Only Every Other Memory is You

Ryan Hurd has a similar sound to Tim McGraw; they both have a raspy richness to their voices and though each can be distinguished between, respectively, they both have that classic country tone that transcends all eras of music. Being in the contemporary and modern country playing field, Ryan Hurd appeals to demographics across the board. And Tim McGraw is still making hits and is relevant today, staking his claim in the country music territory across all demographics, too.

A unique attribute about country music through generations is that songs — that are inherently different from one another — can be traced back and related to each other, as if it’s an extended conversation or a sequel to the adored original. Country music is a conversation.

One of Tim McGraw’s most beloved and recognized songs is “Something Like That,” which was released in 1999. The song is set as a memory during Labor Day weekend at a county fair. The young narrator recounts the moment he noticed a girl and marks it as one he’ll never forget. 

Ryan Hurd’s “Every Other Memory,” which was released in 2020 follows a similar pattern as McGraw’s, acting as a contemporary sequel or altered perspective to the same event.

Both set up the storyline with a memory; nostalgia as intense as a flame. Both take place over a holiday weekend and both capitalize on the senses that often heighten a memory.

Tim McGraw’s first verse:

It was Labor Day weekend I was seventeen

I bought a Coke and some gasoline

And I drove out to the County Fair

And when I saw her for the first time

She was standing there in the ticket line

And it all started right then and there

Oh a sailor's sky made a perfect sunset

And that's a day I'll never forget


Ryan Hurd’s first verse:

I still smell the smoke from

The Fourth of July fireworks

And I still feel the kick drum

Front row at the concert

After Talladega

Safe to say you stick around

And the theme ensues throughout the rest of both songs. Each narrator is older looking back on a memory of a younger, freer, first summertime kind of love. In McGraw’s “Something Like That,” the narrator runs into his old country fair flame on a flight a few years later. 

McGraw sings that he recognizes her voice from the past. The song progresses, “She said ‘I bet you don't remember me’/And I said ‘only every other memory.’”

And….enter stage right Hurd’s “Every Other Memory” where he sings, “Every other memory is you.”

The charm of a happenstantial moment like this is the epitome of a great country song, and it’s one that every one — in some form or fashion — can relate to. Hurd’s latest release has similar appeal as McGraw’s “Something Like That” in voice, storyline, and flow proving that experiences, moments, and memories transcend eras. 

"I'm Over You." "I'm Over You." "I'm Over You."

Whether we’re on the receiving end or the telling end of this statement, most of us can relate to it in some form or fashion. Sometimes it’s easy: “I’m over you.” Say it once or hear it once, and it sticks. But sometimes it’s our own internal voice repeating it over and over trying to prove to ourselves that it’s true. “I’m over you. I swear I’m over you. I am.” 

Keith Whitley gave this feeling life in his song, “I’m Over You,” which was recorded in 1989 but released posthumously in January of 1990, following his death. 

“I’m Over You” is a crying, crooning country classic in sound and in story: the narrator says he’s over the woman he’s singing about. In trying to make her believe it’s true, he’s really trying to convince himself of it, too. He denies what she has heard: through close friends and small town talk she hears he is drinking too much and not doing well, but he says that it’s not true, “I’m over you.” But the lyrics are cleverly placed proving that he is, in fact, not over her. He says it outright in the chorus: “You heard I'm drinkin' more than I should/And I ain't been lookin' all that good/Someone told you I was takin' it rough/Why they makin' those stories up/When I'm over you?” The obvious true feelings are expressed in the first lines of the song: “Where there's a cloud don't mean there's rain/Tears in my eyes don't mean there's pain/Don't flatter yourself, I'm over you.” 

The ‘don’t flatter yourself’ line is classic, and one — as humans — we can all relate to. He flips the script a bit by trying to convince her that her thinking he is not over their relationship is arrogant and she is flattering herself when she shouldn’t. He is saying she thinks too highly of herself if she thinks he’s not over it. Ouch. The song touches on the internal turmoil he and she are both experiencing.

The turmoil of tragedy of the song is inherently humanistic. Two people, both of whom are stubborn, and won’t admit the pain. The discussion going on in “I’m Over You” is a painful description of who we are due to our human nature. We are stubborn people. 

Considering the song to be a country classic, and timelessly relevant, many artists have covered Keith Whitley’s “I’m Over You.” Specifically, two large name artists who have recorded and cut a version of this song are Chris Young and Dylan Scott. For Young, the cover was released on his Voices EP in 2010 and for Scott, the cover was released on his An Old Memory album in 2019. Both voices, like Whitley’s, are rich and southern to the definition. Young and Scott have a similar roughness in their rich twang, which is what most of their fans love most. Additionally, both artists (though very contemporary and modern country singers), are very outspoken with the influence Keith Whitley had on their musical career. 

Both artists do a fantastic job of maintaining the honor and glory of the song’s originality in their covers. Each one sounds very attuned to their sound, respectively, but the cover itself is a respectable homage and tribute to the song, it’s relevance throughout the last three decades, and in tribute to Keith Whitley. It’s also no coincidence that the song ends with the repetition 3 times of “I’m over you” as if the narrator is pleading to himself to believe it’s true. Saying it enough as to memorize it, and maybe by chance it’ll naturally seep into his very being. Again, human nature. We can all relate even if we’re too stubborn to admit it. In addition to the repetition tactic of 3 “I’m over you’s,” there are also 3 decades of “I’m over you” versions, proving Keith Whitley to still be a prominent country music legend, speaking to us through music even to this day.

Let me know which version you like the best in the comments!

It's amazing what can happen in a half a song...

As an avid country music hobbyist, I find it significantly charming when connections between country songs carry through like a sequel to a cherished original. 

George Strait’s “The Chair,” — the original in this story — was released in 1985 and still graces country music radio nearly 35 years later. The story is sweet and unique, filled with dialogue that puts the listener right in the conversation, as if he or she is sitting in the chair on the other side, close enough to be in earshot. The most unique feature of this song is that the dialogue is actually a monologue. The listener only hears one side of the conversation. It is the man speaking and asking questions to the woman, whose answers, by the lines following the one before, are inferred. The most quaint feature of the song is the opening and the close. Both bookend the plot beautifully. The man approaches a woman in a chair at a bar and is strategic with his hello. He says to her, politely, that she is in his seat but that the one next to his is open. They share the space and get to talking (like any good country song does). He gradually asks her to dance, asks if he can buy her a drink, all the classics. Between the one-sided dialogue and the build of questions that are compounding, the two are hitting it off. The last verse suits the song in the perfect bookend before the credits roll. The man admits to the woman that that never was his chair and it was an opportunity to introduce himself to her. The fact that the song is called “The Chair” is quite the meet-cute in itself. 

Enter stage left Cody Johnson’s ‘Half a Song’, which was released just over 30 years later. The first verse of Johnson’s song starts a bit more literally, but using some liberties and imagination, one can count ‘Half a Song’ as the perfect counterpart compliment to Strait’s ‘The Chair.’

I enjoy drawing connections between songs, almost as if it’s a continued conversation throughout time. Imagine the moment after the pleasantries in Strait’s song when she agrees to a dance. Enter in Johnson’s song, which is a contemporary yet traditional country song representing how much of a connection can be made within half of a song. When the band is playing and the two are out on the dance floor sharing space and gliding personally along the floor, a lot can be felt, understood and experienced in half a song’s time. The beauty of the song, just like Strait’s, is that the last verse brings the song full circle, when the next song starts.

Quarantine and Answers with Tyson Leamon

For Tyson Leamon, music and breathing go hand-in-hand. Music in all aspects, from the writing process, to playing shows, to recording music represents a journey he is supposed to be on, and he invites everyone to join along the journey with him. As an approachable artist, Tyson puts first his passions in a way that resonates with his fans while staying true to his authentic self in the process.

Meet Tyson.

Lisa: We’ll go ahead and get the introductions out of the way. How long have you been playing music? And what is it that made you decide to pursue it?

Tyson:

I started singing at the age of three (3). Dad would take me around in an old Dodge Caravan playing Civitan clubs, churches, and political events normally wherever they would have a young kid with a microphone sing a little music. 

For me, music wasn’t really a choice; I was born into a family that was musically rooted and grew up with harmonies and guitars and started doing it as soon as I could talk. I remember most of our holidays revolved around big ‘ole jam sessions at Uncle Roy’s and everyone would bring an instrument and play and sing along. 


Lisa: What is your favorite song you’ve written? Your proudest? If they aren’t the same.

Tyson:

Favorite song that I wrote would probably have to be the one about my daughter, entitled “She Calls Me Dad” because it has such meaning to me. I’m glad I can put into words what I feel in my heart for her as a father. 

I don’t know if I’ve written my proudest song yet. I’ve had some pretty good moments but I would never want to put a cap on what could happen, focusing on what has happened. Maybe the proudest moment is yet to come. 


Lisa: Will you walk us through your creative process?

Tyson:

Different songs take on different natures. It could be a current event that gets me thinking, a feeling, a loss of life, etc. I will start out with playing or hum through a melody and start trying to put the words together and grammatically in writing form. Write a catchy and relatable hook on the chorus part and put it together with the guitar. I’m still old school, so I’m a pen and paper kind of guy. 


Lisa: I’m dying to hear a story about one of your shows. Something about blood on your guitar during a show. Will you tell me about that?

Tyson:

So we were playing down at a venue — Big Tom’s in Cleveland, TN — and the crowd was pretty good into things. Amidst the rush and excitement of the crowd, in the moment my finger slips and hits the strings, completely peeling the hide off three of my fingers, resulting in blood splatter on the guitar much like a horror movie. At the end of the set, it resulted in broken strings but the show must go on. So at the end of the show I had a bloody guitar, broken strings and a bucket full of tips and lots of new fans. 



Lisa: Who are your musical influences?

Tyson:

That’s a tough question. For different genres, there are different artists. I get a lot of comparisons to several artists like Jeff Healey, Travis Tritt and Chris Stapleton. For me, it’s the ones that sing from their hearts that have the biggest influence on me and my music. I try to pull a little bit from everyone and learn daily. 


Lisa: What is your greatest goal as an artist? What is the biggest thing you hope to translate to people through your music?

Tyson:

My greatest goal as an artist is to never be unapproachable. I always want to make my music and myself relatable to my fans so that they aren’t buying into Tyson the artist but Tyson the person. If I’m not approachable as an artist, then they’re not reachable.

I would like to translate to people that no matter what adversity or opposition you face, or how unorthodox your journey, it’s okay because you were chosen for that particular path, and who’s to question it. If people don’t understand your journey, write a song or a story and tell them about it. 

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You can follow Tyson Leamon’s Facebook page here for updates on shows and the release of new music.

You're a Good Man, Guthrie Brown

Nashville’s Broadway is an eclectic melting pot of music from one bar to the next. Most are country cover bands that might slip in a Journey song or a Bruno Mars song to appeal to the eclectic melting pot of taste that walk in an out and up and down each bar on Broadway. Amidst all the talent, the sounds tend to blend together, but every once in a while, if you’re lucky, you may stumble upon – or stumble into – a musical gem.  When I brave Broadway, my favorite place to start is Acme Feed and Seed; it’s a little bit funkier and a tasteful take on the classic honkytonk. The rooftop has a beautiful view of both the buzz of the strip and the bridge over the water. The main level has a groovy, vibe-y atmosphere serving unique international fare with a southern twist. The music scene is typically different than the rest of Broadway.

Just the other weekend, my friend and I walked up to the rooftop to grab a drink and spend the majority of our Acme experience with the view. When we decided to leave, we walked down the flights of stairs to make our way to the front door, but the sound of Guthrie Brown stopped us in our tracks. Before we even consciously realized it, we ordered another drink and snaked through the crowds to a perfectly placed table; and we listened, head-nodded, clapped and never stopped smiling. Guthrie Brown is a simple man, wearing jeans and a T-shirt with hair on the verge of free and tastefully grunge. He sang original songs that sounded like classics. They were unique, but so well done I thought I recognized them from somewhere. He mixed his set with classics like Come Together by the Beatles and Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears. He appealed to everyone with his sound, voice, covers, and everything else that is the make up of an attention-gripping show. The amazing part, too – he was just having fun. He didn’t demand the attention or overtake the stage. He was simply Guthrie Brown and people loved it.  

To add to his mystique and grunge and “I’m doing what I love in Nashville and I don’t really care about the rest” appeal that relates to and transcends generations, he sold his CDs in a brown paper bag. He had two records recorded on CDs that gave us all early 2000s flashbacks. Each album epitomized the nostalgic charm when times called for burning music onto a CD-ROM and writing the album name on the disc with sharpie. These were placed in paper bags that would be used for school lunches, and were up for grabs only. Brilliant.

Since stumbling into Acme, Guthrie Brown has been the soundtrack to my life. His music is a cocktail with hints of 70s funk, 90s pop-rock grunge, and current-day jam appeal. A few of my favorite songs that I have had on repeat are Natural, Lightning, and Stay Gold, but Sweet Angel, Keeping On, and about every other songs are honorable mentions. Guthrie Brown has an Audiotree Live recording session on YouTube. Watch his recording of Lightning below. You can find out more about Guthrie Brown’s music here.


Country music is a lifestyle

I live for country music.

It’s an odd thing to live for, and kind of dramatic, I admit. I don’t strum a guitar or sing raspy rich tunes like Tanya Tucker and I don’t die for the mud and trucks and stereotypical lifestyle qualities that people associate with country music. But I love it as more than just a genre.

If I’m being frank—and hang with me here, this sounds like a bit of a stretch—I think country music is one of the most existentially fulfilling bridges from dream-state art to the charm of the reality of life. Country music plays on every heartstring from happy to sad and comfortable on a Sunday morning to wild and reckless.

I started The Line about five years ago, mostly just for fun. It was a way for me to practice creativity and expound in my interests through multiple facets: writing, country music, website design, graphic design and visual implementation. But the blog always seemed too ambiguous. I wasn’t a country news blog. I wasn’t a free writing blog. But The Line had a little bit of both, neither of which had enough content or strength to stand alone, nor did I want either one to stand alone. I love country music and I love to write, and always tried to somehow piece the two together.

I’ve always had a deeply rooted revelation about country music and its existential relatability to real life, but not until recently did I truly feel captivated by the literal experience. I realized that everything I wrote about, abstract or literal, honest or exaggerated, “country” or not, echoed the precise charm that any good country song somehow relates to the ears of listeners. Even though I’m not a songwriter, anything written in country music was essentially one in the same with every thing I would free-write about. I would write prose about something particular and suddenly relate it to a country song. Or I would hear a country song and relate it to an experience I wrote about, not because they were one in the same, but because country music covers all the bases.

More recently, with higher hopes of developing my blog further, I tried intertwining country music and my free writing a little more commonly and clearly. I created the tag line “Country music is a lifestyle” in hopes to bring not just the music aspect of country music but the effect it has on daily living. And how simply living in your day-to-day illuminates the charm of country music, too. To capitalize on the “lifestyle” side of my blog, I played my hand at a short, quippy fashion post—an ode to denim.  I wrote this post in June and it was quick and concise: just a simple excerpt one would find on Levi’s website for instance. I described how a pair of jeans can be dressed down or dressed up, how a pair of jeans feels like home for your hips, how a pair of jeans, worn at the seems, can feel a little bit like life.

In early October, Steve Moakler released a song called “Blue Jeans” on his new EP. The album cover is a patch of dark denim with embroidered effects incorporating his name and EP title, with stars around the text—like something your mom would sew on your favorite pair of jeans in high school in the 90s. Immediately, just from the album cover, the listener feels comforted by nostalgia. The song sets the tone of California dreaming and living through life’s journey, getting worn-in like your favorite pair of blue jeans. The fade and the wear are good; it’s the kind of breaking in where you get comfortable with life. Moakler sings, “Getting better with time/it’s a beautiful thing/breaking in this life like a pair of blue jeans,” and it is one of the truest explanations. I live for country music.

I’m a big Steve Moakler fan, so when I saw he released a “pocket” of songs I made it a priority to listen on my drive home. When “Blue Jeans” spilled through the speakers for the first time, my ongoing revelation suddenly came full circle. I smiled, because the connection just makes me happy. This is exactly – and quite literally – the kind of song that meshes the beautiful simplicities that make life so magical, and it resides in something as uncomplicated as a worn-in pair of blue jeans. The metaphor here is almost too much to bear it’s so simple. Country music is a lifestyle, and this is why I love it. You can learn a lot about yourself and about life if you live by country music like it’s your lifestyle.

Adam Townsend Debuts New Album, All My Fires

Adam Townsend.jpg

Local Tucson, Arizona artist, Adam Townsend, released his first full-length, debut album at midnight on June 7. His album, titled All My Fires, is an 11-song testament to the intrinsic passion that makes life rich.

The leading song on his album, “Everyday,” embodies the most surreal, sunny day in New York City. “Everyday” is essentially everything good. The song is current and contemporary, but also sparks the wonderment of nostalgia. I’ve never skipped through the busy sidewalks of sunny New York City in the 1990s, but the song echoes the perfect soundtrack to that magical, made-up memory. I think that is the power of good music— it illuminates feelings, whether truly experienced before or not, good music takes the listener to a charming and eerily close feeling of remembrance. “Everyday” is good music. And it’s just the first song.

Adam Townsend’s All My Fires takes listeners through a familiar but personal journey of love, heartache, hard work, and passion. His album is the physical epitome of the years of dedication that brought him to complete and share All My Fires, and each song is representative of the process. The album is fully ‘Adam Townsend’ stylistically, meaning that his personal influence and sound shines uniquely through each song he wrote for the album. He is purely singer-songwriter soul, and touches on every good thing in an album: he plays with funky melodies and interesting intros, he joins a rasp in his voice with graceful runs, he has a song for every person and every feeling, and has a unique duet with “Hurricane” featuring Lindsey Lomis. Though he is Adam Townsend through and through, there are hints of influence from artists like James Morrison— current yet timeless.

Personally, my favorite songs on the album are the first and the last— “Everyday” and “The River.” In a way, separately and together, these two songs represent bookends to the album in full. “Everyday” is a bit upbeat and fun, the soundtrack to the inherent good day. “The River” is a necessary, refreshing baptism into life, as it should be lived. 

I’ve discovered, after listening to All My Fires countless times throughout its first week public, that the most preferable way to listen is with headphones, because it deserves that much attention and respect, but it also consumes head space in a creatively comforting way that it simply alludes to the magical charm of daily living. You can listen to All My Fires on all major platforms. Click here to listen now

The time I've wasted

Lori McKenna is a recognizable and respected name in the realm of country music. She is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, known for writing and co-writing songs like "Humble & Kind," cut by Tim McGraw, which won her the Best Country Song award, and "Girl Crush" by Little Big Town, for which she also won Best Country Song. In addition to writing and co-writing hit songs for well-known artists to cut, she sings and records her own music. McKenna has released nine full-length albums and continues to write new music.

My personal favorite song written and performed by McKenna is called “The Time I’ve Wasted.” The song appears on her Numbered Doors album. It is a slow, melodic plea of recounting, metaphorically, all of the things a woman could have done, or seen in her wasted pursuit of a man, after years and years. She sings heartbreakingly, “I could have dug out the Grand Canyon with a spoon, for all the time I’ve wasted on you.” The song is delicate and melodious, a sorrowful song of wasted years.

Kree Harrison, the runner-up on season twelve of American Idol, cut a version of McKenna’s ballad in 2016. Her version is just as breathtaking and beautiful and appears on her latest album This Old Thing.

Which version of “The Time I’ve Wasted” do you like best? Let me know in the comments.

Kree Harrison's version can be found below, and Lori McKenna's original can be listened to by clicking here. 

 

Recent Jams on Repeat

  • Something We Shouldn't Do -- Chad Brownlee 
  • New Hometown -- Mike Ryan 
  • Man Enough Now -- Chris Bandi 
  • Do I Make You Wanna -- Billy Currington
  • It Matters To Me -- Faith Hill 
  • Only All The Time -- Mike Ryan 
  • Adam Sanders in general
  • Just To See You Smile -- Tim McGraw
  • That Ain't No Way To Go -- Brooks & Dunn
  • As If -- Sara Evans

What is on your repeat list? 

Dave Barnes Appreciation Post

Dave Barnes is a singer-songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee. Barnes is a Grammy nominated artist and is most widely recognized for his song “God Gave Me You,” which Blake Shelton cut in 2011. Barnes has written many popular songs including “Young And In Love” by Hunter Hayes, and “Mary And Joseph” by Tim McGraw. He has also been cowriter on countless hits, and most recently released a project with Julian Bunetta that is Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris' latest single called “Craving You.” Barnes has blurred the line between country music and Christian music on multiple occasions as well as writing popular songs for artists like Ben Rector, Andrew Ripp, and Matt Wertz. Barnes is well-rounded and multitalented artist, and y'all know I'm a fan. 

In addition to being a clever and meaningful songwriter, Barnes is a talented singer. He recently released a full-length album, Carry on, San Vicente, in 2016, and has other albums of original music that date from 2000 to present, including two full-length Christmas albums filled with original songs.

Seeing Dave Barnes live was a bucket list item for me, and I recently was able to see his Christmas show last December at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. Barnes proved to be funny and entertaining, gripping the audience’s attention with laughter, and proved to be tasteful and talented in his music, which, again, had every individual’s undivided attention.

My list of “favorites” by Dave Barnes is an extensive one, but it will be below for your listening pleasure. You’re welcome in advance. His music will bless your ears. I would love to know which songs are your favorite. Let me know in the comments. 

Dave Barnes Top 10 (ish)

  • More Than A Man
  • Sunset, Santa Fe
  • Grace’s Amazing Hands
  • Someday, Sarah
  • Chameleon
  • Everybody But You
  • Sticks And Stones
  • Loving You, Loving Me
  • Close Your Eyes
  • Good
  • Loving Los Angeles
  • Nothing Fancy
  • What We Want, What We Get
  • Until You  (Billy Currington has a great version of this song)

Horse Trottin' Music

I have this term for certain classic country songs – Horse Trottin’ Music – and it’s one of my favorite genres. If you listen closely to the rhythm of slow, old country songs it mimics the sound of a horse trotting. The sound usually accompanies songs that are slow, sad, or impactful. Examples of this in traditional country music can be found in Brooks & Dunn’s song, “A Man This Lonely,” George Strait’s “When Did You Stop Loving Me,” and George Jones’ “The Grand Tour,” just to name a few.

These are all older songs dating back to the 90’s or 70’s, but Miranda Lambert has recently released a song through her new album The Weight of These Wings, called “To Learn Her.” This song is the epitome of Horse Trottin’ Music. It is an anthem to classic country, but Lambert does an effortless job at maintaining a current sound. In her song, she incorporates all the best things I love most about country music in one three minute and forty-eight second song.

Take a listen to "To Learn Her" and "When Did You Stop Loving Me." I would love to hear what you think of the Horse Trottin’ sound. Comment below with your thoughts.

 

Country Music Conversation

As an English major, we often discuss how literature tends to talk to one another, almost as if novels carry on a conversation through the decades. I have recently discovered that music does the same thing, if you listen or if you want it to.

Jana Kramer released a song called “I Got The Boy” in 2015. The song is about a woman who has grown out of innocent and adolescent love but is struck by memories when she sees that her first love is also grown up and now married. She relays the emotions and jealousy tied with seeing a past lover years later in a mature and settled down setting. The song juxtaposes the heartache of her time with a boy – using fake IDs and sharing his class ring – with a more matured version of the boy, turned into a man – with a tie and trimmed haircut signifying his growth. He is now settling down and marrying someone else and she is left only with past memories and wondering what their future would have been like if she got the man, too.

When listening to “Man Enough Now” by Chris Bandi, I could not help but connect the two as if “Man Enough Now” could be argued as a response to Jana Kramer’s “I Got The Boy.” Chris Bandi sings a heartfelt plea of apologies and reassurance to a girl that he wasn’t ready for at the time. He admits that he didn’t want to give his freedom up in the past but has since grown up and moved on, and so has she.

Bandi sings, “It's too bad we happened when we did ‘cause I've learned a lot about life since then” and “You fell in love with a kid trying to figure it out…I'm man enough now,” which sounds almost like a response to Kramer’s “I Got The Boy” in a unique way through the man’s perspective. In both cases, if combined into a conversation, a plea and a response, the girl in “I Got The Boy” and the man in “Man Enough Now” are both left wondering what could have been, even though their lives have since moved on.

Listen to "I Got The Boy" and "Man Enough Now" and let me know what you think of the conversation happening in the comments.