Amid the news of country and pop legend Glen Campbell’s death on Tuesday August 8th at the age of 81, sales of his music have spiked dramatically as past and current fans turn to Campbell’s timeless songs to mourn his passing. BuzzAngle Music reports that Campbell’s music sales spiked 13,665% on Tuesday, with most of […]
Controversial country rapper Mikel Knight has lost a key court battle in the California Court of Appeal that could have caused significant reverberations in the free speech and online communities. This is after a lower court ruled that any online outlet with advertisements was subject to rights of publicity claims by individuals.
I’ve always said, one of the greatest moments to witness in a mainstream artist’s career is when they realize they’ve got nothing left to lose. And after years of playing musical politics, they cut lose and do whatever the hell they want to do, devil may care. Miranda Lambert is going to do whatever the hell it is that she wants to do.
After a recent trip to Japan to play a festival in Niigata, Sturgill contracted a good ol’ fashioned case of “bubble guts.” Then his keyboard player Bobby Emmett sprung a leak when he broke some keys on the very first song of the Little Rock set and then cut his hand on them. But the show must go on, and the result was a bloody mess.
Like so many institutions of country music, the duo has been run asunder, bastardized, co-opted for corrupt corporate purposes, and the true nature of the art form virtually forgotten. But Porter Union is doing their best to resurrect the approach, in a sector of country music often overlooked, and arguably in the most need for rehabilitation.
How should a country purist regard the legacy of Glen Campbell? That should be a really easy question to answer: with class, respect, and appreciation for a man that was an incredible ambassador for the genre through multiple avenues, and a timeless contributor to the country music canon.
for years, Broadway was one of the very few personalities in mainstream country radio willing to ask tough questions of artists, willing to broach subjects otherwise thought of as taboo in the mainstream, and overall just show guts and independent thinking in an otherwise stuffy, closed-off world. And he did it all with class and respect.
After a protracted battle with Alzheimer’s, and a remarkable career that minted one of the most recognized voices in country music and made him an ambassador for the genre to millions as many of his songs crossed over into contemporary spheres, Glen Campbell has passed away at the age of 81. He died on Tuesday, […]
The only greater disservice an artist or a label can do to the music they’ve worked so hard on and put so much love into than releasing it on an EP, is to release it on a four-song EP. You want to bury music and relegate it to the also-ran of your discography and have Wikipedia page editors and everyday fans give you quizzical looks? Release an EP.
The small yet mighty, meticulously-curated, and expertly-planned festival just outside of Portland, OR known as Pickathon continues to be the local festival with international implications in how talent presented at the festival is given the possibility to break out onto the national stage.
Two ruinous singles in a row with “Whisper” and “Everybody We Know Does” that couldn’t crack the Top 40 on radio put Chase Rice on the outs with his label Columbia Nashville, and unlikely to see an album release anytime soon. Now he’s back with a new single from a new label that is being sold as Rice’s return to the roots.
“I’m gonna do one by myself, because I can,” Miranda told the crowd. “I want to do this on behalf of all the girls that are not being played on country radio right now. If you really love us, you will call and request any female that has a song out and something to say. This is one of those called ‘Tin Man.'”
The Turnpike Troubadours have cut short their current tour, with lead guitar player Ryan Engleman citing an undisclosed personal issue as the need for the cancellations. The shows cancelled affect dates primarily on the West Coast and in the interior West for the next week.
Just like Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers was playing and writing music for many years before he was ready to become a part of the national country music conversation. It was only after years of failure, perseverance, tempering in the fires of everyday life and dues paid on small stages that Tyler was ready.
“Nice Things” delves into the possessive nature of love in a bold effort that accentuates Guyton’s vocal strengths, and is stirred with Jerry Douglas-sounding rootsy dobro. Mickey Guyton resists the temptation to inflect her voice with urban annunciations and R&B styling that is all the rage in the mainstream country today.
Hip hop/R&B artist Jason Derulo—known for such squalid hits as “Swalla” and “Get Ugly”—is working on a quote/unquote “big” country music project with a current country artist. This is the news coming from numerous sources, including Derulo himself.
Is it October 20th yet? How ’bout now? Sorry for the impatience, but that’s the day one of the most badass independent country bands in existence will release their highly-anticipated fourth album A Long Way From Your Heart via Bossier City Records and Thirty Tigers.
Man did we need a good album from Joe Nichols. Mainstream country has been on a losing streak something fierce for 2017—barring a few exceptions—and when you have an artist like Joe Nichols, you need them to act like a bulkhead against adverse trends. It sucks when later in an artist’s career and after a […]
Koe Wetzel from Stephenville, TX has certainly been stirring up the chatter of both the positive and negative persuasion over the last few months after the release of the record Noise Complaint. A veritable young pup of the Texas music scene, he’s been vilified by some for immature lyrics, while being celebrated by the younger set.
Well, it’s happened. As predicted by Saving Country Music and certain others, Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad” is now officially the longest-charting #1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the chart’s nearly 60-year-old history, logging a total of 25 straight weeks at #1.
For many years there has been the need for a festival to cover the music that sits on the fringes of commercial country, yet serves a very dedicated and surprisingly large audience of country music fans. This is what Borda Productions saw when they decided to transition from a more mainstream-oriented country festival for 2017.
In the process of criticizing modern country music, sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture, or fall into “old man’s syndrome” where the past of the genre seems pristine and idyllic in our mind’s eye, and today’s smutty music perpetrated by sellout stars is an abomination to our beloved genre.
Artists with the true love of country music in their hearts, they don’t make country music for money or fame. They make it for life. They make it because they have no other choice. They make it whether they succeed, or it costs incredible sacrifice to keep doing it. It isn’t an option, it’s an obligation to themselves, and the music.
On Saturday, July 29th, during Jamey Johnson’s headliner set at the Tumbleweed Festival just outside of Kansas City, Jamey Johnson stopped the show down when he saw an American Flag in black and white. “I’m $ucking serious, I will stop playing,” he said.
