Music Reviews

The Best of Johnny Cash: The Man In Black’s 15 Most Essential Songs
[Aug. 1, 2009] For the first installment of our brand new feature, The 9513’s Best Of… series, we’ve put our heads together and endured the harrowing process of paring down the entire Johnny Cash catalog to a list of his 15 most essential recordings

George Strait Is Pushing Boundaries with “El Rey”
[Aug. 1, 2009] Taking chances is a rare thing in mainstream country these days. Taking chances that are culturally significant is even rarer. Leave it to veteran George Strait to be the diamond in the rough.

Toby Keith plays up his patriotism, but there's more to this many-sided rebel
[Jul. 30, 2009] The singer of the song “Lost You Anyway” is racked with sorrow and regret. He has lost someone he loved and is admitting his guilt and confessing his sins:

Darius Rucker crosses over
[Jul. 30, 2009] Imagine being referred to as a nickname you neither earned nor wanted. For too many years, singer Darius Rucker was called “Hootie,” since he was obviously the leader of Hootie and the Blowfish.

Review: Rascal Flatts ... a fun, mid-summer party
[Jul. 30, 2009] Country rock band Rascal Flatts made two stops in Florida this passed weekend during their "American Living-Unstoppable Tour 2009." Their latest studio album "Unstoppable," was released in April. The first single "Here Comes Goodbye" became the band’s tenth No. 1 single.

Michelle Branch – “Sooner or Later”
[Jul. 30, 2009] Michelle Branch’s first country single as a solo artist—after splitting with former BFF and The Wreckers cohort Jessica Harp—finds her doing her best impression of Michelle Branch.

Review: George Strait sings from the heart
[Jul. 29, 2009] If King George were to sing even half of his 57 No. 1 songs, the concert would last for hours. So, when country music fans come to a George Strait concert, they can be sure that, though they may miss many of their favorite songs, they will hear plenty of them, too, and have a wonderful time. Strait is simply a phenomenal musician.

Album Review: John Anderson – ‘Nobody’s Got It All’
[Jul. 29, 2009] After the brief resurrection of John Anderson’s career in the early 90s, it died down again in the later part of that decade, although he has continued to release some excellent music on a series of major labels...

Rock Band Country Track Pack Announced
[Jul. 29, 2009] Finally, some good news for folks whose children or grandchildren have been driving them nuts by playing all the heavy metal that comes with the interactive Rock Band gaming system. I've actually played the game a few times but the song choices preferred by my grandsons test my patience and limit the time I can stand to pretend to play guitar.

Review: Toby Keith swaggers through kick-butt show at Comcast
[Jul. 28, 2009] MANSFIELD - Whether it was the cowboy hats or the heat, you would have thought you were in Texas at the Comcast Center on Sunday night.

The Manners Are Mild, but the Quiet Mischief Gets a Chance to Play
[Jul. 28, 2009] MORRISTOWN, N.J. — When Randy Travis fiddles with a note, he fiddles with his head, too; long and lean, supporting a proud tuft of hair, it rattles easily on his neck as he works over a word

The Manners Are Mild, but the Quiet Mischief Gets a Chance to Play
[Jul. 26, 2009] MORRISTOWN, N.J. — When Randy Travis fiddles with a note, he fiddles with his head, too; long and lean, supporting a proud tuft of hair, it rattles easily on his neck as he works over a word. When he gets hold of a syllable he likes, he jerks it high and low and side to side as if it were engulfed in flames, then drops it abruptly when the air or the feeling runs out. By JON CARAMANICA

Kenny Chesney turns in high-energy show, but falls short
[Jul. 19, 2009] There wasn't enough Corona in San Francisco's AT&T Park to wash the bad taste out of 40,000 country fans' mouths when they arrived at the big country show Saturday to learn of the last-minute cancellation of second-billed Sugarland. By Shay Quillen

New music: Country-flavored Costello on ‘Secret, Profane & Sugarcane’
[May 21, 2009] Secret, Profane & Sugarcane” is technically a country album — in the way a lot of albums produced by T Bone Burnett are country.

The arrangements are rustic, the instrumentation says bluegrass or country blues (dobro, double bass, mandolin, fiddle, accordion) and the list of guests includes Jim Lauderdale, Jerry Douglas and Emmylou Harris. And Loretta Lynn’s name is in the liner notes.