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Check out the back story behind the creation of Chimes of Freedom for Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary.

Preview and Purchase – Chimes of Freedom – Songs of Bob Dylan

2012 four CD collection containing music from Patty Smith, Rise Against, Pete Townshend, Diana Krall, My Morning Jacket, Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Jackson Browne, Sugarland, Joan Baez, Flogging Molly, Joe Perry, Bad Religion and many others. Two iconic forces that have impacted the past 50 years — the life-saving human rights activism of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Amnesty International and the incomparable artistry of Bob Dylan — are being saluted by musicians who contributed new or previously unreleased recordings to Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International.

News from Alternativemusic.com

Filed under: Countdown

Happy birthday, Miranda Lambert! The singer-songwriter, who turns 28 years old today (November 10), received a birthday present one day early, taking home the CMA Award for Female Vocalist of the Year last night. We toast the superstar’s big day by counting down our pick for 10 of her most memorable tunes.

10. ‘Me and Your Cigarettes‘

Miranda wrote this tune with her now-husband, Blake Shelton, and good friend (and fellow Pistol Annies member) Ashley Monroe. The fourth track from her platinum CD, ‘Revolution,’ the song was originally written by the two women, and called ‘Your Cigarettes and Me,’ before Blake began playing around with the song and added a few changes, including the title. The end result? A song that’s still a fan favorite two years later.

Download ‘Me and Your Cigarettes‘ | Read the Lyrics

The Boot

The new Steve Holy Song, Love Don’t Run has inspired me to look for more songs that are about staying together instead of breaking up. Here are some songs about working it out during those hard times. Here are some more songs about staying together. Most are a little older. *Another Song to add to [...]
Country Music Mood

Filed under: Albums, Legends, Country News

Bob Dylan is no stranger to unearthing lost tomes of music. As the music legend details in his ‘Chronicles‘ autobiography, he trekked through miles of swamps and folklore in order to track down his hero Woody Guthrie‘s unfinished notebooks of lyrics. Though Dylan failed to obtain and turn those lyrics into song, Wilco and Billy Bragg completed that task on ‘Mermaid Avenue.’

Now, Rolling Stone (via Spinner) reports that Dylan is back on the trail of lost songs, this time with Hank Williams as his muse — and he’s getting a bit of help from some of country and rock’s best singer/songwriters. Merle Haggard, Holly Williams, Lucinda Williams, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Jack White, Norah Jones, Jakob Dylan and Sheryl Crow will be joining Dylan in his quest to rehabilitate and finish some of the late country icon’s music.

The Boot

Filed under: Countdown

Listening to a Brad Paisley album is an emotional roller coaster. Songs such as ‘Whiskey Lullaby‘ and ‘When I Get Where I’m Going‘ will make your heart ache, while tunes along the lines of ‘Little Moments‘ and ‘Then‘ might help you open your heart. And then there’s another physical response the country superstar evokes arguably better than any of his musical peers: laughter. The Boot counts down the ten funniest songs in Brad Paisley’s illustrious (and often humorous) catalog.

10. ‘Me Neither‘

Prior to this song’s release in 2000, being rejected after using a pick-up line was a bummer. ‘Me Neither’ taught bachelors nationwide a cunning way to respond to a ‘no.’ “Would you like to go and grab a bite eat? / Me neither / It’s nice to finally meet a girl who doesn’t move too fast / I was only checking, that’s the reason that I asked.” While the guitar-slinger strikes out with the girl in the song, he does find the upside: “This has been a waste of time / And I’m running out of lines / Don’t you think it’s time for me to end this song? / Me neither.“

Listen to ‘Me Neither’ | Download It

The Boot

There are two great new party songs out right now. Country Girl – Luke Bryan (2011) Am I the Only One – Dierks Bentley(2011) This hot new party song by Dierks Bentley is one of my favorites. Check Out My Other Party Song List Country Rock Party Song List
Country Music Mood

Filed under: Exclusive, Interviews, TV

Craig Morgan has spent much of the past couple of years crossbow-hunting big game in extreme locales, fishing deep waters, barreling through terrain on motorcycles at breakneck speed and chasing all other sorts of wild and wooly thrills outdoors. He’s also continued performing in packed houses all across the country on his concert tour. It’s all in a day’s fun for the high-energy adrenaline junkie, who invited the Outdoor Channel into his world to capture all the excitement for their new show, ‘Craig Morgan All Access Outdoors.’

The Boot caught up with Craig — in a rare moment when he was actually sitting still — to find out about the hijinx fans can expect on the new season of ‘All Access.’ He also tells us about his new single, ‘This Ole Boy,’ and why his daredevil ways don’t scare his wife one bit.

Your show had a really successful first season. It must be match made in heaven, getting to do what you love in front of the cameras?

I’m probably the luckiest guy in the world. I have two full-time jobs, and the jobs that I do are most people’s dream jobs. Anybody in the outdoor industry, their dream is to have their own outdoor TV show and get paid to go hunting and fishing and hiking and doing the stuff that we do. For me, it’s not really a show. It’s just a reflection of what we do on a day-to-day
basis, and there happens to be a camera there. The only difference between now and three years ago, is there’s cameras everywhere. Otherwise, it’s just the same crap we were doing back then. [laughs]

The Boot

If you are getting married this summer and looking for some older country music for your wedding check out some of these great Garth Brooks songs. First Dance Songs (1) Love Will Always Win (The Lost Sessions) (2) A Friend To Me (Sevens) (3) It’s Your Song (Double Live) (4) You Move Me (Sevens) (5) [...]
Country Music Mood

Filed under: Countdown

Remakes, also commonly known as cover songs, go all the way back to the earliest days of popular music and have stretched across myriad musical genres. Songs written and recorded by country legend Hank Williams, for instance, have been covered by Tony Bennett, Beck and Bob Dylan, to name just a very few. From the most glaringly obvious to the entirely unexpected, The Boot counts down 10 of our favorite more recent cover songs in country music.

10. ‘If I Were a Boy,’ Reba McEntire (2010)
The Original: Beyoncé, 2008

She’s tackled everything from Bobbie Gentry (‘Fancy’) to the Everly Brothers (‘Cathy’s Clown’). But it takes some cojones to stare down a huge pop tune by Beyoncé and knock it out of the park. Boy or not, we’d kick it with you any time, Reba.

Reba’s Version | Beyoncé’s Version
Download It

The Boot

Swan Song: A final gesture or performance, given before dying or retirement. Hollywood Undead couldn’t have picked a more apt title for their debut album, because after listening to this, I hope they seriously consider retiring from making music. I understand that this kind of music is for a certain niche of people. Mostly, the kind of people that hang out in Hot Topic and think that rap music makes you gangster. You know, the kind of shit that makes my generation look bad. But even for those carbon based life forms, Swan Songs is a mockery of everything real rappers like Eminem and Jay-Z have been building towards for decades.

It’s difficult to express when my frustrations with this album began. It probably started with the album cover, which has an interesting premise with the city of Hollywood upside down, but is instantly ruined by every single member of the band concealing their face behind bandanas and hockey masks. People really need to stop this crap. It didn’t look cool when Slipknot did it and it’s a cheap way to make your band "mysterious". Led Zeppelin was the perfect example of mystique executed perfectly in a band, and they didn’t resort to dressing like wanna-be gangsters on Halloween. Obviously, things were off to a rocky start before I even opened the cd case.

Hollywood Undead is perhaps the most juvenile attempt at making music I’ve ever heard. I’m going to assume that every member has a severe case of turrets, because every other word is a variation of f*ck or f*g. Let’s say there’s a little fat kid that looks up to the most popular kid in town because the popular kid represents everything the little fat kid isn’t. So little fat kid tries his hardest to imitate the popular kid just to get 15 seconds of fame and success but fails miserably because everything gets lost in a haze of mistranslations and poor speaking skills. Now replace the little fat kid with Hollywood Undead and the popular kid with Eminem. You now have a perfect representation of what Hollywood Undead is and what they never will be.

There are no redeeming qualities to be found in Swan Songs. I get the impression that these guys must have grown up in the suburbs listening to rap music, pointing wooden guns sideways at each other pretending they were badder than they really were. Every "serious" song on here just sounds like a weak attempt to replicate the sounds and drama of better rappers with more skill. The beats are monotonous and boring and the singing (if it can be called singing) is laughably one dimensional and poorly put together. I would say this is one of the worst albums I’ve ever heard, but that doesn’t do it justice. So to bring this to a close, I’d like to give some friendly advice. If you enjoy the idea of having one more thing to add to the mountain of reasons for hating my generation, then feel free to pick up Swan Songs, because this is the most heinous crime committed against the world since [Insert joke about George Bush's presidency here].

(Octone 2008)

Reviewed on 2011-03-18 00:55:45 by Brandon Thompson
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