CMLCI Results–11/8/09
The CML Chart Interactive for the 11/8 to 11/14/09 edition of the CML Chart is now closed. Here are the results:
2-Star Poll
“Today” by Gary Allan (4 votes)
“Southern Voice” by Tim McGraw (3 votes)
“Whistlin’ Dixie” by Randy Houser (3 votes)
As you can see, the voting was close this week with the winner being “Today” by Gary Allan
The CML Chart Interactive for the 11/15 to 11/21/09 edition of the CML Chart is now online. This week, only one song is to be removed, and that song was a 4-Star song. This means there is no 5-Star Poll and that you are voting for only one song on the other polls. Thanks for the visit!
Randy Houser- “Whistlin’ Dixie”
Apparently, two official singles from Randy’s debut album Anything Goes was enough, so Randy moves on to his sophomore album and the first single. You do have to admit that Randy’s first two singles “Anything Goes” and “Boots On” were some pretty good music, but I am all for artists releasing four singles from each album. I can settle for three, but two makes me think that either the rest of the album was uninspiring or the new music is so good that it makes the first album look weak. Seeing as I do not own Randy’s debut album, I cannot give my most likely opinion on that. What I can do is evaluate the first song off his second album.
“Whistlin’ Dixie” is a rockin’ look at life in the south and I would put it on par with “Boots On” in quality. Listening to it for the first has got me tapping my foot along with it. I do like the instrumental that is a rockin’ version of a tune familiar to everyone and inspires the title of the song. If this is a sign of things to come from Randy, his sophomore album more make his debut album look pretty poor. As for “Whistlin’ Dixie” and its success on the charts, I think it will also be on par with “Boots On” and become Randy’s second Top 5 with a chance to be his first #1.
Billboard Chart Peak Prediction- Top 5
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Uncle Kracker- “Smile”
While I thought Uncle Kracker sounded good with Kenny Chesney on their 2004 duet that reached #1 on the Billboard Charts, I never figured he would release a solo single on the country charts. Then, I heard that he was planning it, but that did not materialize until now. While it makes a good pop song, I never thought that “Smile” would be a country single. The version that I have heard isn’t necessarily country, but it is very similar to a lot of today’s mainstream country from Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, etc. While it is more pop than any other country artist, the fact is the lyric fits into country music. It’s a love song all the way through and if the version playing on the country radio has a few changes to the instrumental to make it sound a little more country, then Uncle Kracker has a huge hit. If Kid Rock can take a crappy summer tune to the Top 5, Uncle Kracker can get this song there. Of course, Kid Rock benefited from the lack of any other true summer single on country radio in 2008 and wouldn’t have had the same success this summer. Uncle Kracker has nothing that would keep this song from being a big hit with country fans.
Billboard Chart Peak Prediction- Top 5
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Jack Ingram- “Seeing Stars” with Patty Griffin
Fresh off his second highest charting single with “Barefoot and Crazy,” which peaked at #10, Jack Ingram has released to radio his duet with Patty Griffin. I never knew who Patty Griffin was until I purchased Dierks Bentley’s Feel That Fire where Dierks has a duet with her on it. Patty has a nice folk voice that went well with Dierks on their duet. As for this song, Patty is basically background vocals until the end, which doesn’t help the song enough.
“Seeing Stars” suffers from a lyric that is too plain and doesn’t have much substance. The basic idea at first is the singer sees stars everywhere. While the chorus tries to relate it to wishing on stars and praying to God only when you need to, the ultimate purpose of the lyric only shows up in the last verse. By the time you get to the part where it explains that the guy is seeing stars because of a breakup, you have lost interest in the song.
What this song needs to be something other than album filler is Patty singing a verse herself early on from her point of view to possibly clue the listener in to the idea of the song. Since that isn’t the case, this song had probably already reached its peak on the Billboard Charts. It might make it a little higher, but this song is barely worthy of charting.
Billboard Chart Peak Prediction- Top 60
Thanks for the visit! Feel free to comment on this review and please check out the CML Chart Interactive page for how you can participate in the CML Chart!
CMLCI Midweek Update
With about 72 hours to go in the CMLCI, it’s time to look at the voting so far. This is the first week that I am doing this as my new voting system (using surveymonkey.com) doesn’t allow me to show you the voting results right after your vote. We’ll see if this post inspires more people to vote. Here are the current vote totals:
2-Star Poll
“Today” by Gary Allan- 4
“Southern Voice” by Tim McGraw- 2
“Whistlin’ Dixie” by Randy Houser- 1
There have been 7 votes placed so far, which is just about the average number of votes each week. My goal someday is to get between 10-20 votes every week. If you have been voting every week, I truly appreciate you taking the time to participate. I enjoy creating the chart (the Excel part and creating the webpages) and blogging about it every week and I feel even better when you, the readers, can get involved.
Thanks for the visit! If you haven’t voted already, click on the CMLCI link at the top of the page to read a little about the CML Chart Interactive and to find the link to the polls.
Top 60 for 11/1 to 11/7/09 Now Online
The 11/1 to 11/7/09 edition of the CML Chart is now online.
The Top 3 remains the same this week as “Toes” by Zac Brown Band spends its second week at #1, with Brad Paisley’s “Welcome to the Future” and Luke Bryan’s “Do I” right behind him. New to the Top 5 this week is “Bonfire” by Craig Morgan who moves up to #4 thanks to its win on the CMLCI. Sliding back one spot to #5 is “All I Ask For Anymore” by Trace Adkins.
“Whistlin’ Dixie” by Randy Houser leads the Top 60 debuts this week, coming in at #53. Jack Inrgam gets a little help from Patty Griffin on “Seeing Stars,” which debuts at #56. The last debut song is the first country single from Uncle Kracker, “Smile,” which debuts at #60. Check back later this week to read my single reviews of these songs.
Help make the 11/8 to 11/14/09 edition of the CML Chart by participating in the CML Chart Interactive. Click on the CMLCI link at the top of the page for a little info on the CMLCI and to find the link to this week’s poll. Thanks for the visit!
CMLCI Results: 11/1 to 11/7/09 edition
The polls are closed and here is the results:
5-Star Poll: There were only two songs in the running this week for one open spot on the 5-Star “roster.” After the voting was said and done, both songs were tied! The tiebreaker, longest on the chart, was applied and the winner ends up “Bonfire” by Craig Morgan.
4-Star Poll: Everyone was voting for 3 songs out of 5 choices this week. The three winners were each picked by 75% of the voters: “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum, “Red Light” by David Nail, and “Runaway” by Love & Theft.
3-Star Poll: Once again, everyone was voting for 3 songs, but there were 9 to choose from (since there can be 10 2-Star songs at a time, the 10th one did not qualify for the CMLCI this week). Receiving the most votes was “Eight Second Ride” by Jake Owen. Second place went to “Cowboy Casanova” by Carried Underwood. There were three songs tied for third, but only one of them could win. The tiebreaker (longest on chart) was applied and the winner of the third spot was “Hurry Home” by Jason Michael Carroll.
2-Star Poll: This week, I had you vote for the one song you did not want to win this poll since there were 3 songs needed to win and only 4 to pick from. However, this will be the last time this happens. Since I finally figured out that I could set the number of votes needed to answer a question, I will no longer be doing the “pick one not to win” type of polls, since I think people were not reading the instructions. Anyway, this week 50% of the votes were for “Today” by Gary Allan NOT to win, so the other three move up: “Hillbilly Bone” by Blake Shelton w/Trace Adkins, “Country Folks (Livin’ Loud)” by the Lost Trailers, and “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes” by Dierks Bentley.
The new CMLCI is up and running. The 11/8 to 11/14/09 edition CMLCI has only one poll as only a 2-Star song is being removed. This week, only three songs matched any of the criteria for being included on the 2-Star Poll, so there are not that many to choose from.
Starting this week, I am going to give a midweek update on how the voting is going. I am unable to display the results when you’re voting and there is no way for me to share them with individuals on the free account there. I will display the number of votes for each song in each poll. The CMLCI gets anywhere between 6-10 voters a week (including myself). If you are a regular voter and know other people who my be interested in becoming a part of the CMLCI, please spread the word. I would love to get to the maximum 100 votes I can get each week on my polls!
Thanks for the visit!
Houston County- “I Can’t Make It Rain”
In an era where duos, trios, and bands trying to take over the Country Music scene, here we have a trio trying to join to “parade.” While there are some (i.e. Zac Brown Band and Lady Antebellum) that have caught on recently, there are still others trying to firmly entrench themselves in the business. With solo artists, you have to have an amazing or distinct voice, a great song, or both in order to really catch on. Bands need to have a good lead singer, a distinct sound, and great harmonies in addition to a great song. Houston County has three out of the four. Their lead singer Zack Hooper has a controlled, edgy voice, and sounds good in this song. The harmonies are pretty good when you can hear them, but I think if they had done more with them, it would’ve taken away from the song. The lyrics are interesting where the singer has changed what needs changing in order to be better for the woman in the song, but it’s still not good enough. “I would move Heaven and Earth if I could, but baby I ain’t that good” and “I’ve done all that I can, hear what you say…I can’t make it rain” are two lines that illustrate that he’s willing to do what is necessary but he’s not “superhuman.” The only thing that Houston County doesn’t have it that distinct sound to set them apart from everyone else out there. While it’s not a copy of any other bands sound, it is pretty mainstream country sounding (which is not a bad thing) and they might get lost in the sea of artists and bands out there because they don’t stick out enough. I do have a feeling that this song might get the band’s foot in the door enough to get another single to the radio and an album released, the question is will they stick around long enough for another album? For now, I think this song can make the Top 30.
Billboard Chart Peak Prediction- Top 30
Thanks for the visit! Feel free to comment on this review and please check out the CML Chart Interactive page for how you can participate in the CML Chart!
Blake Shelton- “Hillbilly Bone” with Trace Adkins
So, does everybody have a hillbilly bone? Sure, that’s what you can get out of the lyric. The lyric is good, but it is not the best part of the entire song. That honor goes to the vocals of both Blake and Trace. The deep tones of Trace’s voice are great in backing up Blake’s vocals on the chorus and how well both vocals mesh with the arrangement. This song has big hit written all over it. Definitely worth a listen over and over and over…I think that this song has a decent chance at #1 and probably should make it.
Billboard Chart Peak Prediction- #1
Lyrics
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Joe Nichols- “Gimmie That Girl”
From the very first line, this song is 100% Joe Nichols. As soon as he sings that first note, Joe owns this song and makes it sound believable. Joe has never been the one to dazzle you with powerful vocals, he’s just a guy who sings the lyrics well and connects with the emotion of the song. “Gimmie That Girl” may just be about wanting the girl that he sees at home more than the public one, but he makes it sound like it’s something that no one has ever thought of before.
There’s only one knock for this song and that is that Joe has begun to struggle on the charts lately. “Believers” was a good song, but it didn’t crack the Top 20. I think “Gimmie That Girl” may find the same, showing that good songs don’t always chart well. I do think that this one has enough good things about it that it may be able to slip into the Top 20 given the right circumstances (several singles removed from the Billboard charts during the same week, for example), but am more inclined to think it will fall short.
Billboard Chart Peak Prediction- Top 30
Thanks for the visit! Feel free to comment on this review and please check out the CML Chart Interactive page for how you can participate in the CML Chart!
