It wasn’t just that it was bad country. It’s that it was just bad music, and the assessment of this was almost universal. There stands Brantley Gilbert with his stupid brass knuckles microphone and cheesy Affliction T-shirt machismo attitude, and his bandmates with their mohawks and dreadheads miming to a backing track
Standing in the middle of the Country Music Hall of Fame rotunda in Nashville, Tennessee, it’s hard to not feel the gravity of country music history impressing itself upon you. But standing apart from all of this symmetrical symbolism, and the very first thing that greets your view as you walk in is a painting called “The Sources of Country Music.”
Steve Cash, an original member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and co-writer of the band’s two biggest hits “If You Wanna Get To Heaven” and “Jackie Blue,” passed away Sunday, October 13th at the age of 73 after a prolonged illness. He is the first original member of the iconic and influential band to pass away.
The reward is now up to $3,000 for the return of the legendary “Big Red” guit-steel guitar owned by country music performer Junior Brown. Burglarized from a vehicle parked at a hotel in North Attleboro, Massachusetts on Sunday, October 6th, the legendary instrument has been the signature of Junior Brown for nearly 35 years.
Music is what we turn to for reprieve from the common irritations and emotional burdens of everyday life. Galax, Virginia’s Dori Freeman is uncommonly blessed with the ability to dispel those difficulties and replace them with a warm appreciation for the simple joys of living through the pacifying nature of her songs.
Not to spend too much time on the country music washout that is Zac Brown in 2019, but just to wrap a bow around the weird situation surrounding his recent solo pop album called The Controversy, we finally have an explanation of why the surprise album was pulled from multiple outlets and retailers after its release on September 27th.
Many of the scheduled dates for the upcoming “The Music of Randy Travis” tour have been canceled. The unique collaboration putting together many of the original members of the Randy Travis backing band with actor and singer James Dupré at center stage was scheduled to make 12 separate appearances from mid October to November.
Every Friday, more and more killer albums just keep coming, especially lately, and at such a rapid pace that it’s hard to keep on top of it all. That’s part of the point of keeping the Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist, so you can listen your way through staying informed about the latest songs and albums being released in country and roots.
It’s uncanny how Chris Knight takes such simple notions, and turns them into exaltations for the common man, their common struggles, and imparts solutions to everyday dilemmas. He’s the headwaters of erudite knowledge served in plainspoken terms that all other country songwriters seek.
Sure, talk’s cheap. And we saw that illustrated perfectly when Sam Hunt released a new single recently called “Kinfolks.” But the case is a bit different with Carly Pearce. Unlike Sam Hunt and other current mainstream stars, Carly started out in the traditional country ranks, and she’s also backing up her claims with her music.
Where Cody’s last album ‘Lifers’ seemed to focus more on his dedicated fans and the hardscrabble, blue collar lives they lead, ‘After The Fire’ is much more introspective and inward-looking. It’s about Cody’s struggle to balance music and life, trying to be a good husband first before becoming the big star some would love to see him become.
“Kinfolks” is Sam Hunt thinking you’ll consider this a country song just because the lyrical hook is a rural colloquialism. This is what passes for “country” in Sam Hunt’s book, while we’re supposed to ignore the clap track and hip-pop phrasing. Sam Hunt left a huge mess behind in country music when he disappeared a few years ago.
When frontman Cody Cannon takes the stage, he struts around like a cock of the walk, more resembling his hard rock heroes than a down home, humble country boy. But when he sits down in front of a legal pad or starts scribbling songs ideas on a fast food napkin, something resembling country is just as likely to emerge.
“It’s definitely not a country record,” Sturgill Simpson told Sarah Silverman point blank back in November of 2018 about the new album. The “definitely” underscores that there’s no wiggle room in that interpretation. So the question is, why is Sound & Fury on the Billboard country charts?
The magic of what makes Tyler Childers able to write country songs that seem to resonate so deeply with listeners is not rocket science. The reason Tyler Childers and other Kentucky-born songwriters are currently acting like the spearhead in the effort to save country music is because they’re singing what they know about.
Full-time Navy enlistee turned country music songwriting sensation Zach Bryan has acquired some big muscle behind him to help forward his burgeoning music career. It’s not just fans who’ve been paying attention to his rapid ascent. Managers, booking agents, and labels have been hot on the trail of the Tulsa, Oklahoma native.
A piece of iconic country music history has been stolen. Country guitar-playing legend Junior Brown’s legendary “guit-steel” guitar was burglarized from a vehicle parked at a hotel in North Attleboro Massachusetts on Sunday, October 6th. Music fans in the area are asked to be on the lookout for the unique instrument.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have another name you should make sure to include in the mix whenever speaking about the wild resurgence of independent music shaking up mainstream country, and it’s the Southern rock and country band out of east Texas known as Whiskey Myers. Releasing their fifth record on September 27th…
The pedigree that runs curiously through country music did not pass Georgette Jones up, and her talent for singing and finding songs that embody all that’s great about the country genre is on full display on her latest record, Skin. This album has not scored the insatiable buzz some other records from women in country have this year.
Bass player Larry Junstrom, who was one of the founding members of preeminent Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the long-time bass player for .38 Special, has passed away at the age of 70. A classmate of Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Bob Burn, he helped form Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1964.
Man, the Academy of Country Music sure knows how to soft pedal the excitement behind some of their awards. Recently they’ve been unveiling their ‘Decade’ awards, stringing them out over months instead of having an event to announce them, surprising artists backstage at gigs and shoving an award in their face as a few flashbulbs go off.
The original Willis Alan Ramsey album released in 1972 is the stuff of legend. Considered one of the very foundations of the Austin music scene that was just starting to emerge as a point of national interest at the time, the enigmatic songwriter recorded 11 original songs for Leon Russell’s Shelter label, and they would go on to be covered…
Something that became obvious while watching the Ken Burns documentary is a few of the egregious oversights the Country Music Hall of Fame has been a party to when it comes to its inductees. Unlike other Halls of Fame, The Country Music Hall of Fame is extremely selective of who they let in, only allowing three new members in each year.
Boy howdy. It takes all of 12 seconds to fly by in this new Jason James record before you decisively know that you made the smartest of all country music decisions by giving this young man your time and attention. Where have all those true sounds of country music gone? Straight into the lungs of Texas City’s Jason James.
