Song Review

Every once in awhile, an artist like Miranda Lambert needs to remind the country music community what crazy looks like. All this talk of marriage, babies and puppy dogs could have left some (unwisely) wondering if Nashville’s most explosive firecracker had settled into life as a domestic diva. ‘Fastest Girl in Town’ is Lambert breathing fire again.

Jessie James has the voice and the passion to be a force in country music, she just needs the right song. Her new single ‘Military Man’ will find a special place in the hearts of military families, but that audience — while important — isn’t large enough to make the song a national hit on country radio.

The power behind the punch of Lady Antebellum‘s sophomore album has withered away to little more than a slap to the cheek with the group’s fourth single ‘Wanted You More.’ The best songs from ‘Own the Night’ have already been issued as singles, and while hope remains for a late surge (‘Cold as Stone’ or ‘Friday Night’ perhaps), this new offering is more style than substance.

The title track to Lee Brice‘s ‘Hard 2 Love’ album is of the same mood as the chart-topping lead single ‘Woman Like You.’ ‘Hard to Love’ protects none of the vulnerabilities and insecurities a man has in showing his lover how he feels.

A new wife, a new baby, a new record label … add it all up and you’ll find a new Randy Houser on his debut single for Stoney Creek Records. ‘How Country Feels’ drops the Delta Blues-soaked guitar riffs in favor of a sound more palatable to the fan of middle-of-the-road country music.

“And the ACM Award for Guitar Lick of the Year goes to …” OK, so they don’t reward loud, nasty guitar riffs that upset the neighbors when you open the windows and crank the stereo to 10. But if they did, Montgomery Gentry‘s ‘So Called Life’ would earn the duo their first major award in over a decade.