I’ve linked to them a couple of times, but one of the best pop sites out on the Web at the moment is Idolator, which did a pretty brilliant breakdown of country pop from the 90s and today, leading up to Taylor Swift’s recent #1 pop airplay hit “You Belong To Me”. Granted, she got enough of an airplay bump off of Kanyegate to nudge the track up from what looked to be a #2 peak, but it still counts.
With all of the country artists that are crossing over these days (Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, and the Dixie Chicks, to name a few), it seems like you either take your country pop-ified, or you take it fully traditional (George Strait, Reba, Alan Jackson). That’s why a tour like Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley appeals to me. Here you have two guys that recognize where the music comes from and where it’s going, and they are able to honor both positions without seeming like a sellout or a fossil.
While Brad Paisley was the headliner, Dierks definitely has some pull with the country crowd, so they ended up with an opener for the opener by the name of Jimmy Wayne. I know Jimmy because of a song he recorded back in 2003 called “Stay Gone”, and around that time, I saw him in the parking lot of a Circuit City. Random, I know. Either way, I was glad to see that he’s getting a second chance at a career, because he had a long lull between hits, and that’s usually a kiss of death in the music business. Highlights of his set were “I Will” and his cover of “Sara Smile”, which he revealed he had finally gotten permission to record, and it will be the title of his next CD coming in November. It’s tough to do a lot with a half-hour set, but he definitely did his thing.
Up next was Dierks Bentley, who a lot of the ladies in the audience made a LOT of noise over. If you like your country artists tall, lanky and scruffy, he might fit the bill. His set was a good run-through of his big hits, and the crowd was with him from start to finish. The way he ran the stage reminded me of a Garth Brooks show from back in his heyday, but this set was about the music, and he definitely delivered. The one song I wanted to hear was “Settle for a Slowdown”, and I got it, but his acoustic take on “My Last Name” was pretty incredible. I think it’s only a matter of time until he’s headlining shows on his own based on the way he maximized 55 minutes of stage time.
Brad Paisley has had 24 singles off of 7 CDs, and only two have missed the Billboard Country Top 10 (reaching #12 and #18). Every one of those tracks has also charted on the Hot 100 as well, which is a pretty amazing feat, considering that Brad isn’t the most high-profile performer out there, and none of those songs got any pop airplay. So it’s a testament to him that he pulls in such a diverse fan base to his concerts. I credit a good chunk of it to songs that talk about real lives, not just the cliched topics of traditional country music. Online chatting, reality TV, fishing, love, heartbreak…okay, maybe the last three are more traditional, but you get the gist.
The pacing of the show was terrific, and he really did a great job of mixing up the vibe throughout, playing to the varied demographics in the audience. I was cracking up as Brad sang “Celebrity” while country artists like Dierks, Bill Anderson, and Taylor Swift (see, it all comes around) played Guitar Hero on the big screen behind him. For every all-out party anthem, there was a more restrained moment, like his recent #1 “Then”, and “Waitin’ on a Woman”, which got a couple of people around me a bit choked up with the Andy Griffith video playing out the lyrics. That’s where Brad’s strength is…he’s the guy at the barbeque who can move from group to group, instantly picking up on the conversation and contributing to it without being overbearing. It is a bit cliched, but he is the guy that guys want to be, and women want to be with. That’s an equation that just doesn’t get old.
Speaking of cliched, if I had one complaint about the show, it was the video montage that accompanied “When I Get Where I’m Going”. It’s great to pay tribute to those people that have passed on, and maybe it is more about my weariness with all of these celebrity deaths, but I really feel that “Going” is such a powerful song on its own, and means so much to so many, that it almost seems disrespectful to impose your own priorities of people who are missed on top of that moment. But having said that, the show as a whole was extremely enjoyable, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back for another Brad Paisley show.
I was fortunate to catch two terrific concerts last weekend that helped reassure me that sometimes the music actually gets to do the talking in these days of slick publicity stunts and product placements on every commercial you can imagine. My review of the Brad Paisley concert will show up tomorrow, but I really want to talk about Mr. A-Z and his incredible show at Red Rocks Saturday night (check out the prelude 
My one condition in going to a show with someone is that I must be there to see the opening act, and this concert was a good reason why. I’ve heard about K’Naan on several occasions from 
Jason’s set was brilliant. Do I need to say anymore? Okay…he opened up with “Make It Mine”, which is probably the most natural show-opening song I can think of, but also smart because the Gratitude Cafe tour name comes from that track as well. The pacing of the show was outstanding, with perky upbeat tracks leading into long, luxurious jams that floated on the early-evening breeze blowing through the amphitheater. In fact, his cover of Seals and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” was as inspired a cover he could have played, even exceeding the somewhat predictable Bob Marley cover “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”.
However, a friend of mine in academia brought to my attention that there is a segment of the population that is not taking Taylor’s side, and is actually praising Kanye for what he said and did. Former students of his that are African-American males are taking up Kanye’s cause, saying that they are proud of him for speaking the truth. That was a bit of a shock to me, because nowhere in my sphere of contact with pop culture over the past 24 hours had I seen one voice outright defend Kanye.
Part of why this whole situation pains me so much is that Kanye, for all of his faults, means well. Even in this outburst, I am sure he felt like he was righting a wrong inflicted upon Beyonce for not winning the award. He will always have some support from me because he is one of only a few rappers to speak out against homophobia in hip-hop, and he has suffered a good amount of character assassination as a result. Granted, some of that comes from his actions in other arenas, but being outspoken on social issues, combined with a good dose of metrosexual modeling, is a bad combination in the machismo-infused hip-hop community.
Do we have a different standard for people of different ethnicities in how they are perceived in the media, and even in our own minds? Possibly. Until we as a society can step out of our neatly maintained boxes of cultural decorum and understand that other cultures handle situations in very different ways, we will never get over these cultural divides that keep us divided as a people. Sadly, this is not going to happen any time soon, especially if you look at how a minority of the American public view the President of our nation, simply because he has African ancestry.
I’ve talked about it before, but Amazon is doing some amazing wheeling and dealing as it attempts to make up some ground on iTunes with an MP3 Download store of it’s own. Friday, it was the Jay-Z opus Blueprint 3, which I picked up for $3.99 (SO worth it!), and today, it’s Nelly Furtado’s Mi Plan for 
If you want a full, thoughtful recap of the VMAs, look no further than Rich’s amazing breakdown of the events (with some amazing screen caps) at 
– I defeated myself with Janet, because the initial buzz made it sound like she was going to be the heart of this dance extravaganza, but cooler heads prevailed, and she did the most appropriate thing possible. The way they only used his part of the video dance scene, and then got the camera angle of her dancing with him in the right position, was perfection. My initial disappointment with the lack of Janet turned to relief that a) she didn’t embarrass herself; and b) she didn’t embarrass Michael.
– Lady GaGa, meet the jumping shark. Jumping shark, here’s your next victim.
– If anyone is going to get a sales bounce out of this show, I am hoping it is Muse, who completely deserves it. They rocked it out, and I will be looking for the CD coming out tomorrow. Oh, and Gerard Butler introduced them. Just sayin’.
Does it seem possible that we are going on three months since Michael Jackson died? It kind of boggles my mind, as it seems like only a couple of weeks ago we were inundated with non-stop coverage of the circus surrounding his death, with all the fixins. It’s easy to forget that the buzz around MJ prior to his early demise was whether his London-based concert would even see the light of day, let alone be turned into a highly-anticipated theatrical release. But through all of the craziness and sadness, there are some key lessons that I’ve been able to identify.
– What you won’t do, do for fame – Dad is pimping side businesses, associates are rushing to publish tell-alls, and other family members are rush-releasing five-year-old recordings (see LeToya) and “tributes” (see Jermaine). I suppose it’s not a knock on anyone, but some of it just comes off a bit desperate. Even alleged son Omer Bhatti, who rumors have apparently floated for years about him being Michael’s love child, surfaced for the memorial service and even sat in the front row with the rest of the family. Tribute tour with all of his offspring is sure to follow.
Remember the 80s, when European acts stood just as much of a chance at charting in the US as native-born acts? That’s not quite where things are at right now, with 8 out of 10 acts in the Top 10 fronted by Americans, and a ninth (Drake) hailing from Canada. The sole European at the top of the Hot 100 this week is Jay Sean, who had to get signed to an American label to chart, features American rapper Lil Wayne, and hasn’t even hit the UK charts yet with his hit “Down”. In fact, you have to go all the way down to #57 to find an all-European act (Cascada). That’s pretty pitiful, but these things go in waves if you look back at the history of the American charts. So do the Europeans have any shots at making it big in the US any time soon? Well, maybe…
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