Honest DVD Cover

Little Known Facts II

Cledus T. Judd is the name the parody singer was born with. The "T" stands for Tee.

The Pez company has announced plans to release dispensers in the likenesses of popular country singers. Justin Moore's will be to scale.

Willie Nelson has released more albums than Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne, George Strait, Metallica and the Beatles combined. He just recorded one in the time it took you to read this.

Chuck Wicks once looked out over a sold out arena and remarked to his bassist "Thank God we're opening for Brad Paisley!"

In middle school, Jody of Fast Ryde placed 2nd in his age category at his county spelling bee.

Most walls in Wynonna's house were constructed sloping outwards to accommodate her face.

Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland once pummeled a critic unmercifully for referring to her vocal style as nasal. The critic dropped charges for front row seats on the side of the stage Kristian Bush would be playing on the least.

Taylor Swift's all time favorite song is "Eatin' Goober Peas"

John Rich's business cards are diamond cut prismatic card stock with a metallic gold J.R. in the center.

Country Doppelgangers 5

This one's weird admittedly, but one of those doppelganger matching programs found this likeness. Justin Moore and Claire Danes. The facial structure is definitely very similar.

Sonny James and the happy little trees guy, Bob Ross.

"Hold That Thought" crooner Chuck Wicks and that guy from Third Eye Blind. My wife disagrees but I've always seen it.

Lee Brice and Jeremy Piven of Entourage.

Craig Morgan and Howdy Doody.

My trip to Little Rock

I'm still too tired from the weekend's festivities to do much of a wrap-up or review, but I had a great time at Little Rock, Arkansas' Riverfest. I made a little fun of the state to my northwest along the way, but the city of Little Rock is a really nice place, clean and aesthetically pleasing. The festival was also set up and run very well. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I was only able to attend Saturday's performances but wow. Lucero more than held their own alongside the legendary Black Crowes who followed. This little band that could sounded fantastic and had the crowd under their spell for the hour to hour and a half set. The Black Crowes were just awesome. I'm so glad I finally got to see them, especially since there's word that they plan to take a long hiatus after their next tour.

A band with a quite Google search unfriendly moniker, The See, was the first band we saw. I'd never heard of them, but I'd like to hear a lot more from them. They were somewhere in the realm of Replacements, older Kings of Leon... uh, I dunno... just punky alternative bar rock or something, but they would have made a great opener for Lucero. Instead, that honor went to aspiring country singer, Kid Rock lite Uncle Kracker (pictured below).

While I was prepared to unleash all sorts of hatred upon his performance, it was actually fairly entertaining. No, he can't sing that well. Yes, he's Kid Rock lite. Yes, half his hits are cover song. But he was better than I expected. His segue into country music is at its apex, as he opened with a Hank Jr. cover, did his Kenny duet (sans Chesney of course) and mixed in Kenny Rogers and the inescapable "All Summer Long" by his buddy Kid R.

Lucero (pictured below) was next and blew us all away. The band rocked through old favorites like "Tonight Ain't Gonna Be Good" while mixing in plenty of tracks from their latest record. They had a horn section that was a great addition after some sound difficulties got worked out. It was really cool to hear some of their older songs with the new horn flourishes. Lucero finished their set with a killer take on their "All Sewn Up," with Luther Dickinson of the Crowes and the North Mississippi Allstars coming on to lend some help with guitars. Ben threw in a little advertisement for his parents' local (Nichols is a Little Rock native) furniture store, much to the crowd's amusement.

The Black Crowes closed out our night, playing what was obviously their "festival setlist" of all their major hits with a few non-hit favorites and one song from their latest album "Before the Frost..." They played long versions of "Been a Long Time," "Wiser Time," "Thorn in My Pride" (the highlight of my night) and others, showing off the musical chops of one of the most underrated bands of the last 20 years. While there was almost no stage banter from lead singer Chris Robinson, he nonetheless connected and interacted with the crowd with his movement, gestures and soulful singing. He was magnetic.

All in all, Riverfest was a great experience and except for a little Waffle House excursion, I had a fun and safe time. I got to hang out with local (local to me, not Little Rock) sports talk host, lightning rod Kevin Broughton and his lady-friend for most of the evening and they were very cool to watch the show with.

An aside, I saw this 18 wheeler as we were headed back to Memphis this morning. Yes, Kix was driving. Poor guy.

Best of 2010 So Far: May

Top Albums so far

Trampled by Turtles - Palomino

Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

Austin Collins - Wrong Control

Joe Pug - Messenger

Kasey Anderson - Nowhere Nights

Drive-by Truckers - The Big To-Do

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

Dirty Sweet - American Spiritual

Great American Taxi - Reckless Habits

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

Hellbound Glory - Old Highs and New Lows

Rodney Hayden - Tavern of Poets

Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking It Easy

Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave

Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void

The Black Keys - Brothers

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

Tim Barry - 28th & Stonewall

The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever

The National - High Violet

Reckless Kelly - Somewhere in Time

The Brothers Comatose - Songs from the Stoop

Nightjar - Hometown Stranger

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Shinyribs - Well After Awhile

Widespread Panic - Dirty Side Down

Hank III - Rebel Within

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Retribution Gospel Choir - 2

Alan Jackson - Freight Train

Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C)

Gary Allan - Get Off On the Pain

High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine

Butch Walker and the Black Widows - I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart

Walt Wilkins & the Mystiqueros - Agave

Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives

Whispering Pines - Family Tree

Guthrie Kennard - Matchbox

Murder By Death - Good Morning, Magpie

D.B. Rielly - Love Potions and Snake Oil

Top Live Albums so far

Drew Kennedy - Alone, But Not Lonely

Jason Boland and the Stragglers - High in the Rockies

Zac Brown Band - Pass the Jar