Sturgill Simpson was planning to take 2017 off due to the recent birth of his second child, and a sense that he had an opportunity to rest on his laurels a little bit. But then two huge Grammy nominations for Best Country Album and Album of the Year shook up those plans, and now the philosophy is to strike while the iron is hot.
Brantley Gilbert’s music may not be for you, but it’s hard to argue it’s not 100% him. He’s a roided-out, tatted-up, tribal Tap-Out truck-nutted horn-flashing Jesus-praising great American meat head who makes no apologies for himself and has built an entire army of fans that are just as hard headed and proud, and will follow Brantley over a bridge if asked.
A few weeks ago Willie Nelson’s official Twitter account converted to an entirely new account called “lolwut?,” and started exclusively posting links to stories on viral content farms like Viralthread and Distractify—in other words, content from a bunch of aggregated clickbait funnels that have consumed the internet over the last few years.
Fans of Willie Nelson continue to be concerned as the country music icon cancels additional shows due to an undisclosed illness, while no official word has come from the Willie Nelson camp to the nature or severity of Willie’s condition. It was announced Wednesday morning (2-8) that Willie has canceled shows in Arizona and New Mexico.
In 2017, MerleFest is celebrating 30 years of bringing top-notch, world-class traditional country, bluegrass, roots, string, rock, and Americana music to audiences that flock from all over North America and the World to experience one of roots music’s premier events. MerleFest has just added more performers to their already stacked lineup.
An all-star cast will come together to celebrate the life and music of country music icon and Hall of Famer Don Williams in a new tribute album with the proceeds going to a good cause. ‘Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams’ will be released on May 26th via Slate Creek Records.
You want to like Luke Combs. He one of us, not one of them. At least that’s what you think, or that’s what you thought, or that’s what you want to think. Let’s face it, he’s no matinee idol. He’s a big ol’ corn fed boy from North Carolina with a scruffy Amish beard and a cheap haircut tucked under a properly-aligned baseball cap.
Willie Nelson had fans worried when he canceled shows at the Venetian Theater in Las Vegas on January 27th and 28th due to an undisclosed illness, and now he’s canceled three more. Ticket holders for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night shows (2-6 thru 2-8) at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California.
I don’t blame Dave Simonett for wanting to take some time away from what has been his main gig for 15 years as the frontman of the bluegrass-esque Trampled By Turtles. As stellar of a collective of musicians as Trampled By Turtles is, at some point the experience of a string band is going to feel limiting to someone who is a songwriter first.
Dammit, can’t we do anything in American without someone wanting to inject their political vitriol into it and make a moment of unification into a vehicle for polarization? God blessed, we’re inundated with political acrimony 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and in every sector of American life. You can’t get away from it.
Hee-Haw—the Roy Clark and Buck Owens-hosted show that ran for 30 years could soon be coming back to the airwaves with a brand new cast and fresh episodes. But don’t get your hopes up too high because it isn’t a done deal just yet.
Zac Brown promised last September that the band would be bringing the music back to its roots, and he certainly delivers on that promise with Zac Brown Band’s latest single called “My Old Man.” But how we got here and why such a return to the roots is even possible or necessary is important context.
Right as Joey’s album was getting ready to be released, Sony went through a regime change, and along with the label reshuffling, Strong Enough to Cry was completely shelved. One of the potential reasons is that during the album-making process, Joey met Rory Feek—her eventual husband and duo partner.
There may be no openers on Eric Church’s current tour, but that doesn’t mean you may not see some worthy artists take the stage. On Friday evening (2-3) in Dallas, TX at the American Airlines Center, Eric Church shocked the crowd by inviting Texas songwriting legend and general music guru Ray Wylie Hubbard on stage.
Not only is Faith Hill and Notorious B.I.G and incredibly awkward musical pairing on the surface, it’s also a strange headline because Notorious B.I.G. has been dead for some 20 years. He was gunned down in 1997 in a still unsolved murder. Nonetheless, it’s coming from CNN, right? President Trump may accuse them of “fake news,” but this isn’t the onion.
For 29 years now, the annual gathering of established and up-and-coming folk, roots, country, blues, and bluegrass musicians known as Folk Alliance has been like a fulcrum of the independent music industry, offering support to artists looking for opportunities, and showcasing some of the newest talent for the industry.
You better be damn sure of your rationale when you veer so incredibly off the page believing there’s better opportunities out there. Because if you leave behind everything you were before, you’re going to leave behind all those people who followed you there, and they will turn their backs on you just like you did them.
Curb Records is once again cobbling together previously-released material from Hank Williams III in an attempt to make money off of songs many fans already have, only this time it is in a much more conventional manner. Saving Country Music can confirm that Curb Records is planning the release of a Hank Williams III Greatest Hits album.
Sturgill Simpson will perform at the 2017 Grammy Awards producers confirmed Thursday morning (2-2). Though a performance slot was pretty much assured to the upsurging country artist after his recent album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth was nominated for both Best Country Album, and the all-genre Album of the Year category…
The 83-year-old Willie Nelson certainly isn’t slowing down for anything. In fact he’s been been releasing records a a pace quicker than one per year since signing with Sony’s Legacy Recordings, but those are not always recordings of original music. That will not be the case with his newest project called ‘God’s Problem Child.’
WARNING: LANGUAGE — To release a song called “Body Like a Backroad” in the year of our Lord 2017, after we suffered through five years of embarrassment as a genre at the hands of the Bro-Country scourge, it goes so far beyond aggressively cliché, it’s just downright grotesque.
They’ve decided to divide opening duties among a total of 26 separate openers across the 65 total tour dates, as opposed to taking the usual stance with openers, which is to drag the same two or three lightweight mainstream up-and-comers around with them for six months. Even more surprising are the names selected to open.
‘Tenderheart’ is said to pick up where Angeleno left off—asserting Sam’s “SoCal country” style that mixes in the twang from nearby Bakersfield, subtle Western-swing influences, along with the singer-songwriter legacy of the desert city, inspired by the style and vastness of Los Angeles. The album comes as Sam has experienced major changes in his life.
“I really don’t even know what current country music is anymore. I am as flabbergasted as anyone and have no idea what is country and what is not anymore. I am not a fan of country today. Today’s country can’t be differentiated between pop, and you can’t tell them apart. If you are going to be in the country category and call yourself a country artist, then stick with it.”
