Amid the continuing effort to revitalize the legacy of Country Music Hall of Famer Conway Twitty and reconstitute his music in modern form for fans to enjoy, ten albums from the heart of Conway’s career have finally been released for both streaming and download.
Sierra Ferrell is one of the best artists to catch live in independent country and roots music at the moment, and lucky for us she’s just dropped a huge bushel of live dates stretching into the spring of 2022. Already touring relentlessly through the end of the year…
It’s that time of year to once again commence a discussion about the best stuff released in country music. Excruciating work went into whittling the selections for Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year to 11 nominees, and even then it feels scandalous that still more weren’t selected.
For months folks were convinced that the show Saturday night, December 4th pairing up the side projects of Turnpike Troubadours fiddler Kyle Nix called the 38’s, and bass player/songwriter RC Edwards called RC and the Ambers, was a front for a secret Turnpike Troubadours reunion show.
One of country music’s critically-important performers from the Golden Era of the 50’s and 60’s, and one of the Grand Ole Opry’s most regular performers throughout the years, has passed on to that big stage in the sky. Stonewall Jackson was not a nickname.
There are few tours that are more legendary to the history of country music than the six-week tour that Gram Parsons embarked on in 1973 behind his album GP. Yes, there were certainly bigger tours with higher grossing receipts, or tours that featured a more scintillating lineup.
Fans of Oklahoma’s Turnpike Troubadours were super excited to learn earlier this week that after a 2 1/2-year hiatus, the band was finally getting back together, and was planning a reunion show at the legendary Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado on May 14th, 2022.
It’s all been done in country music. You’ve heard that before, right? Well Jason Boland has never been one to acquiesce to that idea, even while still putting together a legendary career as one of Red Dirt’s stanchest traditionalists. So a concept record about an alien abduction? Sure.
For 21 years, the Country Music Critics Poll published in Nashville’s alternative newsweekly the ‘Nashville Scene’ has been one of the leading indicators of critical consensus about a given year’s songs, albums, artists, and performers in the country music space.
Capturing a classic country sound with a faraway feel, Nick Sizemore carried a handful of his original songs into the studio with producer Brett Robinson and captured just about the perfect mood for this material. Morose and melancholy, Nick Sizemore seizes the essence of the sad country song both in writing and sound.
Hank Williams Jr. was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on November 21st, 2021, and unfortunately, if you weren’t there in person, you weren’t able to see it for yourself. We are able to part and piece together what Hank Jr. said in his acceptance speech though.
Just a quick personal note here. I don’t conduct many interviews these days, and grant even less of them. But recently, novelist and media commentator Ashley Rindsberg reached out through a mutual friend and said he wanted to speak for his Burning Castle podcast.
Hanukkah has officially commenced with its eight crazy nights, and the 12 days of Christmas are right around the corner. And it appears the week straddling the end of November and the beginning of December might be filled with a bevy of early Christmas presents for Turnpike Troubadours fans.
Texas-based country performer Paul Cauthen is supposedly putting this country music trend of telling people how country you are on blast in his new song “Country As *uck.” But like certain other parody songs, it’s guilty of the same crime it’s supposedly criticizing.
Don’t ever take the moments you share with your favorite artists and bands for granted, because you never know when they could get scuttled and go away forever. That is the lesson of the last 2 1/2 years for the Turnpike Troubadours. And thankfully, that painful lesson is finally over.
Bluegrass music is a distinct art form specifically from Kentucky and the southeastern United States. But one group took it upon themselves to import this important form of country music north of the border to Canada, and became very successful doing it. They called themselves the Dixie Flyers, not to be confused with a Nashville […]
Hopefully we can hold out for just a little bit longer before Christmas music is the only music you hear no matter what you turn on, or where you go. Some great late year additions have appeared in independent country music, so let’s run them down before it’s all Christmas carols.
We already knew that Dwight Yoakam was the King of Country Cool when he came out of Kentucky and landed in Southern California, shaking his hips like Elvis, and revitalizing the Bakersfield Sound like Buck. But it was 25 years ago today when we discovered that Dwight Yoakam was a multi purpose entertainer.
Eddie Rabbitt’s career wasn’t just accomplished, it was downright Hall of Fame worthy. But do you every hear Eddie Rabbitt’s name brought up in that context of the Hall of Fame? Of course not. Hell, you barely ever hear his name at all. That should change.
Second generation country performer Justin Townes Earle passed away tragically on August 20th, 2020, but strong efforts are underway to make sure his legacy doesn’t go forgotten, especially after the ownership of the label that released his first five albums was sent in flux.
I know what some will say: Bluegrass has always been here. And that’s most certainly true. But for these subgenres of country music to sustain, they need fresh blood every few years, both in the form of exciting new performers, and new fans. And in 2021, bluegrass is enjoying both.
Look. If you know anything about music, and anything about the Turnpike Troubadours, you had to know that betting against a reunification of this band after the indefinite hiatus they announced on May 31st, 2019 was a foolish proposition, no matter how bleak it appeared to be.
“Macon” is a letdown if you’re an actual country music fan. But I would be lying if I didn’t confess that I was actually somewhat surprised by the content of this album named after Jason Aldean’s hometown. Again, this is not a “good” album by any stretch. But it’s good for Jason Aldean.
Nominees for the 2022 Grammy Awards were announced on Wednesday, November 23rd from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, with some big names receiving some important nominations, a few obvious omissions, and the “who” being nominated as opposed to the “what.”
