April 2015

Why Sam Hunt’s Hair at the 2015 ACM Awards Pretty Much Sums Up Everything

Random Notes 89 Comments

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Words were failing me in my efforts to articulate in any sort of composed and accurate manner what type of depravity country music is currently ailing from, and just what angst I feel about the current state of affairs in the genre. The 50th Annual ACM Awards left me despondent, reeling, and listless from the lack of hope for the future of the country format. And then I saw a picture of Sam Hunt’s hair.

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Randy Travis Makes Surprise Appearance at the ACM Awards

Random Notes 8 Comments

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There’s very little that transpired at the 50th Annual ACM Awards that could be salvaged as memorable. But one especially memorable moment transpired when Lee Brice took the stage and started playing Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen.” And when Randy Travis himself emerged from the crowd, standing under his own power, and being acknowledged by a standing ovation, it was hard to not feel the emotion.

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Saving Country Music Official 2015 ACM Awards LIVE Blog

Random Notes 259 Comments

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Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Saving Country Music’s LIVE blog of the 50th Annual ACM Awards being held at Cowboys (AT&T) Stadium in Arlington, TX. To celebrate its 50th year in business, the ACM Awards are going all out and offering an extended telecast, and Saving Country Music will there to offer blow by blow commentary on the night’s festivities for the sane minded and true country listener.

Chase Bryant Is Still Playing Tim McGraw’s Sandy Hook Benefit

News 19 Comments

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Billy Currington is out, but Chase Bryant is staying put. That’s the latest news surrounding the charity concert happening at the Infinity Theater in Hartford, Connecticut on July 17th as part of Tim McGraw’s upcoming Shotgun Rider concert tour. Chase Bryant was the other opener for the Sandy Hook benefit show with Billy Currington.

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50th Annual ACM Awards Complete Preview

Random Notes 41 Comments

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All the information on the 50th Annual ACM Awards in one place, including the presenters, the performers, the collaborations, the nominees, special awards, and other things to watch for. Merle Haggard tribute? Will Garth Brooks lip sync? And how the ACM Awards suckered Taylor Swift into showing up.

Tami Neilson, Dynamite From Down Under! (Interview)

Random Notes 14 Comments

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“Moving to New Zealand is career suicide!” was one of the responses country music singer/songwriter Tami Neilson received when she announced she was leaving her native Canada to live in a place where country music was generally synonymous with two words: achy and breaky. But after 5 years of being in a long-distance relationship with her Kiwi boyfriend (now husband) it was time for them to finally live in the same hemisphere.

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Billy Currington Pulls Out of Sandy Hook Charity Concert

News 120 Comments

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After a week of controversy, Billy Currington is out as a performer at the July 17th benefit concert for Sandy Hook Promise being held by Tim McGraw at the Infinity Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. Currington confirmed the news to fans late Thursday (4-16) evening. “I’ve never been one to take on controversial issues – I’m a singer.”

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Kip Moore Insists His Afterparty Skip was a Big Misunderstanding

Random Notes 67 Comments

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Kip insisted to Saving Country Music that he did not know about the appearance, and that it was a lapse in communication with his management that caused the misunderstanding. “Yes they called my team and asked if I’d come by and I would have been glad to,” Moore says. “They helped promote the show and I would have been glad to. That part is my team’s fault which they own…”

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Tim McGraw Stirs Gun Debate Over Sandy Hook Charity Appearance

Random Notes 157 Comments

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The announcement of the Tim McGraw benefit concert blended in with all the regular country music news on Monday—a day usually reserved for the distribution of such press releases, until the conservative news outlet Brietbart picked up the story with the headline, “Country Stars Tim McGraw, Billy Currington Headlining Gun Control Fundraiser.”

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Jason Isbell to Release New Album “Something More Than Free”

News 23 Comments

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The highly-anticipated follow up to Jason Isbell’s critically-acclaimed 2013 album Southeastern will be called “Something More Than Free.” The album will be released through Thirty Tigers, and Isbell’s own Southeastern Records. Like his last album, the effort was produced by vaunted producer Dave Cobb.

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Album Review – Dwight Yoakam’s “Second Hand Heart”

Reviews 58 Comments

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There’s just a cool factor about Dwight that appears will never wear off, regardless if the hips don’t shake and the knees don’t knock as much as they used to, or even if he’s the perfect specimen for male pattern baldness under the low brim of that cowboy hat. He’s still Dwight, and that caramel voice and cutting yodel will never be deprecated.

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Miranda Lambert Says She Supports Bro-Country

Random Notes 96 Comments

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Well so much for entertaining the idea in your country music brain that if Miranda Lambert had her way, she’d go all “Gunpowder & Lead” on the purveyors of Bro-Country for their sexist and objectifying behavior if she wasn’t such a classy chic who would rather let her music do the talking. Miranda removed any and all doubt about how she feels about Bro-Country, at least in what she’s willing to portray to the public.

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After 55 Years, The Louisiana Hayride Is Coming Back

News 45 Comments

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The Louisiana Hayride is on its way back, and in a big way. Arguably the 2nd most influential music program in country music history, only rivaled in stature by The Grand Ole Opry, it’s been an effort that has lasted over 20 years and seen a major renovation of the radio program’s original home of The Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport that has put organizers on the brink of bringing the show back.

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Song Review – Granger Smith’s “Backroad Song”

Reviews 63 Comments

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I can remember it almost like it was yesterday. Granger Smith released a hilarious song and video under his pseudonym Earl Dibbles Jr. called “Country Boy Song,” and we were all falling over each other and high-fiving at how it was the perfect illustration of just what a scourge laundry list country songs had become. This was the early in the summer of 2012. The term “Bro-Country” was over a year from being coined.

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Letterman Books Country Greats for Final Shows

News 24 Comments

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Over the last few years, David Letterman and The Late Show have become tireless supporters of many of the older country artists and up-and-comers that mainstream country so unfortunately pays little to no attention to. To giving artists like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dale Watson, and Sturgill Simpson their first network debut, to being one of the few shows regularly willing to book Willie Nelson and other legends…

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Kip Moore Reneges On Contracted Appearance, Angers Fans

News 72 Comments

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On Saturday, April 11th, “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck” singer Kip Moore played The Complex at Valdosta State University in Georgia to what by all accounts was a satisfied and appreciative crowd. After the show, some Kip Moore fans gathered at a local bar called the Ashley Street Station where Kip Moore had an agreement to make an appearance at the official afterparty proceeding the concert.

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May Sam Cooke’s Ghost Kick Thomas Rhett’s Ass for “Crash and Burn”

Down with Pop Country 78 Comments

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May the ghost of the great Sam Cooke kick Thomas Rhett’s ass eternally for ripping off the iconic rhythm and cadence from the classic American standard “Chain Gang” in such an open and arrogant manner that even a villainous bystander like Vanilla Ice would give this the hairy eyeball. “Evolution” in today’s country music is simply a code word for filching something from another genre.

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Willie Nelson is Victim of Yet Another Death Hoax of a Death Hoax

News 22 Comments

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It happened again, and thanks to over 500,000+ shares on Facebook (and counting), many Willie Nelson fans believe the legendary country singer died on Saturday, April 11th in Maui, and one dubious website is reaping the financial rewards. A site called msmbc.co—purposely titled to be easily confused with msnbc.com—initially posted a fake death story involving Willie Nelson on February 21st, 2015.

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Jason Aldean Gets Hit in the Face with a Flying Beer

News 51 Comments

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The fan was eventually acknowledged by Aldean, but it was with a simple, “No,” as he pointed the assailant out to security. The beer chunker was eventually apprehended and escorted to authorities. Later in the show, Aldean said to the crowd, “It took everything I had not to go kick that guy’s teeth in,” but apparently Aldean has decided to not press charges, and he was not significantly injured in the incident.

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Sentencing of Chris Ferrell in the Death of Wayne Mills Delayed

News 0 Comments

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The sentencing in the 2nd Degree Murder trial of Chris Ferrell in the death of Wayne Mills has been delayed until April 24th, though the bulk of the sentencing hearing transpired as scheduled in the court of Steve Dozier in Nashville Friday (4-10) morning. Many of the members of Wayne’s extended family were in attendance for the sentencing, including Wayne’s young son Jack who had not been in the courtroom for the trial.

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Alan Jackson with Cole Swindell? More Dubious ACM Duets

Random Notes 86 Comments

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The calamitous and disturbing plan of the Academy of Country Music to pair up some of country music’s worst stars of today with country music heroes of the past just keeps getting worse. Though a few of the collaboration ideas seem kind of cool, some of them are downright sinister to the hearts of traditional country fans who revere the past greats, and revile the new artists who are stomping on the traditions of the genre.

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Because Nothing Says “Outlaw” Like Going on a Cruise

Random Notes 59 Comments

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Whether you have already purchased your tickets or are planning to soon, or you’re sitting back and laughing at the idea of a bunch of “Outlaws” setting sail in a luxury liner outbound for the Cayman Islands, don’t lie to yourself and say that this isn’t something that you wouldn’t love to participate in if you could swing it. Out at sea with some of your favorite country artists surrounded by the beauty of the Caribbean?

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