Ally's Corner

Blogmas Day Thirty One: It is the last day of December, the last day of 2023 and by default the final day of Blogmas! We're ending with a bang with a full album reaction of Ashley McBryde's "new" album, The Devil I Know !     There are eleven tracks on this album and I've heard six of them so far (those being Whiskey And Country Music which she played live at The Grand Ole Opry a while ago, Made For This which she also played at The Grand Ole Opry on her induction night this time last year [and released as a single in July], Light On In The Kitchen released as a single in the Spring, The Devil I Know ,  Learned To Lie and Cool Little Bars . Out of those, my favorite is Learned To Lie ).    Out of what I haven't heard, I'm claiming Single At The Same Time .    Let's get to the main event now.     Made For This: Alright, this one I more or less like, but I definitely feel like she's written better songs. 3/10.     Coldest Beer In...

  Blogmas Day Thirty: Alright y'all, I jumped on the Morgan Wade bandwagon last October and it's been a beautiful ride. I love Reckless and some of my favorite songs are hers.  Nonetheless her current era hasn't been my favorite.    I've never gotten around to listening to the full Psychopath album, so maybe that'll change my thoughts.    I've heard Psychopath since she first played it live and I honestly like it a lot. Back when I first got into her, I found a live video of Phantom Feelings and I've heard a   little c lip of Alanis .      I've also heard Fall In Love With Me and 80's Movie . I wasn't really impressed by either.  (I actually tried to do a reaction on the latter but it was just so, well, not great that I decided not to publish it. I try to follow a "good thing, bad thing, good thing" policy and I couldn't find enough good things about it to not feel complainy).    Out of the songs I ain't heard, I'm claimi...

  Blogmas Day Twenty Six: Okay, so as everyone in this world knows, yesterday was Christmas. As I did on Christmas Eve, I'm going to be detailing a few more items I received.     #1: Studebaker Stereo:     So I spoke of this lightly yesterday but I'm elaborating! This is (arguably) my favorite gift of the year and it is amazing! It's a Candy Apple Red with the slightest Burgundy undertone.     As noted before, it plays CDs, AM and FM radio, is Bluetooth and MP3 compatible and plays and records Cassettes! (I'm so happy because my real recorder is lost in storage and I've been needing it! Now all I need is to get over my cold so I can sing and buy some blank tapes down at the friendly Walmart and then demos galore!     #2: Artist Loft art kit:     This came as a complete surprise and was nice! I don't know what the exact name of the set is (I'll have to check). It came in a silver case that looks as good as a brand new diamond pl...

  Blogmas Day Twenty: So today I made Christmas cookies, rolled out sugar cookies to be exact. That was a lot of fun and made me feel like a kid again. I had lunch with a few close family members and made the final additions to my Christmas Playlist.    It includes all the songs off of Taylor Swift 's 2007 Christmas EP, Sounds Of The Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection , (later re-released as simply  The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in 2009, for anyone who doesn't know), the songs from Maddie & Tae 's 2020 Christmas EP, We Need Christmas , and other Christmassy releases.    All through the year, I add gems I find to the playlist and at Christmas, spin it when I'm in the mood (and sometimes even when I'm in the mood and it ain't even Christmas).    Anywho, that's it! 😎

  Blogmas Day Nineteen: Hey y'all, so as I mentioned yesterday, today I'm talking about Americana Country  music!    I've been into Americana Country since the late Spring and I love it. Artists such as Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons (whose collaborative work I mentioned yesterday, you can find that little write up here ) and a modern duo that I'll be raving about a lot today, The Secret Sisters have been all over my playlists.    So anyway, The Secret Sisters have some incredible music, harmonies as high in quality as The Everly Brothers', and not a lot of fans. If y'all ain't heard their stuff, I suggest you try it. My favorites are the same-tragic-story-from-different-point-of-views pair " Mississippi " and " Iuka " and " Tommorow Will Be Kinder " which was featured on the soundtrack of the 2011 film, The Hunger Games.    I cover their semi-upbeat yet extremely sad ballad " He's Fine " in my live sets often a...

  Blogmas Day Eighteen: Well, as most of y'all know by now, I'm a crazy music lover and we've seen posts about Niall Horan ,  Ta yl or   Sw ift ,  Harry Styles ,  The Love Junkies (Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hilary Lindsay) ,  Justin Moore and Priscilla Block ,  Ashley McBryde ,  Olivia Rodrigo ,  Kelsea Ballerini ,  Carrie Underwood ,  Abbey Rowe  and  Abbi Scott  on this here blog.    Anywho, I love me a duet and have recently-ish gotten into a lot of Americana Country Music, which could have a whole post. I have been super obsessed with Emmylou Harris since before Halloween. And obviously, as it happens, Emmylou led to me getting into "the tragic nut", as I've started calling him, Gram Parsons .    It's simply impossible to be a  musicaholic and not know at least a little about these two.    Their duet and collaborative projects are so stunning and their voices very mu...

  Blogmas Day Fourteen: Today we're playing Pick One Or Kick One! The video this is based off of can be found here and to my deep annoyance, the maker of the video made the decision to count the Originals and Taylor's Versions as one, completely erasing the existence of the Originals. This is simply my disclaimer to say I don't support that. Nevertheless, it's a good game.

  Blogmas Day Twelve: Hey friends! It's Ally! Today we have part two of my Women In Country Music deep dive! Today's lady is Abbi Scott. So as with last time, I punched her name into the YouTube search bar and got a Topic channel and some Auto-Generated By YouTube songs. The first song is titled " Got My Own Shotgun ". Wow, this is gorgeous! I love her voice already! It's pretty and got some power behind it, but she doesn't over-sing, like some people! I love this song, to have been cut in 2015, is delightfully Country (probably why it never went mainstream)... This is a great song and one I'm gonna revisit! I'm gonna listen to a second song, titled " Flying ", also released in 2015. (Also, unrelated but how in the Dan Hill [yes, Faith Hill McGraw's ex husband] was 2015 8 years ago!?!?!?!? The lyrics on this one gives me some early Taylor Swift vibes. Again, it's unquestionably Country and it's a shame she ain't well known. I...

Blogmas Day Eleven:   Hey y'all! It's Ally again! Today I'm going to be talking about Women In Country Music, but in alphabetical order! This is considered a Deep Dive, so let's talk about the rules. I'm using a list of every Female Country Artist from www.countrystartpage.com (here's the list ) and adding a couple people the list was missing. If I know her, I'll list how much I like her, whether or not I have any of her albums or have heard them and my favorite song. If I don't know her, I'll bang her name in the YouTube search bar and listen to the first song that is displayed. So now that that's done for, the first lady we'll be talking about is Abbey Rowe. Now, I think I may've heard of her but never consciously listened to her before doing this deep dive. Let's see what song I'm listening to.  *Types name into YouTube, results show*. The song is called " Miss Wannabe ". There's a Auto-Generated YouTube channel u...

  Blogmas Day Nine: It's me again! Now I'm reacting to Give Her That by Carrie Underwood! I love this one! It reminds me lyrically of I Got The Boy by Jana Kramer. I also relate to it, just like I relate to I Got The Boy. The Lyric Video was nice too! All and all, 10/10! See y'all tomorrow!  😎

  Blogmas Day Eight: Hey y'all, I wrote this yesterday but didn't manage to get it up until today. Now I'll be reacting to Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good) by Kelsea Ballerini. Since I obviously listened to it when the original EP came out in February and only four of those six tracks were worth listening to, I'll only be reacting to those four and the new song. Mountain With A View: This one ain't bad, but it ain't crazy good either. It's a pretty mediocre song. 4.5/10. (Skipping Just Married). (Skipping Penthouse (Healed Version). Interlude (Full Length): This one ain't good. .5/10. Blindsided (Yeah, Sure, Okay). I remember when she played this version on SNL or whatever it was, I thought it was good. 5/10. Leave Me Again: I think this is the best one, and I remember relating to it when it came out. I obviously haven't listened to it since then. 8/10. How Do I Do This (The Final Chapter): This one wasn't very good either. .2/10. Full album...

  Blogmas Day Six: Welcome back to Blogmas! I'm your host, Ally Kat Tomlinson and today, I'll be ranking Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album, Taylor Swift, which was released in 2006 (that sounds SO   HARD to believe, good gosh)!    Anywho, let's go!    #14: Cold As You.     This one hasn't ever been a favorite, though I do think it's good and can never get over how strong the line  "every smile you fake is so condescending counting all the scars you've made" is!    #13: Picture To Burn.     At the risk of getting my OSIC (Official Swiftie Identification Card) revoked, this is next to last. I feel like I loved it just a little too much back in my days of being a Junior Swiftie (in 2010-ish) and nowadays, I hardly ever listen to it.     #12: Tim McGraw.    Again, at the risk of getting my OSIC revoked, this case is sorta similar to Picture To Burn. I honestly love it, but it's not my absolute favorit...

  Blogmas Day Five: Hey y'all! Today I'll be reacting to bad idea right? (Clean) by Olivia Rodrigo!    So, this sounds kinda similar to Brutal and I think it's honestly pretty cool! I know Vampire had to exist due to the cultural reset it caused, but this feels (to me) more like a lead single. (Same way Good 4 U is more lead single-ish than Driver's License).    Being who I am, "I'm sure I've seen much hotter men, but I really can't remember when" simply sent me flying off the face of this earth.    I'm kinda a hopeless romantic, to say the least.    I started laughing at the bridge or whatever, where she is chanting/singsaying "yes, I know that he's my ex" because it reminded me too much of "Improbably Knot" from Phineas & Ferb! (I know, I know, I'm old)!    Anywho, this gets a 0/10.  That's "the biggest lie I've ever said" by the way, it obviously gets a 10/10!    See y'all tomorrow ! 😎

Blogmas Day Four: Hey y'all! Welcome to Blogmas day four! Today I'll be reacting to Cool Little Bars by Ashley McBryde!    This one is super cute and might be my second favorite single from her new album!    (Quick ranking:     #5: The Devil I Know.    #4: Made For This.    #3: Light On In The Kitchen.    #2: Cool Little Bars.    #1: Learned To Lie).    Alright, now that we are done with that, back to the reaction!    My hometown has the coolest little restaurant that I pray never gets turned into a dollar store or something, so I get her sentiment.    Anywho, I like how Country and traditional this one sounds! All and all, 10/10. See y'all tomorrow, Ally! 😎

  Blogmas Day Three: Hello and welcome to Blogmas Day Three!  Today I'm reacting to You, Me, And Whiskey (Acoustic) by Justin Moore and Priscilla Block! Now this came out in July and I've obviously just now got around to listening to it! One thing I'm a little annoyed about (no, scratch that, I'm a lot annoyed about but the  music industry has annoyingly normalized it) is that this ain't even really a fresh recording. It's the one that came out last year with the electric guitar cut out. It actually ain't bad once you get past that little irk. All and all, 8.5/10. If you'd like to see/hear me react to the original cut that came out last year, you can find that here and if you'd like to see my reaction to the visualizer, you can find that here . Well, that's about it for today! Bye! 😎

Hey y'all, it's me again and today I'm going to be attempting Blogmas! That means posting a post every single day! As you know, I didn't post yesterday, but I wrote this post yesterday. If you don't already know from the title, I'll be reacting to Driving Back There In My Mind by Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hilary Lindsay (otherwise known as The Love Junkies, the greatest writing team in Nashville) which came out in July or so and being  Alison "Out Of The Loop" Tomlinson as I am, I've yet to listen to it. I love all three of these ladies' stuff, so I'm very excited to hear this.   This one broke me, so bad. It's probably one of the best they've ever written. Lori sounds as great as ever and it's simply amazing! I'll eventually listen and react to the Miranda Lambert recording and see which I like best. Well, all and all, 9.9/10. (The only reason it's not a full ten is I wish it was longer)! Bye, Ally! 😎

So, being as out of the loop as ever, I've never gotten the chance to watch Harry Styles' Daylight Music Video until now, so I will be reacting. Let's hop to it!