With a sterling cast of backing musicians, Griffith sings the songs that have been a part of his life since his boyhood, when he would attend church faithfully and give voice to them with as much sincerity as he does ...

Released for the occasion of Johnny Cash's 78th birthday, American VI: Ain't No Grave is the final installment in the collaboration between Cash and Rick Rubin that began with 1994's American Recordings. These ten songs were cut during the same ...

On his debut album, Clear as Day, released by Mercury Nashville, Scotty McCreery delivers the same sort of easy pop-country that made him the winner of the tenth season of American Idol earlier in the year. Audio Mixer: Derek Bason. Recording information: ...

One of country music's classic Christmas albums, LIGHT OF THE STABLE offers a satisfying mix of seasonal favorites and new compositions, all served up by the most compelling guardian of country music tradition, Emmylou Harris. On this 1979 release, Harris ...

Consciously backpedaling from the all-encompassing embrace of American Saturday Night, Brad Paisley narrows his definition of what constitutes modern country on his seventh collection of new songs, This Is Country Music. Gone are the casual multiculturalism, the allusions to the ...

The soundtrack to the Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw country music drama Country Strong is a collection of mainstream contemporary country that has a mild pop bent but stays just this side of country-pop. Instead, it follows the blueprint of ...

Those seeking a definitive introduction to Hank Williams Sr.'s music need look no further than 40 GREATEST HITS, a beautifully produced set that includes all but three of Hank's Top 20 hits. All the essential tracks are here, revealing Williams' ...

Mercury Nashville's 2005 compilation The Definitive Collection comes close to living up to its title billing. Although this glosses over the Statler Brothers' '60s recordings for Columbia -- it contains just their biggest hit from that time, their 1966 breakthrough ...

Gene Watson and Rhonda Vincent display considerable chemistry on their duet album, Your Money and My Good Looks. Watson boasts a light ingratiating country tenor, while Vincent is a more strident alto, which tends to reverse the expected sound in ...

Those familiar with Bone Collector TV show host/head bow hunter Michael Waddell might initially be confused by the front cover of The Brotherhood Album. The cover states "Michael Waddell's Bone Collector: The Brotherhood Album." That said, Waddell appears nowhere here. ...

Culling 24 classics from 1957 to 1981, THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION is one of the finest single-disc Jerry Lee Lewis compilations available. Beginning with Lewis's raucous landmark singles for Sun Records ("Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On," "Great Balls of Fire"), ...

With song like "These Boots" and "Pledge Allegiance To The Hag," Eric Church clearly aligns himself with the honky-tonk Bakersfield Sound school of country music, and his rustic twang of a voice is similarly pure country. There are several commercial ...

Not to be confused with the Greatest Hits collection that Columbia released in 1989, this 1991 CD focuses on Billy Joe Royal's Atlantic output of the 1980s. Although this pop and pop-country material on the whole is much too slick, ...

It's hard to listen to the spartan arrangements and moving vocal performances on WHAT A FRIEND without remembering the many struggles of Haggard's life: childhood poverty, early imprisonment, and, after his rise to fame, problems with drugs, alcohol, and personal ...

Liner Note Author: Chuck Young. Track Listing: It's a Cheating Situation; Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life; I Cheated Me Right out of You; Till I'm Too Old to Die Young; She's Not Really Cheatin'; It Was Always So Easy; ...

Brantley Gilbert fits into the neo-outlaw, Steve Earle side of country, and he probably has more in common with heartland rockers like Tom Petty and John Mellencamp than he does, say, Randy Travis. Born outside of Athens, Georgia, he grew ...

The follow-up album to 2008's Jet Black & Jealous, which yielded three Top 40 singles, 2011's Life at Best immediately gave the Eli Young Band another fast-rising hit, the Liz Rose and Lee Brice-penned "Crazy Girl." Recording information: Dark Horse Recording, ...

Old School New Rules, which features guest appearances by Brad Paisley and Trace Adkins, is the first release for Hank Williams Jr. on his own Bocephus Records, an independent label based in Nashville, and the new album is indicative of ...

EAST TENNESSEE CHRISTMAS has a distinctly warm and serene ambiance. Chet Atkins' smooth guitar sound and lyrical touch--together with the silken voices of a (mostly) female choir and the lush outline of a string orchestra--make this an out of the ...

The series of Icon releases from UME are budget-priced compilations by pop legends, as well as younger artists who've scored on the singles charts. The Billy Currington volume selects two cuts from his self-titled debut in "I Got a Feelin'" ...

Recording information: Aimeeland Studios; Ocean Way Nashville; Sound Stage Studios. Photographer: Mark Anthony Jeffries. Personnel: Jake Owen (acoustic guitar); Kenny Greenberg, Tom Bukovac (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Ilya Toshinsky (acoustic guitar, dobro, banjo); Jerry McPherson, Adam Shoenfeld, Brent Mason (electric guitar); Glen ...

Dierks Bentley's sixth album, Home, his first since the bluegrass-themed Up on the Ridge from 2010, features a dozen new songs that the singer road-tested on tour, and it's an eclectic and varied affair, with guest spots from Little Big ...

There's nothing particularly Appalachian about this set, other than the cover, really, but it is a graceful and balanced holiday album featuring Mark O'Connor's brilliant fiddle playing on several Christmas classics, along with friends and guests Renée Fleming, Alison Krauss, ...

Josh Turner had number one hits prior to Haywire but that 2010 set had two chart toppers -- the swinging "Why Don't We Just Dance" and "All Over Me" -- and not long after its release, American Idol contestant (and ...

Sony/Legacy continues its compelling and welcome The Johnny Cash Bootleg Series with this fourth volume, The Soul of Truth, which collects sides (some previously unreleased) Cash recorded in the 1970s and '80s in a faith and gospel vein. Recording information: Hendersonville ...