Favorite Country Albums of 2011

Who says real country music is dead? Putting aside the commercial successes that forgot about quality, here is my take for music that mattered in 2011. These albums may not have sold a heck of a lot or even garnered the recognition they warranted, but they achived the mark of great music – the songs came first.

10. Concrete - Sunny Sweeney

Led by the top ten “From A Table Away,” Concrete found Sweeney modifying her sound slightly in order to complete with what’s current on country radio. Of course, her version of slightly is different than most as she’s crafted an outstanding traditional country album worthy of her talents. There are too many highlights here to pick a favorite but the honky-tonkin’ “Drink Myself Single” and the revengeful “Amy” are among the years best songs.

Top 45 favorite country singles of 2011

Here’s my picks for the best of the best, the cream of the crop for country singles in 2011. See, the year wasn’t all bad, now was it?

45. Steel Magnolia – “Last Night Again”

A flirty romance tale finding a couple eyeing each other from across the room is made even sweeter  knowing Megan Lindsay and Joshua Scott Jones are an item in real life.

44. Terri Clark – “Northern Girl”

How refreshing is it to hear a singer singing about where they’re from and instead of a bunch of cliches, it relays to personal experience? Clark, from Canada, sings lovingly of her homeland here and shows just how great her voice still is after more than fifteen years in the industry. If you haven’t paid Clark much attention in a while, she’s worth checking out.

43. Miranda Lambert – “Baggage Claim”

A Beyonce inspired ditty that says everything Reba McEntire wished she could’ve said in “Who’s Ever In New England.” This guy ain’t got a place to come back to.

42. Jacob Lyda – “I’m Doing Alright”

This light and breezy tale is an exercise in being comfortable in your everyday life, something we could use more of in our world. Lyda co-wrote it with legendary songwriter Paul Overstreet (whose son Chord is Sam Evans on Glee) and it has that old-time feel of a great country song. Lyda didn’t make waves in 2011, but he sure deserved to.

My Kind of Country

My lack in recent updates is partly do to an exciting opportunity I accepted over a month ago. I’m now a staff writer for My Kind of Country, a popular country music blog.

That doesn’t mean this blog is going anywhere, it’s just an extension of my love for country music.

My duties are to write single reviews for new country songs and album reviews for their spotlight artist series. Here’s what I’ve written so far:

• Single Review – Thompson Square ‘I Got You’
• Single Review – George Strait ‘Here For A Good Time’
• Single Review – Randy Travis ‘Look Heart, No Hands’
• Single Review – Randy Travis ‘If I Didn’t Have You’
• Single Review – LeAnn Rimes ‘Give’
• Single Review – Julie Roberts ‘NASCAR Party’ 

I can’t believe how much I’ve already written. Six already?! I have many more in the pipe line, and as I write them, I’ll link them to my blog so they’ll be easy to find in one place.

Thanks again to J.R. Journey for inviting me to blog about my favorite subject to a much wider audience. In the coming months, I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me.

Now I just have to find the balance to write my own blog along with all the MKoC work I do. That shouldn’t be too hard.