Nashville!

By Featured Contributing Editor Mandy Phillips

Carrie Underwood’s sophomore album, Carnival Ride, is all over the map when it comes to success and failures. There are certainly some wonderful songs that showcase Underwood’s big voice and appeal, but there are just as many selections that seem to not be sure if they actually belong to Underwood. Understandably, Underwood is a young artists with a number of influences on her career, and that insecurity of who she is as an artist seems to shine through with Carnival Ride. Some fans of more traditional country may find the album to be a bit too laced with pop music production, though pop fans will no doubt find the album to be too countrified.

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Fans of Alan Jackson are fans because they appreciate the no-nonsense, stripped down, traditional country music that the lanky artist has been delivering since he first lumbered onto the scene in the late 1980s. And with Good Time - Jackson’s 15th album - there’s much, much more of that. (In fact, Good Time is a monster of a CD with 17 full tracks - about half a dozen more than the average CD).

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By Featured Contributing Editor Mandy Phillips

With the number of hits spawned by Sugarland’s Enjoy the Ride, it certainly feels like the duo (and former group of three) has been around for much longer than two albums. But it has been the sophomore Enjoy the Ride that has launched the Sugarland - Jennifer Nettles & Kristian Bush - into the realm of country music superstardom. Four releases from the album have been hits for the group, including “Want To,” “Settlin’,” “Everyday America,” and “Stay.”

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By Featured Contributing Editor Mandy Phillips

There’s no doubt that the pairing of rock legend Robert Plant and bluegrass queen Alison Krauss is a unique match-up. In fact, the new album might well have been titled Raising Eyebrows instead of Raising Sand. But with their respective tenor and soprano powerhouse vocals, a Plant / Krauss match-up is a musical match made in heaven. [Read more →]

Ever since the Hermitage was opened to the public as a museum in 1889, over 15 million people have come far and wide to visit this historical landmark.

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