Single of the Week: Running For You - Kip Moore

Kip Moore was, for many, the surprise act of this year’s Country 2 Country festival…but not for me.

I’ve been a fan of Kip for a long time and I had his debut album, Up All Night, pre-ordered as soon as I was able to. When he was announced for C2C last year, I was delighted. This guy is talented and this guy has been painfully underrated for a long time. But 2015 has felt like the beginning of something that has been a long time coming for the native of Tifton, Georgia.

‘Running for You’ is much like the man himself. It’s real. The vocals are gritty and raw and powerful. Kip often has that badboy, wild image associated with him and songs like 'Beer Money' and '

I’m To Blame' play to this. Yet here shows his tender side, which when it is shown, shines – ‘Hey Pretty Girl’ is a fantastic example of this.

‘If the light starts fading, baby don’t move,

Just say my name, stay right there,

I’ll come running for you’

This is a sweet song with a kick and it starting to gather some steam in the States, with it being country radio’s most added song a few weeks back. His North American tour is selling out and his recent album Wild Ones hit the second spot in the charts. Is 2015 finally the year that Kip Moore breaks out? The signs are looking certainly looking good.

CAUGHT LIVE: The Shires @ Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh 11/10/15

2015 has been a great year for UK country music but an even better year for Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, otherwise known as The Shires.

It’s pretty incredible to think that the two only got together a few years ago and even more so amazingly, got together about a hopeful question from Ben on Facebook. Last year was a good year for them with a co-headlining tour with Ward Thomas and the release of their Green Note EP, but this year has blown last year completely out of the water.

Their 2015 has looked like this: two headline UK tours, Hyde Park, countless performances on national TV, supporting the regaining ACM Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town both in the UK and in the US (later this year) and, most importantly, becoming the first UK country act to reach the Top 10 with their stunning album, Brave. Again, that’s pretty incredible, right?

Yep but what’s even more incredible is this is just the start and their sold out gig at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh proved this. They showcased some new music, one song called Other People’s Things – that I absolutely cannot wait to hear a studio version of – and a song called Drive which, is co-written by Kip Moore, is excellent. Ben and Crissie also looked even more at home on that stage than ever before, radiating confidence and beaming throughout, bar, of course, during their slower songs such as Brave.

Friday Night (changed ever so slightly to Sunday Night for the evening), All Over Again and Tonight featured on a packed setlist that also featured a Striking Matches cover. Made In England was on there too but, perhaps a little intimidated by singing that particular song in front of 800 Scots, they dropped England out of the chorus, letting the crowd sing their own version of it.

All in all, it was another fantastic evening spent watching The Shires and it feels pretty great to see the size of the venues they’re playing at increase with each show. First it was King Tuts, then the Oran Mor and then the Liquid Rooms with their next stop up here in Scotland being the Hydro. Granted, they are supporting The Corrs but one can only wonder how long it will be before they’re headlining a show there themselves... 

...and I don’t think it’ll be too long before they are.

Single of the Week: By The Way - Lindsay Ell

‘Doo doo da doo doo doo, doo doo da doo doo doo’

If you’ve heard Lindsay Ell’s new single, By The Way, you’ll be fighting a losing battle to NOT have those words above playing in your head right now. If you haven’t heard it yet, the link to buy the single is down below and I strongly encourage that you click it.

UK fans are fairly familiar with upcoming the singer-songwriter and (very!) talented guitarist. Lindsay toured with The Band Perry on their Pioneer tour over here in late 2013 before she came over here for a few dates of her own, and also with a certain Mr Luke Bryan, earlier this year. She is still to produce a full length album but what she’s offered us already – a five track self-titled EP and, of course, this new single – are strong signs of a very promising career in the not too distant future. And with the slow but steady resurgence of ladies in country music, it seems like her time is finally and deservedly coming.

By The Way is catchy and it’ll be stuck in your head after your first listen. It’s a little bit poppy but it is most definitely country and country fans are lucky to have an artist like Lindsay. Her ever-growing fanbase can attest to how humble she is, not only taking the time at shows to meet fans or tweet them on Twitter, but she also periscopes mini-concerts or guitar lessons online almost every week. Her name is becoming bigger and bigger but she is still clearly down to earth. Plus, she’s also a wicked guitar player and has the sweetest purple guitar that is pretty much alone worth the cost of a ticket to go and see in person.

With a new single and an album on the way, it hopefully won’t be long before we ‘doo doo da doo doo’ along with her on these shores.

Oh and By The Way, you can buy By The Way right here.

Single of the Week: If This Was a Love Song - Raintown

If it feels like quite some time since we had new music from Paul and Claire, that’s because it has been. Yet our first taste of Writing on the Wall (their new album out October 9^th) tells us, in no uncertain terms, that it been a wait worth waiting.

If This Was a Love Song is well written, catchy and the way Claire and Paul’s vocals mix is very easy on the ear. It also sounds great live, something that I can attest to after having the pleasure of seeing the duo twice over the summer. Their debut album, Hope in Troubled Times is a solid album and an album that still sounds great but the growth in the duo is evident, even from just this first single. Their voices sound stronger and the production is sleek and the many fans who pledged their money to make this follow-up album happen will not be disappointed with their investment – a quick look on Twitter actually proves this and I have seen nothing but positive words about this whole album.

Yet, if I must nit-pick and find something wrong with this single, then it’s that this is definitely not the best track on their album. It is a great song but Nineteen Again is something pretty special, both lyrically and vocally – Claire shines more than ever during the closing moments of this track – and I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t a future single. 

If This Was a Love Song is out now, Writing on the Wall comes out October 9^th and the guys are touring the UK this month. Go get the single, go get the album and go grab a ticket for one of their shows – you will not regret any of these decisions. 

Hunter Hayes @ O2 ABC

When it comes to Hunter Hayes and the UK, the feeling is most definitely mutual.

Hunter Hayes has spoiled us in 2015 with three separate visits and two full tours within the space of six months and one can safely assume that, with the reception the 24 year old received and with sold out shows to his name, another trip must surely be in the works. Hunter Hayes loves the UK and we love him.

This Glasgow show at the O2 ABC (my personal favourite venue) was more than double the size of the relatively teeny Oran Mor that he played last May and like that show, it too was packed. This crowd was a little different than the usual country crowd, with Hunter marketed as a crossover act on these shores – although there were still many a familiar face that I recognised. Though it may have had a influence on the crowd, his crossover appeal had little effect on his set which still retained that country twang that brought him into the spotlight.

Hunter admitted at the start of the show that he was having some problems with his voice – understandable really, given that this was the second last show of fairly intensive UK tour which followed immediately on from touring the States this summer with Lady Antebellum – yet I will have to take his word for it. Not once in his hour and a half, and typically energetic, set would I have ever guessed that he was struggling – he’s just that good.

His set list was fairly similar to his May one but that’s not a bad thing. The big hits, I Want Crazy, Tattoo and Wanted went down a treat with the latter a real standout moment of the show as the audience sang the chorus back to him as he held the microphone out to us, a smile and look of awe on his face as he took in some 1300 faces. Newer stuff such as 21 and Young and in Love sound fantastic live too and his cover of Counting Stars? Simply brilliant. 

This young man is not only incredibly talented but also incredibly humble – as shown by the respect and time he gives his band on stage as well as the time he takes to meet fans before and after shows. This young man has definitely got a very, very bright future and I really, really hope he continues to share it this much with us.