A Tough Week for Ol Uncle Rock....

Howdy Coal Country!I gotta be honest with ya gang, it's been a pretty rough week for Ol Hop Along Rock....you see I have two lovely daughters, who are my reason for living! The bad part is that I only see my daughters on weekends and without going in depth....I miss my babies!!! I believe in the power of prayer, so please say a Big Ol Prayer to help Uncle Rock get through some rough times. Moving right along, I would like to invite you to the Relay for Life this evening in West Williamson at 6pm. The money raised will go to a great cause, the American Cancer Society! Now on to the good stuff...COUNTRY MUSIC!!! We've got no big surprises on this week's country charts -- which just goes to show the limitation of lighting candles and muttering incantations. Taylor Swift's self-titled CD and Blake Shelton's single "Home" still occupy the high ground. Only a few fresh titles have broken through on either chart.The album making this week's biggest splash is the multi-artist collection, Country Sings Disney. It arrives at No. 15 and features tunes by such characters as Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts.Del McCoury's Moneyland, an assemblage of hard-time ballads from the likes of Merle Haggard, Mac Wiseman, Emmylou Harris and Patty Loveless, emerges at No. 51.New songs sweeping into the chart are Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" (No. 45), Lee Ann Womack's "Last Call" (No. 56), Little Big Town's "Fine Line" (No. 58) and Gretchen Wilson's "Don't Do Me No Good" (No. 59).Following Swift on the Top 5 albums list are Toby Keith's 35 Biggest Hits, Underwood's Carnival Ride, Alan Jackson's Good Time and Sugarland's Enjoy the Ride, in that sequence.Songs No. 2 through No. 5 are Jackson's "Good Time," Brooks & Dunn's "Put a Girl in It," Montgomery Gentry's "Back When I Knew It All" and Sugarland's "All I Want to Do."Guess we'll just have to leave it at that.
Until next time,

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

Country Music Charts

A round of applause, please, for Blake Shelton as his version of Michael Bublé's "Home" scrambles this week into the No. 1 niche on Billboard's country songs chart. And speaking of home, Taylor Swift seems to have taken up permanent residence at the top of the albums chart. Her self-titled bundle of hits is still there in its 89th week.Swift claims yet another distinction this week: "Should've Said No," the fifth single from her debut album, has just reached No. 10, the first time a solo female artist has scored such an achievement since Billboard launched its country albums charts in 1964.All the new albums this week are re-packaged goods. Leading the parade is Playlist: The Very Best of Dolly Parton (No. 61), shadowed by other titles in the Playlist series: The Very Best of Willie Nelson (No. 63), The Very Best of Alabama (No. 68) and The Very Best of Lonestar (No. 75).Re-entering are even more Playlist releases: The Very Best of Johnny Cash (No. 47), The Very Best of John Denver (No. 52), The Very Best of Waylon Jennings (No. 54) and The Very Best of Roy Orbison (No. 64). Whiskey Falls' self-titled album returns at No. 71.There are only two new songs on the chart: Phil Stacey's "Old Glory" (No. 57) and the Road Hammers' cover of Del Reeves' 1965 smash, "Girl on the Billboard" (No. 60).After Swift's, the remaining Top 5 albums, in descending order, are Toby Keith's 35 Biggest Hits, Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride, Sugarland's Enjoy the Ride and Kenny Chesney's Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates.Trailing Shelton in the songs category are Alan Jackson's "Good Time," Montgomery Gentry's "Back When I Knew It All" (last week's No. 1), Chesney's "Better as a Memory" and Brooks & Dunn's "Put a Girl in It."Looks like we're in a musical drought. Until next time,

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

Hoping everyone had a great 4th of July!!!

You know, in the past few weeks I have truly witnessed "community service"!Last week, it was the Matewan Rotary and the 59th Annual Magnolia Fair...this week it was the Belfry Vol. Fire Dept.!I had the pleasure of hanging out with the gang and helping raise money this past Thursday in South Williamson, it was called "Fill the boot and watch us shoot!", and later in the evening (pictured above lookin like a drown rat) yours truly was in the dunkin' booth!I gotta tell you, the water was COLD, but it gives you a good feeling when you lay your head down at night, knowing that you helped out a great cause!The 27th Annual Fireworks Celebration was dubbed "Thunder In The Valley" and it was just that!As always, the Belfry Vol. Fire Dept. went above and beyond the call of duty.Now on to this weeks country music news. While Taylor Swift continues to sit atop the Billboard country albums chart this week, presumably texting friends and looking over her shoulder for some really serious competition, Montgomery Gentry leapfrogs Blake Shelton to seize the summit of the songs list.Considerably farther down the mountain, we spy four new albums and two fresh tunes.That's the big picture. Here's the microscopic one: In spite of the several contenders who've had a No. 1 album for a week or so, the traction of Swift's eponymous debut package just won't relax. During the 88 weeks it's been out, the album has held the No. 1 niche for 22, a full quarter of its long chart life. Talk about a sunny summer!Veteran road warriors Montgomery Gentry can do some bragging, too. After keeping a relatively low profile the last few months, the duo has roared back with "Back When I Knew It All," the title cut from their new album. Two weeks ago, the song was at No. 6. Last week, it sprang to No. 3. Now this week it's crowing on top of the barn.The new albums are Reckless Kelly's Bulletproof, the week's highest debut at No. 22; Mark Chesnutt's Rollin' With the Flow (No. 35); the multi-artist collection Patriotic Country, Vol. 3 (No. 37); and The Road Hammers' Blood, Sweat & Steel (No. 50).Returning albums are Tim McGraw: Collector's Edition (No. 70); Trisha Yearwood's Greatest Hits (No. 71); and Ronnie Milsap's 16 Biggest Hits (No. 72).Songs cropping up for the first time are Toby Keith's "She Never Cried In Front Of Me" (No. 55) and Jewel's "I Do" (No. 60). The Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" re-enters at No. 56.Brad Paisley's never-say-die single, "Waitin' on a Woman," persists in bounding up the charts, this week leaping from No. 34 to No. 26. It came on just three weeks ago at No. 51.Trailing Swift's album in the No. 2 to No. 5 spots, respectively, are Keith's 35 Biggest Hits, Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride, Jewel's Perfectly Clear and Sugarland's Enjoy the Ride.The remaining Top 5 songs, in the same order, are Shelton's "Home" (in its second week at No. 2), Kenny Chesney's "Better as a Memory" (coming off two weeks at No. 1), Alan Jackson's "Good Time" and Dierks Bentley's "Trying to Stop Your Leaving."Here's hoping you survived the Fourth without any patriotic sparkler burns.Until next time,

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

A Great Week in Matewan!!!

Hats off to the Matewan Rotary Club for another great Magnolia Fair! The Tri-States Coal Country broadcasted each night of the fair from 7pm till 9pm and I had a blast...I can't wait until 2009 and the 60th Annual Magnolia Fair! Before we get into the country music news, don't forget that the Belfry Vol. Fire Dept. will have their 4th of July Celebration tonight (7/3/08) at 10:05pm, yours truly will be in the dunkin' booth at 8pm to help raise money for the Belfry Vol. Fire Dept! Now on to my favorite thing...COUNTRY MUSIC! Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney bestride Billboard's country albums and songs charts, respectively, for another week, while Dan Tyminski and Rascal Flatts boast the week's top new CD and single.Also signing in with new music are Carter's Chord, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Marcel and Lee Brice.In its 87th week on the charts, Taylor Swift sold 27,000 albums to keep its perch at No. 1. By contrast, Tyminski's new CD, Wheels, moved a mere 2,700 copies to seize the No. 32 berth. (Tyminski, you may recall, is the steady sideman in Alison Krauss' band, Union Station, and lead singer of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? hit "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," a tune officially attributed to the mythical Soggy Bottom Boys.)Chesney's self-abnegating "Better as a Memory" continues its reign as the nation's most-played country song.Carter's Chord self-titled collection comes aboard at No. 59, while Howard's No Rules bows in at No. 69. Re-entering albums are Whiskey Falls (No. 46), Little Big Town's A Place to Land (No. 62), Clay Walker's Fall (No. 65) and Rodney Carrington's King of the Mountains (No. 75).Rascal Flatts lead the new-song arrivals with "Bob That Head" (No. 56), followed by Marcel's "I Love This Song" (No. 58) and Brice's "Upper Middle Class White Trash" (No. 60). (Marcel, whose last name is Chagnon, last graced the charts in 2002 with "Country Rock Star," when he was on Mercury Records. He is now signed to Lyric Street.)After Swift, the Top 5 albums, in descending order, are Toby Keith's 35 Biggest Hits, Jewel's Perfectly Clear, Emmylou Harris' All I Intended to Be and Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride.Directly behind Chesney on the songs chart are Blake Shelton's "Home," Montgomery Gentry's "Back When I Knew It All," Underwood's "Last Name" and Alan Jackson's "Good Time."Coming up fast is Keith Urban's "You Look Good in My Shirt," which flaps from No. 22 to No. 14.Stay cool. Somewhere somebody's recording a Christmas album. Until next time,

Uncle Rock

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