The James Logan Courier

By Brandie Moore, Courier Book Editor

Since this CD is a compilation of various artist's work, I'll review each track individually:

Track 1: Carrie Underwood-“All-American Girl”
I really like Carrie Underwood’s music, but, as good as this song may be, her voice sounds like it’s trying way too hard to reach those high notes. Even with the cracking voice, this is a beautiful father-daughter song.

Track 2: Rascal Flatts-“Winner at a Losing Game”
I can honestly say that this is NOT one of their best. This song is a real downer. I’ve heard many of their songs, but this is not the one that should be one the top 20 country songs. Don’t get me wrong; it has a pretty melody, too, but it’s not their greatest.


Track 3: Gary Allan-“Watching Airplanes”
The first time I heard this song, I didn’t think much of it. It is okay, not the best song I’ve ever heard, but after hearing it a few times it grew on me. This song has a good meaning behind it. If you really listen to the lyrics you think “This song's got a good story to it.”

Track 4: Reba McEntire duet with Kelly Clarkson-“Because of you”
This song is a great mix of country and pop. These two women work very well together. This song gives me goose bumps every time I listen to it. This song could reach out to many people, women in general, but some men, too.

Track 5: Keith Urban-“Everybody”
This song has really good lyrics and a great melody. The only thing I don’t like about this song is that it really long and has unnecessary parts to it. But, all in all, I think that this song isbeautifully written and a good choice for this CD.

Track 6: Sugarland-“Stay”
I LOVE this song! I mean the story behind it isn’t a real great one; it’s about a woman who wants the man she’s seeing, who is with another person, to stay with her and not go back to his girlfriend. I can easily see how this song is one of the top 20 country hits.

Track 7: Lady Antebellum-“Love don’t live here”
Ok, first off let me start out by saying that I thought a woman sang this song by looking at the name…but, no, it’s a man, with a woman in the background. Honestly though, when you see the name of the artist what do you think? With that said, this is a good song, not one of my favorites on the CD, but a good song altogether.

Track 8: Taylor Swift-“Picture to Burn”
Out of all the country singers, Taylor Swift is one of my favorites. This song is as good, as are her other songs, but I think that this I definitely one of her more powerful songs that just gets your attention. When you break up with someone you just don’t want to see his face anymore and that is just what she’s saying. By burning all of his pictures, she’ll never see his face.

Track 9: Dierks Bentley-“Trying to Stop Your Leaving”
Good song? Sure, I guess so, but man is it slow! It just makes me want to lay down and sleep. Also, everyone’s voice has limits and certain notes they cannot hit. Dierks Bentley should learn where that point is for him.

Track 10: Luck Bryan-“All My Friends Say”
Wow…this song is…interesting? It’s about a man who gets drunk and can’t remember
what happened the night before. The reason is that his ex walks in the bar with
another man and the driving the jilted loverboy crazy. In my opinion he should just get over it; it happens all the time, no reason to get all messed up over it.

Track 11: Brad Paisley-“Letter to me”
This is one of the best songs on this CD. He wants to write a letter to himself when he was 17. Like most people he was depressed about breaking up with his girlfriend after seven months. The letter tells him that even though it's hard now things WILL get better. We all would love a letter from our future telling us everything turns out for the best.

Track 12:George Strait-“I saw God Today”
Well, although I don’t think this metaphor works with what he’s trying to say, I do get the
point. He talks about having his first kid and when he saw the kid's face for the first time he saw “God.” I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, but that just doesn’t go together to me.He has a good voice though; maybe he could work on his lyrics a little more.

Track 13: Julianne Hough-“That Song in My Head”
This one's got a very catchy beat to it ,but it’s not one you want to listen to over and over again. She keeps saying “I've had that song in my head all day,” which just gets stuck in your head all day.There are many other good country songs that could of have replaced this one, but what’s done is done.

Track 14: Sara Evans-“As If”
This one’s good. I can listen to it a lot without getting a headache. It’s one of those songs you just want to dance to. It has a great rhythm and melody. This song tells how you feel when you first fall in love with a person and you lose sight of everything else. Out of all of Sara’s songs, I think this is her best.

Track 15: Kenny Chesney-”Don’t Blink”
This is the song of life! Okay, if you don’t get what I mean about that, I’ll explain. What Kenny is saying in this song is that life moves so fast, and if you blink you miss it all. He mentions in the song that life goes by faster than you think, and I think that’s true. This song tells you every bit of the truth.

Track 16: Trace Adkins-“You’re Gonna Miss This”
Another “life song.” The difference between this song and “Don’t Blink” is that this one tells about how life is as you grow, and when you’re young you want it to go faster, but when you get older you’re just going to miss all that youth you hurried through. Trace says that life moves by so fast and you miss everything you had when you didn’t want it. It’s a really inspiring song.

Track 17: Chris Cagle-“What Kinda Gone”
Um…well…this song is good and but it’s really confusing. The title says it all but he’s saying in this song is what kind of gone his girlfriend is talking about. He says there are three different types of gone. To me I thought that there was only one gone and that meant “I’m leaving you.” I guess there’s more “gone’s” in the world now.

Track 18: Kellie Pickler-“Thinks That Never Cross a Man’s Mind”
As a girl, I completely agree with this song, and men would admit it’s true, too, if it didn’t hurt their pride. Girls think about these kinds of things all the time, boys. (Listen to the song if you want to know what they are.) It’s about time a girl sang a song like this one; maybe the guys will get it now.

Track 19: Josh Turner featuring Trisha Yearwood-“Another Try”
The melody in this song is really pretty, but Josh’s voice makes me really sleepy. I think Trisha's voice sounds really good in this song. Josh doesn’t sound as bad when she steps in with him. I guess this is another one of these songs that grow on you after time, but I still think that Josh’s voice is just too soft to keep one awake.

Track 20: Jason Michael Carroll-“Alyssa Lies”
THE BEST SONG ON THE WHOLE CD. Okay, let me explain why. This song held no interest to me when I started listening to it, but when it got to the chorus, it hit me in the face! This song is about child abuse! It’s sad, sorrowful, painful, and beautiful. It’s about a little girl who makes a new friend at school and comes home later and tells her dad that Alyssa lies to the school while she tries to cover her bruises. You have to listen to this song, even if it’s just once. This song will make you want to cry. This song is definitely a fabulous choice for this CD.

This CD had some good songs and some bad songs, but it’s a great one to go out to buy (or purchase on iTunes). I’m not a huge country fan, so I can honestly say that even if you don’t like country music, you should still listen to some of these, because some of these songs really have good lyrics to them. That’s what I look for in a song because it’s a great way to express ones self.

This CD comes with six free downloads from new artists. I have listened to those, too, s now let me tell you about those songs:

Extra 1: Eric Church-“Carolina”
Okay, I'll say that he has a nice voice, but this song is kind of dumb. I don’t care that you want to go home to Carolina. I don’t. If you miss home so much then go home, don’t write a song about it. Not everybody lives there so why do we care? But, like I said, he has a good voice. He has the potential to write a good song; this just isn't it.

Extra 2: Jamey Johnson-“High Cost of Living”
Another voice that just doesn’t sound good. Since he is a “new artist,” maybe he’ll get better over time, but I don’t think he’ll be on the top my “must have” list. Plus, this song talks about drugs too much. If he doesn’t like going to jail for using drugs, why does he keep doing it? Maybe it’s just me who doesn’t get it.

Extra 3: The Lost Trailers-“Hey Baby”
This song isn’t bad. A lot better than the first two extras. All the voices in this song combine together well. For a new group, they aren’t half bad. I feel like I can jump up and dance and sing to this song. That’s a good sign in my book.

Extra 4: Ashton Shepherd-“Ain’t Dead Yet”
This song is too country to me. I don’t really care for songs that are too country, but that’s just me. Her voice is kind of screechy and hurts my ears. Idon’t care too much for the lyrics in this song either. I wouldn’t say she’s a new favorite to me.

Extra 5: Emily West-“Annie’s Gonna Get a Brand New Gun”
The first time I listened to this song I hated it, but now I find myself singing it. It has a great beat that make you want to jump up and dance. I even got my friend who hates country singing this song. That’s got to tell you something.

Extra 6: Chuck Wicks-“Man of the House”
Out of all the free downloads this one is my favorite. It’s about a boy who is only ten-years-old. His dad is in a war and this boy did everything to help around the house like the dishes, feeding his sister, and waking his mom, when he should be outside playing ball, video games, or just climbing a tree. Instead he does all the work to keep his parents happy and because he is the man of the house.

I can’t say any of the free songs are horrible (I might be thinking some of them are, but I’m not saying it) because I know they're new, but even so they have to be good to get a record deal right? So what happened?

We’ll leave that question unanswered. All-in-all I think this was a great CD. If you’re a country lover this is a CD for you, if you’re not you should still check it out because it is a good CD.