Love and Theft

These recent Today Show performers aren't doing much for me.

Other than some CMT approval and some occasional mandolin, these guys are on a Fray/Third Eye Blind/Vanessa Carlton tip. I'm all about rock crossover (hello, Darius), but this track sounds like the work of a marketing team, not the type of homegrown crossover that Kenny Chesney works up on anthemic fist-pumpers like "Young."



Point being, fuck this. The breakdown in the middle, the reverse-video plot, I can't hang. There are small Nashville-style details, such as violin plucks and some high-end banjo sparkle, but tracks like "Don't Wake Me" feel like a label's attempt to salvage what would have been a mall-punk band, if focus groups still showed mall-punk bands sold records. I guarantee you, Love and Theft sounded exactly like Simple Plan until 2008.

This is part of the bigger trend of pop and rock stars like Jessica Simpson and Kid Rock looking to sell some albums by country-ing it up -- and in the case of Love and Theft, there's a huge glossy sincerity that can only be the result of a team of producers turning up the schmaltz knob.

Mostly, I can't get behind any band whose career aims are to be as big as Daughtry.

Fuck this.
Love, BFMH.

Friday Throwback

Damn, how didn't we see Reba's acting chops would lead to a middle-of-the-road sitcom later in her career?

Reba brings it big in this Dolly Parton-meets-CSI video for "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia." Does anyone else get an Angela Lansbury circa "Murder She Wrote" vibe from the production job on this video?

Big Timing In A Small Town, 1991 - 2009

Peanut butter and jelly.
Baseball and hot dogs.
Cold beers and Friday nights.
BROOKS and motherfucking DUNN.

Sadly, one great American pairing decided to part ways over the last few months, and BFMH can't help but comment on the passing of a great contemporary country duo.

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn could be counted on for badass videos and nostalgia-filled slow jams, often paired with Reba McEntire, as on the showstopper "Cowgirls Don't Cry." Formed in the first contemporary country Golden Era of 1991, the duo managed to snag a CMT Vocal Duo of the Year for 4 years running from 1992 to 2006, except for the fluke year when Montgomery Gentry took it in 2000 -- and let's face it, they're no B&D.

Alongside a giant single-handed contribution to the world of line dancing with "Boot Scootin' Boogie," B&D could be counted on for beer-raisin' jams from the start, like the classic "Hard Working Man" from 1992, complete with slow-mo rodeo shots. (Subquestion: is this early video of a working man trying to hold on to the metaphoric bull analagous to the entire career of working men Brooks and Dunn????)

"I'm all business from 9 til 5"


Brooks & Dunn - Hard Workin' Man (Official Music Video) - For more amazing video clips, click here

Also, let's note Dunn's killer flame-decorated shirt. Eat that shit, Billy Ray Cyrus.


More recently, B&D have broken down the mind of the country man with songs like "Hillbilly Deluxe," which pairs monster trucks and small-town images with a stronger pop flavor; B&D both got more country and more pop at the same time, like some sort of two-headed CMA-devouring American flag-waving no-shit-taking Top 40 leviathan. Brooks lists off the shit he likes over a country-rock-pop pastiche track (note the banjo), and has no problem getting real stoked on name-checking motherfucking Tastee Freeze.

"Put on a smell good, put on some Skynyrd"



The pop sheen on this track is balanced by a higher percentage of monster truck shots and white girl T&A, a move that Brooks and Dunn may not have invented, but certainly perfected.

I really don't know how to end this post other than with one more B&D jam, the aptly titled "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone," featuring lead vocals from Ronnie Dunn. We certainly will, friends, we certainly will.

IT'S ON MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

Today is the big day.

Some could even call it one of the most daring sociological explorations ever embarked upon.

Kenny Chesney. Sugarland. Miranda Lambert. Lady Antebellum.

The Sun City Carnival Tour hits San Francisco. Today. 5:30. AT&T Park. And I'm fucking THERE.

Full write up with photos to come...

Viral Video Visionaries: Lady Antebellum

Wow okay so I know I've slacked a bit this last week on Blog For My Horses, but gimme a break. I've been saying that the July 4th holiday should be *at least* a week long anyway. So pardon me while I take the time to chant "U.S.A." for a few days longer than others.

Shit though, I'm back, and I'm COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS to the big Sun City Carnival Tour stop in San Francisco featuring Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, and Miranda Lambert. How fucking sick is that line up?? Seriously. Fuck Lollapalooza, fuck the PItchfork Festival, fuck Bonnaroo (although their line ups are usually pretty awesome). This is like the Woodstock motherlode of country tours.

Obviously I'm excited for Chesney. Who wouldn't be? I've already explored Sugarland a bit here on BFMH, but this week I wanted to bring my attention to another artist on the up: Lady Antebellum.

And what do you know what? Once again that the Washington Post's anti-country, beyond offensive stereotype of country music fans in their recent article to be 100% off base. Why don't you click around the web a little bit more next time, Washington Post? Maybe you would have noticed that Lady Antebellum is already on EPISODE #64 of their virally awesome Webisode Wednesday series!

And as you can see, shit gets NUTS when Lady Antebellum is backstage at the Sun City Carnival Tour when it hits Philadelphia:

Haha, nice one guys. There's just FRUIT in the juicer, hmm? Yea right. I can smell the moonshine from here, ya crazy drunks!

Another favorite episode of mine is EPISODE #62, as it demonstrates just how fucking hardcore country fans can get for their favorite bands:

AWESOME. Nothing really shows how much you love your favorite band like a fake tattoo with a sharpie. You can bet I'll be rolling *at least* this deep when I hit the Sun City Carnival Tour on Saturday.

Check out the smooth video for "Run To You":


And let's not forget... stealing the show at 2009 CMT Music Awards:


In all seriousness though... why isn't Lady Antebellum bigger? Rascal Flatts, I think you've just met your metrosexual mainstream country nemesis. Best put a little more gel in that hair, and make that eyeliner just a little bit thicker.

Who Said Country Isn't Cool?

Thank you, Leader Post. It's good to know someone else out there agrees with what we've been trying to tell people for awhile now. Check out the full article right here. From "camping in aging trailers with broken windows" to sleeping "in the truck" as a couple of young attendees did at the Craven County Jamboree featuring Taylor Swift, George Strait, Clint Black, and more--nothing's gonna keep our people down when we're craving some down home, deep friend country ass music.

From the Vault: 7.5/10 review of Chesney's Greatest Hits (aka Fuck you for being so good and not even knowing it.)

It can be said that the origins of Blog for My Horses can be found in a facebook application called Imthemusic, and to celebrate the 4th of July, I thought I'd resuscitate my trailblazing review of Kenny Chesney's 'Greatest Hits' album on BNA Records where it could live on in style--and where people might actually see it and read it. My favorable reviews of contemporary country classics in a forum where most people would either a) give amazing reviews to predictable modern music canon (e.g. Radiohead, Notorious B.I.G., etc.), or b) continue to stroke the dick of recent Pitchfork jizzum fests (e.g. Fleet Foxes, Health, etc.), came across as both controversial and revolutionary. This was before I dawned the hat of my alias, Kevin Costner as Wyatt Earp, as well. Better yet, this review was written just about a year ago to the day.

There's only a small handful of these classic reviews from said website, and I'll post the others here at some point. Until then, sit back, relax, and light some crazy shit on fire and, while I'm currently in the country mecca of Fresno CA, turn up 95.7 The Wolf if you're in the bay area this weekend and pretend we're drinkin' some Jim Beam together.

Full review text:
"Jul 2, 2008 - It pains me that this score can't be higher. But you know what? That's Kenny's own fucking fault. Yes, "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" is on here and the title alone is one of the best song titles ever--let alone the lyrics (exerpt: "Plowing these fields in the hot summer sun/Over by the gate lordy here she comes/With a basket full of chicken and a big cold jug... of sweet tea"). But apparently Kenny thinks that "Keg In the Closet" and "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" aren't good enough for inclusion on his so-called 'Greatest Hits' compilation.

So you know what Kenny? Fuck you. Fuck you for being so good and not even knowing it. For that, you ain't crackin no 8.0 in *this* trailer park."

Special 4th of July Bonus--the "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" video !!


ps--note the 30 point seal of approval from Imthemusic readers of said review