After a long holiday weekend here in the United States and the unofficial end of summer, there hasn’t been too much happening in the world of country music. This comes a week after all the hoopla surrounding the 50th CMA Awards and who was in and out in terms of nominations. In addition the much-talked about Sturgill Simpson Facebook rant took place and was a topic that was beaten to death. Needless to say I didn’t feel like rehashing this again. With nothing else to really talk about, I decided to try out something I’ve been wanting to give a shot with The Hodgepodge for a while. That is an Ask The Readers Hodgepodge. It’s quite simple: I pose a question to you the readers and in the comments below we will discuss what our answers would be to the question. Sometimes it will be a yes or no question, but most times it’ll be something a little more detailed like today. The first Ask The Readers Hodgepodge will start with an age-old question involving numerous subjects, but this time country music.
If you were stranded on an island for the rest of your life and you had to pick one country album to bring with you, what would it be?
Some guidelines:
- It can also be Americana/Folk/Roots Rock because we cover those in addition to country music and I know some only follow the blog for these sub-genres.
- The album cannot be a greatest hits album, box set, compilation, covers album, live album or soundtrack. Double albums are fair game though, but it must be released at the same time and not separately.
- You can have the album in any format you please (you get one outlet on the island to plug in your CD player, record player 0r MP3 player, although good luck getting your record not to warp with all of the sunlight)
- The album you pick doesn’t necessarily have to be what you consider the greatest country album of all-time, although it can be. It’s more your favorite album.
- There are no wrong answers here! (Except if you pick a Sam Hunt album because I would think being stranded on an island would be a hard enough life without his music)
- Feel free to throw in your picks for other genres too. This is a topic to have fun with!
Now with all of the guidelines out of the way, I will give my answer. I haven’t decided as of this writing what one album I would pick, but rather a list I would highly consider from for my one pick. Those albums would be:
- Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
- Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free (of course my first two on the list are Country Perspective’s album of the year winners)
- Chris Stapleton – Traveller
- George Strait – Strait From The Heart
- George Strait – Ocean Front Property
- Alan Jackson – Don’t Rock The Jukebox
- Waylon Jennings – Dreaming My Dreams
- Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.
It’s your turn now! Be sure to weigh in below.
Upcoming/Recent Country & Americana Releases
- Whiskey Myers will be releasing their new album MUD tomorrow. My review of it will also be out soon
- St. Paul & The Broken Bones will be releasing their sophomore album tomorrow, titled Sea of Noise.
- Next week Amanda Shires’ new album My Piece of Land will be released.
- Australian country artist Kasey Chambers just released a new EP Ain’t No Little Girl and her new album Dragonfly will be released on January 20, 2017 (shout out to reader Melanie for giving me a heads up!)
- It was just announced this week Jim Lauderdale will be releasing a new album titled This Changes Everything on September 30
- A promising up and coming artist named Paul Cauthen will be releasing his debut solo record My Gospel on October 14. He’s the former frontman of Americana band Sons of Fathers.
Throwback Thursday Song
Willie Nelson – “I’d Have To Be Crazy” – This is one of my all-time favorite Willie Nelson songs and one of my favorite country love songs. For the eagle-eyed, yes Sturgill Simpson covered the very same song on his debut album High Top Mountain. It is also great and does Willie justice.
Non-Country Suggestion of the Week
Carly Rae Jepsen – “Cry” – Yes, it’s the same artist that sang “Call Me Maybe.” But she’s moved on to much better music! Her last album Emotion was pop music at it’s best and recently she released the B-Sides EP for it. I recommend both if you listen to pop music, but this song in particular is fantastic off the EP. It reminds me of the best of 80s pop and would undoubtedly be a hit in that decade of music (think Heart or Pat Benatar).
Tweet of the Week
Laughing at Blake Shelton’s current terrible single is always appropriate, but especially when it’s struggling on the chart.
Some Thoughts on Kelsea Ballerini’s Album
I’m not sure why you bought the album either, Danyelle. And it does sound pop, Victoria.