes blowing the economy apart with ridiculous risks!.

Admittedly, Mr Rich is just that, very Rich, and the recession is probably barely touching his extravagant lifestyle.

But that doesn't make what he says wrong!

I've had issues with John  Rich over the years: I don't like the rubbish he puts out with Kenny Alphin as one half of Big & Rich.

But this is a great song with a  great message.

Chuck Wicks : Man Of The House

Chuck Wicks could well be the future of Country music.

The material he chooses is top of the pile and his voice is almost perfect for Country.

It's the combination of the two which makes "Man Of The House" a potential mega-hit.

Instead of concentrating on the soldiers fighting abroad, this concentrates on those left behind.

My little boy's ten, like the boy of this amazing ballad, and I'm proud of him too. But this brings home what some kids have to put up with.

This knocks spots off the other releases piled on my desk this week.