"Bakersfield:" Billboard Top Five Record!

[Fish]

Congratulations to Vince Gill and Paul Franklin on their fantastic debut with "Bakersfield." Talk about bringing classic country music - and masterful pedal steel - to mainstream country. What a great album.

Here's the bulletin from Billboard magazine this morning:

"‘Bakersfield’ Tribute Makes Top Five Splash; Farr, Urban Crack Top 10

Country Music Hall of Fame honoree Vince Gill and steel guitar master Paul Franklin bow at No. 4 on Top Country Albums with Bakersfield (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), a collaborative tribute set honoring the city’s two biggest mu- sical figures, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. With Hot Shot debut honors and 12,000 sold, according to Nielsen Sound- Scan, Bakersfield is only the fourth tribute or concept-style album to open inside the top five during the 22-year-old SoundScan era—it follows Jamey Johnson’s Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, which bowed at No. 3 last fall. The short list of lofty starts also includes the multi-artist R&B tribute project Rhythm Country & Blues, which popped on at No.2 in 1994, and Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, a various-artist tribute that bowed at No. 3 in 1993. The album marks Gill’s 23rd charted title on Top Country Albums and the first for Franklin."

[Alexander Rehfeld]

Let's hope that MCA and other record companies take their success as an opportunity to start producing authentic high quality country music again!

[Mike Daly]

What a great month steel lovers have had with the release of both "Bakersfield" and the Buddy Emmons tribute album. Congratulations to all involved for these masterful and classy releases.

[Jack Hanson]

They must be selling like hotcakes! Amazon has 'em on backorder!

[Kevin Hatton]

People across the country are starving for real country music with fiddles and steel guitars. Not the Led Zepplin crap coming out of Nashville now.

[Joe Casey]

I was at Wal-Mart today and decided to walk thru where the CDs were. There was only a single copy on the shelf. The counter guy told me they put a dozen out 6 at a time. I'd say that's a great sign. I got mine thru Amazon. I got to download it the same day I bought it for free. The CD came yesterday. Everyone I played it to wants one.

[Tommy White]

Yes, yes ,yes!

[Greg Cutshaw]

Thanks for the tip offered in your text quote Fish. I never heard of "Jamey Johnson’s Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran". I played the samples and it sounds pretty good:


Tribute To Hank Cochran



Greg

[David Mason]

What's sort of funny in a seriocomic way is that the same exact thing happened when Martina McBride released "Timeless", her collection of country classics. There just isn't this giant groundswell among the public, clamoring for more stupid songs about nothing sung by kleenex-people with torn-out knees. People like real songs.

[Don Drummer]

A great CD. Nods to Moony, Emmons, and other E9thists. Vince evokes the vocal stylings of Buck with his L's before M's and V's. I like hilm. Hope he lilves a long time.

[John Coffman]

This cd is grammy material. Glad sales are going well.

[Paddy Long]

What awesome news -- Vince and Paul are totally deserving of such accolades - lets hope it stays there for a long time

[Joe Casey]

Time to put out a new one to followup. Maybe a Ray Price-Conway Tribute.

[Randy Tatman]

I sold about 10 myself this weekend. It's the best CD I've heard in a long time. Paul and Vince tear it up. Hopefully my commission checks in the mail. lol

[Tab Tabscott]

After playing lately with a couple of overbearing fiddle players, I found it really nice that Vince and Paul only put fiddle on one track...

[John Macy]

Major congrats to Vince and Paul! But man, what a changed reality in the new music business world when 12K units will land you at #4 on the charts....

[John Macy]

Major congrats to Vince and Paul! But man, what a changed reality in the new music business world when 12K units will land you at #4 on the charts....

[Daniel Policarpo]

Well, if we think about it, 40 years ago 12,000 units was considered a strong hit on the country charts. It's not the Billboard pop charts, but the good thing is that there is still a strong contingent of devoted country fans and we continue to support the artists.

[Rick Campbell]

I downloaded it yesterday from iTunes. No disappointments. I enjoyed it. The song "he don't deserve you " is exceptional. I'm in the process of recording that same song for a project., I might scratch it after this version. LOL This would be hard to follow.

The pros say "it all starts with a good song". Here you have already proven songs, name recognition from Buck, Merle, and Vince, all established household names in country music, good musicians and singers, and good promotion from MCA/Universal group...... I'm not surprised that it's got a running start. It's a good album and of course Paul Franklin in no stranger to playing on hit records, and he demonstrates the reason for that again here. Great job guys! I hope the major labels follow up on what Vince and Paul have done here with more traditional music.

I do wonder why they left Wynn Stewart out of this? Wynn is also credited with the "Bakersfield sound"."It's such a pretty world today" would have fit right in here.

I hope people that are turned on by this traditional country sound will check out Heart of Texas Records and Yellow Rose Records. These labels crank this kind of music out all the time with people like Amber Digby, Bobby Flores, Justin Trevino, and even Merle's ex wife Leona Williams. Dicky Overbey plays on a lot of these records.... Can't ask for much better than that.

[Rick Campbell]

After playing lately with a couple of overbearing fiddle players, I found it really nice that Vince and Paul only put fiddle on one track...

Tab,

A lot of fiddle players should have been drummers or bass players...... where you're expected to play all time. Many of them learn to play fiddle tunes and bring their "sawing" into the band setting. It's not proper and offensive and it gives fiddler players a bad name because of it. You listen to Hank Singer, Buddy Spicher, Bobby Flores.... the list goes on and on..... myself included..... We would never think of being overbearing with our playing. I think that is often what separates the pros for the amateurs, is knowing when NOT to play. In fact, steel players and guitar players are often guilty of the same overbearing behavior, but there's not much worse that having a fiddle sawing in your ear throughout an entire song. I'm on your side.

[Bill Howard]

Rick I thought it was only me that fiddle players played over all of the time.
My Father was an old timey bar picker he said 2 things you don't want to follow on stage a kid singer and a fiddle player. But actually amateur pickers never know when to stop playing I went to a jam a cpl years ago this stage hog played over everyone then when I said something about it the whole bunch turned on ME!,
The same guy had just cussed out the man running the sound then had enough guts to borrow the mans AMP!.
but be careful supporting real country music on here I got put down because I will not play that ^%$#@! it will not come out of my Speakers EVER!. I like many many others do not even turn on the radio anymore,that stuff just sounds like NOISE to me,,,

Oh mama died while making me biskits then muh old dog blue fell outa muh pick-kup truck whiles we were goin ta church ohhhh wooo...I had an american flag and an apple pie on the seat eeee eeee eet...muh girl ran away eee yah yah..... Tell me if this doesn't cover half the songs content??lol Sorry that stuff makes me see RED!

[Craig A Davidson]

Bill don't forget about mud runs with your truck and sitting on the tailgate drinking beer and doing it with some fine lady with a tattoo of a butterfly on her back that you can't see all of until you get her pants off.

[Bruce Bouton]

Awesome! I've been having fun with this record!

[Craig A Davidson]

It is a great album for sure.

[Miguel e Smith]

Freakin awesome!