TNS Video History- Brooks and Dunn- "Red Dirt Road"

That Nashville SoundBITES- Blake Shelton- All About Tonight

That Nashville Sound receives many different CD releases throughout the year from indie, bluegrass and artists just off the mainstream radar- or smaller projects like EPs- that we’re doing short mini CD reviews on. We call them That Nashville SoundBITES- it’s a feature that will allow us to give some props to some albums and artists that deserve a spotlight on their work.

Release Date: August 2010
Music Label: Warner Brothers
The Skinny: Blake Shelton's second six-song EP- (Warner Brothers is calling it a mini-album, but a spade is still a spade)- still represents the grown-up kid’s rowdy anthems and more critically accepted ballads as most of his previous work including the predecessor, Hillbilly Bone. The title track isn’t overly deep, but has made a connection at radio with its tasty little chorus hook. The real highlight is the Dobro-infused "Draggin' the River," a fantastic duet with Shelton's fiancée, Miranda Lambert. It puts a twist on their real-life romance with a back-story of pushing their car off a bridge so that they can buy some time to get married while their families are looking for them in the river. "Got a Little Country" is a new-age rockabilly tune that features some great and nimble guitar work. The other big star on the album is the beautiful ballad “Who You Are When I’m Not Looking.” It opens with Shelton putting his lover on a pedestal, only to realize that there's a lot more to the woman than such two-dimensional treatment might suggest. "My, oh my, you're so good lookin'," he muses to himself, "but who are you when I'm not lookin'?" It’s not overly philosophical, but asks and answers enough questions to be personally specific. The album is typically rowdy on the uptempos and real on the ballads. It adds up to nothing overly new from Blake Shelton but appealing nevertheless.
Sounds Like: Jake Owen
Standout Tracks: "Draggin' the River," "Who Are You When I'm Not Lookin' "
The Verdict: Three and a half stars out of five

New Music Video From Robert Plant- "Angel Dance"

Following his Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss on 2007's Raising Sand album, Robert Plant is back with a brand new Rounder Records album called Band of Joy. This is the first single off of that album entitled "Angel Dance." This one's got a great groove...

Carolyn Dawn Johnson Releases New "Love Rules" Album

Love Rules is the fourth studio album by Canadian country music singer-songwriter Carolyn Dawn Johnson. The album was released this week in Canada through Dancing Lily Music and Universal Music Canada. The album's first single, "Let Me Introduce Myself", was released in mid-2010 and has reached the top ten of the BDS Canadian Country Singles chart. Five of the tracks were co-produced with Frank Rogers.


Johnson's first rose to fame by co-writing Chely Wright's 1999 Number One single, "Single White Female", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in September 1999. In 2000, Johnson signed with Arista Nashville and, in 2001, released her debut album, Room with a View. The album's first two singles ("Georgia" and "Complicated") were both Number One hits on the Canadian country music charts, and the latter was a Top Ten hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts.

Track Listing:
"Let Me Introduce Myself"
"The Whole Thing"
"I’d Still Have You"
"Stop for Me"
"Reach You"
"Hangin' On"
"What If"
"Bitterness"
"I Just Want My Life Back"
"At the Time"
"Teach Me"
"Love Rules"

Montgomery Gentry Plan "Eight-Track" Greatest Hits On September 28

Country music's award winning duo, Montgomery Gentry's new album Hits and More: Life Beside a Gravel Road- being released September 28- brings together a collection of 5 of their latest greatest hits as well as 3 brand new songs including the current single "Oughta Be More Songs About That".

The project will also include the hits "Some People Change," "Lucky Man," "What Do Ya Think About That" and "Roll With Me." The duo released their first Greatest Hits in 2005.

"When we put out our first Greatest Hits album, Eddie and I felt like we'd just gotten started. We're always trying to better ourselves both in the studio and onstage," said Troy Gentry. "If you look at the direction Montgomery Gentry has gone, we started out with the hard-driving, in-your-face, honky-tonk, hell-raising style and carried that over into more working-man's songs. We've really tried to connect and relate to our fans through our music over the years."

That Nashville SoundBITES- Flynnville Train- Redemption

That Nashville Sound receives many different CD releases throughout the year from indie, bluegrass and artists just off the mainstream radar- or smaller projects like EPs- that we’re doing short mini CD reviews on. We call them That Nashville Soundbites- it’s a feature that will allow us to give some props to some albums and artists that deserve a spotlight on their work.

Release Date: June 2010
Music Label: Next Evolution Records
The Skinny: This Indiana-bred country-rock band is a real throwback to the southern rock of the 1970s- think a looser more honkytonk version of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The blue collar everyman lyrics blend together with the exception of two key tracks. They take you inside the legendary Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in "33 Steps" (the title cleverly measuring the walk from the Grand Ol' Opry). For anyone who has set foot in the history club, it’s a terrific painting the lyrics paint and a tribute to an iconic place in Nashville lore. The album also closes with a strong cover of America's "Sandman." Originally released in 1971, Flynnville Train has repackaged the song to address the current military involvement of the country. Musically, the boys let their hair down with terrific guitar work on a song that is deeper in meaning than the rest of the album. Like their first album, FT has terrific promise. More lyrical bite and less bark would serve them well.
Sounds Like: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Standout Tracks: 33 Steps, Sandman
The Verdict: Two and a half stars out of five

Charlie Daniels Band Releases New Album Today

Legendary Blue Hat Records/E1 Entertainment act, The Charlie Daniels Band, is set to release a new collection of patriotic songs today (August 10)titled Land That I Love.

The full-length release, co-produced by Daniels, Patrick Kelly and Casey Wood, features 15 tracks, including newly recorded studio versions of “Iraq Blues” and “(What This World Needs Is) A Few More Rednecks 2010.” “Iraq Blues” was written during previous Charlie Daniels Band tours in Iraq, and the 2010 update of “(What This World Needs Is) A Few More Rednecks 2010” includes an additional verse the iconic musician wrote to “reflect life in America in the 21st century.

Other songs on the collection include Daniels classics such as “Simple Man,” “This Ain’t No Rag, It’s A Flag,” “In America,” “Still in Saigon” and more. Land That I Love will be available digitally through most major online retailers, including iTunes, Amazon.com and Rhapsody.com and in select retail stores on Aug. 10. The “Iraq Blues” and “(What This World Needs Is) A Few More Rednecks 2010” singles are both currently available at iTunes and Amazon.com.

Kings Of Leon To Release More Country-Flavored Album October 19

A brand new Kings of Leon album titled, Come Around Sundown, is set to be released October 19 in the United States and rumor has it- it's much more country-flavored than any previous release. Come Around Sundown will be the follow up to 2008's Only By the Night and will be the band's fifth studio album.

Frontman Caleb Followill told SPIN back in January that "it’s some of the saddest country songs you’ve ever heard, but mixed with some of the hippest melodies we’ve ever done. It’s beat driven and heavy, but then there’ll be a country song that’ll tear your heart out. And no pop.”
The 13 new songs on Come Around Sundown - which adheres to the five syllable rule the boys use in naming all their albums, are said to have the brothers Followill "stepping outside their traditional guitar-bass-drums arrangements, adding fiddle, trumpet, and lap steel to select tracks."

Up & Coming New Nashville- Joe Thompson

Joe Thompson is a songwriter and singer who believes in three chords and the truth (whatever the truth may be at the moment.) Brought up among the steel mills and oil fields of Western Pennsylvania by fiercely loyal Texans, it did not take long for a blue collar mentality and work ethic to manifest itself even when it came to music. While the songs of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard were standard fare in the Thompson household, Joe quickly found a passion for classic rock and roll and the thought provoking lyrics of 60’s and 70’s folk music.

After honing his chops as a trained singer and actor in college, Thompson dove into the gypsy lifestyle of the professional actor. While working as an actor, Joe learned basic guitar and song structure. A turning point came when late one night Joe saw Steve Earle live on television playing “Lonelier Than This.” Earle’s painful lyrics delivered so simply with the perfect marriage of country sentiment and Rock and Roll attitude were so very striking, Joe immediately began writing songs.

Retracing Earle’s footprints, he discovered greats like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark and others inspired by Earle like Ryan Adams and Wilco. These efforts and inspirations eventually led to Joe Thompson’s 2007 debut LP, The Hunting andThe Hope.

Winning favorable reviews and a warm reception on the Americana radio format, Thompson, an unknown before it’s release, deemed The Hunting & The Hope a moderate success. Looking to make a larger splash, Joe hunkered down, wrote on average a song a week for a year and formed the backing band which is now The Comfortable Catastrophe, and headed back into the studio. The result is Yankee Twang: ten brand new songs released in June.

New Music Video From The McClymonts- "Save Yourself"

It’s always fun when one of the acts that I feature in our weekly Up & Coming New Nashville get a big break and that’s the case for a young trio from Australia that we featured back in April of this year called the McClymonts.

The McClymonts are three sisters from Australia. Brooke, Sam and Mollie have been singing together since they were children and play acoustic instruments.

TNS Video History- Waylon Jennings & Travis Tritt Duet On "I've Always Been Crazy"