Best Country Singles of 2012 (#30-21)

If you missed #40-31, you can check them out HERE.

30) Clay Walker - "Like We Never Said Goodbye" (Released January, peaked at #46 in March on Country Songs Chart)
Songwriters: Cory Batten, Tiffany Goss
Walker's last big hit, "She Won't Be Lonely Long," was one of the best singles of 2010, cracking the top five and becoming one of Walker's most successful singles in years. I'm not quite sure when or why he fell out of favor (for the most part) with radio, but nothing since has seen much success. "Like We Never Said Goodbye" is quite simply classic Clay Walker: a smooth-as-honey vocal performance, a modern traditional arrangement, and a sweet story you can invest yourself in for three minutes.

29) Kelly Clarkson feat. Vince Gill - "Don't Rush" (October, peaked at #23 in November, currently at #37 on Country Airplay chart)
Songwriters: Blu Sanders, Natalie Hemby, Lindsay Chapman
With only a few contributions to the country market in her career, I'm still not sure about Kelly Clarkson's nomination this year for Best Female Vocalist at the CMAs. But if she continues putting out classy, pleasant-sounding tunes like "Don't Rush," you won't hear much complaining from me. Of course, for my money, Vince Gill's harmonies make the song, but give Clarkson credit for featuring a talent who hasn't had any sort of presence at country radio for roughly a decade. Their performance of the song at the CMAs was more impressive than its radio success has been; Clarkson's duet with Jason Aldean, "Don't You Wanna Stay," has crushed it commercially in every respect, yet more proof that it is an unfair and unjust world we are living in.

28) Wade Bowen - "Saturday Night" (November 2011, peaked at #39 in February)
Songwriters: Wade Bowen, Lee Thomas Miller
Wade Bowen's song with a non-conformist narrator is country in theme, rock in execution, and pop in catchiness. It's about a guy who's out on a Saturday night watching everyone around him have a good time but -- shocker -- he is not. We've all had nights like those where we refuse to conform to the fun-lovin' going on around us, and it's usually due to a -- shocker -- recently broken heart. Bowen's voice is strong, and he's one to keep an eye on for bred-in-Texas Eli Young Band-esque mainstream success in the next few years. Of course, he believes country music is supposed to be sad, so then again, maybe not.

27) Dwight Yoakam - "A Heart Like Mine" (October, did not chart)
Songwriter: Dwight Yoakam
A lot of reviewers of the latest Yoakam album 3 Pears have gone out of their way to mention how they think it's his best album of original recorded material in several albums. I thought Blame The Vain (released in 2005, his last album of new material) was fantastic, however, and I personally haven't enjoyed 3 Pears nearly has much as a cohesive work. Co-produced by Beck, "A Heart Like Mine" is one of the standout tracks on 3 Pears. Loud, jangly guitars, Yoakam's unmatched wailing vocals, a music video showcasing his considerable well-known dance moves -- this is a talented artist at his best and most fun.

26) Zac Brown Band - "Goodbye In Her Eyes" (October, currently at #5 & #3 and climbing)
Songwriters: Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, John Hopkins, Sonia Lee
Zac Brown Band have consistently released the best singles to country radio over the last few years. Slick guitar work, tasteful harmonies and fiddle-playing, and a chugging beat propel this tale of a man who can see the writing on the wall in his lover's eyes. Her kiss is passionless, her smile is awkward, and then he sees it in her eyes and "knows for sure." Sadness but also stubbornly reluctant acceptance is present in the way Brown sings this one.

25) Easton Corbin - "Lovin' You Is Fun" (February, peaked at #7 & #5 in October)
Songwriters: Jim Beavers, Bob DiPiero
This guy just has a great voice for singing country music, certainly one of my favorites out there in radioland. "It's alright to keep it light now, mama, don't ya think?" he sings in "Lovin' You Is Fun," and that's exactly what this song is: light, fun, and sung really well. Not that a reminder to not take yourself so seriously is in short supply at country radio (mostly because the songs lack any semblance of substance), but if a reminder was ever needed, Easton Corbin is the man to sing about it. (I wrote more about the song earlier this year here.)

24) Dierks Bentley - "Tip It On Back" (August, currently at #22 & #16 and climbing)
Songwriters: Ross Copperman, Joe Knight, and Tully Kennedy
I think by this point many people agree that Home was nowhere near as good as Up On The Ridge, but that would have been a near impossible task to ask of Dierks. Home does have a few good tunes though (and I must say that it's still one of the strongest mainstream country releases of the year), and I think this is one of its best. With a narrative set firmly within the reality of the recession and a tone that is wonderfully dark, "Tip It On Back" is quite literally a song about drinking to forget the harsh realities of life, even if only for a few hours. "Tip it on back, make it feel good, drink a little more than you know you should" -- once you've lived enough life to know that it's not all candy and roses, there are times this can seem the only advice to heed.

23) Greg Bates - "Did It For The Girl" (April, peaked at #14 in October, currently at #5 and climbing)
Songwriters: Greg Bates, Lynn Hutton, Rodney Clawson
Well, since Easton Corbin has fizzled out at radio... oh wait. Easton Corbin had a hit single at radio this year? Nevermind. Anyway, the first time I heard this song it immediately reminded me of Corbin: voice, style, subject matter. "Did It For The Girl" would fit perfectly on a playlist between "Roll With It" and "Lovin' You Is Fun." I'll wait and see what he releases as his next single (which probably won't be until well after the new year as this one is still climbing the Airplay charts) before I determine if he's someone to watch, but it's hard to think of a better first single to introduce yourself to a mass listening audience. (More on "Did It For The Girl")

22) Big & Rich - "That's Why I Pray" (May, peaked at #16 in September)
Songwriters: Danelle Leverett, Blair Daly, Sarah Buxton
Say what you want about Big & Rich, but even on their worst songs the dudes sound good harmonizing together, and it's especially evident on ballads such as this and "Holy Water" from their 2004 debut album. You won't find deep theological insight here, only a song about practical, personal, life-affirming, facing-life-head-on faith. And it's one of those songs that just makes you feel good. It seemed to have a lot of momentum after its release but unfortunately only reached as high as #16. Based on that chart performance a cynic might say something snarky about how prayer doesn't work; but, though I can indeed be quite the cynic, I'll just say that even if you don't pray, you might still find yourself humming along.

21) Josh Abbott Band - "I'll Sing About Mine" (November, did not chart)
Songwriters: Brian Keane, Adam Hood
To really let you know what this song is about, I'll just share the lyrics of the chorus with you:


Because tractors ain’t sexy
And workin' is hard
For small town people like me
And the radio's full of rich folks singin'
About places they’ve never seen
Now I ain’t sayin' their lives ain't hard
I'd love to hear about it sometime
Let 'em sing about their own life
And I’ll sing about mine

I would say that's a hell of single to release from their major label debut, one that's certainly going to be pushed for mainstream airplay more than any of their past albums. It's honestly quite surprising that the label let them release it as a single. I always wondered if they were talking about Eric Church with this line: "When you talk about the Dairy Queen, pickup trucks, and Springsteen/ Make the place I love sound like a bad cartoon." But page two in this Billboard Country Update PDF clarifies that Abbott was not knocking Church's "Springsteen," and that he actually likes the song. In the same article co-songwriter Brian Keane says the "Because tractors ain't sexy" line was actually about Jason Aldean's "Big Green Tractor" and not Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." But anyway... It would have been awesome to hear this on mainstream country radio sandwiched in between all those songs it rightfully calls out, but alas, it was not to be. It didn't even chart.

*first number in parentheses is chart position on Billboard Country Songs; second number is chart position on Billboard's recently created Country Airplay chart (which is basically the old Country Songs chart that had been around for decades), unless otherwise noted. (None of this will never not be confusing)

Best Country Singles of 2012 You Haven't Heard

It's no surprise that many of the best songs released to country radio fail to make a blip on the charts. Even when some of country music's most popular stars release a song that's a little "different" for mainstream audiences (read: sad, authentic, or tells a heartfelt story), radio programmers and the powers that be tend to shrivel up in fear and refuse to play it. It's not "what the audience wants to hear." What they are really saying, however, is that the song wasn't churned out by "a few bros" before lunch on Monday morning over a cup of coffee, sent to production and compressed to smitherines, and made bereft of all possible soul and genuine emotion, all in the name of not offending the "target audience." There are, of course, a few exceptions. The following songs display a strength of songwriting that is rarely present on the airwaves, and that's why they were not or most likely will not be played. I'm sure I missed a few of the best (I couldn't find a composite list of singles released to country radio in 2012), but these are some of my favorites.

Josh Thompson - "Comin' Around" - With production that contains both banjo and steel guitar front and center in the mix, "Comin' Around" follows Thompson's minor hits "Beer on the Table" and "Way Out Here." A little ironically, the first lines are, "It was like nails on a chalkboard when Daddy played his kind of music/ If you'd have asked me then I'd have said it was borderline abusive/ But I'm gettin' to where I don't mind it now/ I'm comin' around." The way Thompson felt about his father's music back then is how I feel about many songs on today's country airwaves. And anytime there are rumblings of a coming change underneath the surface, something is put out there that makes it evident radio isn't coming around at all. (Peaked at #31)

Wade Bowen - "Saturday Night" - Another product of the Texas music scene, Wade Bowen had the audacity to release a song about how going out on Saturday night can sometimes suck. According to current mainstream "country" culture, if you don't write a song about how going out and getting wasted is always so much damn fun, and instead write a song about how a lot of the time it ain't that damn much fun at all, you are bound to be taken for a crazy person. Of course, this is ultimately a song about heartbreak, which certainly colors the way the narrator feels about this particular Saturday night. But still. (Peaked at #39)

Kellie Pickler - "100 Proof" - I have listened to the songs from her latest project of the same title (though not yet thoroughly) and, well, it's pretty clear from even one listen that the album and singles released from it were not destined to take the mainstream by storm; it's simply too old-school. Granted, that would have been great, and I'm sure that's ultimately what Pickler would love to have happened. But even though she's a fairly household name due to her appearance on and subsequent fame garnered from American Idol, country radio simply did not give Kellie Pickler a chance this time around. This particular song just sounds good, with steel guitar and Picker's twangily strong vocals heavily featured; it's a traditional, or at least neo-traditional, song pleasantly updated for today's mainstream audience with it's soul more than intact. Unfortunately, soulless is what's popular. (Peaked at #50)

The Mavericks - "Born To Be Blue" - Those unmistakeable jangly guitars are back and they haven't lost a bit of the sound or urgency that made them temporary successes with the mainstream back in the 90s. I remember really liking every single they released in those days. Though I couldn't come close to putting my finger on it back then, looking back now I realize there was always something different about them; they stood out, even to my young ears. "Born To Be Blue" picks up right where The Mavericks left it when they split -- the Roy Orbison-esque vocals of Raul Malo, the driving percussion, the heartbroken lyrics mixed with the light-hearted-good-time-jangly-downright-danceable instrumentation, executed by the members of the band with considerable skill and cohesion. It's yet to be seen whether signing with an offshoot imprint under the umbrella of label Big Machine Records (the new kings of Music Row) will translate to success in the format once again, but either way it's good to have them back. (Currently at #49)

 Josh Abbott Band - "Touch" - I really need to listen to more of this group. They have been mighty popular in the Red Dirt/Texas scene (are you noticing a trend here?), and even tasted mild country radio success with the beautiful mandolin-soaked number "Oh Tonight" in the summer of last year (the single reached #44). Abbott's vocals bear a striking resemblance to another of Texas country music's finest, and one of my favorites, Randy Rogers. Lyrically, their latest single "Touch" is your pretty standard telling of a love gone wrong (though the line "Can't stop starin'/ My eyes keep takin' off what you're wearin'" does stand out), but it's so passionately sung by Abbott and played by the band that the emotional payoff is extraordinary, which isn't the easiest thing do to with a fiddle- and organ-laced country rocker. If this one doesn't crack them into the mainstream consciousness in a similar way that Eli Young Band's "Crazy Girl" did for that group, then hopefully the next track released off their Small Town Family Dream album will do the job. (Currently at #41)

George Strait - "Drinkin' Man" - It's nearly unforgivable the way radio has treated what is the best single of the past five years from country music's elder statesman. "Drinkin' Man" tells the heartbreaking story of one man's lifelong struggle with alcohol, starting at the tender age of fourteen. We sympathize profoundly with the narrator because he talks about how he's tried to quit and how he knows his reliance on drink is hurting those closest to him who love him the most. Take, for example, this chill-inducing line: "Stayed sober once for nine days in a row, I quit cold turkey/ Damn near almost made it ten/ But that's a hell of a lot to ask/ of a drinkin' man." In a similar way that Wade Bowen sings a different tune about Saturday nights, George Strait sings a different tune about alcohol. Many songs on country radio (and pop radio for that matter) glorify night after night of drinking to excess, but "Drinkin' Man" trades glory and good times for something a little more poignant, dangerous, and real. And it doesn't matter that it's sung and co-written by King George; radio programmers wouldn't touch something this authentic with a thirty-seven foot pole. And they didn't. (Peaked at #37)

Turnpike Troubadours - "Gin, Smoke, Lies" - I hope to write a little more on this here blog about Turnpike Troubadours, though no amount of praise, written or shared, that I could heap on the band would do them justice, not to mention that said praise would often venture into hyperbole, for better or worse. Quickly to the point, this is one of the best, if not the best, country bands making music today. The lyrics are sharp: if they aren't making you chuckle then they're making you cry (or at least feel like you could). The musicianship is tight, skillful, and nuanced: I challenge you to find a band of any genre that uses instrumentation so perfectly to the degree that each song calls for as well as these guys. The vocals are... well, I'll just say that lead singer and principal songwriter Evan Felker has quickly become one of my favorite voices; twangy, earnest, and emotive (some friends I have compare him to Ryan Adams, though I enjoy Felker quite a bit more). "Gin, Smoke, Lies" is the first single from their recent May release, Goodbye Normal Street, and it's as ferocious a first single as you're bound to hear. Banjo, fiddle, and heavily pounding drums (think "We Will Rock You") round out the production, and Felker's lyrics are as biting and sharp as ever: "Well a spade is made for diggin' dirt/ and an ax is made for choppin'/ Darlin' my heart's hard as nails they hammer/ in a hardwood coffin/ In a hardwood coffin." The "coffin" line is sung twice to drive home the starkly bleak imagery, you know, just in case you missed it. In the end, it's a stone cold country song that flat out rocks, a cheating song the likes of which you've never heard before. CMT.com somewhat surprisingly debuted the video (which I believe was the group's first ever) for the song earlier this week, and if it catches any sort of mainstream traction, I can honestly say it might be the best thing to happen to mainstream country music this century. Turnpike Troubadours are simply too good not to want the rest of the world to hear. (no chart position...yet)