Just this week Saving Country Music inquired if there would ever be any new episodes of The Marty Stuart Show—the long-running RFD-TV staple that saw Marty share the stage with his backup band The Fabulous Superlatives, as well as a host of special guests, including many great country music oldtimers.
Country music artist and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery is in legal hot water after being caught carrying a loaded gun through airport security. The incident happened on Thursday, July 13th, but was made public on Friday (7-21). It occurred at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina.
Calling this year’s race the “Big Machine Brickyard 400” is probably not the most savory development for true country music fans in itself. But Big Machine has announced they’re going the extra mile with their 2017 Brickyard sponsorship, at least for one of their artists: Brantley Gilbert.
The crazy and wild-eyed Col. JD Wilkes and his backup band of wily misfits known as the Legendary Shack Shakers will be returning with their 9th studio album called ‘After You’ve Gone.’ Their decidedly lo-fi sound mixes the influences of the deep and derelict blues with the fearful prayers of primitive Appalachian country.
To put it bluntly, the ability of Blackbird Presents to curate talent for events is pretty terrible, and appears to be done without any true understanding of the layout of the current country music landscape. Some of the invites for these Blackbird Presents events seem so incredibly blind to the realities present in country music fandom, it’s remarkable.
‘The Marty Stuart Show’ has logged a total of 174 episodes, but not a single new episode has aired since 2014. It’s been three years now, and fans of the RFD-TV program are getting restless for some fresh shows. So has the show been cancelled, put on indefinite hiatus? When can fans expect new episodes?
It’s hard enough for side players in any genre to receive the recognition their contributions to the music deserve, let alone ones who choose a discipline that is a dying art. Kayton Roberts had it hard enough as a steel guitar player. But Kayton’s instrument of choice—the pedal-less steel—was in even less demand throughout his career.
Ever since former Old Crow Medicine Show member Willie Watson released his debut solo record ‘Folksinger, Vol. 1,’ we’ve been waiting impatiently for Vol.2, if there would even be one. With only himself and a guitar, Willie Watson was able to accomplish what entire bands struggle to do their entire careers.
This is a formulaic, Mad Lib-style, paint-by-the-numbers, women as a possession truck rap with fake piano imposed on a generic pop song, propped up solely by the perfectitude of Dylan Scott’s pectoral muscles and the come hither sturdiness of his jaw.
Americana songwriter and performer Jason Isbell is now an honorary Texan according to the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Isbell received the distinction on Sunday night (7-16) during the 3rd night of a sold-out run at Austin’s Moody Theater, also known as the home of Austin City Limits.
In the continuing effort to keep you abreast of some of the best music coming out in the true and independent country realm, some new selections have just been added to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Spotify Playlist including Parker McCollum, Hayley Thompson-King, and more.
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.
