Honorable Mention Albums For 2016

These are the albums from 2016 that did not quite crack my top ten. Don't read anything into the order, because I didn't even order the top 10. Everything here is number 11.

These are non genre specific. Just albums that I heard and liked during 2016. A mainstream album will never make my top ten even if it is the best, because that's not what I do. But mainstream albums can make the honorable mentions list.

Also, it's my list. It's not right or wrong, it's just my list. And if I left out your favorite, it means one of two things, either I haven't listened to it or I didn't like it that much. If the latter, just my opinion, not a judgement.

Lori McKenna - The Bird and The Rifle
This is a good album. There is no reason it should not make a lot of country/Americana lists, just not mine. Oh and that Tim McGraw song "Humble and Kind"? Yeah, that's really a Lori McKenna song which is on this album.

Monster Truck - Sittin' Heavy
In my quest to prove that "rock ain't dead" Monster Truck exemplifies what I mean. They borrow from the 70s, 80s and 90s hard rock scenes and meld it all together in something that sounds classic but not dated.

Bonnie Bishop - Ain't Who I Was
A return, a redemption, a reinvention. Whatever. It's a heartfelt, soulful album. And if you like music, good music, you'll like this.

Dolly Shine - Walkabout
If this is indeed the swan song for Dolly Shine, they went out with their best album to date. Walkabout is a fantastic red dirt country/Southern rock album. I had dismissed their earlier stuff as generic red dirt, which it was, this album was not. Hope these guys come back in some incarnation.

Kate Vargas - Strangeclaw
Kate Vargas' second album Strangeclaw is jazzy, torchy, trippy, hipster-ish, quirky, kitschy while not losing the southwestern roots that Kate came from. The New Mexico native, now residing in New York, has put together eight songs that take the listener on a journey, not just through the album, but sometimes within a song.

Chelle Rose - Blue Ridge Blood
There are more aesthetically pleasing albums released this year. Rose's Blue Ridge Blood has no soaring vocals or slick production or flashes of instrumental virtuosity. What it does have is grit and groove and Appalachian swamp. Blue Ridge Blood is too real to be comfortable, too good to be ignored.

The Amorettes - White Hot Heat
The Amorettes second album White Hot Heat is a lot like their previous album Game On. And that is not a bad thing. When you hit upon something that works, why deviate? AC/DC has been doing it for years. The Amorettes are a trio from Scotland that has stripped everything down to guitar, bass and drums. And attitude. Straight up, no-frills, punch-you-in-the-face rock. For anyone old enough to remember, think Fastway. It's got that kind of vibe.

Diana Rein - The Long Road
Diana Rein's The Long Road is blues. It's rock. It's sultry. It's sweaty. It's unashamedly and unabashedly all Diana Rein all the time. It's good music. If you're a blues purist, this won't be for you, but if you're like me and like a little rock and pop and country in your blues, your can't go wrong with this album.

Shelly Fairchild - Buffalo
This is a late entry that almost didn't make because I didn't hear it until a couple of days ago. Released in late November, there will be an album spotlight coming out on this in a few days.

And finally, a couple of mainstream/well-know artists who released outstanding albums in 2016:
Eric Church - Mr. Misunderstood
Metallica - Hardwired...To Self-Destruct

Kevin McGuire - Country Music Fan

I get it. College Gameday has had more than a fair share of Nashville pop stars. And Kenny Chesney, while a real fan, is overdone. I'm on Kevin McGuire's side in that aspect.

But, you know, why take it there, Kevin? Unless that's what you really believe. If you, Kevin McGuire genuinely think all country music sucks, then I pity you. But, hey, in the meantime, find me some shoe gazers and emo punk and EDM artists that know anything about college football. I'd be more than happy to hear from them on Gameday.

[Googles Eric Church]

Oh. A country music singer. How original, GameDay.

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) October 1, 2016

Is Eric Church the country singer I got a PR email about in the last week or so begging me to interview him about college football, or nah?

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) October 1, 2016

All country music sucks. https://t.co/g8bKCFroCW

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) October 1, 2016

CMT Music Awards:Eric Church and Lzzy Hale: That's Damn Rock & Roll

Image from heavy.com

I wrote about the Eric Church and Halestorm pairing before. I though it was an interesting, maybe even good, idea. Although that had to do with Halestorm opening for Church on his current tour.

At the CMT Music Awards this idea went a bit further when Church performed with Halestorm frontwoman and leader Lzzy Hale on Church's song "That's Damn Rock & Roll".

And it was damn rock & roll. Nope, wasn't country, but that ship left port a long time ago. The best country performance was put in by LeaAnn Womack and Kacey Musgraves in their Alan Jackson tribute. But I digress.

Full disclosure here. I'm a big fan of Halestorm and Lzzy Hale's vocals specifically. While Church is a good enough vocalist in his own right, he could never bring to that song what Hale did: soaring, powerhouse, straight up rock vocals.

Right now what I'm most disappointed about is that the Halestorm leg of Church's tour gets no closer than 13 hours away from me.



And if the YouTube video gets taken down, here's a link to their performance at the CMT Awards.

TheCheapSeats on Twitter.

Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, and Genre Bending

If you read this blog at all, you know I don't really deal in negativity. Especially when it comes to my music posts. I like to feature good stuff that I've found. But what happened at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night bears comment.

I'm talking about the Carrie Underwood/Miranda Lambert 70's Aerosmith/bad anthem mashup. It was, quite frankly, poor execution of a less-than-mediocre song. "Something Bad", it was. Don't believe me? Here's some video proof. Judge for yourself.



Don't get me wrong. I like both Carrie and Miranda. I'm just disappointed that this is what they came up with in collaboration. It's beneath both of them.

But that brings me to a bigger subject. This is a rock song. At least what I grew up knowing as rock. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that. In fact 70's, 80's and 90's style rock and pop has been co-opted by country music. For me that's a good thing. I like that kind of music.

But on the flip side, there seems to be no room for what is considered traditional country. And that's a shame. I was watching the top 20 on GAC or CMT (can't remember which) this past weekend, and there was not one song that even resembled traditional country. Most of the songs would be in heavy rotation on MTV or VH1 a few years ago.

Right now, there's no room for rock in pop, and no room for traditional country in country. I don't know where it goes from here, but some think that there may be a split in country music, which makes sense to me.

Eric Church is taking hard rock Grammy winners Halestorm out on tour with him for a few dates. That pairing makes more sense to me the than Dwight Yoakam, who will be on the whole tour. Since we're talking about Halestorm and Carrie Underwood, a couple of songs they recorded are practically interchangeable.

Eric Church, Dwight Yoakam and......Halestorm?

I'm not a huge Eric Church fan. However, I don't dislike his music. In fact, some of it I quite like.

Eric Church has released tour dates, along with opening acts/special guests. It is interesting enough that the entire tour will be with Dwight Yoakam. Props to the Eric Church camp on this pairing. But what is even more curious is the opening special guests.

Part of the tour will feature Brandy Clark. She deserves it. Very talented. Traditional-like country. Female artist. (And we could discuss the dearth of female artists on country music radio all day, but not here, not now).

Part of the tour will include the Brothers Osborne. I'm not familiar with them, but from what I've read, they are good.

The last leg of the tour intrigues me the most. The special guest/opening act is Halestorm. If you're not familiar with Halestorm, they won the most recent Grammy for Hard Rock/Heavy Metal (although cool for them, the Grammy's are clueless). Here's a sample of their music.





Before the total wasteland that country music became in 2013 and early 2014 with all the auto-tuned, vapid, hick-hop bro-country, devoid of anything of substance or female voices, country was much closer to classic rock and 80's hair metal than anything else.

I actually think this is a good pairing and would love to attend a show, if for nothing else than to judge the reaction.