Thursday, April 27, 2006

The one with Rascal Flatts and Bellefire


Being in a country frame of mind (no connection at all to Kellie Pickler's getting kicked off American Idol on April 26), I recently purchased Me and My Gang by Rascal Flatts, the #1 album in the United States right now and perpetrators of some of the sappiest country-pop tracks out on the airwaves today (i.e., music Ganns is guaranteed to love).

It's a pretty good album, even by country standards, although the carrier single, What Hurts the Most struck me as sounding strangely familiar. I did some research on the Internet and found that Mark Wills did What Hurts the Most before Rascal Flatts, but I'd never heard of Mark Wills, so it couldn't have been him.

Then it hit me: Bellefire! I remember the syrupy harmonies and the earnest delivery, and Spin the Wheel, for all its manufactured pop tendencies, was a pretty fluffy album (i.e., music Ganns is guaranteed to love).

Did Jeffrey Steele of Rascal Flatts really write What Hurts the Most? No matter – it's a durn good song.

Along with Rascal Flatts, I got myself Alan Jackson's Christian album Precious Memories and Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits Vol. 2: Reflecting. Couple that with a purchase of Shania Twain's Greatest Hits last week, I'm a little bit country and a lotta bit Contemporary Christian Music. Yessir, I've got mahself the twang and ever'thang. I like country music, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

No comments: