Anyway, long story short, after a decline following a post- Urban Cowboy era, country music badly needed a shot of rejuvenation, both artistically and commercially. I’ve discussed before how I appreciate the class of ‘86 more than I do the class of ‘89 (even if Alan Jackson is an all-time favorite), and – spoiler alert – this is the first of two entries from that class, and it pained me to leave the last one off this list (though it was close). We invite you to share your favorites, too. These are simply ten first favorites that have shaped us as music listeners and thinkers. It’s all in good fun, hence why we haven’t ranked these or are touting these as the all-time best ones. Keep in mind that this is nothing more than a fun overview and not necessarily meant to offer a deep-dive into any one specific project or artist, nor is it meant to act as some sort of comprehensive guide – we haven’t heard everything out there. So I’ve teamed up with a familiar frequent collaborator, Grant (of Critically Country), to discuss some of our personal favorite debut albums. For some, their first offering simply remains their best. Granted, great art comes in various shapes and sizes, and while some artists have just been consistently excellent throughout their careers, there’s also those that took their time to find their sound, and that’s OK, too. Naturally, of course, I took to revisiting his classic debut and kept continuously thinking of the artists who knocked it out of the park from the very beginning of their careers. So long, in fact, that the main spark of inspiration for this piece came shortly after John Prine’s passing last year. She closed with her biggest hit, Why Ya Wanna.Well, this has been a long time coming. Kramer warmed up the crowd with the rocking Don’t Touch My Radio and Good Time Comin’ On, One of the Boys, Whiskey, That’s Hot (the title track from her forthcoming second album) and I Hope it Rains. Jana Kramer, an actress-turned-country singer, led the night off with a good 25-minute set. His band playfully launched into a little Van Halen and Bruno Mars, and Corbin then sang a snippet of Check Yes or No, because people rightly say he sounds like George Strait.Ĭorbin then excelled on his own chart-topping A Little More Country Than That. The vibe was fun and Corbin kept things light with hits like Lovin’ You is Fun, A Lot to Learn About Livin’, Roll With It, All Over the Road, Alabama’s If You’re Gonna Play in Texas and Alan Jackson’s Where I Come From. “I’ll never forget this.”Įaston Corbin, a hard-working 31-year-old singer who doesn’t wear a hat and has a college degree in agribusiness, performed before Shelton. “This is easily one of the best nights of this tour,” Shelton said as his nearly two-hour set neared its end. Yep, that’s how he used to look.Īnother cool thing about the concert was that Shelton had two of his singers from The Voice perform - Danielle Bradbery came out and sang Heart of Dixie, and Gwen Sebastian was Shelton’s main backup singer. There was humor, too: Shelton said he needed “artistic connection” to sing his old hit Some Beach, so he put on a cowboy hat with shoulder-length hair attached to it. The ballads were mixed with upbeat songs like Boys ’Round Here, Hillbilly Bone and Honey Bee. “No more crying,” Shelton said afterward. “Let’s see if we can get through this,” Shelton said, before singing with passion the sad song that was written about his late brother. One of the highlights of the night was when he sang Over You solo with acoustic guitar. Shelton’s voice, deeper than on past tours, was brilliant on ballads such as She Wouldn’t Be Gone and God Gave Me You. Shelton said he wanted to win over even the guys who were dragged to the show by their gals, and did so, convincingly. Sure, Shelton did a couple of drinking songs, such as All About Tonight and Drink On It, but this concert was all about his breadth of material. Later, he said he liked to relax with a drink. Shelton saw the full house of what he called “country-music freaks” and said it made him nervous, so he needed a drink. “My name is Blake Shelton, and I drove my big ass up here for two reasons - to sing country music and to get drunk,” he said before singing The More I Drink. Blake Shelton’s “Ten Times Crazier” tour touched down in a packed Nationwide Arena on Friday, and the concert was crazy good.
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