...then why the hell say anything at all?
I could not vote for new artist of the year. This is unbelievable. I love Randy Houser and Zac Brown equally. Randy writes and performs like a champ, and Zac writes, sings and plays the living daylight out of a guitar. Of course, Jamey Johnson hit us with an album that's so good, it touches your heart like Hank Williams did in the early '50s. Jake Owen is so good looking, and Darius Rucker is such a star.
"Jake Owen is so good looking." Really now. CMW at Country California called it a burn, and I can definitely see where he's coming from -- but even if it wasn't it still makes Hazel Smith look really shallow. I don't have his new album, but Jake Owen's 2006 debut album was one of the best cds I bought last year. He has a great voice -- so good I think it even redeems lighter fare like "Something About A Woman" and "Yee Haw," and on the more meaty songs like the title track (the song I bought the cd for), "Places To Run," and "Ghosts" I honestly think he shows potential for true greatness. (Owen and Chuck Jones wrote "Ghosts" for Kenny Chesney; let me just say I am glad Chesney passed on it, because I am quite sure he could not have done it justice.) I don't know if he's on the level that Jamey Johnson is, but I still think Jake Owen is damn good for a mainstream Nashville artist. And if all Country Music Association voter Hazel Smith could say about him was that he's "so good looking," then it's really no wonder Nashville country music's in such sad shape -- no matter what she said about Jamey Johnson.
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