Music Monday: "Dirty Laundry"

It's not secret around here that I love Carrie Underwood!  Before she released her latest album, Storyteller, in October, I had pre-ordered on iTunes.

Then I started listening to Christmas music, and really only had the chance to give her album a quick listen.  Now that the season of merriment has passed, I've caught up on all of my podcasts, and finished two audio books, I headed back to my iTunes library.

I'm currently obsessed with her song "Dirty Laundry" from this album.  I can't get it out of my head, and I don't want to stop listening to it!

What do you think? :)

Music Monday: Did I Really Listen to That?

I know some of you think it's too early for Christmas music, but not here in my world!  :)  I know that I usually rave about songs and/or albums that I love at Christmas. 

Today, I talk about one that I wish I hadn't wasted my time listening to.  Luckily, I bought it at a yard sale (from my brother, nonetheless) for $1.  

I'm not a huge Kenny Chesney fan.  In fact, I wouldn't even rank him in my Top 10  20 country artists.  I like some of his songs that they play on country radio.  Because of that, my love for country music, and my love for Christmas music, I decided to give this CD a try.

I hated it.  Even the traditional carols weren't very good.  For me, I think this was because they were slowed down unnecessarily.  I mean, I'm sorry, but "Jingle Bells" is supposed to be a pretty upbeat and peppy song, Kenny.  What were you thinking?

And while I do love Bing Crosby's version of "Mele Kalikimaka," I'm not otherwise a huge song of island-y, tropical Christmas songs.  I know that not everyone lives where there's snow, but doesn't everyone still want a white Christmas?!  ("Mele Kalikimaka" doesn't bother me because it's specifically stating that this is the Hawaiian Christmas greeting.  AND it's Bing Crosby!).  So the title track was just irritating to me.  Not to mention that it's really not the most grammatically correct title.

There are actually two redeeming songs on this album.  "Christmas in Dixie" features Randy Owen.  I'm not sure if it's because it's one I've heard before or if it's because there's less on Kenny Chesney singing in the song, but this one is pretty good.  "Just a Kid" is also a beautiful song with a really good message to it.  I just think it would be a million times better is someone else was actually singing it.


Have you heard this album?  What did you think?

Summer Vacation: Nashville Part 5

In case you missed any of my other posts about our vacation to Nashville, you can read about our experience on the historic Studio B Tour, visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Broadway & Karaoke, and the Nashville Ghost Tour.

For the last part of our Nashville vacation, I want to tell you all about visiting the Grand Ole Opry!

Visiting the Grand Ole Opry was a spur of the moment decision....actually...most of the things we did on our trip were.  The only thing we planned for sure in advance was visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame and taking the Studio B tour.  Anyway, it turned out that while we were there, Aaron Tippin and Scotty McCreery were performing.  Scott was a fan of Aaron Tippin in the 90s, and I was rooting for Scotty McCreery in his season of American Idol.  (In fact, that might have been the last season of American Idol I watched...)

There were 8 performers that night, and each artists sang three songs.  I made sure to get a picture of each one for the scrap book I'm going to make of our vacation.  I do have the names of each of them somewhere, but I'll be honest, I really don't feel like looking them up right now!  haha :)  

Aaron Tippin

Scotty McCreery

One of the other things we did in Nashville (that wasn't enough for one post) was visit the American Pickers store, Antique Archaeology.  In case you don't know, American Pickers is a TV show on the History Channel.  They travel around the country basically looking for all kinds of cool junk (aka antiques).  It was pretty interesting to browse a shop that we've seen on TV! 

That wraps up our trip to Nashville!  Have you ever been to Nashville?  What did you do there?  If you haven't been to Nashville, what would you LIKE to do?? 

Summer Vacation: Nashville Part 2

On Friday, I shared about my experience on the tour of historic Studio B in Nashville, TN.  I loved Nashville so much that I decided not to overwhelm everyone with a super lengthy post about it.  In this segment of my summer vacation posts, I share a little bit about the Country Music Hall of Fame and museum.

The museum featured displays (some more elaborate than others) giving a bit of information about Hall of Fame artists.  There were artists from the early days of country music to current artists like Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan.

I took a picture of the Hank Williams display because my pappy always loved his music.

Elvis' limo (and that's his gold piano in the back right)

The Man in Black (aka Johnny Cash)

Special Miranda Lambert exhibit

CARRIE!!

Kenny Rogers

As I said, most of the museum was small displays, and featured exhibits.  They also had a really cool area where you could record yourself singing to a few song choices.  You could also design your own album cover, and "mix" songs like producers.  It was probably targeted for kids, but we sure had fun.  As you can see in the above picture, there was a giant guitar.  There was a short set of stairs to get inside of it, and a slide on the other side.  As tempting as it was, I didn't use the slide.  I acted like a grown-up and used the stairs to exit.

The only disappointing part of the Country Music Hall of Fame was the audio tour.  In my previous experience with other audio tours, the audio component provides more information about the displays.  This one really didn't offer much information that we couldn't figure out or didn't already know from the display or our own personal knowledge.

Overall, this was an AMAZING place to visit, and if you're ever in the Nashville area, you should definitely visit!

Stay tuned for our experience on Broadway in Nashville!

Summer Vacation: Nashville Part 1

So this summer, Scott decided to take all of his vacation at once.  As you know, we kicked off our summer vacation by heading to Ocean City, MD.  We came home for a wedding reception, and headed back out on the road bright and early on the following Monday.  (Well, it wasn't at all bright.  That's how early it was....)

Our next destination was Nashville, TN.  As a big country music fan, I needed to go to Nashville.  Scott had made plans to visit a high school friend who lives in Mississippi.  When I first put the address in my iPhone to find a route, it took us right through Nashville.  That's when I knew we had to go!  I seriously loved Nashville so much, that I'm going to have to break this post up into a few segments.  I don't want to overwhelm you with all of my love! :)

Unfortunately, a couple of accidents along the Interstate caused traffic to be at a stop just outside the city.  On the bright side, this gave me the chance to snap a picture of the sky line!

The first thing on our agenda was a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.  We purchased the Platinum package which allowed us access to the museum, the audio tour, and a tour of historic Studio B.  Our Studio B tour was scheduled for 2:30, and we coasted in around 1:30.  We briefly browsed the museum, and then met our group for the tour.

The Studio B tour was seriously my most favorite part of the day....and our whole stay in Nashville.  

Since you probably can't see what that says....Studio B was one of the first recording studios in Nashville.  Elvis, among many other amazing artists recorded here.

And yes, the blonde with the big hair is Miss Dolly Parton!

I don't even think I can put into words the emotions I was feeling from the minute I stepped into this place.  I am honestly shocked that I didn't burst into tears because my eyes were filled with them the whole time.  We got to go into the recording studio itself, and our tour guide, Abigail, played Elvis' version of "How Great Thou Art", which was recorded at Studio B.  She also told us that Elvis loved to create the right mood for recording sessions and had special lights put in.  During his recording session for "How Great Thou Art," he had all blue lights on.  To record "Are You Lonesome Tonight," every light in the entire BUILDING was turned off.

I got to stand in the exact spot where he (and many others) recorded songs, and I got to sit at what was Elvis' favorite piano.  He even wanted to buy that piano, and the studio told him no!

I could just go on and on about how amazing this was, but I will just leave you with the two Elvis' songs I shared about.  Stay tuned for more about the Country Music Hall of Fame!

Music Monday: Blake Shelton

Since I talked about my favorite Miranda Lambert songs last week, I thought it was only fair that I share my favorite songs from her hubby this week!

Even if you don't like country music, you may know Blake from NBC's The Voice, which I'm actually taking a hiatus from watching this season.

Of course, I LOVE country music, so here are some of my favorite Blake Shelton songs!

"God Gave Me You"


"Honey Bee"

"Boys 'Round Here"

"Sure Be Cool if You Did"

"Doin' What She Likes"

The video for this one is pretty humorous.  :)  Make sure you check that one out!

Music Monday: Miranda Lambert

It's no secret around here that I love country music.  Back in January, I posted about one of my favorite country artists: Carrie Underwood.  Today, let's talk about another country gal I love: Miranda Lambert.

via
I love this country couple! (And in case you've been living under a rock, that's Miranda with country hubby, Blake Shelton)

Here are some of my favorite Miranda songs (the first two are my karaoke go-tos)!

"Mama's Broken Heart"




"Fastest Girl in Town"

"The House that Built Me"



"Over You"

"Heart Like Mine"

Is Miranda one of your favorite country artists?  What songs would you add to my list??

Shufflin'

About a week ago my friend and sponsor, Kristin, did a post about what was playing on her iTunes when she put it on shuffle.

I was in need of inspiration and decided to take a page from her book today!

I started by playing the first song in my library "Across the Universe" by The Beatles.  Here are the 10 that followed:

1. "Like that's a Bad Thing" ~Danny Gokey

2. "Cold Hearted Snake" ~Paula Abdul

3. "Baby's in Black" ~The Beatles

4. "Last Dance" ~Donna Summer

5. "I Second that Emotion" ~Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

6. "Little White Church" ~Little Big Town (LOVE this song!!  In fact, I'll share the video.)

7. "Silly Love Songs" ~Paul McCartney & Wings

8. "I'm Yours" ~Jason Mraz

9. "Sexy and I Know It" ~LMFAO

10. "Ring of Fire" ~Joaquin Phoenix from the Walk the Line Soundtrack

I'd say that's a pretty wide variety of songs there.

What would your first 10 songs be?

Music Monday: Carrie

I can't tell you how much I love Carrie Underwood.  She is the person I have most recently seen in concert,  and that was after years of not going to any!

In November of 2012, my student teacher at the time, Kelsey, and I went to see her at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

Before the concert

 

We had really great seats!  We were off to the side, but very close to the stage, and I was able to get some great pictures!

 

 

Good Lord, what do I need to do to get those legs??

 

This was super cool.  Carrie has a duet with Brad Paisley called "Remind Me".  When she did this song in the concert, the screen projected Brad (on the left in the back) with images from the video.

If you haven't heard this song/seen the video before, here you go!

 

 

 

She had this really amazing floating stage.  It took her and the band out over the floor seats to the back of the arena so they got a chance to see her up close!

 

This was toward the end of "Blown Away"

  

 

I'm currently obsessed with "Good Girl".

 

 

I do not think, though, that anything can top Carrie's version of "How Great Thou Art."  It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it (not to mention major chills from the first note), and every time I've sung her version in church.  The video version here is with Vince Gill.  I'll leave you with this one!  (If you only watch one video in this post, please do yourself a favor, and make it this one!)
 

 

Have a great week! 

It's Ok Thursdays 4/18

This week's edition of "It's Ok Thursdays" is about my current obession with country music.

It's ok...to be obsessed with country music.

It's ok...to think Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert are the best married couple ever.

It's ok...to be totally over Taylor Swift and her fake "surprised" face but still like some of her songs anyway.  (Honestly, Taylor, we've all had break ups before.  We don't have to publicly criticize them all in song.)

It's ok...to LOVE this song by The Band Perry:

 

It's ok...to not like how Kimberly Perry sounds in a live performance, though.

 

It's ok...to be obsessed with country music.  (Oh, I said that already.  Didn't I? ;) )