Summer Song Summary

(Today's word will be in red and bold.)


In July I had two posts listing my top ten current songs I'd been hearing on the radio.  At the time I wrote about my hopes and predictions of how each song would fare against other tunes being played.

Now that summer's over, it's time to revisit the music and see how each artist did in the heat of the moment.  As with the other posts, I'll list each performer alphabetically.

For those wanting to hear these songs, here's the links to the two previous posts:

 http://kuplramblings.blogspot.com/2012/07/five-of-my-ten-favorite-current-country.html

http://kuplramblings.blogspot.com/2012/07/five-of-my-ten-favorite-current-country_05.htm

Aaron Lewis debuted "Endless Summer" just before the season got into full swing.  This is a great song, and I thought for sure it would be one of this year's summer anthems.  Unfortunately, Lewis never made it past the overnight rotation.

At the time I wrote the previous post I said that there was no doubt Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away" would be a hit; I was right.  What I wondered about more was whether or not this song would stay one of my favorites; or be played so much I'd be sick of it.

The song has been in heavy rotation all summer; I'm happy to say though, I've yet to tire of hearing it.

 Chris Young had been on a hot streak of  four #1 singles when "Neon" was released.  It's such a cool tune, I thought for sure Chris would be scoring his fifth #1.  Sadly, this song never made it very far out of the overnight rotation.  Once in a while it could be heard at other times of the day, but rarely.

Craig Morgan's "Corn Star" was probably the shortest lived single of the summer.  The song was a quirky, tongue in cheek tune filled with puns.  I liked the song, though I wondered if it would wear thin with time.  I never really got the chance to find out.  The song was rarely played; and almost as soon as it hit the airwaves, it was pulled, and Craig's current single "More Trucks Than Cars" was released to radio.

Of my top ten summer songs, David Nail's "The Sound of a Million Dreams" tied with another tune as my very favorite.

I'm not really a fan of David Nail, however this song had me from the first time I heard it.  I was just sure this would be his biggest hit yet; I was wrong.  Sadly, this tune was yet another that didn't make it too far from overnight plays.  Sometimes I wonder how such great music can fail so much at radio.

Due West had a couple of songs on the radio with their old record label.  Since then, the band has changed labels and released a new single to radio, "Things You Can't Do In A Car".

Though this song is still only being played during the wee hours of the morning, it's at least still getting airplay. I'm still holding hope it will catch on and be played more in the coming days and weeks.

The Eli Young Band had just come off their #1 single, "Crazy Girl" when their current single, "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" was released.  I predicted at the time that the band had another hit with this song; and I was actually right about this one.  "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" is the Eli Young Band's second consecutive #1 song on the Billboard Country charts.

George Strait is known inside and outside of country music as "King George". Over the span of his career, Strait has had fifty-nine #1 songs.  There's nothing he touches that doesn't turn to gold; except "Drinkin' Man".

This is one of my favorite George Strait songs of all time; yet somehow it never made if very far from overnight status.  I honestly can't remember the last time George Strait didn't have a hit, until now.  Another great song that never got the chance at seeing the light of day.

Gwen Sebastian is best known for her stint on "The Voice" as part of Team Blake.  Since that time, Gwen has been on tour, and has also done back up for Blake during his tour.

Gwen's first radio single is, "Met Him In A Motel Room".  The song is slightly complicated, and really needs to be listened to for the full impact.  So far this song hasn't made it past KUPL's overnights, though it is getting good rotation during that time.

The final song on my list is the one that's tied with David Nail's tune as one of my favorites; Phil Vassar's "Don't Miss Your Life".

I've always felt  Phil Vassar is one of the most underrated, singer/songwriters in the business; "Don't Miss Your Life", is more proof of that.  Arguably one of the best songs released to radio, Phil hasn't been getting the airplay he deserves; yet, the song hasn't faded away totally.  Just about the time I think it's going to silently fade away, I'll hear it again on the overnight show.  I'm still holding hope that if it hangs on a bit longer, it will catch on enough to make it into other radio time slots; it definitely deserves to be heard by more listeners.

And there you have it, a recap of what I've been hearing on the radio this past season.  Now that fall is here, I'm wondering what new tunes are on the horizon.  I guess time will tell.