thompson square, darius rucker, and lady a, oh my!

i promised the deets, and here they is! it was a magical night. one on which grimy downtown was transformed by an unrepresentative amount of blonde people in cowboy hats wandering down figueroa street. our own entrance into the staples center was magically serenaded by thompson square performing their hit, are you gonna kiss me or not? which was an exciting welcome, but not as exciting as the ushers waving us further and further down the arena until we were right up against the stage on the floor! by the time our glorious climb down to our wristband-necessitating area was complete, thompson square was waving goodbye ridiculously nearby and my panic at this unprecedented closeness to darius rucker began to set in. i was one of those people you hate standing behind at concerts because they won't stop moving and screaming and throwing their hands up in the air.

darius looked adorable in his john lennon "give peace a chance" t-shirt and silver alligator boots. "i'm just a little boy from south carolina playing at the staples center in los angeles, so i'm gonna have a little fun tonight!" he announced. pish-tosh, i said. you're not a little boy from SC, you're motherf*ckin' hootie!! he played all his hits and then some, including hootie and the blowfish favorites and prince's purple rain, which he dedicated to the lakers. i know i tweet-promised i'd touch him, but he wasn't too big on coming over and reaching down to us too often. he seemed kind of shy in that sense, which is what makes him so lovable. so i forgive him.

i had barely regathered my wits about me when the lights dimmed and lady antebellum images adorned the giant screens above the stage. the sold out crowd went wild as they opened with we own the night. can i just repeat for the millionth time how gorgeous lady antebellum is (are)? all 3 of them are ten times prettier in person than they already are on tv and in print. i couldn't believe it! charles is HOTTER THAN A STEAMY GEORGIA AFTERNOON IN JULY!! is that a thing? i've never been to georgia but i channeled my inner blanche devereaux for that one. i mean, just LOOK at them:

and here are charles and hillary doing their signature why-won't-they-just-kiss-already singing pose yet again:

they even brought ryan from one republic out to sing his disney theme song good life with them, which i thought was going to be the pinnacle of my aural excitement, but then they brought all the openers back out for a complete bluegrass session RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE at the end of the catwalk! i tried to touch them all, i tell you! but they kept JUST missing my hand for some crazy fifty-year-old man's in front of me. if anyone was paying attention to me, i'd be pretty embarrassed at this barrage of country rejection, but alas, did i mention who all was up on stage at this moment!?

and so went my participation in the biggest night in country music to come to los angeles.  SO. EXCITING. hope you liked the pics, kiddies! for some more lady a love in the form of swooning over hillary scott's rockstar-chic ensemble, head on over to happy as annie.

VOTER GUIDE: ACM's New Artist of the Year

this year, our votes will help determine who wins the academy of country music award for new artist of the year. so as your fearless leader, i have compiled a voter's guide for this pleasantly difficult decision! you have a week to get your vote in, so read carefully and then have your voice be heard here! get into the habit of rocking the vote now so we can all band together to reelect obama in november! oh dear, i lost all you tea partiers just now, didn't i? i'm sorry but i told you guys from the very start that listening to country music would be my only republican tendency, and i'm a woman of my word! so then, on we go. the semi-finalists are:

brantley gilbert

[photo credit: usa today]

country music is big on anthems. think brad paisley's this is country music or, to just get to my point already, brantley gilbert's country must be country wide.  i think it's especially bold for a newcomer to attempt such a song, and i'm down with brantley's. it's more a proclamation of his adoration for the genre, kind of like someone starting an awesome blog to take you on her amorous journey through country music. yeah, kind of like that. this single hit #1 on billboard's country list, and it also taught me about the copenhagen smile. so i would not be mad at you for voting for this guy! like at all.

hunter hayes
i was less than impressed with storm warning. i also don't have much to say about him, which you can take as my opinion about him. but we are all lovers here, so i suppose the least i can do is publicize his music video, which you can check out below.

jt hodges

[photo credit: countrymusicnewsblog.com]

i haven't heard of jt hodges, but who am i anyway? he does have a smoldering elvis thing going on, so that's worth something right? 

scotty mcreery
this american idol winner has been embraced quite graciously by the country music community.  carrie underwood won best new artist in 2007 when she won american idol as well, so there's definitely precedent for scotty to win. he already won the american country award for best new artist too. BUT, he owes so much to his north carolina idol josh turner and so much of scotty's performances have actually been of josh turner hits that i don't feel it's fair to have scotty win this one. he's adorable and talented and all that, but he hasn't quite discovered and presented himself as an artist to us yet.

[photo credit: blogster.co.nz]

 and josh turner didn't even win in this category (he was nominated for the top new artist acm in 2004 AND best new artist in 2005. how that works i have no idea), so it doesn't make sense that a josh turner tribute artist would win, don't you think?


justin moore

[photo credit: roughstock.com]

i think a sure sign of a winner for this award is when someone says, "holy balls, he's a new artist!?" justin moore has already had a few hits, including small town usa and if heaven wasn't so far away. smalltown usa qualifies as a country music anthem, which puts justin in the running with brantley gilbert, as discussed above. BUT justin goes above and beyond by also having a stereotypical sobfest single, which is precisely what if heaven wasn't so far away is.  a new artist covering both of these bases is rather impressive! so brantley better watch his back! and just take another look at that photo. hottie with a body much?

david nail
so i didn't hear much of david nail until pretty recently with his single let it rain. let's just say a song about infidelity isn't the straightest way to my heart. even if it's a song admitting that you're the lowest scum of the scum. nonetheless, check out the video below, which does that super literal translation of the lyrics that i love about country music videos. it fulfills the same guilty pleasure as watching soap operas does. i'd definitely vote for this guy over aaron carter hunter hayes and jt hodges, so there that is.



jerrod niemann

[photo credit: cmt.com]

man oh man, you guys know how jerrod niemann is my weakness.  what do you want is one of the sexiest songs i've ever heard in my life! and definitely the sexiest one country radio played in the last year, that's for sure. is that enough to get jerrod new artist of the year though? it just might be...

thompson square
thompson square is touring with lady antebellum and darius rucker this year, which is such a prestigious ticket to be on. i'm going to see them at the staples center in april so i am BEYOND excited. thompson square is a great husband and wife duo, and although i have at times called them the poor man's lady antebellum, that's not exactly a bad thing!

[photo credit: countrymusicnewsblog.com]

in fact, maybe poor man's sugarland would be more accurate. but that's besides the point! lady a is so unbeatable that it's compliment enough to even be compared with them. and unbeatable isn't even quite fair to say in this context, because although lady a won the american country award for group of the year, thompson square won best single by a duo or group, best single by a breakthrough artist, AND best music video by a new artist! so i kind of think this fab duo is the expected and favorite to win.

DROP ME A LINE AND LET ME KNOW WHO GOT YOUR VOTE!