Country Time
Memorial Day 2010: Bring On The Summer Songs!
By: Matt Bjorke
Last updated May 28th , 2010

With Memorial Day this coming Monday (May 31, 2010) it's the official kick-off to the summer season and as always it seems that country radio has stuck to their formula for how songs should be played seasonally.  In the fall/winter months we are given more ballads about love and loss and everything in between, in the spring and summer we're given fun little 'ditties' that are designed to be nothing more than enjoyable, sing-a-long worthy tunes perfect for the perfect party atmosphere.

This year it seems if Nashville artists and labels are particularly pushing the 'fun' quotient a bit more as there are quite a few "summer songs."  There are actually three current singles with the word 'summer' in the title.  One, James Otto's "Groovy Little Summer Song" goes even further.  Olsen's "Summer Thing" and LoCash Cowboy's "Here Comes Summer" are the two other summer title songs and both are the debut singles from said artists.
   
Blaine Larsen's "Chillin'" just hit Top 40 and it's another strong summer song while Billy Currington, who scored a Huge summertime hit last year with "People Are Crazy" is back with a similar song called "Pretty Good At Drinkin' Beer."  Another fun, summer song is the Trailer Choir's  "Rollin' Through The Sunshine," a follow-up to their first Top 40 hit ("Rockin' The Beer Gut").  

Easton Corbin's sophomore single "Roll With It," Todd O'Neill's "Somethin' With Some Attitude," Kellie Pickler's "Makin' Me Fall In Love Again," Former American Idol contestant Michael Sarver's "Ferris Wheel," Jerrod Nieman's soon to be Top 10 hit "Lover Lover" all are perfect tunes for the 2010 summertime playlist.  Others that stand out for the summer fun party includes Lathan Moore's debut single "Beautiful Girl," Gretchen Wilson's "Work Hard, Play Harder," Little Big Town's "Little White Church," Carrie Underwood's "Undo It" and Randy Houser's "I'm All About It."

The key to each of these summer songs is the tempo for which they all are. Not one of them is a real ballad and each song is designed to be a part of the party and none of them require you to really pay attention to the lyrics like the fall/winter singles usually do.  

While some folks would consider these songs nothing more than 'trite' and downright 'awful,' I've always appreciated these kinds of songs for what they are: fun.   Some of these songs kinds of songs from the past are now considered essential parts of some artists catalogs:  "How You Make Me Feel" from Diamond Rio, "Dixieland Delight" from Alabama," "Swingin'" from John Anderson, "Then What?" from Clay Walker, "Chicken Fried" from Zac Brown Band, "Ain't Nothin' 'Bout You" from Brooks and Dunn and "Chattahoochee" from Alan Jackson, just to name but a few. 
 
Will any of these current singles become as 'essential' as some of the just-mentioned tunes are? That remains to be seen but what it does tell me is that even goofy and silly summer fun time songs are stronger than many 'critics' will ever admit to giving them credit for and that's truly sad as the world needs more fun happy songs that can help people escape, even if it's only for a few hours at a friend's barbecue.

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