Today, aside from authoring a headline longer than 3 freight trains, I wanted to profile a few of the world class singer-songwriters that I have the honor of supporting next Wednesday night (Sept. 21st) at the Mayo Civic in Rochester, MN: Sally Barris, Jon Vezner and Brandon Sampson.

Here are a few facts and some video from each of these artists. Enjoy!

Sally Barris

Website: http://www.sallybarris.com

She has had her songs recorded by Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack and American Idolist finalist Kellie Pickler.

Here is a video Sally singing here tune “Let The Wind Chase You.”

Jon Vezner

Website: http://www.jonvezner.com

Check out the list of accomplishments this Minnesota born songwriters has compiled:

• Grammy Award for “Best Country Song” (“Where’ve You Been” Kathy Mattea – 1989)
• Country Music Association (CMA)  ”Song of the Year” (“Where’ve You Been” Kathy Mattea – 1989)
• Academy of Country Music (ACM) “Song of the Year” (“Where’ve You Been” Kathy Mattea – 1989)
• Nashville Songwriter Association “Best Country Song” (“Where’ve You Been” Kathy Mattea – 1989)
• NSAI “Songwriter of the Year”

Brandon Sampson

Website: http://sixmilegrove.com

Brandon is singer-songwriter from Minnesota. You can usually find him playing with his band Six Mile Grove (from Lyle, MN) and touring the Midwest with (Johnny Cash) music legend Bob Wootton.

As a cool side note, Brandon and Six Mile Grove were featured in an episode of “ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition,” which re-built a house in Albert Lea, MN.

And, he is also one of the people responsible for putting together the Americana Showcase (and for hiring me… thanks Brandon!).

Check out this warm-fuzzy inducing Six Mile Grove song featuring his 87 grandpa:

Good Stuff Aye?

Remember you can see all of them live, along with myself, on Wednesday September 21st in Rochester, MN at the Mayo Civic Theatre. You can get find out more information by clicking here now.

Let me know if you can make it and I’ll look out for you. We can have a few drinks and watch the show together.

Oh and are there any artists you think I or anyone else reading this should know about? Feel free to tell us about them below.

It is called “Cold Shoulder”. It is basically a tune about getting home really late after being out with my buddies all night. I bet many of you can relate to this whether you are the one home alone or the one getting home late.

Either way, here it is. Let me know what you think and don’t be afraid of sharing it with everyone you know.

A big thanks to Stephanie Shinn for the great video footage.

OH, and before I forget, be on the look out for some future posts on this very subject. You could just sign up to my fanlist at visit PlanetCorey.com.  I will deliver the article right to your email inbox and I’ll even give 3 free mp3 downloads right now just to say thanks.

For the past few days everyone has been slamming Taylor Swift for her lack of singing skills. In case you were out of the loop, here’s a great compilation; Bob Lefsetz – More Taylor Swift

Yeah, I found myself shaking my head in agreement with most of it. Hell, I participated in a little chatter the last few days as well as over the course of the past past year (i.e. the “Pour Some Sugar On Me” she did with Def Leppard on an award show last year was arguably worse than this one).

But something happened tonight that makes me feel that maybe I – along with a few others – are getting a little out of hand with the slamming. Especailly with something so trivial.

The Big Melt

My 6 year old son asked me “who won the Grammy’s daddy” (since he had to go to bed before it was over).  I explained to him there are many different awards but most people would consider the album of the year the biggest of them and that Taylor Swift won that. Then he asked to see the video and I played it for him.

My 3 year old daughter joined in on the viewing and immediately started to smile and sing along. Then during the “You Belong To Me” portion of the medley she said something that changed my whole perspective on the ordeal. With the biggest, starry-eyed smile she said, “daddy, this is my favorite song.”

Whoa!

She didn’t care about the singing she just knew that this is a song that makes her feel good and that she can sing along with. Who in their right mind is gonna argue with that?

Another Man’s Trash

This reminded me of how bad Axl Rose sucked when I saw him in Alpine Valley on the Use Your Illusion tour. His voice was completely shot after about 3 songs and I didn’t get the version of “Mr. Brownstone” that I came to hear. I was kind of annoyed but one of my buddies – who happens to worship the guy – didn’t hear it.

So, no matter how much you, I or anyone thinks a song or performance sucks, there will always be someone else who loved it. Why should I be pissing on their parade?

Hell, I can think of a bunch of shows that I went to where multi-platinum artists didn’t perform the best. But, it doesn’t mean I don’t like their music any less. It just means I might not spend the cash to go see them live next time.

Bottom Line

Taylor is not my thing and she didn’t perform the greatest on one of the biggest stages. But when I think about it, why should you or I care. As long as her fans are happy – and I’m sure they are – it doesn’t matter what any of the rest of us think.

I’m gonna shut up now and start thinking about things that really matter like how to nurture and encourage that feeling my daughter gets when she listens to Taylor Swift. Then maybe someday she’ll get the chance to make other people smile with music of her own.

What do you think?

Yesterday I posted a podcast filled with some great acoustic music and figured it would be right up your alley. You can go listen to this episode by clicking here now -> Acoustic Americana Triple Double.