Merry Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas Coal Country! I hope you all had a great holiday season, I know I did! We had the Saturday Night Saloon Christmas Present Wrapping Party last Saturday with all Christmas music. We gave away lots of CDs and our Sports Director Andrew Joyce gave away 4 tickets to see the Marshall Thundering Herd Basketball game this week! You may notice the picture above of Uncle Rock and the "executive producer" of the Saloon Christmas Present Wrapping Party my lovely daughter Lexus. Following the show I made a trip to Nashville TN to see my Tennessee Titans play their final home game of the season against the NY Jets...by the way, we won 10-6!!!! The other picture above is the greatest Christmas gift ever TITAN CHEERLEADERS!!!! Well since we didn't have our normal countdown this week, I'll give you a run down of the albums and singles this weeks. Taylor Swift is the darling of the Billboard country charts this last reporting period before Christmas. Her single, "Our Song," holds at No. 1 for the second week, her self-titled album moves back to the No. 2 spot in its 60th week out and four selections from her Christmas album, Sounds of the Season, are twinkling on the lower branches of the song chart. The week's highest charting new song is the Garth Brooks-Huey Lewis romp, "Workin' for a Livin'," which enters at No. 50. That's a worthy leap but pale in comparison to Brooks' "More Than a Memory," the first single from his current album, which debuted at No. 1. The Eagles continue their long run at the summit of the albums chart with Long Road Out of Eden. According to the latest Nielsen Soundscan measurement, that collection has sold more than 2.2 million copies in just seven weeks. There are no new albums this week, but three former chart dwellers have returned to the list: Rodney Carrington's King of the Mountain (No. 70), Larry the Cable Guy's Morning Constitutions (No. 71) and the multi-artist Original American Classics: Country Greats (No. 74). In addition to the Brooks-Lewis duet, there are two new songs: Sugarland's "Winter Wonderland" (No. 58) and Swift's "White Christmas" (No. 59). Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride, Brooks' The Ultimate Hits and Rascal Flatts' Still Feels Good round out the Top 5 albums in that order. The remaining Top 5 songs, also in descending order, are Josh Turner's "Firecracker," George Strait's "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls," Montgomery Gentry's "What Do Ya Think About That" and Sugarland's "Stay." Kenny Chesney's hard-charging "Shiftwork" barrels from No. 34 to No. 25. Be sure to tune in the Saturday Night Saloon 2007 Year In Review show this Saturday from 7pm-10pm on Coal Country 965! We'll be reviewing the best and worst of 2007, also giving you a sneak peak into the world of country music in 2008! Until then

Uncle Rock

--"if you wanna make it, you can't fake it...you gotta LIVE IT!!!"

Saloon Review for 12/8/07

Howdy Coal Country! I hope that you got a chance to tune in to the Saturday Night Saloon this past Saturday. We have been off the air for the past couple of weeks due to Marshall Thundering Herd Basketball, but we returned to the airwaves last week with a whole lotta show! Before we get into the music I want to congratulate the Belfry Pirates on an outstanding football season. They came up short in the state championship game but they had a memorable year and I'm fairly sure that they will be back at "The Pizza Box" next year. Now back to the matter at hand.....COUNTRY MUSIC! After falling back to second place for two weeks, the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden has again sprung to the top of Billboard's country albums chart, swapping positions with Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits. Meanwhile, Carrie Underwood's "So Small" tops the songs chart for the third week in a row. There are only two albums surfacing this week as Music Row surrenders to the seasonal doldrums. They are the multi-artist CD, Original American Classics: Country Greats, which comes aboard at No. 73, and the Hit Crew's DJ's Choice: Blue Collar Christmas, edging on at No. 75. The new songs are Toby Keith's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (No. 51), Taylor Swift's "Christmases When You Were Mine" (No. 56) and Underwood's "All American Girl" (No. 58). Cole Deggs & the Lonesome's "Girl Next Door" returns at No. 60. Trooping behind the Eagles and Brooks, in order, are Underwood's Carnival Ride, Swift's self-titled debut and Rascal Flatts' Still Feels Good. Rounding out the Top 5 songs, also in descending sequence, are Brooks' "More Than a Memory," Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink," Josh Turner's "Firecracker" and George Strait's "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls." My album pick of the week is Toby Keith's "A Classic Christmas". A two CD set of 20 true, Christmas Classics from Toby Keith. A Classic Christmas is Toby's first holiday release in 12 years. The songs are divided by disc into both contemporary and spiritual based holiday standards. The instrumentation and production is acoustic based and allows the simplicity of the music to shine. These are the songs you want to hear during the holidays, performed by the biggest artist in country music. Toby Keith, a Christmas Classic indeed! Be sure to tune in on Dec 22 at 7 PM for the Saturday Night Saloon Christmas Spectacular!!! It will be all Christmas tunes on the Saloon that night along with some special surprises, and then we can all settle down for a long winters nap. Until then

Uncle Rock
--"if you wanna make it, you can't fake it...you gotta LIVE IT!!!"

12/03/07

Well another week has gone by and since we had no Saturday Night Saloon this week I still want to keep you filled in on whats happening in country music this week...and there's no better way to do that than on Uncle Rock's Blog! Rack up another week at No. 1 for Garth Brooks' album, The Ultimate Hits, and Carrie Underwood's single, "So Small." And while we're at, it let's celebrate new CDs from Keith Urban and Taylor Swift and freshly minted Christmas tunes from Swift, Underwood and Kellie Pickler. Urban's Greatest Hits is this week's highest-charting new album, landing at No. 4. Scooting in at No. 18 is Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection. Returning are Kenny Rogers' self-titled package (No. 72); the multi-artist assemblage, Forever Country (No. 73) and Dolly Parton's The Biggest Hits (No. 75). Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits Vol. 2: Reflected makes a giant leap from No. 34 to No. 11 in its 87th week on the charts, while the various-artists CD Hear Something Country: Christmas bounces from No. 43 to No. 28 its sixth week out. Completing the list of Top 5 albums, in descending order, are the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden, Underwood's Carnival Ride and Swift's self-titled bundle. Swift also enjoys the top-ranking new song, "Last Christmas," which enters at No. 48. Pickler's "Santa Baby" follows directly behind at No. 49. And Underwood's "Do You Hear What I Hear" logs in at No. 53. Whiskey Falls makes its bow on the songs chart with "Falling Into You" at No. 57, and McGraw re-enters with "Suspicions" (a cover of the 1979 Eddie Rabbitt hit) at No. 51. Trailing Underwood in the songs lineup are Brooks' "More Than a Memory" (No. 2); Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink" (No. 3); George Strait's "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" (No. 4); and, snapping back from No. 7 to No. 5, Josh Turner's "Firecracker." Go ahead and set your Tivo or DVR to record, The Academy of Country Music Awards will take place on May 18, the first time the show has been held on a Sunday night. The ceremony will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on CBS. In addition, the ACM will sponsor live country music concerts on Fremont Street, a celebrity motorcycle event and a post-awards concert. Breaking away from the music I would like to wish the Belfry Pirates the best of luck, on and off the field, as they travel to "The Pizza Box" for the Ky State Football Championship! Until next time,

Uncle Rock
--"if you wanna make it, you can't fake it...you gotta LIVE IT!!!!"