And all of a sudden it's 2018

Well hello again!

Apologies on going a little AWOL... didn't quite plan for that to happen. And I certainly didn't plan to skip out on a Country Christmas 2017 playlist but sometimes life gets in the way, ya know? But! I have three peices of good news:
Good thing #1: With a new year comes new motivations.
Good thing #2: A delightful byproduct of my radio silence is that I now have a 👏  very👏  long👏  list of new country music that I'm so excited to share with all of you!
Good thing #3: I put a package of Reese's cups in the freezer two weeks ago, forgot about them, and just rediscovered them so we're all winning right now.

Anywho, I think I've made you wait long enough, so I'll just get to it now.


The First: Makin' Me Say by Brett Young

Here's the thing: I'm not ashamed. You may be bored of him by now, but I'm certainly not. I don't think I'll ever be bored of him. Not even after I meet him at a show and he instantly falls in love with me and we've been married for sixty years (daily serenades, of course), raised our children, travelled the world and retired in Stars Hollow. I still won't be bored. I just don't think it's going to happen.
~Also there's clapping in this song so I couldn't not share it.~


The Second: Holier Than Thou by Jillian Jacqueline

I'm honestly still on the fence about whether she's actually a country artist but there are definitely a few songs where Jillian's twang is on. point. The sass of this song is so subtle you don't notice until you actually pay attention to the lyrics and then it will just consumes you. I'm a fan. If you're looking for a more toned down and sweet take on Jillian then I would suggest you check out Sugar and Salt. Pun intended.


The Third and Final: Your Love Is The Drug by The Road Hammers

Not to be confused with another favourite of mine, Your Love Is My Drug by the wonderful unicorn also known as Ke$ha.
I'm really feeling the harmonies in this one. They remind me of old stuff from Alabama, which earns them gold stars in my book. I was initially going to apologize for the beginning of this music video. But then I watched the rest of it and realized there's legitimately just too much to apologize for. It's a lot. I'm sorry doesn't even cover it.
But the harmonies are nice, I swear.

Place your bets on whether there will be a CMF next week. Honestly, it's anyone's guess at this point.

Thanks for listening!
Karla

Zero to Hero

Welllll hi. There's no real story here other than I recently re-watched on old Disney favourite - Hercules - and haven't been able to get this song out of my head. My hope is that you all click that link and get it stuck in your head too.

Sharing is caring.

And now onto the country music...

The First: Crazy About You by The Road Hammers

Nice to hear something a little more lovey dovey from these guys. Do you remember your first crush? Mine was this blonde boy named Daniel who was approximately two feet shorter than me and my only memory of ever being brave enough to talk to him was over a game of mini golf that I caused us to lose during a field trip to the PNE. Needless to say, he never brought me a dandelion bouquet.


The Second: A Long and Happy Life by Delta Rae

Allow me to introduce you to Delta Rae. They're like an older and waaay more hipster version of the original Gloriana (remember them?)... at least they are to me. The only real difference is that Delta Rae has way more members and are also unfortunately bad lip-syncers. Regardless, I wish them a much better fate than Gloriana - mostly because I'm really diggin' this song and want to hear what else they come up with.


The Third and Final: Somebody To Love by Kacey Musgraves

This lady. We haven't heard from her in a while and although this isn't a new song, it popped up on a shuffle the other day and I was reminded of how much I love the messages in her music. Apologies to those of you who thought that maybe this was a cover of a Queen song. It's not. But it's still good in its own right.

After a bit of a whirlwind week, I'm looking forward to a slightly more calm weekend. More calm with the exception of the laser tag I'll be playing on Sunday - I play to win when it comes to laser-related zero stake wars.

Thanks for listening!
Karla

Country Catchall

My goodness. This province/country/land mass is in desperado need of rain! I say that with a deep understanding that my voice isn’t always the most authoritative, so I’ll let Luke Bryan tell mother nature about how rain is a good thing instead.

Now while he does that, we can explore a few other country hits.

The First: Run by Blackjack Billy, The Road Hammers, and Doc Walker 

Turn it up, turn it up. Both a lyric and a practical instruction of how to listen to this song.

This song is by no means new. In fact, it was the song from last year’s Bands on the Run Tour which, shockingly, featured Blackjack Billy, Doc Walker, and The Road Hammers. Kind of a smart/cool move to perform a song together that pays homage to your tour title. Or perhaps the song came first. Who knows… it’s a chicken and egg situation, really. Either way, the woman at 0:39 was quite clearly not impressed enough by this song. Odd choice to include her in the music video, if you ask me but hey, #creativedifferences

The Second: Just Like Love by Steven Lee Olsen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCV7bIpEKPI

Unfortunately for him, though perhaps fortunately for us, he is not a part of the multi-billion dollar corporation run by the Olsen twins. Having said that, it is my opinion that little Stevie may not actually need them. Do you remember one of his first singles Make Hay While The Sun Shines? Probably not since I know that for a large number of you, these emails are the only dose of country in your life. Well guess what: it was a decent start, even without Mary-Kate or Ashely’s creative direction. Shocking.

The Third and Final: Yeah Boy by Kelsea Ballerini

Just give this song a chance. It might surprise you, like it surprised me with its rather catchy chorus.

Warning: you might get this song stuck in your head and unknowlingly sing it while passing other humans on the sidewalk. This will likely not turn out in your favour because, in my experience, the boys who think you’re singing about them are definitively not the boys you would consciously choose to sing about. So sing with caution. Please.

Thanks for listening!

Karla

Find me and the CMF playlist on Spotify @karcarr8.