Blog Posts by J. Michael Brown

2009 Southern Voice

Tim McGraw released his newest album Southern Voice in October and has already reached the top spot of Billboard's Country Albums chart. The Grammy-Award winning country singer also co-stars with Sandra Bullock in the movie The Blind Side in theaters now.

2007 Let It Go

McGraw's 2007 album Let It Go was his fourth to top both the Country Albums chart and the Billboard 200. Don't miss the duet with his wife Faith Hill "I Need You."

2004 Live Like You Were Dying

McGraw released the Billboard 200 and Country Albums chart-topping Live Like You Were Dying in 2004, utilizing his road band and co-mixing/producing the record himself. The title track proved to be a huge crossover success, reaching the Adult Contemporary and Top 40 charts.

2002 Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors

McGraw defied the conventions of country music by entering the studio with his road band, the Dancehall Doctors, instead of session musicians. The self-titled album, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall

2009 She Wolf

The multi-platinum, Latin pop singer Shakira will release her new album, She Wolf, on November 23. Check out her newest video featuring Lil Wayne, "Give It Up To Me," and two videos from her upcoming release, "She Wolf" and "Did It Again."

2005 Oral Fixation

In 2004, Shakira began the writing process for a new album and soon had sixty songs ready to go--some in English, some in Spanish. Twenty songs were selected and divided up by language to make two different albums. Both appeared in 2005 and each hit the Top Ten, with the Spanish-language album Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 in June and the English-language album, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, in November. In March the following year, Epic reissued the album with a bonus track, "Hips Don't Lie" featuring Wyclef Jean. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June, becoming one of the summer's biggest hits.

2001 Laundry Service

Laundry Service was Shakira's first album to feature mostly English songs. The single and music video

2009 Stronger

Nine time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Mary J. Blige will release her ninth studio album, Stronger, on December 22. See all of her career-spanning music videos including two from her upcoming release, "Stronger" and "The One."

2007 Growing Pains

Blige came out with her eighth studio album, Growing Pains in 2007. It was her third consecutive studio album to reach number one on both the Billboard 200 and the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. While on tour with Robin Thicke during 2008, Blige began working on her upcoming album, Stronger.

2006 Reflections: A Retrospective

From 1992's "You Remind Me" through 2006's "Take Me as I Am," Mary J. Blige created 16 Top 10 R&B singles, making the end of 2006 the ideal time to produce an anthology collecting her biggest hits. The album also contained some new songs including "We Ride."

2005 The Breakthrough

The Breakthrough's lead single, "Be Without You," spent a year on the R&B chart and won Blige two Grammy Awards--Best Female R&B

2009 History in the Making

Darius Rucker has released three music videos this year from his 2008 album, Learn to Live. Please enjoy his newest video, "History in the Making," in this edition of Then & Now.

2008 Learn to Live

On his latest solo album, Rucker explored his country influences, and Learn to Live found an appropriate home among country music fans--who sent both the album and its flagship single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," to the top of the Billboard country charts.

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2005 Looking for Lucky

Rucker revisited Hootie & the Blowfish between his two solo albums, releasing three albums with the band: the self-titled Hootie & the Blowfish in 2003, Looking for Lucky in 2005 and Live in Charleston in 2006.

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Grammy Award-winning, Christian pop group Casting Crowns will release their fourth studio album entitled, Until The Whole World Hears on November 17th. Hear a preview of the album below.

For more information on the band, visit crownsfans.com.

2009 Greatest Hits

After fifteen years as a band, six platinum albums, and six Grammys, Foo Fighters are releasing their first ever Greatest Hits album including two new tracks, "Wheels" and "Word Forward"--as well as their first studio-recorded, acoustic version of their widespread hit, "Everlong." A deluxe edition of their Greatest Hits will also include a DVD spanning all of the band's best videos and live performances.

2008 Live at Wembley Stadium

Foo Fighters toured in support of Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2008, making a two night stop at London's Wembley Stadium. Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones joined the band onstage the second night of the concert to perform the Zeppelin classics, "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On." The concert was recorded on high definition video and 5.1 surround sound for the DVD and Blu-ray release of Live at Wembley Stadium.

2007 Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

The band reunited with Gil Norton (the producer of their second album,