Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Miranda Lambert – This Country Ain't So Bad After All (a misshapedmixtape)

So here’s the thing. I hate country music. I mean really, REALLY hate it. There have been a few times in my life when I’ve even been subjected to listening to country music RADIO… usually while trapped in someone else’s a moving vehicle… and that was some touch-and-go shit. I mean, most radio stations suck and are stuck in a quagmire of stale baseball card bubblegum slobber, but when you add a “twang” to some really, really bad lyrics it is like a deep-fried-racquetball-testes-sandwich with barbeque sauce.

Okay. I do like SOME country music… you know, Johnny Cash (of course), Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Iris DeMent, Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, Wilco, Nappy Roots, Andre 3000… wait… were we talking about country music? Shit. I guess I don’t really know what THAT is, so I’ll stop.

Anyway, a couple of years ago I decided to give Miranda Lambert a shot. She kept popping up on Metacritic with super duper lauded albums, so I figured I should give it a shot. And hey, my wife likes country music (when she gets real upset she reverts to a Kentuckian country slang… it’s cute), so I thought that if nothing else it would give her something new to throw into her rotation. And here’s the thing: it turns out that Ms. Lambert (Miranda not Adam) is legit. She writes her own stuff, she’s got an incredible voice, her songs rock, the ones that don’t make you well up (e.g. “The House That Built Me”... unless you have a tin heart), she’s gorgeous, and she’s bad-assed to the maximus (case and point:  “Gunpowder & Lead” -- a song about a battered woman who goes “Hey Joe”-style on her lover)... and "White Liar" and "Kerosene" REALLY blow yr socks off as well.

Every single one of her releases (she has four full-length albums) is worth checking out (along with her mad decent “supergroup” album that she put out this fall as Pistol Annies with Ashley Monroe & Angaleena Presley) -- though a good starting point is “Revolution” (her third album) which is pretty much the cat’s pajamas. Wait though… actually this TAPE is the best starting point :)

Crap. I am SO bad at self-promotion.

So yes, this mixtape, entitled “This Country Ain't So Bad After All,” is a MUST download. Coz I’m the coolest. Even if you claim to hate country music (like me) this might change yr mind. It is more on the rock end of the spectrum (and I picked the rocking-est of her songs coz that's just me... AND her band can REALLY rock it out too). I also added in a Pistol Annies sonic and her cover of Loretta Lynn’s song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” which was on the “Tribute To Loretta Lynn” album. The song also features Loretta Lynn. And Sheryl Crow. So that’s neat.

I really dig Miranda’s songs that feature her wicked-whipsmart sense of laissez-faireish Liz Phairesque humor. “Only Prettier” is the best of those. Give it a few listens for sure.

I put this together around Thanksgiving time, which explains the double-entendre album title “This Country Ain’t So Bad After All” (insert Jay-Z saying, “I said country… get it?) and the fact that there are twenty-four tracks for the 24th of November. I'm not gimmicky, but my alter-ego sure is.

If you want to listen to music that would fit more into the “This Country Sucks, After All” category, I recommend checking out Immortal Technique’s free new mixtape, “The Martyr” (except I think that quite a few songs off of that tape kind of suck, but the track with Killer Mike, Brother Ali and Chuck D TOTALLY redeems the whole thing).

Thanksgiving actually made me feel happy to be living in the USA again. It’s not so bad. And the Lions aren’t either. Not that I care (that much).

Happy belated Tryptophan Day, everybody.

Voila: the tracklist for Miranda Lambert – “This Country Ain't So Bad After All (a misshapedmixtape)”... and if you want to download it, check for the link in the "comments":

01 : Gunpowder & Lead [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]
02 : Only Prettier [Revolution]
03 : Fine Tune  [Four The Record]
04 : Me And Your Cigarettes [Revolution]
05 : All Kinds Of Kinds [Four The Record]
06 : Sin For A Sin [Revolution]
07 : Guilty In Here [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]
08 : Takin' Pills (with Ashley Monroe & Angaleena Presley)
        from [Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels]
09 : Maintain The Pain [Revolution]
10 : Down [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]
11 : Mama's Broken Heart [Four The Record]
12 : Kerosene [Kerosene]
13 : White Liar [Revolution]
14 : Dry Town [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]
15 : Baggage Claim [Four The Record]
16 : The House That Built Me [Revolution]
17 : Greyhound Bound For Nowhere [Kerosene]
18 : Oklahoma Sky [Four The Record]
19 : Love Song [Revolution]
20 : Famous In A Small Town [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]
21 : Mama, I'm Alright [Kerosene]
22 : Coal Miner's Daughter (with Loretta Lynn & Sheryl Crow)
        from [Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn]
23 : Makin Plans [Revolution] [BONUS]
24 : Look At Miss Ohio [Four The Record] [BONUS]


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