October…. it is finally OVER! Was it just us or did this month just draaagg on and on? Country fans got a smattering of new albums worth listening to and a whole lot of boring new singles. Everyone send your good juju towards Nashville, Oklahoma, and Texas and hope that some more good music comes our way. As of November 1, Miranda’s new album will arrive so we have that to look forward to! There’s always hope.

As always, please let us know if we missed anything and let us know what YOUR favorites of the month were (ours are bold).

Singles
Who knew that you aren’t allowed to have an opinion about an artist’s new music? Minneapolis KEEY-K102 plays a new song as a part of a feature called “Download or Delete.” The other day the song up for debate was Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes” [listen here if you must] and I replied to the station with “delete that sucker,” only to be directly replied to by the artist, sarcastically thanking me for my opinion.



I didn’t directly mention their name so they had to have searched for reactions. I won’t back down from my opinion, which is that the song is crap. I think this earned them a one-way trip to the soon to be created Indy Sky STFU Island where they will join the group that starts with G and ends in -loriana. If we don’t talk about them, maybe they’ll just go away.

There were actually not too many great new singles this month, unfortunately. Neal McCoy is back on the radio (we think stations are playing it…) with “A-OK” which was co-written with Luke Laird, Brett Eldredge, and Barry Dean and produced by Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton. We’re hoping for a better month in November! -b

Trace Adkins “Million Dollar View”
Katie Armiger “Scream”
Billy Currington “Like My Dog”
Keith Urban “You Gonna Fly”
Lauren Alaina “Georgia Peaches”
Love and Theft “She’s Amazing“… “Angel Eyes”
Neal McCoy “A-Ok”
Josh Thompson “Change”
The Farm “Home Sweet Home”
Scotty McCreerey “Trouble With Girls”
Toby Keith “Red Solo Cup”
Montgomery Gentry “Where I Come From”
Craig Morgan “This Ole Boy”


Albums
Sadly, neither of us bought any new albums in October. But we also use Spotify now, so we don’t have to (unless we really like them). 

Jason Boland and the Stragglers - Rancho Alto
Merle Haggard - Working In Tennessee
Montgomery Gentry - Rebels On The Run
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
Rodney Atkins - Take A Back Road
Scotty McCreery - Clear As Day
Hunter Hayes - Hunter Hayes
Lauren Alaina - Wildflower
Martina McBride - Eleven
The Damn Quails - Down The Hatch
Toby Keith - Clancy’s Taven
Vince Gill - Gun Slinger
Adam Hood - The Shape of Things
Casey Donahew Band - Double Wide Dream
Joey+Rory - A Farmhouse Christmas
Darrell Scott - Long Ride Home


Music Videos
Dierks’ video for “Home” is absolutely beautiful. It is an understated but remarkably moving video that is a perfect fit for the anthemic song. The band we continually refer to as our “new fave band,” The Dirt Drifters, released a great performance video for their single “Always A Reason” which has us wishing we could go back to the summertime! Everyone with internet access has heard or seen Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” by now, so there is not much more left to be said other than, DON’T TAKE IT SO SERIOUSLY! The song was meant to be fun… so just enjoy it. Chris Young’s video for “You” is a little cheesy, and uses the dreaded color-splash effect that beginner photographers painfully abuse to no end, but he looks great and it matches the innocence of the song so we will let it slide. Kenny Chesney is bragging that he can sell concert tickets with his new video for “Reality,” don’t you think? I guess if I were him, I would do it too!

View all videos in the player below [or YouTube Playlist]



Web Videos
Keith Urban’s “ad” for his new cologne Phoenix was featured on the Ellen Show, and I don’t know about you but I kind of want to buy it… I do know I’d rather smell like Phoenix by Keith Urban than Wonderlust by Taylor Swift. Watch live video of the special guests Keith Urban welcomed on some of the last dates of his Get Closer tour, like Eric Church, who made an arena of Milwaukee fans piddle their pants. Check out Little Big Town serve up a slice of awesome to Adam Levine for a brilliant cover of a Maroon 5 song, Frankie ‘F to the B’ Ballard mashes Hootie, Dierks introduces NYC to Merle and some live videos from shows this month!

View all videos in the player below [or YouTube Playlist]Tweets

Awesomesauce! Somehow Randy always gets a tweet of the month. His life is so entertaining.


Just discussing the original lyrics to a favorite song of ours, with the band!


We support this!


Good riddance.


We can get the socks, but not even Warren Buffett can afford the latter.


And this is why I sleep on top of the comforters at hotels…


Carrie’s let herself go since getting married…


Go gurls!!


We promised James this earned him a Tweet of the Month, so here you go!



News
Rascal Flatts Inducted to the Grand Ole Opry
Scotty McCreery’s freshman album debuts at #1
George Strait’s 58th #1 single, and the first written by him [article]
James Otto Fills In for Joshua Scott Jones of Steel Magnolia [photo right]
Lonestar Reunites
Miranda Lambert Breaking The Country Music Mold [NPR]

Pistol Annies and Sunny Sweeney: Soundtracks for the Recession [The National]
Miranda Lambert Returns [Billboard]


Shows (loved them all!)
Ramble Jam [post] *recap to come
Country and Cold Cans Tour: Dierks Bentley, Jerrod Niemann, Eli Young Band [post] *recap to come
Get Closer Tour: Keith Urban, Jake Owen [post]


To find out what is in store for next month, check out our calendar and twitter for updates for new music, upcoming concerts, and the latest in country music news.

Aly and Beth