Clear Channel, the largest radio provider in the US, just struck a massive deal with CMT, a division of Viacom, to create national country music programming to be distributed across 125 country radio stations owned by Clear Channel, as well as some digital and television platforms. The move is meant to match a similar national syndicated format created by the second-biggest radio provider in the US, Cumulus.
In the latest installment in a series of cryptic teaser videos Eric Church has released ahead of his new album The Outsiders, Church culls footage from the recent CMA Awards, and specifically Taylor Swift’s speech accepting the Pinnacle Award in a creepy, if not downright disturbing video full of obtuse connotations and veiled threats.
2013 has been self-proclaimed by Saving Country Music as the “Year of the Songwriter,” and this list of candidates for SCM’s Album of the Year reflect that dynamic of an elevated bar of songwriting excellence that these 8 artists have set. There is no arbitrary number of slots for candidates for this award. Nominees are chosen only if they have a legitimate chance of winning…
Ten days after, and still no arrest has been made, and no resolution to the death of Wayne Mills that Chris Ferrell, the owner of the Pitt & Barrel Bar and the man that fatally shot Wayne Mills, says happened in self-defense after an altercation erupted when Wayne was smoking in a non-smoking area. We update you on all of the current information, and include an in-depth legal analysis of the case.
Celebrity news site TMZ has posted pictures taken in July of country artist Luke Bryan drinking while driving his truck. In the pictures Luke can clearly be seen enjoying a can of Busch while behind the wheel, keys in the ignition. Three of the checkboxes on the requirement sheet of country’s current checklist songs are beer, trucks, and drinking beer while driving trucks….
NBC’s hit reality singing competition The Voice is in hot water from country and gospel fans, people of faith, and general haters of censorship when on the Tuesday (Nov. 26th) installment of the show, they purposely censored the word ‘Lord’ out of the iconic country gospel song “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?” They also skipped verses mentioning ‘Savior’ and ‘Heaven.’
Country music songwriter and performer Ray Lawrence Jr. who gained recognition when Hank Williams III included two of Ray’s songs on his 2011 album Ghost to a Ghost has a daughter who has been missing since November 23rd in the Phoenix area.
When talking to the Associated Press on November 27th, Garth said, “Me and Miss Yearwood are free to do whatever it is we want to do. And I’ve got to tell you: Anything I do with that woman, I’m fine with. Any place that I am with that woman is home to me. But if I have my wishes, it’s going to be filled with music, and it’s going to be filled with music at a level I’ve never seen before.”
It’s been nearly 5 years since songwriter, performing artist, and pioneer of underground country J.B. Beverley released his last album with the country band The Wayward Drifters, and now he’s finally back with a new record, but it’s not with The Wayward Drifters, or exclusively a country project. Since “Stripped to the Root” might lend to a little curiosity, we decided to place a call to J.B…..
There still is a very long way to go here, and much more to be revealed. I still remain speculative of the platinum blonde hair and where Jamie Lynn’s heart truly lies, and how easy it would be for her to make the first single one that allows her to slide past the guard of the country music gatekeepers only to later spring a big pop surprise. But I’ll be damned if her first single “How Could I Want More” is not bad at all.
When you first heard that Billie Joe Armstrong of the arena punk band Green Day and darling little lounge singer Norah Jones were teaming up to make an Everly Brothers tribute album of all things, you wondered if this was some drunken dare taken way too far. At the same time, there was something about the idea that seemed just insane enough to make some strange bit of sense.
Remember back in the 80’s and 90’s when the big stereotype about country music was that it was all about losing your job, your spouse leaving you, your truck breaking down, and your dog dying? Well now there’s a new set of negative stereotypes being engraved in the face of country music. Songs about beer and trucks are becoming our generation’s vilified country caricature.
Last week pop and R&B superstar Justin Timberlake helped stir the music pot by proposing that he might make a country record. Timberlake told Sirius XM’s “The Highway” show: “I just did an interview earlier today and I said, ‘I’m America, that’s what I am.’ In all sense of the word. [I] grew up outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Listened to country music, R&B music, classic rock, you know, everything…
After telling viewers earlier in the day that they would not air a controversial episode of the reality show “Bar Rescue” that featured both the bar where country artist Wayne Mills was shot and killed early Saturday morning, as well as the bar owner Chris Ferrell who shot Mills, Spike TV showed the episode in a later time slot Sunday night.
Wayne Mills was like that warrior that refuses to come off of the mountain. With defeat eminent and inevitable, he would rather raise his fists in the air and rage against the dying of the light then let it overtake him sitting down or sulking. He was like that old honky tonk that refuses to sell as strip malls, condo complexes, and highrises get built up all around it.
No matter what the circumstances were that surrounded, or led up to the shooting, whether Wayne Mills was drunk, Chris Ferrell was drunk, whether Wayne was smoking a cigarette somewhere where he shouldn’t have been, regardless, this was a colossal, colossal tragedy that resulted in the loss of a father and a husband. And no specifics on the scenario will change that whatsoever.
Outlaw country music singer-songwriter and performer Wayne Mills of the Wayne Mills Band is in “extremely critical condition” currently at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after being shot at 5 AM this morning outside of the Pit and Barrel bar at 515 2nd Ave in Nashville. According to Wayne’s manager J.R. Smith, Things arent looking good right now. Please send prayers to Wayne and his family.”
The accident occurred at roughly 3:30 AM Central time near Sulphur Springs. Multiple injuries have been reported, with multiple band members and/or crew injured, including Willie Nelson’s long-time drummer Paul English who reportedly broke his foot. Willie Nelson has canceled all immediate upcoming shows for the moment, but his New Years Eve show at the Moody Theater in Austin is still on.
Since tonight’s festivities will not be televised, we’re going to try to do our best to make folks that could not be in attendance for this historic event feel a part of it by providing a place to listen along, share thoughts, and hopefully post pictures as they come in from attendees. The event is being broadcast by WSM, and is transpiring at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to a sold out crowd.
Where it once looked bleak for any positive news to come out of country music’s mainstream channels, now there’s hope. Regardless of how awful the trends of country rap and tailgate songs might be, there are little chutes of life and vitality springing through the scorched country music earth. But there is a stodgy contingent unwilling to acknowledge or participate in what could be a potential turning of the tide.
Reports have Jamie Lynn Spears, famous teen mom and sister of Brittney Spears, releasing a debut country album soon. I’m sure that Jamie Lynn Spears is a very sweet girl, and by all accounts she is blessed with remarkably white teeth and excellent skin. But the simple realities of running a website like Saving Country Music is that you can’t listen to every single piece of recorded music released in the greater country music pantheon.
Tompall Glaser, who passed away in August, is considered one of the original country music Outlaws, and was one of the most influential men in Nashville in the mid 70’s both as an artist and studio owner. But little is known about this man that brought Music Row to its knees and helped usher in a new era of creative control and sonic innovation for country music. That’s all about to change.
“Some Old, Some New, Maybe a Cover or Two” feels like Canada taking a moment to reflect on his past, refocus on his roots, and ready himself for the future. This album is much more than just running through some old Ragweed material, a couple of Departed tunes, and a few of his favorite songs. There’s something unspoken between the tracks (in an album with a lot of speaking and stories)….
Pop rocker turned county pop star Darius “Hootie” Rucker has decided to cut yet another iconic tune from the American songbook after his massive commercial success with Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel.” Rucker’s next remake will be what many regard as the most-requested song in this history of American music, Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 14-minute anthemic jam “Free Bird.”
