Tag Archives: Jason Aldean

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Billboard Country Airplay and Country Albums Chart (October 10th)

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Billboard Country Airplay

1. Kenny Chesney–“Save It for a Rainy Day” (2nd week a #1)
2. Keith Urban–“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
3. Brett Eldredge–“Lose my Mind” (up 1)
4. Luke Bryan–“Strip It Down” (up 2)
5. Florida Georgia Line–“Anything Goes” (up 2)
6. Old Dominion–“Break Up With Him” (up 5) [tied for biggest gainer]
7. Carrie Underwood–“Smoke Break” (up 2)
8. Chase Rice–“Gonna Wanna Tonight”
9. Chris Janson–“Buy Me a Boat” (down 6)
10. Cole Swindell–“Let Me See Ya Girl” (up 2)
11. Maddie & Tae–“Fly” (down 1)
12. Dan + Shay–“Nothin’ Like You” (up 1)
13. Blake Shelton–“Gonna” (up 1)
14. Chris Young–“I’m Comin’ Over” (up 1)
15. Jason Aldean–“Gonna Know We Were Here” (up 5) [tied for biggest gainer]
16. Tim McGraw–“Top of the World” (up 2)
17. Cam–“Burning House” (up 2)
18. Jake Owen–“Real Life” (down 1)
19. Brothers Osborne–“Stay a Little Longer” (up 2)
20. Parmalee–“Already Callin’ You Mine” (up 3)
21. Big & Rich–“Run Away With You” (up 1)
22. Kelsea Ballerini–“Dibs” (up 2)
23. LoCash–“I Love This Life” (up 2)
24. Jana Kramer–“I Got the Boy” (up 2)
25. Hunter Hayes–“21” (up 2)
26. Brad Paisley–“Country Nation” (entering top 30)
27. The Band Perry–“Live Forever” (up 1)
28. Randy Houser–“We Went” (entering top 30)
29. Chase Bryant–“Little Bit of You” (up 1)
30. A Thousand Horses–(“This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial” (down 1)

  • Kenny Chesney’s “Save It for a Rainy Day” remains at the top for a 2nd week
  • next week’s #1 prediction: “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
  • Thomas Rhett’s “Crash and Burn” and Lady Antebellum’s “Long Stretch of Love” fell from #5 and #16, respectively, to out of the top 30
  • Brad Paisley’s mediocre “Country Nation” and Randy Houser’s unoriginal “We Went” enter the top 30 this week

Billboard Top Country Albums

1. Luke Bryan–Kill the Lights
2. Alabama–Southern Drawl [debut]
3. Turnpike Troubadours–The Turnpike Troubadours [debut]
4. Home Free–Country Evolution [debut]
5. Brett Eldredge–Illinois
6. Sam Hunt–Montevallo
7. Eric Church–The Outsiders
8. Zac Brown Band–Jekyll + Hyde
9. Florida Georgia Line–Anything Goes
10. Little Big Town–Painkiller
11. Maddie & Tae–Start Here
12. Jason Aldean–Old Boots, New Dirt
13. Alan Jackson–Angels and Alcohol
14. Brantley Gilbert–Just as I Am
15. Various Artists–Now That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8
16. Kacey Musgraves–Pageant Material
17. Kip Moore–Wild Ones
18. Chris Stapleton–Traveller
19. Chase Rice–Ignite the Night
20. Zac Brown Band–Greatest Hits So Far…
21. Jason Isbell–Something More Than Free
22. Carrie Underwood–Greatest Hits: Decade #1
23. Elvis Presley–Elvis Presley Forever
24. Cole Swindell–Cole Swindell
25. Alabama–Angels Among Us: Hymns & Gospel Favorites

  • Luke Bryan is back on top with the unfortunate Kill the Lights
  • Turnpike Troubadours debut at #3 with their brilliant self-titled album…if you have not listened to and/or bought this, do it now
  • Alabama’s Southern Drawl debuts at #2
  • at least Sam Hunt was not in the top 5 for once
  • seriously, who is buying these Now That’s What I Call Country albums?

Source: Billboard

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Billboard Country Airplay and Country Albums Chart (October 3rd)

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Billboard Country Airplay

1. Kenny Chesney–“Save It for a Rainy Day” (up 3)
2. Keith Urban–“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
3. Chris Janson–“Buy Me a Boat”
4. Brett Eldredge–“Lose My Mind” (up 1)
5. Thomas Rhett–“Crash and Burn” (down 4)
6. Luke Bryan–“Strip it Down” (up 2)
7. Florida Georgia Line–“Anything Goes” (up 2)
8. Chase Rice–“Gonna Wanna Tonight” (up 3)
9. Carrie Underwood–“Smoke Break” (up 5) [tied for biggest gainer]
10. Maddie & Tae–“Fly”
11. Old Dominion–“Break Up With Him” (up 1)
12. Cole Swindell–“Let Me See Ya Girl” (up 1)
13. Dan + Shay–“Nothin’ Like You” (up 2)
14. Blake Shelton–“Gonna” (up 2)
15. Chris Young–“I’m Comin’ Over” (up 5) [tied for biggest gainer]
16. Lady Antebellum–“Long Stretch of Love” (up 1)
17. Jake Owen–“Real Life” (up 1)
18. Tim McGraw–“Top of the World” (up 3)
19. Cam–“Burning House”
20. Jason Aldean–“Gonna Know We Were Here” (up 2)
21. Brothers Osborne–“Stay a Little Longer” (up 3)
22. Big & Rich–“Run Away With You” (up 1)
23. Parmalee–“Already Callin’ You Mine” (up 2)
24. Kelsea Ballerini–“Dibs” (up 2)
25. LoCash–“I Love This Life” (up 2)
26. Jana Kramer–“I Got the Boy” (up 2)
27. Hunter Hayes–“21” (up 2)
28. The Band Perry–“Live Forever” (up 2)
29. A Thousand Horses–“(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial” (entering top 30)
30. Chase Bryant–“Little Bit of You” (entering top 30)

  • new #1: “Save It for a Rainy Day”
  • next week’s #1 prediction: “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
  • Dustin Lynch’s “Hell of a Night” and Sam Hunt’s “House Party” fell from #6 and #7, respectively, to out of the top 30
  • A Thousand Horses and Chase Bryant enter the top 30 with the less than impressive “(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial” and “Little Bit of You”

Billboard Top Country Albums

1. Brett Eldredge–Illinois [debut]
2. Luke Bryan–Kill the Lights
3. Sam Hunt–Montevallo
4. Zac Brown Band–Jekyll + Hyde
5. Eric Church–The Outsiders
6. Florida Georgia Line–Anything Goes
7. Maddie & Tae–Start Here
8. Little Big Town–Painkiller
9. Alan Jackson–Angels and Alcohol
10. Jason Aldean–Old Boots, New Dirt
11. Brantley Gilbert–Just as I Am
12. Kip Moore–Wild Ones
13. Kacey Musgraves–Pageant Material
14. Chris Stapleton–Traveller
15. Various Artists–Now That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8
16. Elvis Presley–Elvis Presley Forever
17. Zac Brown Band–Greatest Hits So Far…
18. Jason Isbell–Something More Than Free
19. Chase Rice–Ignite the Night
20. Kelsea Ballerini–The First Time
21. Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard–Django and Jimmie
22. Cole Swindell–Cole Swindell
23. Carrie Underwood–Greatest Hits: Decade #1
24. Darius Rucker–Southern Style
25. Various Artists–Mud Digger, Volume 6

  • Brett Eldredge’s mediocre r&b-influenced Illinois finally replaces Luke Bryan’s horrifying album at the top, and for that, I have to thank Brett
  • look at the staying power of Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, and Willie and Merle, enough said

Source: Billboard

Female Fridays

Female Fridays: Featuring Courtney Patton

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For today’s Female Friday, I turn to the Texas scene to focus on a very underrated female, Courtney Patton.

How You Might Know Courtney

If you aren’t very familiar with the Texas scene, you probably won’t know her. If you are, she is the wife of better-known Texas artist Jason Eady.

Bio

From a 2014 interview with Galleywinter, on her musical influences:

Don Williams, James Taylor, old Willie Nelson. I love Carole King. She’s mellow, a killer songwriter back in the hippie days, and I grew up listening to that because that’s what my mom listened to. Joni Mitchell’s album Court and Spark, it’s real mellow too. Steve Wariner, ya know, like slow good, waltz-y country.

From a 2015 interview with Saving Country Music, when asked, “What is country music to Courtney Patton?”

Country music to me is simple stories with beautiful words with a simple melody and beautiful arrangement. And it’s cheap therapy to me (laughter).

Courtney Patton is gaining quite a reputation in the Texas music scene for those “simple stories with beautiful words with a simple melody and beautiful arrangement.” A singer-songwriter from Granbury, Texas, Courtney has independently released three albums, each with its own unique sound. Still Around (2008) is characterized by acoustic guitars and a mixture of traditional country and country-pop arrangements. Triggering a Flood (2013) brought Courtney her first real critical acclaim; this is a typical Texas country album, with a sound very similar to much of the red dirt music coming out of Oklahoma and Texas. So This is Life (2015) is, in Courtney’s own words, “a traditional country record”–Courtney raised funds for this on Kickstarter with this type of album in mind. So This is Life was
my introduction to Courtney, with its acoustic arrangements and excellent songwriting. I was immediately captured by her voice, and became a Courtney Patton fan the day I first heard her album. Since then, I have listened to her earlier albums as well, finding songs on both Triggering a Flood and Still Around that I enjoyed. Courtney Patton and Jason Eady have discussed a future duets album, which will likely be the next album to come from either of them, and that day cannot come soon enough because Jason Eady is incredible as well.

Since this column is about the promotion and discovery of talented females, it is important to share that in the SCM interview, Courtney was asked about females in the Texas music scene, as well as the Keith Hill controversy. It’s as hard, if not harder, for females to be successful in Texas as it is in Nashville. Courtney said,

It is incredibly hard for female artists. I’ve even admitted to being one of the females that prefers listening to men and I don’t even know why that is. I think there are a lot of really strong female writers out there right now that are proving me wrong. And that’s so great. I think that there’s always been more men since music has been around but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t just as many great women that aren’t being heard. I know that guy [Keith Hill] was a consultant and I know that he feels like he was misquoted a lot. Jason [Eady] and I went back and read what he wrote and he was just saying what he saw. But it’s a hurtful way to deliver a message that if radio stations play more women singers, their ratings will go down. I hate that. I’d like to say that’s radio’s problem for not figuring it out correctly. Our local radio guy, one of my favorite radio host’s named Shayne Hollinger, said, “There’s no reason for you not to play women because they’re out there and some of them are better than the men.” I believe that. I believe that there’s some really talented women out there that are better than some of the men that are being played. We just need to shut up and do our work and prove it. That problem has been there forever for women

Patton went on to say that men and women have different points of view and can tell different stories when writing songs.

Women are mothers and can be wise in those ways. They can be spouses to addicts and speak from being abused. There’s so many different ways to write a country song and it’s important to hear it from the woman’s perspective. Women can have subtleties that guys don’t. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m all for it (laughter). All my girlfriends are fantastic songwriters and singers and I know that much of what they’re doing can’t be done by a guy. And there’s things that guys can do that we can’t. It really takes both of us. I just hope that there’s as close to a level playing field as there can be because they deserve to be heard. I hope to be heard.

Why Courtney Belongs on Country Radio

Firstly, I am not going to use this to talk about why Texas and/or independent artists should get airplay and recognition by mainstream Nashville–that is its own point entirely and could cover multiple posts. This is about what Courtney brings to the table in the Texas scene and in country music as a whole. The answer is simple: her definition of country–“simple stories with beautiful words with a simple melody and beautiful arrangement.” Whenever someone asks you how you define “country”–and that happens a lot these days because apparently that definition has magically changed–refer them to this. Courtney Patton’s answer is the best possible answer, and her music is a wonderful reflection of her answer. Her songs tell about her parents’ divorce, (“So This is Life,”) one-night stands, (“Little Black Dress,” “Need for Wanting,” “Sure am Glad,”) marital problems, (“Battle These Blues,” “Her Next Move,” “Where I’ve Been,”) prison (“Killing Time,”)–and by the way, all those examples come from one album. That, my friends, is country. It’s raw and real, and there’s something relatable about that that Courtney Patton understands. Then, she takes all these songs and adds acoustic guitars, steel guitars, fiddles–and in the case of Triggering a Flood, a good Texas country blend of country and rock instrumentation–and her remarkable voice, and makes you feel something with nearly every song she sings. And by the way, someone needs to give Jason Aldean a Courtney Patton record, because I guarantee he will be able to tell her apart from the other women–if not, he is tone deaf and no one should be taking him seriously anyway.

Tracks I Recommend

1. “War of Art”–So This is Life
2. “Lamplight”–Triggering a Flood
3. “Need for Wanting”–So This is Life
4. “So This is Life”–So This is Life
5. “Little Black Dress”–So This is Life
6. “Where I’ve Been”–So This is Life [by the way, Jason Eady wrote this, which accounts for part of its awesomeness]
7. “Sure Am Glad”–So This is Life
8. “Better Man”–Triggering a Flood
9. “Light Fades”–Triggering a Flood
10. “Twelve Days”–So This is Life
11. “Ain’t Lovin’ Like This”–Triggering a Flood
12. “Still Around”–Still Around

Listen to Triggering a Flood

Listen to So This is Life

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Billboard Country Airplay and Country Albums Chart (September 26th)

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Billboard Country Airplay

1. Thomas Rhett–“Crash and Burn” (up 1)
2. Keith Urban–“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” (up 1)
3. Chris Janson–“Buy Me a Boat” (up 1)
4. Kenny Chesney–“Save It for a Rainy Day” (up 2)
5. Brett Eldredge–“Lose My Mind” (up 2)
6. Dustin Lynch–“Hell of a Night” (down 5)
7. Sam Hunt–“House Party” (down 2)
8. Luke Bryan–“Strip it Down”
9. Florida Georgia Line–“Anything Goes”
10. Maddie & Tae–“Fly”
11. Chase Rice–“Gonna Wanna Tonight” (up 1)
12. Old Dominion–“Break Up With Him” (up 2)
13. Cole Swindell–“Let Me See Ya Girl”
14. Carrie Underwood–“Smoke Break” (up 3)
15. Dan + Shay–“Nothin’ Like You”
16. Blake Shelton–“Gonna”
17. Lady Antebellum–“Long Stretch of Love” (up 2)
18. Jake Owen–“Real Life”
19. Cam–“Burning House” (up 3)
20. Chris Young–“I’m Comin’ Over”
21. Tim McGraw–“Top of the World” (up 2)
22. Jason Aldean–“Gonna Know We Were Here” (up 5) [biggest gainer]
23. Big & Rich–“Run Away With You” (up 1)
24. Brothers Osborne–“Stay a Little Longer” (up 1)
25. Parmalee–“Already Callin’ You Mine” (up 1)
26. Kelsea Ballerini–“Dibs” (up 2)
27. LoCash–“I Love This Life” (up 2)
28. Jana Kramer–“I Got the Boy” (up 2)
29. Hunter Hayes–“21” (re-entering top 30)
30. The Band Perry–“Live Forever” (entering top 30)

  • new #1: “Crash and Burn”
  • next week’s #1 prediction: “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
  • Eric Church’s “Like a Wrecking Ball” and Kip Moore’s “I’m To Blame” fell from #11 and #21, respectively, to out of the top 30
  • Hunter Hayes’s “21” re-enters the top 30 this week, along with The Band Perry’s terrible new pop single, “Live Forever”
  • at least “Strip it Down” has stalled a little in its ridiculous climb to the top

Billboard Top Country Albums

1. Luke Bryan–Kill the Lights
2. Sam Hunt–Montevallo
3. Maddie & Tae–Start Here
4. Zac Brown Band–Jekyll + Hyde
5. Eric Church–The Outsiders
6. Elvis Presley–Elvis Presley Forever
7. Kip Moore–Wild Ones
8. Florida Georgia Line–Anything Goes
9. Little Big Town–Painkiller
10. Alan Jackson–Angels and Alcohol
11. Brantley Gilbert–Just as I Am
12. Jason Aldean–Old Boots, New Dirt
13. Chris Stapleton–Traveller
14. Various Artists–Now That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8
15. Various Artists–Mud Digger, Volume 6
16. Luke Bryan–Crash My Party
17. Kacey Musgraves–Pageant Material
18. Jason Isbell–Something More Than Free
19. Zac Brown Band–Greatest Hits So Far…
20. Chase Rice–Ignite the Night
21. Darius Rucker–Southern Style
22. Cole Swindell–Cole Swindell
23. Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard–Django and Jimmie
24. Kelsea Ballerini–The First Time
25. Carrie Underwood–Greatest Hits: Decade #1

  • Luke Bryan is still at the top
  • Maddie & Tae sit at #3 like beacons of hope…they really have the top country album, because neither Kill the Lights nor Montevallo are country albums
  • Chris Stapleton’s Traveller moved up 7 spots from #20 to #13 this week

Source: Billboard

Commentary

Random Thoughts of the Week: The “Random Thoughts” of Merle Haggard and Jason Aldean

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I was actually going to focus this entirely on merle Haggard until today, when I heard of the news of Jason Aldean’s comments. Both Haggard and Aldean shared some very interesting random thoughts on country music this week, and they are made even more interesting in light of each other, so I decided to look at them together.

In an interview on September 9th, Merle Haggard said, of modern country music,

It needs a melody real bad. Not sure what they’ll have to remember. A song is defined as words put to music, but I don’t hear any music. All I hear is the same band, the same sound, and everybody screaming to the ceiling. You stand off at a distance and you couldn’t tell who they are. They are all screaming for one note they can barely get. I don’t find it very entertaining. I wish I did.

This comes after these comments on September 3rd, shared in another interview:

I can’t tell what they’re doing. They’re talking about screwing on a pickup tailgate and things of that nature. I don’t find no substance. I don’t find anything you can whistle and nobody even attempts to write a melody. It’s more of that kids stuff. It’s hot right now, but I’ll tell you what, it’s cooling off.

Now, aside from the obvious fact that Merle Haggard has just said what many of us are thinking, this news is significant because these words have come from a legend. Mainstream outlets are actually reporting it; Merle Haggard is name-dropped in many of today’s songs, and yet he is calling out mainstream country. A more underrated but no less significant fact is that he said it’s “cooling off”–Merle Haggard has been around awhile, and if he says a trend is dying, we all might want to listen to him. Also, Merle points out Sturgill Simpson and
Taylor Swift, of all people, as being current artists he respects. Sturgill Simpson, seen by many people on these blogs as our biggest hope, who carries a giant torch for traditional country, and Taylor Swift, who, even though she eventually went pop and made an entire career on “kid stuff” knows how to write a melody better than most of our generation. I love that he called out Swift especially, because as I said, she made a name for herself writing “kid stuff.” By mentioning her name, Merle Haggard is separating himself from those “old” country fans who just want everything to sound like Hank Williams. He’s acknowledging that you can still write “kid stuff” and be relatable; also, as a commenter on SCM pointed out, Taylor was a kid when she wrote “kid stuff,” whereas the bros are adult frat boys.

And speaking of the bros, there’s one that actually agrees with Haggard…well, sort of. Monday, (September 14th), Jason Aldean said this when asked about the lack of female representation in mainstream country music,

I feel like a lot of times female singers, to me, when they’re singing – and I’ll probably kick myself for saying this – a lot of times, it just seems like I can’t distinguish one from the other sometimes if I just listen to them, you know? A lot of times they just sound really similar to me.

Well, cluelessness of that statement aside, it does seem interesting that Aldean hears the sameness in country music that Haggard noted. However, back to the cluelessness–so he can tell all the bros apart? The females are easily more distinguishable–has anyone here heard Kelsea Ballerini sing and assumed it was Miranda Lambert? Then Aldean went on to say:

…you have some that come out like a Carrie [Underwood] or Miranda [Lambert] or somebody like that, that really has a different, distinctive sound to their voice, then it’s like, oh, okay, you can tell them apart all of a sudden. They go on to be obviously big stars, but I think it’s because you can distinguish between them … Listening to country radio, you always have these labels that are putting out new acts and it’s like, you already don’t know who this person is. So what is going to make you remember them?

Oh, okay, so he can tell two females apart on the radio: the two that are played on country radio!!! Here’s a thought; I bet, just maybe, possibly, if he heard more females, he might be able to tell more of them apart! So, in reference to females, his comments become absolutely ridiculous. However, in reference to country in general, it is interesting that both Merle Haggard and Jason Aldean, who come from very different backgrounds and perspectives, have noticed a sameness and lack of individuality in country music. Too bad Jason Aldean’s comments were only directed at women; Merle Haggard made no distinction between men and women. Still, regardless of the intent of Jason Aldean, his comments were no less honest than those of Merle Haggard, and both point to an increasing notice of, and concern for, the lack of individuality in a genre that once embraced it.

Tomato of the Week: Courtney Patton

I am going to turn my attention to the Texas scene for this week’s Female Friday–it seems Texas is just as lacking in female representation as Nashville–and I look forward to featuring Courtney Patton.

Random Country Suggestion: Josh Turner–“Lay Low”

The excellent single from the album that has yet to be released or even announced.

Non-Country Suggestion: Kelsea Ballerini–“Secondhand Smoke”

Kelsea Ballerini is a terrible country artist, and should have never been classified as such. But her debut album actually had some decent pop songs and I put this here for that reason; listen to it as a pop song. It’s a personal song for Ballerini and should not be overlooked because of the atrocious “Dibs,” “Yeah Boy,” etc.

One Last Thought

Congratulations to Lindi Ortega, who won the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) 2015 Roots Artist of the Year award Saturday night (September 12th.) This is Lindi’s second win in a row, and hope for females, independent/Americana/roots artists, and music of substance everywhere.