It is always nice to go into listening to an album not knowing
what to expect and then be pleasantly surprised at how much you like it. That is the case with Parmalee’s Feels Like Carolina.


Brothers Matt and Scott Thomas, along with their
cousin Barry Knox and longtime friend Josh McSwain have been playing together for over a decade. In 2001, when they played at Corrigans, a watering hole near East Carolina University where the guys went to school, Parmalee was born. They credit Aldean and Eric Church as artists who have paved the way for their sound. They have said “If you think of
Jason Aldean as the rockin’ side of country, think of Parmalee as the country side of rock.” Throughout the album (the guys had a hand in writing every one of the 12 tracks), one can definitely hear their rock influences as well as that of bluegrass and the blues. On December 10th, the quartet will release their debut album Feels Like Carolina on Stoney Creek Records.

The album opens with “Musta Had A Good Time” which was voted #1 on Sirius XM The Highway’s “Hot 30Live” for a month and was a top 40 hit on mainstream country radio. Their second and current single “Carolina” can also be found on the album. That track is a top 10 and climbing hit.

“Day Drinkin’” the second track, will surely brighten up the cold weather doldrums with a laid back, chill vibe
reminiscent of a Kenny Chesney song. The song will turn your “happy hour right into two three or four if you
want.”

“Move” and “Dance” will have you doing both of those things as the songs successfully mix country and rock with catchy melodies.

“Close Your Eyes” is one of my favorite songs on the record. It has that easy to slip into groove similar to a FGL song or Cole Swindell’s “Chillin’ It.”  “Hey baby ‘fore the night gets any older/Lean your pretty self over here a little closer/I need to hold ya/I wanna show ya/what you don’t wanna miss.”  Definitely sounds like a
radio hit.

“Think You Oughta Know That” is a song that asks a completely relatable question: what more can a man do to convince a woman to stay and get back what they have been missing. He professes that even though times are difficult he “Ain’t going nowhere” because “Through good and bad I been here/And I ain’t going
nowhere/Baby you should know that/By now you oughta know that.” 

“Back in the Day” is great up tempo song about what it was like growing up back in the day. The themes
(beer, farms, and lakes) have been done before, but this song delivers them in a nostalgic way. I can see this one going over really well live.

“My Montgomery” is a country rockin’ (with a hint of 80’s guitar) love song about being on the road far from
the one you love and yearning to be back with that person “I can’t wait to touch down/‘Cause I need her touch now/She’s where I belong/Yeah I’m going home.”

“Already Callin’ You Mine” is about an instant connection. Even though two people barely know one another,
you know that you just want to be with that person “Cause I’m already thinking about you and me getting’ out of here and taking a drive/Just slide a little closer put your head on my shoulder like this ain’t our first time/Girl don’t worry about holding on tight because I’m already callin’ you mine.”  Another radio ready single.

“I’ll Bring The Music” is a high octane Jason Aldean style party song that will definitely bring the good
times up a notch and “kick this thing in gear.”  

“Another Day Gone” is the perfect song to close the album. It reminds us that it takes two to make a
relationship work and even though one mistake can change a relationship, it can be fixed, even if you have to swallow your pride.  “I’m gonna see if I can’t right a couple wrongs/Before I wake up with another day
gone.”

There have been few releases lately that have been true records, ones that you can listen to from start to
finish. Add Parmalee’s to that list.

4.5 Stars

Charlie Worsham released his debut album, Rubberband,
back in August to pretty much universal praise. He writes tuneful, catchy songsand is an extremely talented multi- instrumentalist. His first single from the project, “Could It Be” was a top 20 hit. Now he is ready to release single number two.


“Want Me Too” was co-written by Charlie, Ryan Tyndell & Quinn Loggins. Banjo and drum driven, the song is a breath of fresh air for country radio. It is an up tempo love song about a guy who is trying to get a girl to open her heart to him. He’s tried and tried, even pleading it seems, so he really can’t “fall any farther” in what he would do to get her to notice him.
All he is waiting for is a sign to know what he needs to do to get her attention.


"My heart's skippin' like a stone on the water
Tell me what do I gotta do
To make you want me too
The way I feel, couldn't fall any farther
Help me, what do I gotta do
To make you want me
To make you want me
To make you want me too"

The chorus is one of the catchiest toe tappin’ sing-alongs that you can’t not enjoy. You’ll definitely “want to” put this song on your playlist….on repeat.

The single and the album are available now.

Five Stars

Martie Maguire and Emily Robison are sisters who were members of the best selling female group in history, The Dixie Chicks. That group may not be producing records anymore, but the sisters are still making some beautiful music
together as The Courtyard Hounds, named after the novel within Game of Thrones creator David Benioff’s novel City of Thieves.

Their current single “Sunshine” is one of 11 tracks off of their
album Amelita which was released in July. The song was co-written by acclaimed singer/songwriter Jonathan Brooke along with Martin Strayer and Alex Dezen.


Emily Robison’s lead vocals definitely give the song a light and breezy bent. The melody, filled with fiddle
and banjo, transports you to a beautiful summer day. However, don’t let the bright up tempo melody & lovely harmonies fool you.  The witty lyrics are dripping with sarcasm about a person with a bit of an ego who always seems to bring her down and waste her time. Now, if that’s not relatable, I don’t know what is.

“I'm just an angel that sits upon your shoulder
Says the world will pass you over while you're waiting for a crown
You're no stranger to the art of how to fake it
You play until you break it, you make it hard to be around
Hey, don't rain on my parade and kill a perfect day, wasting my time
Hey, you always find a way to bring me down when I feel fine
We call you sunshine We call you sunshine”

Beyond doubtful this song will get airtime on country radio, but it sure would be a shame if you didn’t
give it a listen.

The Court Yard Hounds’ new album and single are available now.


4.5 stars

Having had the pleasure to review, and love, Gord Bamford's latest single and current #1 'When Your Lips Are So Close,' I was anxious to hear the rest of his album Cowboy Junkie. Needless to say my ears were not disappointed.

Gord, who has been called Canada's answer to George Strait, has a voice that was meant to sing country music. He may be new to many in the U.S. 
but he is far from a music newcomer. He has spent 20years honing his craft to get where he is today: a mainstay on Canadian radio and a 16time CCMA awards winner.

Country Junkie is his sixth album and all fourteen tracks make a record which you will listen to over and over again.

The album kicks off with 'Where A Farm Use To Be' a country rocker with lyrics that speak the truth not only to those who make their living farming, but to all of us who drive through the country and see building after building instead of field after field. "A 10acre black top parking lot/A bunch of wild women window shoppin'/A drive thru bank and a Baskin Robbins/Where a farm used to be."

'The Truth' is the second track and his vocals here, as well as much of the album, remind me of Toby Keith. It's a fun up tempo song with clever lyrics about letting a braggart tell his stories and even embellish them a bit, because we can't "Let the truth get in the way of a real good story/If you told it like it is it would just be boring."

'She Gets Me' and 'Unreal' both speak about a woman’s love. In the former, it is in how she understands him and what he is all about. The latter is simply a beautiful ballad about a woman’s love and the way it makes him feel. The combination of the melody, piano and his voice on this song is pretty close to perfect.

'Daughterville' is a funny song that anyone with a daughter can relate to. The song reminds me of something Brad Paisley might sing, but with a little more twang. “I'm up to my eyes in baby dolls/That’s what I get comes with the deal/The life of a daddy in Daughterville.”

'Saturday’s Beer,' 'That’s How We Party' & 'Blue Jeans' are songs perfect to listen to as we “let our hair down” after a long week (or really anytime). All three are songs that successfully mix traditional sounds with the modern. As the line in 'That's How...' says “Crank it up/Hank it up.”

'Groovin With You' is the song on the record that pushes the traditional boundaries. The spoken word/rap reminds you of Colt Ford, but the Spanish melody adds a romantic touch to the song. Gord has said "It's a little risky, but I sure think it would catch on. It's got that great catchy vibe." And that it does. Honestly, it took a few listens, but that catchy vibe will reel you in.

'I Won't Regret That' is a one of my personal favorites on the album. The song is a truly heartfelt one with highly relatable lyrics about how family comes first to this man and how he would never regret making family a priority: “And maybe they will say after I'm gone/For what it's worth/He put the right path first.”

The title track is a duet with Gord’s boyhood country idol Joe Diffe. It is a country-blues guitar driven toe tapper that many fans of country music will agree with: "I'm hooked on a goodtime feeling/I'm a country
junkie til' my dying day/How bout you?"

The album concludes with 'Nights Like You,' a big ballad where he sings "I can do long days like this as long as I've got nights like you”. It’s a romantic song, perfectly suited for his warm voice, about how everything he does all day is made worthwhile as long as he comes home to the woman he loves.

As I wrote with the single, this album is certainly as good as what you hear on American country radio today and deserves airplay. If you like what you hear, call your radio stations and request it. 

And if you are a Country Junkie, this album will definitely satisfy your need for good music.

For more information visit http://www.gordbamford.com/

Stoney Creek Records’ artist Lindsay Ell started playing piano& guitar at a very early age. "I learned how to play guitar traveling to country-bluegrass camps with my dad, and knew right from the beginning of my strong passion for country music."

She is an accomplished guitarist, but wants that to be an accent to how she is
viewed as an artist. She says "There aren't a lot of girls who play electric lead guitar, and it can be a
defining thing. First and foremost, I want people to hear me and understand my voice as a country music recording artist. When they come see me, I'd love it if they were impressed at my guitar and piano playing. But by that point, hopefully they understand the artist behind it all has a lot of different sides to her music."

Her guitar abilities and her vocals shine on her current single “Trippin’ On Us.” The song is a sunny country rocker with relatable lyrics about moving on from a relationship that is no more and finding happiness with someone new.

“Goodbye heartache, catch you on another day
Got better things to do than cry, cry no I won’t
All my tears for you are gone
No more pain will I go through”

This Fall, Lindsay can be found on an opening slot on The Band Perry’s We Are Pioneers World Tour encompassing 50 dates throughout Europe and North America.

The single officially impacts radio on December 16th.

Four Stars

2013 has been a great year for Australian born, Canadian country music
artist Gord Bamford. Most recently, he won four Canadian Country Music Awards including Best Album for Is It Friday Yet, Songwriter of the Year (with Buddy Owens and Ray Stephenson), Best Single & Best Video for “Leaning On A Lonesome Song.”

On the back these awards and three international hit singles, he is releasing his brand new
single, “When Your Lips Are So Close” from his upcoming sixth album, Country Junkie, which he recorded in
Nashville.

He debuted his new single in his performance at the CCMA Awards show in Alberta, Canada. When the song was released in Canada, it did something unheard of:  for the first time in the history of Canadian country radio add-tracking, it was added to 30 out of 30 reporters in the first week of release. 

“When Your Lips Are So Close” is written by Bamford, Byron Hill and Brent Baxter. The mood for the song is set by the melody and his soft voice.  No tailgates or dirt roads in this song. It is a sexy ballad about wanting to be physically thisclose to someone.

“Girl I wanna reach right out, wrap you in my arms right now,
Never let go, never let go
Cause I just gotta taste you baby,
You know it drives me crazy,
To be so far away when your lips are so close
When your lips are so close”

“When Your Lips Are So Close” is as strong as, if not stronger than, what you hear on country radio
today in the US. It deserves and hopefully will get airplay here. 

Both the song and Cowboy Junkie are available now.

Four Stars

Thanks to Dierks Bentley having them as openers on his tour a year or so ago, The Cadillac Three (then known as The Cadillac Black) have become permanent fixtures on my playlist. The three band members Neil Mason (drums,
percussion & vocals), Kelby Ray (dobro, bass steel guitar & vocals) and Jaren Johnston (guitar & vocals) all hail from Nashville. Johnston has co-written Keith Urban’s #1 “You Gonna Fly” as well as songs for Bentley, Tim McGraw, Jake Owen and others.

The music of The Cadillac Three has been described as ‘country fuzz’: a mix of country & southern rock with bits and pieces of other genres thrown in for good measure. Add it all up and it’s darn good music.


Their new single is also the first for their new label, BMLG. They certainly continue the country rockin’ sound on “The South” on which they get vocal assists from Dierks, Florida Georgia Line & Mike Eli of the Eli Young
Band. It’s a song that’s really “all about the south” & it’s components from the red clay to the magnolias to the diners. By the time he sings “even if you’re up north, come on down, come on down” I was ready to go.

At first listen, you might not know what you are in for. The slow burn of the first verse actually makes you anticipate that something different is ahead. Then, guitars lead you into to a booming chorus with a hard edge that “ain’t subtle,” but is perfect for cranking up loud, rolling the windows down (yes, even in late Fall) and singing at the top of your lungs. Bonus points if you can figure out all of the lyrics & sing the states in order. 

“Boots and buckles, red clay and sand
My point ain’t subtle here I’m a southern man
Where the beer seems colder and women seem hotter
Where the world don’t seem so damn modern
Where a good ole’ boy like me still has a chance
Aw this is where I was born and this is where I’ll die…its all about the south.”

If it hasn’t already, “The South” will become a song in their live shows that has the entire dive bar/arena/amphitheatre fist pumping and singing along.

The single officially goes to radio on November 25th. If you can catch them live, do. They perform with a melt your face off energy that leaves you
wanting more.


Four and a Half Stars

Honky Tonk Hip Hop isn’t just for the young guns of country.  Toby Keith, who is 52years old, proves that he can keep up with the crowd as he dips into the type of music dominating country radio today. And guess what? He totally makes it work for him. His new single “Shut Up and Get Down” will most likely grab you from the introduction. This song, which clocks in at 2:55, is high energy for its entirety. The lyrics
are witty and his delivery spot on. Get ready because it mixes scratching, plucking& harmonica with an addictive “get up and get your groove on” vibe. The song, like the many being put out in this style, won’t be for everyone. But go ahead and not like it, after a few listens you might be hand clapping, foot stomping and singing along.

"Got my name on a shot of Jack Whiskey
Gonna roll with me Gotta roll quickly 
Get in sit down shut up and hold on
Can’t wait too late it’s time to get gone
Find us a dirt road and get a groove on
Get in sit down shut up and hold on"

This song will surely please devoted Toby fans as well as make a few new ones. The single is off of Toby’s new album “Drinks After Work” which is available now.

Four & Half Stars

Eric Church fans have been waiting for new music for awhile now. Last week, we were given a teaser video announcing October 22nd as a date that something was going to happen. Well, at 12:01am
Tuesday morning new music arrived in the form of “The Outsiders.”

One of the things that has always drawn me to Eric’s music is that he is a true individual, someone who beats to his own drummer. This song certainly cements that those qualities have not changed.
Surely we didn’t expect him to stick to a formula? We had to know that whatever he was going to put out next would be different & unique. And man did he deliver. “The Outsiders” is pure arena rock. It starts out with a spoken word (semi-rap) introduction and gets grittier & loud from there on in.

“They’re the in crowd with the other ones/ It’s a different kind of cloth that we’re cut from/ We let our colors show where the numbers ain’t/ Where there paint where there ain’t supposed to be paint,”

Eric has said with Chief that he has finally found a place to “hang his hat,” that being country music. Well, “The Outsiders” seems to proclaim that even though he has been accepted he will not follow the crowd. He will still maintain who he is& make the type of music he wants to make. This is me, theses are my fans and “you’re gonna know who we are.” The lyrics are not particularly impressive, but the message of the song is
widely relatable to anyone who sees themselves as or is viewed as an outsider, someone who finds it difficult to fit in. The song is a rock and roll anthem that could most definitely be a crossover hit. 

The entire song will undoubtedly go over amazingly well live, especially the “whoa oh oh oh ohs.” His band is an extremely talented group & always deliver. They will certainly have the chance to shine on this song, especially on the last 45seconds which is straight up rock/metal guitar heaven.

Honestly (and I consider myself a pretty big EC fan), the song took me a few listens before I could truly appreciate it. It makes me awfully curious about the new record.

“The Outsiders” is available now.

Four Stars

Missouri native Tyler Farr just garnered his first number one single with “Redneck Crazy.” Can he do it again? His new single, “Whiskey In My Water,” is a radio friendly follow up that makes it likely he could have another hit on his hands.

Unlike his previous offering, there’s no alluding to violent behavior in this song. If anything, the male in “Whiskey In My Water” is crazy in love and thankful for his girl. The song is about a couple who are going out for a night. Where does the whiskey fit in? Well, his girl is compared to the good stuff. His life is like water, plain and bland & she is the whiskey who gives his life its flavor. Sure it has trucks, dirt roads and alcohol
references, but you’ll be hard pressed not to hum along or tap your foot during the chorus.

To quote the lyrics, this is one song that surely “goes down smooth.” His raspy voice, which in all honesty I am partial to, delivers a love song just as well as it does redneck crazy. 

“Cause when the sun goes down it’ll get a little hotter/Make an ole boys heart beat a little harder
Know I cant lose cause its goin’ down smooth tonight/Baby/One ain’t enough man may I have another
Sittin’ around a fire getting drunk on each other/Everyday I pray and thank God I got her she’s the moon in my shine the whiskey in my water”

The song, which is one of eleven tracks on Tyler’s debut album ‘Redneck Crazy,’ is available now.

Four Stars