Hannah Montana's new single

Miley Cyrus : The Climb

Walt Disney was known for his wonderful cartoon characters. Now there's a cardboard cut-out to add to the list - Miley Cyrus who is perhaps better known as TV creation Hannah Montana.

Of course, the Disney stable of record labels - they represent Rascal Flatulence among others - know very little about genres - what kind of music they produce.

They claim this song is Country. Hmmmm. Maybe that's because Miley's dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was once a Country singer. There's no other apprenet connection to Country Music.

It's a nice song. It's a POP song. Country radio SHOULD ignore it. They won't: they'll buy into Hannah Montana giveaways and the rest.

Not, of course, that I'm being cynical. Not of course, that Walt Disney aren't. They've released TWO versions of the song - one with a piano intro, the other with a guitar intro.

So that'll double the cash intake from that song. And, it's a nice publicity trip for the upcoming album which goes with the upcoming movie.

I'm sorry Miley fans - but I don't think Disney will be offering any of those through this web site. I've yet to say something good about them!!

Dierks Bentley : Sideways

While the backing stays soft enough over the first two lines of the intro, you can hear a banjo and think: "Promising". Then the heavy rock guitars cut in and wham bang thank you Ma'am - we're crossing over from rock and roll to heavy metal.

A wise friend of mine pointed out that Buck Owens set up shop in California because, even back in the 1960s, Nashville wanted to "widen the appeal" of Country music.

Sadly that meant (and still means) diluting the music we love, and cross breeding it with pop and rock and schmaltz.

Bentley is a great artist with an amazing voice and an ability to energise up tempo numbers like this. This will go down well at dance venues and it'll get a ton of airplay.

But slipping an almost inaudible banjo in there and including girls in denims and white tank tops in the lyrics DOESN'T make the song any more Country.

My verdict: Surefire top three hit!!

Marc Broussard Featuring LeAnn Rimes: When It's Good

This is a fascinating jazz/saloon song with Country fiddles added.

This guy has the kind of soulful voice that will delight cruise liner audiences forever.

LeAnn kind of gets in the way of his work.

Quite why Atlantic Records think this has anything to do with Country music escapes me. Unless, of course, they remember all those years ago when LeAnn Rimes WAS (note - past tense) WAS a Country singer.