Announced Monday morning (6-5), ESPN, the broadcast rights holder to the NFL’s long-running Monday Night Football franchise, has decided the winds of controversy have died down enough that they’re willing to bring back Hank Williams Jr. to sing the introduction to the weekly event on a regular basis.
Upcoming country starlet Maren Morris, who’s been making waves of her own, was supposed to appear on Wheeler Walker’s duet. Maren even recorded the track with Wheeler, and Sony Nashville originally signed off on the collaboration. But at the last minute, the label apparently got cold feet, and permission was pulled.
Cale Tyson has been one of the hottest names in independent country and Americana for the last couple of years, yet with no full-length album to back it up. Usually it’s the other way around—an independent artist riding rave reviews of a debut LP to big opportunities.
Two legends of country music will join forces for one album on July 7th when traditional country artist Daryle Singletary, and the “Queen of Bluegrass” Rhonda Vincent release a duets album called American Grandstand via Upper Management Music. Along with the album, the duo will also make a round of public performances together.
It was said by many after the release of Wheeler Walker Jr.’s first album Redneck Shit, “Okay, that was fun. But where do you go next?” Wheeler Walker Jr. has an entirely new album’s worth of songs. That’s what he’s got. And he’s got ’em in a pretty short turnaround, and they’re just as funny and wit-filled as the first, if not more.
After rumor and speculation ran rampant for nearly 36 hours about why Chris Stapleton had suddenly decided to postpone eight shows and cancel his appearance at the upcoming CMA Fest in Nashville without any explanation, the award-winning singer and songwriter finally addressed the issue on Thursday (6-1) night.
Ray Wylie Hubbard will add to his legacy of bone-rattling grit and groove, and hymnals that speak to a weary soul torn between the battle of good and evil when he releases his latest record ‘Tell The Devil I’m Gettin’ There As Fast As I Can’ on his own Bordello Records via Thirty Tigers.
What makes a country boy like Vince Gill think he has the ability to fill some of the biggest shoes ever rendered vacant in American music? Well, 21 Grammy Awards, and incredible voice, some of the most underrated guitar chops in music, and a longer lineage with the music of The Eagles than one might think.
The problem with the whole Texas Music/Texas Country/Red Dirt “scene” is just that—what to call it. Texas Country is not really Red Dirt, even though the two regularly get lazily lumped together. Texas Country and Texas Music are separate things as well, but once again get summarily bundled. Yet all of these things are intertwined.
Chris Stapleton fans were greeted with the unfortunate news Wednesday morning (5-31) that Chris Stapleton will not be making scheduled appearances at eight separate shows, and has also canceled his appearance at the upcoming CMA Fest in Nashville.
Eric Church has always said the right things. Or, he’s said the right things most of the time at least. The question with Church has always been where the marketing ends, and where the real Eric Church begins. Really, where Eric Church is at his best is when he doesn’t say anything, and lets his music and his actions speak for him.
Now Nashville’s decided to try and make the Geico Caveman a superstar it appears, and it’s only appropriate, because to find anything fetching in this anthem to American devolution, your forehead has to stick out over your eyebrows so far that you don’t need to wear a hat in the rain.
The 4th Annual Westport Roots Festival occurred this Memorial Day weekend in Kansas City’s Westport District, with over 80 bands participating on six separate stages. One of the most anticipated and talked about moments of the festival was the reunification of Jayke Orvis and The Broken Band.
The Tumbleweed Festival, which is set to transpire in Sugar Creek, MO, just outside of Kansas City on July 28th and 29th, has just launched the always dicey proposition of an online poll to see what band will fill the festival’s final slot for their 2nd season beside headliners such as Jamey Johnson, Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, and Billy Joe Shaver.
Gregg Allman, a towering pioneer of Southern rock, roots jazz, and country, has died at the age of 69. Along with his brother Duane who died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1971, they fronted one of the most pioneering bands in American music history, straddling the lines between rock, improvisational jazz, blues, and country.
Based out of Brooklyn, The Brother Brothers is the closest thing you can find to Simon & Garfunkel in this century, yet with a primitive country sound. Incredible singing, some of the sweetest fiddle playing and cello accompaniment I’ve heard, and songs that are amazing in their simplicity, and their ability to put rhyme and reason to complex human emotions.
The Outlaw Country Cruise has just announced the lineup for their 3rd Annual voyage, and it’s a doozy. As opposed to leaving from Florida this year, the Outlaw Country Cruise’s Norwegian Pearl will set sail from New Orleans on its way to Costa Maya, Mexico and back, leaving on January 22nd, and returning January 28th.
Folks who just hopped on the country insurgency train when they heard about Chris Stapleton or Sturgill Simpson may wonder what the deal is with a guy like Justin Townes Earle. Maybe they recognize the name and draw the connection to his famous father, but is he something special, or just another name in “Americana,” whatever that means?
It’s not just the songs and the music. It’s the men and women who sing them with authenticity and authority that makes country music an exceptional exercise in art form and insight not just any form of music can rival. Billy Joe Shaver would be and exceptionally interesting human being even if he whittled sticks for a living.
The Americana Music Association has just announced the initial 100 names of showcasing artists who will be gracing stages all around Nashville September 12th-17th for the 2017 AmericanaFest. Eventually the names of performers will likely swell to over 200, but this first batch already is enough to salivate over.
In yet another sign that Sturgill Simpson is moving up in the world, it has been announced he will be opening select tour dates on the Guns & Roses’ “Not In This Lifetime” stadium tour that has been extended well into the summer.
Left Lane Cruiser has now released nine of these ornery sons of bitches, and each one spitting venom and hitting the groove with the same ferocity. Where so many hard charging bands lose their edge as they age and their output gets stale, or they decide they need to wisen up and start singing lullabies, Left Lane Cruiser keeps on digging.
Hank Williams III, the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams Jr., has been named as one of the principal defendants in a lawsuit by a concertgoer who is claiming he was assaulted by the crowd at a concert for the heavy metal band Superjoint, formerly known as Superjoint Ritual. The fan claims the band incited the crowd to assault him.
For 21 years, The Americana Music Jam has assembled some of the finest talent in Texas music to raise funds for worthy causes. Co-sponsored by Gruene Hall, and hosted by KNBT 92.1 FM out of New Braunfels, this year proceeds went to benefit Hope Hospice and Communities in Schools of South Central Texas.
