Justin Moore's success in country music is reminiscent of times gone by. The Arkansas native is one of the very few hat acts left among the younger country crop, I mean, only a few of them still wear a cowboy hat on stage while performing, with influences that encompass both classic country and rock. He released his debut single, 'Back That Thing Up,' in 2008, but it wasn't until 2009 that he scored his breakthrough with 'Small Town USA,' song we’ve just listened to, and which gave him his first No. 1 hit. His self-titled debut album went Gold, as did his sophomore effort, 2011's 'Outlaws Like Me,' which placed additional hit singles including 'Bait a Hook,' 'Til My Last Day' and 'If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away,' another chart-topper. 2013 saw the release of Moore's third studio album, 'Off the Beaten Path,' which scored even more hits with 'Point at You' and 'Lettin' the Night Roll.' Moore is also a devoted family man, and with the birth of his third child in 2014, he announced his intention to scale back his touring activities and spend more time at home.
We’ll say goodbye to this talented musician listening to the song which gives name to his last album, “Kinda don’t care” from 2016, co-written by Rhett Akins.
Our record machine took us back in time to listen to Old Dirt Road, a great honky tonk song from Rhett Akins, from his debut album “A Thousand Memories” from 1995, one of those jewels published with the label Decca Nashville when country music enjoyed a surge in neo-traditionalist. Born in the state of Georgia, Rhett suffered the difficulties of being mainstream and keeping it real country, and he has ended up publishing his own work in independent labels, focusing more in his career as a lyrics composer. He’s got a son who’s now a country musician, too, trying to keep the tradition alive.
Having in mind our search for real country music to offer you, today we are bringing you a piece of art by an artist from Austin, Texas. T Jarrod (full name, T Jarrod Bonta) has been performing in his home town of Austin, TX, since he was twelve years old. He has played or recorded with a variety of Texas' elite: Rosie Flores, Johnny Bush, Wayne Hancock, Cornell Hurd, and many others. As if there were ample time left, his own band, The T Jarrod Quartet, has been performing regularly since about 2000, playing a mix of western swing, jazz and country. His name is “T”, just the plain letter “T”, it doesn’t stand for anything.
T's goal has not been to use his talent to achieve fame or fortune, but rather to refine his abilities and to seek to be the best performer that he could be. One of life's lessons is that TALENT gives you a head start, but HARD WORK eventually moves you much further along. And when you mix immense talent with really hard work - well, you wind up with a musician like T Jarrod Bonta.
The song we’ve just listened to is “Does your conscience ever bother you”, from his album White lines, published by the label The Music Room in 2011, and it includes 11 originals by T Jarrod. The repertoire will bring to mind the work of country legends like Jimmie Rodgers, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Thompson, and Bob Wills, to name just a few.
To finish with this wonderful album, we’ll listen to the song You Drive me crazy, where T Jarrod takes traditional country, honky tonk, western swing and hillbilly jazz to an entirely new level of freshness.
Got my name changed back, the 8th track of the album Interstate Gospel, by the trio Pistol Annies, released last november. This trio is composed by three talented musicians named Miranda Lambert, Ashley Moore, and Angaleena Presley, each of them solo musicians who started this project together back in 2011 next to their solo careers. In 2011, only Miranda Lambert was a solo artist, being the other two bandmates Ashley and Angaleena only known within Nashville as songwriters and not performers. Pistol Annies defined themselves as modern outlaws for the 21st century, probably being where they free their talent constraints that their solo careers suffer. They have published already three works, “Hell on Heels”, “Annie Up”, within 20 months one from the other, and the last one this last 2018.
We’ll say goodbye to our 4th show with a visit to the last album published by Josh Turner, son from the state of South Carolina, this gravely voiced musician has published his second album in a matter of one year, like all the others with his label MCA, this time with a selection of Christian country songs.
From the outset of his career, Josh Turner leaned into classic country traditions and he also began singing professionally in a gospel quartet, so it was perhaps only a matter of time before he devoted an album to gospel music. That album, I Serve a Savior, arrived last october, just over a year after Deep South gave him his third Billboard Country number one. Deep South relied heavily on Turner's way with a ballad, a gift that also serves him well on I Serve a Savior. The album opens with a good version of Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light” in a duet with Sonya Isaacs, the one we’ll say goodbye to the podcast with. The end result may not deliver surprises, but it's a comforting listen, which is what it was intended to be in the first place. Josh Turner
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