Sturgill Simpson embarked on the second night of a two-night sold-out stop at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin, on Friday (5-6). It was the second night on his current tour, and one of the first glimpses of what fans can expect from an expanded lineup, and a new sound that veers slightly away from the country style Sturgill’s career has been known for up to this point.
Never could I have dreamed when I first decided to channel my passion for music into operating a country music website that I would be asked to comment on a country record released from Queens-born New Wave 80’s sensation Cyndi Lauper. But this is not your average “gone country” project.
One of the most fastest-growing and well-regarded offshoots and alternatives of country music holds its annual gathering of the tribes each September in Nashville, and this year promises to be another rousing shindig after the names of the first 68 performers have been released to the public.
Now that we are well into May, many people are wondering where the announcement for Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic is. The country music institution, started in 1972 with the Dripping Springs Reunion (not officially held on the 4th) has been going strong ever since, despite skipping a couple of years here and there.
Saying that Justin Timberlake’s new single isn’t country may seem like an obvious statement, except that many were anticipating that the next move the pop singer and songwriter would make would be to dip his toes into country waters. Hell, after he’s been dropping monstrous hints about the move…
For those of you who wear out your Pokey LaFarge records on a regular basis and regard Wayne “The Train” Hancock as a musical God, another name worth checking out is the old-time throwback singer and songwriter with a hobo’s hat and a belly full of songs named Jack Klatt.
Christian music may be the way some labels and producers see a way out of the Bro-Country jungle that is mired in criticism for its low-brow content and (at times) immoral bent, yet at the same time continue to broaden the appeal of country by adding a new demographic to the audience in Christian listeners.
Merle Haggard is gone, but he won’t be forgotten in the town he helped put on the map with one of his signature songs. Muskogee, Oklahoma is looking to erect not one statue of the country music legend, but two of them in the aftermath of his passing on April 6th.
SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross is head over heels for Sturgill Simpson and his new record a Sailor’s Guide to Earth. Or hell, his entire catalog. And if you’ve been paying attention over the last week or so, Buccigross been dropping references to Sturgill and singing his praises left and right.
Right now, Texas and Oklahoma is being robbed of its female talent from Nashville and the two coasts. And these women are regularly sucked up into a system that absconds with their creative freedom, sexualizes their image, and drops them unceremoniously whenever their commercial viability is perceived to be spent.
“Holdin’ Her” makes absolutely no compromises to radio or anyone else. It starts on the acoustic guitar in waltz time, then the steel guitar comes in, a little Telecaster and keys, and as the old saying goes, it’s three chords and the truth. No drum loops, no electronic doo dads, no superfluous buzzwords thrown in there to lure in the corporate country radio fan.
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Saving Country Music LIVE blog for country music’s most laughable and irrelevant awards show of the year, the America Country Countdown Awards, or ACCA’s. It has the distinction of being considered the 4th country music awards show, even lagging behind the immaterial CMT Awards.
Guy Clark has been suffering from numerous health ailments recently. In June 2015, he was hospitalized right before he was scheduled to appear at an Austin City Limits event being held in his behalf. Clark had a bad reaction to medication he was prescribed after a recent surgical procedure, and missed the ACL Hall of Fame induction.
Director Timothy Woodward Jr. was inspired to make a Western version of the Liam Neeson blockbuster “Taken,” and decided to cast country music songwriting legend and noted actor Kris Kristofferson on help star in the movie. Set in Kansas during the late 1800’s, and shot in parts of New Mexico and California, “Traded” finds Kristofferson as a crotchety, soothsaying, gun-toting bartender named Billy
When mainstream country artists start talking about how their upcoming music is going to be more mature, you can be assured this is a harbinger that it will be anything but. Even if you do get a deep song, like we did with Florida Georgia Line’s debut single the last go ’round, “Dirt,” it ultimately didn’t make a hill of beans worth of difference by the time their full album Anything Goes arrived.
A big issue with the Grand Ole Opry in recent years has been trying to get standing members to meet their performance obligations. Though the Opry loves to add high-profile names from country’s current radio stars, these performers tend to sign on to receive the distinction of being Opry members, but don’t actually want to play the appointed number of slots for membership.
By all accounts, it was the song’s dismal performance on the country music charts and The Band Perry’s hard-headed insistence on sticking with their new pop direction that had the family trio and preeminent country music label Big Machine parting ways earlier this year. To put it bluntly, “Live Forever” killed The Band Perry’s country music career.
Why exactly this song is considered country is beyond me. Is it because Beyoncé randomly says “Texas” for no damn reason at the beginning, or screams “Yee haw!” once or twice? If this is what makes a song country, then this is the most stereotypical of stereotypical observations possible. Nonetheless, “Daddy Lessons” is still more country than Sam Hunt.
Usually it’s only once or twice a year that music media is faced with the dilemma of how to adequately and respectfully cover the passing of a high profile music celebrity. In 2016, it has been more like once or twice a month. In fact the frequency of seismic music deaths has been a story unto itself.
There was no way for The Lumineers to win with this record. They’d almost have to pull a J.D. Salinger to stay on the right side of history, and even then their legacy would be sullied. Why? Because popular culture has already judged them as a time piece—as part of a trend that started to die when even Saturday Night Live was doing parody sketches of roots bands dressed in suspenders.
Now that Merle Haggard has passed on, Kris Kristofferson is one of the few remaining links to country music’s most iconic era of classic songwriting. Kristofferson has also been candid about his struggles with deepening memory loss, so any new recordings should be considered a treasure.
Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is officially the #1 record in country music, and is also the highest-charting debut of the week at #3 on the all genre Billboard 200 chart. The only thing keeping Sturgill from the top of the Billboard 200 were two surging titles from Price that sold like crazy in the hours after the superstar’s death.
When I heard that Dallas Davidson was working on a new solo album, it sounded like just another stupid plan to offload his leftover Bro-Country material now that the songs aren’t selling so well. Harmless. Sure, release a solo album Dallas, and take one last gasp as the Bro-Country songwriting king before you’re relegated to the refuse pile of country music’s most deplorable era.
Songwriting is what becomes the ultimate takeaway from Jeff Shepherd and the Jailhouse Poets. As you listen deeper into the album, the writing continues to mature, and mature more, and becomes more vulnerable and personal until the final song “Son” virtually has you in tears. From lost love to personal tragedy, Jeff Shepherd is uninhibited in sharing and unburdening his heart in these songs.
