Tag: country

Dirty Loops | Old Armando Had a Farm

Swedish funk/pop phenoms Dirty Loops have been doing their best to stay sane and keep their skills sharp during the gig-less period known as COVID-19 with their Songs for Lovers series. With “Old Armando Had a Farm,” Henrik Linder (bass) and Aron Mellergard (drums) cook up a country/funk/bluegrass concoction without their frontman, vocalist and keyboardist Jonah Nilsson.

In the spirit of the band’s typical humor, the supporting cast (from steel guitar to hand claps to hair colorist!) are all mentioned in the end credits. The tune modulates multiple times, starting at 0:43.

Faith Hill | That’s How Love Moves

Faith Hill‘s fourth studio album, Breathe, is one of the most successful country/pop albums recorded to date, certified platinum in Australia, Canada, and the United States. It won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 2001, and two tracks (“Breathe” and “The Way You Love Me” hit number one on the US Billboard Hot Country chart. “That’s How Love Moves” was originally recorded by Bette Midler in 1998; key change at 2:43.

Johnny Cash | I Walk the Line

According to WideOpenCountry.com, “Just weeks after the song’s 1956 release, Johnny Cash performed ‘I Walk The Line’ at the Grand Ole Opry and was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Audiences instinctively connected with Cash’s unique track and vocals while musicians tried to put into words what was so special about Cash. ‘It was different than anything else you had ever heard,’ Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone. ‘A voice from the middle of the Earth.’ And NPR quotes Cash’s former son-in-law Rodney Crowell as saying, ‘You know, if Mt. Rushmore could open its mouth — any one of the sculptures on Mt. Rushmore could open their mouths and sing, that’s what it would sound like.’

WideOpenCountry reports that the song “stayed on the country charts for a solid year and sold over 2 million records. It even showed up on the pop charts for a while, giving Cash a bonafide crossover hit.”

Lacking a traditional verse/chorus structure (unless “because you’re mine/I walk the line” constitutes a chorus all on its own), the bare-bones tune takes a standard three-chord structure and jumps it through multiple modulation hoops. In the process of all of the key changes, we get a full tour of Cash’s bass/baritone vocal range, covering over two octaves.

Taylor Swift | Love Story

One of the best-selling singles of all-time at 18 million worldwide sales, Taylor Swift‘s “Love Story” was released in 2008 as the lead single from her second studio album Fearless. Considered to be her signature song, it tells the story of a love interest of Swift’s who was not popular among her family and friends. The track peaked at #4 on the Billboard Top 100 and has been certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA. Key change is snuck in right at the end at 3:18.

The Chicks | You Were Mine

Earlier today, the American country band The Dixie Chicks announced they would be dropping “Dixie” from their name, becoming simply The Chicks. The change was made without much fanfare; in a brief statement on its new website, the band states simply: “We want to meet this moment.” To accompany this news, they dropped a new single from their upcoming album Gaslighter (due out next month — the group’s first album in fourteen years) titled “March March,” featuring images of current and historical protests — for women’s rights, gay rights, environmental causes and Black Lives Matter.

While the new track doesn’t have a key change, we thought it would be an appropriate day to feature The Chicks. “You Were Mine” was released in 1998, the fourth single from their hit album Wide Open Spaces. The song is notable for being the first to feature Natalie Maines as the lead vocal; the Erwin sisters were so impressed with her performance on the original demo that she would go on to replace Laura Lynch in the band. It is also a deeply personal song for the group as the lyrics describe the breakup of the Erwin sisters’ parents. It spent two weeks in the #1 spot on the US Country Singles chart, and reached #34 on the Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart. Key change at 3:03.

Rolling Stones | Dear Doctor

Not a band normally known for modulations, the Stones produced a tune with a key change in “Dear Doctor” from 1968’s Beggar’s Banquet. The tune is a country/blues waltz — a classic story song about an ill-fated romantic pairing.

According to AllMusic, “Jagger may be poking fun a little, but he could not nail the parlance of the characters so precisely if he had not studied it closely as a fan of the music…in a sense, they have been musicologists, interpreting musical forms that were in danger of dying out.”

At 1:38, there’s a big key change (up a major fourth). Many thanks to mod scout Rob Penttinen for this contribution!

Glen Campbell | By the Time I Get to Phoenix

Glen Campbell’s breakthrough single, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” (1967) reached #2 on the US Country charts, #1 on the Canadian Country charts, and #26 on the US pop charts. The tune was written by Jimmy Webb, perhaps best known for writing “MacArthur Park.” The Philadelphia Daily News reported that Frank Sinatra called it “the best torch song ever written.” BMI ranked the tune #20 on its list of Best Songs of the Century. An example of the “Nashville Sound,” also known as “Countrypolitan,” the tune garnered Grammy awards for Best Male Vocal Performance and Best Contemporary Male Solo Vocal Performance.

The list of artists who’ve covered the track is nothing short of staggering. A partial list: Isaac Hayes, Anne Murray, Dionne Warwick, Engelbert Humperdinck, Reba McEntire, Nick Cave + the Bad Seeds, and … Sinatra.

F major is in effect until 2:22, when the tune modulates to D Major at the very end, just as Campbell sings the last few words of the lyric.

Kenny Rogers + Dolly Parton | Islands In the Stream

Kenny Rogers, a chart-topping country and pop artist over many decades, passed away yesterday at the age of 81. According to About.com: “Though he was most successful with country audiences, Rogers charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone, and sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musical artists of all time.”

Written by the Bee Gees, the 1983 hit was named after an Ernest Hemingway novel. The track was originally intended for release by R&B legend Marvin Gaye, which would have made for quite a different sound! The song went to #1 on Billboard Pop, Country, and Adult Contemporary charts.

Starting in C major, the tune features an early modulation to Ab major (1:24).

Emmylou Harris | Bluebird Wine

A guest contribution from our Twitter follower Richard Alan Searle (@richardalansear):

“‘Bluebird Wine’ kicks off Emmylou Harris’s 1975 album Pieces of the Sky. The song was written by Rodney Crowell, who went on to become a member of Harris’s band and a long-time collaborator.

The tune’s harmony could hardly be simpler. The verse chugs along over C major, then breaks out in a chorus which alternates F major and C. The magic happens at the end of the second chorus: Emmylou and her backing singers extend and embellish the final line ‘drunk on bluebird wine,’ and the last syllable lands on a Bb major chord over a held C in the bass (2:11). Immediately, the voices begin to slide the whole Bb chord up to the home key of C for a satisfying ending…

…except they don’t stop when they hit C. They pass though it and keep going up until they hit D, at which point the band joins them for a coda in the new key of D (2:15). For added surprise value, the modulation takes place over the course of three bars, breaking the song’s pattern of four-bar phrases.”