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  • Dear Ms. Judd: Wy You Hatin’?

    So, apparently Wynonna Judd has decided to stop shoving Twinkies down her gullet and driving drunk to diss Taylor Swift for winning the Entertainer of the Year award at the CMAs. As I mentioned in an article earlier today, the 19-year old Swift became the youngest artist to win this esteemed honor, in addition to winning three other trophies at the ceremony last night.

    Wynonna seems to think that Taylor has to pay her dues before winning something like Entertainer of the Year. I call shenanigans. It’s not like the woman is winning a lifetime achievement award. She won “Entertainer of the Year”. You don’t have to pay dues or have a body of work to win this award…you just have to have been successful in the past twelve months. Who else in country music has had the year that Taylor’s had. The fact of the matter is this-Taylor has set a record by having 13 songs from one album hit the Top 40, she scored the biggest country crossover hit of the year with “You Belong With Me”, she became the first country artist to win an MTV Video Music Award, and…”Fearless” is the year’s biggest-selling album, regardless of genre. It may not be paying dues, but it sure as hell is success. The type of success Wynonna hasn’t enjoyed since the early Nineties. Might there be a little jealousy going on in Nashville?

    What I found even funnier was the comment section. First of all, people who leave anonymous comments are the worst. If you can’t stand behind your own words, you have no credibility in my book. Second, there’s a large group of people who think that Taylor was a nobody before the Kanye incident. Now, folks, y’all know I love Kanye to death, but Taylor had sold over 7 million records BEFORE the whole MTV thing went down. It’s not like Kanye jumped on stage, stole the spotlight and made her into a star.

    Anyway, seeing as Taylor is enjoying success and opportunities that Wynonna only dreams about, I don’t think Ms. Swift is paying too much attention to the talk.

  • Who’s Mayer Hawthorne?

    I got turned on to Mayer Hawthorne courtesy of John Mayer. When the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter announced that Hawthorne’s “A Strange Arrangement” was his album of the year, my curiosity was piqued. A quick trip to Newbury Comics, and I was well on my way to appreciating the old school soulful stylings of this Detroit native.

    While I don’t know if I’ll go all the way and proclaim “Arrangement” as my album of the year, I will say that the album is definitely worthy of the assesment from John. Check out the video for “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” and let us know what you think.

  • Taylor Swift Sweeps the CMAs

    Exactly how many country music awards shows are there? I can’t tell the CMAs from the CMTs from the…well, I think there’s another one. Despite the fact that I’m a fan of some current pop-rock/country, I don’t think I could sit through two hours of yeehaws and cowboy hats.

    Nevertheless, the Country Music Awards aired last night (pre-empting “Modern Family”…grrrr…), and, as expected Taylor Swift made a big splash, winning four awards including Entertainer of the Year, which had gone to Kenny Chesney for three years straight. Taylor’s a pretty likeable chick, I’m happy for her, and I must admit that my resolve is breaking and I might wind up going out and buying “Fearless” finally. Hey, did anyone see her host “SNL” this past weekend? She served poor Joe Jonas. Anyway, Taylor also won Album of the Year, Best Female Vocalist and Best Video of the Year. Next up for her, the American Music Awards, where she will vie for the lion’s share of the night’s honors with Michael Jackson. Oh, Taylor is also the youngest artist to ever win the Entertainer of the Year honor.

    Other CMA winners included Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum and my older twin brother Darius Rucker, who won New Artist of the Year, becoming only the second African-American artist to ever win a CMA. Might this be the most successful pop-to-country crossover in history? Remember, yall: Darius was doing Burger King commercials a few years ago. Now he’s a platinum-selling recording artist again. Good for him. I still have nightmares about that damn commercial.