We’ve known for a while that a new Jack Antonoff-produced album from the Dixie Chicks was on the way. Now we have a title, and more details behind what motivated the upcoming record. In a recent appearance, not only did Dixie Chicks member Natalie Maines drop the album title, she also spoke in depth about the inspiration for the album.
British-born country soul singer Yola didn’t win anything she was nominated for at the 2019 Americana Music Awards last week. But a consensus emerged throughout the 2019 AmericanaFest event that this was the moment Yola had arrived. Along with multiple opening opportunities, she has announced her “Walk Through The Fire World Tour.”
Yes, there will be a 2nd Annual Loud and Heavy Fest featuring Cody Jinks and a personally curated lineup of artists from Jinks himself, with the details forthcoming. This is the news coming out of the Cody Jinks camp, while two new songs have just been released from Cody’s two upcoming albums.
The fourth installment of the eight-part Ken Burns documentary on country music laid out in no uncertain terms how country music became a well-ordered business in the aftermath of the death of Hank Williams, and during the rise of rock n’ roll as the most popular genre in America, putting pressure on country music.
Veteran country music writer, well-respected journalist, and radio broadcaster Chuck Dauphin has passed away. Well known for his work at Billboard as a ‘615’ columnist where he began writing in 2011, Chuck Dauphin also wrote for Rolling Stone, At Home Nashville, Roughstock, and most recently Sounds Like Nashville, along with other periodicals.
Even though names like Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, and The Carter Family loom large for many of country music’s devoted fans, they don’t necessarily rise to the level of household names like Ernest Tubb, and of course the great Hank Williams, who was the centerpiece of the third installment of the Ken Burns ‘Country Music’ documentary.
Good ol’ vintage Texas country music bliss is what greets your happy ears when you pipe up Vincent Neil Emerson’s “Fried Chicken and Evil Women.” It’s a little bit of Western Swing flavor added to Texas Troubadour Ernest Tubb styling that nestles right in your sensibilities as an old soul, filling you with fuzzy feelings.
The 2019 installment of AmericanaFest seemed especially packed with top-level talent, and both Emily Scott Robinson and Charles Wesley Godwin made the trek to Nashville hoping to put renewed interest behind their 2019 efforts. And like their albums, they both stood out in the crowded field of country and roots music performers and hopefuls.
Drummer Aaron Haynes of the Ft. Worth-based Quaker City Night Hawks offered a lengthy apology early Tuesday (9-17) afternoon for his conduct at AmericanaFest last week where he berated the sound man working one of the band’s shows, and eventually punched and shoved employees of the venue, and threw parts of his drum set across the stage.
The first episode of the Ken Burns Country Music documentary tasked itself to define what country music is by delving deep into its origins and original purveyors. The second episode called “Hard Times” began the work of explaining why the music means so much to so many people.
To a packed audience, Sierra Ferrell absolutely dazzled with her incredible songwriting and singing, backed by a simple band of fiddle, upright bass, and vintage drums. Sierra has a spunk and power to her, yet it’s all encapsulated in a flawless delivery. There are such amazing layers and textures in her voice and style.
Over seven years of full-time labor on the part of numerous people, over 101 interviews conducted, countless hours of archival work digging up old photographs, audio, video, and other vintage material, and an elongated year-long promotional effort finally culminated in the broadcast of the debut episode for the Ken Burns Country Music epic.
The broadcast of the Ken Burns-produced 8-part, 16-hour documentary on country music could very well be the most significant event to happen in country music in 2019, if not in the next few years. For country music to receive the expansive documentary treatment for America’s preeminent filmmaking archivist could have significant implications.
Though Chris Stapleton started on the mainstream side of music as a songwriter specifically, his output has significantly slowed over the last few years. However this might be changing. Over this summer during his All-American Roadshow Tour, Stapleton has been featuring a couple of new songs.
As Tanya’s first original record in 17 years, ‘While I’m Livin” has undeniably helped put Tanya back on the map. Producers Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings deserve all the credit in the world for taking the initiative to make this record happen. However, there were a couple of curious and concerning things about the project.
After the Americana Music Awards Wednesday night (9-12), Paul Cauthen hosted his “Big Velvet Revue” showcase at the Basement East in Nashville. After an extended delay in the show, the drummer for the band, Aaron Haynes, decided to come out from behind the drum set, and accost the sound man from the mic.
The big opportunities keep coming for the preeminent Southern rock band of our time, Blackberry Smoke. They recently played some big gigs opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and now have been tapped by Guns n’ Roses on their upcoming fall tour. They also are releasing a new live album, ‘Blackberry Smoke Homecoming: Live in Atlanta.’
The 18th Annual Americana Music Awards transpired Wednesday night (9-11) at the Country Music Mother Church, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, with lots of love spread out among a diverse list of winners, but John Prine emerging as the biggest winner walking away with both Album of the Year for ‘Tree of Forgiveness,’ and Song of the Year
Well the cat’s out of the bag. We’re not just getting one new album from Cody Jinks in 2019, we’re getting two. The first we’ve known about for a while and is called After The Fire due out October 11th with what appears like a campfire shooting the middle finger on the front. Then the […]
If it was the early 90s, and Jason Aldean was opening for AC/DC or a born again Ozzy Osbourne, perhaps this mess would fly. But this is 2019, and supposed to be country music. Where is the Prince of Darkness to bite the head off a Jason Aldean when you need him?
As first announced by Saving Country Music earlier this summer, Marty Stuart’s Magum Opus The Pilgrim is being reissued and for the first time on vinyl, along with an accompanying CD with 10 bonus tracks taken from the project and other recorded material Marty has amassed over the years. The 20th Anniversary Edition of The […]
Tuesday, September 10th is Suicide Prevention Day, and the day has been observed with renewed importance by many in the independent country and roots world after the recent passing of songwriter, player, and producer Neal Casal. The 50-year-old took his own life on August 26th leaving many with lingering questions about his passing.
Strong songwriting underpins inspired performances delivered by four women with passion for this project and its material in this initial effort by The Highwomen. Instead of writing it all themselves, they took the Nashville approach of utilizing co-writers to refine each effort that began with their original ideas, and it shows in the results.
It’s not just hardcore country fans who are stupefied by what the modern country format has become. It’s most everybody. In fact the ranks of non-country fans and performers may be even more shocked and appalled by what is called “country music” today, because they haven’t been present for the slow erosion of the format over the many years.
