So how about those Grammys?
And how sweet is it that one of country music’s own — the matchless Kacey Musgraves — took home the biggest prize of all — album of the year for Golden Hour? Were it not so unseemly and perilous, we’d turn handsprings in her honor.
OK, let’s get back to Earth. And what could be earthier than Luke Combs holding the high ground on the Billboard country albums chart for another week with This One’s for You?
Let’s fling some confetti, as well, for Scotty McCreery who now sits atop the country airplay rankings with his second No. 1 single, “This Is It.” That song made it to the summit in its 37th week on the charts.
Of the two new albums surfacing this week, Mandolin Orange’s Tides of a Teardrop enjoys the highest debut, flowing in at No. 13. The other freshman entry, Cassadee Pope’s Stages, arrives at No. 39.
Returning to action are Tim McGraw’s 35 Biggest Hits (at No. 14), The Essential Johnny Cash (No. 42), Linda Ronstadt’s Greatest Hits (No. 45) and The Ultimate Dolly Parton (No. 48) (We’re pretty proud of Dolly, too, who acquitted herself splendidly on the Grammy show after having won a special Grammy earlier as MusiCares’ person of the year.).
There are three new songs to spotlight — Brooks & Dunn’s “Brand New Man,” featuring Luke Combs (bowing in at No. 49; the original “Brand New Man,” B&D’s first chart single and first No. 1 came in 1991), Hardy’s “Rednecker” (No. 50) and Musgraves’ “Rainbow” (No. 58).
The No. 2 through No. 5 albums, in that order, are the self-titled Dan + Shay, Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, Kane Brown’s Experiment and Jason Aldean’s Rearview Town.
Marching in directly behind “This Is It” in the Top 5 songs array are Aldean’s “Girl Like You” (last week’s No. 1), Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy,” Luke Bryan’s “What Makes You Country” and Jordan Davis’ “Take It From Me.”
By the way, don’t you find all those Grammy fireworks a bit excessive? A good song doesn’t need them, and they can’t save a bad one.