Austin360 blogs > Bottlecaps & Wingnuts > Archives > 2006 > September > 26 > Entry
The CMT trainwreck
When I came home on Friday night, Shannon was watching CMT count down the “40 Greatest Albums” in country music.
After a few minutes, I said “OK, I’m hooked. We’ve gotta watch this until the bitter end.”
“Yeah,” she said. “These shows usually end bitterly.”
We’ve not been impressed with these CMT “greatest” lists. I was particularly disgusted with their “40 Greatest Drinking Songs”. That list should be at least 50% Merle Haggard and George Jones. “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” is not a drinking song. It’s fun if you’ve been drinking, but that doesn’t make it a drinking song.
And CMT’s list of “40 Greatest Road Songs” shows they have no idea what a road song is. “Highwayman” is not a road song. Neither is “Copperhead Road” or “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.” Apparently, anything remotely naming a drivable surface somewhere in the song will do.
But this list didn’t end quite so bitterly, with Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison,” Ray Charles’ “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” and Willie’s “Red-Headed Stranger” rounding out the top three (as I recall. I was really hoping CMT or someone would list the whole 40 albums on the Internet , but no such luck).
I remember being pleasantly surprised that Waylon Jennings’ “Honky-Tonk Heroes” made the Top 10. (Note, if you watch the show, see how none of the young talking heads comment on this album. It’s because to speak the name of a real songwriter — “Billy Joe Shaver” — would burn their tongues.)
I remember being a little ill that they snuck a Shania Twain album into the Top 10. Well, it is CMT.
But the best part of these shows is always the folks they round up to comment on the albums. There’s Chet Flippo, and Charlie Daniels has nothing better to do. Steve Earle always has something to say. And there’s Kenny Rogers, looking more and more like a garden gnome after plastic surgery.
Then there’s the young folks. CMT thinks that because Buddy Jewell won a reality show, I should care about what he thinks about music. And who in the heck is Rockie Lynn and why do I need him to qualify Willie Nelson’s greatest album?
We’ll talk more about the garden gnome later this week.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: By Dave Thomas
Comments
By Bowmanc
September 27, 2006 12:01 PM | Link to this
Reminds me of a song by Doug Sahm from the Return of Wayne Douglas Album. Oh No, Not Another One. if you haven't heard it you better.
By Lee
September 26, 2006 11:08 AM | Link to this
Dave, head down to the Don Walser tribute on Sunday (4pm) at Threadgill's, a fundraiser for his family. That ought to wash any bad taste out of your mouth. I will say with a pretty fair degree of certainty that there will be NO Shania covers.