Smallwood’s first album is a fantastic blend of East and West coast singer-songwriter sensibilities. There’s a lot of Jackson Browne here. There’s even more Billy Joel and Carole King. Even more, there’s a reverence for honest, straightforward music-- especially the best stuff from the 1970s.
The Filthy Fifteen: Part 2
This week, we’ll be covering the Parents Music Resource Center’s Filthy Fifteen: a list of songs from 1985 that, according to the group, embody the music industry’s flagrant promotion of sex, violence, drugs, and the occult. This is the third installment of a four-part series. For more background, check out our introductory article and the first part of our countdown.
"Everything Except Country and Rap:" What You Really Mean
“Everything but country and rap” at its core is a class issue. While they seem completely separate, hip hop and country sit on the extremes of the spectrum of popular musical genres, and find themselves subject to many of the same criticisms. This, to me, threw open the door on why “everything but country and rap” is a bigger deal than it seems.
The Filthy Fifteen: Part 1
This week, we’ll be covering the Parents Music Resource Center’s Filthy Fifteen: a list of songs from 1985 that, according to watchdog the group, embody the music industry’s flagrant promotion of sex, violence, drugs, and the occult. For more background, check out our introductory article.
THIS WEEK: 2015 CMA Awards Predictions
Country Music’s biggest night is this week, which means two things: Predators road games and a little contest called Fantasy CMAs. Casey and I will go head to head with our guesses of who will win at the CMA Awards this year, and we will tweet the results at @runoutnumbers during the broadcast on Wednesday night. In the meantime, I’ll be sharing my choices as my version of a viewing guide, and you are welcome to join in the Fantasy CMA fun by playing against these. Just remember, play clean: no changing your answers during the commercial breaks.