Underwood and Lambert Want Female Collaborations

Carrie Wants More Female Projects

Back in February, Carrie appeared at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. Her record label puts together an incredible show for radio programmers, and Carrie did a couple of very special duets. The first was with Miranda Lambert on the classic Creedance Clearwater Revival song “Traveling Band.” Carrie says the song was Miranda’s idea. “I asked to sing with her, and texted her about it, but didn’t know what to sing. So she says, ‘I like old rock,’ and we went back and forth on a song until I said, ‘What about CCR?’ She goes, ‘I love them.’ And she suggested Traveling Band because her band knew it, so we did it. But we never rehearsed it. That was the first time we sang it. That was a lot of fun. I think that’s going to be the first of more. I also told my record label that we need to do some side project with all the women. Write our own stuff, see what we can do.”

Both Carrie and Miranda have openly expressed on multiple occasion their interest in touring/working together. Carrie has stated that she would love to do an all female tour that would have to include Lambert and Kelly Pickler. I wonder who else would join? All the country gals are blonde so maybe it could be called Country's Blonde Ambition Tour!

Here's Miranda and Carrie rocking out;

Alan Jackson's 16th Album - Freight Train

Alan Jackson - Freight Train

Like that comfortable pair of jeans, you know what you’re gonna get when you listen to an Alan Jackson album. You’re gonna get some fun up-tempo tunes like “Hard Hat And A Hammer” and some soft, tender ballads like “Every Now And Then.” What, then, do we make of Freight Train if we already know the kind of songs we’re going to hear on this, his 16th record? Well, that’s easy – look for tunes that rise above the rest of the songs on the record.

“Every Now And Then” is one of those songs as it finds Alan talking about certain things that take him back to an old romance. The instrumentation, which is guided by Alan’s friend and long-time producer Keith Stegall, suits the song. “Till The End” is Alan’s tribute to the late Vern Gosdin and if there was ever a vocal event in the making it is this song as Lee Ann Womack joins Jackson in a duet that is stone country to its core and it’s quite amazing to hear Alan Jackson and Lee Ann Womack working together. The title track has a jovial melody (with some great ‘chickin pickin’) and a sing-a-long worthy chorus that instantly pulls you in. This song is one of four songs that don’t feature Alan’s pen and like “Till The End” it is a cover, this time a Fred Eaglesmith tune.

Ultimately this record is neither groundbreaking nor is it lacking in future radio hits as Jackson, still one of their favorites, sings hits like “It’s Just That Way,” “That’s Where I Belong” the 90’s-like “True Love Is A Golden Thing” and “After 17.” While many artists are always constantly changing their sound, Alan remains true to what made him a star in the first place. Freight Train may not win Alan many new fans but it’s unlikely to lose him any and in an era when the genre is getting more rock-n-roll and pop, Alan is remarkably retro or ‘traditional’ here.