Some might think this will sound like a broken record or a tired topic, that all the Chris Stapleton praise and plaudits for his remarkable sales numbers have run their course. But the argument can be made that we’re still not making a big enough about what Chris Stapleton is accomplishing in country music right now.
If you like barbecue and badass music in a cool place, then you’re gonna want to get your ass to interior California’s Bandit Town in early September. Though the details are still being finalized, Whitey Morgan has let it be known that he’s planning to throw an annual Birthday BBQ at Bandit Town USA in North Fork, CA.
‘American Grandstand’ finds the current Queen of Bluegrass, and one of the greatest traditional country voices still around remaking classic old country music duets with their incredible collaborative beauty, taking you back to a time when the stars of country music were required to have voices that stirred the spirit instead of requiring technological enhancement.
Country music legend Loretta Lynn has now canceled all of her remaining 2017 tour dates, and postponed the release of her upcoming album ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great’ amid continuing health concerns due to a stroke she suffered earlier this year.
Amid all the turmoil and gridlock currently roiling in Washington D.C., there is one thing that the U.S. House of Representatives just agreed upon unanimously, and without debate. It was to honor the late and great country music legend Merle Haggard.
Much has been made recently on the evacuation of print media departments at certain major media outlets in lieu of video production staff. At the same time print media is being fazed down in many sectors of media, podcasting in the sports and entertainment realm is booming.
“Country shows man. Everybody gets way too drunk.” This is one of many things that can be overheard in the disturbing video of a brawl that erupted after the Sam Hunt show in Tinley Park, IL (Chicago area) Saturday night, July 8th.
There is a myth out there in the country music industry that only old people like old country music. And since old people are already stocked with their cadre of outdated CD’s, there’s no reason to court them with new music. Of course, this isn’t true on a number of levels.
“Alan Jackson. Wholeheartedly. Alan Jackson. All day. Everyday,” is what the former fiddle player for The Band Perry Jason Fitz said when asked who was the person in country music you most want to punch in the face. Jason Fitz now works for ESPN where the segment occurred.
Once again the sales record for one of country music’s critically-acclaimed artists is being minted in precious metal due to robust sales and attention from the public, even while country radio struggles to recognize its significant cultural impact. Miranda Lambert’s double album ‘The Weight of These Wings’ has been certified Platinum.
“I was going to do it completely solo,” Duluth, Minnesota’s Charlie Parr says about his 14th album titled Dog, due out on Red House Records. “I was going to go to this barn in Wisconsin, sit there and play my songs. And I was practicing them and I thought, this is devastating.”
Slaid Cleaves is one of those central Texas troubadours whose words and modes can be heard embedded in the music of some of the biggest acts in Texas music, Americana, and beyond due to the sheer potency of his craft. Slaid’s pen strokes are just too mighty for the mainstream; his stories too intimate and impactful for the widest ear…
“I’d Sing About You” is all steel guitar and fiddle set to a country shuffle to move your boots across the dance floor. And though the premise is a little silly, and maybe even a little list-like in its approach, it’s also very sweet and witty in that warm, folksy manner that you want from a good country song.
One of the most anticipated events in the entirety of 2017 in true country music is the Tumbleweed Festival just outside of Kansas City. After a vote-in contest Tumbleweed ran for the final performance spot of the festival, they decided to add multiple new acts to the lineup since so many fan bases showed such strong support.
Tom Petty and a host of other cool folks have come together to collaborate on Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers alumnus Chris Hillman’s first record in over a decade called ‘Bidin’ My Time.’ The album includes a collection of songs from in and around Chris Hillman’s career, but many that fell through the cracks in one way or another.
At the moment there are exactly zero women in country radio’s Top 20, and a whopping total of 4 in the entire Top 50 for an abysmal 8% representation. In fact this 4 out of 50 ratio has been pretty consistent now for the entirety of the “Body Like A Backroad” reign at #1.
When Steve Earle threw Hayes Carll under the bus in mid June by calling Hayes a “younger, skinnier, less talented singer-songwriter” than himself, it set up a potential showdown at Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic where both men were scheduled to play this year.
‘Country music’ most certainly has a definition because it means something to millions of people. They identify with it. It’s their culture. It’s what gives them meaning and fulfillment. And if lost, and even worse, impugned and dragged through the mud as being irrelevant, uncool, or unwilling to evolve, it leaves them empty feeling and hollow.
Hot damn if Lee Bains isn’t like a factory for punchy melodies served with angry, yet insightful expressionism that is strikingly relevant, resists the temptation to become invective, with the ultimate goal just as much to build up individuals as it is to tear down the institutions that inhibit them.
We may never see a year like we experienced in 2016, when such an unmerciful parade of country greats passing away left us with a renewed appreciation for the legends while their still living. But every death, from the often under-heralded songwriters and behind-the-scenes session musicians, to the principal members of huge Southern rock bands, is significant.
As Uncle Ned prepares to blow his hand off with a concoction of semi-illegal fireworks, get yourself prepared for the extended 4th of July weekend by listening to Saving Country Music’s top recommended songs via the official Spotify playlist. It’s a repository for the top recommended songs, albums, and artists at any given time.
A vintage baby blue 1977 Eagle tour bus that was once used by a host of country legends, including bluegrass maestro Vassar Clements, Country Music Hall of Famer Faron Young, and eventually landed in the fleet of Loretta Lynn, is currently up for sale on eBay by the current owner. It was the property of Loretta Lynn’s guitarist Perley Curtis.
Mainstream country is not stupid. They see the rising tide of Americana artists cresting the country albums charts on a regular basis, the big Americana names selling out large venues and headlining festivals, and doing it all without the help of Music Row or corporate radio, and continuing to encroach into their overall market share.
If you’re doggedly on the search for music that hearkens back to the Golden Age of country, and the songs and sounds of folks such as Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell, and Webb Pierce, The Country Side of Harmonica Sam is where your search parameters should begin and end.
