Many news outlets have reported on Randy’s performance, but questions remained on just how capable Randy was in singing “Amazing Grace.” Fans of Travis have been hoping and praying for a full recovery for the singer since his health issues. Singing is sometimes easier for individuals dealing with impediments than talking is.
More so than most songs, it might be important to understand the context in which “Sugar Daddy” is being offered, or how it potentially may dovetail into a much more encompassing and cohesive album concept in the future, if “Sugar Daddy” even makes it onto Sturgill’s next album and is not just intended for the ‘Vinyl’ soundtrack.
The 320-page biography will cover George’s life from an impoverished childhood growing up in East Texas, being raised by by a devoutly-religious, but alcoholic mother and an often-abusive father, his multiple tumultuous marriages including to Tammy Wynette, his alcohol and cocaine abuse that almost killed him, and his marriage to his fourth wife Nancy.
Music is such a polarizing subject in popular culture already. We love to love our music, and we love to hate everyone else’s. Music is what we use to identify ourselves culturally. It’s what allows us to find camaraderie with other people who are more likely to be like-minded with ourselves. It’s what we pride ourselves in to tell us that we’re better than others.
Dolly Parton’s NBC made-for-TV movie Coat of Many Colors went from a sweet little movie to watch with the family over the holiday season, to one of the most successful and cherished movies based on a country music legend’s life released in recent memory. As word of mouth spread, it also became the highest-rated TV movie ever using Nielsen’s “National TV Toolbox Live+ Same Day and Live+ 3 Days” measurement.
“The Driver” is Charles Kelley’s version of Theodore Roosevelt buying a $700 cowboy shirt and heading for the Dakota badlands, or Rose from Titanic choosing to attend the dance in the boiler room instead of the ballroom because the help knows how to party better. It’s this strange, striving for everything Charles Kelley and Lady Antebellum isn’t that defines this solo album.
Later it was announced by Haggard’s publicist that all February dates would be canceled to aid Merle’s continued recovery. The publicist said Merle was “still feeling weak from his recent struggle with double pneumonia and has decided to seek further treatment.” But apparently tour plans have changed yet again.
A week from this evening, the music industry will be gathering in Los Angeles for the the world’s biggest music event of the year: The Grammy Awards. Unlike many years, fans of true and traditional country music will have someone to root for when it comes to the night’s biggest prize, even if it isn’t the most ideal artist to champion.
Chase was sure saying the right things, as are a lot of the Bro-Country acts who are now acknowledging the flight of interest in the bastardized style of country music. But words are cheap, and actions speak louder. And it didn’t take long for Chase to break his promise that his next album would be “all” about depth.
The artist known as Cam, best known for her breakout single “Burning House,” was on 92.5’s Electric Barnyard show with CMA and ACM-nominated DJ Broadway last week. And as Broadway is apt to do upon occasion, he pulled a disparaging quote from Saving Country Music to read to Cam to get her reaction and response.
word has come down that Jayke Orvis has decided to suit up once again with the Goddamn Gallows on their upcoming nationwide tour. Stepping aside for the moment is banjo player Joe Perreze. “I will be back with them onstage in the future and look forward to enjoying the show from the audience in the meantime,” says Perreze. The Gallows will be touring behind their latest album “The Maker.”
As No Show Jones moves forward with pre-production, so does a completely different movie, potentially a rival movie if you want to look at it that way, being made by the daughter of George Jones, Georgette Jones. Georgette was the only daughter between George Jones and Tammy Wynette during their brief, but high-profile marriage.
Many will not get this, but it’s not meant for them anyway. Others who will heed the lessons and take the advice of “The World’s Greatest Anchor” to slow down and cherish moments, and appreciate the white spaces and bits of story life bestows, however abruptly short-lived they may be in the modern age.
For all the non-country artists, albums, and songs showing up on Billboard’s country charts recently, it was certainly a curious decision by Billboard chart managers to make an example of a poor band from Ft. Worth called Green River Ordinance this week. Despite the insistence of the band, and a clear sonic distinction to their music of country being the primary influence, their new album Fifteen was excluded from the country charts.
The cast for an upcoming biopic on the life of George Jones is starting to take shape, and the leading man appears to be Josh Brolin. He will play The Possum according to reports, as well as work in the capacity as producer for the film. Starring beside Brolin will be Jessica Chastain, who will play Tammy Wynette who was famously, and tumultuously married to George during his heyday.
PhD researcher Chris Hamilton working for the Auburn University in Alabama successfully identified a new species of tarantula in California, and decided to name it after his favorite country music star. Aphonopelma johnnycashi is a tarantula strain the had not been properly identified previously by scientists, and was one of thirteen new tarantula species designated by the new study.
“Working with Dave felt great from the first day of our sessions,” says Carpenter. “He is always willing to try something new, believes that ‘yes’ is the only answer, and surrounds himself with wonderfully talented and generous musicians; by the end of the project, I felt as if I was a part of a new family.”
Lew Card then took his song “Condo Town Rag” and teamed up with Seymour.tv to create a brilliant depiction of how when a city’s identity changes, so do our memories and sense of home and place. Using historical photos matched up with modern-day perspectives, it shows the troubling way the Austin skyline has been retooled in recent years…
It’s more fairly described as roots rock, and don’t worry, there’s still some of those plaintive and even painful moments that remind you that you’re listening to a modern-day Music Row release. But that doesn’t take away from the fact the Pawn Shop should be considered a healthy alternative on the mainstream music menu.
You could see this all unfolding when Scotty McCreery first released the ridiculous single “Southern Belle.” Even he knew it was well outside of the style he’d been known for previously. “This is probably about as far left as we’ll go,” McCreery said about it at the time. In a last ditch effort to salvage the song, Mercury Nashville released an equally embarrassing video for the song.
Merle Haggard was forced to cancel his show Tuesday night (2-2) at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, California last minute after he was too sick to take the stage. The show was a makeup date for a performance originally scheduled for December 3rd that Merle was forced to cancel with all of his December shows due to a double pneumonia.
For the last couple of years country fans have been questioning how chart managers for Billboard and other entities could listen to certain songs or performers and consider them country in the slightest. Yet here is a band making music that’s more country than it is anything else, and more country than most of what you hear on country radio, and Billboard is denying their admittance on the country charts.
How people listen to music is clearly changing, but much of the country music industry isn’t following suit. In a town that employs scores of people just to push songs to radio, Nashville doesn’t know how to behave any differently than they did 60 years ago. Entire companies are based around trying to sell songs to country radio. The difference now is radio is no longer the only game in town.
With Letterman’s retirement, the concern was this once important roots music outlet on television would dry up. But since Stephen Colbert has taken the reigns at The Late Show, quite the opposite has happened. Monday night (2-1), critically-acclaimed songwriter John Moreland will be making his network television debut from the Ed Sullivan Theater courtesy of Stephen Colbert.
