2. Sara Evans - "Suds In The Bucket"
I think she has my favorite accent in all of current country music. She's from Missouri, right? I wonder if she says "herre" like Nelly too.

3. Terri Clark - "Girls Lie Too"
One of the things that really got me paying attention to mainstream country the past couple years (besides my cable provider reorganizing the channels and putting CMT next to the other video channels I've always watched, which is what really did it) was the realization that a lot of it is basically power pop, with the big shameless choruses and winking wordplay, and this is basically the best power pop song this year that had just enough twang to pass as country. Plus there's the completely bizarre video featuring Wayne Newton and a Johnny Depp impersonator in full Captain Jack Sparrow garb, a storyline with no apparent connection to the lyrics.

4. Josh Gracin - "I Wanna Live"
This is basically the same song as Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" except with a much bigger hook and no extreme sports metaphors or cutesy shit about a bull named Fu Manchu. Aside from a couple Kelly Clarkson singles this is the best thing I've heard from anyone involved in American Idol so far.

5. Montgomery Gentry - "If You Ever Stop Loving Me"
Better than a lot of their tough guy songs, and worth it just for that opening verse's "my old man's/backhand/used to land/hard on the side of my head/I just learned to stay out of his way".

6. Brad Paisley featuring Alison Krauss - "Whiskey Lullaby"
It's a bit melodramatic and the video (directed by and starring Rick fuckin' Schroeder) is hilariously over the top, but it has that gorgeously sad "lie-la-lie" refrain that reminds me of "The Boxer" in a good way.

7. Cledus T. Judd - "I Love NASCAR"
I hesitate to call Cledus the "Weird" Al Yankovic of country simply because he's nowhere near on that level of quality control with his parodies. But to take that comparison to its logical extreme, Toby Kieth is to Cledus as Jacko is to Yankovic, as Cledus's best singles (this and "How Do You Milk A Cow") are based on Toby's best singles ("I Love This Bar" and "How Do You Like Me Now", respectively). The best part is when Toby himself pops up for a cameo at the end, and brings an unexpected touch of emotion to a silly satire with a heartfelt tip of the hat to Dale Sr. ("just to see Big E on the track again would put a smile on every face/noone drove a car/quite like Earnhardt").

8. Loretta Lynn and Jack White - "Portland, Oregon"
This is kind of a guilty pleasure for me because I don't think I've ever really liked a White Stripes song, and I don't really know much LL either, but this is undeniably good, no doubt in no small part due to the fact that Jack didn't write it and Meg didn't play drums on it.

9. LeAnn Rimes - "Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense"
Another great soaring chorus melody and more power pop-worthy cheesy wordplay ("a jumbo shrimp or a baby grand" etc).

10. Reba McEntire - "He Gets That From Me"
This is basically the same song as John Michael Montgomery's "Letters From Home", at least in terms of melody and structure, and they're both tearjerkers, but this one edges it out by being a really well constructed lyric that builds up to the sad part foreshadowed by the early verses.

Labels: lists

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at 9:17 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.