Opry.com’s Guide To What’s New In Country.
Edens Edge
With one listens to Edens Edge, it’s obvious the trio has forged a unique sound shaped by their individual influences and anchored in their own distinctive gifts. Each grew up in rural Arkansas where farming, faith and family provided a firm foundation and offered a springboard for their musical aspirations. It doesn’t take long to hear the trio’s background pour through their lyrics.
Hannah Blaylock, Dean Berner, and Cherrill Green’s self-titled debut album was released by Big Machine Records this week. The ten-track album includes their first single “Amen”, which hit Top 20 on the Billboard charts, as well as their current single “Too Good to Be True.”
Eden’s Edge has been posting on their website the stories behind the songs, taking turns to talk about different parts of the track list. Here are a few of the comments, but click here to preview some of the tracks, read about the story, and more.
“Wherever I Go”
“It was so exciting for me when I found out I got to share this song with you guys. It’s a song about moving away from everything we knew and having a life few can understand, all just to follow our dreams. We want to always remember the home that molded us. Our roots are the foundation of country music just like each and every one of you guys are the life blood to us. I hope one day you come to a place where you believe in something in a way you can’t explain to anyone, when you are taking a leap of faith that no one gets but you. I hope you can listen to this song and know that everyone has been there. And ya know, who knows how it’s going to pan out. But if we don’t leap, we’ll never know what will happen, and most importantly – we’ll never know how much courage we possess.” –HB
Little Bird
“‘Little Bird’ is a song that just fell out on the page early one morning. I had just moved into a new apartment and saw that a bird had built a nest in one of the bedroom windows. I thought, ‘Hey, that’s kinda cool. A little friend at my new place.’ The next morning, it started chirping at 4 AM and woke me up, and I wasn’t so happy about it living there, but I found myself awake, and before I knew it I was scribbling down this song. It was sparked by a little bird, but really ended up being about an emotion I was experiencing at the time. It was so early in the morning, and the song fell on the page so fast that it feels like a dream to think back on it.” – DB
Cracker Barrel has also released Eden’s Edge- Deluxe Edition as part of their music program. The project features three exclusive songs, in addition to all 10 tracks from the traditional record. The deluxe version is available for $11.99 at all Cracker Barrel locations and at crackerbarrel.com. The trio is honored and excited about the additional release.
“We love to connect with people through music. Having our debut album in Cracker Barrel gives us an even greater opportunity to connect with our fans in one of our favorite restaurants in the country,” Hannah said. Be sure to pick up this new album and catch Eden’s Edge out on Rascal Flatt’s Changed tour this summer.
Track Listing:
1. Amen
2. Swingin’ Door
3. Skinny Dippin
4. Too Good to Be True
5. Last Supper
6. Feels So Real
7. Who Am I Drinking Tonight?
8. Liar
9. Cherry Pie
10. Christ Alone
Cracker Barrel Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks
11. Roots
12. Little Bird
13. Wherever I Go
They’ll take the Opry stage on Tuesday, July 24 and meet you in The Opry Shop prior to the show to autograph their new album.
Punching Bag
As a family man, a philanthropist, a devoted Christian, and a passionate sports fan, you might say Josh Turner’s commitments run as deep as his voice.
Of course, he’s also a double-platinum-selling singer, songwriter and disciple of traditional country music, a mentor to up-and-coming artists —and one of the youngest members of the Grand Ole Opry.
All of those layers construct Josh’s new album, Punching Bag. His fifth for MCA Nashville, the record is a knockout collection of bluegrass-influenced barnburners, lonesome laments, and the slow and steady love ballads on which Josh’s trademark baritone excels.
“The life that I live and the experiences that I have always affect what comes out of me creatively. I think that’s what makes music real.”
The follow-up to 2010’s Haywire, which yielded the No. 1 hits “Why Don’t We Just Dance” and “All Over Me,” Punching Bag represents Josh in fighting shape. Throughout all 11 songs, he bobs and weaves like a champ, exhibiting new range in both his voice and his songwriting. Josh penned eight of the record’s eleven tracks, including the rollicking title song that, he says, set the tone for the entire project.
“When the idea for ‘Punching Bag’ came along, it really hit me,” Josh says, pun intended. “It became the central idea for this record.”
Ironically, the up-and-at-’em tune was inspired by a particularly down day for the singer. “I’ve learned that songs come to you in various ways, from all different angles,” he says. “Nothing was going my way that day, and I felt like I was up against the world. When I got home, my wife Jennifer and I were talking about things that happened and I said, ‘You know, I just feel like a punching bag, like life is beating me up.’”
Soon, Josh was off and writing, brainstorming lyrics with one of his most trusted creative partners, Pat McLaughlin.
“I wanted to express the idea that life is tough,” he says. “You get a lot of punches thrown at you and a lot of times you’re not in control. But you have to take those punches and keep moving forward,” he says.
This is exactly the position Josh found himself in while making the album.
“With this record, I had just gone through a lot of craziness in my life,” recalls the father of three young boys: Hampton, Colby and Marion. “We had just had our third child and I had spent two years building a writer’s cottage, a log cabin for me to write in. It was a very stressful time getting all that done.”
Track Listing:
Round 1 – Punching Bag (Introduction by Michael Buffer)
Round 2 – Punching Bag
Round 3 – Time Is Love
Round 4 – Deeper Than My Love
Round 5 – Good Problem
Round 6 – Cold Shoulder
Round 7 – Find Me A Baby
Round 8 – Whatcha Reckon
Round 9 – Pallbearer
Round 10 – For The Love Of God
Round 11 – I Was There
Round 12 – Left Hand Man
Click here to read more.
Josh Turner is featured in the opry.com New Music Spotlight. Read about Punching Bag, preview the new album, enter to win an autographed guitar and your own copy of the record, and more! Click here.
Ashes and Roses
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter has faced some enormous difficulties in the past few years, but from those ashes arose a stunningly beautiful collection of songs. Her newest album, released this week, has been proposed as her strongest and most powerful record to date. Expect to be taken on an emotional roller coaster with this 13-track collection as the songs tackle topics including her father’s death and the end of her marriage.
But don’t regard this album as simply a sad recording because by the end of the album you will be hearing songs about finding peace and renewed spirituality.
“Ashes and Roses is a record about grief and loss, but it has an arc. It does go from night into day. I feel like it travels through some of the hardest, most difficult territory to a place of renewal. It speaks to that journey as it tries to describe what is seen and felt and experienced along the way. And one does get to the other side,” Mary Chapin explained in an interview.
Her skill for writing introspective, insightful songs has been a constant throughout her career and Ashes to Roses is another example of just that. Buy the album on iTunes.
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