> 1 pm: Mark Wills
Earnest young feller. Did "Don't Laugh At Me" that Matt Benz thought was
sucky and I rilly dug; current hit is a pretty vacuous number called "Wish
You Were Here." If he has any staying power, it has yet to reveal itself.
> 3: Kenny Chesney
I like Chesney pretty well, mostly because his voice is so unremediably
country <g>. He's a graduate of the ETSU music program, right, Rob? Rumor
has it that he made his first demos with ETSU bluegrassers like Tim
Stafford. His new album is pretty so-so, but the last one was pretty good,
with a stone country number called "From Hillbilly Heaven To Honky Tonk
Hell" with George Jones & Tracy Lawrence guesting, a great Tony Joe White
song ("Steamy Windows") and an AA (as in Alcoholics Anonymous) anthem called
"That's Why I'm Here," among others. I'd be interested to hear about his
show, which I suspect is better than his albums.
> 6: Tim McGraw
Mega-platinum New Country star. He's done some really awful stuff (can you
say "It's Your Love"?), but has also turned out some pretty decent singles
like "Just To See You Smile." I suspect his show is pretty bad, but maybe
I'm unduly pessimistic.
Don't forget about George, though. He rules, even if he is just a pawn of
the Nashville machine.
Jon Weisberger, Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger
