A Rhyme: "Strawberry Wine" - Deana Carter

The debut single "Strawberry Wine", from country crooner Deana Carter, was released in 1996 from her debut album Did I Shave My Legs For This?. Before being recorded the year earlier, songwriter Matraca Berg shopped it around to labels but was shut down by companies who insisted the song was too long and controversial. Carter recorded the song and it became the most successful song of her career.

Listening to the song and viewing the lyrics, you get a sense of just how special the hometown is for the speaker (which is not necessarily Carter, since Berg wrote the song based on her experience growing up in Luck, Wisconsin). It's where she lost her innocence and first fell in love. Carter sings the song in a way that makes her fondness believable even though the fields become overgrown so many years later. The song has remained one of the most popular country tunes and was later covered in 2006 by country duo The Wreckers.

Picture credit: amazon.com

A Rhyme: "There Is No Arizona" - Jamie O'Neal

Released in 2000 with the singer's debut album Shiver, Jamie O' Neal's "There Is No Arizona" remains one of her most popular tracks to date. I first heard this song probably a year after it was released when my grandpa started listening to country radio in the car. After that, I would watch GAC and see the video. Ever since then, I have loved the song. I came across it again recently and bought it from iTunes and upon listening to it again, I've truly understood what it is about.

The gist of the story is that a guy promises to take his girlfriend to Arizona where they'll live out the rest of their lives together and all their dreams will come true. As it turns out, he goes there without her leaving her waiting for him until one day, it dawns on her that he isn't coming back. The reason why this song is so poignant is because of the way the writers decided to relay the fact that a guy had promised his girl these dreams and now they were never going to be realized. They simply say that the hopes will never be true because Arizona doesn't exist. O'Neal does a great job of conveying the emotion evicted in the song. I feel it every time.

Image Credit: Mercury Nashville

Music Video: "Every Other Weekend" - Reba McEntire & Kenny Chesney

The third and final single from Reba McEntire's 2007 album Reba: Duets features country heartthrob Kenny Chesney. The two alternate verses taking the roles of a divorced couple who share custody of their two children and drop them off "every other weekend". The song details how the parents secretly desire to be together again--but they won't tell the other how they feel, fearing they won't feel same way.

"Evey Other Weekend"'s video features Joanna García and Steve Howey from McEntire's sitcom Reba which ran from 2001 to 2007. Reba appears in the video but her duet partner, Kenny, doesn't.

As a viewer of the sitcom, I was stunned to see that when the video came on TV's Van and Cheyenne was a divorced couple. How could Reba's cutest couple be divorced with all they've been through since the shows premiere?

The video for "Every Other Weekend" can be seen below.

Reba McEntire - New Music - More Music Videos

Source: MTV.com, wikipedia

Spotlight: Country Music & Suicide

According to an article published back in 2007, a study shows a link between listening to country music and committing suicide. The article asserts, "Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal mood through its concerns with problems common in the suicidal population, such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation from work." I don't know about you, but while country music of today still talks about these issues, that sounds like the country music of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The report goes on to say that "the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate." So basically if you listen to country music while on a road trip from Georgia to Florida, you'll probably want to commit suicide by the time you get down there? Or will it take a while to sink in, and by the time you get back home to Georgia, you'll want to commit suicide?


What I don't understand are the terms under which the study was conducted under. What kind of country music did the people in the metropolitan areas listen to? And for exactly hoe long? By which artists? Were they male or female? Does it matter if the particular song or songs were up tempo songs or ballads? I first started truly listening to country music when I was in the 4th grade. I listened to LeAnn Rimes, (I used to have her song "How Do I Live" on repeat while my sister on my way to gymnastics! I've always listened to her.) Rascal Flatts, Terri Clark, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney and other artists. While the thought of my immortality does cross my mind sometimes (who doesn't think about their dying day--presumably when they're old and gray? ) but I never thought about seriously ending my life prematurely. I still listen to country music, but not as much as I did back then. I do indulge in the sounds of LeAnn Rimes, Rascal Flatts, and Carrie Underwood more than other artists, and while their songs may deal with serious topics, they don't push me to think about ending my own life. Maybe it's because I listen to other genres of music as too. Who knows?

You can read the rest of the article here, although the entire report is unavailable because it seems to be out of date.

Source: The Monkey Cage

Spotlight: Kier's Playlist

Here's a playlist full of the music that I like. Many songs that I like are NOT on here so there may be another one in the future. Enjoy!

A Rhyme: "Stay"- Sugarland

Sugarland's (fourth) single, "Stay", from their 2007 album Enjoy the Ride is a ballad. It's about a mistress who wants the man who is cheating with her to stay with her instead of going back to his wife. The song was inspired by Reba McEntire's song "Whoever's in New England". That song is about a Southern woman who fears her husband is having an affair while he's in New England on business; she vows to still be there for her husband when he gets back despite her thoughts.

"Stay" had a unique premise for a country song, or any song for that manner. A song about cheating would usually follow the woman being cheated on rather than the woman with. The song is very simple in arrangement, with only Jennifer Nettles on vocals and (Sugarland's other member, Kristian Bush usually provides harmonies) an organ and acoustic guitar creating the music. The main focus here are the vocals and most importantly the lyrics.



Image credit: GACtv.com