New for 2020, Kentucky singer songwriter Justin Wells has released the album The United State. Ambitious and involved, Wells himself says the album “is a life, from before birth til after death. The songs are a timeline. I’m somewhere on it. Every one of you are somewhere on it.”
Garth Brooks released his latest album Fun on November 20th, and though not previously mentioned or accounted for previously, the work included 15 tracks as opposed to the 14 that had been promised. The reason for the discrepancy was a track at the 13th spot that included two seconds of dead air.
The momentum behind Chris Stapleton continues as his latest record “Starting Over” soars to the top of the charts off the back of strong physical sales and streaming numbers. Released on November 13th, the album debuts at the top of the Billboard Country Albums chart this week.
The 2021 Grammy Award nominees were announced on Tuesday (11/24), and as can be expected, there is some good, some bad, many worthy nominations, a few probably born of virtue signaling as you can expect. But overall, it’s about par for the course.
Beloved and accomplished singer, songwriter, and performer Hal Ketchum has died due to complications from Dementia. He passed away Monday evening, November 23rd according to his wife Andrea. “With great sadness and grief we announce that Hal passed away peacefully last night.”
It was just a bit under two weeks ago when breakup rumors surrounding the Bro-Country duo Florida Georgia Line were all the rage of the country music internet. So what is the duo doing to help mend fences? They’re making a musical.
If you’re ready for this whole COVID-19 thing to go kick rocks and are jonesing hard for a live music experience, Cody Jinks will be offering up the next best thing by chiselling his landmark performance at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater into CD and vinyl, AND will be live streaming the whole damn thing.
It’s not that ‘Fun’ isn’t without it’s moments. But Garth Brooks is too much of a cheeseball, and too surrounded by yes men to be given the reigns to produce his own stuff. Or what you get is a record like ‘Fun.’
Some of the best Miranda Lambert songs can be found on the stuff she does outside of her regular album cycles. A song about how it’s often our heartbreak and failures that lead to the insight and inspiration that becomes our greatest triumphs, “Champion” is a song of perseverance.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats. New songs have just been added.
Yes, Post Malone. The rapper guy and pop star with all those tattoos on his face. He’s one of the biggest artists in all of popular music at the moment. And apparently, he’s a big fan of independent country music. Over the last few weeks he’s been caught repping guys you could list off as your 1A, 1B, and 1C.
A once-in-a-lifetime event happened on January 12th, 2019 when a wide-ranging assemblage of talent from country music and beyond came together at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to Willie Nelson. Called ‘Willie: Life and Songs of an American Outlaw,’ it’s being released on CD and DVD.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in restricted crowd size and travel, but a strong contingent of Austin, TX musical talent will be coming together for a socially-distanced Billy Joe Shaver tribute concert on Sunday, November 22nd at the city’s Long Center in an outdoor event.
From growling tracks to get your blood pumping, to some of the easiest country songs to ease into, to songs written with such searing insight you’ll be squeezing back tears, ‘Black Cats and Crows’ may have been inspired by bad luck and worse decisions, but it results in immense measures of good fortune for listeners.
A tribute record to the revolutionary Red Dirt rock country outfit Cross Canadian Ragweed and its frontman Cody Canada is on the way, and it includes a litany of cool artists from Texas and Red Dirt who all paid tribute to the band last winter at the long-running Music Fest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
More than anything else, it’s the songs on Doug Supernaw’s debut album ‘Red and Rio Grande’ that makes it to hold up so well now 27 years later. Though Doug only wrote or co-wrote four of the songs, he sure knew how to pick ’em, and some of them went on to be the pick of the litter for early 90’s country.
“The record is called J.T. because Justin was never called anything else until he was nearly grown. Well, when he was little, I called him Cowboy,” says Steve Earle. “For better or worse, right or wrong, I loved Justin Townes Earle more than anything else on this earth.
Murder ballads are indelible part of country music history, from the earliest recording from The Carter Family, all the way to today with Ashley McBryde’s latest radio single “Martha Divine.” The roots of murder ballads go back to before country music was a commercial enterprise.
In yet another sign (or two) that Tyler Childers has been on a tear and may turn out to be the man who turns the tables on mainstream country, two more singles from his breakout album ‘Purgatory’ released in 2017 have been Certified Gold by the RIAA. They join one of his songs that has already gone Platinum.
Chris Stapleton has always been the most unlikely of superstars. Slightly overweight 36-year-olds with beards and a burly countenance aren’t supposed to be the beneficiaries of the confluence of positive circumstances that powered Stapleton so high into the stratosphere of country music, he’s transcended the genre.
After five decades of paying dues and all that hard work paying off, John Prine decided to treat himself to his dream car—a Porsche 911 Turbo. After John Prine passed away on April 7th, 2020, he bequeathed the car to Sturgill Simpson.
An Instagram post from Brian Kelley nearly resulted in the greatest fears of Florida Georgia Line fans coming to fruition, and the greatest hopes for many actual country music fans who are often furious at the musical output of the Bro-Country duo.
Unless you were there in person, you missed it. But now we’ll all get the opportunity to see the tribute concert that transpired on April 6th, 2017, when a hefty list of musical talent all assembled at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to the legendary Merle Haggard.
Doug Supernaw’s tumultuous life was like a country song. It went from obscure beginnings, to superstardom, to a return to anonymity, and eventually a path of new redemption. It has ended now, but not before he found redemption.
