Catch The Buzz

Every weekday evening, Chris Croaker features a brand new song that has caught our attention. It could be from one of your Froggy favorite artists, or something from a newly discovered talent! The Frog's "catching a buzz" every weeknight.

This week's BUZZ CUT is from the Zac Brown Band, and their 2008 debut albumThe Foundation. Listen for, "Whatever It Is" tonight and all this week during Hoppy Hour on Froggy 98.

Zac Brown Banc - "Whatever It Is"

After a remarkable chart run of over 30 weeks, Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" certainly defied most, if not all, odds against it to become one of the truly memorable songs of 2008. With such a memorable introduction still fully on the collective consciousness of fans and radio alike, the follow-up single could help raise the band's status or the song could find Zac and friends quickly on their way to one hit wonder status. If people have listened to The Foundation, they'd instantly know that this band isn't some bar band that got lucky. They've been working and touring in the southeast for quite a while and front man Zac Brown has the charisma in both his personality and his vocals (not to mention his guitar playing) while the rest of the band are some of the most talented musicians currently working in a band.

With "Chicken Fried", the guys showed they could 'party,' with their follow-up, they show they can get 'serious' with "Whatever It Is", a fiddle-drenched, acoustic-based ballad about a guy who never had the desire to be in a relationship until he met his special woman. The lyrics never come off as sounding forced and Brown's honey-soaked tenor simply sings the verses and the band harmonizes nicely when the chorus hits. While the band has plenty of party songs on The Foundation they might just have picked the perfect follow-up song to help ensure that country radio has a truly talented band on the charts and in the hearts of fans and critics alike. This single probably won't be a #1 hit for the band but I don't see how it isn't another Top 10 hit for them. (courtesy of Roughstock.com)

Click on the Album Cover above to sample this week's BUZZ CUT on Froggy 98.

STILL BUZZIN' IN THE POND

Chuck Wicks - "Man of the House"

While he's had a Top 10 single with "Stealing Cinderella," Chuck Wicks is probably more known for being Julianne Hough's boyfriend than as a fellow country singer. "Man Of The House" may just be the song to help bring Chuck to the national forefront as a vocalist, something he's quite capable of doing. Written by Chuck with Michael Mobley, "Man Of The House" features an ear-pleasing, 80's pop/country melody that backs up lyrics that are instantly relatable. It's a song that finds Chuck telling a story about a 10-year-old boy who has worries that go far beyond what the typical boy his age would worry about. You see, he's helping his mother cope with the absence of his father, who is off to war.

While this song could've easily have been masked in too much sentimentality…but, it isn't. It never gets there because of Wicks' strong, Marty Roe-like vocal. This is the exact kind of ballad that Diamond Rio excelled at and it's also the kind of song that Wicks really does well. While his up-tempo tracks are fun, the ballads are and will always be his bread and butter. While the song could've benefited from a few more traditional fiddle and mandolin fills, there's no way this well-written, subtly-produced ballad isn't a winner and something that helps sell Wicks' year-old debut album Starting Now. (courtesy of Roughstock.com)

Give "Man of the House" a listen click on the Chuck Wicks album cover…

HERE'S ANOTHER ONE STILL BUZZIN'

Tim McGraw - "Nothin' To Die For"

The latest release from Tim McGraw's Let It Go, peddles saccharine truths to a sound bite culture. "Nothing To Die For" comes across as the high-and-mighty preaching of someone who feels an understanding of addiction--it's a song for those who don't want to (or can't) deal with the complexity of addiction.

Mortality is the key issue here, and the song is especially concerned with images related to death because things like "crossing the center line" and crashing through a guard rail put the danger of alcohol abuse in terms that we can instantly and painlessly consume. It is difficult, but it is reality. And country music is supposed to deal in reality, even when it's harsh. McGraw has recorded a song entirely unconcerned with any of that. "Nothing To Die For" is a song that contains a lot of factual accuracies but very little actual truth. It settles for discussing alcoholism in the most easily consumable, unobjectionable fashion possible.

Of course, one of the most interesting things about this song is that it gets caught up in a muddy workaholic subplot that only further serves to numb the hard truths that the song avoids anyway. It's this weeks Buzz Cut on Froggy 98…(courtesy of 9513.com)

More from 9513.com HERE!
(Click the album cover and listen to a sample of this song.)