My Favourite Songs of 2015

Chris Lane - "Fix"

"Fix" is my favourite song of 2015, like Lane's "Broken Windshield View" was my favourite of 2014. I guess it was a blessing that injuries prevented Lane from pursuing his baseball career, which meant he could focus on music. The first song from an as-yet-unnanounced album is country-pop music at it's best, and Lane smashes the vocals out of the park. I met Lane in St Louis earlier this year, and he seems like a great guy.
 
Keith Urban - "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16"

The first single from Urban's latest album, Rip Cord, is an ode to life growing up in the country, and once more pushes the boundaries of what country music is and can be, which is something that Urban has been doing for years. The catchy beat will get in your head and stay there. Interestingly, Urban plays bass on live performances, and crushes it.

Halestorm - "I Like It Heavy"

Lzzy Hale is my rock and roll crush: big vocals, great guitar chops and a tendency to wear leather pants. She fronts Halestorm, a great hard rock band from Pennsylvania, and "I Like It Heavy" is an ode to the best rock bands the world has ever seen. If you're not already on the Halestorm bandwagon, get on! Their 2015 release Into the Wild Life is sensational.

Luke Bryan - "Kick The Dust Up"

Listen to the lead single from Bryan's Kill the Lights and try to not be immediately hooked by the southern party anthem. Once it's in your head, it'll stick there. Another #1 hit for Bryan. Critics say his music is without depth, and maybe that's the case, but, man, he owns these bro-country anthems.

Rob Thomas - "I Think We'd Feel Good Together"

The first single from Rob Thomas' third solo album, a pop music extravaganza. His voice is as good as ever, and we must never forget that Thomas is as good a songwriter as there's been in the last twenty years.

Brantley Gilbert - "Same Old Song"

Georgian country-rocker Gilbert allegedly penned this tribute to all the things that bro-country critics hate in response to said critics. He makes no excuses for the life he leads, and, aside from anything else, it's a good song. I saw BG in Kansas City in August, and he's one heck of a live performer.

Ryan Adams - "Bad Blood"

The complete re-imagining of Taylor Swift's entire 1989 album was one the more interesting releases in 2015. Adams turns the tracks on their head, his style reminiscent of a Bruce Springsteen during his Nebraska album era. Taylor loved it, and so did I.

Wiz Khalifa (Feat. Charlie Puth) - "See You Again"

The musical tribute to the late Paul Walker that pops up at the end of the Furious 7 and most definitely tugs at the heartstrings. Brilliant!

Lee Kernaghan - "Spirit of the ANZACs"

The title track for Kernaghan's album of the same name is a stirring anthem paying tribute to the all-walks-of-life men and women who have answered their country's call over the years. Like the rest of the album, the lyrics are inspired by memoirs, letters and diary entries stored in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Kernaghan was given access to the vault last year, and his ARIA #1 album is the result. Wonderful album.

Kid Rock - "First Kiss"

I love Kid Rock, and I'm not going to change. Say what you will about the man, but one thing that can't be disputed is his ability to move with the times. On "First Kiss", a song that reminds me of both his big hit "All Summer Long" and the Bryan Adams epic "Summer of '69" taps into the nostalgia of first loves and first kisses in a small town, and Rock does it well. This one gets a heap of plays on my iPod.

Jana Kramer - "Bullet"

The former One Tree Hill released her second album - "Thirty-One" - in the last quarter of 2015, and this upbeat song, allegedly written about her failed engagement to Brantley Gilbert, and how she dodged a bullet, features Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler. It's catchy as hell.

Jake Owen - "Real Life"

I thought it was Sugar Ray at first. It sounds like Sugar Ray, but it's just Jake Owen going down the Keith Urban road of expanding country music. Great lyrics (about the realities of growing up in a small town) + a catchy chorus = another big hit for Jake. Can't wait for his new album to drop!

Motley Crue - "All Bad Things"

As the saying goes, all bad things must come to an end. And so they do, with Motley on their farewell tour (their last show was December 31 in Los Angeles) and releasing this end-of-an-era song about the end of their hedonistic careers. Their tour stop in Sydney was sensational!

Kip Moore - "Wild Ones"

Another country guy who sounds more like a heartland rocker, Moore's new album was one of my favourites in 2015. The lead single reminds me of Eric Church's "The Outsiders", and has plenty of Moore's heavy, gravelly vocals, and awesome guitars.

Album Review: Thirty One by Jana Kramer

It’s often been said – and correctly so – that there aren’t a lot of women making waves in mainstream country music. Sure, you have Carrie and Miranda doing their thing, but that’s about the extent of it now that Faith and Trisha aren’t releasing music full-time. The interesting duo of Maddie and Tae, most famous for their anti bro-country anthem ‘Girl in a Country Song’ last year, are yet to prove they’re more than a one hit wonder. 

When you compare that to the incredible amount of men making waves in Nashville, moving truckloads of albums and selling out stadiums like Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan and Florida-Georgia Line, we’re not exactly seeing a golden age for female country music. Reba and Dolly are mostly gone.

Enter Jana Kramer. The former One Tree Hill star – she played the obnoxious Alex Dupree late in the show’s nine-year run- has just released her second album, Thirty One, named for her age (which, unlike many her age, Kramer doesn’t seem too concerned with hiding), and if her self-titled debut, which had songs featured on One Tree Hill was a solid start, her sophomore effort bursts out of the blocks, and is an impressive listen from start to finish.

Per chance, Kramer is more famous for her failed relationship with country-rocker Brantley Gilbert or for her One Tree Hill appearances or three failed marriages, but that should change having released such a good album. Married once more, and with a child on the way, Kramer is obviously happy, in a good place in her life, and it shows on 31.

Whilst the music leans towards pop-country rather than the traditional brand, it’s Kramer’s strong voice that carries the collection, and there’. ‘Bullet’ leaps out at me instantly. I was hooked after the first listen, and I’ve listened to it dozens of times since. Suffice to say it’s rising steadily towards the top of my Top 100 Most Played playlist on iTunes. The chorus gets in your head, and it stays there. Belatedly, I learned that Steven Tyler, the Aerosmith front man, who has his own country album in the works – who doesn’t these days, right? – featured on this song. Rumour has it that ‘Bullet’ is about dodging one, in the form of her failed engagement to Gilbert.

The soft, thoughtful song ‘I Got The Boy’ was Kramer’s lead single for this project. It’s been out since the (northern hemisphere) spring, and recently has been climbing steadily up the charts. It’s a very traditional country song, the most traditional of all the songs on Thirty One, a narrative about love and relationship that is getting deserved positive press, and is already Kramer’s second-most successful single.

In some of the other songs ‘Pop That Bottle’ and ‘Don’t Touch My Radio’ are reminiscent of the hard-driving style of Miranda Lambert, and Kramer’s smoky vocals make it work. ‘Boomerang’ is another song worth checking out.

Three years passed between Kramer’s first album and her follow-up. Hopefully we won’t have to wait quite as long for a third release.

Album Review: 35 MPH Town by Toby Keith

Now into his third decade of releasing music, Toby Keith has been there, done that and he most certainly has the t-shirt. 

One of the shrewdest businessmen in the country music industry (and, because of that, one of the richest, too), Keith has parlayed an ability to write engaging songs, some of them straight-ahead serious social commentaries about America and the world in this day and age, and others light-hearted fare, into a long career in Nashville. The man has more #1 singles and albums than you can poke a stick at.

Even so, there’ve been signs in recent years that his traditional-leaning style of country music isn’t cutting the mustard in the face of how the genre is transforming, and now embracing – if not by everyone in Nashville – the bro-country genre popularised by Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan, and the rap, dance and hard rock elements that come along with it.

With modern country music moving away from traditional the old-school country that Keith favours, it’s fair to say that his most recent albums haven’t done anywhere near as well as those he released at the end of the last decade, and country radio hasn’t been kind to two singles already released from his 2015 offering, 35 MPH Town.

Despite that, if you’re a fan of the Oklahoman, then you’re pretty much guaranteed to love the new album. After all, it’s everything that you could want, and more, from a Toby Keith release: a few boozy drinking songs – ‘Rum is the Reason’ and ‘Every Time I Drink, I Fall In Love – a couple that are the rowdy semi-rock tunes that remind you of the power of Keith’s voice – ‘Good Gets Here’, which is, at the moment, my favourite song from the album – and, of course, the message songs.

What would a Toby Keith album be without a message song or three? Remember ‘Courtesy of the Red White and Blue’? Or ‘American Ride’? Classics. There’s a few good ones on 35 MPH Town, too. The title track is a commentary on the shifting social norms, and it doesn’t take long for you to get the idea that Keith hates it. The waltzy ballad ‘Drunk Americans’, the first single released nearly a year ago, suggests that people should forget their various allegiances – political, social and otherwise – in favour of getting drunk together and having fun with it.

Overall, the ten-track spread is stronger than 2013’s Drinks After Work (which peaked, disappointingly, at seven on the US charts), but there’s no guarantee that Keith’s new album – on which he co-wrote every track, bar ‘Drunk Americans’ and produced for his own Showdog-Universal Music label – will get anywhere near as much publicity as it deserves.

Album Review: "Anything Goes" - Florida Georgia Line

Artist: Florida Georgia Line
Release Date: October 2014
Label: Big Loud Mountain / Republic Nashville
Producer: Joey Moi
Kitch's Rating: 9.5/10

Talk about making an instant impact. Florida Georgia Line did that two years ago with the release of their debut album Here's To The Good Times and the subsequent Here's To The Good Times...This Is How We Roll re-release with five new songs (including a monster #1 hit duet with Georgian superstar Luke Bryan, 'This Is How We Roll'). 

It was country music like it had rarely been heard before, infused with rock and rap elements, furthering the so-called 'bro country' sub-genre of country music - beer, dirt roads, swimming holes, tanned girls, lift kids and more - and, though derided by some, the album chock-full of feelgood party tunes clicked with millions of people the world over.

The duo of Brian Kelley (from Ormond Beach, Florida) and Tyler Hubbard (from Monroe, Georgia) exploded out of the blocks, scoring hit after single hit. First it was the ridiculously successful "Cruise" which remains the highest-selling country download ever, then "Get Your Shine On", "Round Here", "Stay" and the previously-mentioned collaboration with Luke Bryan.

Naturally, topping such first-up success was always going to be difficult, especially with the dreaded sophomore slump hanging over them, but Anything Goes isn't going to do anything other than send Florida Georgia Line's star shooting higher and further into the stratosphere of country music. If they weren't already legitimate superstars of the genre, they will be on the heels of their second album.

Anything Goes is, like it's predecessor, a party album. It's made for being pumped long and loud on summer nights, when you're working your way through a case of beer - or perhaps something stronger - and enjoying being alive.

Then there's "Dirt", the lead single that probably changed a lot of people's opinions of the party-hearty duo. Bursting onto the charts in a similar vein to "Cruise" - though not quite as historically, of course - the song felt more like something Garth Brooks or Tim McGraw might've recorded, for there's hardly a mention of beer, hot country girls or tailgate parties contained within. Instead, it's an epic and introspective tale of a man, his wife and the unavoidable circle of life. Brilliant stuff. No wonder it was one of the most-requested songs on country radio this year.

"Dirt" is certainly the exception to the rule on this album. Everything else is about having a good time, which is exactly what those of us who love this duo - and that's a lot of us, despite the critics, because the album debuted #1 on the Billboard charts upon release in America - expect. The title track "Anything Goes" is all about wild Friday nights, and the catchy "Sun Daze" is something of an ode to sitting back wearing your favourite shades and getting high.

There's no song on the album that really reaches out and grabs you like "Cruise" did, but that was a once-in-a-lifetime song, and lightning rarely strikes twice. That said, there are a lot of good tracks, from the best of the alleged bro country genre writers. In fact, there wasn't one song I didn't enjoy.

Yeah, every track barring "Dirt" is thematically the same, but presented with enough variety that you don't feel like you're hearing the same song again and again, even though you actually kinda are. Everything you didn't hear BK and Tyler sing about in "Dirt" - that is, tailgating, drinking, girls, cutoffs and sunsets - you can hear in just about every other song.

Anything Goes is a good listen. Florida Georgia Line are going to be around for a while!