First Thing I Noticed at The Beale Street Music Festival

I'll have a write-up of my 3 day excursion to the Beale Street Music Festival in the next day or two, but here was the first thing that caught my attention. I guess you'd call it a sign presentation FAIL. (It was a wrap-around banner that said "First Class. Fun.") I noticed quite a few attendees stopping to take this picture.

Farewell to The 9513

Today I read the sad news that The 9513 is calling it quits. As the most informative country music blog on the 'net, they've long provided great reviews, news and editorials with an intelligent bent and a wide-ranging perspective.

The founding Vercher boys are one of the reasons I got into blogging in the first place, or at least one of the reasons I kept at it. They've always been helpful and and friendly to Farce the Music, as have the rest of the staff.

Hopefully we'll see them and the rest of their crew of talented writers elsewhere online in the near future (of course, many have their own blogs and side-projects already).

Make sure to drop by the goodbye post and let them know how much you appreciate The 9513. Thanks guys!!

YouTube Gems: Cage the Elephant

From their current album, Thank You Happy Birthday, here's Cage the Elephant (who I'll be seeing tonight at Beale Street Music Festival) with "Shake Me Down." RIYL: The Black Keys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rise Against, Cold War Kids, Foo Fighters.

.99 Reviews - Jake Owen: Barefoot Blue Jean Night

Jake Owen - Barefoot Blue Jean Night (Click to listen)

The People's Take

I don't know what the people's take is... my iTunes isn't working properly, but I can imagine 90% of the comments are as such "This is so great for summer riding with my boyfriend in his truck and going to softball games!!!" and the other 10% are either "First!" or "I hate country so this sucks."

My Take

I already know what's coming. It's late April so like taxes are due and Obama's ratings are down, it's time for Summer songs. I'm right. I can also guarantee "till morning light" or "till the break of dawn" will be sang in this song…. yep, there it is. Jake is doing it right and coming alive with the new girl in town out in the middle of ruralia.

How old is he? 30 or something? Is he really still hanging around at parties in the countryside? Jake, you do know it's legal for you to drink wherever you want to that's not a car? Grown folks have parties at their house… in the back yard. There are too many snakes at the riverside. Authenticity is not a requirement of radio country, so I should look past all these little things, but I just can't.

There is one nice line in this song: "we were shining like lighters in the dark in the middle of a rock show" and honestly, I like the beat. The "whooaaoh ohhs" are making me angry though. Ah hell, I'm feeling generous. This isn't horrible such as it is. There are banjos. Jake sounds interested, but the imagery is as far from unique as Jake's teeth aren't from whitener. "Never gonna grow up/never gonna slow down." You might wanna rethink that pardner… the mid-thirties will drain you of energy, I can promise you that. The hangovers aren't so bad anymore, but you'll have a lot more self-awareness of how stupid it is that you're three Jagerbombs into a Friday night and your jeans are biting into your side. Maybe that's just me.

Basically, this is middle of the road pop-country with a few nods to actual country, but it's catchy. A word of warning to those predisposed to living out songs: being barefoot on the riverbank at night is a good way to end up with poison ivy rashes, ticks and West Nile Virus. Have fun.

Total Value: .55/.99

The Checklist:

Church/God

Mama

Boots

Name Dropping

Dying Person

Jeans

County Fair

Lost Love

Dog

Love

Hometown/Country Pride

Kindly Advice

Truck

Whiskey

Beer

Life Affirmation

USA

Soldiers

Pop Sheen

Star Power

Awkward Gary Levox Photo of the Week